Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
(Henrik Hargitai)
The analog Greek channel may in fact be the new NET (New Greek
Television) which has replaced ET2. The new channel has a greater
emphasis on news and cultural programming. (AP)
On October 12, the Spanish public broadcaster TVE's new news channel,
Canal 24 Horas, started on Eutelsat II-F1, on 11.658 GHz, in clear
PAL, sound 6.60 MHz. ("SATCO" and "Tele-satellit News")
RAISat 2 and RAISat 3 Enciclopedia have started on Hot Bird 2 on
11.804 GHz in clear MPEG-2. ("SATCO DX")
Eutelsat's newly bought TDF 2 satellite has been testing at 29 degrees
East. There's been a Eutelsat promo video on 11.804 GHz. The satellite
is on its way to 36 degrees East. ("SATCO DX") Hot Bird 3 tested
briefly at 29 degrees East on September 14-15th, before moving to 13
degrees East. ("What Satellite TV") Testing at 29 degrees East is
Eutelsat's attempt to block SES's planned use of 28.5 degrees for its
Astra 2 satellites, by trying to establish a prior use of the
location.
INTELSAT--On October 6, Intelsat 803 replaced 601 at 27.5 degrees
West. WorldNet has left 3.742 GHz in PAL, and is now in MPEG-2 on
3.715 GHz, East Hemi beam. CFI Afrique has moved from 3.910 to 3.886
GHz. Music Choice Europe in MPEG-2 has switched from 11.609 to 11.631
GHz. The South American package has moved from 3.889 to 3.924 GHz.
("SATCO DX" and Richard Karlsson, "Aftonbladet")
AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST
INTELSAT--Nigeria's NTA, which was previously on Intelsat 601, has
started on Intelsat 515 (21.5 degrees West) on 4.092 GHz in PAL.
("SATCO DX")
ASIA/PACIFIC
CHINA--China's Apstar 2R satellite was successfully launched with Long
March on October 16 (UTC). It has 16 Ku and 28 C-band transponders,
and will be located at 77 degrees East. Commercial operation is
expected to begin in mid-November. ("SATCO DX")
JAPAN--DirecTV Japan says it will begin subscription services on
December 1, with tests beginning in November, after the Ministry of
Posts and Telecommunications gives its approval. It is not certain if
all 91 channels will be operational by December 1, even if the
ministry grants approval. The package includes at least 9 movie
channels, 8 music channels, at least 6 news channels, 7 sports
channels, 10 educational and documentary channels, and many others
including services about travel, diet, culture, fashion, adventure,
and American women's programming. ("Tele-satellit News" and Curt
Swinehart)
NORTH AMERICA
GE--GE-3 was activated at 87 degrees west on September 30. PBS has
left Telstar 4, 11.895 GHz, and has moved to GE-3 on 12.100 GHz, in
clear NTSC. ("SATCO DX")
Kuwait TV has started on GE-2 on 3.820 GHz (transponder 6) in clear
NTSC. ("SATCO DX")
SPACENET--Spacenet 3R has completed its moved from 87 to 83 degrees
West. ("SATCO DX")
ECHOSTAR--Echostar 3 was successfully launched with Atlas on October
5. It willbe located at 61.5 degrees West, and carries 32 DBS
transponders. ("SATCO DX")
France's TV5 is to launch to the US via Echostar as a subscription
channel from January, 1998. ("Tele-satellit News")
B-MOVIES--The B-Movie Channel launched on Galaxy 7, transponder 22 on
October 10th. It will be in the clear for a limited time. ("Tele-
satellit News")
LATIN AMERICA
HISPASAT--A digital MPEG-2 package has replaced Hisavision on Hispasat
on 12.015 GHz: TVE Internacional, Canal 24 Horas, Hispavision,
EuroNews, and TVE Internacional. ("SATCO DX")
LAUNCHES
ARIANE 5--The launch of Western Europe's new Ariane-5 rocket has been
postponed again, for more checks to safeguard against a recurrence of
last year's disastrous initial test. The target date of October 28 has
been scrubbed, and a new launch date will be announced this week.
(Reuters)
The rocket will carry amateur radio's Phase 3-D satellite, which will
be placed in an elliptical orbit, rather than geo-stationary. My
remarks last time that such an orbit, requiring expensive antenna
rotor equipment, continues an elite tradition within amateur radio,
prompted Kauto Huopio to write:
"Yes, Phase 3D will be one of the most expensive amateur satellites
ever built, it might be "the" biggest and most expensive amateur
satellite ever built. But the amount of _voluntary_ work to the
project has been huge. For example, AMSAT-OH has spent something
thousands of hours bulding the most powerful 10 GHz transmitter ever
on a amateur satellite. It has among other nice features a 70 W
surplus TWT transmitter (acquired from Deutche Arospace if I
remember). The field strength levels  enables an average ham to go to
the scrapyard, obtain that dumped 50cm satellite dish, modified LNA
and some other stuff and he/she can have access to a very nice 10 GHz
downlink, without any rotots. 
"This brings the story to the orbit issue. YES, the orbit is elliptic.
But how? A typical orbit is such that the satellite goes up, very up,
and STAYS at the same location for hours. Not exactly still, but
anyway so still that NO rotor assembly is needed. Just point the
antenna and go working for hours. So called "modified molnya". A
stationary sat would leave half of the world without coverage of this
mighty bird, and would be actually costwise impossible (would need a
LARGE kick motor).
"Again, to the cost issue. Yes, this is the most expensive sat. But
NOTHING compared to the commercial fixed position birds. Even
sizewise. And I think the effort is really worth it, because there has
been never before and propably never will be a launch possibility for
a radio amateur payload of this size at very cheap cost. I really
can't find any of the elitism points here. I find them at normal
hamshacks, mega DXpeditions and so on. Here people have really created
something new, which I find to be the core of the amateur idea. I've
followed the hard work of the 10GHz transmitter team quite near, and
that has been volunterism at the best form."
In response, I mean no disrespect to the vast amount of volunteer work
from amateurs around the world on this project, and previous amateur
radio satellites. It has been very impressive. Nevertheless, a
satellite in an elliptical orbit does move, and you can't just point
an antenna up into the sky forever. It has to be moved eventually, and
this requires expensive rotors in 2 dimensions. With a geo-stationary
satellite you aim the antenna once, and you're locked in forever. 
Costwise, Phase 3D is reported to be just as expensive as a geo-
stationary amateur satellite. Certainly the elliptical variation
serves most of the northern hemisphere (with the southern hemisphere
getting only quick fly-bys), while a single geo-stationary satellite
would only service one-third to one-half the entire globe. But there
have been previous Phase 3 satellites, and there will undoubtedly be
more. Had they all been Phase 4 (geo-stationary), amateur radio would
have a longterm worldwide satellite system. 
Or have I missed something here? More comments are welcome.
CYBERSPACE
SATCO--The SATCO DX Search Engine has been officially launched:
http://www.satcodx.com/cgi-bin/search/satcodx/
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Thanks to this week's contributors            Good Listening!
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
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