::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2131--May 7, 1991 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2131 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SWEDEN--We're happy to announce that edition 5.0 of our booklet "Communications in Space: The DXers Guide to the Galaxy" is hot off the presses. The last edition, 4.2, came out in late 1989, and many things have happened in the world of space and satellite communications since then. The booklet is free, so if you're interested in tuning in to space, from weather and amateur radio satellites to astronauts and satellite televison, please write. The address is Radio Sweden, S-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden. On the other hand, things happen so quickly in the satellite world, we already have a few updates: SATELLITE-TV: EUROPE Eurosport, the satellite sports channel jointly owned by the European Broadcasting Union and Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television, went off the air on May 6th. The channel had two problems. First, when Sky bought out British Satellite Broadcasting, it also bought a British-only sports channel, now called Sky Sports. Secondly, the European Commission recently ruled that the venture violated European Community fair competition regulations. Which meant that programming costs were about to go up. So Rupert Murdoch kept the British channel and has pulled the plug on EuroSport. (Dagens Nyheter, TT, Reuters) However, negotiations are going on to find someone to buy out Sky's share. So Eurosport may return. Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, has been selling most of his publishing interests in the United States. He and the other owners of BSB have now agreed on a 200 million pound refinancing package to keep the venture going through the end of 1992. (Reuters, Dow Jones, AP) There are some changes on the Eutelsat 2-F1 satellite. The Spanish channel Galavision has stopped broadcasts on that satellite, and is now only using PanAmSat. But there's a new channel coming to Eutelsat 2-F1, the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation. Owned by the American CNN, it will broadcast to Arabic speakers in Europe for 8 to 10 hours a day. (Jan Johansson, Sweden, via packet radio) Eurosport used the Astra 1A satellite. Another user of that satellite has now switched to the new Astra 1B, with a longer schedule. Japan Satellite Television, JSTV, has broadcast for two hours each night on the Lifestyle transponder on Astra 1A. Since May 4th it been using transponder 24 on Astra 1B, at 11567 MHz. JSTV is scheduled to broadcast for 11 hours a day. Programs are to be dubbed or subtitled, to make them more accessible to European viewers. (BBC Monitoring; and Soenke, DD8LS, via packet radio) SATELLITE-TV: ASIA/GLOBAL We've reported before about the plans by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK to create a global round the clock news network. The president of NHK announced recently that this network would begin by the end of the year, in collaboration with major American and European broadcasting companies. according to the plan, there apparently would be three eight hour blocks, in English, one each to Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Japanese satellite television suffered some set-backs recently. On April 18th the American rocket carrying the BS-3H satellite was lost. There were fears this would mean the loss of one of the country's three direct satellite television channels. But the gap will be filled by juggling channels on the two existing satellites, 2-B and 3-A. Meanwhile, the November launch of Japan's Superbird B satellite has been rescheduled to January, 1992. This satellite was supposed to replace Superbird A, which was knocked out of service last December. Eight television broadcasters have been moved to other satellites. (BBC Monitoring) There's another new Asian satellite broadcaster. Star-TV has gone on the air on Asiasat at 105.5 degrees East. 24 hour programming is due to begin at the end of this month. By the end of the year, the system is to be operating three channels. Broadcasts are in Mandarin, and the primary audience will be in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Taiwan. (Elektronikvaerlden; BBC Monitoring; David, 4X1VL, via packet radio) SATELLITE-TV: NORTH AMERICA Agrivision is a new channel for rural residents, using the Westar 5 satellite, transponder 17. (Jim Sobert on CompuServe) And there's a new TV satellite over North America. Spacenet 4 was launched on April 12th, and is located at 101.5 degrees West. John Gentner has seen tests, with various transponders used a couple of minutes at a time. (John Gentner on CompuServe) WEATHER SATELLITES: There are some interesting launches coming up. The American NOAA-D weather satellite is scheduled for launch on May 14th, at 15:52 hrs. After launch it will become known as NOAA-12, and will replace NOAA-10. Look for it in the 136 MHz weather satellite band. (Stephen McNeill in Space News, via Kauto Huopio) AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITES. The launch of the European environment onservation satellite ERS-1 has been postponed until May 22nd. Also onboard is the University of Surrey's UOSAT-F, which will probably be known as UO-22 when it's in orbit. It will contain a packet radio bulletin board. Besides use by radio amateurs, the satellite will be used to transmit free medical information to universities in East Africa. The information will be uplinked from a ground station in Newfoundland. Ground stations have been shipped to universities in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The researchers who build the satellite at the University of Surrey are also developing portable ground stations that will fit into a briefcase, so that field workers can take them to isolated villages. (New Scientist, Reuters, TT) GERMANY: According to an interview in the second FM radio network of the WDR Cologne Bayern 5 (Bavaria 5) is going to start on Monday, 6th of May 1991. The station is a station totally orientated on news coverage. This means: news bulletins every 15 minutes from 06:00 to 24:00 local time, between the news bulletins coverage of a special topic, e.g. sports, culuture, politics, economy. The news coverage shall not be a "Bavarian's view of the world" (Bavaria is ruled by a right wing christian social government with dominates the Bayrischer Rundfunk Radio and TV service), but shall use the ressources of the whole ARD (the umbrella organisation of for all German public broadcasters) news correspondents' network. The model for this format is the French station "France Info". The "B 5" service will cover 50 percent of Bavaria on vhf-fm frequencies and the whole of Bavaria on a medium wave frequency (they didn't state which frequency). Later this year they will also broadcast by satellite. The costs of "B 5" are estimated to 10 Million Deutschmarks per annum, which are roughly the costs for three major TV film productions. So the "B 5" service is considered relativly cheap. Listeners are not expected to listen for hours and hours, but to switch in several times of the day for approx. 15 minutes, especially when they have missed the news broadcasts in the other bavarian radio programs. (Dieter Kuckelkorn, Germany) WRTH: The World Radio TV Handbook has been the standard reference book of domestic and international broadcasters since just after the Second World War. The most recent edition includes a new feature--extensive coverage of satellite broadcasting. WRTH Editor Andy Sennitt was recently here in Stockholm, on his way to an important club gathering. In this week's English edition of Sweden Calling DXers Andy talks with Alan Pryke, about the handbook and the club he was visiting, Sweden's Arctic Radio Club. They'll be continuing their conversation in the next edition of Sweden Calling DXers, coming up in two weeks. Our DX Editor George Wood will also be reporting then on the conference of the European DX Council in Barcelona. And we hope to see a lot of you there! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 since 1948. The program is now broadcast on the first and third Tuesday of each month. RS broadcasts to North America: 15:30 hrs on 17875 and 21500 kHz 02:00 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz 03:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz To Latin America: 23:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz To Europe, Africa, and the Middle East: 17:00 hrs on 1179, 6065, and 9615 kHz 18:30 hrs on 6065 and (Middle East) 15270 kHz 19:30 hrs on 1179, 6065 and 9655 kHz 20:30 hrs on 6065 kHz 22:00 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz 23:30 hrs on 1179 kHz And to Asia and the Pacific: 11:30 hrs on 11960, 17740, and 21570 kHz 13:00 hrs on 11960, 17740, and 21570 kHz 01:00 hrs on 9765 kHz Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood to Swedish telex 11738, CompuServe (via the HamNet Forum or Easyplex 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening! =========================================================================== Distributed as a public service by The Pinelands RBBS * 609-859-1910 * HST DS V.32 V.42 * 64 MB * FidoNet 1:266/32 * RBBS-Net 8:950/2 * Shortwave Listening * Ham & Packet Radio * Home of PC Software by W2XQ * Japan Radio Company NRD-535 and NRD-525 & Kenwood R-5000 Receiver Control Programs * English Language SW Broadcast Schedules (1988 WRTH Industry Award Winner) * Software Catalog upon request or download catalog from Pinelands RBBS * SYSOP Tom Sundstrom * W2XQ * MCI Mail 244-6376 * GEnie T.SUNDSTROM * InterNet 2446376@mcimail.com * Telex 6552446376MCI UW * Fax 609-859-3226 * TRS Consultants * PO Box 2275, Vincentown, NJ 08088-2275 * 609-859-2447 =========================================================================== -- Jason Berri (SPEEDX USSR Editor) INTERNET: berri@aerospace.aero.org or berri@arecibo.aero.org [SPEEDX is a SWL club, send email to the above address for more information] [Note: back issues of the SCDX bulletins are now available via anonymous ftp from arecibo.aero.org (192.5.54.155). Please restrict ftp access to 18:00-06:00 Pacific time (UTC -7), thanks.] ================== end of scdx 2131 =================================== Hope this helps. Clemens Pflueger