From WOOD@stab.sr.se Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 10:28:26 +0100 From: George Wood To: thomas@acat.oden.tips.se, andy.sennitt@almac.co.uk, ab5sm@netcom.com, hermod.pedersen@swedx.ct.se, kauto.huopio@lut.fi, kenta@sr.se, ar416@freenet.buffalo.edu, bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk, tstader@aol.com, satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk, 100121.655@compuserve.com, 71163.1735@compuserve.com, 70630.560@compuserve.com, 100113.1517@compuserve.com, 76703.407@compuserve.com, 3382983@mcimail.com, 2446376@mcimail.com, jpdonnio@dialup.francenet.fr Subject: scdx 2210 (I hope) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2210--Oct. 18, 1994 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2210 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributors and electronic publications: Could you please amend your address and mailing lists to use our new Internet address, rather than the old CompuServe mailbox? The new address is: wood@stab.sr.se RADIO IN CYBERSPACE: SOUND ON THE INTERNET--Several weeks ago we announced that this program was available as a sound file on the Internet, the global network of computer networks that currently links between 20 and 40 million users. Until recently everything on the Internet was text-based. But increasing capacity on links and in computers, and the growth of multimedia, has led to an increase in sound on the Net. Today's English program includes recordings of several radio stations we found on just two sites here in Sweden and Finland. One of those sites is funet.fi in Finland. There one can find one of the major radio stations in the digital universe, the Voice of America, which daily makes available programs in 15 languages, including hourly news in English. There you can also find Radio Amsterdam in Dutch, and these twice a month "MediaScan" programs. Hopefully there will be more Radio Sweden programs available soon. The person who is making all this possible for us is Kauto Huopio, a Finnish student and Internet expert who gave a speech about the Net to a European DX Council conference a few years ago. I wanted to ask Kauto exactly what he's doing, and naturally we wanted to do the interview over the Internet. So I E- mailed him a list of questions, and he recorded his answers as digital files, and E-mailed them back. That interview is in today's program. Besides those radio stations available at funet in Finland, there are other stations at sunet, here in Sweden. There, besides "MediaScan", you can find daily newscasts and other programs from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Monitor Radio from the Christian Science Monitor, French language lessons from Radio France International, and Internet Talk Radio, the only radio station solely in Cyberspace. This includes relays of "TechNation" from National Public Radio and "Geek of the Week", a weekly interview with a computer expert. MediaScan is included in the Internet Talk Radio package now, which means it should be found at 31 sites in 12 countries. You can get a list of the sites by sending an E-mail message to: sites@radio.com You'll get a message back with a complete list of the available sites. The easiest way to access this programming, if you have Internet access, is to use the ftp file transfer protocol feature. You ftp to a site, such as ftp.funet.fi or ftp.sunet.se You then log in as "anonymous", and for a password you give your E-mail address. You then use the cd, or change directory, command to find the section you want. Typically you'll start with a directory called pub, for publications. By the way, the text-based Electronic Edition of MediaScan is available at: ftp.funet.fi in the library /pub/dx/text/NEWS/SCDX At funet sound files are in /pub/sounds, while at sunet you should look for /pub/radio. Edward Dunne in Ireland has sent us a list of sites where RTE Radio news from Ireland is available. One of those sites is here in Sweden, at: ftp.medcom.se The others are: pell.anu.edu.au (/pub/obrien/) in Australia www.atm.ch.camc.uk in Britain orangutan.cv.nrao.edu (/pub/sounds/rte/) in the US All these sound files are in a form called au, which is used by UNIX computers. If you have a PC, you can download an au player from a BBS or an online system, or use a program called SOX, available from the same sources, to convert the au file to the WAV format used by PCs. By the way, these sound files can be pretty huge....around a megabyte a minute! SHORTWAVE BY COMPUTER--Now, let's move from accessing Internet radio with your computer to accessing shortwave radio with your computer. There's a new PC computer card out that turns your computer into a shortwave radio! It's called Softwave, it's incredibly expensive, and covers between 500 kHz and 30 MHz, as well as 108 to 174 MHz. It includes digital signal processing, and a decoder for morse code. We were going to have a demonstration here at Swedish Radio, but unfortunately the host computer melted or something. But it sounds promising, it they can drop the price, extend the frequency coverage to include everything from 30 to around 3000 MHz, and add other modes to the decoder, like RTTY, packet radio, AMTOR, and all the other new exotic modes. TEXT ON THE INTERNET--KMPS in Seattle is the first country music station to create an interactive WWW site on the Internet. The station is making available the material in its printed monthly magazine. This includes "Dateline Nashville" (the latest industry buzz), reviews of new country music releases, a directory of the station's advertisers, an entertainment calendar, and updates on the KMPS Loyal Listener Club. There are also sound bytes, and accessers can order CDs which are reviewed or listed in the country music chart. The address is: http://www.solutionsrc.com/KPMS/ (Per Alarud) NEW LISTS--There are three new lists on the listserver at vm1.nodak.edu: TVROSAT DBSSAT MISCSAT These lists will be gatewayed to the Usenet newsgroups: rec.video,satellite.tvro rec.video,satellite.dbs rec.video.satellite.misc The lists are open for subscription. To subscribe to any of the lists, send mail to: listserv@vm1.nodak.edu The body of the mail should be: SUB (name of the list) first-name last-name. You can subscribe to more than one list in the same mail message. (K. Sankara Rao) NORDIC MEDIA NEWS: SIRIUS/TVSAT--A number of people on the Usenet newsgroup alt.satellite.tv.europe have noticed problems with Sweden's Sirius satellite, with weakening signals. What is strange is that TV 5 Nordic, on the supposedly aging Tele-X satellite at the same position, is as strong as ever, as is Z-TV on Sirius. But the other PAL signals on Sirius: TV3, TV4, and TV6, are much weaker. A DBS satellite should not produce poor signals on a 1.2 meter dish in the middle of its coverage area, but Sirius does. There's a rumor the Swedish Space Corporation may buy the German TV-Sat direct broadcast satellite. The Germans say they won't need it after the beginning of the year (all the channels on it are on other satellites, notably Astra, of which the German Bundespost is now part-owner). TV-Sat would reportedly be a good replacement for the "weak" Tele-X. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") However, as mentioned above, Tele-X seems to be doing fine, it's Sirius that's in trouble. The TV-Sat channels fall within the frequency band used by Sirius, but fortunately all the transponders are on different frequencies than those used by Sirius. FINLAND--Radio Finland has introduced a weekly program in English called "The Media Roundup". It will be aired every Thursday, and will carry items of current interest concerning the press, radio, and television in Finland. (Radio Finland via BBC Monitoring) LAUNCHES: IN ORBIT--An Atlas rocket put Intelsat 703 into orbit above the Pacific on October 6th. The satellite will be located at 177 degrees east. The next day Ariane carried Mexico's Solidaridad 2 (113 degrees West) and Thailand's Thaicom 2 (78.5 degrees East) into orbit. (Reuters and "Satellite News Desk") ASTRA--The next Ariane launch will be Astra 1D, scheduled for October 31st, and if all goes well, it ought to go into service alongside the other Astra satellites in mid-December. (James Robinson) HOT BIRD--Eutelsat's Hot Bird-1 has been delivered, and will be launched by Ariane in December. The satellite will be positioned alongside Eutelsat II-F1 at 13 degrees East. It will give Eutelsat 46 transponders at this position (compared to the 40 Astra has had for the past year, and the 54 Astra will have in operation when Hot Bird is launched). Among the broadcasters who have signed contracts for Hot Bird transponders are Emirates Dubai TV, RTL, and Polish Television. Hot Birds 2 and 3 have been ordered, and are due to be launched in 1996 and 1997, bringing to 72 the number of transponders at 13 degrees East (digital technology will greatly multiply the number of channels available). (Reuters) OTHERS--Intelsat 704, the first Intelsat satellite to be built in Europe, rolled off the production line at Aerospatiale on october 3. The satellite is scheduled to be launched on an Atlas rocket on December 14, 1994. Other satellites scheduled to launch before the end of the year are Orion 1 (37.5 degrees West), PAS-3 (43 degrees West), and Apstar 2 (112 degrees East). ("Satellite News Desk") EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: TURKSAT--says that Turksat at 42 degrees East has finally begun broadcasts aimed at Europe, with TRT-1 on 10.970 GHz, vertical polarization. (Senol Gulgonul of the Turksat Control Center, via Usenet News) But absolutely nothing from the satellite can be seen here yet. Kanal D has left Eutelsat II-F4, following its switch to Turksat. (James Robinson) INTELSAT--Intelsat 512 has been relocated from 1 degree West to 21.3 degrees West, following the launch and deployment of Intelsat 702. ("Satellite News Desk") Sky News is now using 4.053 GHz on 512, and Tele Sahel from Niger is on 3.915. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") On Fridays there is a cattle auction carried at 13:00 Hrs British Time on Intelsat 601, on 11.135 GHz, audio 7.02 MHz. (James Robinson) GALS--The new powerful Russian satellite GALS was visible some weeks ago at 44 degrees East, testing in Secam on 12.170 GHz. Then it disappeared. Now satellite DXer Bo Wall has found strong signals from Russia's channel q at 71 degrees east, on 11.770 GHz, sound 7.00 MHz. This is apparently GALS new location. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") SHORTWAVE--Radio Moscow has dropped broadcasts in 11 languages, including Afrikaans, Amharic, Danish, Dutch, and Somali. Other services are being cur back. English remains at 168 hours a week, but the separate service to the west coast of North America has been dropped. Among broadcasts in Nordic languages, Finnish continues to be carried for 7 hours a week, but both Norwegian and Swedish are being cut from 7 to 3.5 hours a week each. Radio Moscow is now using less than 9000 shortwave and medium wave frequency hours a week, compared to more than 15,000 before September 25th. (BBC Monitoring) SATELLITE RADIO--Trans World Radio has begun broadcasts on QVC's Astra transponder 38, audio 7.38 MHz. (James Robinson) A new German radio station has appeared on the WDR transponder on Astra. WDR 1 uses 7.74 and 7.92 MHz. The three Spanish radio stations using the Cinemania transponder on Astra have vanished. They were Cadena 40 Principales, Cadena Dial, and Radio Madrid. Radio Nordzee has vanished from the TV Norge transponder on Intelsat 702. It had been on 7.74 MHz. (Robin Clark) TELE-TEXT--Super Channel has changed tele-text services. The "In Orbit" pages have been replaced by material from Germany's "Tele-Satellit" magazine, on page 171. "In Orbit" remains, however, on UK Gold's teletext, on pages 333 and 334. BBC NEWS--There are reports that the new BBC World Service Television all news channel to Europe will begin on November 1st. ("Tele-Satellit") But the BBC now says it will announce the starting date sometime during the next 6 weeks. The channel will reportedly use 11.617 GHz on Eutelsat II-F1. (James Robinson) TESUG--Don't forget that this weekend TESUG TV, operated by the people behind "In Orbit", will be using that very same frequency and satellite for 20 hours of programming about satellite television, Saturday and Sunday between 08:00 and 18:00 hrs UTC, with the test during that same period on Friday. (James Robinson) ASIAN MEDIA NEWS: TVB--TVB International has received permission from the government of Hong Kong to launch a satellite service. The company runs two terrestrial channels in Hong Kong. It is expected a satellite service will be strong competition for Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV. (AP) Star's Chinese Channel and TVB are in a cable TV ratings war in Taiwan, in disagreement over techniques to measure audiences. Star has denounced TVB's survey, which gives it an average 21 percent share of the audience, compared to Star's Chinese Channel's 8.6 percent. (Reuters) TURNER--Ted Turner has brought his 24 hour cartoon and movie network to Asia. TNT/Cartoon Network is being carried on the Indonesian Palapa and Chinese Apstar-1 satellites. The Palapa signal is in the clear, but Apstar viewers will need a decoder. CNN International is already on Palapa. Robert Ross, President of Turner International, says the channel will not break even for some time. (Reuters) PAKISTAN--Pakistan TV Channel 2 (PTV-2) is currently observed on Asiasat-1 on 4.100 GHz, in PAL, sound 6.6 MHz. There is news in English at 14:00-14:15 hrs UTC. Radio Pakistan has been observed on this transponer on 7.5 MHz, between 00:44 and 19:00 hrs UTC; with 5 minute news bulletins in Urdu or English on the hour. (BBC Monitoring) AFRICAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING: EGYPT--The head of Egypt's State Information Service says the country is "already moving strongly ahead with Nile TV"..."If the choice and professionalism are there, you need not worry about CNN and Sky TV (sic)". (SAPA via BBC Monitoring) Unfortunately, while the Egyptian Space Channel puts out a strong signal on Eutelsat II-F3, Nile TV on the same satellite is extremely weak. It gives the impression Egypt doesn't really care in anyone watches. To provide a choice, you have to get a signal the viewers can watch! LATIN AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: CUBA--The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina has announced it has ended its RTTY transmissions to Latin America. Monitoring observations indicate that PL may have suspended RTTY transmissions to other parts of the world as well. (BBC Monitoring) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is the world's oldest radio program about international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. It's currently broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Radio Sweden broadcasts in English: Europe: 17:15 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz 18:30 1179, 6065, 9655, and 13690 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 21:30 1179, 6065, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 22:30 1179 and 6065 kHz 23:30 1179 kHz Asia/Pacific: 12:30 hrs 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz 23:30 11910 kHz 01:30 9895 and 11695 kHz North America: 13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz 02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6200 and 9850 kHz Latin America: 00:30 hrs on 6065 and 6200 kHz The broadcasts at 17:15 and 18:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe by satellite: Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold) at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz, Tele-X (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic at 12.475 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz. Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on VH-1's transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 20:00 hrs UTC. Radio Sweden can also be heard on WRN's North American service on Galaxy-5, on WTBS's transponder 6, audio 6.8 MHz, daily at 00:00 and 20:00 hrs. Sound files of Mediascan are archived at: ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/mediascan. If you access to the WorldWide Web, you can also find the programs among the offerings of Internet Talk Radio at: ftp://town.hall.org/radio/Sweden Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, via the Internet to wood@stab.sr.se, from MCI Mail or CompuServe to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516, 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 Good Listening!