Latest News

TRANSPONDER MONITOR

By Staff Writer | October 10, 2001

      Interspace In-Depth Study Of European Satellite Activity, Compiled By Mike Fallon

      D = Digital
      A = Analogue

      75 degreesE:
      LMI 1
      D: Moscow’s TV6 has launched on 12610 MHz vertical, SR 5428, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 650 in clear MPEG-2.

      68.5 degreesE:
      PAS 7 & 10
      D: Occasional feed traffic from Pakistan for CBS and CNN is being carried via two streams on 11470 MHz horizontal, SR 10000, FEC 3/4, VPIDs 308/319, APIDs 256/267, IDs: ‘ISLAMABAD 1’ and ‘ISLAMABAD 2’ in free-to-air MPEG-2. B4U Movies India has replaced B4U Entertainment on 3836 MHz horizontal via PIDs V2560, A2520 in free-to-air MPEG-2. Maharishi Veda Vision is switching in and out of encryption on 3931 MHz vertical, SR 20000, FEC 3/4, VPID 768, APID 769.

      A: At 16:00 on September 29, live horse racing from an unknown location was fed over 12597 MHz vertical in clear NTSC with natural sound via the 6.80 MHz sub-carrier. The B Mac signal from the sports channel ESPN India has left 3863 MHz horizontal.

      62 degreesE:
      Intelsat 902
      A: Intelsat 902 has taken over duties from 602. All channels have been switched to the new craft and have retained the same parameters. Reception of the Iranian domestic TV channels – IRIB TV1 11174 MHz vertical, IRIB TV2 10998 MHz vertical, IRIB TV3 11096 MHz vertical and IRIB TV4 10964 MHz vertical has greatly worsened in the UK but is much improved in the Middle East.

      60 degreesE:
      Intelsat 604
      D: Armenia TV and Radio Armenia have left 11477 MHz vertical, SR 3000, FEC 3/4.

      53 degreesE
      Gorizont 32
      A: Two Russian radio services have joined ORT1 at 3675 MHz RHCP. They are Radio Rossii – 7.50 MHz and Radio Mayak – 8.46 MHz.

      Europe*Star 1
      45 degreesE
      D: This continues to be the place to watch the westbound feed traffic coming out of Pakistan and Tajikistan during the current crisis. Several streams are active 24 hours a day with almost continuous relays of live reports and feeds of recorded material for a wide range of the World’s major broadcasters. The frequencies to watch out for are; 11471 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V308, A256 – ‘CNN Islamabad’ or ‘CNN Quetta’; 11482 MHz vertical, SR 6110, FEC 3/4, V512, A4112; 11495 MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4; 11513 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4 – ‘APTN Islamabad’ & ‘APTN Dushanbe’; 11535 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V33, A34 – ‘ABC Islamabad’; 11544 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V33, A34 – ‘CBS Islamabad’; 11556 & 11565 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V308, A256 – ‘UKI44 NTL ENC 2’ & ‘UKI44 NTL ENC 1’ (mostly feed traffic from Islamabad for NHK Tokyo and TV Asahi); 11603 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4; 11657 & 11666 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ‘PATH 1 PAL 2Audio’ & ‘PATH 2, 2Audios’ (frequent feed traffic from Islamabad for BBC News, BBC News 24, BBC World and BBC Cymru); 11677 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4; 11684 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V33, A34 – ‘Service 2’, (Peshawar uplink for KBS Seoul, NHK Tokyo, CBC Canada, CNN Turk etc); 12523 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V308, A256; 12534 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4 and finally 12605 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V513, A256 – ‘UKI 685 Sky News 420’ from Bahrain and ‘Fox News Amman, Jordan’. When not in traffic colour bars overlaid with ‘FOX NEWS AMMAN JORDAN 625 LINES. Landline IFB: +871 762 214 383, Engineering Tel: +44 7801 343 855′ can be seen here. The SatVision promo continues to occupy 11617 MHz vertical, SR 3320, FEC 5/6, V4450, A4451 in clear MPEG-2. During the late afternoon of October 7 news of the first air strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar reached the West. Interestingly the only TV broadcaster providing live pictures from the Afghan capital Kabul was the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera, which can be found on Arabsat 2A & 3A, PAS 2, Eutelsat W4, Eurobird, Hotbird 3, Amos 1, Nilesat 101, PAS 9, Echostar 3 and Echostar 1. On October 3 live coverage of the Zimbabwe-V-England One Day cricket international from Harare was fed over 11512 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256, ID:’NEWSFORCE LF7’ in clear MPEG-2 for Sky Sports 2. Interestingly a live BBC Radio Four (Long Wave) commentary was carried from the ground on the right audio channel whilst the director’s talkback for the TV signal was audible on the left channel. This proved to be very entertaining at times and included plenty of expletives from the increasingly frustrated gallery. This relay was carried once again on October 6 for the second one day match.

      42 degreesE:
      Turksat 1C & Eurasiasat 1
      D:
      ATV test transmissions and Radyo Red have left the StarDigital multiplex on 11804 MHz vertical, SR 27512, FEC 7/8. In the same bouquet Ritmo Latino has changed PIDs to A4194. Kral TV is free-to-air at times on 12652 MHz horizontal, SR 22500, FEC 5/6, VPID 1000, APID 1001. The UK radio stations on 11804 MHz vertical, Capital Gold 1548, Heart 106.2 FM, PrimeTime Radio and The Storm are all now encoded. Lig TV appears to have left 12537 MHz horizontal.

      36 degreesE:
      Eutelsat W4 & Sesat
      D:
      CFN/CNBC Italia is carried on 12702 MHz horizontal, SR 3410, FEC 2/3, VPID 940, APID 941 in Cryptoworks encoded MPEG-2. The Serbian channel BK 063 Sat has left 12710 MHz vertical and has reappeared on 12680 MHz vertical, SR 3002, FEC 2/3, VPID 4194, APID 4195 in clear MPEG.

      30.5 degreesE:
      Arabsat 2B
      D:
      Al-Shabab TV has launched via an SCPC carrier at 12708 MHz horizontal, SR 4340, FEC 3/4, VPID 4130, A4131 in clear MPEG-2.

      28.5 degreesE:
      Eurobird
      D:
      The Dating Channel has left the Astra frequency of 11954 MHz horizontal and has appeared on 11535 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 2/3, VPID 2324, APID 2325 via Eurobird capacity. Sri Lanka TV is still free-to-air on 11661 MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 2/3, VPID 2314, APID 2315, ID:’UC Lanka’, Sky Ch. 681. The channel is expected to encode on or around October 14.Zee TV UK, Zee Cinema, Zee Music and Performance have all vacated 11662 MHz horizontal. Noello is new on 12507 MHz vertical, SR 2170, FEC 3/4, VPID 4194, APID 4195 in free-to-air MPEG-2. The greyhound racing channel, Go Barking Mad, has left 11681 MHz vertical. Red Hot Girls is a new offering from the Red Hot stable which includes the Red Hot Euro and Red Hot Amateur erotic channels. The new channel occupies 11662 MHz horizontal, VPID 2316, APID 2317, Sky Ch.992.

      28.2 degreesE:
      Astra 2A, 2B & 2D
      D: T
      here have been some PID changes on 12031 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 2/3. Lashkara TV is now V2321, A2323, TV Jobshop – V2311, A2313; Bid-Up TV – V2325, A2327 and ITN Radio – A2333. Irish channel Tara has new PIDs on 12265 MHz horizontal – V2313, A2314. Nick Test is new on 12363 MHz vertical, VPID 1306, APID 1306 in encoded MPEG-2. There are three Simply Shopping channels now on 12421 MHz horizontal. They are ‘Simply Shop+’ – V2308, A2309; ‘Simply Jewel’ – V2310, A2311 and ‘Simply Jewel+’ – V2312, A2313. Sky Welcome has vacated 12480 MHz vertical to be replaced by Sky Sports 1 via PIDs V2317, A2311 in Videoguard encoded MPEG-2. Premiership Plus has ceased the dual illumination on 12324 MHz vertical. The channel remains on 11758 MHz horizontal. To the delight of soccer fans the former frequency was free-to-air for a while. Sky MovieMax 5 is new on 10862 MHz horizontal, V2319, A2320. Sky Box Office Events has moved to 12070 MHz horizontal, VPID 2321, APID 2322 from its former home at 12148 MHz horizontal. In competition with Bid-Up TV, AuctionWorld dot TV is set to launch next month and will join the Sky Digital line-up. The new channel is expected to air from 16:00 to 00:00 daily. The Inspiration Network has vacated 12129 MHz vertical and relocated to 11585 MHz horizontal, V2319, A2321, a Eurobird transponder. On 12422 MHz horizontal a Home Shopping Europe UK promo has launched in clear MPEG-2 via PIDs V2314, A2315. As a consequence of the current crisis in Asia the BBC stream aimed at Pakistan and Afghanistan is being carried on the BBC multiplex on 11797 MHz via APID 2339, ID:’BBC World Service Extra’. Whereits.at TV, SBN and Shop America have launched on 12344 MHz horizontal. Liberty TV on 12344 MHz horizontal has undergone a name change and is now known as Life TV.

      26 degreesE:
      Arabsat 2A & 3A
      D:
      The signal strength for Iraq TV on 11950 MHz vertical has dropped considerably over the past few days. The Asian music channel, Channel V International, in addition to Star Movies Middle East and The History Channel have left 11996 MHz horizontal for a few days last week but have now returned. Two radio stations, Bahrain FM and Bahrain General Programme, have joined Bahrain TV, Aden Radio, Syria Satellite Channel and Imarat FM on 11766 MHz horizontal in free-to-air MPEG-2.

      A: Radio Amman FM has launched on the back of the Jordan Satellite Channel at 12578 MHz vertical via the 7.74 MHz audio sub-carrier.

      19.2 degreesE:
      Astra 1A-C & E-H, Astra 2C
      D:
      Five new channels have launched on 11914 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. They are Fox News Channel – V1023, A1024; Fox Sports Europe/Fox Kids Europe – V767, A768; N24 – V255, A256 and Sky News – V511, A512. All are in clear MPEG-2. ESC 1, TV7 Tunisie and RTM 1 have left 10788 MHz vertical. Animal Planet Hungary has launched on 11992 MHz horizontal, V163, A90 in Cryptoworks encoded MPEG-2.

      A: The analogue signal from Sky One has finally left 11318 MHz vertical. The channel had been available here in Videocrypt encoded Pal. This marks the end of BSkyB’s analogue service. IBC Tamil Radio has launched on 11421 MHz horizontal via the 7.38 MHz sub-carrier on the back of MTV 2.

      16 degreesE:
      Eutelsat W2
      D:
      Another new private Italian TV channel has arrived within the Italian package on 12608 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 1660, APID 1620. It is TV Antonia, which appears to feature tarot card readings for telephone callers for most of the day, in common with many of the independent Italian channels available on satellite. On 12680 MHz vertical, SR 3000, FEC 3/4, VPID 2160, APID 2120 a Romania Cultural testcard has appeared in clear MPEG-2. The Fox News Channel has vacated 11084 MHz horizontal

      13 degreesE:
      Hotbird 1/2/3/4/5
      D:
      Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Pink Plus and Radio Pink are encoded once again on 12476 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 after enjoying some time in the clear. Radio station FM Italia has left the Croatian package on 12520 MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. The free-to-air Alpha Cinema promo channel has left 10949 MHz vertical. A Big Brother Poland mosaic channel has replaced TVN on 11128 MHz horizontal, VPID 513, APID 660, encoded in Conax. The Voice of Russian Jewry has left 12597 MHz vertical once again. The French radio station, Radio Framboise Nord is carrying out test transmissions on 12476 MHz horizontal via APID 996. Canale Lavoro, the Italian channel for jobseekers, has officially launched on 11766 MHz vertical, VPID 516, APID 654 in clear MPEG-2. The channel airs from 17:00-21:00. Fox Kids has replaced K-TV Hellas on 11823 MHz horizontal, V521, A741 in the Nova package. RAI Edu Lab is new on 11766 MHz vertical via PIDs V517, A655. Italian radio station Radio Ceccetto has launched on 12245 MHz horizontal, APID 326 in free-to-air MPEG-2. Home Shopping Europe Italia has left 11096 MHz horizontal and has been replaced by Noello via PIDs V4194, A4195 in clear MPEG. The German regional channel TV NRW has started regular programming on 11604 MHz horizontal, V111, A112. Eurosport News Poland has replaced Eurosport in the Cyfra+ package at 10719 MHz vertical, VPID 164, APID 96 in Mediaguard encoded MPEG-2.

      5 degreesE:
      Sirius 2/3
      D:
      B4U Movies Middle East is currently free-to-air in the Kingston TLI package on 12053 MHz horizontal, SR 18052, FEC 3/4, VPID 800, APID 801. 12685 MHz horizontal, SR 3400, FEC 3/4, VPID 4194, APID 4195 is sporting a new Realitatea TV testcard. NTV Russia has launched a free-to-air service on 12380 MHz horizontal, VPID 50, APID 51. Unfortunately the channel is likely to encrypt in the near future.

      0.8 degrees/1 degreesW:
      Thor 1, 2 & 3 & Intelsat 707
      D:
      There is an ArtSat test card present on 12169 MHz horizontal, V519, A668 in free-to-air MPEG-2. The channel is set to launch in the very near future. Urdu language channel Anjuman TV has replaced ETC Channel Punjabi, which launched recently on 11174 MHz horizontal, VPID 519, APID 648 in clear MPEG-2. The Danish version of The Discovery Channel has opened on 11229 MHz horizontal, V1200, A1201 using Conax encryption.

      A: Some more D2 Mac closures this time. On 11292 MHz horizontal Canal+ Norge has been switched off. The D2 Mac Telenor captions on 10999 MHz vertical, 11203 MHz vertical, 11792 MHz vertical and 11938 MHz RHCP have all left their respective slots. DR Klassisk has vacated 11485 MHz horizontal.

      7 degreesW:
      Nilesat 101 & 102
      D:
      The Kuwait Satellite Channel has been joined by two Kuwaiti domestic TV channels, Kuwait TV 3 and TV4, on 11823 MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. All three channels are free- to-air. Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV has launched on 11900 MHz vertical, VPID 3011, APID 3012 in clear MPEG-2. Al-Mehwer TV has officially launched at 11823 MHz vertical, VPID 1004, APID 1013.ART Al-Manahig, Iqraa Channel and the Jordan Satellite Channel are temporarily free-to-air on 12034 MHz horizontal. Sci-Fi has entered a stream share with CNBC on 12073 MHz horizontal, V3092, A3093 in Irdeto encoded MPEG-2. Sci-Fi airs from 21:00-02:00.

      8 degreesW:
      Telecom 2A/D
      D:
      SaluteBenessere TV has left 12691 MHz vertical, SR 2892, FEC 3/4 and has moved to Express 3A at 11 degrees West. The Italian channel Studio Europa has vacated 12701 MHz vertical, SR 2498, FEC 2/3 and has also moved to Express 3A.

      10.2 degreesW (Temporary slot)
      Atlantic Bird 2
      This, the newest of Eutelsat’s rapidly expanding, was launched from Kourou at 23:21 on September 25. Atlantic Bird 2, which is temporarily parked here prior to moving into its designated slot at 8 degrees West, will provide coverage from the East coast of the United States in the West to Kazakhstan and Pakistan in the East in the frequency ranges 10950- 11700 MHz and 12500-12750 MHz. The new satellite’s sister craft, Atlantic Bird 1, will be launched in the first quarter of next year and will be positioned at 12.5 degrees West.

      11 degreesW:
      Express 3A
      D: SaluteBenessere TV has opened on 11540 MHz vertical, SR 2892, FEC 3/4, VPID 930, APID 931 in clear MPEG-2.
      Studio Europa is new on 11546 MHz vertical, SR 2498, FEC 2/3, VPID 900, APID 901, ID:’2Mb 1 Mo352PX’. Shopping channel Elefante Telemarket has launched on 11638 MHz vertical, SR 2498, FEC 2/3, V210, A211, ID:’3Mb 1 Mo352px’.

      15 degreesW:
      Telstar 12
      D:
      There is a new ‘VYVX New York’ testcard on 12608 MHz horizontal, V4129, A4130. Video Italia has vacated 11732 MHz horizontal.

      21.3 degrees/21.5 degrees
      W: NSS 803 & NSS K
      D:
      Transmission of CRTV from the African country of Cameroon has been suspended. Apparently the channel has failed to make payment for satellite uptime. CRTV used 4055 MHz RHCP, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 125, APID 135.

      30 degreesW:
      Hispasat 1A/B/C
      D:
      In the Cabo multiplex for Portugal on 11811 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 5200, APID 5201 SIC Gold is currently free-to-air. Canal Parlamentario, which relays proceedings from the Spanish parliament in Madrid, has launched on 12711 MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 4112, APID 4113 in free-to-air MPEG-2. A new Zaragoza TV promo has launched on 11931 MHz via PIDs V4750, A4751 hailing an imminent launch from this Spanish independent regional channel. New at 11642 MHz vertical, SR 2268, FEC 3/4 in free-to-air MPEG-2 are TV Amistad and Radio Amistad via PIDs V779, A789 and 768.

      34.5 degreesW:
      Intelsat 601
      D:
      The occasional feeds for Muslim TV Amhadiyya which occupied 10967 and 10975 MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4 have left.

      A: Muslim TV Amhadiyya International, the sole regular analogue signal here, has left 11009 MHz vertical from where it had been broadcast in clear Pal.

      43 degreesW:
      PAS 3R & PAS 6
      D:
      A Fox News feed stream has opened within the Fox multiplex on 12578 MHz horizontal, V1160, A1120, ID: ‘Fox News Edge’ in clear MPEG-2.