TRANSPONDER MONITOR
Key
D – Digital
A – Analogue
78.5 degreesE:
Thaicom 2&3
D – Two horse racing channels entitled SKY1 and SKY2 can be seen on 3565MHz horizontal, SR 5000, FEC 3/4, VPIDs 412/513, APIDs 650/660 in clear MPEG-2. These are probably for a betting shop network.
A – A new Punjabi language channel, ETC, has launched on 3615MHz vertical in clear Pal with audio via the 6.60/7.02MHz sub-carriers.
68.5 degreesE:
Pas 4&7
D – There have been some movements in the MultiChoice Africa line up recently. Sony Entertainment TV Asia has launched on 11010MHz vertical, VPID 522, APID 750, SuperSport X1 has left 11554MHz vertical and moved to 11594MHz vertical, VPID 521, APID 649. SuperSport X2 has launched on 11554MHz vertical, V521, A649. M-Net East has vacated 11010MHz vertical and Fashion TV has relocated to 11010MHz horizontal, V523, A760 from 11594MHz vertical.
62 degreesE:
Intelsat 602
A – On November 28 at 13:05 a feed for a Russian news agency from Seoul, South Korea was fed over 4166MHz RHCP in clear Pal.
60 degreesE:
Intelsat 604
D – Radio Roks, a Russian station available terrestrially in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Petrozavodskn and Pyatigorsk, has launched a satellite service on 11554MHz vertical, APID 101.
47.5 degreesE:
Europe*Star B
D – A number of Italian independent TV channels appear to be deserting Europe*Star-B. The following channels have all disappeared in the past week or so; CountDown TV (12395MHz vertical), Magic TV (12398MHz vertical), Napoli International (12402MHz vertical), Italia Mia (12409 MHz vertical) and TeleGenova Sat (12729MHz vertical).
45 degreesE:
Europe*Star 1
D – Europe*Star has two new customers for capacity here. Luxembourg based Communications and Banking Equipment SA is to lease two transponders for broadband Internet services and PhoneSat from Warsaw has leased three transponders to provide broadband Internet backbone connectivity and local distribution services to Polish customers.
42 degreesE:
Turksat 1C
D – Bayrak Radio International has launched alongside Bayrak TV on 11111MHz vertical via APID 257 (right channel). Bayrak TV and radio originate from Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus. Sky News, NBC Europe and RTL 2 have all launched on 11469MHz vertical. This frequency was previously occupied by several Star TV channels in the StarDigital bouquet, most of which have moved to Eutelsat-W1 at 11131MHz vertical.
30.5 degreesE:
Arabsat 2B
D – Oman TV has left 12740MHz vertical. The channel has been replaced by a Oman TV Salah test card.
28.5 degreesE:
Kopernikus DFS2 & Eutelsat II-F4
D – Kopernikus-DFS2 will be taken out of service on December 31 this year. Eutelsat-II-F4 will remain here until Eurobird-1 is launched in mid 2001. There has been a lot of activity here over the past two weeks as new and existing services appear via the Eutelsat craft. The CzechLink bouquet has moved from the Kopernikus transponder at 11476MHz horizontal, SR 29994, FEC 3/4 to 11553MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 via Eutelsat-II-F4. The package contains Czech Television 1 & 2, Hallmark, Czechia, Prima TV and TV3. Only TV3 is free-to-air, the others are encoded in Cryptoworks. The radio services available here are; Radiozurnal, Praha, Vltava, Proglas and Czech Radio 1&2. Sat 1 Deutschland has launched on 12638MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 640. TVN have a testcard on 12631MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 650. Some occasional Daimler Chrysler TV feed traffic is using 12661MHz vertical, SR 6107, FEC 1/2 in free-to-air MPEG-2.
28.2 degreesE:
Astra 1D/2A & 2B
D – Hallmark UK has launched on 10921MHz horizontal, VPID 2314, APID 2315, Sky Channel 190. Sky News on 12480MHz vertical has been replaced by SkyGuide Info on PIDs V2319, A2320, Sky Channel 998. At 12110MHz horizontal the religious radio stations UCB Europe and CrossRhythm have changed their PIDs to 2330/2331 respectively. Nickelodeon and Granada Plus on 12148MHz horizontal have new PIDs also, now V2305, A2306 and V2310, A2314. Discovery Kids and Discovery Wings are stream sharing on 11876MHz horizontal, VPID 2334, APID 2335. The Kids channel airs from 06:00-18:00 whilst Wings can be seen from 18:00-00:00. The much delayed Sky Text finally got off the ground on December 6. To start with it was only available on Sky Sports 1, 2 & 3 and Channel 998 but later Sky News (Channel 501), Sky Sports .com TV and Sky One (Channel 106) also started to carry the new service. The Chinese language channel PCNE on 11758MHz horizontal has changed PIDs to V2324, A2325. An empty stream that appears in the EPG as “st+” on 12148MHz horizontal is presumably in readiness for Star Plus, the new Asian TV service. The Inspiration Network appears to have left 12129MHz vertical, VPID 2329, APID 2330. The channel has been missing for several days and in its place a “Sat Media” test card is being displayed. Artsworld has officially launched on 12480MHz vertical, Sky Channel 199. The new channel is on air from 14:00- 00:00 daily. The subscription charge for Artsworld, which is a stand-alone premium channel, is GBP6.00 (E9.84) per month.
26 degreesE:
Arabsat 2A & 3A
D – Two Sharjah radio stations, Radio Ash Shariqah and FM2, have launched on 12034MHz horizontal, APIDs 4122/4130 in clear MPEG-2. Also on this frequency, Saudi Arabia’s General Arabic Service 2 has started on APID 4822. Republic of Iraq Television, which is the Iraqi domestic TV service, has launched on 11950MHz vertical, SR 4000, FEC 3/4, VPID 4130, APID 4131 in free-to-air MPEG-2. The programming differs to that available via the Iraq Satellite Channel which can be found on Arabsat and Nilesat. There is a Fox Kids feed on 11996MHz horizontal which is using the non-standard MPEG-1.5 mode in PowerVu. MBC and MBC FM have left 12620MHz vertical. Both channels have opened on 11766MHz horizontal with MBC on VPID 3460, APID 3420 and MBC FM APID 3421.
23.5 degreesE:
Kopernikus DFS1
D – Astra-3A, which is slated for launch next year, will be positioned here to take over from Kopernikus-DFS1, which was launched eight years ago. The new satellite will provide DTH services for Austria, Germany and Switzerland from its payload consisting of 24 high power Ku-Band transponders, 20 of which will be active and the remaining 4 will be kept as back-ups.
21.5 degreesE:
Eutelsat II-F3
D – Live coverage from dog racing in Hove was fed over 11626MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4 on December 10 at 12:00. On the same day at 12:30 horse racing from Ireland was fed on 11650MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4 in clear MPEG-2.
A – The two Serbian TV channels, which had occupied 11577MHz vertical, Koha TV and TV21, appear to have vacated the frequency. Therefore, the sole remaining analogue signal here is from Albania’s TV Shqiptar, which can be found on 11556MHz horizontal daily from 18:30-20:30 in clear Pal.
19.2 degreesE:
Astra 1A-C & E-H
D – The German all-news channel N24 has launched on 12480MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 in free-to-air MPEG-2. Five new MCE audio streams have opened in the Premiere World bouquet on 11719MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. They are (as indicated in the EPG) Klassik Popular – A592, Klassik Symphonies – A608, Opera & Vocal Music – A624, Barockmusik – A640 and Jazz – A656. All are encoded in Betacrypt. French channels Grande Tourisme and No Zap have started in a stream share on 12344MHz horizontal, VPID 166, APID 106 in clear MPEG-2. Grand Tourisme airs from 09:00-15:00 and 20:00-00:00 daily whilst No Zap is on air from 04:00-09:00 and 00:00-02:00.
A – Another analogue signal bites the dust. Sunrise Radio has left 11479MHz vertical from where it had been available via the 7.38MHz audio sub-carrier on the back of Granada Plus. Sunrise Radio can now only be heard on Astra at 28.2 degrees East, 12324MHz vertical in MPEG-2.
16 degreesE:
Eutelsat W2
D – A live piece to camera by a very wet Canal 5 Espana correspondent from the scene of some flooding in a small town in Spain was fed on 12509MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256, EPG: “FLY1_ATLAS” on December 6 at 19:20.
13 degreesE:
Hot Birds 1/2/3/4/5
D – RTL is using occasional encryption on 11054MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 5/6. The reason is that the channel now has rights to air live Champions League soccer. When the matches are being aired the channel has been switching to Cryptoworks encoding. Sri Lankan radio station Tamil Alai has joined the RR Communications digital platform on 12221MHz horizontal, SR 6161, FEC 3/4, APID 1060. Radio Ash Shariqah and FM2 from Sharjah have started on 12654MHz horizontal via PIDs 1121/1122. Zee TV UK, which has been free-to-air on 12476MHz horizontal for some time, is now encoded in Irdeto. There is a new Italian radio station in the Telespazio platform on 12673MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. It is Popolare which is using APID 255 in clear MPEG-2. Italian channel SaluteBenessere TV has joined the line-up on 12110MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 via PIDs V320, A321 in free-to- air MPEG-2. EuroSport Italia has launched on 12054MHz horizontal via PIDs V165, A100 in Irdeto and Mediaguard encoded MPEG-2. The German channel ARD has opened another new outlet, this time on 11604MHz horizontal, VPID 172, APID 173. EuroMax Francais has commenced regular programming on 12597MHz vertical, APID 2107. There have been some changes in the Romanian digital platform on 12198 MHz horizontal, SR 12130, FEC 7/8. Pro TV and Acasa TV are now available 24 hours per day but are encoded in PowerVu. Pro TV International on VPID 1360, APID 1320, which is free-to-air, is also on air around the clock. 2M, the Moroccan TV channel which up to now has only been available via a C-Band transponder on Intelsat-706 at 53 degrees West in Secam, is to launch via a Hotbird digital stream at 12476MHz horizontal next month. The channel was briefly sighted carrying out tests on Hotbird in the Summer. TV de Galicia and Radio Galega seem to have left 12092MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. Two RTL variations, for Austria and Switzerland, have launched on 11604MHz horizontal, VPIDs 1000/1010, APIDs 1002/1012. Both streams are encoded in Cryptoworks.
10 degreesE:
Eutelsat W1
D – The Turkish news feeds from CHA have moved to 11591MHz vertical, SR 4200, FEC 3/4 from their previous home at 11581MHz vertical. A new StarDigital multiplex has launched on 11131MHz vertical, SR 14000, FEC 3/4 containing four active streams. They are: Star 1 Kid’s Time, Star 2 Lady Life, Star 3 Metro and Star Spor. All of these are currently free-to- air but will encode in the near future. Live action from the Italian Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Parma for Channel 4 was fed over 11078MHz horizontal, SR 5630, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256 in free-to-air MPEG-2 on December 10 at 13:00.
7 degreesE:
Eutelsat W3
D – There is a new Telia promo channel on 11473MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 210, APID 208 in clear MPEG-2. Following their recent claims of deliberate jamming whilst broadcasting from a Hotbird transponder National Iranian TV has started here at 11282MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 2522, APID 2542 in clear MPEG-2. Most recently the channel was using capacity on Telecom at 8 degrees West to reach European viewers. Live second-hop coverage from a soccer match in the African Cup Winners Cup 2000 championship between Zamalek in Egypt and Canon Yaounde from Cameroon was relayed on 11282MHz vertical, SR 27494, FEC 3/4, VPID 2521, APID 2541 in free-to-air MPEG-2 on December 10 at 15:00.
5 degreesE:
Sirius 2/3
D – TV3 Latvia has launched on 11881MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 5001, APID 5002 in clear MPEG-2. The launch of this Riga based channel marks the first regular satellite transmission from this country. TV3 Lithuania and RTL are also available via this transponder. Ombudskanalen is new on 12672MHz vertical, SR 6665, FEC 1/2, VPID 4130, APID 4096 in encoded MPEG-2. A new Internet service, Tele2 Internet via Satellite, has opened on 11996MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. At 15:00 on December 10 a live handball game from Denmark was fed over 12590MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, EPG: “DEN 14 4-2-0” in clear MPEG-2. The Swedish version of Big Brother was fed over 12605MHz vertical, SR 6109, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 4112 in clear MPEG-2 on December 10 at 17:10.
A – Shopping channel Quantum 24 has vacated 12437MHz horizontal from where it had been available in clear Pal.
3 degreesE:
Telecom 2C
D – This satellite is now empty of any users and is being moved to another, as yet unannounced, slot. Telecom-2C is already on the move westwards and was last measured at around 2 degrees West.
0.8 degrees/1 degreesW:
Thor 1, 2 & 3 & Intelsat 707
D – ORT International from Russia has left 12169MHz horizontal and has been replaced by a testcard. Radio City from Sofia, Bulgaria has opened on 12169 Hz horizontal, APID 680. The Asian channel B4U Music has vacated 12226MHz vertical. The Christmas Channel has joined the MCE line-up on 12456MHz vertical, SR 28000, FEC 3/4 via APID 789. Two Norwegian domestic television networks, NRK 1 and NRK 2 have launched on 12398 MHz horizontal, SR 26900, FEC 3/4, VPIDs 512/513, APIDs 640/644 in Viaccess encoded MPEG-2.
8 degreesW:
Telecom 2A/D
D – The German channel RTL is using capacity here to supply their regional variations to terrestrial relays via three SCPC carriers. At around 17:00 daily 11537MHz vertical relays RTL Schleswig-Holstein, 11543MHz vertical carries RTL Niedersachsen and 11550MHz vertical relays RTL Hesse. The parameters for all of these are; SR 4445, FEC 3/4. Some occasional feed traffic for GlobeCast Espana is using two streams on 11587MHz horizontal, VPIDs 771/772, APIDs 781/782 in free-to-air MPEG-2. Live coverage of the FA Cup match between Blackpool and Yeovil for Sky Sports was fed over 12594MHz vertical, SR 11797, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256 in clear MPEG-2 on December 10 at 13:00.
15 degreesW:
Telstar 12
D – The PIDs for the two Taiwanese channels, China Television News and Tzu Chi TV, on 12617 MHz horizontal have changed to V258/273, A259/274 respectively. The Polish Roman Catholic TV channel TV Niepokalanow has launched here via an SCPC carrier at 11600MHz vertical, SR 6146, FEC 3/4, VPID 4130, APID 4131 in free-to-air MPEG-2. The channel is using Telstar-12’s European beam. The parameters for the occasional feeds from LDS TV have changed to SR 4651, FEC 1/2.
18 degreesW:
Intelsat 705
A – The Italian TV programme Porta a Porta was fed live over 11134MHz vertical in clear Pal on December 6 at 19:00.
21.3 degrees/21.5 degreesW:
NSS-803 & NSS-K
D – Two NHL games were fed here on December 10 at around 01:00. One was Penguins vs. Maple Leafs on 11464MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 640, EPG: “Reuters DC” and the other could be seen on 11590MHz vertical (GlobeCast Channel 1), SR 20150, FEC 3/4, VPID 1160, APID 1120 which carried live action from the Bruins V Rangers game.
27.5 degreesW:
Intelsat 605
D – The two feeder services for the French terrestrial digital bouquet, Plate-Forme Bretagne, have left 11563MHz vertical and 11600MHz vertical. VTV4 from Vietnam has launched on 3730MHz RHCP, V3105, A3106 in clear MPEG-2 as part of the RR Communications platform alongside Thai TV International, TRT International and Channel of Hope TV. The Vietnamese channel has also opened via a Ku-Band feed here on 10979, which is an exact copy of the RR Communications digital platform on C-Band.
40.5 degreesW:
NSS-806
D – There is a new Pramer Cablevision multiplex on 3976MHz RHCP, SR 28125, FEC 5/6 containing nine streams which will serve Brazil and Argentina. They are GEMS TV – V512, A650, Film & Arts – V513, A660, Film & Arts Brasil – V514, A670, Rio de la Plata TV – V515, A680, Elgourmet.com – V561, A690, Magic DTH – V517, A700, Private Gold – V518, A710, Private Blue – V519, A720 and Canal (a) – V520, A730. TV Argentina and MusicCountry appear to have left 3636MHz RHCP. At present the stream is occupied by a MusicCountry graphic. In fact, MusicCountry has just started on 3725MHz RHCP, VPID 1281, APID 1282, where it has replaced TeleMusica.
43 degreesW:
PAS-3R & PAS-6
D – The New York radio station, WCBS Newsradio 88, has returned to 12636MHz horizontal via APID 1122 in free-to-air MPEG-2. At 20:20 on December 6 a caption with “NYSE Broadcast” was displayed on the Ad-Hoc stream from CBS on 12636MHz horizontal, SR 19844, FEC 7/8, VPID 1260, APID 1220 in free-to-air MPEG-2. This was the prelude to a live broadcast from Wall Street.
All times in UTC unless otherwise stated.
SR = Symbol Rate
FEC = Forward Error Correction
VPID = Video Programme Identifier
APID = Audio Programme Identifier