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-
- :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
- :: 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!
-
-