From WOOD@stab.sr.seFri Mar 10 08:53:52 1995
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 10:58:26 +0100
From: George Wood <WOOD@stab.sr.se>
To: bergstamta@decus.se, andy@euronet.nl, ab5sm@netcom.com,
hermod.pedersen@swedx.ct.se, kauto.huopio@lut.fi, kenta@sr.se,
ar416@freenet.buffalo.edu, bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk,
tstader@aol.com, satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk, 100121.655@compuserve.com,
71163.1735@compuserve.com, 70630.560@compuserve.com,
100113.1517@compuserve.com, 76703.407@compuserve.com,
3382983@mcimail.com, 2446376@mcimail.com, jpdonnio@dialup.francenet.fr,
scdx@get.pp.se, tp6@evansville.edu, martyn@euro.demon.co.uk,
xx024@detroit.freenet.org
Subject: SCDX2219.txt
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2219--Mar. 7, 1995 ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2219
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CYBERSPACE:
SWEDEN--Today was the day Swedish Radio's World Wide Web site on the Internet
was supposed to launch, including the thrilling new Radio Sweden section.
Unfortunately the kick-off has been put back two weeks while the lawyers work
out if Swedish law allows us to put out sound on the Internet, which has been
part of the plan.
Look out for http://www.sr.se
SPACE SHUTTLE--But while you're waiting, there's another interesting place on
the Internet to check out....the American space agency NASA is putting the
entire current flight of the space shuttle Endeavour online on the World Wide
Web. You can follow the activities of the astronauts, and even send them e-
mail. The site is also supposed to include images, audio, and video from the
mission, but all that's available so far are videos of the launch, using the
rather advanced MPEG standard rather than formats more common to PCs and
Macintoshes.
If you have access to the World Wide Web, you'll find the space shuttle at:
http://astro-2.msfc.nasa.gov
The space shuttle mission is carried to North America via NASA Select on
Spacenet 2, transponder 9, as well as via the Internet MBONE. The NASA WWW
pages also contain several North American and European reflector "addresses"
for accessing the video feed on the Internet using the CU-SeeMe program.
Downlinks from the shuttle are relayed on NASA's TDRS satellites. TDRS-4 at
41 degrees West is carrying shuttle traffic on 13.770 GHz.
MIR--The Russian MIR space station continues to be monitored occasionally via
SDRN at 16 degrees West, on 10.830 GHz, a frequency that was difficult to
monitor before, but is now easily available on receivers equipped for Astra
1D reception (and motorized dishes that can move to this position).
The March, 1995 edition of "Monitoring Times" magazine has a cover article on
the SAREX amateur radio experiment on the shuttle. At least one of the
astronauts on the current mission, Ron Parise, is a radio amateur, and has
operated from the shuttle before. Look for FM and packet radio signals
downlinked on 145.550 MHz in the amateur 2 meter band.
The November/December, 1994 issue of "Satellite Times" has a cover article
comprehensively covering all the shuttle communications systems.
SATELLITE ENCYCLOPEDIA--"The Satellite's Encyclopedia" is available at:
ftp://ftp.loria.fi/incoming/sat030a.zip (1346 kB)
ftp://ftp.loria.fi/incoming/sat030b.zip (363 kB)
"The Satellite's Encyclopedia" is a hypertext file (for Windows) containing
characteristics of more than 1300 satellites and space programs (payloads,
transponder frequencies, EIRP maps, etc.) The data can be searched by
thematic indexes (country of origin, mission, launch vehicle...) Seach with
NASA's catalog number is also possible.
This file is shareware and contains over 2000 pages (that's why it's so
large!) (Jean-Philippe Donnio)
WIRED--So what's so hot about being on the World Wide Web? We talked to Chip
Bayer, manager of the magazine "Wired"'s online site "Hotwired". Since he's
in San Francisco, and the time zones make an ordinary telephone interview
difficult, we did the interview in Cyberspace. I e-mailed a list of
questions, and Chip sent back digital sound files. If you want to hear the
answers, you'll have to download the audio edition of the program (available
from ftp.funet.fi as well as Internet Multicasting mirror sites). The
interview answers will also be available on the MediaScan page of the Radio
Sweden WWW site, whenever it gets running.
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
SWEDISH TELEVISION--Non-commercial Swedish Television, which is investigating
a merger and reorganization of its two channels to deal with a 50 million
dollar budget cut imposed by the government, wants to launch a cable-based
pay-TV channel, carrying classic programming from the archives. The channel
would go on the air this Fall, but to make it a reality, Swedish TV needs the
government to give it back those 50 million dollars to buy digital
compression equipment. The channel would later be carried on satellite.
KINNEVIK--There are a few interesting developments at the Kinnevik media
empire, which owns the satellite channels TV3, TV6, TVG, Z-V, FilmMax,
TV1000, and the largest interest in Sweden's only terrestrial commercial
station TV4, along with local radio stations and magazines around
Scandinavia. Not to mention the first long distance and cellular telephone
companies to challenge Swedish Telecom's former monopolies.
Now TV4 Vice President Arne Weiss claims that Kinnevik owner Jan Stenbeck
is preparing the sell off his TV interests. (Svenska Dagbladet) This is the
Nordic equivalent of Rupert Murdoch deciding to get out of broadcasting. But
it remains to be seen if the report is true.
NORDIC SATELLITE DISTRIBUTION--Kinnevik also is the major player in Nordic
Satellite Distribution, NSD, which leases transponders on the Sirius, Thor,
and Intelsat 702 satellites. There have been widespread complaints about
letting a channel operator like Kinnevik also control access to the
satellites used by competing channels. Now the European Commission is
investigating whether NSD violates EU anti-monopoly regulations. NSD has
turned over a thousand page report to the commission, which has 30 days to
respond. (TT)
NETHOLD--One of those competing channels is FilmNet, who's South African
owner Nethold has announced plans to launch digital transmissions to the
Nordic area. Nethold has booked a total of 8 transponders on Astra 1E, due to
launch later this year, 1F, scheduled for 1996, and 1G, planned for 1997.
Using digital techniques, more than 70 channels and other services could be
delivered when the system is complete.
The first channels will go on the air with Astra 1E. Nethold operates 7 pat
film channels, broadcasting to 13 countries. (Dagens Nyheter)
TELE-X--The transponder on 12.322 GHz is to be used for 5 channels of MPEG-2
starting later this year. ("Elektronikvaerlden")
TV-SAT--Germany's DBS TV-SAT 2 is now moving to 1 degree West, to broadcast
alongside Thor and Intelsat 702. It is expected to be in operation on March
20, with the following channels:
? 11.747 GHz
TV Plus 11.823 (Norwegian, D2-MAC)
? 11.900
SVT Kanal 1 11.977 (Swedish Television)
SVT TV2 12.054 (Swedish Television)
Telenor, which has leased the satellite from Deutsche Telecom, is trying to
get Intelsat 702 replaced by Intelsat 706, when that is launched in April.
706 carries 4 more transponders. It had been intended that Intelsat 708, due
to launch in October, would replace 702, to add more capacity to this
position. ("Elektronikvaerlden")
WSSD--The World Summit on Social Development is going on in Copenhagen this
week. We're covering it on Radio Sweden, of course, but unusually, Radio
Denmark will be leading off its regular shortwave broadcasts in Danish this
week with special 15 minute news bulletins in English.
In addition, Radio Denmark will operate a Radio Denmark Summit Channel,
daily 06:00-19:00 hrs UTC during the summit. Besides programming in English,
there will be 15 minute news bulletins in Russian at 06:15, 07:15, 17:15 and
18:15 hrs; Spanish at 06:30, 07:30, 17:30, and 18:30 hrs; and French at
06:45, 07:45, 17:45, and 18:45 hrs. The summit channel will be transmitted in
the Copenhagen area on FM 100 MHz, on 243 kHz longwave and 1062 kHz medium
wave.
A special QSL card for the summit broadcasts is available for 1 IRC or USD 1
from:
Radio Denmark
NF-05
Rosenorns Alle 22
DK-1999 Fredriksberg C
Denmark
(Anker Pedersen and Radio Denmark via BBC Monitoring)
For those of you with World Wide Wide access, the World Summit on Social
Development is there as well, at:
http://www.undp.org/wssd.html
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
EUROPEAN BROADCAST NEWS--Dow Jones European Broadcast News began
transmissions from the Intelsat 601 satellite on 11.475 GHz on February 27.
The schedule is 05:00-00:00 hrs, and programming includes a live relay of
"Asian Business News" from EBN's sister station in Asia. It was supposed to
be carried on Eutelsat's Hot Bird-1, but since that satellite is still on the
ground, following the Ariane failure in December, reserve space has been
taken on Intelsat. EBN will switch to Hot Bird when it becomes operational.
(EBN and BBC Monitoring)
HOT BIRD--After originally announcing that Hot Bird-1 and Brasilsat B2 would
launch on March 14, Ariane has slipped the date back 24 hours to the 15th.
(Reuters)
Eutelsat says it has sold all 20 transponder leases for Hot Bird-2, due to
launch in August, 1996. ("What Satellite TV")
EUTELSAT--Canal Plus Poland is broadcasting on Eutelsat II-F3, on 11.617 GHz.
(James Robinson)
Viva-2 is to replace VT-4 on 11.146 Ghz on Eutelsat II-F1. VT-4 will continue
in MPEG-2 on 11.693 GHz. (James Robinson)
The European Union has taken over the former HBB transponder on Eutelsat II-2
on 11.074 GHz, for broadcasts from the European Commission and Parliament.
INTELSAT--Country music AM station WSM in Nashville has been heard on the CMT
Europe transponder on Intelsat 601, 11.515 GHz, on 7.38 MHz. (Bertil Sundberg
in "Paa TV") It wasn't there when I went looking after this report was
published.
ASTRA--Astra's owner SES has formally applied for other orbital positions
besides the 19 degrees east slot. Eight slots have been requested from 43
degrees East to 24 degrees East. It is by now means certain how these slots
will be used, however, or if they will be used at all. ("What Satellite TV")
On February 22, Germany's Medienanstalt gave permission for RTL Super and VH-
1 Germany to go on the air. They are scheduled to use Astra. However rival
Kabel Plus was not granted a licence. (Manfred Moses via Usenet News)
RTL-4 is leaving Astra 1A transponder 13 on March 15, having broadcast in
parallel on its new 1D transponder since the beginning of the year. Super RTL
(with programming from Disney in German) begins broadcasts on transponder 13
on April 1. When it gets a licence, Kabel Plus will be replacing Teleclub on
transponder 9, now that Teleclub has moved to 1D. (James Robinson)
TV Asia has, which broadcasts to South Asians in Europe via Astra, had an
interesting way to deal with a potential competitor. Zee TV, which broadcasts
as part of the Star-TV package to Asia, and which is partly owned by Rupert
Murdoch, had planned to open a service to Europe. TV Asia and Zee TV have now
merged into a single Astra channel. ("What Satellite TV" and James Robinson)
WORLD RADIO NETWORK--Radio Prague has joined the WRN line-up on Astra
transponder 22, audio 7.38 MHz, at 10:00 hrs UTC. The text of Radio Prague
news bulletins in English, German, Spanish, French, and Czech are to be made
available on the Internet. (BBC Monitoring)
QVC--QVC has now switched to soft Videocrypt encoding (not requiring s smart
card, just a Videocrypt decoder), to widen its audience in Europe. ("What
Satellite TV")
TELECOM--Now that BBC World is using the former BBC Arabic relay transponder
on Eutelsat II-F1, the BBC Arabic news service is using Telecom1C at 3
degrees East, 12.648 GHz. ("Elektronikvaerlden")
BRITAIN--NTL, the commercial company responsible for the transmission of
terrestrial commercial television in the UK says it will be investing heavily
over the next three years to ensure than 12 digital 12 channels will be
available nationwide by the end of 1997. The 12 channels will be carried in
the space of one conventional TV channel, but will require the allocation of
precious terrestrial transmission frequencies by the UK government. The space
was to be given over to a fifth network, Channel 5, but that service has
always been in doubt since the original franchose bid attracted very little
interest. ("Tele-Satellit")
MIDDLE EASTERN MEDIA NEWS:
ARABSAT--Arabsat 1DR has arrived at 20 degrees East, and has replaced Arabsat
1D. The channels are the same, but are moved up in frequency 20 MHz, and
there are some new channels. The output is:
Future Vision 3.740 GHz (not broadcasting)
" 3.820 "
" 3.900 "
ART 1 3.780
ART 2 3.860
ART 3/5 3.940
ART 4 4.020
Al-Nufud 3.980 (not broadcasting)
Orbit Comm. 4.060
" 4.100 (not broadcasting)
" 4.140 "
" 4.180 "
("Elektronikvaerlden)
NORTH AMERICAN/ASIAN MEDIA NEWS:
BBC RADIO IN NORTH AMERICA--SSVC broadcasts British television to British
soldiers in Europe via a Ku-band transponder on 11.565 GHz on Intelsat 601.
The audio subcarriers include a number of BBC world service radio services as
well as two British Forces Broadcasting Service radio channels. Now a number
of American TVRO monitors have reported on Usenet news that they are
receiving SSVC and all the BBC/BFBS subcarriers, on the C-band relay to North
America on transponder 9 (3.887 MHz). The monitored audio subcarriers are the
same as the KU-band relay to Europe:
6.65 MHz SSVC sound,
7.02 BFBS Radio
7.20 BBC World Service Ukranian
7.56 BBC Europe
7.74 BBC Bulgarian and Russian services
7.92 BBC Eurostream
8.10 BBC Czech and Slovak, occasional English
(Gary Bourgois and Curt Swinehart) This is probably a mistake, and may not
last long, now that it has been widely reported. Last year a French channel
to Africa on C-band on Intelsat 601 was available for some time to Europe on
Ku-band.
APSTAR--A Chinese controlled newspaper in Hong Kong is continuing to blame
the US-made satellite and not the Chinese rocket for the failure of the
launch of the Apstar-2 satellite on January 26. Twelve days after the launch,
the newspaper "Ta Kung Pao" claimed foreign rivals tracking the launch had
sabotaged the rocket. The Chinese also blamed the failure of the launch of
the Optus B1 satellite in 1992 on the Australian satellite, rather than the
Chinese Long March rocket. (AP and Reuters)
NBC/MURDOCH--Following the recent failure of the Apstar-2 satellite to
launch, NBC has dropped a petition with the American Federal Communications
Commission over the ownership of Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV network. NBC had
been challenging Murdoch's ownership of Fox under foreign ownership
regulations. The Australian-born Murdoch became an American citizen to
qualify under the regulations. NBC said Murdoch's Australian-based News
Corporation had exceeded foreign ownership limits on broadcast outlets, and
complained News Corp had unfairly been allowed to directly own more stations
that NBC and the other two big networks.
NBC withdrew its petition because following the loss of Apstar it needs a
distribution outlet for its two Asian channels, NBC Super Channel Asia and
CNBC Asia. NBC now says that Star will carry NBC Super Channel Asia and CNBC
ASia on the upcoming Asiasat-2 satellite. (AP and Reuters)
THE WAVE--Rupert Murdoch is planning to launch a radio station called The
Wave this month on one of the Star-TV transponders on Asiasat-1. (Radio
Netherlands "Media Network" via BBC Monitoring)
DISCOVERY--The Discovery Channel Asia has announced a one year deal with
Singapore Telecom to uplink its Chinese language version to Apstar-1.
Singapore Telecom is already uplinking Discovery to the Palapa B2P satellite.
("Tele-Satellit")
AUSTRALIA--CNN has announced that it will co-operation with the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation on a 24 hour news channel called TNC, The News
Channel. The venture will also include a second channel that will run
children's programs during the day and drama, documentaries, and general
entertainment in evenings, through an alliance with Viacom. (Reuters)
The Australis pay-TV service is adding a channel with childrens and family
programming. The encrypted service will begin next month.
Nickelodeon has announced the launch of its second international network,
Nickelodeon Australia, a joint venture with Australian Information Media,
which is owned primarily by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ("Tele-
Satellit")
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Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is the world's oldest radio program about
international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio
news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. It's currently
broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.
Radio Sweden broadcasts in English:
Europe:
17:15 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz
18:30 1179, 6065, 9655, and 13690 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
21:30 1179, 6065, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
22:30 1179 and 6065 kHz
23:30 1179 kHz
Asia/Pacific:
12:30 hrs 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz
23:30 11910 kHz
01:30 9895 and 11695 kHz
North America:
13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6200 and 7120 kHz
Latin America:
00:30 hrs on 6065 and 6200 kHz
The broadcasts at 17:15 and 18:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe by
satellite:
Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold) at
11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz,
Tele-X (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic at 12.475 GHz, audio subcarrier
7.38 MHz.
Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on VH-1's
transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 20:00 hrs UTC.
Radio Sweden can also be heard on WRN's North American service on Galaxy-5,
on WTBS's transponder 6, audio 6.8 MHz, daily at 00:00 and 20:00 hrs.
Sound files of Mediascan are archived at:
ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan.
If you access to the WorldWide Web, you can also find the programs among the
offerings of Internet Talk Radio at various sites, including:
ftp://town.hall.org/radio/Mirrors/RadioSweden/MediaScan
The World Radio Network is also available live via the Internet MBONE. Check:
http://town.hall.org/radio/wrn.html
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283,
or via the Internet to wood@stab.sr.se.
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 MediaScan/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 Good Listening!