Article: 18300 of rec.radio.shortwave Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave Path: news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!fuug!funic!nic.funet.fi!compuserve.com!70247.3516 From: 70247.3516@compuserve.com (George Wood) Subject: SCDX 2173 Message-ID: <930216131739_70247.3516_EHB21-1@CompuServe.COM> Sender: root@nic.funet.fi (The FUnny NET guru) Organization: Finnish University & Research Network Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 15:17:39 +0200 Lines: 457 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2173--Feb. 16, 1993 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2149 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NORDIC MEDIA NEWS: Note: Next week we'll be celebrating the program's 45th anniversary. Arne Skoog, the founder of Sweden Calling DXers, will be joining us in the studio for a very special program on February 23rd. Sweden Calling DXers first went on the air on February 28, 1948. I took over from Arne when he retired on February 28, 1978. Arne and I will also be appearing in a special edition of Radio Japan's "Media Round-up" on February 28th. EBU--Visitors to Swedish Television in recent weeks cannot have missed something new planted on top of the roof. A huge white 9 meter satellite dish from Scientific Atlanta, dwarfing the handful of smaller dish antennas that have sprouted over the years. The new addition is part of a European Broadcasting Union system that went into effect at the beginning of the year. We asked Kjell Ove Andersson head of Swedish Television's Service Division to explain what the new dish is for. Kjell Ove Andersson: It's used to transmitting and receiving television programs for the Eurovision network. That is, Eurovision programs, the Eurovision Song Contest, sports programs, and above all a news exhange. Radio Sweden: Before you started using this at the beginning of the year, the various member stations were using their local PTTs and Telecoms. Why have you switched to this system instead? KOA: The EBU thought that the price we paid for the service through the PTTs was much too high, and we should be able to do it much cheaper by ourselves. And that's true, I think we are cutting the cost by half. RS: So all the EBU member stations now have 9 meter dishes like this on top of their buildings? KOA: Yes, or they are on the way to getting them. The big thing now is that Eastern Europe broadcasters are joining the EBU and they are also getting these kind of stations. RS: The EBU is best known for the Eurovision Song Contest, which you mentioned. But that's only once a year. How often is this dish actually being used? KOA: For news exchange it'sbeing used at least five times a day, seven days a week. It's used a lot. RS: Are these two way exchanges between all the different countries? Is everyone both transmitting and receiving? KOA: Yes, all countries are making contributions to the news exchange, and they receive and use the material they want. Maybe the Nordic countries are not making contributions so often, but we receive the signals several times a day. RS: If people with home dishes wanted to look at these broadcasts, can they do so? KOA: It's difficult, because of the special system we have for transmitting the sound, a signal called sound-in-synch. The sound is transmitted in digital form in the video signal synch, and in doing so destroys the synchronization of the picture. But it's not impossible, an electronic engineer would make a decoder, but then the sound would probably be missing. But they are planning to change to a digital system, with encryption, and that will be much more difficult, of course. RS: This dish is the latest one used by Swedish Television, but alongside it are several smaller antennas that have appeared recently. What are they used for? KOA: We have three dishes about 3 meters in diameter. One is for the Tele-X satellite, and two can be moved to different satellites. We often receive sport programs that way. It's much much cheaper to have the "downleg" as it's called ourselves that to buy it from a PTT or other operators. I think these dishes paid for themselves within three or four months. The EBU feeds are now on Eutelsat II-F4 at 7 degrees East, on 10.980, 11.060, 11.100, and 11.080 GHz. One major recepient of the signals is the EBU's own recently-started news channel, Euronews. SWEDISH BROADCASTING--A one man study has recommended that Swedish Television, Swedish Radio, and Swedish Educational Broadcasting continue as three separate companies. Three separate ownership alternatives are presented: stocks offeredto the public, turning the companies into foundations, or state ownership. The former parent company, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, would be taken over by the state, and its role would be limited to formally owning the buildings used by the public service broadcasters. (TT/"Dagens Nyheter") TV4--Swedish Television's commercial competition, TV4, continues to look for new investors. There is interest from Sweden's print and film media barons, the Bonniers family, which owns the country's largest morning newspaper, "Dagens Nyheter" itself along with the biggest selling tabloid "Expressen", the country's largest film distributors, and many other magazine and book publishing interests. ("Dagens Nyheter" and Swedish Radio's "Cultural News") Z-TV--The small cable-only channel "Z-TV", available in a handful of Swedish cities, claims to have a set a world record over the weekend with a live 48 hour debate program. During the two days the audience changed, but the seven panel members stayed awake, and there were many telephone calls from the public. Topics covered ranged from homosexuality and birth control to ecology and drugs. At one point in the middle of the night a group of 25 lesbians staged a protest, complaining about the attitudes expressed towards homosexuality. ("Expressen", "Aftonbladet", and "Dagens Nyheter") CABLE TV--Country Music Television has replaced the now defunct Lifestyle on Swedish Telecom's cable systems. CABLE RADIO--BBC World Service radio has disappeared from Swedish Telecom's cable network in Stockholm. BBC was only carried in the center of Stockholm, and nowhere else. The disappearance is because of World Service Television's switch to D2-MAC, which means Telecom has to look elsewhere for the radio signal, and apparently it's taking time for them to find the other sources. That means the country's largest cable company no longer has any foreign broadcasters on cable, although their head of information tells us that BBC radio will be returned soon. However, there are no plans to expand to systems outside central Stockholm. What they are now doing, however, is transmitting VOA Europe as the sound on their information channel, although it's frequently interupted. There are no plans, however, to put VOA Europe on the radio side. (Claes Gustaffson, Swedish Telecom Cable) EUROPEAN NEWS: SCREENSPORT--Screensport's last broadcast is scheduled for February 28th. Starting March 1st the new Eurosport will take over, and presumeably take over Screensport's slot as a pay-channel on Swedish cable networks. Eurosport was removed from Swedish cable in January, because the company wanted payment from cable operators while remaining a free service to subscribers. ("In Orbit" and James Robinson) RTL-2 is expected to take Screensport's place on Astra. ASTRA RADIO--There are several new radio stations coming to Astra. Two are religious. United Christian Broadcasters hopes to begin at the end of this month on the JSTV transponder, audio 7.56 MHz. The other station may begin in April, possibly on the Sky Movies Plus transponder at 7.92 MHz. Country Music Radio is also expected to begin shortly, via Sky Movies Plus on one of the transponders currently used by Quality Europe FM. "In Orbit" says the launch will be at the Cable and Satellite Show in London in early April, and the subcarrier will be at 7.56 MHz. (James Robinson and "In Orbit") The BBC has relayed the launch date of the new 24 hour news service on 198 kHz longwave. The new start date is April 5th, 1994. Radio 4 will continue on that frequency until then, and that may delay the reported planned relay of Radio 4 on the UK Gold transponder on Astra. ("AMFM" via Finnish DX Association "Euronews") ASTRA TV--The German public broadcaster ARD will be taking over the 1-Plus Astra transponder in August, when the German TV fair "Funkausstellung" takes place in Berlin. 1-Plus will reappear on Astra 1C when that becomes available (which ought to be at about the same time, or shortly there after). (Wolfgang Schultz via Internet News) The German broadcaster ZDF also intends to start broadcasting on Astra 1C when the Funkausstellung gets underway. (Bert, PA3FGF) The Family Channel Europe is to be launched in September/October 1993 over Astra 1C. This follows the take-over of Britain's TVS Entertainment by International Family Entertainment, controlled by American evangelist Pat Robertson. ("Satnews") SPAIN--The three Spanish channels Canal Plus Espana, Tele Cinco, and Antenna Tres have all left Eutelsat II-F3 for Hispasat. ("In Orbit") This satellite, however, has antenna problems, displacing the footprint towards the north. The problem will be rectified when the second Hspasat is launched at the end of June. Nine months later, five new terlevision channels will begin to be broadcast. (TVE International via BBC Monitoring) MOROCCO--The Antenna Tres transponder at 10.970 GHz is being taken over by Morocco's RTM. Regular broadcasts will begin on March 3rd. (BBC Monitoring) CNN--We've reported that CNN has been testing on Norway's new Thor satellite at 1 degree West. CNN is to close its Ku-band transponder to Europe on Intelsat 601 on April 1st, relaying on Thor to reach Scandinavia and Astra to reach more southerly parts of Western Europe. ("In Orbit", James Robinson, and Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") CNN has also begun transmitting Teletext on its Astra transponder. This is seen nowhere else, and is apparently an experimental service uplinked from London. The service includes live data from the Reuters Financial Service that is part of a new system using personal computers. PCs equiped with the PCTV expansion card and the intelliTEXT Windows software will be able to watch CNN in one screen window and receive Reuters financial information in the other. (Wolfgang Schultz via Internet News) KOPERNIKUS--Germany's new DFS 3 Kopernikus satellite is taking over from DFS 1 at 23.5 degrees East. (BBC Monitoring) German Telekom had tried to co- locate DFS 3 with DFS 2 at 28.5 degrees, but this proved to be technically impossible, due to conflicts with the uplink channels. DFS 1 is being moved to 33.5 degrees East. ("Satnews") It is possible that the video from the American space shuttle fligth scheduled for February 25 to March 5 will be relayed on DFS 2, as there is German participation in the mission. Transmissions would be at 10:00-17:00 hrs daily. (Bert, PA3FGF) DIGITAL SATELLITE RADIO--Two digital satellite radio services from the United States are planning on expanding into Europe. Digital Music Express, or DMX, is already available to more than 10 million cable subscribers in the United States. Thirty themed channels of various types of music would be made available to European subscribers, without the need for DJs, jingles, or commercials. The 30 types of music would include: US hottest hits, European hottest hits, contemporary jazz, classic jazz, country, big band, world beat, blues, reggae, golden oldies, heavy metal, classic rock, chamber music, and opera. Signals would be relayed from DMX's Atlanta studios to a C-band transponder aboard Intelsat 601, before being cross-linked to a Ku-band transponder. Signals would be downlinked by cable operators. British Sky Broadcasting would downlink the signals and provide them to subscribers via Astra 1C, starting in late 1993, using Videocrypt encryption. The DMX decoder, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta, displays information on the music being played, such as the name of the artist, song and album title, composer, and chart position. ("Satnews") Another service called Digital Cable Radio transmits to North American subscribers and cable systems on Satcom C3, transponder 9. DCR currently provides 28 CD-quality radio channels. On May 1st this is increasing to 56, and DCR hopes to provide 250 channels within a few years. Behind it are the media giants Time Warner and Sony. Together with General Instruments, they plan to bring 28 themed radio channels to Europe, starting this summer. ("Dagens Nyheter") MIDDLE EASTERN BROADCASTING: JORDAN--The Jordanian Satellite Channel has begun experimental transmissions on Arabsat 1C on 4.144 GHz. Broadcasts are at 15:00-21:15 hrs. Broadcasts to Europe might begin in 1995. (BBC Monitoring) NORTH AMERICA: SCANNERS--The Federal Communications Commission has proposed banning the marketing of radio scanners capable of intercepting cellular telephone conversations. The proposed rules would require that scanner receivers be incapable of tuning, or readily being altered to tune, within the bands allocated to the Domestic Public Cellular Radio Telecommunications Service. The proposed rules would also prohibit frequency converters used in conjunction with scanners to receive cellular transmissions. (FCC via Internet News and Dave Marthouse) When the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed a few years ago, the cellular industry claimed it would ensure the privacy of cellular communications. That hasn't been the case. Even though the pending introduction of digital cellular telephones will eliminate the problem, it seems the cellular interests are lobbying again. In Britain, recent easedropping on cellular phone calls has led to some sensational tabloid reports on royal marital indiscretions. ANIK/SATCOM--The Canadian Anik D2 at 82 degrees took over from Satcom F4 when that satellite was withdrawn from service. It carries many (coded) sports channels, along with Nostalgia Television, the New England News Channel and Digital Music Express. All video services are to switch soon to Satcom C-4 at 135 degrees, and the satellite will be returned to Telecom Canada in March or April. ("Satnews", "WRTH") GALAXY 7--This new high-powered satellite at 91 degrees West carries 24 transponders in the C-band (16 watts each), and 24 in the Ku-band (50 watts each). There are still only test patterns on C-band, but a few services have begun on Ku-band, such as the Fire and Emergency TV Network, the Automobile Satellite TV Network, ESPN basketball feeds, and CNS newsfeeds. (Robert Smathers in "Satnews") GALAXY 4--Galaxy 4 is scheduled for launch soon. It will be located at 99 degrees West. This dual C and Ku-band satellite has 24 transponders in each band. The programmers on the satellite are to include CBS, Warner Brothers, Great American Broadcasting, Tribune Entertainment Company, and Worldvision Enterprises. Warner is to work with CBS to broadcast a new syndication service. ("Satnews") GLOBAL: USA--Project Saturn Global is to be the world's first all educational 24 hour international satellite radio network. Catherine Kahn has been working on the project since 1982. Regular broadcasts to North America were due to begin in January, using the Galaxy 5 satellite, transponder 7, audio subcarrier 5.80 MHz. Programs will originate from Los Angeles at 16:00 hrs daily. Worldwide coverage is planned for April, 1993. The daily programming is drawn from an audio library of more than 2000 programs, aimed at all ages, with subjects ranging from fairy tales to computer technology. Programs are to be repeated every eight hours to accommodate global time zones, and will include hourly educational news. ("Development Communication Report") MEDIUM AND SHORTWAVE: AZERBAIJAN--Radio Dada Gorgud, the English service of Azerbaijani Radio, has switched from 6175 to 9840 kHz. Although it announces broadcasts at 16:00- 17:00 hrs, these are actually heard at 17:00-18:00 hrs. (BBC Monitoring) BELGIUM--Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal is broadcasting a bilingual program in Dutch and French to Belgian soldiers in Somalia. This is on Sundays at 17:00-18:00 hrs on 15540 kHz. (BBC Monitoring) ICELAND--Rikisutvarpid is now transmitting: to Scandinavia and Europe at 12:15-13:00 hrs on 13,835 and 15,770 kHz and 18:55-19:30 hrs on 7870 and 11402 kHz; to North America at 14:10-14:40 and 19:35-20:10 hrs on 13855 and 15770 kHz, and 23:00-22:35 hrs on 9275 and 11402 kHz. (Jari Perkiomaki in Finnish DX Association "Euronews") LATVIA--VOA Europe is now broadcasting 04:00-15:45 hrs on the transmitter in Riga on 945 kHz. (Bengt Ericsson, Arctic Radio Club, via "Euronews") LITHUANIA--Swedish Telecom has withdrawn approval for the new Baltic Radio International to use 981 kHz. Apparently when the station goes on the air in April it will use 684 kHz instead. (Bengt Ericsson, Arctic Radio Club, via "Euronews") MOLDOVA--The Russian separatist Radio Pridnestrovye is broadcasting daily on 999 and 1467 kHz. Programs in Russian are at 19:00, Romanian at 20:00, and Ukrainian at 21:00 hrs. The Moldovan government is jamming the transmissions on 999 kHz. (A. Silickas in "Euronews") RUSSIA--Deutsche Welle is now broadcasting in St. Petersburg on 1188 kHz, in parallel with the Moscow transmmission on 702 kHz. ("Euronews") Radio Shark in Ufa has moved from 5780 to 6185 khz. It also relays programs from Radio Titan Kompani, in parallel with 1395 kHz. ("Euronews") SLOVAKIA--The new schedule, beginning April 1st, from Sloavak Radio's external service is: 09:30 hrs in English on 7345, 9505, and 11990 kHz 13:00 hrs in Slovak on 6055 kHz 17:30 hrs in Russian on 5960, 7345, and 9605 kHz 18:30 hrs in English on 7345 kHz 19:00 hrs in German on 5960 and 9605 kHz 19:30 hrs in French on 5960, 7345, and 9605 kHz 00:00 hrs in English (to the Americas) on 5930 and 9580 kHz, and 01:00 hrs in French (to the Americas) on 5930, 9810, and 11990 kHz. (BBC Monitoring) SOMALIA--The pro-Ali Mahdi Muhhamad station Radio Mogadishu has begun broadcasting a news bulletin in English at 14:15 hrs. This station is currently heard on variable frequencies in the ranges 9200-9600 and 6958 to 6963 kHz range. Only one frequency is used at any one time. (BBC Monitoring) UNOFFICIAL RADIO--The Sudanese rebel station Radio SLPA was heard on February 6th, for the first time since early October, 1992. English was heard at 05:00, followed by Arabic at 05:30 hrs, on 9190 kHz. (BBC Monitoring) PUBLICATIONS: WRTH--Last week we reviewed the new edition of the "World Radio TV Handbook". Every year the handbook contains reviews of new receivers, but the problem for potential buyers is that you have to look up previous reviews in previous handbooks. Now, the WRTH has collected reviews from handbooks going back to 1988, updated them, and published everything in a new "WRTH Eguipment Buyers Guide". This also includes a new comprehensive test of active and passive antennas, computer software news, and an interesting chapter on shortwave radio in the car. The tests have been conducted by Willem Bos, and Jonathan Marks, presenter of Radio Netherlands' popular "Media Network" program. We recommend the book highly, as it's probably the best shortwave receiver review available. GROVE SW-100--One receiver mentioned in the book as not available when they went to press was the Grove SW-100. Unfortunately, Tom Sundstrom relays a report that this interesting project has now been cancelled, because of costs and time delays. (Tom Sundstrom) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 on Tuesdays since 1948. Radio Sweden broadcasts in English: Europe and Africa: 18:30 and 22:00 hrs on 1179, 6065 and 9655 kHz, and 23:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz Middle East and East Africa: 18:30 hrs on 15270 kHz Asia and the Pacific: 13:30 hrs on 15240 and 21625 kHz 22:00 hrs on 11955 kHz 01:00 hrs on 9695 and 11820 kHz North America: 16:00 hrs on 17870 and 21500 kHz 02:00 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz The 13:30, 18:30, and 22:00 hrs transmissions are also broadcast to Europe via satellite: Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold/TV Asia/Adult Channel) at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz, Tele-X (5 degrees East) (TV4 transponder) at 12.207 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz. 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 MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are copyright. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors, especially Kauto Huopio Good Listening!