SATELLITE TVRO DX By Gary Bourgois, WB8EOH, Marquette MI Most people think of Home Backyard Dishes as an alternative to the cable company, providing their owners with HBO, MTV and the Discovery Channel, and maybe a few football games from outside the local area. This is true for some folks certainly, but for the died in the wool "Dish Head", such boring fare is as far from what they do with their dish as the SWL Ute chaser or tropical band afficinado who would not be caught dead listening to Rush Limbaugh when their band of choice is open. There are so many parallels in the dish world to the joys of SWL and HAM DXing, that I thought it would be fun to explore them, and share them with readers of SPEC COM who may or may not yet have TVRO setups. After reading this, you may want to consider the satellite hobby as an adjunct and alternative to your radio hobby. TVRO is a really fun hobby which has all the joys and frustrations of SWL DXing, and some totally new aspects to challenge you into developing whole new skills needed to become a successful BIRDWATCHER. CHASING THE WILD BIRDS In addition to the regularly scheduled full time channels, the first exposure a TVRO owner has to the world of the hunt are what are called the FEEDS. There are two basic types of feeds, each designed for a specific purpose. There are the 'Recurring Feeds' which are scheduled on leased transponders which may have no signals at all for hours and hours, and suddenly up pops a single program, and following that transmission, the transponder goes blank again. Recurring feeds generally consist of network or syndicated TV shows, and often have NO COMMERCIALS. The reason these feeds exist is to get the program from the city where it was edited (usually Los Angeles) to a Network Operations Center (usually in New York) where the show is videotaped for later broadcast over the network (Like CBS, ABC, NBC or FOX) where the national commercials will be added during the final transmission. Also included in the 'recurring feed' category would be the Syndication Feeds, of which the most popular are the weekly pre feeds of STAR TREK: Next Generation and DEEP SPACE NINE, which are produced by Paramount, and are uplinked by KEYSTONE twice each show per weekend, in full dolby surround sound with picture quality that will amaze anyone who normally watches them over the regular TV station. Studio Quality Video is a benefit of Home TVRO. While broadcast television is limited to 6MHz of bandwidth, and uses AM modulation for the video, TVRO satellite uses channels that are 24 to 36 MHz wide, and use FM for the video. Instead of the limited resolution that is MANDATED by FCC rules (Broadcast TV is not allowed to send out more than 350 lines of vertical resolution) TVRO resolution can be over 700 lines under ideal conditions, and in all cases is far superior to Broadcast and Cable reception. Recurring feeds actually follow a schedule, though the schedules do change, so part of the skill needed in tracking them is knowing where to look. Just like shortwave bands which yield particular typesof broadcasters, certain satellites are home for different types of audio and video material, and finding your favorite hunting grounds is part of the fun of TVRO DXing. Because recurring feeds recur, it is possible to get schedule information. Most TVRO Guides have a list of these feeds, though by the time they hit print, they are generally somewhat out of date. The INTERNET FEEDS LIST is a handy alternative, since it comes out monthly, and is available on most networked BBS systems that have a TVRO section, including the GREAT WHITE NORTH in Marquette MI, which provides a variety of satellite text files free (you pay only for the phone call) For details, see the end of this article. The second type of 'feed' is the WILD FEED. These can be more fun, since they are always one time only events. It may be a fast breaking news story, which has reporters scurrying with their satellite trucks to a news event. WILD FEEDS may also originate from a concert, pagent, photo op, sporting event, or private teleconference. Most of the WILD FEEDS are called 'backhauls' and are from field production units back to a central location. Sporting Backhauls generally don't have commercials, and during the breaks some pretty far out things happen with the cameras and microphones running. I will leave leave it to YOU to discover just how 'WILD' the WILD FEED scene can be! WILD FEEDS are unscheduled by nature, so require a lot of active participation from the dish owner. Most of us devote a good bit of our dish time to "SKY SCANNING" which involves checking our favorite birds for the type of programming we most enjoy. Again, it takes experience to know where the WILD FEEDS are to be found, but there are known best bets when seeking such transmissions. For example, for News Events, check C band satellites: G4, T1, T2, G7, S2, S3. On KU band, SBS-6 and the G*STAR birds are good bets for news events, as well as the KU side of G7 and G4. It pays to know that CNN rents space on S2 for uplinks out of California, and channel 11 on S3 for Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit. New York and other east coast events will show up on the CBS feeds on G4, ABC on T2 (Moving to the new T-401 soon). Of course it all is subject to change, so here is where the skill and experience come in. Just like with SWL DX. During major news events, the broadcast networks will re transmit a local station in the affected area for the use of the network affiliates newsrooms. In the process, the TVRO dish owner can experience live news events from the perspective of residents of that area. Such was the case with the riots, fires and earthquakes in California, the Trade Center bombing in NYC, Hurricane coverage from Florida, etc. Major events anywhere in the world will find themselves up in the domestic Clarke Belt somewhere, you just have to look. Major ongoing news stories find the location becoming a dish farm. Such was the case with the WACO disaster. Those of us with satellite dishes often get a completely different perspective on a news event than the regular TV viewer gets. We overhear the reporters talking back to the newsroom, or gossiping. We see activities occuring before the rest of the country sees and hears the event, and sometimes after the event, with camera and microphone still hot, a politico or celeb will drop a comment that they THINK is being heard just by those in the room, but is actually transmitted to those dish heads lucky enough to find that particular feed at that particular time. NOW SOME 'REAL' DX There are two main bands of frequencies used for domestic satellite transmission. The C band, which is 3 to 4 GHz, and the Ku Band, which is 11 to 12 GHz. C band is the more popular with broadcast and cable services for program distribution and recurring feed transmission of syndicated television shows. Ah, but the Ku band now there is where the fun is. Requiring only the addition of a dual band feedhorn and a new Ku LNB, (Low Noise Block Convertor), Ku band can be easilly added to most home dish systems. A few older dishes, with mesh that has holes greater than a quarter inch, are not Ku Compatible. All currently sold dishes ARE Ku compatible though. Ku is more for the specialist and real TVRO DXer. As with some of the 'specialty' modes of SWL and HAM DX, the Ku band is not for everyone. The programming on Ku does not consist of a lot of regularly scheduled channels. This very aspect makes it exciting. Most news events are now uplinked on KU because the uplink dish is 4 times smaller than a C band uplink dish. More sporting events show up on Ku than C band, (if that is your thing, in my case it is not)... and there are a lot of specialty Ku channels, like several channels of Asian programming, Some really fine Canadian alternative programming, And a channel for training Fire and Emergency personel. PBS is moving to KU and NBC is already there. But for the most part, the Ku band is the "happy hunting ground" for the real dish head. Special events are the rule rather than the exception on KU. There is a lot of blank spectrum up there, so it takes a bit more scanning before you find something, but it will generally be something interesting. Ku by its nature is more tricky to align and tune than C band. The channel plans vary from satellite to satellite, giving more challenge to mastering this aspect of TVRO DX. However, if you are setting up a first system, you should consider putting in the KU part immediately even if you don't get to it right away. Beyond the PBS and NBC and Canadian feeds, Ku can be compared somewhat to Tropical Band SWLing. It takes patience, but it yields great personal reward. You may not get into it right away if you are a newbie, but in time, You will find that Ku adds true spice to life. Many died in the wool dish heads tell me they spend more time on Ku than C band. If they are into any kind of sport, including auto racing, it is easy to see this happening. I spend about half my time on Ku, but this is because I am a multimode TVRO DXer, and have a LOT of ground to cover every day. BUT THERE IS EVEN MORE... Wait... We haven't even touched ALTERNATE MODES! So far we have only talked about TVRO as a video medium. Well they do call it TELEVISION Receive Only, don't they? Ah yes, but there is more to it than TV. I got my first dish NOT for video but for AUDIO. I wanted the BBC world Service Radio, and I got tired of the fact that when I wanted to listen (afternoons and after 3 in the morning) there was no decent domestic BBC reception. 12095, sure if you could cut the fades, but some times you want to listen to a program WITHOUT the romance of total propagation blackout! I knew BBCWS was available on a Satellite and I wanted it. Yes BBC is up there and so are many other international broadcasters like Radio France International, Deutche Welle, RCI, Radio Australia, and many others in STUDIO FM QUALITY. No this is not DX, these signas are always there, always on frequency, and as dependable as your local top 40 FM station. Still, for the SWL there comes a time when chasing the rare stuff wears us out, and we want to lay back with a favorite DX show or news magazine from a foreign country. TVRO brings it to you with sound so clear you can hear the announcers turn the pages of the script. Satellite audio is a specialty form of TVRO DX, as there is so much of it, you can spend a year just logging it all. There are three primary modes of Audio Reception on Satellite that are accessable by the TVRO DXer: Standard Subcarrier, which requires nothing special other than a regular satellite receiver, and the more esoteric FM SQUARED (FM^2) and Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) reception, both of which will require some add on equipment. I have written several articles in the past about Satellite Audio, including one called "Listening to Your Dish" which explores the wide variety of SATELLITE AUDIO. These articles are available on our Free BBS, or if you write me on the internet, I will email them to you (see the end of this article for more info) My personal favorite is SCPC partly because it is the place where you find a lot of odd audio feeds. Talk shows, sporting events, major market AM stations (hey just like AM DX!) feeds from recording studios and much more can be found on SCPC audio. You can spend many many hours just getting to know the audio feeds. AND THEN THERE WAS DIGITAL TEXT! But wait! For the TVRO tech head, there are quite a few interesting data feeds. Satellite Weather pictures for one, and AP/UPI news for another. The real tinkerer can have a time just identifying the digital signals, and trying their hand at turning it into usable information. This is a REAL specialty aspect that I have to admit I have not fully explored myself. I do subscribe to one text service called X*PRESS X*CHANGE, which gives access to all the major wire services on the planet. I had fun in the old days picking up text with my Model 19 Teleprinter and home brew interface and later PC-SWL gizmo, but I have to tell you that it is nicer to have perfect error free text rather than the half garbled stuff that I marveled at years ago. There is a lot of room for exploration in the digital domain, and I will leave this to you intrepid digital guys to move into when you get your dish set up. INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE DX, THE NEXT FRONTIER My current favorite TVRO DX arena is the international signals coming from over the Atlantic. To play this game, you have to meet some pre requisites... The further East you are the better, but folks as far west as Denver do get reception of Atlantic Satellites. You will need to make some modifications to your installation if you are currently set up for only domestic reception, and how much you spend will depend on how involved you get. Actually to do some quick experimentation, you don't have to spend money, just expend some effort. Do a quick eyeball of your property, and see how far down you can see on the Eastern Horizon. The lower the better. If you live on the East Coast, you can expect to get several Intelsats, Panamsat, Hispasat as well as a couple of interesting Sputnik and Gorizont Russian birds. To experiment, all you need to do is switch your linear actuator (positioner) to the OPPOSITE SIDE (Eastern side) of your dish, which will allow you to swing down farther on the Eastern side. Of course this will screw up any programming you have in your memory, so bear that in mind. This is something you might want to do with a scrounged system, which you could dedicate just to international reception. Now locate S2, and then continue East. Put your receiver in scan mode and start looking for what you can pick up. You will find stuff during various times of the day at a number of locations. There is TVE from Spain on the KU side of Hispasat, A whopping C band signal on TDRSS East from Denver of all places (Gala Americana in PAL format, with old movies) This is a consideration for the International TV DXer, as MOST of the world uses a DIFFERENT standard of TV transmission than we do here in the good old U S of A. We use NTSC, which has 525 lines at 60 frames per second. Europe and Asia (except Japan) use PAL or SECAM which have 625 lines at 50 frames per second. If you want to see it in COLOR, you will have to find a PAL or Multi Standard monitor. These can be had at Hamfests, or bought new from stores that specialize in such things. BUT for experimental purposes, if you don't mind a NON COLOR image, get yourself an old cheap B&W TV. By tinkering with the VERTICAL HOLD and the height controls, you can turn it into a Perfect black and white monitor for PAL signals. There are devices on the market that convert standards from one to another, but these are a bit expensive. Panasonic also makes a very fine VCR which will play and record in any standard and change PAL to NTSC and Vice Versa at the push of a button. It is also not cheap, but is an option for those who really get hooked on international video reception. What else is up there? You'll find a 24 hour transponder from Japan on Panamsat (NHK, Tokyo) as well as news feeds from CNN London, ABC and NBC London, and other wild news feeds as events transpire on the continent. During the events of the Russian Uprising, there were feeds on the Intelsats as well as Gorizont and Sputnik Satellites LIVE from the CIS, and much of what we dish heads saw did not hit CNN or the other networks. This is always the case with fast breaking news. You can always find a feed that is for European audiences, or newsroom use for later editing. With your TVRO DX machine, you see the news before it is edited. Also you will find various international channels such as DUBAI's original PAL feed, SUR, (Systema Unida de Retransmision) A conglomeration of Latin American broadcasters, and others. Until a few months ago, there was a Serbian TV feed which was absolutely fascinating. They had 30 minutes of English news which was heavily biased towards THEIR side of the conflict, followed by variety and music shows which were totally bizzare. I describe Serbian music as something like Arabic Polkas. You have to hear it to believe it. Along with these video feeds, you can usually find one of their local radio services on an alternate subcarrier. There is even a Jazz Station from London that you can get 24 hours a day on the Intelsat at 27.5 degrees. One of my favorite feeds is at 53 degrees, an Intelsat where there is a C band feed put up by British Telecom. Here you find a lot of news feeds from the European Broadcast Union, As well as ITN and BBC World Service Newscasts. On weekends though, this channel (C band Channel 14 in PAL format) goes into a retransmission mode, carrying the domestic programs of BBC-1 and BBC2, Sometimes SKY TV and other British domestic Television. Some really fantastic British shows, like Neal's House Party and The Big Break are shown which have to be seen to be appreciated (I can't even begin to explain these shows except to say that they are unlike any TV you have ever seen before). Drama, Documentary and News programming abounds on these weekend feeds, but a word of warning... You may be enjoying a show and have it suddenly cut off so that they can feed a news story. They leave the local networks on just to keep something on the transponder besides Color Bars. Another interesting thing about the British Telecom Feed is that it is sometimes fed in Multiplex Mode. This can best be described as a way of squeezing two channels into one. What they do is to run ALTERNATE FRAMES of BBC1 and ITN TV. This creates a mind boggling flicker and you see two shows on the screen at once. With a little mental concentration, you can trick your brain into seeing only ONE of the channels, though you may get a headache from it. The audio for each channel is fed on a separate audio subcarrier, so you can at least pick the main audio you are interested in. I understand that there is a simple way to build a box that will separate the two feeds and run them to separate monitors. This simple device is not like the more professional framestore system that is meant to be used with this feed, however, so there is a pronounced 25 Hz flicker as every other frame is BLACKED OUT. If there is any interest, I will see that the schematic for this device is sent to Spec Com so you can tinker with this interesting mode of transmission (After all, that is just the sort of thing you EXPECT in this magazine). As a bonus this device (called a DEMUX BOX) can also be used to separate the Multiplexed NASA feeds during launch prep on the contract nasa channel which uses the same type of transmission (alternating frame views). Yes, TVRO is a REAL DXer's playground. There is only one problem. With so many modes, and so much raw spectrum to search, it can keep you going from morning to night. I warn you, I have been playing with Satellites for many years and instead of eventually getting bored because I thought I had a handle on it, I have gotten deeper and deeper into it until it fills just about every waking moment of my day. Even when doing my work (My office is in my home) I have my UHF transmitting remote control with me so I can scan the skies from wherever I am. Yes, I even have TVRO reception (In stereo AND multi mode) In the BATHROOM. I am not responsible for the loss of sanity that may result if YOU become a total dish head. Just make sure you encourage the XYL to become part of this new hobby. It can be done. My better half has become a bit of a dish head herself, especially during big news events. She took full control of the main dish system during the Menendez Brother's Trial this past summer (She is a Court TV Junkie) and I have managed to get her into British and Canadian Comedy, as well as the Talk shows on SCPC audio. You might also want to get a third dish for the kids so they can have the many feeds of Kid Shows (like the XUXA Block Feed, Buena Vista Cartoon Feeds, etc). It is all up there and more. You can do it for less money than you have in your ham rig. All the stuff I have described is unscrambled, viewable at no subscription fee, and you don't need a descrambler. I have never owned one. Just scrounge up the equipment and have at it. My first dish cost me $40 for everything. You can set up a really fine satellite system for less than $300 using my handy dandy scrounger's guide (available on the GWN BBS, or by writing me on the internet and I will email it back to you, sorry I can not use POSTAL MAIL for this article). Once you start planting your dish farm, your life will NEVER be the same. And you will wonder how you ever lived without it! Keep Watching the Skies! The author may be reached at the following electronic addresses: flash@lopez.marquette.MI.US birdwatcher@genie.geis.com studiob@mcimail.com The Great White North BBS may be reached at: (906) 228-4399 or (906) 225-5496 8-N-1 Configuration, 2400 Baud At the login prompt type: bird for access to a wide variety of free TVRO related material. LEAVE FEEDBACK AND MENTION SPEC COM! -- / Gary Bourgois, WB8EOH, The Birdwatcher: Marquette Michigan USA \ ([-o Radio Omega G3/17 5.8 - FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE Weekly 9PM Eastern o-]) \ Now a snazzy new DOMAIN address! flash@lopez.marquette.MI.US / GEnie: BIRDWATCHER FAX: (906) 228-7477 GWN BBS: (906) 228-4399