19_April-1981.compressed.pdf - The Old CATV Equipment ...
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Transcript of 19_April-1981.compressed.pdf - The Old CATV Equipment ...
AVCOM COM 3-R
ANYl{AYYOU TOOKAT ITOOOADM HASYOURANTENNA!
AND YOUR TVRO SYSTEM. Rapid del iveryon ADM's super-eff ic ient 1 1 foot polar mountantenna ( includes remote control led polariza-t ion rotat ion system as wel l !) , plus, packagesare avai lable for complete systems includingLNA, 24 channel tuneable receiver andcabl ing . Why wai t in a long l ine when you canget the best, today!
A SUPER TVRO ANTENNA SYSTEM. Highqual i ty panel ized a luminum 11 foot d ish andsteel polar mount. Dish weighs approximate-ly 200 pounds, mount 265 pounds. Precisiondesigned, easy instal lat ion, zinc chromatebase pr imed and heavy duty whi te top f in ish.The rotat ing feed is standard ! Easi ly shippedand insta l led. Choice openings for dealersand d is t r ibutors .
hi\\
\\. ' - . - ' \- l
I \- lE \rtF \r r \
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nt0nnal feuelopment &l l lanufactur i rg, lnc
P.0. Box 1178Poolar Bluff , Mo. 63901
(1-31 4-785-5988)
i ' l
st.r Ih l iF ' :
T2-4/81
cooP'sCOMMENT ONTECHNOLOGY
DOING IT RIGHTReturn ing to Oklahoma on March 1 7th to put together th is
issue of the Dlgest RickSchner ingerwas doing a 'data-dump'on me in the 5O minute ride from the airport. As we pulled overthe last h i l lw i th the Arcadia antenna farm on the hor izon hesaid, as an aside, "Thore ls eomethlng nsw in the yard". Iinnocently asked what it might be just as we topped the lastridge.
There square in front of the house, right where I never couldget grass to grow something new had been planted; a ten footdiameter SATFINDER dish. The site is perhaps 75 feet fromthe world's f irst private (l icensed) terminal; the 20 foot mon-ster we installed more than four years ago. Rick beganbubbling about how wonderful it was to have a dish thattracked 11 satell i tes at the push of a keyboard entry com-mand. As we both bounded out of the car David MacZura, theyoungman whodeveloped th isunique systemcame outof thehouse to greet us. David knew I was going to be in town and hewas on hand to show me how it worked.
Rlck bought thls dlsh for hlmself. The old 20 footermoves all r ight, but 'with diff iculty'. You don't go out andchase around the sky with it. I had visited with David inHouston where he first showed his automatic tracking sys-tem and wrote about it in the January CSD. I was impressedthen. I am even more impressed now.
MacZura started out by attending the Miami SPTS. He wenthome, to Tulsa, determined to be an install ing dealer ofterminals. Aftera number of false starts with various suppliershe decided nobody really had their act together in theantenna department so he set out to design one he couldmanufacture and sell (with receivers and LNAs he buys as adealer) in the mid-west. He now has perhaps 75 installationsin and operating. They are not cheap Installatlons; startingat $9,000 and going up to $16,000. Most of those sold werefor the top dollar.
Why, in a day and time when you can piece together the bitsand par ts fora home terminal forsay$25OOwould anyone go
out and pay $9,OOO or (shudder) $16,000 for an lnetalledterminal. ls pouring concrete and hooking up some wire worththat much extra?
I played with the SATFINDER f or several hours. Rememberthis old boy has seen more satell i te television than probablyanyone else in the world today. This old boy first proved that1 0 f oot d ishes wi l l work back in 1 978;coinc identa l ly on a p ipemount less than 60 feet away from where the SATFINDERnow sits l ike a proud statute in the front of the Schneringerhousehold. This old boy had to be torn away from theSATFINDER hours later and forced back to workon the AprilCSD because every hour in Oklahoma had been apportionedbefore I hit the ground here.
I l ike David MacZura. He is a br ight young man wi th a sol idhead on h is shoulders. His SATFINDER product is as f ine asanyth ing I have everworked wi th in e lect ronics. In anyf ie ld. l thas been carefu l ly thought out so that even a l i t t le o ld ladywho has d i f f icu l ty d ia l ing a push but ton te lephone can swingthe remote contro l led antenna f rom Fl on the west to D3 onthe east and stop at any of the 1 1 geostationary satell i tesalong the way. Automatically on command, perfectly, with noglitches or problems. MacZura has learned a lesson I hopeothers wil l learn, soon. And that is that quality costs morein i t ia l ly but in the long run i t br ings resul ts which mul t ip lymanyfo ld. I doubt David has any unhappy customers in those75 insta l la t ions he 's done to date. He rout inely g ives custo-mers the opportuni ty to 'update ' thei r remote contro l leddishes wi th newer innovat ions. He commented that updat ingof o lder terminals accounted for $100,000 in addi t ionalsales for h im in the past s ix months or so. I cannot imagineany unhappy customer paying even a d ime more for some-th ing he d idn ' t l ike.
MacZura 's ten foot d ish wi th an Ampl ica LNA (120) andAVCOM receiver z ipped me through 57 act ive t ranspondersin less than three minutes t ime. l t produced bet ter p ic turesfrom ANIK B down here in Oklahoma (per fect on f ive v ideotransponders) than I have ever seen here on our 20 footer.
Yes, there are less expensive systems around. But I havenever been as impressed with the way a total package worksas I was with this one. David MacZura and company are to becongratu lated because they have res is ted the temptat ion todo something for less money; and they have the guts to say'We only sel l the best" . And then mean i t . David does; he g ivesa 'satisfaction or your mongy back' guarantee with eachinsta l la t ion. So far he hasn' t had any takers on return ing thecustomer's money.
This industry needs more David MacZuras. l t needsq ual i ty products that work so wel l the customercannot wai t toshow i t o f f to the whole neighborhood. That is what wi l l makehomesats real ly take of f ; thousands, no tens of thousands ofdedicated v iewers who wi l l f ight for the cont inued r ight toenjoy in thei r home unrestr ic ted sate l l i te te lev is ion. DavidMacZura and company w i l l be i n Wash ing ton a t SPTS '81 .A t tend h i s 'The Dea le r D i l emma" sem ina r sess ion and f i ndout for yoursel f why doing i t r ight is the best way to go!
COOP'S
'l
COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTv
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POLAR MOUNTFOR ALL
SEASONS
THE MODIF IED POLAR MOUNTIn the search for the per fect antenna mount , the polar
mount is of ten suggested as being the best . However, aseveryone soon d iscovers, a t rue polar mount can' t see anysate l l i tes unless you happen to l ive on the equator . As f lgure1 shows, a t rue polar mount has an ax is of rotat ion paral le l tothe ear th 's ax is . But for most locat ions th is causes theantenna to look ovor the sate l l i tes, which are re lat ive ly c loseto the ear th in ast ronomical terms.
The f l rs t a t tempt to correct the polar mount 's fa i l ings isi l lust rated in F igure 2. Here the ax is has been t i l ted down sothat the anten na points d i rect ly at the sate l l i te . Now, however,rotat ing the antenna on i t 's ax is causes i t to in tersect thesate l l i te bel t in one or at most two locat ions, depending on theamount of t i l t . This method can work adequate ly i f a l l thedesi red sate l l i tes are fa i r ly c lose together . Glbson's Navi -gator 's Manual suggests ways to adiust th is mount to t ry tosee the desi red sate l l i tes. But no amount of t r imming canmake th is mount work for a l l v is ib le sate l l i tes by rotat ion oni t 's s ingle ax is .
The next at tempted improvemont might be to leave theaxis para l le l to the ear th 's ax is , but t l l t the antonna down onthe ax is . This is i l lust rated in F igurs 3. Not ice that rotat ing theantenna on i t 's ax is now t races a conical sur face. The inter-sect ion of th is conical su r face wi th the equator ia l p lane wou ldbe a c i rc le centered on the antenna axis , Again, by adjust-ment of the antenna angle, per fect a l ignment can be ob-ta ined at one or at most two sate l l i te locat ions. In tu i t ive ly i tseems that the errors at other locat ions for th is conf igurat ionwould be less than those of F igure 2. The maximum erroroccurs i f we would t ry to look at sate l l i te 52. ( Ih is assumes theearth does not at tenuate 4 GHz; not very pract ica l ! )
l f we declde that the per fect mount would a l ign on a l lsate l l i tes, even those on the far s ide of the ear th: and wecombined our prev ious at tempts, we have the modi f ied polarmount i l lust rated in F igure 4. Here we have taken the t i l tedantenna f rom Figure 3 and combined i t wi th the t i l ted ax is ofF igure 2. Once again rotat ing the antenna on i t 's ax is wi l lt race a conical sur face. But th is t ime the in tersect ion of th is
by
Ronald Wal tner353 North KenyonInd ianapo l i s , l nd iana4621 9
TVRO enthusiast Wal tner has been supply ing low-cost ($2)geostat ionary sate l l i te a iming char ts (computer der ived) forseveral years now. His antenna point ing char ts , referenced inSTT's 'Home Sate l l i te Handbook' , have proved very popularand CSD recommends the se rv i ce .
T3-4/81
F I G U R E O N EN
FIGURE TWO
FIGURE THREEN
FIGURE FOURN
T4-4/81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
Axis
a:Lat i tudea*A:Axis/Earth AngleF:Antenna/Axis AngleB*A:"Look Angle" Referred to Axis
Antenna Surface
A + F + 9 0 " + B : 1 8 0 'F:1 SOqA-90%B:90o-B-A
h : r e s i n a . ,;:,;'(+ ) l;';"o'*B+A:D-A
t(+)
rs+l
FIGURE F IVE
2A:D-BA:
conical surlace with the equatorial plane wil l be an ell lpsebecause the axis is not perpendicular to the plane. lmmed-iately this tells us that once again we do not have the perfectmount since the satell i te belt is clearly circular. The errors forthis method should be less than the previous methods,however, so let's try some calculations.
The key polnt to remember is that our antenna is mountedat a fixed angle to the axis of rotation. Thus in Figure 4 wehave ti l ted our axis to make look angles to S1 and 52 equalwith respect to our axis
Now we are ready to do some calculations using the moredetailed drawing of Flgure 5. The only variable is the obser-ver's latitude,oc. The system constants are the radius of theearth, rs, an the radius of the satell i te belt, rs. We need tocalculate the angle A, which is how farwe ti l t our axis from atrue polar axis, and the angle F, which is the angle betweenthe antenna and axis.
F i rs t we f ind the requi red d is tancesh and l :
h:ro sin cc| :ri cos a
Now we can calculate the angles B and D. Not ice that thehorizontal distance to 31 is rs -/ and to 52 is r5+ f . Then:
B : tan -r , rs- 1,,
' h
ro+ /D : t a n - l ( : ' )
n
Recall that the axis to satell i te look angles must be thesame to 51 and 52. Therefore, B*A must equal D:A. So:
Summlng the angles around the le f t s ide of the ver t ica l l inethrough the antenna locat ion:
A+F+90 '+B : 180 .F :180' - A-90 ' -B : 9o ' -A-B
We now have all the data necessary to set up our antenna.Our antenna axis forms an angle of€+Awith respect to theearth at our locat ion. The antenna has an addi t ional t i l t o f Fwith respect to the axis.
Referr ing to F lgures 6 and 7 we wi l l ca lculate ourmaximum error . The maximum error would occur 90 ' f rom Sl ,but for ease of calculation we'l lf igure the errorfor location 53.
From Figure 6 we get the distance 11: 11:
T5-4/81
Elliptical Path FTGURE StXTraced ByModifiedPolar
Circular Orbitof Satell i tes
Mount
tt:\,G72
MODIFIED POLAR MOUNT
Dish toAxis Angle
/\Axis of Rotation
View "A"
+ North
A fixed axis angle and fixed dish/axis angle allows the modified polar mount antenna to "see" the entiregeosynchronous satell i te orbit belt by rotation on the single axis. When properly aligned, the maximum "look-angle" error is less than 0.05".
A polar mount has a dish/axis angle of zero. Drawing is for northern hemisphere; swap north and south andeast and west in southern hemisphere.
r6-4/81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
5 FFIilf j FFII{Ilr? REt'l TEST 0F 4ADIFIEI.. PPLflR flt?l.,|{I En,.r,?II,l,Y5l'O PE = 3444iR5 = EEleid:PI = 3. 1415-qildi-9:[. iR - LS0 ,r FIpF PRIiJf "LnT".. "Ffff-q".,oFI5H,./Ftfff5"., "{ l:"., nERFt?R"; PRINTTI. PRINT30 Fc'lrQ f = 5 I0 b'5 .sfEF 5; LF = I / DR"10 H = frf' .s: SI|J t'LB.l: L = RE $ t:t?s {Lr?"}50 F = nTH { i f i '_q - L.) , . 'H): f } s ,?fru ((RS + L) , / H.)gCl B = 1.'O - B,l ,./ ir-I t l E L = 8 + J ' ?1 5 F = 9 & ' r ' O R - F - Fs0 tl = HTN ( s-t]R (fi '-\-.* R-q - L * L) ,. 'H)9t? FF' INI L, l $ OR,{LF + F) * OF' ,F s OR,r l * OR,{C - Et) * DF'IT?F I/EA'IIlF FRII{I : FFIilf ; PRIlrlItEE PE'Ii/f .., "II?8LE I": PRIIrII : PRIfff : PRINT : PRIilf
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TFFI.E I
3)The s implest catculat ion possib le for ax is rotat ion - mere-ly subtract longi tudes.
- 1 r t : t " n - 1 V G F
Er ro r : C_ (B+A) F IGURE SEVEN
LOW COST3-4 GHz
OSCILLATOR
Bui lders or designers of low cost pr ivate terminal receiversmay f ind the osci l la tor c i rcu i t shown here of va lue. This uni t
v
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Osc i l la to r t rans is to r TP393or s imi la r . Ra ised spot onpackage ind ica tes co l lec to rlead
Size o f base pad de ter rnesf requency o f osc i l la t ion .Here shown d iv ided in tos e g m e n t s , l i n k e d w i t h w i r eto se t f requency . A l te rna-t i ve ly use a 'G iga t r im ' capac-itor.
w i l l p roduce 1O mW of ou tpu t power in the 3 to 4 GHz range.The osc i l la to r cou ld be mod i f ied w i th hyper -abrupt tun ingvaractors i f you can locate same in microstr ip packaging so i twou ld be a tuneab le h igh LO. As i t i s shown here you ahve are la t i ve ly inexpens ive way to genera te a s tab le s igna l o fsu f f i c ien t ampl i tude to d r ive your h igh mixer down to asecond mixer ( th rough a h igh lF s t r ip ) o r use i t w i th a tuneab lesecond LO opera t inq be tween 5OO and 1500 MHz.
+ . l 2 V s u p p l y
A C T I V E B I A S C I R C U I T
By Steve J. Bi rk i l lGrenoside. Shef f ie ldEngland
Col lec to r b ias pad, decoup-l e d w i t h o n e 4 . 7 p F a n d o n eI OOpF capac i to r
Copper fo i l shor t ing p la tedetermines length o f ou tpu ts h u n t s t u b , d i m e n s i o n Y
5O-ohm outpu t l ine . F ix SMAconnector here , o r con t inued i rec t to mixer
Base b ias pad, decoup ledw i t h o n e 4 . 7 p F a n d o n el OO0pF ch ip capac i to r
P la ted- th ru ho les , o r th ru-b o a r d g r o u n d i n g p i n s , i nl m m h o l e s .
Tota l cos t shou ld be in the $10 range. The osc i l la to rt r a n s i s t o r c a n b e a T P 3 8 3 , T P 4 9 1 , B F R 9 0 , B F R 9 1 , B F W 9 2 ,M RF901 (w i th one emi t te r lead cu t o f f ) and so on . l f you se lec ta t rans is to r w i th a h igher F t you w i l l need a la rger base pad( tuned l ine length X) to ho ld the f requency down. The typ ica lrange is f rom 5 to 1 5 mm, or use a G iga t r im t r im mer capac i to rf r o m t h e e n d o f a 5 m m l i n e t o g r o u n d . T h e s h o r t i n g p i e c e(d imens ion Y) i s moved about by the bu i lder to maxrmizeo u t p u t p o w e r w h i l e s t i l l m a i n t a i n i n g s t a b i l i t y . T h e d i m e n s i o n sg iven are cor rec t fo r 1 /32" (0 .031 inch) board w i th a d ie lec t r i ccons tan t in the 2 .3 to 2 .6 reg ion (most Duro id board w i l l dojus t f ine) .
The capac i to rs on the RF board are ceramic ch ips . The feedchokes are a s ing le s t rand f rom s t randed connect ion w i re , aquar te r wave length long. The b ias ing c i rcu i t i s bu i l t up on asepara te board and the d imens ions are no t c r i t i ca l . The b iast rans is to r can be any s i l i con PNP dev ice .
l f you re la ly want to exper iment w i th the c i rcu i t coup le asu i tab le tun ing varac tor (h igh-Q hyper -abrupt junc t ion type)t o t h e s h o r t e n e d b a s e l i n e a n d v o l t a g e t u n e o v e r a 5 O O M H zspan thereby rep lac ing the expens ive and o f ten d i f f i cu l t toobta in WO.
O U R C O V E R -US sa te l l i te te lev is ion marches south . The resu l ts a re
f i n a l l y c o m i n g i n ; w e l l d e s i g n e d , c a r e f u l l y i n s t a l l e d s i x t o e i g h tm e t e r a n t e n n a s y s t e m s a r e p r o d u c i n g h i g h q u a l i t y p i c t u r e sas fa r sou th as Maraca ibo (Venezue la) and nor thern Co lum-b ia . CSD surveys what th is means to the deve lop ing pr iva tete rmina l indus t ry in the USA in a ser ies o f spec ia l repor ts inth is i ssue. Fron t cover photo cour tesy o f Hero Communica-t ions ; the i r s ix meter mesh sur face d ish now produc ingf law less o ic tu res we l l down in to the Car ibbean.
SATELLITE DICEST T7 -4 /81
tt 'V
LAYOUT OF OSCILLATOR BOARD Base and co l lec to r feedchokes are quar te r -wave-length o f th in copper w i re .
T8-4/81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
t s, I r
I . I I I
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G . I - -Y 4ILt-t- v--
rI ]Y'EiF7E\D-
s t ' ! \-,8" r3 , \a . \ i
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PRACTICAL FIELDRESULTS FROM,DEEP SOUTH'TVRO TESTING
HARD RESULTS AT LASTAl though some res idents of the Car ibbean, Centra l Amer i -
ca and nor thern South Amer ica had journ ied to the states toat tend SPTS Oklahoma (August 1929), SPTS Miami (Feb-ruary 1980), and even SPTS San Jose (July 1980) only ahandfu l seemed wi l l ing to take the f inancia l and t ime r isksinvolved with being the flret in their area to try US satell i te re-ception. We had some preliminary results way back last Mayand June (see CSD for both months); but these results werelargelywith the COMSTAR D3 bird and then only on those sixt ransponderswhich were at that t ime operat ing wi th a34 dBwboresight signal centered on San Juan, puerto Rico. The re-sul ts wi th antennas as smal l as 12 feet were qui te good butunfortunately the amount of television programming trans-mi t ted on the San Juan beam is min imah perhaps s ix to tenhours. per week Logic suggested that nobody was going toinstall terminals for such a small amount of television berweeK
Way back last summer, when Bob Luly showed us hisumbrella antenna at San Jose, we got Bob,s promise thatwhen a 15 footer was avai lable we'd get the f i rs t one. Weintended to pack i t in to a two engine a i rp lane and tourthroughout the Car ibbean et a l seeing iust what could bedone in the 'outback areas ' . Numerous SpTS at tendees andCSD readers in this part of tne world read of our plans andpromptly invited us to'stop by'. We had the it inerary f i l led upby September...but no antenna f rom Luly. Lacking an easilytransported antenna we saw no point in heading south.
Pressures meanwhi le were mount ing on those suppl ierswho had the know how to deal in these regions; Bob Behar inparticularwas getting several serious inquiries perweek frompeople who said "the cost does not matter... lf i t works". Thatremained a substantial it of course. Behar went so far as toseriously consider transporting a petal type parabolic of 1 6feet diameter from country to country and battl ing the cus-toms and f reight forwarding agents at each stop. But while anantenna can package reasonably small the mount required isquite another matteI and Behar wisely dropped the proiectaf ter decid ing what should be a ten day t r ip could easi lystretch out to a month or more. The key remained to get ourhands on a Luly antenna of suf f ic ient d iameter to makemeaningf u l measurement tests.
Whi le we were wai t ing for the proper equipment , otherswere setting out to take that f inancial and time risk. Theysimply wanted to know what could be done. Peoole l ike Bil lLarsen (see GSD f ront cover for March 1 980; page T1 4 sameissue) rolled up their sleeves and went to work. These werepeople who were ser ious enough to be put t ing together f i rs tclass installations uti l izing some pretty big antenn-as.
Up to the time of the data to be reported here, fromColumbia and Venezuela i t d id not look good. The b i rd ofprey was of course Fl. Test results f rom Bermuda (with a lowlook angle in the 1O degree region) were d isappoint ing. l t
t :# - { .bfr
II
IBOB LULY UMBRELI-A ANTENNA . burn ing up the a i r -waves during a test by Coop and Bob Behar'ln SouthernFlor lda ln mld-February.
looked l ike noth ing smal ler than ten meters would do the job.The Bahamas mls- lead many of us for awhi le . We al readyknew f rom more than 1 O0 insta l la t ions that southern Flor idawas 'spotty' and if you wanted to be sure of soarklie freepictures you were planning to put in 1 8-20 footers there. yetin several cases people wi th antennas as smal l as 13 feetwere gettlng nolse free plctures from Fl in the eame areasof south Flor ida. Most of us b lamed'r idging ' for the st range-ness of south Flor ida resul ts . Out another 1OO-150 mi ieseast, in the Bahamas, those who started with 13 footers wereuniversally in the noise. One 1 6 footer brought everything butt ransponder 21 out of the noise but i t looked l ike 18-20footers were going to be required there as well.
When Coop landed in the Turks and Caicos in la te summerwi th just an 1 1 foot ADM to work wi th h is in i t ia l resul ts on Flfe l l in to the Bahamian pat tern; and wi th the Turks and Caicosanother 400-500 mi les fur ther east and south than theBahamas i t real ly looked l ike people another 800-1400 mi lesfur ther south (Venezuela and Columbia) were going to be inbig trouble with any practlcal size antenna.
The f irst break came f rom two sources; one was the HectorPosada insta l la t ion in Medel l in , Columbia (see CSD for Feb-ruay 1980, page p6) , When we last ta lked about Hector hehad his homebrew 28 footer checked out on COMSTAR D3and GHORIZONT and INTELSAT tV-A but had not got tenaround to Fl yet. Just days before another group, using a 8.3meter ref lector salvaged from an old terrestrialscatter l ink inMaracaibo, Venezuela would locate F2 and then F1, Hectorfinally did locate Fl. What he found was almost too good to betrue. Using a 1 20 degree Kelvin LNA, a Chaparral feed and an
COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTolder s ty le Microdyne 1100 TVR receiver Hector foundthreshold or above s ignals on Fl t ransponders 2,6,10,14 and22. He a lso found an equal level s ignal on SATCOM F2,transponder 8 (the NBG network channel used to relayprograms between Los Angeles and New York). Apparentlythe same day, hours after Hector, a group of technicians whohad been working f irst with a 1 2 footer (successfu I results onD3) got a feed f i t ted on a 28 footer . Loading i t wi th a 100degree LNA and a Scientif ic Atlanta receiver, this group f irstfound F2 and the t ransponder 8 (NBC) s ignal . They measureda 7.0 dB carrier to noise ratio; about what you might expectwi th a ten footer and a 1 20 LNA In Tenneseee or Utah.Excited they wrestled the antenna further west looking for Fl.
Meanwhi le others wi th decent equipment and a combina-tion of f irst t imer luck and/or some skil ls were getting signalsin Jamaica and Costa Rica. A s ix meter insta l la t ion in Jamaicafound the twin WESTAR birds first; every transponder theytuned in wi th a 100 degree LNA on thei r Hero Communica-tions six meter and Washburn receiver was well abovethreshold. They too ran through SATCOM Fl l and found theNBC feed on t ransponder 8; above threshold. The next s topwas Fl where af ter some al ignment d i f f icu l t ies they too foundat or above threshold pictures on virtually all of the verticaland horizontal transponders.
Why were the 'posi t ive ' resul ts sudder ly coming in? Seem-ingly a l l a t once! l t appears whi le many scat tered f rom theeastern Caribbean across northern South America northwardthrough Centra l Amer ica were awai t ing the p lanned t r ip wi th
T9-4/81
Luly 's 5 foot umbrel la antenna others had decided to 'do i tthemselves ' .The Larsen antenna pro ject in Puerto Rico hadbeen under way s ince Bi l l f i rs t a t tended SPTS'79 in Okla-homa. l t took h im a year to get i t a l l together on paper andthen hundreds of hours of man power to assemble the b igspher ica l . In Jamaica the November e lect ions resul ted in arapid change in the local business envi ronment and th is new'positive attituoe' brought out some investor funds. Todaythere are geveral s ix meter terminals in operat ion in thecountry and at least one is a l ready provid ing US te lev is ionservice to a tourist hotel there. Plans to carry the service intothe a in ivaves, us ing scrambled t ransmiss ions, are movingahead rapid ly . The Posada antenna in Columbia, l ike theLarsen, had been under construct ion for some t ime. Hectorat tended SPTS'80 in Miami and went home determined tobr ing sate l l i te W to h is country. Perhaps the key resul tshowever came f rom Maracaibo, Venezuela. This was anAmer ican ef for t ; a group f rom a major US oi l company wi thaccess to funds and hardware and technology were deter-mined to exhaust the possib i l i t ies before g iv ing up. Once themodif ied tropo scatter parabolic antenna was outfitted for4 GHz the rest bacame surpr is ingly s imple.
Based upon these resul ts the s ignals that are apparent lypresent, at least in those locations where we have f ield obser-vat ions, are surpr is ingly good. The r ldglng may not be assevere as we ant ic ipated in the western Car ibbean or in theColumbia-Venezuela region a l though i t cer ta in ly is not ice-able in the southern Flor ida/Bahamas region. The assump-t ion had been that i f i t was showing up so c loso to the
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DIAGRAM ONE
A - Above threshold 50% of more ofFl t ransponders wi th 1 00" LNA, 5meter
B - Above threshold 50% or more Fltransponders with 1 00" LNA, 6meter
C - Above threshold 50% or more Flt ranspond€rs, wi th 100' LNA, 8meler
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1.2 dB LOWER SATELLITEEIRP MINIMUMS!
l f you buy a 100 'K LNA and a t rue 7.0 dBthreshold receiver with your Paraframe antennayou wil l enjoy threshold equall ing reception withthe fo l lowing sate l l i te EIRP's. *
AntennaET/3.66ET/4.85ET/6.00
28.026.1
w/old feed w/SEAVEY feed30.4 dBW 29.2 dBW
MORE GAIN -LOWER PRICES!
Paraframe antennas now come equipped withu l t ra h igh ef f ic iency s ing le or dual mode feeds f romSEAVEY ANTENNA ENGINEERING. Ga in i s up1 .2 dB, yet edge i l lu m inat ion is down a f u l l 16 d B.
26.824.9
.EIRP's should be 1.5 dB h igher for t ransponderswith numerous subcarriers.
PROOFED ON SITE -IT MUST BE RIGHT!
Learn how Paraf rame antennas are adjusted andproofed at the job site for visually verif iableprecision! Request a copy of "Assembly, Adjust-ment and Proof ing of Paraf rame Antennas. "
MAKE MONEY!
Demonstrate and sell Paraframe earth stations.Contact one of the fol lowing Independent Para-frame TVRO Contractors. He wil l help you designsystems and b id compet i t ive ly . He wi l l do theturnkey instal lat ion and provide you with technicalsuppor t .
Mid-Continent Earth Stations .402-476-2211Lincoln, Nebraska. .402-474-5486
Earthstar Corp.South Hol land, l l l ino is . . . . .312-755-5400
Tri-Star Systems, Inc.Jane Lew, WV(near Clarksburg).304-624-5909
Jerry Peake Company, I nc.S i l ve rSpr ing ,MD. . . . . . . . . . 301 -587-2515
A l t c o m m , I n c .Stevens, PA . . . . . . . . . ,215-267-6120
W. H. RoseSaugus, CA(near Los Angeles) .. .805-268-0696
Smith Radio & TVEly, Nevada ..702-289-4645
CFP EnterprisesH o rseh ead s, N Y (n ea r E I m i ra ) . . . .607 -7 39-2027
Sate l l i te Cable Co.Pocatel lo, ldaho ... . ,208-232-2606
Red's TV Service, Inc.Farmvi l le . N.C. . . . . . .919-753-3074
otdAntenna PriceET/3.66 $3390ET/4.85 $5390ET/6.00 $6990
'New Old NewPrice Gain Gain
$2790 41.1dBi 42.3dBi$4375 43.5 44.7$5880 45.4 46.6
'Add $300 for dual mode feed.
Box 423 o 1000 Sunset Drive West o Monee. lllinois 60449 o 312-534-7435
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predicted boresight region ( i .e . south Flor ida) i t would be evenmore severe (and unpredictable) as you moved fur ther of fboresight . l f that is a val id assumpt ion then those who havegot ten operat ing ( in Jamaica, Venezuela and Columbia inpar t icu lar) to date have been extremely for tunate. Ridglnghas been a minor problem.
Based upon a l l o f the pr ivate and commercia l terminalresul ts we could col lect and ver i fy anumberof map-chartsappear here. In d iagram one we have antenna s ize 'contou rs 'based upon the cr i ter ia that the antenna wi l l be ut i l iz ing ahigh ef f ic iency feed (Chaparra l or equal) , a 1OO degree (orbet ter) LNA and a receiver wi th a threshold in the 7 to 8 dBregion. l t shows where you should be able to go in safe lywi th a 5 meter ,6 meter and an 8 meter antenna equipped asdescr ibed and ant ic ipate threshold or above recept ion on nofewer than 507o of the F1 t ransponders today in serv ice.Understand there is no way to guarantoe resul ts in advance;but based upon the best data avai lable th is looks to be thecase. l f any of the data is shakey, i t would be in the Panama/-Costa Rica/Nicaragua region. Older resul ts f rom Panama(based upon a US mi l i tary insta l la t ion now several years o ld)runs counter to th ls data but nobody has ever v is i ted the s i tewi th the credent ia ls to conf i rm that thei r 'spot ty- t ransponde/resul ts are not due to some human factors.
In d iagram two we look at the apparent coverage l imi ts forreasonably s ized antennas (5 meters) on WESTAR 1,WESTAR 3 and COMSTAR D2. The cr i ter ia is for a 5 meterantenna equipped wi th a h igh ef f ic iency feed and a 1OOdegree (or bet ter) LNA plus a receiver wi th a 7-8 dB threshold.Again, the area where we feel uncer ta in is in Centra l Amer ica.For those who might wonder how f ar you could extend ( to thesouth or southeast) these 'contours 'g iven larger s ize anten-nas, th is observat ion. The t ransmit t ing antennas on Fl are farmore to lerant of of f -boresight headings than those onWESTAR and COMSTAR bi rds. That means that where F1(and F2) may r idge but 'go on forever ' , observat ions indicatethe rato of s ignal fa l l -o f f for W1 ,3 and D2 b i rds is much morerap id . Th i s w i l l p l ace the 6 me te r and 8 me te r an tenna l im i t sfar c loser ( i .e . towards boresight) together than one canexpect wi th the RCA bi rds.
This is shown to the best of our ext rapolat ion abi l i ty ind iagram three. Here we have the 8 meter antenna s ize l imi tswhen you are equipped wi th an 85 degree LNA, a h ighef f ic iency feed and a receiver wi th a t rue 7 dB threshold formoving v ideo (*) . Once again the area we feel least comfor-table wi th is through the southern por t ion of Centra l Amer ica.Signal Var lat ions
Whi le sate l l i te del ivered s ignals are tar more stable ( i .e .consistent ly the same approximate received s ignal level -than terrestr ia l s ignals) there is some var iat ion none the less.This var iat ion becomes more not iceable at of f -boresightreceiv ing locat ions and for those p lanning to do work 'o f fboresight ' some discussion of th is is warranted.
There are four var iat ions at work in any sate l l i te receiv ingsystem:
1)The receiv ing equipment (e lect ronics) . . .does not perform the same al l o f the t ime. Both the receiver and theLNA a re sub jec t t o t he i r ope ra t i ng env i ronmen t . L i nevol tage var iat ions may cause the receiver gain and de-modulator c i rcu i ts to f unct ion one way today and anotherway tomorrow. The solut ion to th is one is to run a l lTVROreceiv ing gear of f o f Sola or equivalent 'constant vo l tage'
' - There are several ' tests ' for determin ing where theobserver f inds threshold noise impulses not iceable orobject ionable. A stat ic d isp lay, such as a color bar testpat tern, wi l l typ ical ly show noise impUlses when i t is 1 to2.5 dB st ronger than so-cal led 'moving v ideo' . Movingv ideo i s s imp ly ' p rog ram ma te r i a l ' and because the v ideoscene is constant ly changing the noise impulses are notas apparent (a l thoug h st i l l present) as they wi l l be on a ( f u l lysaturated) color bar pat tern.
EANT�NSTAN CORP.
S Y S T E M 1 . T h r e s h o l d E I R P = 2 5 . 9 d B W 'Para f rame 6 meter an tenna. 100 'K LNA.Rockwel l 24 ch . f u l l y ag i le rece iver (SVR-4 4 - 1 ) , e q u i p p e d w / P a r a f r a m e R C U - 2 4 . L N Apower supp ly . Para f rame ETM modu la to r .P A C K A G E P R I C E
S Y S T E M 2 . T r e s h o l d E I R P = 2 4 . 9 d B WP a r a f r a m e 6 m e t e r a n t e n n a . 1 0 0 ' K L N A .Washburn rece iver i rv I l ruR power supp ly .Para f rame ETM-34 modu la to r .P A C K A G E P R I C E
S Y S T E M 5 . T h r e s h o l d E I R P - 2 9 . 2 d B W .P a r a f r a m e 3 . 6 6 m e t e r a n t e n n a . 1 0 0 " K L N A .Washburn rece iver w / LNA power supp ly .Paraf rame ETM-34 modulator .PACKAGE PRICE
S Y S T E M 6 R . T h r e s h o l d E I R P = 2 9 . 8 d B W .Para f rame 3 .66 meter an tenna. .120 'K LNA.Washburn rece iver w / LNA power supp ly .Modu la to r .PACKAGE PRICE $5,990.
SYSTEM 7. Sys tem 5 on a TRAILER! Con-tac t us fo r de ta i l s .
'Thresho ld E IRP: The min imum sate l l i teEIRP required to equal receiver threshold.Add 1 .5 dB lo r t ransponder w/numerous sub-carr iers. Paraf rame antennas now have feedsf r o m S E A V E Y A N T E N N A E N G I N E E R I N G !
E A R T H S T A R T U R N K E Y S E R V I C E - C a l l u s .E f fec t i ve sys tem des ign . Care f u l ins ta l la t ion .Compet i t i ve p r ices .
R E V I S E D B R O C H U R E W / N E W P R I C E S !A s k f o r i t !
16012 S. Cot tage GroveSouth Ho l land, l l l i no is 60473
Phone: 312-755-54008:30-8:30 Mon-Fri
Con lac t : BobChr is to lane l l i
A - 5 Meter l imi ts for WESTAB I( 1o0'K)
B -5 Me te r l im i t s f o r WESTAR t t l( 100 " )
C - 5 Meter l imi ts for COMSTAR 02(100 .K )
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transformers. The LNA is less affected by (reasonable)excurs ions in vol tage than i t is by heat . An LNA that' bakes ' i n t he sun i s go ing to run 'ho t ' and i n sou the rnlat i tudes 'hot 'can be b l is ter ing. The solut ion to th is one isto get the LNA under cover somehow. You' l l not ice th isef fect ( increase in spark l ie noise) by observ ing thatp ic tures are bet ter at n ight than in the dayt ime.
2)The b i rds are f lown to boresight . .which means that byground command thei r t ransmit t ing antennas are keptposi t ioned at thei r boresight point e i ther automat ica l ly orby human command. Into th is guidance system is bui l tto lerances; the ground command system moni tor ing thebird's boresight heading allows the bird to drift off of bore-s ight by some pre-determined 'safe ' amount before acorrect ion is made (correct ion requi res f i r ing of min iaturecontro l rocket je ts) . As b i rds age and the supply ofcorrect ion fuel goes down the 'safe window' the b i rd isa l lowed to 'dr i f t 'o f f o f boresight is expanded, to save fuel .When you are in lowa th e .1 ot .2 dB var iat ion in s ignal maynot be not iceable. When you are way of f boresight thevar iat ion may be as great as 1 dB (because of the r idgingef fect on the t ransmit t ing antennas) and changes of th ismagni tude are not iceable. There is no solut ion to th is oneexcept to have more s ignal to begin wi th; i .e . use a b iggerantenna to get fur ther above threshold. For most i t is an'understand and to lerate ' s i tuat ion.
3)Al l b i rds are moving at a l l t imes. They not only have theobvious forward mot ion (which matches the rotat ionalspeed of the ear th on i ts ax is) but they a lso have a 'dr i f t '
speed. Most o f the sa te l l i te opera tors a t tempt to ma in ta in(by ground cont ro l o f th rus ters ) the sa te l l i te w i th in a ,box 'tha t i s f rom 70 to 140 mi les on a s ide . A l l o f the US/ -Canad ian sa te l l i tes o f in te res t to us here want to d r i f t , onthe i r own, back to the eas t . By care fu l t r iangu la t ion thesate l l i te opera tor de termines prec ise ly where in the TOto1 4O mi le w ide box (eas t -west ) the sa te l l i te i s a t any g ivenmoment . As the sa te l l i te d r i f t s eas tward i t approaches theeas tern edge o f the imag inary box drawn in space. Whena ' l im i t ' (near the edge o f the box) i s reached the groundcont ro l le rs f i re min ia tu re th rus ters fo r a f rac t ion o f asecond, send ing the sa te l l i te scoot ing westward to theoppos i te end o f the box . There i t l i ngers fo r a day or lessand s lowly beg ins dr i f t ing eas tward aga in . l f you have are la t i ve ly smal l rece iv ing an tenna (5 meters o r under ) th iswest to eas t to west movement wou ld be hard to measure(by prec ise peak ing o f your an tenna on a day to daybas is ) . Larger an tennas have nar rower beamwid ths how-ever and by the t ime we get to B meter s ize an tennas tha t7O to 1 40 mi le var ia t ion can be seen as changes in s igna lleve l in the .2 to .3 dB reg ion .The 'd r i f t ' cyc le f rom west toeas t var ies as a func t ion o f the t ime o f year and recentso la r ac t i v i t y (so la r rad ia t ion impar ts t iny amounts o fadd i t iona l p ressure on the b i rd ) . On the average the ,boxmovement 'ac t i v i t y occurs about once per month . Now i fyou have a la rge an tenna and you happen (by dumb luck)to get i t peaked on the bird in the last f ew days before theb i rd i s ' th rus ted ' f rom the eas tern edge o f the box to thewestern edge, the day the th rus t ing takes p lace you w i l l
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notice the sudden change (drop) in signal level. HBO andSHOWTIME have for some years transmitted bird posi-tion information (relative to the respective F1 box) onceper month in the past; whether they continue to do that isnot known. lf you can locate this data it wil l help youpinpoint your own signal peaking activity. lf you align oneday and the signal varies suddenly in a day or two,downward, chances are the ground controllers havemoved it back west in the box.
4)When you have low look angleeto tho blrd...your signaltravels through more and more of the lower atmospherebefore it reaches your dish. The lower atmosphere iswhere all of the weather takes place and 4 GHz signals donot l ike weather. When your look angle is down in the 1 5degree region or lower you can anticipate that there wil lbe occasions when lower atmosphere weather, betweenyour antenna and the bird, out there for perhaps a few to50 miles (depending upon your look angle; it increases indistance as the look angle drops) wil l adversely effectyour reception. Again there is no solution to this one; it isan 'accept' situation.
One flnal factor associated with low look angles is theearth nolse problem. All antennas andall feeds have'side-lobes' or the abil ity to pick up signal from off the side of therespective antenna surfaces. As you go lower and lower inlook angle these sidelobes come down closer and closer tothe earth. Eventually they fall on the earth or ground out infront of the antenna, ortheyfall into a clump of trees off to the
side of the antenna. These'l iving organisms' are effective29OK sources of noise. Fortunately for you your antennasidelobes are typically'down' (or less responsive than themain lobe) by 1 4 to 2O dB or so. And therefore any sidelobesthat intercept earth noise wil l do so 1 4to 20 dB down from fullantenna gain. Sti l l , there is noise being added to the system'noise temperature' in such situations. One solution is toinvestigate the addition of an antenna shroud (a l ip-l ikedevice that f its around the outer surf ace of the dish reflector).A shroud, properly designed and installed, can reduce ore l iminate s ignal p ickup f rom s idelobes in a low look anglesituation. The appropriate source for information on shroud-ing is your antenna designer or suppl ier .
TRI-STAR'S SPH E RICAL FEEDSFrom the day Oliver Swan first conceived the Spherical
TVRO antenna (see CSD for November ' l 979... if you canlocate a copy!) there has been argument after argument overwhether Oliver really optimized his feed system. Those whoare fami l iar wi th Ol ive/s work, e i ther through CSD, throughhis attendance at the first SPTS, or thorugh the wonderfulcollection of videotapes we have of his pioneering work inrural Arizona, already know that the developer of the TVROSpherical was a man who cut and tried; again, again andagain. He kept playing, puttering if you wil l, keeping carefulrecords of his work and his results.
Oliver was not comfortable with theoretical dissertationson anything. lf he could not build it with his hands, play with it,
COOP'ST14-4 /81
CSD REVIEWSTHE TRISTAR
SPHERICAL FEEDS
and modify it, he was not interested. He was also the first toqualify any of his work by stating "Thls deslgn ls the best Ihave trled to date". Oliver never suggested it was the bestdesign possible; only the best he had found in his experi-ments to that point.
Ol iver Swan's exper iments wi th the Spher ica lTVRO anten-na pre-dated much of the highly publicized work of COMSAT(| .ORUS Antenna) and US Tower (b i l lboard Spher ica l ) . Ol iverdeta i led h is work ing notes in an STT Manual which becauseof Olive/s death was not reprinted after his death. The mostnotable development after the Swan Spherical was theintroduction to the market of a l ine of do-it-yourself Spheri-cals from Vidiark Electronics. And others of varying designshave followed.
Well, the facts are probably apparent; Oliver never didoot imize the feed for what could be the best combinat ion ofgain and re iect ion of ear th noise coming to the teed aroundthe sides of the array. Tristar General, Inc. (4810 Van EppsRaod, Cleveland, Ohio 44131) took note of the apparentshortcoming and the volume of antennas being moved by
TRISTAR FEED plus VIDIARK 12 FOOTER dur ing checkout on Provo. We found the TRISTAR feed adds just underI dB of gain to the system; a worthwhlle lmprovementaccordlng to check-out engineer Kevin Cooper, herehold ing support in sand.
TBISTAR DUAL POLE SPHERICAL FEED . MOUNTA ONpole wlth a vory clever adjustablo mount that makespreclse, qulck leed slant posltlonlng a snap.
Vidiark and others and came to the conclusion that there wasa'hole'here to be fi l led with a product.The product turns out tobe several products; a l ine of feeds which they claim areopt imized for Vid iark (and other) Spher ica l design antennas.
With a 1 2 foot Vidiark Spherical going in at West IndiesVideo we took the opportunity to do some straight compari-sons between the Tristar package and the standard feedsuppl ied wi th the Vid iark 1 2 footer .First some theory, as provided by Tristar's Dave Yanko."The prlmary lault wlth the long-focus antenna (theSpherical typically has an f/d in the 1 .25 to 1 .5 region) lg thatIt has a hlgh nolsetemperaturo compared wlth antennaswlth a lower f/d. Thls dlsadvantage ls aggravated by theuse of a rectangular feed horn. The typlcal standardrectangular feed horn has a sldelobe structure whlch ls'down' by only-1 2 to -1 4dB (at the edges of the antenna).When you couple the poor sldelobe performance of theref lector wlth the poor sldelobe performance ol the feedyou end up wlth a systom wlth a hlgh syetem nolsetemperaturo and a degradatlon of the eystem llgure ofmer l t " .What Yanko says is basically true. Noise in the system is of
course the one common enemy all system designers/instal-lers fight. Noise from the earth (approximately 29OK) isalways present. An antenna surface that'sees'the earth onsidelobes is going to put some of that noise at the feedpoint. Afeed antenna that sees more than the reflector surface mustby nature look at some of the earth around the reflector. Thisnoise a lso ends up ins ide of the feed. The combinat ion of thetwo noise sources creates a'noise f lood below which no LNAcan dig no matter how good the LNA may be.
The Tristar HEF-125 scalar feed appears to have someadvantages over the standard feeds employed by mostSpherical users. Yanko claims the sidelobe performance is --28 to -30 d B. He also notes that pattern range tests show theE and H p lanes ( the incoming s ignal wavefront coming to thefeed from upper and lower portions of the surface - the Eplane - and left and right onthe surface - the H plane) to bewel l 'ba lanced' . He suggests th is resul ts in a i l luminat ionefficiency ot "78%".
He also notes "The phaslng of the radlated pattern (f romthe reflector surface) results In a true spherlcal wavsf ront.Thls provides a moro efficlent gatherlng of In-phaeeenergy, partlcularly for angles up to 40 degrees eltherside of boreslght'. Thls is of course conglderably wlderthan the results have been lrom the standard Swan-developed rectangular feed. Ollver always maintalnedthat lt was the feed, not the reflector, that was the l lmltlngfactor for looking at wider orbit belt angles.Yanko may
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have somothlng here.Those who have worked wlth Spherlcals and the stan.
dard rectangular feeds are well aware that the feed orfocal polnt ls typlcally 'soft '. That ls, you can devlatearound the polnt by gulte a blt (Bovoral lnches typlcally)a nd not lose the elgnal. Havlng had thlg background, oneof the flrstthlngs you note wlth the HEF series of feeds lethat the focal polnt ls very tlght. Now you have lt...thenyou don't. There ls not much margln for error. There lsanother'change' from rectangularfeeds. The focal polnttor multlple satell l tes falls along a l lne that la parallel(equldletant) from the reflector surface. But not wlth theScalar HEF serles feeds, Forthose satell l tes that are offboreslght the dlstsnce from the center of the dish surfaceIncreages. lf you plot the focal points on the ground (as we alldo with Sphericals) you find you have a oversized letter'U'with the bottom or base of the letter closest to the dishsurface. That's also where the signal wil l be for the on-bore-sight on nearly on boresight birds.
With that background, how does it work?At f irst we didn't think it did. There are several models in the
line including one that is dual polarized (you can take verticaland horizontal signals off of separate ports simultaneously).We t r ied that one f i rs t on a brand new antenna insta l la t ion.And we spent a long time looking for a signal even though wethought we knew precisely where it should be. Tristar has avery in terest ing pole p lus mount system for thei r HEF ser iesof feeds. The pole is nothing special but the mount is. A largeplastic knob allows you to swivel the feed angle to match thereflector derived incoming wavef ront. lf you have ever tried toadjust feed horn angle plus height plus reflector to feeddistance s imul taneously, a l l o f the t ime looking for the f i rs tsigns of a focused signal, you wil l appreciate having a singleknob to turn to adjust the feed horn.
After trying to locate the first signal for several hours wetook off the HEF feed and stuck on the standard horn feed.After another hour of messing around in the hot Caribbeansun we discovered our problem; the signal was not where itwas supposed to be thanks to an inept helper who had mis-measured some of the antenna reflector adjustments. Aftercorrecting that we went back looking for signal with thestandard rectangular feed and promptly found it. After peak-ing it up caref ullywe took a carrier to noise measurement andthen replaced the rectangular horn with the HEF feed. Nowwe found the focal point again and sure enough i t was muchmore compact (i.e. less tolerant of placement error) than withthe rectangular feed. A second carrier to noise ratio checkand we found we had gained near ly 1 dB in carr ier to noiseratio.
Next we repeated the test on a couple of additional birds tobe sure we were not the v ic t im of mesurement or point ingerrors. Averaging all of the checks run on several differenttransponders across the band we came to the conclusion thatwe could expect around 0.85 dB (or near ly 1 dB) im provementwith the HEF series feed over the standard feed orovidedwi ththe Vid iark 12 foot Spher ica l .
It appears to us that the Tristar feeds and the mountingsystem are worthwhile additions to the TVRO marketplace.Developer Dave Yanko gets a l itt le heavy in his theory insome of this explanations sometimes but the real oroof is theperformance of the hardware, and the workmanship you canexpect with the products. Both get high ratings f rom us.
PAINT YOUR DISH?Recent ly I was for tunate enough to get my hands on a 10
foot (a luminum) parabol ic d ish f rom a ' local te lephone com-pany. I plan to erect my earth station in my backyard andwould l ike to paint the d ish sur face whi te thus changing thedull grey color it now has. The type of paint I plan to use isTremclad. My quest ion is s imply wi l l pa int ing the d ish ef fectthe performance of the dish (i.e. gain, noise temperature,
T 1 5-4/81
The Signal Purifier eliminates two majorproblems with a television "receive only"earth station: 1. A weak or too stronssignal. 2. Out of band or imageinterference.
These problems are generallypronounced where cable runs are verylong.or very s.hort, and where inexpensiverecelvers are ln use.
The ICM Purifier consists of a five-polebandpass filter (3 db-band width 3500 to4500 MHz) followed by an amplifier. Thenoise figure is better than any passive mixerand the gain is adjustable from + 5 to- 10 db.
Simple feed line installation. Powersupplied through two wires. Requires 12-24vdc, 20 ma maximum. Screwdriveradjustment for optimum performance.
ICM Par t No. 035613
$l25.ooQuantity discounts available.
ltrMINTERNATIONAL CRYSTAL MFG. CO., INC.North Lee. Oklahoma Citv. Oklahoma 73102
T 16-4/81 I \-\-- l l\--
etc. )? l f the answer is yes, what type of paint would yourecommend?
Mike Kasmet isR R # 2Peterborough, Ontar ioKgJ 6X3
Raw aluminum is very d i f f icu l t to paint . For tunate lyyoualroady have gome paint on the sur face and s ince i t wasacquired in that form we muat assume the or ig inal paintwas properly put on, Years ago the antenna manufactur-ers t r ied to make paint ing of d ishes 'h igh technology ' andthey pushed a $260 a gal lon ( in 1 977) l ight scat ter ingwhl te paint . ln 1 978 Coop painted a ten foot f iberg lassdish wl th Sears Al l Weather Latex house paint . l t is s t i l lpr ls t ine today whi le the $260 a gal lon stuf f has had to berepalnted geveral t lmgs. He subsequ€nt ly painted a 2Ofoot all steel dlsh wlth the same Latex and it seemed towork just f ine. Oh yes, l f you have a raw aluminum dlshyou must get the surface extremely clean ('ptre') beforeanyth lng e lse. Then apply z lnc chromate us ing a l lghtspray technlque flrst, followed after drying with a heavlercoatlng of the same stuff. lf you surface runs or peelsyou' l l have to u8e a 600 gr l t eandpaperto c lean i t up, andre-pr lme. F lnal ly c lean the sur tace again wi th isopropyla lcohol before put t lng on the whi te paint .
MORE LOW POWER TvtIn the January issue of CSD your ar t ic le on low power TV
ended by stat ing that the February issue would conta in moreinformat ion. Af ter reading the February ar t ic le I fee l there isst i l l in format ion we need. I would l ike to know the addressesand te lephone numbers of those f i rms that of fer equipment inth is f ie ld. Also, anyone th ink ing of put t ing a low power TVstat ion on the a i r in a large c i ty had bet ter s low down and lookat UHF. I d id th is and af ter having COMPUCON do a f re-
q uency search and a l l o f the engi neer ing ( that cost me $ 650) |f ound out the only channel c lear in my area is channel3O.Thecost of a 100 wat t UHF stat ion looks to be in excess of$32,000; of which $22,OOO is for the t ransmit ter whi le thetransmiss ion l ine costs $11 per foot and the t ransmit t ingantenna is another $10,000. That is a long way f rom the$12,000 ment ioned by Coop in the January CSD!
Michael L. ComerManassas, Vi rg in ia 221 1 O
Ooops. The March issue probably shed considerablenew l ighton howyou goabout f lgur ing outyourown dropIn 1 0 wat t VH F channel . We th lnk the UH F people are justone step thls elde of being rlp off artists. $22,OOO for a1 OO wat t UHF t ransmlt ter is an insul t to in te l l igence. Theonly marketplace for UHF gear has been off-shore (wheremoney doesn't seem to matter) or to TV stations largelylooking to f l l l in recept lon holes in thei r coverage wi thUHF t ranslators. Thore are probably 15 people readingth is who have the ta lent and exper ience to br lng Into themarketplace a 1OO watt UHF TV tiansmltter, capable ofFCC type acceptance and capable of rellable operation,for no more than S5,OOO. I t the $22,OOO 1OO wat t UHFtransmlt ter ls an af ront to technology, the $1O,OOOtransmlt t lng antenna is a terr lb le example of belnggreedy. There ls no reason why somebody cannot designand manufacture such an antenna wl th galn, and an omnid l rect lonal pat tern for under $1 ,OOO each. The t lme hascome fortalented people to go to work on brlnglng downthe costs of a l l o f th is equipment . UHF is no longer amystery to englneers. There ls no lustlf lcatlon for,mys-ter lously h lgh ' charges for UHF equlpment . Al l o f th lgaside, there ls plen$ of room for 1O wstt VHF low powerstat lons at the 912,OOO pr lce quoted; lnc ludlng theTVRO!
TECHINCALNEWS NOTES
ICM has replaced 43OO receiver wi th newer 4OOO model .Cal led ' ref ined vers ion of prev ious models ' ,4000 f eatures 6.2and 6.8 audio, re lat ive s ignal level meter , remote meter ing. iack, Taylor Howard designed demod c i rcu i t ry , AFC, LNApower ing, audio sub-carr ier output . A lso new f rom ICM istuneable sub-carr ier detector wi th s tereo caoabi l i t ies.
What wi l l be new at SPTS'81? Vid iark Electronics show-ing three new TVRO receivers, a l l us ing s ingle convers ionimage re ject mixer approach. DEXCEL combinat ion LNAplus downconverter package (70 MHz lF output) scheduledto debut f i rs t quar ter . . .d id. Product ion samples were in handsof lucky few in mid-March and new package with 1 OO degreeLNA up f ront but housing no b igger than standard LNA wi l lcreate qui te a st i r in Washington (especia l ly when the pr ice isannounced). In other show LNA act iv i ty , LNA'show specia l 'pr ices for 1 2O degree uni ts wi l l perhaps drop to under$450 in
reasonable quant i t ies. Antennas that t rack through orb i tbel t (Sat f inder , Hero) wi l l a t t ract wide spread interest as wi l lnew spl i t -package TVRO receivers (more and more isending up at the antenna). Concern over LO ( local osc i l la torleakage) out of input por t on s ingle convers ion receivers wi l lsur face and be hot ly debated wi th some warning that unlessindustry designers pol ice problem and f ind solut ion, FCC maybe forced to s tep in and establ ish regulat ions. Combinat ionTVRO receiver / ' lO wat t VHF t ranslator may be unvei led atSPTS - unique because of use of Japanese propr ietary chipthat turns sate l l i te FM di rect ly in to NTSC AM, for terrestr ia l re-t ransmiss ion. Complete do- i t -yoursel f package wi th tota l lywooden antenna pr iced at around $1 750 l is twi l l probably beleast expensive 'system' of fered. Several prev ious exhib i torswi l l be not iceably absent - v ic t ims of in tense compet i t ion nowbeing generated in f ie ld. Receiver designers, looking for waysto reduce receiver costs wi thout sacr i f ic ing per f ormance, wi l ldeal wi th explos ion in something cal led 'Hi -Mic ' technology;packing of receiver sub-sect ions in encapacsulated min i -c i rcu i ts produced in thousand up quant i t ies. And everyonewi l l wonder how so much NEW technology could becreated in just f ive months s ince Houston SBOC!
Confusion over which F1 and D2 serv ices wi l l end upwhere. . .a f ter launch of RCA Fl l l (R) th is summer cont inues.Subject to change, best scenar io now cal ls for launch of 3RJune followed by switch over of present F1 services to F3 (R)around 1st of September. D2 serv ices not going to F3R (3Rwi l l have four new for cable t ransponders p lus addi t ionalt ransmiss ion power) wi l l then move to F4 scheduled for ear ly1 982 turn on. RCA and FCC and programmers st i l l locked indebate over 'fairest way' to accomodate the competinginterests. As soon as the water c lears, we' l l have deta i ledreport in CSD. Provided F3 and F4 both ' f ly 'proper ly , pr ivateterminals wi l l benef i t substant ia l ly wi th addi t ional ( f ree) pro-gram serv ices and st ronger s ignals in a lmost a l l areas.
ICOOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
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SATELLITE OPERATIONSMANUAL by Bob Cooperreveals innermost secrels ofsatel l i te operat ions, who usesthem. how and where. ALSOextensive coverage of simpletr icks to improve recept ion,troubleshoot terminals, main-tain high performance, locatespecial services.
NELSON PARABOLIC MAN.UAL by Nelson Ethier de-scribes theory behind and stepby step construct ion of 10 and12 foot f iber/metal sandwichhigh performance TVRO an-tennas. l - i teral ly a manual tostart an antenna business inyour garage! Includes com-plete mount, feed instruct ions.
GIBSON SATELLITE NAVI.GATOR - superb treatment ofantenna mounts, t racking sys-tems, ful l understanding ofhow complex world of geosta-t ionary orbi t bel t can bereduced to simple laymanterms. No satel l i te buff shouldventure through the skieswi thout i t !
_ YES - Enter my order for Coop's Satel l i te Operat ions Manual v ia f i rst c lass mai l . $30 ($35 out-side US, Canada, Mexico) enclosed.
- YES - Enter my order for Nelson Parabol ic Antenna Manualvia f i rst c lass mai l . $30 ($35 outsideof US, Canada, Mexicg) enclosed.
- YES - Enter my order for Gibson Satel l i te Navigalor Manual v ia f i rst c lass mai l . $30 ($35 outsideof US, Canada, Mexico) enclosed.
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COMPANY AFF I L IAT ION ( i f app l i cab le )
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TOWN/CITY STATE z t PReturn order f orm w[n payment enclosed to: STT P. O. 8ox G Arcadia, OK 73007
of US, Canada, Mexico) enclosed.YES - Enter my order for Howard Terminal Manualvia f i rst c lass mai l . $30 ($35 outside of US,Canada, Mexico) enclosed.YES - Enter my order for Washburn Receiver Manual v ia f i rst c lass mai l . $40 ($+S outside of US,Canada, Mexico) enclosed.
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MANUAL - High performancereceiver for the ul t imate insharp, clear reception withsmal l antennas or in low signalareas. Step by step construc-tion now backed up by partsand ki ts. Includes remotecontrol package and antennafeed rotation system.
MANUAL by Coop providesful l business game plan forsel l ing, instal l ing pr ivate sat-el l i te terminals as a businessventure. Includes comprehen-sive look at most of the equip-ment now on the market,discusses dealer/suppl ier re-lat ionships.
D TERMINAL MAN.UAL - the complete TaylorHoward double conversion 24channel tuneable receiver, bi-polar LNA and feed system in'do- i t -yourself ' detai l . TheHoward receiver is the basisfor many of the commercial re-ceivers now avai lable on themarket.
- YES - Enter my order for Coop's Satel l i te Business Manual v ia f i rst c lass mai l . $50 ($55 outside
TOWN/CITY STATE z t PReturn order form with payment enclosed to: STT P. O. Box G Arcadia. OK 73007
csD'MONTHLY v ia 1s t c lass mai l'WORLDWIDE coverage ofal l important satel l i te act iv i-t ies'EOUIPMENT rev iews. an-
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COOP'SSATELLITEDICEST
'SATELLITE system reports'SATELLITE market ing news. DOMESTIC satel I i te reoorts' I NTERNATIONAL satel l i tes'SPTS/SBOC reports'CONSTRUCTION art ic lesENTER MY US /canada/ Mexico one year subscript ion to coop's sarel l i te Digest; $50 (us Ionly) enclosed.
- ENTER MY outside-of-US/Canada/Mexico one year subscript ion to Coop's Satel l i te Digest;$75 (US f unds only)enclosed.
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SPTS'81 /WASHINGTONAPRIL 17 .1 8 .19 .WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SPTS EVER - in the nation's capital on the very doorsteps of Congress.PLUS - the f i rs t SPTS ever held in the populous nor theastern US! We are gear ing up for 2 ,000attendees and more than 50 exh ibits. Each attendee wil l receive h is or her choice of two brand new ̂STT Manuals as a part of their registration package. Your writ ten confirmation from SPTS wil l ! linc lude fu l l inst ruct ions for making d i rect hote l reservat ions. ACT TODAY whi le space is s t i l lava i lab le !
SIGN ME UP f or Spring '81 SPTS. My check for $150 registration package fee is enclosed.
N A M E
COMPANY a f f i l i a t ion ( i f any)
ADDRESS
CITY STATERegis te r today w i th payment enc losed (US f unds on ly )
s P T S ' 8 1P. O. Box GArcad ia , OK 73007
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-sEND satel l i teT_V s-tory'on -vHs-BETA (specify which); $60 enclosed in US f unds.-SEND'Sate l l i teTVSt-oqy 'on-- - l /HS-BETA'( ipec i iywhic l i iwt in ius iomvideo, taq ' ic-SEND 'Satel l i teTV St-oly' on --- l /HS- BETA'(i t
fying our business as fol lows (name, address, telco):with custom video ' tag' identi
/$70 enclosed.
PERFECT TVRO SELLINGTOOL! Coop has prepared avery special 12 minute video-tape describing the homesatel l i te revolution, the ser-vices available via satel l i te.and a layman's overview ofwhat equipment is requi red.This tape is designed to assistTVRO dealers and distr ibutors
to explain just what TVROservice is, on a one-on-one (inhome) basis or for publ icdisplays such as service clubs.Also on same tape, approxi-mately 50 minutes 'Coop TalksTo Dealers'; a f rank discussionof equipment qual i ty and mar-keting approaches.
NAME
COMPANY AFFI L IATION ( i f app l i cab te)
ADDRESS
6HE
TOWN /CITY STATEReturn order form wi th payment to: STT P. O. Box G Arcadia. oK 73007
S .P .A .C .E . - The Soc ie t y o f P r i va te And Commerc ia l Ea r th t e rm ina l s i s impor tan t t o you r f u tu re .Asamember you a re no t on l y pu rchas ing ' i nsu rance ' f o r you r own fu tu re as an owner o r se l l e r o fp r i va teea r th te rm ina l s , youa rea l soava i l i ngyou rse l f o f t he lega l r esou rceso f t heo rgan i za t i on .
-SIGN ME UP as a SPACE supporter at $25 per year . | -want -_ own a pr ivate TVRO.
- Sf GN ME UP as a -dealer- d is t r ibutor- manufacturer at $100 per year .
-SIGN US UP as a SUPER SUPPORTER at $500 per year .
N A M E
COMPANY a f f i l i a t i on ( i f any )
ADDRESS
CITY--==-- STATE Z I P -Jo in SPACE today w i t h paymen t enc losed (US funds on l v
S . P . A . C . E .1521 O S l ree t NWWash ing ton ' D 'C ' 20005
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SATELLITE PRIVATE TERMINAL SEM INAR
Three information and equip.ment fi l led days starting at 1O AM on April 17th [but wesuggest yol SJlive on A.pr!l_ 16th_ to watch the ant-enna setting ui exercis6sl andclosing. at 3. PM on Ap.ril 1gth.. As many as 2,000 satellite tV ehtnusiasts,'f;;;would'be dealers and distributors to technology/equipment designeri andinnovators will be on hand to share and learn all th6re is io know abolt low-costsatellite TV terminals! Twin sessions featuring "business opportunities" and"satlelite technology"_ will focus on the imporiant state-of-tfre-inOuJtry- toOiy.ILUS
- an opportunity. !o share our technology with important Senitor!,Gongressmen and their Aides. AND - if the lodge ai The Shoreliam, more than 3dhours of "in-room." satellite TV programming irom past SPTS/SBOC events; thehistory and technology of an industry being bornl
D O SATELLITE PRIVATE TERMI NAL SEMINAR
SPRING'81 SPTS
slxMETERS
B l G r r r
READY for the TOUGH assignments anyplace on earth! Unequal led gain,superb control of side lobes, an outstanding performer for those 'off 'boresighto regionswhere nothing lessthan the bestwil l produce satisfactorypictures.
o THE ANTENNA THAT HAS OPENED UP THE MIDDLE AND DEEP CaT ibbEAN tO US DOMSATservice. Now available in 1 6 and 20 foot diameters with the industry's only rugged horizon tohorizon motor driven remote antenna posit ioning control system.
. B lGbu t l i gh twe igh t .Approx ima te l y300pounds to ta lwe igh t (ac tua l l ywe ighs less thanmany l0footers! ) ; no crane requi red for insta l la t ion, can be put in ' t ight spots 'where mount ing space isat a premium.
o FIELD accuracy is proven on the s i te wi th a ' f ina l -check ' proof ing template. Your b ig 20 footsurface is adjusted by the instal ler using our proof ing j ig so you KNOW that every f raction of a d Bof gain is achieved with every instal lat ion.
. EASILY shipped in spite of i ts impressive size. The entire package is so careful ly designed andwel l thought out that i t sh ips and goes together wi th the prec is ion of a f ine inst rument .
o SMOOTH operat ion. Touch the motor dr ive swi tch and watch the t ransponders z ip by; f rom F1on the west a l l the way to the INTELSAT and GHORIZONT s ignals in the far eastern sky in justsixty seconds t imel
o HERO COMMUNICATIONS is now accept ingappl icat ionsfornewdealers. We of fer thewor ld 'sfinest six meter antenna system (5 meters also)direct from the manufacturer. Our experience insolv ing tough insta l la t ion problems wi l l save youmoney and t ime in complet ing your own insta l la-t ions. We ol fer sound technical backup based uponyears of exper ience in th is f ie ld.
. PLUS - f rom HERO COMMUNICATIONS you dealwi th a warehousing d is t r ibutor for WASHBURN,AVCO, and ICM receivers, a complete l ine of acces-sor ies inc luding 7z inch hardl ine, connectors, modu-lators AND the fantast ic 85 and ' l 00 degree DEX-CEL LNAs. We manufacture and handle noth ing butthe l ie ld-proven-best equipment in the industrytoday. Whether you need a s ingle connector or acomplete system, HERO COMMUNICATIONS ishere to serve you.
^r r / HEROI I couuul{lcATloilsl- l 1 783 w. 32nci PiaceI l \ H ia leah, FL 3301 2
\ ( 305 )887 -3203\-,
EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE THROUGH PRECIS ION ENGINEERING
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Pick Your Antenlr? '
The 8-Bal l - The leader in low cost spher ica l anten nas has a model tosuite you. lf you are located where footprints aregenerous our 8 foot'g-Aai t 'wi l l iu t you in touch wi th mul t ip le sate l l i tes spread throughthe orb i t bei t . l f you have marginal footpr ints , the b ig 1 2 foot '8-Bal l ' isyour choice. Both versions available in standard and heavy dutymesh surfaces. Pricing is $650 (user l ist) forthe 8 foot, $750 (user l ist)f or the 1 2 f oot . Thousands of sat is f ied users. . ' f ind out why the '8-Bal l 'spherical is the best choice in TVRO antennas today!
Pick Your Receiver '
Brand New From Vld lark - three new WRO receivers that m ean b igperformance, superb color-f idelity and years of troublef reeoperat ion. The "SINGLE SHOT' features 24 channel cont inuoustuning, 6.2/6.8 audio, LNA power jack, v ideo and audio outputs 'polarity selection and a removable down converter (for custominsta l la t ions) . This is the best per forming, economical receiver avai l -able today. Find out whY!
The "SKYLINE" features 24 channel tuning wi th LED channelindicator , remote tuning, 6.2/6.8 audio, polar i ty se lect ion, LNA c i rcu i tind icator , LNA power jacK v ideo and audio outputs and the remov-able down converter for customized insta l la t ions. This is our eco-nomical ly pr iced receiver for the ser ious enthusiast . Ask about i t !The "ACi{aEVER" is for the deadly ser ious TVRO enthusiast . Twentyf our channel tuning, f ine tuning contro l , remote contro l o f tuning andpolar i ty , 6 .2 and 6.8 audio p lus var iable tuning audio, polar i ty se lec-t ion, LNA c i rcu i t ind icator , LNA power ing, s ignal level meter , v ideoand audio outputs, polar i ty rotat ing LED and the removable downconverter for customized insta l la t ions. This is a ser ious receiver forser ious people!
WANTTO SEE MORE? See usa tSPTS '81 i nWash ing ton whenwe' take the wraps of f the fu l l V id iark receiver l ine 'up!
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WASHBURN TVRO RECEIVERE X C E P T I O N A L P E R F O R M A N C E. T R U E E X T E N D E D T H R E S H O L D - T d B u n d e r f u l l v i d e o m o d u l a t i o n c o n d i t i o n s , a c h i e v e d t h r o u g h m e t i c u l o u s a t t e n t i o n t o r e -
m o v i n g l i m i t a t i o n s i m p o s e d b y c o m p o n e n t s .. H I G H F I D E L I T Y V I D E O - F u l l 3 0 M H z l . F . b a n d w i d t h a n d 8 . 4 M H z v i d e o b a n d w i d t h o r i o r t o f i n a l s u b c a r r i e r f i l t e r i n o .coup led w i th heavy negat ive feedback in a l l h igh leve l v ideo s tages fo r very low d i f fe ren t ia l d is to r t ion and cont ro l l idt r a n s i e n t r e s p o n s e .
. H I G H P E R F O R M A N C E A F C - E l i m i n a t e s t h e n e e d f o r f i n e t u n i n g a n d p r o v i d e s a d d i t i o n a l d i s p e r s i o n r e j e c t i o n f o r f u l l u s e o ft h e | . F . f i l t e r b a n d w i d t h a n d s u o e r b i n t e r l a c e .
. i U L L R E M O T E C O N T R O L - 2 5 f t . ( e x t e n d a b l e ) r e m o t e a l l o w s a n u n t r a i n e d u s e r t o e a s i l y s e l e c t t r a n s p o n d e r s a n d c o n t r o l t h ev o l u m e o f t h e H i g h F i d e l i t y A u d i o O u t p u t . N o r m a l t r a n s p o n d e r s e l e c t i o n a u t o m a t i c a l l y c o m m a n d s c o r r e c t f e e d p o l a r i z a t i o nthrough a c losed- loop servo .
.SELECTA B LE SU BCAR R IER PRIOR ITY - Wi th v is ib le su bcar r ie r ind ica tors and two eas i l y changed p lug- in de tec tors (5 .5 to8 . 4 M H z a v a i l a b l e , U . S . o r C C l R f o r m a t ) . U s u a l l y e l i m i n a t e s t h e n e e d t o m a n u a l l y s e l e c t s u b c a r r i e r s , w h i l e a l l o w i n g m a n u a lc o n t r o l w h e n d e s i r e d .
. F U L L F U N C T I O N M E T E R I N G - W i t h s e l e c t a b l e m a n u a l t u n i n g a n d A F C d i s a b l e a l l o w s c h e c k s o f s y s t e m C N R w i t h o u t a d d i -t i o n a l e q u r p m e n t . C o n t i n u o u s m o n i t o r i n g o f S i g n a l S t r e n g t h ( i n l i n e a r d B ) a n d t u n i n g e r r o r ( i n M H z ) .
. V C R C O M P A T I B L E - V i d e o a n d a u d i o l e v e l s a l l o w u s e o f y o u r V C R a s a m o d u l a t o r , p r o v i d i n g i m m e d i a t e r e c o r d i n g w i t h o u tc . ; ,b le changes when des i red .
. D E S I G N E D F O R R E L I A B I L I T Y - C a r e f u l c o s t / p e r f o r m a n c e b a l a n c e t o i n s u r e c o n t i n u e d q u a l i t y r e c e p t i o n .
S U P E R I O R V A L U E. L O W E S T l N - P L A C E S Y S T E M C O S T - " B a r g a i n " r e c e i v e r s s t o p b e i n g a b a r g a i n w h e n y o u a d d u p t h e a n t e n n a a n d L N Ac o s l s f o r s p a r k l i e - f r e e r e c e p t i o n w i t h h i g h e r t h r e s h o l d s .
.USER ACCEPTANCE - Compact , p leasant packag ing , easy opera t ion , and h igh per fo rmance w i th smal l an tennas su i t i t toh o m e s a n d n e i g h b o r h o o d s w h e r e " e x p e r i m e n t e r ' s " e q u i p m e n l w o u l d b e u n a c c e p t a b l e .
. V E R S A T I L E - E a s i l y r e c o n f i g u r e d f o r s h a r e d u s e o f a s i n g l e o r t h o a n t e n n a b y m u l t i p l e r e c e i v e r s a n d h o m e s .
. S I M P L I F I E D I N S T A L L A T I O N - S e p a r a t e D e m o d u l a t o r C o n s o l e , D o w n c o n v e r t e r , a n d R o t o r C o n t r o l A s s e m b l i e s e l i m i n a t er o u t i n g ( c o s t l y ) h a r d l i n e t h r o u g h f i n i s h e d r o o m s a n d a l l o w e a s y r e l o c a t i o n o f t h e c o n t r o l p o i n t .
EARTH TERMII{AI.S Rochester Of l iceP. O. Box 636Fairporl, New York 14450716-223-7457
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We also have a completeengineering department atyour disposal to handle anYspecial problems. (We recentlycompleted an installation inMontana where the dish andreceiver are 3000 feet awayfrom the home.)
We also feature a fullYequipped and staffed servicedepartment reachable bY our800 6114-6047 trll free numberto promptly handle anYr t ' r lu i rements you maY have.
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I rELLITE\
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SATELLITE DICEST P1-4 /81
cooP'sCOMMENT ON
PROGRAMMING
PUSHING HARD(eiAl though th is is the 'show issue' for our Washington SPTS
to be held April 1 7-1 9, we are spending precious l itt le t ime inthis issue talking about the forthcoming show. Rather a goodportion of this issue is devoted to the emerging marketplacein the Caribbean, Central and (northern) South America forTVRO terminal equipment.
Since I happen to l ive in an area that is involved in thisreport I have some first hand personal experience on thismatter. That makes me no more qualif ied to write about itperhaps than others but at least the perspective you wil l getfrom this issue is from one who is inside of the area of con-cern.
Since Susan, the kids and I moved to the Turks and Caicoslslands last summer we have been beseiged by well meaningpeople from throughout the Caribbean who believe we knowsome'secrets' about getting US television down here. Be-cause we receive it they f igure they can also. The truth is thatthe obstacles to bringing this technology outside of theUnited States are often more mechanical than electrical.
Generally speaklng anything that costs one dollar in theUnited States wil l end up costing you two dollars here. And itmight go higher than that. Getting goods and materialsmoved from island to island is a big, expensive problem. Werecently expanded (using a translator) Provo television ser-vice to the island of North Caicos. This is around 20 air milesfrom Provo but it might as well be several hundred since noboats ply the two islands and to haul the TV gear into NorthCaicos we loaded up a Cessna 'l 70 with load after load of yagiantennas, cable, pipe, antenna masts, batteries and whathave you. Before I made a final decision on the antennasystem for North Caicos I strapped a channel 4 dipole acrossthe windshield of the 1 70 and for two hours we flew'patternsover North Caicos' plotting our signal coverage there. Afterwe spotted a l ikely location we translerred to a four wheelpickup truck and drove over a roadless section of land to
arrive atop a small bluff that had a clear shot at our Provotransmitter some 2'l .7 miles away.
To get the site Installed we had to talk the governmentinto donat ing to us the only two 45 foot ut i l i ty poles on theisland. They had been barged to North Gaicos after a year ofplanning to provide outdoor l ights for the school sports court.After considering my request the government decided tele-vision for North Caicos was more important than lights forthesports yard. To get the poles (which hold the receiving andtransmitting antennas) installed we had to talk a local resortoperator into providing a D8 Cat to cut a road to the ridge,clear an area for the pole-tower and equipment housing andlift the poles into place. Some twenty residents of NorthCaicos volunteered a weekend to create the pole-tower. cutthe road and get the site ready for me to install the elec-tronics.
Thls lg not unugual perhaps unt i l you real ize that NorthCaicos has no electrlcal powor; only the scattered genera-tor or two. But a local merchant already has orders for morethan 100 battery operated black and white TV receivers onfi le so you can see that where there is a wil l, there is a way.
All of this is small t ime stutf. None of it would havehappened without satell i te delivery of programming. Andnone of it is happening inexpensively; despite donated laborand some raw materials.
lf you are preparing to deal with taking American low-costsatell i te television technology into rural, out of the way spotson this globe, my advice to you is to be totally preparedbelore you leave home. You should have spares of every-th ing wi th you and even the s implest th ings l ike nuts and bol tsmust be brought to the job site by you from the states.
I have one more piece of advice; learned the hard way.People in remote areas such as this do not know the meaningof "cannot do". Any challenge is answered with "no problem".I foolishly believed "no problem" for several months; unti lthings started coming apart at the seams. I have seen a nativetechnician dig into a complicated video tape deck sure fortheworld he knows what is wrong and how to fix it. Even thoughhe never saw anything more complex than a audio cassetterecorder previously. Hundreds of dollars and months later If inally got it back from the states; running. I 've seen section-alized parabolics go together in record time only to discoverafter assembly that the whole dish was hopelessly warped.
People who live with l itt le have no fear of complex tech-nology. They also have no skll ls to cope wlth lt althoughthey wil l try anythlng sure they wil l succeed. lf you are goingto be working in this environment I suggest you leave nothingto chance; never believe that anything is "no problem" andbuild into your sales and installation program plenty ofsafeguards and check points to correct mistakes before theyget out of hand and cannot be corrected. lf you keepyourwitsabout you the huge market to the south wil l reward you. lf youare sloppy in planning or execution you are headed for a veryu ncomfortable disaster!
COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTP2-4/81
THE COMPLETEGUIDEBOOK TO
OFF.SHORE TVRORECEPTION
PLOWING SOUTHInterest in Amer ican te lev is ion 'south of the border ' began
short ly af ter the potent ia l o f sate l l i te te lev is ion becameknown in the general media/press. But resul ts , based uponexper ience, has been s low in coming. Dur ing the past fewmonths however s(7nif icant results have been reported in anumber of countr ies where the Amer ican te lev is ion to nowhas been seen only on boot legged VHS and BETA tapesf lown south dai ly f rom Miami, New Or leans and Houston. theimportance of these new technological developments ( i .e .hard results) is diff icult to assess because of the lack ofunderstanding most US programming sources and sate l l i tehardware suppl iers share in th is region of the wor ld. In th isreport CSD attempts to put the pieces together; not so muchfor our readers 'south of the border ' but more f or those nor thof the border who can be expected to be deal ing wi th thesepotent ia l v iewers in the months ahead.
North Amer ican v iewers take te lev is ion largely for granted.More than 9O% of Amer icans had access to of f - the-a i r te le-v is ion by the mid sO's and the growth s ince then has beenlargely in program ( i .e . channel) se lect ion. This is not the casetoday in many nearby land areas where st i l l substant ia lnumbers of people l ive wi thout te lev is ion; or the te lev is ionthey have is s lanted at propaganda purposes rather than'pure ' in format ion ( i .e . news) and enter ta inment or cu l tura lenr ichment .
In many nearby Car ibbean, Centra l and South Amer icannat ions te lev is ion is e i ther miss ing or s tate contro l led. Tele-v is ion, as a medium for pure enter ta inment and intormat ionfor a l l c lasses of people, is v i r tual ly unknown in the region;Mexico being a notable except ion. Where enter ta inment /information television ls permltted, it is often closely con-t ro l led by ' the state ' or t reated as a 'commodi ty ' to be awardedunder c lose superv is ion to a favored c i t izen or company.
In a nutshel l , te lev is ion as we know i t is ' fore ign ' to theseareas. lt is therefore treated as a forbidden fruit, a statussymbol , or a tool to be used only wi th permiss ion of thegovernrng powers.
With the advent of je t a i r t ransportat ion Amer ican te lev is ionhas inf i l t ra ted these areas; for those few wi th the money topay the pr ice. Some of the Centra l Amer ican and (nor thern)South Amer ican economies have a surpr is ing number ofpeople who can af ford (and are wi l l ing to pay) upwards of $75per month just to have access to ' recent 'v ideo tapes or ig inat-ing in the USA. The commercia l s t reets of Bogota (Columbia)for example are l ined wi th l i t t le shops housing 'v ideo tapeclubs'. The customer pays an entry fee (equivalent to say adozen b lank VCR tapes) and then for a month ly fee in the$1 00 range has access to two new four hour tapes perweek.The tapes are mul t ip le generat ion copies made in Miami orNew Orleans or Houston, off of American TV, from the localHBO/SHOWTIME MDS system or even off of cable or satel-l i te . Each week there are new tapes avai lable and af ter paying
the entry fee, $1OO or so per month and otherwise qual i fy ingthe customer can select two new tapes per week af ter hereturns the tapes f rom the pr ior week.
Video tape c lubs are very common in Venezuela,Columbia, Panama and are catching on fast in Bel ize,Costa Rica, Guatamala and e lsewhere. Since anyonewl th a 'contacf in the USA can acquire rawtape productsovernight via jet from the states there is f ierce competi-t ion for customgrs. The South Amer ican tape c lub opera-tors stay competit ive not by dlscounting but rather byoffering very fast service and by constantly staying on topof USA programming t rends. In terv iews in Bogota indi -cate lt is not uncom mon for people with VCR machines tobelong to several tape c lubs at the same t ime; they selectthei r c lubs based upon the tape-program select ions eachoffers.
The tape c lub operators have d iscovered the sate l l i teconnect ion possib i l i t ies. Today they depend upon mainta in-ing re lat ions wi th a USA contact that prov ides the of f -USAtelev is ion fare p lus a st r ing of contacts wi th cooperat iveai r l ine stewards and stewardesses who are wi l l ing ( for a fee)to shove a couple of 7z inch VCR tape 'masters ' in to thei rluggage. F l ight at tendant luggage gets very l i t t le inspect ionat most a i rpor ts and when they are inspected a 'harmless '
conta iner of v ideotape is not what the inspector is looking foranyhow.
Numb€rs. How many people are p lay ing th is game? Stud-ies in s ix c i t ies in nor thern c i t ies in South Amer ica revealed inexcess of 1 25 ' tape c lubs ' operat ing. Since the investment issmal l (proper contacts p lus perhaps a hal f dozen 7: inch VCRmachines to make dubs) and the rewards potent ia l ly great ( i tgoes wi thout saying the tape c lub operators are not payinganyone for the programming r ights; legal ly they are 'p i rates ' )the f ie ld is at t ract ing more and more 'business entrepre-n eu rs'.
Most of the tape c lubs serve no more than 1 OO regular 'c lubmembers ' . Less you p ine for thei r vo lume that s t i l l approach-es $10,000 per month for a s tore f ront and some VCRmachines. A recent t rend has been the merger of compet i t ive' c l ubs 'and the upg rad ing o f equ ipmen t and con t rac t s .Several of the c lubs now boast more than 1 ,OOO members andone wi th a chain of out le ts s t rung through a hal f dozencou ntr ies c la ims to have 1 0,000 members. That works out to acool mi l l ion oer month in sales.
As best we could determine the f i rs t ' tape c lub ' to set up i tsown sate l l i te terminal went in to operat ion just af ter the f i rs tof the year in Bel ize (see CSD for March 1 981). Bel ize is , by a l ls tandards, a 'smal l ' market and the repor ted investment of$50,000 Amer ican ($100,000 in Bel ize dol lars) is present lyserv ing perhaps 1 50 c lub member customers. The money toaf ford an investment of suoer terminal for of f -sate l l i te re-cept ion of USA s ignals is avai lable none the less. In t rade forthe cost of the terminal the tape c lub oeprator is able toel iminate h is USA contact(s) , and the cost of t ransport ingtape masters in a i r l ine employee f l ight bags. More importanthowever is the p lus of having instant ( rather than daysdelayed) access to a whole b i rd f u l l o f serv ices. Remember -compe t i t i on i n t h i s game man i fes t s i t se l f by i n f i gh t i ng f o rmore rapid access to programs the compet i t ion does nothave avai lable. The b i rd(s) is (are) the u l t imate sourcemachine(s) .
I t would be unfa i r to b lanket ind ic t a l l or even a s izeablepercentage of the tape c lub operators by point ing out that i t isa par t icu lar type of South Amer ican products which hascreated the money (USA dol lars largely) that makes th iswhole system work. St i l l there are some obvious connect ionsbetween those who have money invested in the SouthAmer ican drug t rade and those who are sel l ing USA te le-v is ion to the areas to the south. One US insta l l ing d is t r ibutorof sate l l i te hardware recent ly to ld CSD"l f you wereto inspectmy l is t o f customers who have bought b ig t icket hometerminals, here in th is area, and then compared that l is t to the
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In quantities of 1-4, they sell for $68 each; or, in largerquantities, 250-999, a $47 price tag means sizablesavings.* Deliveries are typically from stock. Packagesize for the DC heater is .760 x .510 x .180 inches(1.93 x 1.29 x.457 cm).
AC The WJ-333189-001 is a proportionally controiled,integrated AC heater containing all of the features andperformance characteristics of the DC models. The ACheater operates from 100 to 125vac, 50 to 400 Hz.Voltages from 0 to 150Vac, continuous, can be sustainedwithout damage to the unit. Package size for the AC heateris .985 x .760 x .180 inches (2.50 x 1.93 x .457 cm). Inquantities of 1-4, AC heaters are $100 each; or, for evengreater savings, quantities of 250-999 are $77 each.*Delivery is also from stock.
Frost?For additional details or information write
the Watkins-Johnson Field Sales Office inyour area, or phone VCO ApplicationsEngineering in Scotts Valley California, at(408)438-2100, ext. 258. TWX: 910-598-4403,Telex:34-6327.
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.U.S. Prices. Subject to change.Watkins-Johnson-U.S.A.: . Cali lornia, San Jose (408) 262-1411; El Segundo (213) 640-1980 . Goorgia, Atlanta (404) 458-9907 . Oistrict olColumbia, Gaithersburg, MD(301 ) 948-7550 . Massachuselts, Lexington (6'1 71 86 1-'1580 . Ohio, Fairborn (513) 426-8303 . Toxas, Dallas (214) 234-5396 o United Kingdom: Oedworth Rd., Oakley Green,Windso( Berkshire SL4 4LH . Tel: Windsor 69241 . Cable: WJUKW-WINDSOR o Telex: 847578 . Gormany, Federal Fepublic ol: Manzingerweg 7, 8000 Muenchen 60o Tel: {089) 83601 1 . Cable: WJDBM-MUENCHEN . Telex: 529401 . l lalyi Piazza G. Marconi, 25 00144 Roma-EUR . Tel: 59 45 54 . Cable: WJROM-l .felex:612278
I URO TE IUIPE RAIU RE.SIABI llilPROBlEIUIS?
tf5orkins-fohnson AC & DC Heolers ore the Solution!Does your LNA or receiver have difficulty meeting
specification over widg operating temperature ranges?Watkins-Johnson Company has the solution. Our AC and DCHeaters may be used either singly or in parallel to controlthe temperature of such items as crit ical electroniccomponents and mechanical devices.
DC The WJ-331240-001 is a proportionally controlled,integrated heater module, containing the heater, controller,voltage regulator and automatic shut-down circuitry Theheater module is a completely self-contained hybrid circuitthat can be programmed to control any surface temperatureto within 10'C from 60"C to 100'C by means of a singleexternal programming resistor. These modules operate fromunregulated 28Vdc power sources and provide up to 28watts of heating power. The operating temperature range forthe heater module is from - 54"C to + 120'Cwith automatic shut-down at 120"C. lCe?
The heater circuit is f loating so thatcurrents will not affect system ground voltages.The WJ-331240-001 is protected againstreverse voltages up to 50Vdc.
Typical DC Heaterapplication showingte m pe r atu re- stab i I izedelectronic circuitry.
Rain?
Cold?
Snow?
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DC WJ.3312'O.001
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THEY CALLT H I S B I R DMOLNIYA
A who le fam i l y o f Russ ian sa te l l i t es c i r c l i ngover Nor th Amer ica and beam ing l ive Russiante lev is ion back in to the USSR. Now becauseSTT has researched the Moln iya recept ionchal lenge and developed hardware modi f ica-t ions and sof tware systems to produce h ighqua l i t y Russ ian te lev i s ion th roughou t Nor thAmer ica, you can share in the exc i tement ofth is u l t i mate sate l I i te TV fantasy !Until you have witnessed Russia's approach tonational television service, you cannot appre-ciate how fortunate we are to have a multi-channel national service of our own!
STT has put together a 90 minute (approxi-mate) special videotape that explains in greatdetai l how you set up to receive the RussianMoln iya t ransmiss ions. A l l o f the technica lchanges requi red p lus a thorough under-s tand ing o f t he unusua l mov ing / i nc l i ned -orb i t o f the Moln iya ser ies b i rds is expla inedin th is specia l tape.
PLUS - th is tape inc ludes a repor t on the SanJose SPTS reception of Molniya and aninterv iew conducted at STT in mid-Ju ly wi thEngl ish exper imenter Steve Bi rk i l l whopioneered reception from both Molniya andRussia 's Ghor izont Clarke-orb i t b i rds.
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local drug enforcement agency l is t o f suspected b ig t imedrug dealers I would not be surpr ised to learn that the twol is ts were a lmost ident ica l " . This par t icu lar insta l l ing d is-t r ibutor se l ls very fancy terminals ($30,OOO up) wi th severalreceivers per insta l la t ion. Recent ly h is abi l i ty to p lease cus-tomers in th is area has put h im into contact wi th potent ia lbuyers much f ur ther south. And they are ta lk ing b ig numbers.
Bob Behar of Hero Communicat ions agrees wi th theanalys is that i t may be bet ter not to ask too many quest ionswhen you are ta lk ing wi th a prospect ive buyer f rom the 'deep'sou th . " l hadonebuye r te l l me tha t t hep r i cewas un impor tan t ;he wanted h is chi ldren to be able to watch Sesame Street andother programs they saw when he brought them to the states.He was so far south in South Amer ica that we are probablyta lk ing about a 15 meter d ish wi th 2O degree cooled para-metr ic LNAs. I can ' t see th is insta l la t ion happening for lessthan $500,000". Did the customer re-consider h is 'pr ice isunimoortant 's tatement when he heard that numbet?
"He sm i l ed when I gave h im tha t number and then sa id ' l F i tworks proper ly I want to g ive a dozen of them, just l ike mine, tosome of my rancher f r iends around me; they have chi ldrenalso ' . "
Obviously there is a l imi t to 'pr ice is unimportant ' buyers.Generously, there are probably fewer than one hundred'potent ia ls 'spread f rom the Leewind ls lands in the easternCar ibbean across nor thern South Amer ica and then nor th-ward in Centra l Amer ica. Pr ice is a lso not too much of aconsiderat ion for those who are in the tape c lub business;and who, l ike the p ioneer insta l la t ion in Bel ize, see thesystem as a money making machine. Where the ' rancher ' maylook upon the cost as a worthwhi le ' investment ' for h ischi ldren, the tape c lub operator is going to be more bot toml ine conscious. He wi l l , one assumes, weigh h is presentprogram 'acquis i t ion ' costs and h is present program 'se-lect ion ' against h is savings, p lus expansion he can expectwi th a sate l l i te terminal . Again, generously, there may beanother 1 00 potent ia l such insta l la t ions spread through thesame area.
Of course there are many unresolved legalquest ions in th isent i re area. Taping ( in the US) and t ransport ing te lev is ion'south ' f or sa le is c lear ly i l legal ; on the US end. But the actualsale takes p lace in another country, where i t may or may notbe i l legal . A i r l ine passengers depart ing Miami ( for example)for Columbia may have a dozen pre-recorded tapes in thei rluggage. They may have bought tapes through legal out le tsand the tapes may v io late no laws anyplace. The inspect ion isnot on the US end; i t is at customs in the south. Even i f thecustoms man is s incere in t ry ing to crack down on boot legtapes (so far no such pressure has sur faced) how is he toknow what is real ly on the tape he removes f rom the con-ta iner? Even i f the label says the tape conta ins a legal dub ofan o ld movie how do you know i t does not have four or s ixhours of the last n ight 's HBO programs; taken of f cable inH ouston?
There are of course in ternat ional convent ions protect ingcopyr ights. We' l l look at some of th is e lsewhere in th is repor t .The bot tom l ine is fars impler than the presence of thevar ioustreat ies:
Wlthout the conetant effort and eurvell lance of localauthorit les In each country, such treatles/laws are vir.tual ly unenforceable.
The Rich and The PoorWith a few noteable except ions the demographics of most
of the countr ies in the region is c lass ic . There is a smal l ,monied, in f luent ia l upper c lass, a only s l ight ly larger bureau-crat ic /shop keeper middle c lass and then ' the masses ' . Thetop of the laddercrowd usual ly contro ls , d i rect ly or ind i rect ly ,the creat ion of laws and the implementat ion of the laws. Thisis another way of saying that i f te lev is ion programs f rom thestates bends a few laws, enforcement of those laws is not
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going to happen if that enforcement deprives the influentialof thei r USA te lev is ion. l t is just that s imple. Remember -enforcement, if there is any, must be on the dlstrlbutlon end.
Since these influentials have the money and power to getwhat they want, and the'class' to do it quietly without creatingmuch fuss it should not surprise you to learn that they are notthe problem here. lt is the up and coming middle class,knowing about the availabil ity of USA television, that wantsinto the action. The customs inspector is one of the middlepeople. He has no sums of money but he sees the tapesarriving by the bag f ull. He knows what they have on them andhe aspires to share in that'wealth'. Sooner or later he puts thepressure on somebody hauling stutf in and in short order hehas his own VCR at home. His friend, the water inspector,sees the machine and tapes in the custom inspecto/s home.He wants one and after awhile he finds asoft spot in the underbell of some tape importer; and pretty soon he too has a homeVCR.
It takes not one or a handf ul or a few dozen peopte to ptantand harvest and process and then ship the thousands of tonsof Marijuana that leaves Columbia annually bound for theUSA. lt takes thousands. And they all make (by local stan-dards) excellent money by being a part of the 'game'. Theyspend that money on th ings l ike VCRs and by get t ing ' in wi th 'someone who has access to recent USA television programs.
In many of these countries, rich and poor, television istreated as a narcotic for the poor; those 'masses' that l ive (byUS standards) well below the poverty levels. The programcontent is controlled and it is designed to ensure thataspirations of the masses stay at'management' levels. In sti l lother coutnries, such as Haiti, television forthe masses is noteven to the narcotic level; it is pure and simple a tool createdby the state to perpetuate the state and the regime. Russiantelevision (as seen by satell i te users on Molniya and Ghori-zont) exemplif ies this. Cuban television is no different.
Haiti is an example of how the state reacts when that smallbut powerful bureaucratic'middle class' opts for somethingmore narcotic than pure state run television. The authorit iesin Haiti allow the operation (in Port-Au-Prince) of a cabletelevision system that brings taped programs from Canada,the USA and France. Subscribers to the system pay around$7 per month (American) for two channels of taped programsand there are around 1 0,000 Port-Au-Prince homes connec-ted to the nearly ten year old service. $7 American may notsound like a lot of money(US cable rates are comparable) butwhen you consider the average income for allfamilies in Port-Au-Prince is under $2OO per year; well, seven times 1 2 is $84so the cable service is out of reach for'the masses'. In effectthe price, l ike it does in all things in l i fe, separates the'haves'from the 'have nots'. The middle class gets its narcotic, thegovernment keeps the middle class bureaucrars reasonablyhappy, and the masses get state run television shown incommunity centers on television receivers often provided bythe government. Price and price alone keeps the massesfrom aspiring too highly because they saw something ontelevision that excited them.
Of course it is not a perfect system. Haiti shares the islandof Hispanola wi th the Dominican Republ ic where a morepopul is t ic te lev is ion pol icy prevai ls . The'DR' speaks Spanishwhile Haiti speaks variations of French. DR television canbe seen in many areas of Port-Au-Prince and while themasses may not understand the language (although they sayone can learn from television!) they do understand thecartoons and the commercials for Coke and new cars.Enter Satoll l tes
Into all of this comes the US satell i tes. For the most partthey are not bringing something totally'new to teh area; tele-vision is already there in most areas and where televisiontransmitters have not been built television tapes are in thestreams of commerce.
The satell i te availabil ity really only changes one thing;immediency. Yes, it adds some diversity to those hung up on
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s.ingle source tape clubs but it is the immediency thatdominates all of the other advantages of satell i te service.
South Amerlcans are sports fanailcg. At all levels olincome. This interest may be the one common thread thatruns through the entire region. Take the fall '80 ti i le f ight withHolmes and Ali. Litt le Haiti, impoverished and decades (somesay centuries) behind its neighbors put out $1S,0OO to thefight promoters and INTELSAT to gain delivery of the ti i lebout via satell i te. lt went on the state run TV system; a,gift ' toall of the country from the government.
South Americans have an intense interest in boxing, wrest-l ing (even the hokey staged affairs on WTBS on Saturdays!),soccer and baseball. The annual World Series is reportedlythe most widely distributed US programming of the year; anyyear. Countries such as the Dominican Republic and Vene-zuela that carry virtually no US programming at all on localterrestrial transmitters sign up years in advance for WorldSeries feeds.
It wil l be sports and sporting coverage, available on SAT-COM Fl, WESTAR I and ll and to a l imlted extent on COM-STAB D2 that wil l make the blg difference in the establish-ment of extensive satell i te receiving temrinal systemsthroughout the region.
In those countries where uncensored news broadcasts areallowed, the immediency of l ive satell i te delivered newscastswill also play a role in the development of the regional market.But not as big a part as you might suspect. Even in thosecountries where terrestrial television systems are operatingwith few government restrictions news ,censorship' or,con-trol ' is commonplace. This runs to what North Americanswould consider extremes (Haiti) to mild censorship in coun-tries such as Venezuela. Lacking constitutional guaranteesand a history of 'free press' few of the nations involved arewill ing to place 1OO% control of hard news in the hands ofbusiness people. And there are no hard, fast rules to guide thebusinessmen bringing to the public reports of news events.
Haiti routinely assesses the impact of all news reports on itscit izen masses, for example, automatically cutting out anyreports from overseas of Haitian activit ies virtually regardlessof content.. As some of the pioneers in the satell i te f ield have alreadylearned (the hard way) touting of ' l ive news reports' may havea reverse, negative effect on the proposed operation. There isa warning here; be sure of the ground rules in the country youare dealing with before you tick off a l ist of satell i te servicebenef i ts . The'TBS Evening News'on WTBS seems innocentenough when viewed by US standards; it may not be sopalatable or desirable in the eyes of a government agencycharged with the enforcement of local polit ical doctrine.The Legal Doctrlne
There are 102 nat ions of the wor ld who belong to INTEL-SAT; the international satell i te organization. Each of thesecountries has agreed to respect INTELSAT regulations andone of the regulations reportedly states that satell i te com-munications traffic/services between nations (i.e. Intor asopposed to Intra) shall be the exclusive domain of INTELSAT.In effect, by agreeing to this provision of INTELSAT, themember nations are guaranteeing to use their individual localpolicing powers to insure that INTELSAT maintarns a mon-opoly on in ternat ional (sate l l i te) communicat ions. l f that isnot c lear , perhaps an example wi l l he lp.
Venezuela is a member of INTELSAT. By th is membershipVenezuela is entit led to use INTELSAT satell i te facil i t ies tointer-connect the countr/s telephones, telegraph off ices andtelevision networks'to the world' via INTELSAT. Venezuelapays its own way; the cost of its earth terminals associatedwith INTELSAT plus the chargesforeach use of the satell i tes.It happens that Venezuela/US message traffic (to includetelevsion) must go via a circuitous route that takes themessages far to the east of both the US and Venezuela toINTELSAT satell i tes parked over the eastern Ailantic. Thetraffic passes through INTELSAT terminals in the US. Ven-
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end inter-connects to the appropriate terrestrial system andin the US the INTELSAT people hand off the traffic to a UScommon carrier such as AT&T. Each pafi handllng thetrafllc extracts a fee lor handllng lt.
It also happens that the US'domestic'satell i te, COMSTAR,places a 30 dBw contour signal directly over much ofVenezuela. And as we see in a companion report SATCOM Fland F2 place useable (estimated 25-26 dBw) signals overmuch of the country as well; at least on some transponders. ltis technlcally poaslble for the same message to go directlyfrom the Venezuela terminal to the US terminal withouiINTELSAT. Furthermore, because fewer ,carriers, are in-volved the cost per message unit delivered would be substantially lower. Based upon US taritfs, as much as 5O% lower.
Hands are tied on both ends of the circuit however becauseboth the US and Venezuela are prevented from dealingdirectly'. INTELSAI as wonderful as it is, has served as ibrake on the development of lower cost inter-national ser-vices.
AT&T is heavily involved with INTELSAT through its inter-twined arrangements as a leasor of COMSTAR birds (ownedby GOMSAT and rented by AT&T / GT / E; COMSAT in turn isthe off icial US'representative' in INTELSAT). When attemptslqve !e91 made to expand the intra-national services of sayRCA SATCOM birds to neighboring countries, AT&T has beenquick on the pen to fi le oppositions at the FCC.
There is a rich history of 'attempts' to expand the inter-national service operations of SATCOM and WESTAR, datingback into the mid 70's And while our examination here is olthe areas south of the US, similar problems arise when onewishes to expand US (satell i te television) services legallyinto Canada. Canada is instructive, even key, to understandling the legal l imitations for the areas to the south howeversince the Canadian 'experience' began much earlier thansouthern interest.
Efforts to gain legal permission to serve (say) Canada withATCOM signals began as early as 1976; shorily after
SATCOM began delivering HBO programs. COMSAT op-posed the applications from the outset, arguing on behalf ofINTELSAT, making the point that INTELSAT (COMSAT) andonly INTELSAT (COMSAT) was authorized by Congress inMay of 1962 to provide ' international satell i te communica-tions'. A study of the floor debate, in Congress, that was behind establishment of the communications Satell i te Act of1962 suggests this is not the case at all. The CongressionalRecord for May 1, 1962 reports Congressman Harris report-ing to the floor on the result of the House Foreign and Inter-state Committee's study of the proposed act. The Congress-man summed up the report by noting:
"lt waa egroed that lt waa not the Intent of the Congressby (this) Act to preclude the creatlon of an addlilonalcommu n lcatlons (satell i te) aystem or syatems. ...".
Further study of the floor and committee debate finds thesephrases buried in the text:
"Sectlon 3O5 (a) grants to COMSAT the authorltyto,(1 )plan, Inlt late, conrtruct, own, manege and operate...acommerclal communlcatlons satell l te aystem'. As flretIntroduced thl3 Bectlon referred to systoms. Thlg waschangod to the rlngular by the Senate. Thls dellberateactlon and the Acts domlnant useof the term syetem Inlleu of eyitems Indlcates that tho Act only Intend(s) thatCOMSAT be glven control over the slngle system con.templated."
An opinion from the US Attorney General dated November1971 expanded further on this by noting:"Since the Act did forsee the dventual creation ol
addltlonal systems but did notvest their control (solely) inCOMSAT, the subsequent creation of new controll ing entFties cannot be said to have been precluded by the Act".
The same legal opinion also notes:"...there la clear evldence of leglslatlve Intent that
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compllmentary or competlng systems be legally penmlaglb le. . . " .INTELSAT came into being some two years after the 1 962
Act was adopted by both Houses of Congress and signed intolaw by President Kennedy. An'interim agreement', laying theground work for INTELSAT has in its preamble languagealmost identical to that adopted in the Act; specifically, itnotes:"...( it is the desire of the nations) to establish a slngle global
commercial communications satell i te system...".Signif icantly, the use of singular is the same as the 1 962 Act.The Attorney General in 1 971 concluded that the Act and theINTELSAT agreement must be taken together and thatneither can be enforced or interpreted without the other. Inthe permanent agreement adopted in 1971 it states thatINTELSAT shall provide public telecommunications "...and
other specialized communications" only if they do not impairthe abil ity of INTELSAT to achieve its prime objective(s).
The preamble to the 1962 Act really says it all:"lt ls notthe pollcy of Congrelg bythlr chapter...to pre.clude the creatlon ol additional communlcatlone satel-llte gygtemg, lf requlred to meet the unlque goyern-mental needg or lf othenvlrs requlrod In the natlonallnteregt...".lf the COMSAT porltlon vlr-a-vlr Internatlonal use of US
authorlzed domeltlc lstcll l tca l l aoweak, why hae COM-SAT been able to kcep auch approvalr lrom occurrlng attho FCC? Thc anrwer ls unclcar but thc hlttory of elfortsln thle area lr not. Agaln, Canada provlder l l lurtratlonabut lt alro muddlcr thc wrtcn bccauec Canada, l lkc thcUS, alro ownr and opcrrtc! its own'domestic' satell i tes.
There was a fear, perhaps well founded, that Canadaintended to inaugerate Intcrnetlonal urc of its (then new)ANIK series of satell i tes; way back in 1 972. During the fall of1972 a series of letters were exchanged between Bertram W.Rein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for US Transportation andCommunications, K B. Will iamson (Minister of the CanadianEmbassy in Washington) and F. G. Nixon, Administrator forthe Telecommunications Management Bureau for theCanadian Department of Communications.
In a November 6th (1972) letter to Mr. Rein, MinisterWill iamson noted:
"lt ls Telolrt Ganada'r Intentlon...to provlde gatell l tecommunlcatlonr largely wlthln Canada but also to centaln polntr In the Unlted Stete!...".Wlll lamron e lso noted "...tha rervlcer provlded to and
betwecn polntr outglde of Canada would be Incldentaland perlpheral to the main Ganadian domestic service of thecorporation. lt is recognized that any service between USApoints would be only where (there was a) insuff iciency of USAdomestic facil i t ies. (lt is assumed that) the US would agree tothe application of the same principles in a reciprocalsituationwhen (US) domestic satell i te systems are in operation".
The US answer, init iated one day later by Bertram Rein, wasblunt and to the point. Before we look at it we must recall thatCanada was at this point in time about to launch ANIK. Or tobe more precise, Canada was about to launch ANIK wlth theasalgtance of a US launch vehicle at Cape Kennedy. Reinwasted no more time reminding the Canadians that the USwas in the "drive/s seat". Rein wrote:
"...the Unlted Stateg commltment to provlde launchserylcea was tor a domestic Canadlan gatell l te syatem...(yet) you advlse lt lB now Intended thatthe oblectsof the Corporatlon underthe TELESATAcT beamendedto include authorltyto handle international trafl lc ag wellas the domestlc trafflc of other countrles. (You) haveIndlcated lt le Intended that satell l teato be launched bythe Unlted States would be uaed to provlde telecom-munlcatlone servlce to and between locatlong outsldeo f Canada . . . " .
This plainly angered the US since they were (1) watch-ing while Canada (not the US) put into orbit the first
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SATELLITE DICESTdomestic geo-stationary satell i te system, and (2) were providing the launch facil i t ies for that system. Rein continued:"Under these clrcumatances, we belleve that thelaunch servlce to be furnlshed by the Unlted Stetos mustbe premlsed on your adherence to the followlng condFtlon. Prlor to the lnstltutlon of any international publlctelecommunlcatlona aerylce utl l lzlng gatell l teslaunched (by the US) pursuant to the (US/Canada) 1 969understandlng, the Canadlan euthorlt les wll l submlt theproposal (for international service) to the INTELSATAasembly ol Partlea.. (and) guch servlce shall not beInaugerated unlesg:
(a)The propogal recelveg a favorable recommendatlonIn the INTELSAT Asssmbly (for thls purposo a favonable vote would be ?6rdg approval): or
(b)The propo3ar ts supported by the Unlted StatosGovernment."
By establlshlng those terms, onlydaye before ANIK wasdue to l lft off the pad, the US government wae able toforce the Canadians to back off their plans to inter-nationalize the ANIK domestic birds. Having notif ied theCanadians that the launch could be stopped, the US thenestablished three special circumstances where Ganadiansatell i tes mlght be used for US service; and vice versa (whenthe US birds were operational).They went (and remain today)as follows:
1)Cataetrophlc fallure - in the event a bird died on eitherside, subject to the availabil ity of transponders on the'other side', both nations would agree to provide backupassistance to the other.
RCA today maintains an agreement with TELESAT whereinup to 1 1 ANIK transponders could be pressed into emergen-cy service for RCA SATCOM tratfic should a SATCOM bird'die'.
2)Shortage of facll l t leg - in the event one nation wasexperiencing a shortage of transponder space it wasagreed it would be possible for the other to assist on atemporary basis.
3)lncldentaland perlpheral- where it could be shown thatwhat was obviously a domestic service on either side (i.e.WTBS as distributed in the USA) could be extended tothe other side when such extension was obviously' lncFdentel and perlphersl' to the (primary) purpose thatservice was available within a country, the frame workwas established for extending such services to the otherside.
That sounds like an open invitation for a US domesticcarrier, such as SSS, to extend WTBS to Canada. lt is not aswe shall see. In the Rein letter he notes "... implementation lorservices of this type wil l be subject to approval by appropriaterepresentatives of both governments...".
Rein closed his letter of November 7th with the urging,,Wewould appreciate receiving confirmation that you share theviews expressed herein and that this exchange of lettersconstitutes an' intergovern mental arran gement'." A responsedated November 8th from Will iamson was short and sweet.'We hereby contlrm that your letter of Noyember 6th,
your letter of November 7th, and thle reply consiltutea n'lntergovernmental artangemont'. "And so th€ short l lved Canadlan effort to turn ANIK Into
a more-than-domeetlc blrd wae shot down; only daysbefore ANIK wag launched wlth US rocket power. lt wasnot tho end of the matter however elnce many ontrepreneurs would In lateryears read the,lncldental and phenlpheral' phrase and from that see a ray of hope that USdomestic services could be legally extended to Canada.
fn April of 1977 a Mr. George T. Chandler of Sunriver,Oregon directed a letter to the Federal CommunicationsCommission. Mr.Chandler asked whether he could install asatell i te receiving system to pick up Canadian ANIK pregrams in Sunriver. Charles R. Cowan, Chief of Facil it ies andServices Division speaking for the Gommon Garrier Bureau
P9-4/81
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SATELLITE INNOVATIONSP. O. Box 5673, Winston Salem, NC 27103
P10-4 /81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
resoonded:"Unl ike the recept lon of broadcast programming' therecept ion of g lgnale t ransmit ted v ia ANIK sate l l i tes issubject to the Unlted States/Canada lntergovern'menta l arranggment of 1 972, and to the provis ions ofSect ion 605 of the Gommunicat lons Act . The (19721arrangement recognizes thatANlK ls a domest ic sateFl i te system Intended for uge sole ly wi th in Canada. How'ever, servlce(s) may be extended to a point or points inthe Unl ted States where such sorv ice is inc identa l andper ipheral to the provls ion of eerv ice that is c lear ly aCanadian domest lc serv lce. The recept ion of (CBCtelev is ion) programmlng In the Unl ted States may fa l lwithln this category. Howeveryou should be aware thatimpl€m€ntat lon of any inc identa l use of ANIK in theUnited States ie subject to the approval ol representa't ives ot the Unl ted States and Canada."In spi te of th is negat ive 'par ty l ine ' RCA and Southern
Satel l i te Systems, Inc. sought to break the log. iam in mid-1 977. Southern and RCA f i led formal appl icat ions at the FCCrequest ing permiss ion to extend ( then) WTCG te lev is ionserv ice to cable te lev is ion receiv ing s i tes in Dryden, Ontar ioand Sydney, Nova Scot ia ( in par t icu lar) as wel l as other(unspeci f ied) s i tes throughout ' lower Canada' .
COMSAT lost no t ime in f i l ing an object ion; in August of1977. In thei r p leading COMSAT stated:
"southern '8 appl lcat lon le not s imply a rgquest to addaddl t ional polnts to an a l ready ex ls t ing domest ic senvlce of fer lng. Rather l t is an appl icat ion that ' i t aPproved, would drast lca l ly a l ter th€ way internat ionalcommunlcat long are current ly prov ided pursuant toCommlsslon pol lcy, US law, and internat ional agreementg to whlch the US ls a PartY ' '
Then COMSAT let i t a l l hang out :" ln essence Southern is seeking author i ty to establ ish a
comoet i t ive a l ternat ive to the INTELSAT system for thecarr iage of in ternat ional publ ic te lecommunicat ions ' and,in v iew of the commitment made by the US to support thesingle g lobal sate l l i te system, the Commission should notcountenance i t . . . " .We added the emphasis to the word s lngle. Recal l i f you
wi l l that we have a l ready seen, in the legis lat ive h is tory of the1962 Act creat ing COMSAT (and there in af ter INTELSAT)that our Congress never in tended for there to be a 's ingle '
anyth ing. You cannot b lame COMSAT for t ry ing; i f you wishyou can b lame the Commission for buying the argumentnowever.
Having stuck in the wor ld 's ingle ' ear ly in thei r opposi t ion tothe Southern appl icat ion COMSAT bore down.
" . . .COMSAT is speci f ica l ly and exclus lvely author lzed( th is t ime the emphasis is thei rs) by. . . the Sate l l i te Act . . . toorovide for the t ransmiss ion of a l l commercia l sate l l i tetraff ic between the US and intern ational points' According-ly, as a matter of law, US carriers have no alternative but toiome to COMSAT when they desi re to make use of asate l l i te system for the t ransmiss ion of US t raf f ic to fore ignpoints. . . " .COMSAT also dug around and found a copy of the now
infamous intergovernmental arrangement ' . l t po inted out tothe Commission:
"Certalnly lt wou ld not be In the best Interestg of the USto 6 l lc l t promlsee f rom others ( i .e . ANIK should not beused in the US) lnconslstent wl th the posl t lon l t mlghttake ltself. (Furthermore) allowlng a US domestlc syetem to provlde Internatlonal servlces to Canada lmpllesthat a Canadlan domeetlc system would also be permlt-ted to provlde such servlceg to the US; In compotlt lonwl th INTELSAT' .In a wel l researched and caref u l ly documented response to
COMSAT, Southern 's Counsel Robert F. Corazzin i t r ied h isbest to show that COMSAT was not ent i t led to be 'a par ty to
),
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Superb ex tended th resho ld per fo rmance, per -fec t co lo r f ide l i t y a re combined in the COM-3 andCOM-3R rece ivers . Th is i s the no-compromise re -ce iver sys tem fea tur ing tu l l 24 channe l recept ion(swi tch tun ing se lec t ion fo r pos i t i ve d ia l -up) and a
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P12-4 /81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTthe preceding ' . He missed one cruc ia l b i t o f ev idence; thetextof the legislative history creating COMSAT back in 1 962, and,the At torney General 's opin ion of 1971 (c i ted here) . TheCommission, not able to handle the s i tuat ion, s tuck the wholefi le into a folder where it rests today.
Wel l , that is not qui te t rue. Ear ly in 1978, February to beexact , Southern t r ied to drag the Canadian appl icat ion out ofthe folder. The Motion Picture Association of America (f earf ulthat Canadian d is t r ibut ion of WTCG would d i lu te the marketfor thei r products in Canada) and COMSAT f i led against ;again. But there was a surpr is ing legal br ie f f i led by AT&T.Careful study of the AT&T brief shows that you should neverassume that AT&T and COMSAT are synonymous.
"AT&T belleves lt le now constralnod to commentbrlefly on the lssu€ of use of domestic aatell i tes forcommerclal communlcatlons between the UnltedStateg and other North Amerlcan countrles. AT&T doesnot ln theso commonts elther oppos€ or support thespeclflc eervlce proposal of SSS and RCA Americom.AT&T'g posltlon, stated simply and dlrectly, is thatnelther the Satell l te Act of 1962 nor the INTELSATAgreemonts, properly read, prohibit as a matter of lawany and a l l commercla l communicat lons t raf f lc v la adomestlc satell l te between the Unlted States andCanada and Mexlco. Dependlng upon tho c l rcum'stancoa, a propogalto use a domestlc satell l te for suchtraff lc can be ln accord wlth the Satell l te Act and whollytraff lc can be ln accord wlththe Satell i te Act and whollyIn keeplng wlth the splrit of the INTELSAT Agree-mentg. t tWel l now, that is s t ra ight forward enough. Somebody had
obviously done thei r legal homework! Let 's see how AT&Tattorneys arrived at this position.
" (Histor ica l ly) communlcat ions on the North Amer icancontln€nt ha8 been provlded by carriers of all threecountrles wlthout any slgnlf icant regard to inter'natlonal boundarleg...(there) has been a recognized'communlty of lnterest' between these countries byvl r tue of geographlc prox iml ty . Changlng technologyhas not altered that perception ol community interest.Satell l te communlcatlone lg simply another effectlvemodern tool wl th whlch to promote economical unbur-dened communlcat lons on the North Amer ican cont l 'nont . "Recal l that the US, in put t ing a stop to Canadian AN lK p lans
for in ternat ional serv ice in 1 971 , to ld the Canadians that oneway forANlKto become an' in ternat ional 'serv ice was for theCanadians to take thei r p lans to the Assembly of Par t ies( through the INTELSAT Board of Governors) .The US also to ldCanada that i f the Assembly approved ( in th is instance) by a2/3rds vote the Canadian p lan, the US would accept the useol ANIK for del ivery of serv ices wi th in the US. AT&T to ld theCommission in thei r 1978 f i l ing that " . . . the Assembly ofPartles...shall express... ln the form of recommendations...I ts f lnd lngs. . . " . No p lace, in ar t ic le XIV (d) of the INTELSATAgreements does i t apparent ly say that the Assembly mustapprove (by 2/3rds vote or any other vote) the p lan. l t doesstate, according to AT&T, that they want to ensure technicalcompat ib i l i ty , wise use of the orb i t space spectrum and to t ryto avoid "s igni f icant economic harm to the g lobal system ofINTELSAT''.
COMSAT would of course l ike the Commission to bel ievethat thei r r ights to exclus ive in ternat ional serv ice precludeanyone e lse f rom provid ing that serv ice; even when COM-SAT/INTELSAT are unable ( technical ly or economical ly) toorovide an ident ica l or s imi lar serv ice. We' l l address thatquestion shortly.
AT&T concludes thei r f i l ing by not ing:" . . . tho use of domest lc sate l l l tes to prov ide communi-catlons selvice botween the countrios of the NorthAmer lcan cont inent ls not automat lca l ly prec luded as amatter of law or Intornational agreement (as claimed by
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COOP'S SATELLITE DICEST P13-4 /81
vCOMSAT and MPAA). Any b lanket endorsement by theCommlssion of COMSAT's extremo posl t ion on th lsissue in decid ing the SSS and RCA Amer icom appl lca-t ions would be in error and contrary to the c leai In tentof the Communlcai lons Sate l l l te Act of 1962 and the(subsequent) INTELSAT agroements. (A) threshold re_l-e:c!i_o^n et €very proposal on the rationale put forth byCOMSAT would be erroneous and contrary to the besiin terests of the U n i ted States a nd the com m u n icat ionsconsumor . . . " .Did COMSAT ro l l over? Not qui te. They went through the
mot ions of reply ing to AT&T. They argued that the Gingleintegrated network ' between the US, Canada and Mexico w:astrue "on ly wi th respect to terrestr ia l f ac i l i t ies " and t h ey added'The countr ies in the North Amer ican network have cnosen tout i l ize the fac i l i t ies of the s ingle lNTELSAT,gtobat network ' tomeet thei r in ternat ional publ ic te lecommunicat ions requi re_ments" .
AT&T did force COMSAT to respond to the apparent factthat they d id not have the author izat ion of Congress to be the'sole sate l l l te gerv ice ' for in ternat ional serv ice. COMSATresoonded:
" . . . the Act d id not prec lude the creat ion of addi t ional sate l -l i te system-s ' i f requi red to meet unique governmentalneeds or i f o therwise requi red in the nat ional in terest ' .However there has been no suggest ion that ( l ) the pro_vis ion of commercia l te lev is ion serv ice to Cir iada is a'unrque governmental need' - - which of course i t is not , or ,(2) that the 'nat ional in terest ' would be served by thecreat ion of a hybr id domest ic / in ternat ional sate l l i te system-- which i t would not ; or (3) that such a hybr id system wasever in tended by Congress" .
And so back in 1977 and 78 we had a war of words.COMSAT arguing that they and they a lone were ent i i led toprovide s ingular in ternat ional serv ice, RCA, SSS and othersarguing that COMSAT was not supposed to be the solesource of anyth ing.
Today, more than three years la ter , the Canadian ques-t ion remains unresolved - at least legal ly . In the in ter im ofcourse more than a thousand pr ivate terminals have sprungup throughout Canada receiving not only WTCG/WTEiS buith.e full range of services f rorn SATCOM Fl (and others).Clear ly the Commission had the opportunl ty ih t SZZ-Zet6create pol icy in th is area which could have been fo l lowedlegal ly by a l l par t ies. l t chose not to come to gr ips wi th theissue and lack ing a pol icy other than the muddied af ter_math of the 1 972 ' ln tergovernmental Agreement ' the pr i -vate sector has moved fonvard whi le the publ ic /govern-ment segment has le f t the mat ter a lone.
Meanwh l l e To The Sou th . . .
Whi le our h is tory lesson to date has largely deal t wi th thebackground for a lack of accord betwbeir the US andCanada, there have been s imi lar ef for ts in the Car ibbean. lnth is s tudy we shal l see that the , in terest ' in prov id ingrecept ion serv ices v ia US ,domest ic ' sate l l i tes has largelybeen a funct ion of technology growth. Canada, forexampte,receives such a st rong sate l l i te footpr int s ignal f rom mosiof the US birds (because of the need to- cover Alaskasoutheast to F lor ida wi th Canada in between) thar reason_ably pr iced sate l l i te receiv ing equipment was a lways avai l -able for th is serv ice. At least f rom 1 977 or so onwaro.Further off boresight, where satell i te footprints are weakerand larger antennas and more complex receiver sysremsare requi red, the in terest in receiv ing the serv ices hasf o l lowed c losely the development of lowLr pr iced hardware.This year , 198.1 , is l ike ly to be , the yeaf b i sate l l i te expan_sion in the Car ibbean, nor thern South Amer ica and Centra lAmer ica.
As. fas been reported in CSD in many prior issues, thesate l l i te footpr ints 'o f f boresight ' are at best unpredictable.And lack ing a concerted ef for t to measure them in the f ie ld,
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at suf f ic ient locat ions, there is far more that we do notknow than we do know about the character is t ics in theregion. Data is s tar t ing to come in however as a companionreport as th is issue indicates.
Grand Cayman ls land, a t iny spot in the Car ibbean some200 mi les or so south of Cuba has been the 'Canada of thesouth ' . On the sur face the is land should not at t ract thatmuch interest . Approximately 1 5,OOO people l ive there. Theis land is one of a t r io set t led several hundred years ago byScots and others f rom the Br i t ish ls les p lus a generoushelp ing of migrants f rom southern US plantat ions af terPresident L incoln f reed the s laves. Grand Cayman is bestknown in the f inancia l wor ld because i t has an unusual taxand banking law base. Unt i l i t adopted laws a l lowing peopleor f i rms to open 'posta l box banks ' the is lands averagedf ewer than 1 0,000 tour is ts per year . Today i t may run ashigh as that every two weeks. Thousands s l ide back andfor th between Miami and GrandCaymen wi thbr ief casesloaded wi th cold, hard cash being hauled out of US bankinspector eyes. There are more than 350 regis teredbanks on th is t iny ls land; roughly one f or every 40 f u l l t imeresidents! Some cal l i t the Swi tzer land of the westernhemisphere.
This Swi tzer land has no te lev is ion. At a l l . The neareststat ions are in Cuba and the next nearest are in Jamaica;some 300 mi les away. A number of US f i rms have beenat tempt ing to get some type of te lev is ion star ted there fornear ly a decade. There is a br isk v ideotape business ofcourse and motel /hote l complexes of fer day-delayed TV asa regular teature.
Whie l s t i l l bat t l ing the FCC for permiss ion to serve a pai rof Canadian cable systems, Southern Sate l l i te Systemsasked the FCC on September 1 2, 1978 for permiss ion totake WTBS/WTCG to Grand Cayman. SSS asked forauthor-i ty to extend a 'present ly author ized serv ice to var ious newpoints of communicat ions located throughout the Caymanls lands, Br i t ish West Indies wi th serv ice in i t ia l ly prov ided toGrand Cayman ls land' .
SSS moved into the south af ter i t received not i f icat ionf rom an appl icant f or a cable te lev is ion f ranchise for GrandCayman that the local government Ins leted upon seeingsome indicat ion that the appl icant could del iver the ser-v ices i t c la imed. One of the c la ims was WTCG/WTBS. Ineffect, Cayman Transmission Video Systems, Ltd. wasbetween a rock and hard o lace: i f i t could show i t had the( legal ) abi l i ty to br ing in the At lanta stat ion, i ts appl icat ionf or a cable f ranchise 'might ' be approved.
There was a learn ing curve resul t ing f rom the f iasco wi thCanada appl icat ions at work however. One of the mul t i -layered COMSAT protests noted that " i f " the Canadiancable systems real ly wanted At lanta te lev is ion, COMSATmight be wi l l ing to prov ide i t v ia INTELSAT. Of course thekicker was the pr ice; never f la t ly s tated but based uponCOMSAT tar i f fs on f i le at the t ime amount ing to around$2OO per home per month ( ! ) . SSS f igured they had a newtool here and in the Grand Cayman appl icat ion they c i tedthei r RCA SATCOM serv ice as being " the only economical lyfeasib le means of prov id ing l ive (At lanta) independentte lev is ion programming to the Cayman ls lands".
COMSAT wasted no t ime opposing the Grand Caymanappl icat ion. The protest was a replay of the Canadianopposi t ion wi th one new twist . COMSAT pointed out thatG rand Cayman was a Crown Colony of the Uni ted Kigndom,and the UK was a s ignatory to the INTELSAT agreement . Inef fect , according to COMSAT, Grand Cayman was'spokenfor ' by the UK representat ive in INTELSAT; Cable andWire less (West Indies) Ltd.
With COMSAT f i l ing Cayman Transmiss ion Video Sys-tems then fi led to state its own case. They noted:"COMSATs object ion is premised on the mot ion thatCayman Transmission's request for servlce fromSouthern Sate l l i te wi l l somehow's lphon of f business
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from GOMSAT and the INTELSAT network...(yet) therels no slmllar serulce avallable from COMSAT. To denyservlce...because of the extremoly remoto posslbll l tythat US televlsion statlons might, at some tlme In thedlstant future, bocome avallale for carrlage on cablotelevlslon systems vla the INTELSAT notwork, servssno useful purpose and could not have been Intended bythe INTELSAT treaty."They went on to point out that i f such ( INTELSAT) serv ice
ever d id become avai lable they would 'eager ly consider us ingit '. And then fearing a turn down, Gayman Transmissionsuggested a 'temporary or conditional authorization forimmediate serv ice unt i l COMSAT or INTELSAT provides thesame or s imi lar serv ice ' .
Southern Satell i te went on record with the now classicphrase "The alternatlve to service by Southern Satell l te leno servlce at all". COMSAT was not moved by the emotion ofthe appeal . In i ts reply i t noted:
"To the best of COMSAT's information Cayman Trans-mission has never even requested its correspondent Cableand Wireless (West Indies) Ltd. to provide it with access tothe INTELSAT system. Should service be requested thereis no reason to believe that it would not be promptlyprovided. Certa in ly there is no technical obstac le s inceINTELSAT satell i tes currently provide service to a numberof s imi lar in ternat ional points inc luding Jamaica, Hai t i , theDominican Republ ic , Mart in ique, Barbados and Tr in idad.And, COMSAT is prepared to provide the requested serviceto the Cayman ls lands as prompt ly as fac i l i t ies can be madeavai la le."
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The Grand Cayman matter dragged on into 1979 in thebarely act ive fo lder at the Commission. In March of 1 979Southern Sate l l i te amended i ts appl icat ion for serv ice not ingthat it now had a pall of applicants for service; in addition toCayman Transmiss ion Video Systems a new f i rm cal ledCayman lsland Television also had asked for WTBS/WTCGservice. The new applicant wanted to establish a low powerTV station on Grand Cayman (as opposed to cable TV) and in af i l ing wi th the Commission la te in Apr i l o f 1979 GIT noted'The servlce whlch Southern Satell l te proposes to prevlde cannot be economlcally provlded by INTELSAT;COMSAT does not offer any data to Indlcate lt couldprovldo televlslon program transmlsslon servlce toGrand Cayman on a basls whlch would be economlcal lyfeaslb le" .
INTELSAT serv ice rates ( in the instant s i tuat ion they wouldbe several thousand t imes more expensive than SouthernSatel l i te) are of course not designed on the same'mul t i -pointreceiving basis' as US domestic bird rates. INTELSAT tradi-t ional ly looks at sending one program l rom one upl ink to as ingle downl ink(receiv ing s i te) .The charges ref lect fu l l use ofa t ransponder (or hal f t ransponder) by a s ingle ent i ty on bothends of the l ine. Wi th only a s ingle customer (Grand Caymanin our example) receiving the relayed service the full cost ofthe serv ice would have to be bourne by that s ingle receiv ingterminal . l t is not d is-s imi lar to Southern Sate l l i te prov id ingWTCG to a s ingle cable system; rather than charging thecable systems the present 8-10 cents per home per monththe s ingle system would have to pay Southern for thefu l lcostof the transponder rental (in excess of $ 1 00,000 per month)p lus Southern operat ional costs. Clear ly a smal l countrywi th1 5,000 people could not afford that type of 'TV bil l ' per month.
With the Commission on dead center on the Grand Caymanissue another out f i t t r ied yet another tact ic for the is landnat ion. A San Francisco law f i rm wrote the Commission la te inOctober of 1 979:
"My c l ient , a Panama Corporat lon, wishes to lnqul reabout programming which could be obta lned f romU nited States non'common carrlsr plogram suppllers'such as Home Box Office, on a contlactural basls.The
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Sepera te Az imuth /E leva t ionCont ro ls to r p rec ise ad jus tment .
OPTION 1The remote cont ro l fea ture au tomat ic i i l l y moves the Az imuth and E leva t ion pos i t ions o f the an tenna to a l low the con-v ience o f chang ing to d i f fe ren t sa te l l i tes w i thout go ing ou ts ide . The cont ro l head may be p laced on the te lev is ion or byyour favor i te cha i r fo r a rms reach cont ro l . A d ig i ta l readout ind ica tes wh ich sa te l l i te the Antenna is tu rned to . The re -mote control feature may be aCded at a later date, even after manual svstem has been instal led.
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recelvlng of glgnale transmltted vla satelllte ralses thelollowlng questlon: Does the construction and operationof a receive-only satellite earth station located outglde ofthe United States to receive (the) transmissions of a non'common carrier pay television program supplier over aprivate leased channel of the United States satell i te trans'mission system, where my client has contracted for thisprogramming on a fee basis, requlre an FGG llcsnge?".
The attorney was looking, it appeared, at establishing whe-ther or not his client could make Independent arrangementswith a non-common-carrier pay programming supplier (HBOwas cited as an example) to receive the programs outside ofthe US and never even tell the FCC about it?
A fourth Cayman lsland firm was thinking along similarlines. This one, known as Cayman Broadcasting Associates,had in mind a subscription television operation for the island.They wrote the FCC in April of 1979 and spelled out theirprogram:
"The Government of Cayman lslandg recently re"quested thstwe pursuethe posalblllty of a subscrlptlontelevlalon 3ystem. lt hag become apparent that obtaln.Ing permlrelon to recelve elgnala In the Caymanlslandg dlrectly (via US domestic satell i te) la a lengthyand tenuoue pursult. Conalderlng the oblectlons otCOiISAT and INTELSATthe pureultwould probably befrult legs.
ln orderto ayold a coll lslon of Intoro3tswlth GOMSATand INTELSAT we are conslderlng contractlng wlthone or more common carrlers to Tecelve ong or morosatell l te televlrlon slgnals wlthln the boundarles of theUnlted States. Upon recelpt of the program3 we would(video) tape same at the polnt of elgnal recelpt and thenforward the tapgs to Grand Cayman for delayed trans'mlsalon vla a sublcrlptlon televlslon ayatem".To some surprise the Commission did answer and the
a nswers, composed by Will iam Allen, Acting Chief of the Inter-national Division of the Common Carrier Bureau, are instruc't ive to anyone concerned about this whole complex picture:
"You clte the dlff lcu ltles Involved In obtalnlng authorltyto utlllze Unlted States Domestlc Satellltes to provldeservlce dlrectly to the Cayman lslands. Instead youpropose to contract wlth common carrlers to recelveone or more satell l te televlelon slgnals wlthln theboundarles of the Unlted States. You would tape thealgnal at that recelvlng slte and forward the tape toGrand Cayman.
We flnd no legal or technical barriers to your provldlngthls servlce. However we note that there may be poten'tlal copyright questions Involved and wo would oxpecJttre Caim-an flrm to comply wlth all appllcable USgtatuteg. "In effect the Commission has no quarrel with firms taping
and sending on tapes, provided there are contracts betweenthe taper and the program supplier, and, provided no inter-national or US copyright violations occur.The Copyrlght Snalu
lf the entanglements surrounding extending US domesticbird service outside of the boundaries of the US are confus'ing, copyright is a real can of worms. The premise behindcobyright is clear enough. Someone creates an original workand to prevent others from stealing that work he registers itwith the US Gopyright Office. The same work can also beprotected internationally on a country by country registrationbasis, or it can be protected outside of the US by relying uponnations who are signatories with the US in the internationalarena to protect their US based interests.
Of all of the trade associations, groups or others organizedto protect copyright interests, the Motion Picture Associationof America is the strongest. Through a well run, powerfulWashington lobby they are constantly seeking out violations
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HOMEQuantities of 3G a l a x s c a n l 0 ' . . . . . . $ 3 g g sG a l a x s c a n l 0 ' . . . . . . $ 4 9 9 5G a i a x s c a n l 3 ' . . . . . . $ 4 2 9 5G a l a x s c a n i 3 ' . . . . . . $ 5 7 9 5(Systerns are completer with rnodulator, 120"LNA, and e i ther Galaxscan 440 or 660 as noted.)
DISHES1 o ' " ' " " $ 8 3 51 3 ' � . . . . . . . . . $ i 1 5 016 ' " " ' $199s20' ' '$3495(Discounts of up to 300/o are available ior quantity)
COMPTETE MECHANICAI. PACKAGEQuantities ol 3l 0 ' homew i thPo la r . . $ l 5g5l 0 ' h o m e w l t h i 3 ' P o l a r . . . . . $ 2 0 9 s13 'homewi th 13 'Po la r . . . . . $2395l 3 ' c o m m e r c l a l . . . . . $ 2 6 5 0l 6 ' c o m m e r c l a l . . . . . $ 3 3 9 s2 0 ' c o m m e r c i a l . . . . . $ 4 6 9 5(lncludes: mount, dish, LNA mounts, Rotor Moior,feedhorn)
MICNOWAVE ASSOCIATES LNAI LNA3 LNAs
P20-4/81 COOP'SSATELLITE DICEST
of mot ion p ic tu re copyr igh ts and ba t t l ing to ensure tha t the i rmember f i rms ge t max imum re turn fo r the i r p roduc ts . V ideo-taoe. in the hands o f the wor ldwide consumer , has c rea tedt remendous new oppor tun i t ies fo r boot legg ing o f the i r p ro-
d ucts.A 'Convent ion Re la t ing To The D is t r ibu t ion o f Program'
Car ry ing S igna ls Transmi t ted by Sate l l l te ' convened inBrusse ls , Be lg ium in May o t 1974. The bas ic purpose o f th isconvent ion (a t tended by 4O s ignatory na t ions) was to exp lo rehow in te rna t iona l language cou ld be dra f ted to "combat
p i racy o f te lev is ion programs t ransmi t ted by sa te l l i te " ' Thelanguage o f concern shou ld now be fami l ia r to us a l l :
"Before i t became prac t ica l to launch sa te l l l tes fo rp ub l i c com m un ica t ions , th€ cons t ra ln ts o l techno logyto a certain extent protected a broadcaster who orlgl-na ted programming as aga ins t o ther b roadcas ters whomightw ish to in te rceptand re ' t ransml t h ls p rogramstoa d i f fe ren t marke t . The geograph ic coverage o f e igna lstransmitted through a geostat ionary satel l l te ls on€'th i rd o f the ear th 's sur face and i t i s now poss lb le fo rground s ta t ions w i th in tha t vas t te r r i to ry to p ick ups igna ls f rom the sa te l l i te and send them on to en t i re lynew and (an) un in tended aud ience w l thout any l i cens-ing ar rangements whatgoev€r " .Our concern here is what th is g roup dec ided, and how
there fore the var ious na t ions who s igned the agreementmight fee l compel led to en force the i r in te rna t iona l ' t rea ty '
ob i iga t ions . As you might suspec t the res t ra in ts a re qu i te
broad as we l l as very p rec ise . So le t ' s f i r s t look a t the'except ions ' s ince a b ig por t ion o f the CSD readersh ip i smade up o f peop le invo lved in the eng ineer ing , sa le andserv ice o f sa te l l i te rece iv ing te rmina ls
1 )Paragraph 7 5 o f the convent ion re la tes tha t i f you mere lyrece ive the t ransmiss ion o f an in te rna t iona l sa te l l i te (o rthe s igna ls o f a sa te l l i te ou ts ide o f i t s in tended or normalcoverage area) , you are no t v io la t lng th€ convont lon ."Ac ts cons is t ing mere ly o f recept ion (o r tap ing) o f s igna ls
would not be 'd is t r ibut ion ' and would be outs ide thescope of th is convent ion; especia l ly as test ing and exper-imental reception (or taping) may be necessary f rom timeto t ime to check the recept ion equipment as wel l as theorbi ta l posi t ion of the sate l l i te . "
For the insta l ler or exper imenter or pr ivate terminal v iewerth is apparent ly c lears the way for you to do your th ing. At leastas far as the Brussels Convent lon is concerned.
2)"The key e lement in the concept of d is t r ibut ion is thatthere mustbe a t ransmlss lon of program-carry ing s ig-nals to the general publ ic . "
3)"A t ransmiss ion would const i tu te 'd is t r ibut ion ' wi th in themeaning of the convent ion whether i t is made s imul-taneously wi th the or ig inal t ransmiss ion or f rom a record-ing". Of some related interest was the decision "The wordtransmit does not inc lude the market ing or supply ofvideotape recordings".
4)"The key tactor in determlnlng whether a dletrlbutlonis to b€ prevented or permltted lg whether or not thesignalwas intended for the d ls t r lbutor" . In otherwordsi f the rec io ient-user has the author izat ion of the sender tout i l ize the program(s) he has no problems wi th th is in ter-national accord.
There were several l is ted except ions that may save somereaders some gr ief as wel l as prov id ing legal ammuni t ion i fyou are approached by local author i t ies who do not under-stand what i t is you are doing.
For example, no copyrlght vlolatlon occurs if:1)"Short excerpts of a gportlng ovent or apectacle
could be distributed (1.e. retranemltted) lf thegenuine purpose was the reportlng of a newsworthyevent... ' justif ied bythe Informatory purpose'. To wal'rant use of a short excerpt under thls provlelon (para'graph 109) the programmlng must be done as a par tof a repor t of the general newg of the day and wouldtherefore normally havs to be transmlttsd trom arecording. "
SATELLITE ANTENNA
EARTH STATIONSo Saleso Re nta lso Leas ing
CompanyP. O. Box 42862
Las Vegas, Nevada 89104702/647'3799
oLow wrND LoADO ROOF MOUNTABLE
Our own 2 'p iece 13' PARABOLICPolar Mou nt
Rotor SystemoCab le Qua l i t y Sys tems
NOW STOCKT NG. . .. . .SVS . . .DEXCE L. . . ICM . . .AVANTEK. . . K L M . . . H E A D E N D A M P S
. . .M IN I -CABLE SYSTEMSDealer I nqui r ies Inv i ted
SATELLITE DICEST2)"ln paragraph ll l the term teachlng was ampllf led to
Include teachlng In the framework of adult educa-tlon. The delegatlon ol the Unlted Stateg of Amerlcasuggested that the Conference Interpret these termsIn a general way to Include any klnd of 'systematlcInstructlonal actlvlt leg'. At the final sessions it wasagreed that the Conference should adopt this interpre-tation".
Basically then if 'brief excerpts of news, sporting or otherevents of 'genuine public interest' are taken f rom a satell i tefeed, taped and then later included in a'report of generalnews'there is no apparent violation of the Brussels Conven-tion. Furthermore, if the programming extracted from thebird(s) is presented within the lramework of 'systematicinstructional activit ies' aimed and devoted to 'educationalpurposes' it also appears that no violation takes place. And ifyou are a prlvate vlewer your reception is not considered a'transmission' by the Convention and again no violation takesplace. Finally, if while install ing or testing or checking equitrment you wander into a program not intended for you, you areexcused.
Beyond that, if you receive and share, whether by tape,cable or re-broadcast it would appear you are in violation ofthe Brussels Copyright Convention of 1 974. And for now thatis the last (and latest) word in this field. Of the 40 nations whowere signators to the Convention either in Brussels or withina yearthereafterwe have Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador,France (for itself and many of its dependencies), Guatamala,Mexico, United Kingdom (for itself and those former terri-tories where it sti l l has foreign relation responsibil i t ies) andthe United States. lf you don't see the country of interestl isted here, and that country is in North America, theCaribbean or South America you can assume it was not asignator to the Convention.
P 2 1 - 4 / 8 1
Presgures That BearRemember many thousands of words ago how the US
managed to get the Canadians to back off their plan to useANIK for in ternat ionalserv ices? The impl ied threat was that i fCanada t r ied i t , the US would refuse to launch ANIK
That is, in the language of the day, pretty'heavy'talk. Thereis of course in the normal day to day conduct of internationalbusiness affairs many hundreds of opportunities for a nation(such as the US) to put pressure on another nation (such asVenezuela) to get something the US does not l ike, stopped.Generally speaking the US government exerts such pres-sures because (1) there is nat ional pr ide at s take ( the ANIK-international proposal for example) , or, (2) some pressuregroup (such as the MPAA) f inds a sympathet ic ear wi th in theadminis t rat ion or bureaucracy which i t convinces to p lead i tscase. National pride reactions come swift ly because every-th ing happens at a h igh level . Pressure groups take longer tomake themselves known and u l t imate ly thei r ef for ts may fa i lfor a lack of t ime or convict ion on the par t of the governmentagencies or agents charged with carrying the message.
We have seen that efforts to get legal permlsslon todeliver (on contract, for a fee) US domestic bird programsinto Canada and Grand Cayman is land have fa i led. Theysimply ended up in l imbo at the FCC because there is nopolicy available that would allow a bureaucracy to eitherapprove or dis-approve the applications.
As Taylor Howard has repeatedly stated'The technology ofthe satell i te system has rapidly outstripped the legislationcreated to insure the orderly development of the benefits oftechnology" . Where a l l o f th is may lead in the coming yearonly t ime wi l l te l l .
WHATS IN STORE IN WASHINGTON?No question about it; the low cost TVRO industry is growing
We Gouldn't Settle For The BestSo We Made lt BetterTaylor Howard helped us design the first Chaparral feed system forsatellite antennas. After having been proven in hundreds ofinstallations, the ChaparralSuper Feed* began to replacehorns and other non-precision feeds because of itsincreased antenna gain. We called it Super Feed*because we found that antenna gains in oursystems went up as much as 1.5 dB over otherdevices on the market.That was pretty good, but not good enough.So we developed a method for one-piececasting that provides greater precisionand improved VSWR. The result is easyassembly, better performance, lesscost and the best feed you can getfor dish f/D's in the .3 to .5 range.
Super Feedt" is in production now and readyfor immediate delivery at $125 per unit or atquantity discounts.
CsepennelCouuuNrcATroNS
P.O. BOX 832, Los Altos, CA 94022 415-941-1555
P22-4/81
WASHINGTON SPTSSCHEDULESHAPES UP
u p. In the allocated exhibit hall area there were 55 booths setas ide for the d isplay and WRO equipment . On March I 7 a l l55 of thoge booths wero roaorvod by suppliers anxious toshow their products to attendees and participate in the fifthSPTS event to be held in 2O months. ffhose who came in afterthat date were assigned to an alternate exhibit hall pressedinto serv ice when the demand s imply exceeded the supply! )
Each at tendee at SPTS'81 Washington wi l l receive as apart of his registration package a brand new'STT Low PowerTV Handbook'. We are very proud of this newest "manual"s ince i t combines in to a s ingle pr in t ing both the legal andtechnical aspects of operating a low power (satell i te signalfed) television broadcasting station. SPACE General CounselRick Brown, who has assisted dozens of applicants to pre-pare their FCC papenrvork forthis new seryice, has teamed upwith Cooper and between the two they have put together a
tffTtilonilRTFNIITT$ TIIITITEIINational Microtech wants dealersinterested in one-day rentals ofEarth Stations. Up to $1200 perday. 10 engagements per monthpossible. Join our network now.
Call today1 -800-647 -6144
3PM
4PM
5PM8PM
very 's tate of the ar t ' Handbook on not only making appl i -cat ion for such a stat ion, but bui ld ing and operat ing such astat ion. Coop's por t ion deta i ls everyth ing f rom standbypower ing and v ideo swi tch ing to spl i t t ing up ' the t ranslatoroutput s ignal between hor izonta l polar izat ion ( for localcoverage to subscribers) and vertical polarization (for relay-ing on to the next t ranslator in the network) . l t a lso deta i ls par tby part how you take $6,300 and build both a TVRO receiveterminal and a ten wat t VHF t ranslatorstat ion. And they said i thad to be expensive! ! ! (For those who won' t a t tend SPTS'81in Washington, th is new'Handbook' Manual wi l l be avai lableby mai l s tar t ing in May.)
Now the program proper. Subject to change (we l ike tokeep the program f lu id r ight up to the last minute to a l low theparticipants to be selected on the basis of the very latest intechnology and legal exper ience) , here is the way we pres-ent ly see the Washington Seminar program shaping up:
Fr lday Apr l l 17th '
lOAM-SPACE President H. Taylor Howard wi l l update"The Satell l t€ To Earth Connectlon".
11AM -Coop wi l l moderate a panel d iscussion ent i t led"The Fal lout of Technolog/ 'wi th CongressmenChar les Rose (D, N.C.) , B i l ly Tauzin (D, LA), FCCCommissioner James Quel lo and engineer-sc ien-tist Sruki Switzer.
12N -The exhlb l ts wi l l open for a two-hour (prev iew)per iod; c los ing at 2 PM.
2 PM -Technical Session - TVRO LNA Tochnology UtrdateGeneral Segslon - The TVRO Dlstrlbutor Dilem-ma
-Technical Session - TVRO Antenna TechnologyGeneral Session - Market lng Of The Product
-Technical Session - TVRO Recelver TechnologyGeneral Session - Low Power TV System Plan-n lng
- Exhlb l ts wi l l open unt i l 7 :45 PM- Rick Brown wi l l moderate a oanel ent i t led "ThePromlse of Low Power TV' with LS. Blonder(Blonder Tongue), Michael Cuzzins ( former ly wi thFCC low power TV group), Parry Teasdale (pioneerlow power TV operator), Fritz Attaway (VP of MotionPicture Associat ion of Amer ica) . This panel wi l lconclude at ' l 0 PM.
Saturday Aprll 1 8th -gAM - Exhlb l t Hal ls Open (unt i l 1 1:00 AM)11:30-Ralph Nader address - "Th€ Promlse of Every
Man'g Telev lg lon"lPM -Exh lb l t Ha l l s Open (un t i l 6 PM)7PM -General Meet ing of SPACE, everyone inv i ted for
update on TVRO legal problems. ( Ih is meet ing wi l lconclude at 9PM)
Sunday Ap r i l 19 th 'gAM - Exhlb l t Hal ls Open (unt i l 1 2 noon)1 2:3O -The Programming Permlss lon Di lemma1 :3O -The New Dealer Star t -up Di lemma2:3O -(Opt ional ) Exhib i t Hal l Open (unt i l 4 PM)l f you are p lanning to br ing a v ideotape machine to catch
the closed circuit replay in your hotel room of past SPTSevents, be advised that you wi l l need approximately 30 hoursof b lank tape. As th is is prepared we are up to our necks inmore than 100 hours of or ig inal v ideotape f rom the f i rs t fourSPTS/SBOC events attempting to provide a cohesive look atthe topics (legal, marketing, technical) as they evolved SPTSby SPTS. In th is way we hope you wi l l have a c learer under-standing of how th is industry got to where i t is today and whatthe events of the past have done to shape our presentposture.
We have repeatedly suggested that attendees plan tocheck in Thursday, Apr i l 1 6th. Not only wi l l the 'antenna set-up ' and'a iming ' act iv i t ies be underwayal l dayThursday ( thatis a very educational experience if you are new to this
WANTDI)Finished design forgood 4GHz receivers,
innovative antennas, LNAs, to be buil t by us.Also look ing for test equipment such asspectrum analyzers, sweep analyzers, net-work anlayzers, etc. We can use somem icro-wave consult ing.
Please send information to: Dr. RhysJ ones, 77 H u ntlev St. , Apt. 5O4, Toronto,Ont . , Canada.
COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTJ,
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COOP'S SATELLITE DICESTbus iness) bu t th is w i l l g ive you an oppor tun i ty to 'ge t the lay o fthe land 'so tha t yourseminar th ree days can be a t tackedwi thmax imum re turn to you. SPTS events a re very busy . peop lecome to learn and share and there is p len ty o f oppor tun i ty fo rbo th . See you in Wash ing ton !
In fo rmat ion? There is a reg is t ra t ion fo rm in the center o fth is i ssue o f CSD; o r ca l l R ick o r G lor ia Schnennoer a r(405)396-2574 now.
P R O G R A M M I N GCORR ESPON DENCE
UPDATE ON PROGRAMMING PERMISSIONIn Apr i l o f 1 979 | purchased your Sate l l i te Handbook
package and s ince that t ime I have been hooked on theprospect of receiv ing sate l l i te TV. Dur ing the ear ly par t ofAugust l 979 | purchased a1 5 foot parabol ic antenna and anassor tment of surp lus microwave equipment . Also dur ing thatmonth I a t tended the f i rs t SPTS ( in Oklahoma Ci ty f andbought an assor tment of four LNA boards f rom pioneerRobert Coleman.
Dur ing the in ter im I have not seen a s ingle spark l ie ofsate l l i te TV but I have hardly g iven up! Due to a smal l backyard and the resul t ing c lut tered v iew of the Clarke orb i t bel t Idecided my 1 5 foot antenna would have to be mounted on atower. The basic design of the antenna presented numerousspecia l problems but I have s lowly worked them out . Andhopef u l ly in the next few weeks lwi l l be able to get s tar ted onthe e lect ronics par t of the pro ject ._ Looking to the future I decided i t was t ime to s tar t apply ingfor permiss ion to watch programs being re layed by thevar ious sate l l i tes. Dur ing the month of November l gBO Iappl ied for permiss ion to receive programs f rom twentydi f ferent companies supply ing program mater ia l to the sate i -l i tes. Of those 20, I have heard f rom I3 f i rms and have beengranted formal permiss ion by 8 of these whi le being deniedpermiss ion by 5.
Perhaps of specia l in terest is the le t ter of ref usal f rom H BO.Unl ike le t ters received by numerous other ind iv iduals andcompanies, th is le t ter is re lat ive ly ( for HBO) cord ia l and i tseems to indicate that HBO may be in the process of tak ing asecond look at the pr ivate terminal market . I was a lso qui tesurpr ised to receive permiss ion f rom the Cable News Net-work (CN N); t ransponder ' t 4 , F l )af ter wr i t ing d i rec i ly to WTBSin At lanta.
Gary A ReedAmar i l lo , Texas 791 10
Since many of Gan/s le t ters wore dated in Decemberand ear ly January we can assume hls Informat ion isabout as current as any. For thoso of you who have notmade formal wr i t ten requests for ,d l rect sate l l i te v iewingpermiss ion ' f rom the var lous programming f i rms thatsupply to the sate l l i te(s) , here ls a run down of thosewhom Gary found af f i rmat lve: (1) Cable News Networ(
P23 -4 /81
latty W. Holland, 1O5O Techwood Drive NW, Ailanta,Georgla 3O3O9; (2) Home Theater Network (par t of the SpNprogramming package), Steve Broydrick, 465 Gongress! ! reet , Por t land, MaineO4lOl (note: $45peryear) ; lS) C-SPAN, Jana E. Dabrowski , Tower Vi l las, SSOO N. Fal r faxDrive, Arlington, VA 222031, (4) pTL Satell i te Networ[!i nda K. Edwards, Tri nity Advorilsi ng Agen cy, 7 224 parkRd., Charlotte, NC 2A279; (5) Modern Sateitite Network(MSN), Dolores Mlchael , 5OOO Park Street North. St .Petersburg, FL 33709; (6) Tr in i ty Broadcast ing Network[ f BN-KTBN), Sam Starr , P. O. BoxA, SantaAna, eegZZt f ;( 7 ) Na t i ona l Ch r i s t i an Ne twork (NCN) , Ray Kass i s , 1150West King Streot, Cocoa, Florlda 32922; (g) ContinentalBroadcast ing Network (CBN), Scot t Hess6k, Vl rg in iaBeach, VA 23463. The,current crop ' of negai lve le t terscame f rom HBO ("Current ly i t is HBO's pol icy to prov ide i tsserv ice to cable and MDS reta i lers only . . . " ) , SHOWTIME ( , ,1 t isthe pol icy of SHOWTIME to prov ide our serv ices exclus ivelvto l icensed cable and MDS operators only . . . " ) , USA Network("Due to Major League contracts that we hold, we areprohib i ted f rom contract ing our serv ices to you unress youare a l icensed CATV company hold ing a c i ty f ranchise for thecommuni t ies that you wi l l be serv ing. . . " ) , SSS/WTBS ( , ,Due tounresolved issues in the US Copyr ight Law, ef fect ive August'1 4, 1980 SSS discont inued the WTBS channel serv ice o i fer-ing to pr ivate users. . . " A l l o f th ls permiss lon buslnessremaing very f lu ld of couree and CSD t r les to update l tsoveral t lmgs pgryear . We were due to do i t agaln and yousaved uo untold hours of research Gary; thanks for shar-l n g ! l l
BEL IZE TEMRINALI thought you might be in terested in a new pr ivate terminal
operat ional here in Bel ize, Centra l Amer ica. This is a com-merc ia l Harr is antenna, 6 meter in s ize. I am al l set up mysel fto try a system consisting of an AVCOM receiver, 85 degreeLNA and Bob Luly 's 1 5 foot Umbrel la antenna. I have every-th ing but the antenna at th is wr i t ing. The new s ix meterterminal has insta l led as a commercia l business enterpr iseby a pai r of local business people. They have set up v ideo-taping equipment to tape programs f rom Fl and a newspaperstory quotes them as of fer ing ' immediate, same day serv ice 'f or v ideotape copies of programs avai lable v ia sate l l i te . I amanxious to have my own system operat ional s ince there isintense interest in sate l l i te TV recept ion in th is country nowand i f my system works I in tend to sel l them commercia l ly . l tmight in terest everyone to know that the Harr is system nowoperat ional cost the buyers $50,000 (US; $100,000 Bel izecurrency) insta l led.
I am very in terested in f ind ing a good antenna suppl ier fordown here; I am hopefu l that a 1 5 footer wi l l be adequate onFl and i t cer ta in ly should be for some of the other USdomest ic b i rds. Because of considerable problems wi th ship-p ing, packaging and import ing large antennas are going to bedi f f icu l t to import . ls i t possib le that ADM wi i l be of fer ing a 1 5foot vers ion of thei r 'peta l ' antenna anyt ime soon? I l ike theconstruct ion and the way i t sh ips but the smal ler s izes wi l ls imply not work here. For those who may wonder where th iscountry is located, we are iust east of the Yucatan area ofMex i co on the same pen insu la and round t r i p a i r ( unde r twohours) f rom Miami is but $226 (US).
John Fu l l e rP. O. Box 1 09Bel ize Ci ty , Bel izeCentra l Amer ica
Ful ler sends a long a copy of the January 3 (1 981) iseueof The Reporter , a Bel lze Cl ty newspaper, which carr ies at ront page 8tory and photo ot the new terminal insta l ledby Bel ize buslnessmen Emory King and Nestor Vasquez.Operat lng as Troplcal Vls lon Company, the pai r areapparent ly up to thel r necks ln v ideotape supply ing fastturn around tapes from SATCOM I programs to a hungry
P24-4181 I \ -V\\__
marketp lace. Natura l ly we th ink the r lght way to maketh is run is to t ie i t to a low powerTVtransmit ter , scrambledto recoup the investment , and make the programs avai l -able to thousands rather than a handfu l who have VCRmachines. Bel ize, l ike the Turks and Caicos, is in theprocessing of separat ing i tse l f f rom the Uni ted Kingdom.Years ago i t was cal led Br l t lsh Honduras. The Br i t ishhau led Ma hogony and other natu ra l th ings out of the landbut put very l i t t le back in the process. Engl ish is the'of f ic ia l ' language a l though Spanish is a lso verycommon .
ROHNER AGAINI too have fa l len in to the t rap of having Rohner and
Associates hold ing my money wi thout f i l l ing my orders. I seeo the r comp la in t s pub l i shed i n t he Janua ry ' 81 CSD. I havecontacted the Bet ter Business Bureau (234 Insurance Ex-change Bldg. , Des Moines, lowa 50309) to ask for ass is tancein get t ing $695 back f rom Rohner; money I sent to h im ear ly inOctober for a 'basic 'TVRO receiver . I am hopefu l that otherswi th problems wi l la lso contact the same BBB of f ice as wel lasthe at torney general for the state of lowa.
Denn is R i zz ioVideo Secur i ty Systems, Inc.Armonk, N.Y. 10504
On October 6th we ordered four model SAA-2 sate l l i teaudio amp-demodulator k i ts f rom John Rohner and sent acheck to cover same in the amount of $60. In November wereceived our cancel led check back and af ter four le t ters toJohn Rohner asking h im to send k i ts or return money, wehave heard noth ing e i ther way. I bel ieve th is should bebrought to the at tent ion of others through CSD
Ed Conradt944 sth StreetSparks, NV
Whi le the number of repor ts of 'problems'wi th del ivery o lRohner & Associates hardware has dropped of f sharplythey do cont inue to t r ick le In. Ou r at tempts to g et throug hto John have a lso been f rust rated by h is te lephoneanswer ing machine or a busy t€ lephone. As previouslysuggested, 'Caveat Emptor 'or buyer beware.
B I R DOPERATIONAL
NOTES
Programming no tes fo r sys tem se l le rs . Odds are be t te rt h a n e v e n t h a t b r e a k t h r o u g h i n n e g o t i a t i n g s a t e l l i t e f e e d u s er i g h t s i n l i m i t e d a r e a s f o r c o n d o a n d a p a r t m e n t t y p e c o m m e r -c i a l i n s t a l l a t i o n s w i l l b e m a d e b y S P A C E a t W a s h i n g t o n S P T S .K e e p y o u r f i n g e r s c r o s s e d !
A p p r o v a l o f C a n a d i a n D B S s y s t e m f e a t u r i n g 8 1 2 G H zc h a n n e l s s p r e a d o v e r f o u r t i m e z o n e s , s p o n s o r e d b y g r o u p o fCanad ian cab le opera tors and broadcas ters , seems l i ke ly .M o v e w o u l d e s t a b l i s h C a n a d a a s l e a d e r i n I 2 G H z D B S
sys tems, p rov ide major shot in a rm fo r deve lopment o fhardware fo r 12 GHz serv ice .
Fur ther ind ica t ion Canad ians w i l l do someth ing , soon,w i t h 1 2 G H z D B S ; U S f i r m G e n e r a l I n s t r u m e n t s ( o f w h i c hJer ro ld E lec t ron ics i s a par t ) agree ing w i th Canad ian sa te l l i tehardware p ioneer ing manufac turer SED to take SED l ine o fD B S r e c e i v i n g e q u i p m e n t a n d t o p u t i t i n t o ' m a s s p r o d u c t i o n 'as soon as ooss ib le . In i t ia l G l o roduc t ion w i l l be a t Ontar iop lan ts .
Meanwhl le FCG is to cons ider COMSAT DBS app l ica t ionApr i l 2 1s t ; immedia te ly fo l low ing SPTS confab in Wash ing tonApr i l 1 7 -19 th . l f you can s t i ck a round fo r a few days i t wou ld bewor th your wh i le to a t tend sess ion .
CBS cont inues to a rgue tha t DBS approva l by FCC wi l lcause harm to schedu led 1 983 in te rna t iona l con ferencede l ibera t ions o f DBS issue and in -space a l loca t ions . CBSrecent ly demonst ra ted t r io o f h igh reso lu t ion (1 ,000 l ine upp ic tu res) t ransmiss ion sys tems wh ich they wou ld l i ke ap-proved to r 12 GHz DBS serv ices .
Tr in i ty Broadcas t lng cur ren t ly g iv ing away SA 4 .6 meterear th te rmina ls to f i r s t 50 cab le f i rms tha t agree to pu t Tr in i tyon ded ica ted cab le channe l fu l l t ime. Sys tem is f ree to use'g i f t ' d ish fo r o ther serv ices on COMSTAR D2 as long asTr in i ty ge ts f u l l car r iage.
Fo l low up to th is month 's repor t on US DOMSATS prov id -ing serv ice to non-US te r r i to ry . AT&T ask ing FCC fo r permis -s ion to pu t in l ink be tween main land USA and Amer ican basein Cuba a t Guantanamo Bay fo r two-way communica t ions .Serv ice i f approved w i l l be on D2 in i t ia l l y , sh i f t to D3 th is fa l l .U nannounced is p resent de l i very to Guantanamo Bay o f USTV programming v ia sa te l l i te a l ready ; o f f i c ia l l y den ied o fcou rse.
COMSTAR D4 apparent ly w i l l commence serv ice l rom 127degrees la te th is month . B i rd went in to o rb i t February 24 th .Wi l l take over cons iderab le serv ice load f rom o ther COM-S T A R b i r d s a n d D 1 ( n o w a t 1 2 8 ) w i l l m o v e o v e r w i t h D 2 ( a t 9 5 )in a shared opera t ion .
WESTERN UNION, no t to be ou tdone by RCA, has askedFCC for permiss ion to bu i ld s ix th WESTAR (24 channe l ) b i rd .N u m b e r s 4 a n d 5 a r e s c h e d u l e d f o r 1 9 8 2 l a u n c h .
DBS no longer be ing fought v igorous ly in Europe; somenat ions had fought concept in pas t 1B months , wor r ied about'sp i l l over ' be tween na t ions . Now most accept rea l i t y tha t by1 983 there w i l l be f i r s t DBS serv ice there and so game o ff ind ing par tners to share cos ts has begun. La tes t to cons ideri t - a Swiss group p lann ing a 3channe l in te rna t iona l serv icefor most o f Europe proper .
1 2 GHz SBS serv ice o f f i c ia l l y went in to opera t ion in March ;Boe ing fac i l i t y in V i rg in ia on rece iv ing end o f t ransmiss ionsor ig ina t ing in Wash ing ton (s ta te ) .
More de ta i l s o f T IM E, lNC. p lan to p rov ide Te le tex t serv ice .P lan appears to be to p rov ide co lo r fu l m ix tu re o f tex t andg raph ics on H BO t ransponder on RCA F4 b i rd . Home v iewers ,i ; r te rconnected th rough cab le , w i l l have box to se lec t da tasources by sub jec t t i t le . La te 1981/ear ly 1982 s ta r t da te .
Warner Amex p lans fo r F l t ransponder 1 1 unve i led . F i rmw i l l d e b u t 2 4 h o u r p e r d a y ' M u s i c C h a n n e l ' A u g u s t f i r s t . E a c hh o u r w i l l f e a t u r e a r o u n d 9 m u s i c a l n u m b e r s b y m a j o r a n d ' u pand coming ' mus ica l g roups ; sor t o f ' Juke Box o f the A idin te rspersed w i th in te rv iews, 'mus ic -graph ics ' and commer-c ia l messages. No charge fo r serv ice .
P layboy programming fea tur ing nude center fo ld ga ls ando t h e r ' s t i m u l a t i n g a d u l t a c t i v i t i e s ' l i k e l y o n s a t e l l i t e w i t h i n 1 2months . P layboy 's new 'cab le d iv is ion ' work ing ou t f ina lfo rmat now.
Af te r years o f f igh t ing w i th unre l iab le mic rowave l inkbetween downtown Ch icago and Lake Geneva (Wl ) RCAu p l i n k s i t e , U n i t e d V i d e o i s b u i l d i n g t h e i r o w n u p l i n k f o rWGN/WFMT and o thers , jus t ou ts ide o f Ch icago. Ex is t ing l inkis sub jec t to f requent p rob lems, has checkered h is to ry inc lu -d ing be ing sub jec t o f law su i t in pas t fo r poor per fo rmance.Schedu led tu rn on da te i s mid-summer o f th is year .
COOP'SSATELLITE DICESTJ,
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KLM's SKY EYE I SYSTEM makes i t easy!I t used to be that put t ing together a TVRO system was a b ig job; hust l ing a downconverter here, and LNA
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Introducing theR2 Satellite Receiver
A TV Satellite Receiver with allthe features you need, at apriceyou can afford.
The Sat-tec R2 receiver is a versatile, consumer oriented unit designed forvolume production. Easy operation and a clear, simple format makes the R2idea for any application where non-technical users are involved. Fullyfrequency agile, the R2 may be used on 12or 24 transponder birds, and sincethe tuning is continuous, foreign satellites such as Intelsat and Molniya can bereceived. A high performance AFC keeps the tuning accurate and sharp, f inetuning is not necessary. Standard one-volt P-P outputs for both audiosubcarriers as well as video interface easily to any VTR or use the optionalBC-1 modulator for direct TV set hook-up.
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Frequency Range: 3.5 - 4.5 GHzNoise Figure: 12 dB, a 120' K 50 dB
LNA and 10' dish pro-vides good quality re-ception for most of USA.
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