From: xberri@quark2.aero.org (Jason E. Berri)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: SCDX 2150
Date: 22 Feb 92 20:14:00 GMT
Reply-To: xberri@arecibo.aero.org
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
I have not been able to find edition 2149 on either Pinelands or ANARC BBS'.
If anyone has a copy, please post it.
-Jason
--
Jason Berri [berri@aero.org or berri@arecibo.aero.org]
[SPEEDX USSR Editor - send email for more info on the SPEEDX SWL club]
--
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2150--Feb. 18, 1992 ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2150
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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WINTER OLYMPICS:
INTELSAT/EUTELSAT--Television coverage from the Winter Olympics in French
Savoy is filling the satellites. Intelsat says five Atlantic and three Indian
Ocean satellites are being used for the Olympics.
According to Eutelsat there will be a record use of its satellites during the
games, including more than 600 hours of European Broadcasting Union footage.
Programs are being uplinked to Eutelsat 1-F5 at 21.5 degrees East. France
Telecom has reserved four transponders on the new Eutelsat 2-F3 at 16 degrees
East, in addition to its main feed on Telecom 2A at 3 degrees East.
("SatNews")
TELECOM--Telecom 2A has also carried Olympics material from the American CBS.
(Helmut Vahlbruch in "SatNews")
EUROSPORT--Eurosport, which is covering the games virtually around the clock,
has a new outlet on Eutelsat 2-F1 at 13 degrees East. The transponder is on
11.978 GHz, with German sound on 6.65 and 7.2 MHz, English at 7.02, Dutch on
7.38, and French on 7.56 MHz. (Helmut Vahlbruch via "SatNews")
HDTV/D2-MAC--For people with fancier equipment, the Olympus satellite at 18.8
degrees West is being to relay 12 hours a day of Olympic coverage in high
definition television, using HD-MAC on 12.168 GHz and D2-MAC on 12.53 GHz.
(AFP, "SatNews")
There's an HD-MAC feed from France's TDF1/2 at 19 degrees West on 11.958 GHz,
relayed on Astra 1B on 11.63 GHz. (Nigel Dallard via FidoNet in "SatNews")
An unscrambled D2-MAC promotion campaign will be carried during the Winter
Olympics on Eutelsat 2-F3 on 11.68 GHz. (Radio Netherlands "Media Network")
SATELLITE TELEVISION:
EUTELSAT--Eutelsat has announced that its upcoming 2-F4 satellite will be
modified so its coverage area includes Eastern Europe. The satellite is due
to be launched in June. The following 2-F4 satellite will also be directed to
include Eastern European coverage. (AFP)
Both the BBC World Service and CNN will eventually have to move from the
aging Intelsat at 27.5 degrees West. The BBC's Wayne Dunsford says they won't
switch until their new home subscriber system is ready in September, and
while they'd like to change to Astra, it's too expensive, so a Eutelsat 2 is
more likely.
CNN has been negotiating with Astra for two years, but says the satellite is
too expensive. ("Svenska Dagbladet")
EURONEWS--A new competitor for CNN, and a planned Eutelsat user, EuroNews, is
scheduled to begin broadcasts on January 1, 1993, the date the EC single
market and the 19 nation European Economic Area go into effect. European
governments have agreed to contribute almost 4 million dollars this year to
launch Euronews, with a similar grant from the EC itself. Broadcasts will be
in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian. It's headquarters will be
in Lyon, France. (Reuters, AFP)
SATELLITE RADIO:
SWEDEN--Radio Sweden's broadcasts from the Tele-X direct broadcast satellite
are now under way, using the transponder at 12.207 GHz, audiosubcarrier 7.38
MHz.
SWITZERLAND--Swiss Radio International has announced that it will begin
relays over the Astra 1A satellite using the Teleclub transponder at 11.332
GHz, audio subcarrier 7.2 MHz. That begins on March 29th. (BBC Monitoring and
Radio$Netherlands "Media Network")
NETHERLANDS--On April 7th Radio Netherlands will begin broadcasts via
satellite. There will be on Panamsat at 45 degrees West, primarily as a feed
to radio stations in the Caribbean. There's no decision yet from Radio
Netherlands on European satellite relays. (Radio Netherlands "Media Network")
LET'S TALK RADIO--One of the most interesting radio programs about
communications is Let's Talk Radio in the United States. This is carried
every night from 05:00-09:00 hrs UTC on the Spacenet 3 satellite at 87
degrees West, transponder 21, subcarrier 6.2 MHz. Unfortunately, it's
scrambled.
Let's Talk Radio is coming to a new European satellite radio station called
Solar Radio on Astra 1B, using the Sky Sports transponder at 11.508 GHz,
audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz.
Let's Talk Radio can also be heard on shortwave from WWCR in Tennessee on
Sundays at 04:35 and Mondays at 07:05 hrs on 7435 kHz, as well as Sundays at
16:05 hrs on 15690 kHz. (Radio Netherlands "Media Network")
SCPC--R.J. Rogers has written about our free publication "Communications in
Space". We refer to a kind of satellite radio called SCPC and he wonders how
it differs from the usual kind of satellite radio, and whether he can monitor
it with his equipment, a Pace satellite receiver and a Sangean ATS-803
receiver.
Most satellite radio just adds extra sound signals on an existing TV signal.
These extra sound channels are called audio subcarriers. For example,
Sweden's TV4 uses the Tele-X direct broadcast satellite, using the
transponder at 12.207 GHz. The ordinary TV4 sound can be found on subcarrier
et 6.5 MHz. The Danish satellite radio station the Voice uses two subcarriers
for stereo on 7.02 and 7.2 MHz. And Radio Sweden can be found on 7.38 MHz.
SCPC is a different method. It stands for single channel per carrier, and
what happens is that instead of there being a TV signal, an entire satellite
transponder is divided up among radio signals. For example, the National
Public Radio service in the US uses transponders 2, 3, and 4 on the Galaxy 6
satellite for its 16 channels.
While ordinary satellite radio can be monitored on an ordinery satelliite
receiver if it has a variable audio frequency control, SCPC usually requires
special receivers. Sometimes a satellite receiver will have intermediate
frequencies at 70, 134, or 950-1450 MHz. If that signal is available, then
you can plug a scanner in and try to tune the signals 18 MHz on either side
of the center frequency.
As far as R.J.'s question goes, all we can say is look for some kind of
intermediate frequency output on the satellite receiver and connect a scanner
there. Check your manual to see what intermediate frequency it uses, and
that's where to tune your scanner.
Unfortunately RJ's receiver isn't a VHF-UHF scanner, it's a shortwave
receiver, and that won't help. He needs something that will cover the
satellite receiver's intermediate frequency, if it's available, which may not
be the case!
USA--Recently a few SCPC signals in North America have shown up on regular
satellite downlinks as well. The Voice of America is using the Spacenet 2
satellite, transponder 21, subcarriers 7.355, 7.425, 7.515, and 7.605 MHz.
(Gary Bourgois via Kauto Huopio and InterNet News)
And Minnesota Public Radio is now bringing its signal to all of North America
on the Galaxy 3 satellite, transponder 8, subcarrier 8.235 MHz.
("Satellite TV Weekly")
AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE:
OSCAR--On December 12th amateur radio satellites celebrated their 30th
birthday. That was the day back in 1961 when Oscar-1 went into orbit along
with Discoverer 36. A little 5 kilo box with a 100 milliwatt transmitter that
sent the morse code greeting "hi" over and over again on 144.983 MHz. It
lawted 22 days.
Today there are 13 amateur radio satellites in orbit, the most recent Oscar-
22. Oscar, by the way, stands for "Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur
Radio". These vary a bit as to orbit and mode of transmission. Many nowadays
carry packet radio bulletin boards. (AMSAT-SM "Info")
DOVE--The Dove Oscar-17 amateur radio satellite has once again become active.
Its beacon can now be heard transmitting ordinary packet radio on 145.825
MHz. This satellite also carries a synthetic voice beacon which, if they get
it going too, can also be heard in FM on that same frequency. (AMSAT-SM
"Info")
SARA--There's a new satellite using the amateur radio bands that isn't an
amateur radio satellite. It's called Sara, and it was put into orbit with a
number of other satellites on July 17th last year. Sara was built by a French
amateur astronomy group and transmits telemetry on the amateur radio
frequency 145.955 MHz using ordinary ASCII at 300 baud. It has the amateur
radio callsign FX0SAT.
It's apparently monitoring shortwave radiation from the planet Jupiter. But,
amateur radio organizations regard it as an intruder in their bands, and
they're afraid commercial groups may try to start using amateur radio
frequencies. (AMSAT-SM "Info") Last year a Pakistani research satellite
briefly used the amateur radio 2 meter band.
MIR--The future of the Soviet (Russian? CIS?) space station MIR is uncertain.
The ships that used to provide communications with MIR around the world were
pulled back and given new assignments on January 1st. It's hard to say if MIR
will continue to be manned much longer. You can still look for signals from
the space station on 143.625 MHz. There are also amateur radio contacts with
MIR on 145.55 MHz. (AMSAT-SM "Info")
SETI:
October 12th,1992 marks the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Christopher
Columbus by native Americans. NASA's Search for Extra Terrestrial
Intelligence (SETI) program will begin that day monitoring the heavens for
signals. The SETI program will use the Arecibo radio telescope as well as
several other large deep space antennas to search the radio spectrum between
1 and 10 GHz in an effort to find radio signals that might originate from
intelligent life in space. ("Space News" via Kauto Huopio and InterNet News)
WARC:
The World Administrative Radio Conference, or WARC 92, opened on Monday
February 3rd in Torremolinos, Spain. This important month long international
conference will deal with frequency reallocation in many parts of the radio
spectrum.
There are proposals for an expansion of the shortwave broadcast bands,
concerning the use of single side band for international broadcasting, and
for digital audio broadcasting (DAB).
Many European countries are proposing expansions in the international
broadcast bands. One problem is the current conflict over the 40 meter band
between broadcasters and radio amateurs who have different parts of the band
in different parts of the world. The American proposal would allocated 6.9-
7.2 MHz to radio amateurs worldwide and 7.2-7.525 MHz to broadcasters
worldwide.
A previous WARC mandated the introduction of SSB for shortwave broadcasting
by the end of the year 2015, some countries want an earlier date, while
others want to postpone the move, because of concern there won't be enough
SSB receivers in the Third World.
Digital broadcasting, both terrestrial and via satellite, should replace FM
with CD-quality signals immune to fading among high rises and skyscrapers.
There are two proposals for digital satellite broadcasting, around 1.5 GHz
and around 2.5 GHz. The lower frequency offers inexpensive equipment and
small antennas. But that range is occupied by other services that would have
to move. ("EDXC Newsletter", "73", and Janne Olsen)
SHORTWAVE:
For those who think satellites have replaced shortwave...read on!
KUWAIT--A year after the Gulf War, Radio Kuwait returned to shortwave
yesterday, February 17. The schedule is 04:00-13:05 hrs to the Gulf on 6055
kHz and 13:15-23:45 hrs to the Levant on 11990 kHz. (BBC Monitoring) This is
a relay of the domestic service in Arabic, and not a return to the airwaves
of the once very popular English service.
LITHUANIA--In recent programs we've been visiting Radio Estonia. That station
isn't heard as well as its Lithuanian neighbor Radio Vilnius, because Radio
Vilnius has had access to transmitters in Russia and the Ukraine. But those
new countries have raised the rent, and Radio Vilnius has asked listeners to
send reception reports so it can evaluate its schedule. Currently Radio
Vilnius is broadcasting at 22:30 hrs on 666 and 9710 kHz; at midnight UTC on
7400, 17605, and 17690 kHz; and at 02:00 hrs on 9750 kHz. (BBC Monitoring)
UKRAINE--Radio Kiev external service has acquired up to 20 shortwave
frequencies (prewumeably by taking over Soviet transmitters in the Ukraine).
The English schedule is now 01:00-02:00 hrs on 936, 4825, 7240, 7400, 9860,
10344 (USB), 17605, and 17690 kHz; and 22:00-23:00 hrs on 5960, 6020, 7380,
and 9785 kHz.
German is at 00:00-01:00 hrs on 936, 4825, 5960, and 7380 kHz; 18:00-19:00
hrs on 936, 5960, 6010, 6020, 6140, 9470, 9640, 9785, and 11705 kHz; and
21:00-22:00 hrs on 5960, 6010, 6020, 9640, and 9785 kHz. (BBC Monitoring)
RUSSIA--There's a new private station in St. Petersburg called Polyus heard
on 6045 kHz,$apparently between 04:30 and 14:00 hrs. (Radio Moscow via BBC
Monitoring) (We heard what seems to be this station at 18:00 hrs.)
The Deutsche Welle relays from former Soviet jammers in Irkutsk, Novosibirsk,
and Kuibyschev-Zhigulyovsk. English is carried at 02:00-02:50 hrs on 12055
kHz; German 10:00-14:00 hrs on 7340 kHz, 14:00-18:00 hrs on 7315 kHz, and
22:00-24:00 hrs on 7340 kHz.
There are broadcasts in a variety of Asian languages, including a block in
Hindi, Urdu, and English 14:30-16:50 hrs on 7305 kHz. Bengali is at 01:00 on
9815, Pashto 03:00 on 12055, Dari 08:00 on 17675, Farsi 10:00 on 17735,
Japanese 11:00 on 7380,and Indonesian 22:30 on 7315 kHz (50 minutes each).
(Wolfgang Buschel in "Union of Asian DXers Newsletter")
Adventist World Radio has signed an agreement to relay programs to Asia using
transmitters in Novosibirsk as well. These are for nine different languages
including English tentatively at 02:00, 07:00, 10:00, 14:00, 19:00, and 22:00
hrs.
AFGHANISTAN-Radio Kabul is now using former Soviet transmitters at 16:30 in
Pashto/Dari, 17:30 in$German, 18:00 in English, and 19:00 in French on 6145
and 7215 kHz. ("UADX Newsletter")
UNITED KINGDOM--The BBC is reorganizing its relay stations. A new transmitter
facility is being built in Thailand to improve coverage of India and China.
The four SW transmitters on Masirah Island in Oman are being increased to 300
kW. ("Wave Guide" via Bengt Ericson, Sweden)
The final scheduled transmissions from the BBC transmitter station at
Daventry will be on March 28th. There will be a closing ceremony on March
29th, when one of the transmmtters will carry a special program followed by
the official switching off.
To mark Daventry's 67 years in operation, a special amateur radio station,
GB67XX, will operate using the Daventry antennas during the weekends of April
4th and 5th and 11th and 12th. Members of the Ariel Radio Group will operate
in the 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, and 15 meter bands.
(Richard Buckby and Ariel Radio Group)
Meanwhile, Radio Japan has reached agreement with the BBC to relay up to ten
hours a day of Radio Japan to Europe from the Skelton transmitter station.
One or two of the 250 kW Skelton transmitters would be used for 5 hour blocks
in the morning and evening local time for broadcasts in Russian, German,
Japanese, and English. This would begin in July, 1992. (Radio Japan)
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Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave
listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features,
and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948.
Radio Sweden broadcasts to Europe in English at 19:30-20:30 hrs on medium
wave 1179 kHz, as well as shortwave 6065, 9655, and 15270 kHz.
The rest of the Radio Sweden English schedule is (half hour programs):
To Europe:
21:30 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz
23:30 hrs 1179 kHz
To Asia/Pacific:
13:30 hrs 17740 and 21570 kHz
01:00 hrs 9765 kHz
To North America:
15:30 hrs 17870 and 21500 kHz
01:00 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz
02:00 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz
To Latin America:
23:30 hrs$9695 and 11705 kHz
15:30 hrs on 17875 and 21500 kHz
02:00 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
03:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283,
from Internet, MCI Mail or CompuServe (to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516),
through the FidoNet system to 2:201/697 or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS
SM0ETV.
Reports can also be sent to:
Radio Sweden
S-105 10 Stockholm
Sweden
Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to
satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources
such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint
material as long as Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are
acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are
copyright.
We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden
Calling DXers, and our programs in general.
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Thanks to this week's contributors, especially Kauto Huopio Good Listening!