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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2161--Sept. 1, 1992 ::
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Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2161
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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SCANDINAVIAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING:
NORWEGIAN TV 2--September 5th is going to be a big day in Norway, when TV2,
the country's first nationwide commercial television station, goes on the
air. Based in Norway's second city, Bergen, TV2 is in fact already testing on
the Intelsat 515 satellite at 18 degrees West, at 11.538 GHz. The signals are
in D2-MAC, but unfortunately the tests have been using the unusual Eurocrypt
S coding system. (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden")
MARCO POLO--So far there are no reports on what is to happen when Norway
takes over the Macro Polo 2 satellite. The satellite hasn't begun its move to
1 degree West yet, and is unlikely to do so during September. The satellite
is supposed to be in operation from its new location in November. (Bertil
Sundberg in "Paa TV")
FILM CHANNELS MULTIPLY--Scandinavia's two Astra-based film channels are
replicating. TV1000 has started a new channel of older films called
"FilmMax". It begins today (September 1st) in Stockholm and expands to
Gothenburg and Malm in October. (Scansat) But it seems to be totally cable-
based, without any satellite relays.
Meanwhile FilmNet is starting a new channel called "FilmNet Plus", with test
transmissions this month. (TT) FilmNet was supposed to vacate its extra
transponder on Astra, number 23, last month. But it's still there, so it's
possible this extra channel may be used for the new "FilmNet Plus". (The same
thing is happening with Sky, see below.)
ETV--The Stockholm newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet" is starting a business
channel called Executive Television, using the Tele-X satellite. Broadcasts
every evening for three hours are due to begin at the start of next year. ETV
hopes to provide programming to existing outlets, such as Sky News, CNN, and
Financial Times TV. ("Svenska Dagbladet" and "Satnews")
EUROPEAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING:
RTL 2--Astra transponder 32 has been reported activated. Bertil Sundberg
speculates in "Electronikvrlden" that the new German RTL 2 may appear there
when it starts transmissions on September 26th. (Bertil Sundberg in
"Elektronikvaerlden")
ASTRA--"Satnews" says a consortium of satellite TV channels is finalizing
plans to offer a low-subscription alternative to the British Sky Broadcasting
channels. The group includes MTV, Screensport, Lifestyle, Bravo, and CNN.
They are also considering a tie-in with the joint BBC/Thames venture UK Gold.
"Satnews"
UK GOLD--As the British actor's union Equity continues to block plans to
launch UK Gold, "SatNews" quotes BBC chiefs who say they are prepared to go
it alone by screening old BBC programs without signing a new agreement with
Equity. ("Satnews")
SKY--Sky has long been reported to be planning some kind of new subscription
package for its hitherto free channels, such as Sky News, Sky One and a
revamped Comedy Channel. However, "In Orbit" says Sky has confirmed that the
Comedy Channel will go off the air at the end of September. It will be
replaced by a channel showing older films, called "Movie Gold", or "Sky
Movies Gold". Like the Comedy Channel, this will be free to subscribers to
either of Sky's two current film channels. ("In Orbit" and James Robinson)
INTELSAT-K--The new trans-Atlantic satellite Intelsat-K at 21.5 degrees West
didn't make it in time for the Olympics, but Intelsat says it's supposed to
go into operation today. There have been test transmissions from Brightstar
Washington on 11.332 and 11.558 GHz, and from an American Channel 7 on 11.530
GHz. (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden")
Altogether the satellite carries 16 transponders. The only ones we know about
planned to the Americas are from Italy's RAI and Germany's Deutsche Welle.
Deusche Welle-TV says it will begin operations in November on Intelsat-K, as
well as on an American domestic satellite. (Harald Brinkman on Internet News)
NORTH AMERICAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING:
GALAXY--An Atlas rocket launched from Cape Canaveral went out of control, and
had to be destroyed on August 22nd. With it went Galaxy 1R, which as to have
replaced the aging Galaxy 1 satellite at 133 degrees West. That satellite
currently carries such services as Home Box Office, the Disney Channel,
Showtime, and Cinemax. Fortuately, the satellite was insured. (AP, Reuters)
SATCOM--Just over a week after the failed launch of Galaxy 1R, a Delta rocket
from Cape Canaveral successfully carried Satcom C-4 into orbit Monday. This
satellite will replace the current Satcom 4, which is at 82 degrees West. The
new, higher-powered satellite will go into operation in two months, and will
be placed at 135 degrees West. (AP)
GSTAR--Turner Broadcasting has moved off the Gstar 4 satellite, with the
Checkout Channel now on Spacenet 1 Ku band and the Airport Channel on
Spacenet 2 Ku band. Apparently, Gstar 4 and Gstar 2 are switching positions,
with Gstar 4 as the more powerful satellite, basically replacing Gstar 2.
(Keith Knipschild and Bill Rood on CompuServe)
McDTV--McDonald's has started an McD TV channel, using the SBS 6 satellite on
Ku-band channels 4 and 6. (Keith Knipschild on CompuServe)
CANADA--the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a private partner hope to
provide Canadian television programs around the world by satellite. The
service, which ultimately will provide 18 hours of Canadian programming a
day, will start in the US market. (Radio Canada International via BBC
Monitoring)
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC:
MTV--MTV is launching a Japanese DBS service on Superbird. It will begin on
October 1st in the clear, but will be scrambled from the beginning of
December. ("In Orbit" and "Satnews")
ZEE TV--Star-TV has officially announced the launch of its South Asian
Channel, called Zee TV, which will start with 3 hours a day on October 2nd,
and increase to a 24 hour service within a year. Zee TV will broadcast,
presumeably on the Asiasat satellite, on 3980 MHz. (BBC Monitoring)
ABC--The Australia Broadcasting Corporation is planning to use one of
Indonesia's Palapa satellites for a service to Asia, in competition with
Star-TV. Inter Press Service reports there's been a problem, because the ABC
hoped to initially broadcast in the clear, switching to a coded subscrioption
service after testing the market, while Indonesia was insisting on scrambling
from the beginning. (IPS)
But the ABC's Managing Director has dismissed the problem, saying that
negotiations have been underway with the Indonesian authorities, and
confirming that the signals would initially be unscrambled. (BBC Monitoring)
SHORT AND MEDIUM WAVE:
KUWAIT--Radio Kuwait is increasing the power of its medium wave transmitter
on 1341 kHz, from 10 kW to 200 kW. There are also increases planned for the
outlets on 540 kHz, which is being boosted first to 600 kW, then to 1600 kW,
and on 1134 kHz, also to 600 kW. New 50 kW transmitters are to go on the air
on 963 and 1269 kHz. New shortwave transmitters are also planned, presumeably
in connection with the new Voice of America transmitter station planned for
Kuwait. (BBC Monitoring)
TANAZANIA--Radio Tanzania's external service in English has been heard on new
frequenices of 5050 and 837 kHz, both formerly used by the national service
in Swahili. The schedule is between 03:30 and 19:15 hrs. (BBC Monitoring)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES--UAE Radio in Dubai is now broadcasting in English at
03:30-04:00 hrs to the Americas on 11945, 13675, 15400, and 17890 kHz; to
Asia and the Pacific at 05:30-06:00 hrs on 15435, 17830, and 21700 kHz; and
to Europe and the Middle East at 10:30-11:10, 13:30-14:00, and 16:00-16:40
hrs on 13675, 15320, 15435, and 21605 kHz. At 16:00 hrs, 11795 kHz replaces
15435. (BBC Monitoring)
USA--The Eternal World TV Network, an American satellite-TV broadcaster, is
about to launch a shortwave station, to be called WEWN. Here is part of the
schedule that begins September 27th:
English to North America from 00:00-08:00 hrs on 7540 kHz, 08:00-10:00 hrs
and 13:00-16:00 hrs on 9870, and 16:00-00:00 hrs on 13615 kHz.
English is also scheduled to South Asia at 01:00 hrs on 9985 kHz, and to
East, North, and then South Africa between 13:00 and 20:00 hrs on 21670 kHz.
There's English to Western Europe at 08:00-10:00 hrs and 23:00-00:00 hrs on
5825 kHz. There are other broadcasts directed to Europe at 15:00 hrs on 18930
kHz, and 18:00-20:00 hrs on 13710 kHz.
Broadcasts in French are at 16:00-18:00 hrs on 18930 kHz and 20:00-22:00 hrs
on 7540 kHz.
Russian is scheduled at 03:00 hrs on 7520 kHz, followed by Czech and Slovak
at 04:00, with Bylorussian at 05:00 hrs on 7465 kHz. Ukrainian is at 03:00
hrs on 5825 kHz, followed at 04:00 by Bulgarian, 05:00 in Lithuanian, and
06:00 hrs in Hungarian. (Michael Batchelor via Internet News)
CLUB NEWS:
EDXC--The 1992 connference of the European DX Council was held August 21-24
in Tampere, Finland. The EDXC is the organization bringing together clubs for
shortwave listeners across Europe, and the annual meetings are a unique
chance for listeners and broadcasters to meet.
The turn-out was a bit disappointing this time, with some 150 participants,
around 50 from abroad. But among them were a number of representatives from
Eastern Europe, participating in the EDXC for the first time. There was a
DXer from Czechoslovakia, and broadcasters from Czechoslovakia, Estonia,
Lithuania, Russia, Romania and Hungary.
There were several talks and a panel discussion about the changes in Eastern
Europe, including the growth of private broadcasters.
Jaroslav Bohac of Czechoslovakia said that when the first contacts among
DXers started in the summer of 1975, almost all involved were investigated by
the secret police. After November, 1989 everything changed, and today the
Czech DX club has 150 members.
This year satellite broadcasting made a big appearance at the EDXC meeting.
There was a TV set carrying the Astra satellite in the exhibition area, so
participants could monitor satellite television themselves. Because Finland
is outside the Astra footprint, a 1.8 meter dish was necessary, three times
the diameter usually used in Britain, France, and Germany.
Broadcaster David Mawby, a long-time resident of Finland, gave a talk
illustrating satellite television DXing, and Simon Spanswick of the BBC World
Service spoke about "Future Delivery Systems and How They Will Affect Short
Wave Broadcasting". The BBC believes that the instability of the 1990's means
that the need for international broadcasting will continue. And despite the
BBC's increasing use of satellites to bring programming to local
rebroadcasters around the world, shortwave will continue, because it is
cheap, covers large areas, and is flexible.
Simon Spanswick described two coming technical improvements to shortwave
transmission. AM-Data System (AM-DS) is very similar to the RDS system of
transmitting digital text information along with an FM signal, now in common
use in Europe. AM-DS receivers would display station names, as well as
alternative frequencies on which the station is transmitting. Listeners will
be able to switch to those alternatives by pressing a button.
Tests on AM-DS have already been carried out by Deutsche Welle in conjunction
with the Institut fur Rundfunk Technik in Munich.
Farther in the future is a receiver system called ID Logic. This is being
developed by an American company which proposes that whole station schedules
could be downloaded to computer chips in special radios, providing perhaps a
complete three or six month schedule. The keypad on ID Logic receivers would
have the facility to enter the desired language and the nearest city. The set
would then automatically select the frequency scheduled to be operational at
that time.
Even farther ahead is BSS-Sound, digital radio direct from satellites. The
World Administrative Radio Conference at the beginning of the year provided
international allocations for BSS-Sound. Simon Spanswick said the Eureka DAB
system for terrestrial broadcasting proposed by the European Broadcasting
Union may be the best technical system for BSS-Sound.
The Finnish DX Association, which did an excellent job organizing the
meeting, also included a listening room where participants could try out the
latest shortwave receivers any time day or night. There was also a computer
room, with displays of radio-related software. At the Computer Workshop,
Kauto Huopio demonstrated Internet and its newsgroups of interest to radio
listeners. I demonstrated CompuServe and interesting areas there, including
the HamNet Forum and the Consumer Electronics Forum.
For the first time, a special events radio station was on the air during an
EDXC conference. Radio World operated on 103.8 MHz, with highlights from the
conference, interviews, and conference news. Videos from past EDXC
conferences and about DXing were shown over the conference hotel's TV system
during the meeting.
Next year's EDXC meeting will be held May 28-31 in the Canary Islands, the
first time the conference will ever be held outside of continental Europe.
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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 20:30-21:30 hrs on medium
wave 1179 kHz, as well as shortwave 6065 and 9655 kHz, and via satellite on
Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) channel 26 at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at
7.74 MHz, and on the Tele-X direct broadcast satellite (5 degrees East) at
12.207 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz.
That program is also broadcast to the Pacific and the Far East on 17730 kHz.
We're also relay our half hour program at 12:30 hrs on satellite, otherwise
it's being carried to South Asia, the Pacific and the Far East on 15170 and
17740 kHz.
The rest of the Radio Sweden English schedule is (half hour programs):
To Europe:
22:30 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz
To the Middle East and East Africa:
15:00 hrs on 15270 kHz
To Asia/Pacific:
12:30 hrs 15240 and 21625 kHz
01:00 hrs 9685 and 11730 kHz
To North America:
15:00 hrs 17870 and 21500 kHz
02:00 hrs 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!