|
||
|
||
The Satellite TV story - New Zealand version
The first satellite television signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite located at such a position over the Atlantic Ocean that it could access both North America and Europe in 1962. Belonging to AT&T the original Telstar was part of a multi-national agreement Bell Telephone, the British General Post Office, and the French National Posts and telephones to develop experimental Satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean. The US ground station was Andover Maine built by Bell Labs. The main British ground station was at Goon Hilly Downs in southwestern England, The French ground station was at Pleumeur- Bodou in North Western France.
However it wasn’t until1963 that the first geosynchronous communications satellite, Syncom 2 was launched. The world's first commercial communication satellite, called (Early Bird), was launched into synchronous orbit on April 6th 1965. The first national satellite network called Orbita was created by the Soviet Union in 1967. The first domestic North American satellite to carry television was Canada’s geostationary satellite Anik 1 was launched in 1972.
ATS 6 was the world the world's first experimental Direct Broadcast Satellite, was launched in 1974. The first Soviet geostationary satellite to carry Direct to Home television on 716 MHz in the UHF band was launched in 1976.
When satellite television first hit the market in the early 1980’s, home dishes were expensive metal units that took up a huge amount of garden space. In these early years, only the wealthy could afford going through all the hassle and expense of putting in their own dish. Satellite TV was a lot harder to get than over the broadcast TV.
Today, you see compact satellite dishes perched on rooftops all over New Zealand. Drive through any city or town and you'll find dishes on many homes. Satellite TV operators are luring in more consumers every day with movies, sporting events and news from around the world and the promise of movie-quality picture and sound.
Many people in New Zealand have opted for “Free to Air “Satellite TV.” FTA” offers access to many of New Zealand’s national television networks. Satellite TV technology has made television reception very easy now where ever one may live.FREEVIEW is New Zealand’s Governments answer to the analogue switch off and our migration to digital only television. Free view satellite is still growing and has already become a popular choice for many TV viewers providing them with digital quality television reception where ever they may be located.
FREE VIEW is made up of a consortium of broadcasters led by TVNZ with TV3, C4 Stratos
Cue TV Parliament, Maori TV, Radio New Zealand and two independent radio broadcasters.
In this article, we'll find out how satellite TV works, from TV station to TV set. We'll also learn about the changing landscape of TV viewing and some basic differences that distinguish satellite TV from cable and over-the-air broadcast TV. Satellite TV is a lot like broadcast TV. It's a wireless system for delivering television programming directly to a viewer's house. Both broadcast television and satellite stations transmit programming using radio signals. These signals being in the VHF band for TV1, TV2, TV3 and C4 and extend into the UHF band for Prime, Triangle and other regional television stations scattered all over New Zealand .
Broadcast television stations use a powerful transmitter and high transmission masts to transmit radio waves to the surrounding area. From the Kordia broadcast site at waiaturua, Auckland television viewers can pick up the various transmissions on large terrestrial antennas normally located on the dwellings roof. The main limitation of broadcast TV is range. The radio signals used to broadcast television radiate from the broadcast antenna in a straight line. In order to receive these signals, you have to be in the direct line of sight to the antenna. Obstacles like trees or buildings provide ghosting and Auckland’s volcanic terrain only serves to make reception even worse in some parts of the region. The same situation applies in many other New Zealand cities where the VHF television network originally launched in the 1960’s has long past its use by date.
Satellite TV solves the problems of range and distortion by transmitting broadcast signals from Satellites orbiting the Earth. These satellites are all in geosynchronous orbit, meaning that they stay in one place in the sky relative to the Earth. Each satellite is launched into space at about 7,000 mph (11,000 kph), reaching approximately 22,200 miles (35,700 km) above the Earth. At this speed and altitude, the satellite will revolve around the planet once every 24 hours the same period of time it takes the Earth to make one full rotation. In other words, the satellite keeps pace with our moving planet, exactly.
Sky TV and Free view use the Australian Optus D 1 satellite located at 160 degrees east to provide total New Zealand coverage. The Beam or footprint is transmitted from the Broadcaster via a large dish called an uplink. There are several private uplinks in New Zealand working with a variety of satellites apart from the Australian satellites belonging to Optus.
New Zealand’s view of the geostationary (Clark Belt) orbital belt extends roughly 75 degrees either side of the locations longitude this is where zero elevation occurs. Normally satellites are deemed to be unreceivable when there elevation is lower than 10 degrees. Working with satellites with elevation of fewer than 10 degrees requires much larger dishes to over come signal fading that is inherent with such reception.
New Zealand can physically see any satellite in the orbital arc 177 degrees west to 100.0 degrees east. However it must be understood that not every satellite which can be seen from New Zealand has coverage beam patterns allowing reception in New Zealand. It is also possible to physically see some of the American domestic satellites from NZ and infact reception has been received from the domsats with varying results using 7m and 15.5m size dish antennas.
For the purposes of this document we will confine our satellites to those which can provide a viewable signal on more modest reception equipment.
177 W NSS 9 global / Hemi beam reception to NZ
180 E IS 701 C band Global /Hemi beam / Spot beam reception to NZ Ku Reception from Spot Beam 2 on dish sizes larger than 3m.
172 E GE 23 Reception from C band Asia /Pacific beam. Ku reception from the Australia /New Zealand beam
169 E IS 5 Reception from C band Asia / Pacific Beam.
166 E IS 8 C band Reception from Pacific Rim Beam, horizontals very strong, some verticals very weak. Ku Reception from South West Pacific Beam.
160 E Optus D1 Ku reception from NZ Spot beam, Australia / NZ split beam
156 E Optus C1 Ku reception from combined Australia / NZ beam (ANZ) and overspill reception from Australian National A and B beam. Requires a dish size larger than 3m
152 E Optus D2 Ku reception from reception from combined Australia / NZ beam (ANZ)
138 E Telstar 18 C band reception from ASEAN beam requiring dish sizes larger than 3m
134 E Apstar 6 C band reception from ASEAN beam requiring dish sizes larger than 3m
132 E Vinasat 1 C band reception from ASEAN beam requiring dish sizes larger than 1.8m
128E JCSAT3 A C band reception from Pacific / Hawaii beam requiring dish sizes larger than 4.5m
122E Asia sat 4 C band reception from ASEAN beam requiring dish sizes larger than 1.8m Ku reception from Australian /NZ beam requires dish sizes larger than 90 cm
113 E Palapa C2 C band reception from ASEAN beam requiring dish sizes larger than 1.8m
105.5 E Asia sat 3 s C band reception from Global beam requiring a dish size larger than 3m
100.5 E Asia sat 2 C band reception from Global beam requiring a dish size larger than 5m due to signal fading as elevation is only 4 degrees.
 |
 |
 |
IS 701 at180 East |
IS8 at 166 East |
IS5 at 169 East |
\
 |
 |
 |
160 East Optus D1 NZ Coverage |
156 East Optus C1 coverage ANZ Beam |
152 East Optus D2 coverage ANZ Beam |
 |
 |
 |
138 EastTelstar 18 |
132 East Apstar 6 |
132 East Vinasat 1 |
 |
 |
 |
|
128 East Jcsat |
122 East Asia Sat 4 |
115 East China Sat 6 |
 |
113 East Palapa C1 |
 |
 |
|
105.5 East Asia Sat 3 |
100.5 East Asia Sat 2 |
Asia Sat 5 :-
To continue the odyssey of AsiaSat's premium satellite services
 |
Asia Sat believes quality and experience will play an increasing role in a customer's choice. Asia Sat is committed to providing first-class regional satellite service to its present and future customers. In the light of this, Asia Sat commissioned Asia Sat 5 in April 2006, for replacing Asia Sat 2 at the orbital location of 100.5 degrees East.
Asia Sat 5, a Space Systems/Loral 1300 series satellite, will be equipped with 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders, with an estimated operational life of 15 years. Its C-band footprint will provide extensive pan-Asian coverage and its high power Ku-band beams will focus on East and South Asia, with a steerable beam that will cover anywhere within Asia Sat 5's geographic coverage.
Asia Sat 5 is scheduled for launch in the 3rd quarter of 2009 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
 |