SATELLITE
WATCH
Compiled by GARRY CRATT*
Intelsat satellite shuffling under way
Some
shuffling of the Intelsat satellites has
.
taken place in recent months, with Intelsat 801
now in orbit and Intelsat 802 slated for a June
launch. At the same time, some of the earlier
satellites are to be moved to new locations.
Intelsat 801 was successfully launch
ed by Ariane V.94 on March 1st, 1997.
Despite earlier intentions of moving
the satellite to 174°E and shuffling the
present Pacific Ocean Region birds (including replacing I511), the spacecraft
will now be positioned at either 62°E
or 64°E, in the Indian Ocean Region.
From either position, the satellite
footprint will cover part of Australia
and Indonesia, using a SE zone beam.
Intelsat 802 will now be launched in
June and will be positioned at 174°E,
replacing Intelsat 701 which will be
moved to 180°E. Intelsat 511 at 180°E
will be deployed to 157°E, whilst Intelsat 503, presently located at 157°E,
will be de-orbited.
Measat 2, 148°E longitude:
March 5th saw the first identifiable
tests from MEASAT 2 at 148°E, with
colour bars being displayed at IF
1065MHz and audio at 6.8MHz. No
doubt, the users of this satellite will
be revealed after this testing phase is
complete.
By now, Asiasat 2 should be broadcasting another free-to-air MPEG
signal. Myanmar’s MYAWADDY TV,
which was operating each morning on
Asiasat 1, was due to commence digital
transmissions during March, for both
their morning and evening broadcasts.
Optus B3, 156°E longitude:
Meanwhile, to make room for OptusVision Pay TV on the Optus B3
satellite, the ABC Northern Territory,
Imparja and the ABC South Australia
services will change frequency over
the next few months. Viewers will be
notified by mail or can obtain details
from satellite equipment dealers.
Palapa C2:
March 9th saw the Indonesian broadcaster SCTV testing BMAC format signals on the Palapa C2 satellite. RCTI,
previously available at IF 1350MHz,
has been moved to 3745MHz (IF
1405MHz).
TV Brunei has commenced operations on Palapa C2 for 18 hours each
day. The transponder is being shared
with SITV (Singa
pore International
TV), who utilise the transponder for
one hour each day.
Gorizont 29, 161°E longitude:
Those monitoring the orbital position of the old Rimsat G1 (Gorizont
29) satellite are no doubt puzzled as
to why the spacecraft is now located at
161°E. The satellite was originally located at 130°E and is believed to have
been sold to a new regional operator.
The details are unknown.
Net on Air-Asiasat 2:
Despite two attempts to demonstrate
the net on air system via the Asiasat
2 satellite in January and February,
the commencement of the service is
scheduled for this month.
Effects of data stream testing on
March 8th and 9th caused problems
with Pace, Panasat and Grundig MPEG
receivers. Deutsche Welle services
were disrupted for two days. The
other EEB services were unaffected. It
is now obvious that the system is not
completely debugged.
Intelsat 702, 177°E longitude:
Space TV Systems Taiwan say they
will soon release their 6-channel DBS
service to Chinese residents in Australia. The footprint we have been given
shows 45.5dbw at beam centre, a very
strong signal indeed. This equates to
using a 90cm/1.2m dish. According to
a company spokesperson, the service
was to begin testing early March. The
service will be MPEG-2 using non-IRDETO conditional access.
The new Japanese broadcaster “Jet
TV” is testing a 5-channel digital service in PowerVu. The IF is 1188MHz.
Presently, the service is free-to-air,
although it is not known how long
this will remain the case. The service is believed to be uplinked from
SC
Singapore.
* Garry Cratt is Managing Director of AvComm Pty Ltd, suppliers of satellite TV
reception systems. Phone (02) 9949 7417.
http://www.avcomm.com.au
May 1997 53
