From: UKTONY@cup.portal.com (Tony C Harding) Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave Subject: Re: Sweden Calling DXers Date: 5 Oct 91 11:44:21 GMT Organization: The Portal System (TM) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2141--Oct. 1, 1991 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2141 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SWEDEN: RADIO SWEDEN--In connection with Radio Sweden's new hour long broadcast in English, carried daily at 19:30-20:30 hrs on medum wave 1179 kHz, as well as three shortwave frequencies, the English edition of Sweden Calling Dxers is changing its name to "MediaScan". The program will continue to be carried on medium and shortwave on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. But European listeners will be able to hear special European editions of MediaScan during the second half of the hour program on the other Tuesdays. What this also means is that much of the European satellite coverage in the program will be shifted to the special European programs, and listeners in other parts of the world won't have to listen to us going on about the latest events surrounding the Astra satellite and others that they can't tune into anyway. Next week's special edition will also include the continuation of our conversation with CNN's Peter Arnett. This bulletin will continue to be written and uploaded for the first and third Tuesdays of each month, and will contain all the material from both editions. COMMUNITY RADIO--The head of the community radio station Radio Nova has been fined just under 350 dollars for broadcasting commercials. The light sentence was because the court recognized that the current law outlawing advertising is going to be changed. Radio Nova is appealing the conviction, however, claiming that the current law is illegal. The station is continuing to broadcast commercials. (TT) TELEVISION--The awarding of the franchise for Sweden's new commercial TV channel has been delayed because of the outcome of the Swedish elections, where the opposition won, but need the support of a new far right party for a parliamentary majority. The new government is scheduled to be announced on Friday. The TV licence will probably not be the first item on the new cabinet's agenda. But time is running out...the award has to be made soon if the new channel is to be on the air in time to sell commercials during the Christmas rush. SATELLITE/CABLE-RADIO: SWEDEN--Stockholm has a new radio station, that went on the air, or actually on the cable, last week. It's Voice of America Europe, now heard over Stockholm's largest cable network Stjaern-TV, on 102.1 MHz. So far there's been absolutely no publicity here at all about the new new 24 hour a day service, not even on the company's own information channel. It's the first satellite radio channel to be carried by Stjaern-TV. Unlike other countries, cable radio is virtually unknown in Sweden. ASTRA--There are two new radio stations on Astra. The rather weak Eclipse FM is on the Sky Sports transponder on 11.509 GHz, while what our reporter calls Astra FM is on the Sky Movies Plus transponder on 11.435 GHz. (Johannes Heyer, Germany) But actually, what this really seems to be is a channel of in-store music for Britain's Asda chain of grocery stores. (Thanks to Radio Sweden's ace satellite DXer Helmut Steuer for tracking down this one.) NORTH AMERICA--There's a pretty exciting new service on satellite radio in North America. "Let's Talk Radio" is on the Spacenet 3 satellite, on transponder 21, using audio at 6.2 MHz. It can be heard daily from 9:00 PM Eastern time until past midnight. And there are some interesting people taking part. Mark Long, the author of the World Satellite Almanac will be hosting a one hour talk show Thursdays. Bill Brown of 73 magazine will be appearing on Tuesdays, and Ken Reitz of Monitoring Times magazine on Wednesdays. Glenn Hauser's World of Radio runs on Fridays and Saturdays at 6:00 PM Eastern time, and Sundays at 9:30 AM Eastern Time. And Gary Bourgois reports on Internet News that Glenn will also be doing a live call in show on the Let's Talk Radio Network. (Gary Bourgois, via Internet News) SATELLITE-TV: ASIA--BBC World Service Television has announced it will be beginning a 24 hour service to Asia, using the Asiasat satellite. Two hours a day of programming will begin on October 14th, expanding to 24 hours by November 15th. World Service Television tells us that the introduction of 24 hour programming will not mean an expansion of the current 18 hour a day service to Europe. A BBC spokesman says Africa is the next target for World Service TV and the BBC hopes to broadcast to every continent by 1993. (Reuters and BBC World Service Television) ASTRA--Astra says it knows what happened when signals from the Astra 1B satellite became weak in June and again in early September, and how to correct the situation if it happens again. Unfortunately, Astra doesn't know why it happened, unless it was because of unusually high solar activity. ("New Scientist") Astra is bound to have more problems after October 24th, when the Eutelsat II-F3 satellite is due to be launched. It's going to be placed in orbit at 16 degrees East. That's just 3 degrees away from Astra, and the two satellite will be transmitting on some of the same frequencies. That means people with smaller dish antennas may be encountering interference. Eutelsat registered the frequencies first, so there's not much Astra can do. There are already reports of some interference from the weaker Eutelsat I-F5 at its new position of 21.5 degrees East. ("New Scientist" and "Cable and Satellite Europe") There's a new channel on Astra, Germany's N3, which on September 26th began using transponder 25, at 11.582 GHz. (Wolfgang Schulz, Germany and Astra) There's another new outlet coming to Astra. British Sky Television is launching the Comedy Channel this month. It's to be scambled, but available free to subscribers to the Movie Channel or Sky Movies Plus. The Comedy Channel may use either the currently free transponder at 11.258 GHz, or Eurosport's transponder at 11.538. (Colum Mylod via Internet News) D2-MAC--FilmNet has signed an agreement to begin broadcasting its programs in the D2-MAC standard, in parallel with the current PAL transmissions. Which means it will need another transponder somewhere. The D2-MAC transmissions will begin around the end of the year. (Jan Johansson, Sweden) SATELLITE DATA/RTTY: Next month the Associated Press will begin direct satellite delivery of news and photo services to Europe, using the Eutelsat 2-F2 satellite at 10 degrees East. The service will operate at speeds up to 128 kilo bps. AP already uses two transponders on the Spacenet 3 satellite to North America and via Panamsat to Latin America. (AP) SHORTWAVE: CUBA--Radio Havana Cuba has been testing a rebuilt 75 kW transmitter on 6000 kHz between 23:00 and 06:00 hrs UTC. The tests are only for a few days, in Spanish. (Tom Sundstrom) CHRISTMAS ISLAND/NORWAY--The Nordic DX Championships are this coming weekend, and there will be some unusual broadcasters making special appearances in connection with the contest. VLU-2 on Christmas Island will active on Sunday October 6th between 02:00 and 03:00 hrs on 11765 kHz in single side band. The Norwegian student radio station in Trondheim will be on the air on Saturday October 5th at 08:00-08:30 hrs on 7225 kHz. Regular transmissions from this station will begin on October 18th and 24 hour broadcasts will continue until November 10th, also on 7225 kHz, along with 1485 kHz. (Bernt Erfjord, Norway) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features, and interviews since 1948. The program is now broadcast on shortwave on the first and third Tuesday of each month. A special European edition is included on the other Tuesdays in the 19:30 hrs broadcast. Radio Sweden broadcasts in English at 19:30-20:30 hrs on medium wave 1179 kHz, as well as shortwave 6065, 9655, and 15270 kHz. The rest of the Radio Sweden English schedule is (half hour programs): To Europe: 21:30 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz 23:30 hrs 1179 kHz To Asia/Pacific: 13:30 hrs 17740 and 21570 kHz 01:00 hrs 9765 kHz To North America: 15:30 hrs 17870 and 21500 kHz 01:00 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz 02:00 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz To Latin America: 23:30 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz 15:30 hrs on 17875 and 21500 kHz 02:00 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz 03:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, from Internet, MCI Mail or CompuServe (to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516), through the FidoNet system to 2:201/697 or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SM0ETV. Reports can also be sent to: Radio Sweden S-105 10 Stockholm Sweden Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint material as long as Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are copyright. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors, especially Kauto Huopio Good Listening!