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Why add on more TVRO Receivers to the We also realized that we offered to the already crowded market? industry all of the components that We pondered that question at length and make up a video receiver. concluded that Miteq had something The next step was easy... unique to offer. Avail yourself to our total inhouse And that uniqueness is in our total capability in Receiver electronics. inhouse capability. . Antenna mounted low noise amplifiers We realized that with little development (1.5dB NF) effort, Miteq could offer a quality product . Single conversion dedicated Receivers at a very competitive price. How is that . Dual conversion frequency agile designs possible? Well, up to 12 internal channels Miteq has been manufacturing state-of-the- Give us a call- let our inhouse capability art satellite downconverters and upcon- save you dollar$ verters for customers around the world - including Intelsat and Comsat! @MrEo HAUPPAUGE,NEW YORK 11787 TEL.(5r6) 543-8873 TWX5r0-226-3781 SGI ctNE STGIP SHG,PPINGI FGIFI TVFIGI ELEGTFIGINIGS
Scientific Communicationsollors standard 3.7 - 4.2 GHz FET smptitiermod€ls at guarantood "N" REDUNDANT noiss figures from I .3 to 3.5 dB at 25rc. Waveguid€ input (CPR . 229G tlang€) and typ€ flFul ar6 standard on all 50 dB gain units. Oher options includ€ 115 VAC or 15 - 2E VC|C(pooitive or nogativs) op€ration, othor gain values trom 20 to 60 dB and tault rnonitor circuitry. All modeb omploy specially d€signed bias n€tworks tor maximum power handling cspability and Atimum gain stabitity FETAMPLIFIERS over widg ambi€nl ranges. SCI FET amplifiors arg housod in weatherproot snclGsures 8nd utilize power conngclors lot installationconvoni€nca. An intomal lC vohagerogulator prsvents gain changosdu€ to inputr/oltaoo \ qlffif r variations, p€mils op€ration over an input voltag€ rango ot t 5 - 28 VDC and rer€cts hum and mise on thg OC input lines. The amplifiers also toature short circuit, ovsruollag€ and rovers€ vollago protection. Wavoguide inputs are prgssudzabls and all wav€guide units ars supportsblg by th€ input flangs if desired. FneouetcY c1ot xotsE(t) ysw6 powERouTAT roDEL RANGE GAtx FltrlEss rrcunL-rr ourt.odBcorpREs$oil (GHz) (dBmln.) (+ dBm.r.) (dBmu.) (rnu.) (d6mltn.) scF-395.50 3.7G420 so 0.5 2.6 1.25:1 1.25:'l +10 '1.25:1 '1.25:1 .t** SCF-395-5OA3.70-4.20 50 0.5 2.O +10 a. scF-395-50D3.70-4.20 50 0.5 1.8 1.25:1 1.25:1 +10 scF-395-505 3.70-4.20 50 0.5 1.5 1.25:1 1.25:1 +'10 scF-395-507 3.70-4.20 50 0.5 1.3 1.25:1 1.25:1 +10 (1) al 25'c g GaAs FETAMPLIFIERS ?; n ',H lmtx* -
Ths SCI Modol SCF-306 Series RedundantGaAS FET Low Nois€Amptitier Asssmbty provides ampliticationof FIF signals in the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz frequoncyrange. Tho asssmblyconsists ot two GaAs FET amplifiers,a low loss transfer switch,and a transfarswitch control moduls. Tho ontiro systsm is mounted on a singls plate designedfor mountingnear the ant6nna.Intgrfacs connector pins provide systsm status infomation lor remotgmonitoring. "on Ths two LNA'Sare in a r€dundantconliguration. Either LNA may be lin€"; that is when th€ amplifisr is conn€ctedbetween the RF lN and RF portsot "otl OUT ths transferswitch.The other LNA is lins" and op€rating.Th6 inputand outsut RF ports of the ott tinaLNA are terminatodat ths test ports ol the transtsr swilch. The otf line LNA may b€ testedor rspla€d withoutatftrting ths nomal oo€rationot the on line LNA.
SATELLITE The SR-4000and SR-5000Satollite Vid€o Recsiversprovide quatity picture and soundrscoption VIDEO of satellito television transmissions.Thsy hava be€n sp€cifielly dosigned to @st/portomanco RECEIVERS crit€ria for CATV oarth stations. Ths SR-40O0is atully agils,synthesizsd24channet solectable modet. Thetranspondornumb€ris selected by thumbwho€l switchss on the lront panol with LEO readout ol the s€ltried transpondor numb€r. Th€ SR-5000 is the lixed channel version with provisionfor transponders€lsction by a crystal chango and retuning, Bolh units ars compact with modulg interchangeability betwe€n unit typ€s oxcept tor synthesizer/ L.O. source modules. Thoy each havo phas€-locked loop demodulators to grovi(b 6i@llent FM thr€shold p€rlormance. The compact design ot thoss units allowstwo completgrecoivors to b€ mountedin a stsndard19 inch rack only 3y2inchgs high.This t6atureminimizes the rack spac€ requir€dfor mulliOl€rcivers whsn sevaral satellitetrans@ndsrs ar6 to b€ utilizod. A uniqug featurs ol thes€ receivsrs is the availabilityof a socond subcarier domodulator.This lsature is prs-wired on all units so that the addition ot a printed circuil card can provid€ a s€cond subcarrier tor audio, slow scan ry or other software which may b€ otfered by ths programmirE originators. The SCI recsivers wero sp€cially engino€red to provid€ simplo mgthods lor t$ting in an op- srationalsnvironment. A melsrand selgctorswitchon thetront pan€lpormitthe monitoring ofc,itical voltages-and the lF monitor ouput is availabls at ths tront pamt to facititateC/N testing. An AGC/MGC switch and a manual gain adiustmont are located on tho lront panet to turrh€r tacitiiate testing. Tho rear panel conlains an auriliary vid€o ouFut to allow monitoringol vidoo p€rtomancs withoutdisrupling programming and an extra pairot audiooutsuts to lacilitatgaudio monitodrE.
Scientific Communications, lnc. SPECIALISTSIN MICROWAVE RECEIVER TECHNOLOGY 3425 Kingsley. 6.t;.nd, Texas75041 214o271-3685. Twx: 910-860-5172 Ir I
i:.. SEPTEMBER 1978 VOLUME5 NUMBER 9
PUBLISHEDMONTHLY, AS ITS OFFICIALJOURNAL, BY THE COMMUNITYANTENNA TELEVISION ASSOCIATION, INC., OKLAHOMACITY, OKLAHOMA.AS A SERVICETO ITS MEMBERSAND OTHERSPROVIDING CATV'MATV SERVICETO THE TELEVISIONVIEWING PUBLIC AND BROADBANDVIOEO/AUDIO DATA COMMUNICAT]ONSERVICE.
OFFICERS Kyle D. Moore,Chairman of Board -FEATURES_ Ben Campbell,President G.H. Bunk Dodson,Sec/Tsr SATELLITES-UPDATE'78/Whereis it all headed?The explosive growth of satelliteuse DIRECTORS and technologygets brighterand brighterby the day as the cabletelevision industry basksinthegloryofbeingintheforefrontofacommunicationsrevolution...... '14 PeterAthanas (Wisconsin) EugeneEdwards (Ohio) THE NEWLYPROMISED SERVICES-Not going DavidFox (WestVirginia) every service that says they are to the birdactually makes it. An RalphHaimowitz (Florida) updateon who iswhere ...... 15 CharlesF. Kee(Oregon) WHATABOUT THE'SICK Jim A. Kimrey(Arkansas) BIRD'?-ls there somethingactually wrong with F1? Tests J.J.Mueller (Vermont) areunderwaytodeterminehowhealthyourfutureis...... 21 BenV. Willie (lowa) THE RELIGIOUSTRANSPONDERS-RCA's Andy Inglis says his company has a 'special DIRECTORS.EMERITUS relationship'withthe religious broadcasters ...... 24 William Risden (Kentucky) CarlSchmauder (Oregon) CATJ's 1978 GUIDETO ACTIVETRANSPONDERS-A special two page table of which transponderis doingwhat STAFF on allof the birds ...... 28 R.B.Cooper, Jr., Editor-in-Chief LNA PROGRESSAND EOUIPMENTPROGRESS-Cable growth in satellite technology is CelesteRule, Managing Editor stillpacedbythedevelopmentandavailabilityofequipment ...... 32 DebbieTeel, Production Director JanetStone, Editorial Asst. SUMMARYOF TERMINALSALES-Guess which companyhas sold more terminalsthan DianeHoward, Editorial Asst. thecompetition?...... 34 Bill H. Ellis,Contributing Editor RayDaly, Contributing Editor NON-CATVDEVELOPMENTS ON THEBIRDS-Some people believethe next big action in RaleighB. Stelle, Contributing Editor satelliteswill beoutsideof the cableTV field...... 37 OFFICES -DEPARTMENTS_ CATA/CATJ 4209NW 23rd,Suite 106 CATA-torial(BenCampbellon FCClnactionWith OklahomaCity, Oklahom a73107 SatelliteMatters) ...... 4 (405)947-7664 SATELLITETECHNOLOGYNEWS...... 42 CATA(Washington Off ice) SeptemberStatistics SteveEffros, Executive Director FasterTVROLicense Processing (Oops!) 110017th St. NW (Suite506) SunOutage Coming Again Washington,D.C.20036 TheTransponder Listings (202\659.2612 WeathervaneOn The Bird? CATJsubscription rates $14.00 per year for First MexicanTVRO non-CATAmembers, $10.00 per year for R.STELLE'S TECHNOLOGY CORNER (This month. . .radiation) . . . . .44 CATAmember-systems; $10.00per year for industryemployed personnel for at-home COOP'SCABLE COLUMN (Weekly on the bird) . . . 4B-B delivery.In Canada, $16.00 per year for TECHNICALTOPICS (Letters and new briefs) ...... 51 CATVsystems, $12.00 per year for system EnjoyedBeing On TV employees.Foreign rates request. LaunchingA CATASatellite upon Wants Richardson'sAddress Thirdclass postage rates paid in 0klahoma DidThey Like Me? MakeTheir Own GaAs-FETs City,0klahoma, U.S.A. FederalRegister Defended fheCommunity Antenna Television Asociation, Inc. Freeldeas Prevailed isa nonprofitorganization formed under Chapter 19, Title18 ol theStatutes of theState of 0llahoma. ASSOCIATE'SROSTER(Handyaddressesandtelephonenumbers)...... s4 Assuch, no pail ol itsasets or incomeshall be the propertyol its members; such asets and income shall CLASSY-CATAdvertising ...... ss be devotederclusively to the purpmesof the : Corporation. CATJisCopyight@ l97E by the Community Antenna OURCOVER \ TeleuisionAssociation, Inc. All righis resened. Quedan WHERElS TOO FAR?This special issue exploresthe current status of reseruadostodos los derechos.Printed in U.S.A. the satellite explosion in CATV, exemplified by the front cover view Permisiontoreprint CATI published material must be of the 'CATA-Gang'erecting the CCOS '78 Up-Link terminal at Okla- givenby CATA, prior to re-publication. homa'sEufaula Lodge this pastJuly 15th. CATA- roRinl
BEN CAMPBELL, Presidentof CATA, Inc.
TimeFor Some Action appropriate.. .suggestthat they are themselves lf Washingtonsources within the FCC can be afraidto come to gripswith competitionwithin an consideredaccurate, the FCCis at last planningto industry. come to grips with a number of cable/satellite A casein point are the pendingapplications to matterswhich are begging decisions. add one or two or three or even four additionalin- Beforethe Commission,in one form or another, dependentlyprogrammed broadcast signals to the are applicationsto bringto the satellitescommon satellites.Atlanta's WTCC has been all alone on carrier relay serviceof San Francisco/Oakland SATCOMfor 21 monthsnow. Ted Turnerhas shown KTVU,Los Angeles KTTV, Chicago WCN and New what a man with imagination,guts and the will to YorkCity WOR. The time hascome for the Commis- win cando whenhe isgiven just a tiny bit of bureau- sion to stop duckingthe issuespresented by these craticfreedom to experimentin the unkown.We all applications. love Ted Turnerand respectwhat he has done for Three years ago this month (my how time flies thisindustry; but Ted'shad it all by himselffor about when you are havingfun!) the first satellitetrans- sixto eightmonths too long.The time hascome for missionof cableprogramming began at HBO.Then somecompetitive services to joinWTCC on the bird. 2'1months ago the Commissionapproved satellite Not surprisinglyTurner pretty much sharesthis commoncarrier carriage of Atlanta'sWTCC and at sentiment.He is not battlingagainst the additionof the sametime approvedcable use of 'small'TVRO another indie or two on SATCOM.Nor is the antennas.Those two actions,twenty one long months commoncarrier operator he utilizesto bringWTCC ago,were the last significantdecisions made by the nationwide;Southern Satellite Systems. In fact one FCCin thefast moving satellite transmission area. of the oldestpending applications before the Com- missionfor adding an additionalindie is from Sincethose decisions were reachedthe FCChas SouthernSatellite; they want to bring up San 'changedhands' and a new set of personnelare in Francisco'sKTVU. charge.To date the new personnelhave avoided So where is the problem?lf there are not senti- doingmuch of anything. mentswithin cableagainst there being more indies The Commission'sagenda is controlledby the on the bird, where are those subtle lobbying pres- Chairmanof the FCC.He hasthe powerto put items surescoming from? That's the diff icult part to assess. on the agenda,or take them off, as he feels they Thereseems to be no concerted,orchestrated effort meritattention. He alsohas the powerto keepitems to keep the matter off the Commissionagenda; off the agendawhen he feels'thetiming is bad'for ratherthere seems to be simplya failureon the part approval,or non-approvalas the casemay be, of an of the FCC'sbureaucracy to sit down and face the itemabout which he mayhave some strong personal issue. feelings.Many importantagenda items get left off Whatis the issue?ls it a questionof allowingmore thevote list for thisreason alone. indiesignals up there?Or is it more complexthan The new regimeat the Commissionhas made a that? numberof industryappearances at whichthey have Againit isdifficult to pin downthe singleanswer; warned cable that we had better be preparedto there appearsto be severalanswers, all not very accept whatever competition as might develop persuasivewhen they standalone. The MPAA and whenthere is 'substantialderegulation of competi- the NAB areagainst there being more indieson the tive transmissionsystem', or, 'as new technology bird;but theiropposition seems to be morea matter comesinto being'.Nobody has ever elaborated on of form than substance.They opposethe concept what these new forms of competitionmight be. . . simplybecause. . .that's what they are paid to do. one is supposedto makeup his own list it appears There are even groupswithin NAB that suggest from the growingdevelopments that.we daily hear WTCC shouldnot have a 'monopoly'on satellite about. distributionand they favor an 'open sky'policy. Whenyou stripaway the agrumentsagainst allow- - It occursto us that while the Commissionseems ing additionalservices on the bird, as a matterof verballycommitted to turningthe forces of competi- policy,you end up with the intra-industrysquabbles tion in the media marketplaceloose upon one that arebefore the Commission.Several carriers are another,their actions.. .or inactionsas seemsmore proposingto bring up Chicago'sWCN. Therethe Commissionmust decide(1 ) which carrierto allow up with WCN, or perhaps(2) if WCN should be allowed uo with one carrier on SATCOM and one Cable operators,who want over on WESTAR.KTVU. on the other hand,is basic- satisfiedcustomers, are ally a one-carrier-application;Southern Satellite. switchingto Electroline Which is where that problem may be.. .shouldone switch-transformers and cable switcheswhich are of carrier be allowed to have two or more broadcast very high isolation. signalson the bird? lf not, why not?Terrestrial car- Protectyourself against riers are not limited as to the number of broadcast outagescaused by power signals they transport; why should non-terrestrial failures,cable breaks, labor carriersbe so limited? problems,customer- The most complex issuebefore the Commissionis installedcontraptions. Elec- the ASN/Americom Satellite Network proposal to trolineequipment is tested bring up on WESTAR ll, with the assistanceof for reliabilityand durability - WesternUnion. three indie signals. The competition and installationis so easy. saysASN is not a common carrier;that ASN should not be allowed to bring up anything.ASN says the FCC'sown rulesdo not requirea 'transporter'to be a common carrier.The FCC'sCommon Carrier Bureau SWITCHMATCH reportedly agreeswith the position that ASN is not ESM.2B qualified to transportsignals; the f inalword f rom the Input-7sohm full Commissionis not yet in. & 300ohm Here'swhat we would like to see the Commission Outputto TV do; and soon. 300ohm Number one- They should approve Southern Satellite'scarriage of KTVU. lt is not controver- sial and it will provide competitive(and west coast alternatives)to WTCC. Number two- They should approve United
Video's request to bring up WCN; the argu- j., /7 '. .. ments againstUnited's application are mostly w """',.'... t:AttiE cAarr silly and hardly substantive.This will give us A{m"4r8-@. three indies for those markets where three t-sH.lrJru indies are allowed, and it will strengthenthe TVv competition with WTCC with a central time zone station. Number three-They should tell ASN that they like the concept of there being competition betweensatellites and approveASN carriageof Los AngelesKTTV, New York WOR and a third indie of ASN'schoice; as long as the third is not one alreadyavailable on satellite(WCN times two is wastefulof valuabletransponder space SWITCHMATCH CABLESWITCH we feel). But. . .ASN should be granted only ESM-753 ESM.75 "Special Temporary Authority" to provide this Inputs,75 ohm All oorts- 75 ohm Output,300ohm serviceconditioned upon their being properly Excellentmatch qualified as a common carrierwithin 12 months lsolation- 80 db time. In the interimASN shouldbe declaredan "agent" for WesternUnion who will for now act asthe "real" common carrier. What will this do? lt will get six indiesignals into ELECTROLINE the air on two separate birds. This will create competitionamongst the satellitecarriers and ulti- Teleuision matelysuch competition will be goodfor cable.This EquipmentInc. will also spur some systemsto installsecond termi- 8750,81hAvenue nals;the secondbeing dedicated to WESTARll and VilleStMichel with the terminalsin place the competitionbetween Montreal,Que. H1Z 2W4 satelliteswill increaseeven further. or phonecollect o All of this needs to be done now. While cable (514)725-2471 interest in new satelliteservices is still high and o before WESTAR gets so filled with non-cable ser- Reoresentativesacross Canada o vices that there is no room left for enough cable andthe U.S.A. Offeringa lineof servicesto makea WESTARterminal worthwhile. qualityequipment The new regime at the Commission says they are forthe cable industry. \ dedicated to competition. Now let's see if their actionsare as bold astheir public utterances.
I Ihelrocers Dofhdefecf RFleokoge,buf whichoneisbesf brlgf needs?
"Trocer"ModelTR-{ ls M leokoge in your CAW The The"Trocer" ModelTR-2 coble systemexceedlng FCC is a calibratedreceiver system which is an economicalfield unit that can limits?ls if on indicofionof assuresabsolute compliance with FCC detectand locateRF leakageand can presentor potentiolmechonicol regulatedradiation limits. lts 40dB measureradiation with sufficient loggedscale is accurateto r-1dB. accuracyfor generaltrouble foilurewhich could resuh in shooting.Ni-Cad batteries provide costlyrepoirs or FCCviolofions? The systemincludes tuned dipole antennawith magneticbase, head up to 15 hoursof useon a single charge.I ncludes AC adapter/charger. Get the answerspromptly with phonesand AC adapter/charger.Gell Cell batteriesprovide up to 50 hours Weighsonly 1.5lbs. VITEK'scompact Tracer* (TR-1 ) or Tracer'(TR-2) RF DetectionRe- of operationon a singlecharge. "Tracer"TR-2.. .for locating Weight:only 5 lbs. ceivers.Both locateand measure RF leaksOnly $300ea. leakageand determinewhether "Tracer"TR-1 . . . to keepthe FCC radiationexceeds FCC limits.They off your back.Only $550ea. provideearly warning of hairline We thinkyou'll want them both. cracksin expansionloops, loose connectors,leakage from electrical The Tracersare built by VITEK, equipmenthousings, trunks and recognizedfor qualityand reliability feedersdue to loosecovers or cor- throughoutthe industry. rosion . . . typicalleakage problems. To orderor for additional information,call or write: No seporotetronsmifter required. lnstrumentsDivision. Both receiversoperolewifh ony VITEKElectronics. Inc. coble Wvideo or pilof corrier. 200Wood Avenue, rl} Middlesex,N.J.08846 Both are rugged,self-contained, r, , (201) 469-9400 poweredby rechargeablebatteries, , offer a crystalcontrolled local oscillatorwith front panel fre- quencytrimadjustment and many other features. VITEK
'The Traceris a trademarkof Vitek Electronics.Inc Introducing o the 6601vidco reccrver,
From the 4ll VideoReceiver came receiverinto somethingmore than a no the 414Video Receiver. And from the frills unit. 414now comesthe fixed frequency 6601 The receiverbaseband out canbe -perhaps the industry'sfirst third gen- madecompatible with microwavesystems erationvideo receiver. by includingan oprional4.5 MHzsubcar- If you managea CATV system,ir rier card.And for moreaudio services, meansyou get the advantageof dual con- you'llfind provisionsfor theaddition of 3 versionfrom a manufacturerwith long moreaudio demodulators built right in. experiencein building receiverswith Todaythere are many video receivers dual conversion.You get threshold ex- with a low price.But for onethat hasa tensiondemodulation that's been field lot moregoing for it than merelya low provenin othermodels. And you geta price,call Mike Smith or ParWolfer at wholelist of optionsto makethis video (404)449-2000. Or write us. Scientific Atlanta
United States;3845 PleasantdaleRoad, Atlanta, Ga. 30340,Telephone 404-449-2ooo, TWX 810-766-49'l2,TelexOS4-2898 Canada: 1640Bonhill Road, Unit 6, Mississauga,Ontario, LsT 1C8, Canada,Telephone 416-677-6555, Telex 06-983500 Europe; 1-7 Sunbury Cross Centre, StainesRoad West, Sunbury on Thames,Middlesex TW16 7BB, Eneland, TelephoneSunbury on Thames 89751,Telex 896015
I Howdo you determinewhich is the bestTVRO antenna for yourparticular site andapplication? Careful engineering,and, careful attention to expendituresare two primaryaspects of any terminalplanning exercise.
The picturesdelivered by the terminal,their qualityand their long term stabilityare the proofof the bottomline. There is now moreproof. Careful study of 28 weeks(January 30 throughAugust 7, 1978)of FCCstatistics. . .datasubmitted to the FCCby TVRO applicants in thecourse of theirlicensing procedure . . .indicatesthat USTC's six meter terminal is the most cost effective 'large' terminal in themarket today!
USTClS NUMBERFOUR amongst all TVRO antennasuppliers (behind Scientif ic Atlanta, Andrew/Hughesand RF Systems)in total terminalssupplied to theindustry. Out of ten separateantenna-supplier categories, we feelvery comfortable in being'number four'. Thatmakes us big enoughto serveyou, and smallenough to giveyou personal service.
ANDUSTC lS NUMBERONE where it really counts!When you determine the actual 'cost per channeldelivered' on a per terminal basis, USTC has the lowest cost in the industrytoday amongstterminal suppliers largerthan 4.5 metersin size (in complete fairnesswe must note that statisticsshow the Prodelin4.57 meter fiberglass antenna is the mosteffective of allterminals).So if your systemneeds the highergains afforded by a large 6 meter terminal,and the structural strengthafforded by all aluminumor all steel construction.. .come to the provencost effectiveterminals from USTC.
Unlted Stotes Tower qnd Fobrlcotlon Compony P.O.Drower'S', Aflon, Ok. ttf33l
ufiEeCall DANNY WEATHERSAT 918/ 257-4257 dqrqdrue deliVers
Whetherit's the newSATRO-5 Five Meter TurnkeyTVRO Terminal introduced at '78 NCTA or its new1 100-F FC(X1 ) and 11 00-TVR(X1 2) SatelliteTV Receivers- Ourfield-proven 11 00-TVR(VT) (A) Microdyneprovides fast delivery at com- TV Receiversare available for deliv- petitiveprices. Why not getthe details erywithin 30-60 daysfollowing first-handby callingMicrodyne today! receiptof order.
portable MicrodYne5-meter r 100-FFc(x1) A TVRO Terminalis availablefor rent or lease. Contact factorY for details. Let Microdyne - r.roo-TV R(x l2) turn you on we do deliver.
Microdyne Corporotion 'ttIUh P.O. Box 1527 - 627 Lofstrand Lane - Rockville, Maryland 20850 Telephone (301) 762-8500 - TWX 710-828-0477- CableMICRODYNE Rockville, Maryland USA Representedin Canadaby: Crowder Communications,Ltd. 4625 Lazelle Avenue - Terrace, B.C. V8G 154 Telephone (604) 635-3990 - TELEX O47-85529
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, 'k: RETENTION.ANOTHERGOODWORD FO THE325GABLE SYSTEMS CARRYING CHANNELIT. CableOperators know that keepine 17regularly, and viewership in- ^ A!d, fromacross the nation, subscribershappy, keeps subsciibe=rs. creasesin succeedingmonths. cableoperators are also giviE us And, Channel17's 24-hour thegood word about Channel fi movies,sports, and family enter- Cableviewers nationwide spend asmany ho"r, il;;;;k;;T;hi;* viewersand the retention they tainmentis helping325 s"atellite- haveexperienced. servedcable systems to retainhappv channdri7;-"ii;il;i;;;;;^= Atlanta. frrnt*^^.:--^r:^r-r-- L subscribersin morethan 1.5 millioh- ;f'Almost immediately homesnationwide. Cableviewers watch Channel 17 %fteradding ChanneliT "ln moreor as often as other closer-in our basic-suUCcriOer recentpolls, our independentscarried on many i ciurnslowiO-Oowni,-fiitiJii6cr,Xli.' "' cablesubscribers rate cabresystems. , " ,l WTCGhigher than WGN B"J"frfj""'"3ft:1Lt'"|ig??:iffi:,lX#:Xf',iili,rrr.--'''' ;. ,,,s*o' of Chicagoand WTCN j fromMinneapolisl'...,; $tui*Hft?:l#iTr,it!?J#tri St.Cloud, MN. .r popularchannel- l'olinfprlnaJion,write- @frlfln PeoplewatcliChinn et t7 -9lkt:I*+tions,,.-ffi@': wHere's j. r-^t'l,unannel r /,\Z-ATLANTA,S what the A.C. Nielsen 60-70%of the time as X TV audiencerating serviceis telline us aboutChannel fi's cableviewers-: ,i:ni:Ei*f,$iplit[,,u'tlt',t:^fFigset., * ffitU After only a few weeks,more than cablesystem:' : T#t' 50%ofthe cablehomes'view Channel ;"R';"'J: i:ff @*,& #** CAXADIAXS! NOIMPORT PROBLEMS OR DELAYS lveare here toanswer allorrourcquiTsi:Ilffi1;fllJfirl:;ilr'il indepth stock, reliabre ittJ;lsrlith
WEDISTRIBUTE TELE]IGOTRIPLE CROW]I OPHASEGOM OTOMCO SADELCOOKAY ELEMETRIG. MIGROWAUE FITTER UITEKOTIMES WIRE & CABLEOSAGHS HARDWARE ARUI]IOSOIA POWER SUPPLIES CallThe Comm-Plex Off ice Nearest You
Montrsal Tolonto Vancouver Tel: (514)341-7440 Tel: (416)449-6263 Tel: (604)437-6122 Telex:C5-826795 Telex:06-966599 Telex:04-354878 comm-pLEH ELECTFIGINICS LIMITEtrI ]IOWEXCLUSIUE DISTRIBUTOR FORTELEJIG, LTD. 11{ CA]IADA
Putting It All Together
UPDATE378-AN INTENSIVE REVIEW OFSATELLITE TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONSIN THEFALL OF1978
A "specialissue". What does it all mean?ls as all bandtransmission became a realityand there really that much left to be said about the same indecisionof ten years ago that satellites,television receive only terminals, and hamperedthe industry'sone and only golden the servicesthey provide? opportunityto become a local medium of Notedindustry journalist Paul Sylvan Maxwell, expression. long ago retiredto the peacefulquiet of the We found,and today still find, small cable upper Coloradomountain country, reportedly system operatorsprofessing that satellite consideredspecial issues as deviouscreatures transmissionis greatfor the big boys not too rich of a publication'sadvertising sales department; for their blood. We listened patientlyto "conceiyed"said Maxwell"primarily to pressure operatorswith 600 customerscharging $10 a borderlineadvertisers into getting into an monthfor fiveor six or sevenchannels of off-air otherwisedull issue". In the generalCATV trade service,one employee, and a plantfully paidfor press Maxwell'sobservations might well be ten yearsago as they professed"Why I simply candidand quite correct. In CATJthey fall short cannotafford to putin a $15,000earth terminal". of the mark;justas we believethe industryitself As we sifted throughthe sevenfoot tall stack may be fallingshort of the markwith satellite of paperwe haveaccumulated in less than a terminalsand services. ln ourown defense of the year,all dealingin some way or anotherwith "MaxwellSupposition" CATJ has no advertising satellitetransmission of televisionsignals, it salesdepartment and a departmentthat does not became increasinglyclear that our biggest exist cannot be creativeenough to dreamup problem with satellitesis not any pricing specialissues. In defenseof the CATJeditorial considerationor technical problem with the department,"dull" hasnever been our style. equipmentand services. Our biggest problem is Inspiteof ourbest efforts to coverthe onrushof simplyour failure, as an industryon the forefront satellitetechnology, as we viewedthe resultsof of an earthgirdling communicdtions revolution the mid-JulyCCOS (something we could do by now barely underwayto understandthe depth lockingourselves up in a roomwith twenty hours andlong term ramifications of thatrevolution. of 314inch color video tape madeat CCOS)we Satellitesare like the sun. They are as found that we had missedthe mark in several technicallyperfect instruments of communica- areasin the past12 months. Time and time again tions as man can create.They are alwaysthere we found ourselvesover-estimating the capacity and they are always reliable; petty present of the industryto createnew uses for satellite problemswith F1aside. They so changeour own services,and under-estimatingour own abilities conceptof what we do, who we are, and our to graspand function with thoseuses. We found positionin the communicationsstream that it ourselvesnot fully understandingthe explosive maywell be impossiblefor a personwith twenty natureof the satellitemystique and unsureof hardfought years in this industryto acceptthe the impactthat everdecreasing terminal prices magnitudeof changebefore us. is boundto haveon ourown use of thesatellites. We have before us, awaiting our editorial We found the same petty supplierconcernsr pleasure,a detaileddescription of a new series that frustratedcable operators twenty years ago of nine geo-stationarysatellites now under F constructionin theUSSR. By 1981all ninewill be PHOTOCREDITS-we are ihdebted to Jim K. Vines of Para- circling the globe in the same frame for sharing with us several of his outstanding photos operational; takenduring CCOS'78; approximaielyten of which appearin fashionour own free world Intelsatsatellites this issue. now coverthe globe.Of these nine satellites, 14 sevenwill be operating in the 3.65to 3.90GHz what amounts to prematureannouncements region and two of these will be purposefully madeby would-be satellite placed geo-stationary transponderusers. in orbit so as to provide "l understandwhy they direct do it" notes RCA,s transmissioninto North America.The RalphGraff "but lwishthey would transmissionpowers bemore careful will be, by SATCOM, abouthow they do it". Graff is referring WESTARand ANIK to the standards,very high; oftenrepeated CATV industry habit of ,goingto sufficientlyhigh that modestrooftop antennas the trade press" with promises and relatively and storiesof inexpensivehome receiverswill serviceslong before any arrangements find excellent reception possible. have beenworked out with RCA(or any other appli- It is the natureof the satellitebusiness that cablecarrier). what was blue sky yesterdaymay well become The rulesare ratherclear green cut. Theystate that spendingstuff today.Will the pay cable you,as an intendeduser of a satellitecommon serviceof the futureinclude ballet transmitted carrier,cannot sign a binding 'hold agreementwith the directly from Moscow to America cable carrierand onto'a transponderunless you connected homesvia RussianStationair satel- beginactual service within 90 daysof the con- lites positioned so as to reachdirecily to U.S. tractsigning date. This precludes you fromsign- cableheadends? lf Englishexperimenter Steve ing up today,for example,for a transponder Birkillcan todaysit in his backyardin Sheffield whichyou don't intendto use untilsay a year with an eight foot terminaland receivedirect fromtoday. That 90 daysis the maximumperiod reception of World Cup Soccer games of time-out front-that youcan sign with RCA transmittedvia Intelsat from Argentina, can such fortransponder use. Of courseyou could sign up your directfeeds to own cableheadend be far todayand start tomorrowif the mechanicsof away? gettingyou up could be workedout in twenty Satelliteschange all of therules. The economic fourhours. rules,the technicalrules, and yes.. .eventhe Someusers, such as the newVISTAR service political rules.Technically we arealmost there. to be detailed shortly, might approachthe The operatorwithout a terminalof his veryown announcementbusiness a litiledifferenily. ,,lt is at his systemheadend is not only pennywise and pound foolish.. .he is courting almost certainfranchise disaster in the yearsahead. CCOS'78 Whenall bandgear came along in the late1950's, operatorsconverted to it becauseit was better . . .farbetter. . .thananything they had previously hadat theirdisposal. Yes, there were "the thosewho waitedfor gearto improve"and "the prices to comedown". Judging from the poor operation "few" of a older systems we have visited recently,some of thesepeople are still, sadly, waiting. Cableis a business.A businessdesigned to makefor its ownerand operator alair return on a fair investment.Any returnbeyond ,fair' is an invitationfor someoneelse to jump in and contestthe right of the presentfranchisee to continueto operatein his community.lf you have more than 250 subscribers,and ybur accountanttells you thatyou can't afford one of the entry level TVRO terminals,fire your accountantand forgetabout that extra trip to Hawaiithis year.And put your money into a terminal.. .it will be thesmartest thing you have done since you initiallydecided to enterthe CATVbusiness. Andthat's our special issue for this month.lt is special becauseit attempts to show the dynamic,far ranging,Very fluid transitionour industryfaces today. o TheNewly Promised Services THE CHAMP AND HIS AWARD-WTCG's Ted Turner, Ior 3 Thereis a generalfeeling amongst the satel- havingthe guts and fortitudeto tacklean uncharteredcourse and bring off the impossiblewas awarded the first CATA : liteoperators that cable people play things a litfle ,,Ghairman's too loose. RCA in particular, award ever given;the Kyle Dean Moore Cuo". which has the Turnerwas right at home with CATA people-they too were \ majorityof the experiencewith CATV services to notafraid of tacklingseemingly impossible challenges. date,is oftenput on the spotto defendor verify 15 announcementto make;it haddis-banded during CCOS'78 thenight. "RCA Americom" notes Graff "is still a profit seekingcompany; not a profitmaking company". Graff's point is that RCA, unlike many of the presentday users of its satelliteservice, is still "There some ways from being profitable. is evi- dence that many lt indeed not most of the trans- ponderusers havebeen profitablealmost from the momentthey pulledthe switchto on". Therehave been many new servicespromised. A surprisingly high percentage of those promised have actually made it to the bird. But severalhave not. . .yet.The most controversialof thosepromised, but not yet delivered,is the ASN or AmericomSatellite Network offering. When we dug into the ASN offering (see CATJ for April, 1978)we felt that their f irst big hurdlewould be making it on WESTARll for the NCTA conven- tion. Well, they did and from there it has been delayspiled upon delays.There is still no ASN serviceon WESTARand at this momentit would be difficult(if indeedeven possible)to forecast when(or if)they will in fact makeit up on the bird' The issue may be headedfor an early resolu' tion; perhaps as early as the first couple of weeks in September.Here is where it stands as we headinto that period. 1) ASN through Western Union seeks to pro' vide satellitesignal serviceon WESTARll from Los Angeles channel 11, Chicago CRAZYNORMAN-ACE TV's NormanJohnson from Cresled channel9 and New York channel9. They productionwork from Butte.Colorado did 90% of the video plan at the sametime a'movie ihe ITC van. We tried to keep Normanlocked up after dark also to offer and failedmiserably. channel'.The packagewould be available to your system as any one, two, three or all fourchannels. Rates and otherdetails were possible"notes Graff "to startout on an occasional adequatelycovered in CATJfor April. use basis,using one of our walkin the doorand go 2) ASN seeksto do this without being declared, on the bird tariffs on file with the FCC." That by the FCC,a satellitecommon carrier. This would get you on as quickly as humanly (or meansthey seek to avoidthe long,drawn out technically)possible; perhaps even, if you are FCC hearingsand bureaucraticrun around lucky,on the same transponderyou will end up that characterizedthe first serviceoffering "RCA on for the long pull. feels,however, that any in this area;the approvalback in December announcementof new servicesshould come after of 1976 of Ed Taylor's Southern Satellite there is a signed contract and only after that Systems (and his carriage of Atlanta's has beenaccepted by RCA". WTCG). contract 'end The would be users have different ideas and 3) Taylorand others haveobjected to this "We Graff notes understandwhere they are run approach' by ASN; they have filed comingfrom; they are tryingto makea big splash volumes of comments with the FCC to nail down as many advancecommitments for intendedto keep ASN off of WESTARwith service lrom cable operators as possible before the service;or,alternately, if the FCCdecides actuallygo into service". Graff and others that ASN does not needthe formal common they "Let rememberwith icy chillsa numberof well inten- carrierstatus SSS has, then SSS says tioned outfits that have come into RCA with us off the hook and we'll providenew chan' everything from verbal commitments to take nelsof servicealso". In effect,SSS is asking 'formal transponderservice to letters of intent'. that the FCC decide whether a company "Many of these people have asked us to put out needsto be a common carrierto bring onto news releases stating that we were on line for the satellite broadcastsignal relay service. "Fortunately transponderservice" notes Graff. we Taylor professesto not care which way it have always stuck to the policy ol making such goes ("1 can seeadvantages to both.. .") but announcementsonly after the actual contractis he insiststhat anyoneproviding essentially signedand acceptedby RCA". One such incident the same service at least be operating 'sign tr involveda companythat was scheduledto underthe sameFCC rules. U the contract tomorrow'. When the next day 4) ASN's Frank Merklein thinks that Taylor ". dawned the company had a different type of . .is filled with sour grapes". Taylor re' 16 'Z' spondsthat he is onlya consumerof sweet Theta Cable channelas a stand along pay "lt grapes.Merklein notes is a damnshame servicevia WESTAR;perhaps as soon as this that Ed Taylorhas chosenthis routeto fight month(September). ASN went to Thetaand said "Look, us. We could havebeen on the satellitethree we can lake'Z'channel nationwide',.And months ago if Taylor hadn't done this." the folks at Theta reportedlyresponded ,,We "Look are Taylorresponds here.. .wefiled at the in the midst of planning lor an extensive FCC over 13 months ago for permissionto southernCalifornia microwave expansion to put 'Z'belore add San FranciscoKTVU to our service.They another 100,000homes; it you will put havestill not allowedus to add KTVU.We simply it up on WESTAR that will be far easier (and want to be treatedthe same as anybodyelse cheaper) for us than expanding the southern providingthe samebasic service. lf ASN can Californiamicrowave terrestrial system". simplyannounce and then go up withoutany 'Z' formalFCC approval, then we shouldbe able runs as a $9.95per month servicein Los to do the samething. That's not sour grapes Angeles with 52"/" penetration of the basic . . .it'sjust goodbusiness." subscribers;that works out to around 50,000,Z' 'Z' 5) Finally, the Commission has in truth subscribers. is going to $10.95per month in passedthis and other relatedissues back Los Angeles very soon. ASN will simply be 'in' 'affiliate' 'Z' and forth from basketto 'out' basketfor another of and ASN says they,ll severalmonths. Taylor's remarks concerning chargeyour cable system $3.50per month per "ASN 'Z' his KTVUoffering are an excellentcase in subscriberfor the ChannelService". "We point. Not only is his KTVUoffering stuck felt that the FCC's delaying action in in the Commission'sinnards but a similar handling our request lor the three indies was set of applicationsto bringChicago's WGN going to eventuallykill ASN" notes Bill Bauce "So up on the bird are also stuck in the same we decided to launcha WESTARfeed service bowelsat 1919M Street.The Commission using a major movie packageas quickly as was 'Z' has dodgedthe issuefor both internal(i.e. possible. has proven itself in the Theta personneland personality)reasons and ex- system in Los Angeles and we know it will do ternal (i.e.strong lobbyingpressure from very well elsewhere in the country". For the NAB,MPAA and some of the sportsorgani- WESTARteed'Z' will start at 8 PM easternand zations)reasons for far too long. Beforethe run for approximately7 hours per day, seven 'broke' 'Z' FCC for their annual month long days per week. premieres2 new movies 'set oer vacationin August,they up a calendar' week and runs other titles as well. As an 'satellite aside, and placed the relatedcommon this lateAugust development was madewithout 'vocal' carrier matters' on that calendarfor either the assistanceof FrankMerklein; he is no their first or secondweek back;in Septem- longerassociated with ASN. ber. Caughtin the same FCC muddleare applica- And that'swhere it is today.Well, almost. tions to bring San Francisco's KTVU and ASN has, we can report, moved ahead with Chicago'sWGN up on SATCOMF1. SSS has a definiteplans to activatetheir service as soonas hold on transponder18; Taylor's been sitting "We on the Commissiondoes act. remainoptimistic it for more than the 90 day limit but then he has evenif we arefrustrated" notes ASN's Bill Bauce. some special early day privileges '78 which later Duringthe recentCCOS Bill Baucetook to the televisioncameras to ask for "...100 cable operatorswho feel they would take our service if CCOS'78 availableto contact us for inclusion of their companyname on a mass telegramto be sent to the Commissionrequesting that they get off the dime and passon this issue.lf they finallyapprove it, as we are in hopesthey will do, then we'll move ahead promptly to deliver the service.lf they turn us down,at leastthen we havea decisionwhich we can take to court for an appeal process. But as things stand now we can't move one way or the other;we are dead in the water". ASN has made arrangementswith an antenna supplier,a re- ceiver supplier and an LNA supplier to offer (today if you want it) a lease package of equip- o ment for a terminal.They havealso completed engineeringand supplyarrangements to install 3 at the appropriateLos Angeles,Lake Geneva and o NewYork City area uplink sites of WesternUnion -a a trio of 500 foot towers to pull the respective '78 "loge" UP AND BACK-the CCOS appeared between \ signalsout of the airfor uplinkfeeds. programsand keptviewers advised of whal to expectnext on That'snot all ASN hasbeen doing. There is the the historymaking uplink. small matter of their making plans to add the 17 CCOS'78
ffi
RAISElT UP!Conneticut's Ken Charles,a tirelessvolunteer worker ai CCOS'78. preparesto 'seat' the feed on the CATJLab ten foot experimentalterminal rvhich was demonstratedat CCOSwhile USTC'sDanny Weathers (left), another tireless volunteer digs for a bolt to mount the feed.
applicantsdo not have.Transponder 18 is where flexibleif he owns and operateshis own KTVUwill eventuallybe whenthe Commission Atlantauplink. approvesthe serviceoffering of SSS.This is also Shortlyafter the expectedswitch to an the transponderfor the approximatelytwo-hour- SSSuplink on December27th, Ted Turner's per-dayHome Theater Network G and PGmovie WTCGis planningto breakinto the uplink offeringmini-pay service due to beginservice on feedin Atlanta(starting 1 January)and cut September4th. For a completerundown of the out all of the strictlylocal Atlanta area com- HTN offering,see CATJfor February,1978. The mercials.Those car dealers, political and so HTNprogram was originally scheduled to begin on advertisementswill be replacedinitially servicearound June first. Then it was moved by publicservice announcements and pos- back to July and finally it has settled(we siblylater on by nationaladvertising sold assume)on the September4th start date.The by the Turnerpeople strictly for the uplink pushbackwards had nothing to do withthe offer- audience.Turner notes "One of the prob- ing,the FCCor RCA;this time it was simplya lemswe haverun into is createdwhen Atlanta matterof thecable operators who will utilizethe area car dealers,for example,are carrying servicegetting equipped to handleit. Getting theirbargain basement prices via WTCGinto TVROequipment is stilla painin theneck. . .asa placessuch as Hawaii.The Hawaiiancar companionupdate here indicates. dealersdon't like being told they are ripping lf KTVUwill be on transponder 18, and 18 is the off the islandresidents because their prices last of the availablehorizontal transponders, are$2,000 higher on a $5,000car than Atlanta wheredoes that leave WGN? On vertical,but the prices.This move will solve that one." actualtransponder will not be decideduntil the But.. .it is a matterfor FCCapproval since the carriergets approval from the FCC,and, signs a standardoff-air signal, now fed complete with all contractwith RCA. of the commericalsfrom WTCG, will be 'modified'for the uplink.The FCCrules at the As the data chart accompanyingthis report momentdon't allowtampering with the off-air indicates,the transponderassignments for the signaland the copyrightfolks may not likethe SATCOMF1 channelsare prettywell stabilized. ideaeither. lf Turnercan pullthis one off, he'll Aftera roundof musicalchannels this spring, havemade major inroads into the futureform of systemscan now pretty much figure on their off-airuplink signals. contractprogram services staying where they 2) SHOWTIME'smini-level of pay,Front Row, noware for the indefinite future. About the only is readyfor debut sometimethis month 'up in the air' situationspending with the (seeCATJ for August,1978). Provided the existingcarriers are summarized as follows: hardwarerequired is deliveredon time. 1) Atlanta'sRCA uplinkstation, which cur- lnitialindications are that the FrontRow, rentlyprovides the uplink-servicesfor aftera falteringreception at NCTAwhere it SouthernSatellite's WTCG carriage, is likely was announced,may prove to be the to be replacedby an uplinkterminal owned sleeperSHOWTIME has been looking for. lt F by SouthernSatellite Systems on December couldhave real impact on the SHOWTIME balancesheet and will be watchedclosely U 27th.SSS's Ed Taylor in finetuning his own businesshas apparently determined that he by everyonein the industrywith an interest will be moneyahead and more operationally in lowerlevels of payprogramming. 18 3) HBO'sultimate use of transponder20 (which verticaltransponder 9. TheodoreR. Chesley, MadisonSquare Garden is vacatingthis SystemEngineer for Cox CableTV of Spo- month)is stillapparently up in theair. Whar kane(Washington) was typicalof those is knownis that RCAhas completed instal- queried ,,We, 'dedicated by CATJwith this response: lationof a third microwavechan- like everybodyelse affected,are not happy nel' servicebetween the New York City with MSG'scavalier attitude about switching centralterminal office and the Vernon to an odd (vertical)transponder. In essence, Valley(N.J.) uplink site; this thirdchannel theyhave said 'Gee, it is just a few thousand beingthe pathwaythrough which HBO will morebucks folks!'. lf the EIRPcontour maps be sendingwhatever it is theyhave in mind are accurate,we shouldexperience about a for their third channel.Tests of the new 2 dBcarrier level drop when they appear on 9, terrestrialmicrowave path have been under- fromtheir previous signal levelon transponder waysince early August; you may have caught 20.,, the increasedcolor bar activityon the Indefense of MadisonSquare Garden, they channel. reallydid not havemuch of a choice.The 4) MadisonSquare Garden will start its new 1977-78season was in the natureof an ex- seasonof expandedprogramming on ver- periment.lt wentvery well, and by the time tical transponder9 in the latterportion of the decisionwas made to carry it on September.MSG is into a newset of child- anotherseason and to expandthe schedule ren'sprogramming plus they plan to do a the horizontaltransponders were either all substantialschedule of Notre Dame goneor veryexpensive. For an occasional basketballthis fall and winter.A plan to (i.e.non full-time)user such as MSG,the televiseapproximately 25 of the Yanxee only placeleft was a verticaltransponder. baseballgames this summer didn't fly; one But they probablywon't be alonethere. as game made it and then the pressuresof we shallshortly see. other baseballteam ownerssat upon the 5) Finally,in the "newsconcerning existing Yankee owner's heads and the agree- users"department there is the announce- mentwas scrapped. mentfrom SHOWTIME that they are expand- Not all of the satelliteusing industry ingtheir schedule so thatit, likeHBO, will seemedpleased with the MSG moveto average12 hoursper day on a sevenday a CCOS'78
tJ1 o o =- o j: J \ TIREDTTIREDTTIRED.Tony Bickel(left, with the Phyllis Diller hair style),Cooper, Big Ralph Haimowitzand RCA's uptink genius Don Pidgeonon the set of the CCoS studio taping a segmentthat explainedhow the 11 meterterminal actually got into operaiion. 19 musicshows and so on;(3) from 9 PMto 1AM they CCOS'78 will run sports.Lot's of sports,both live and recentlytaped. Saturday and Sundayschedule willbe heavily laced with movies in the3 PMto 9 PMtime slots. In the sportsarea, VISTAR has entered into an agreementwith the CanadianFootball League (CFL),the AmericanSoccer League (ASL) and theyhave a handleon someRoller Derby events. It is reportedbut unconfirmed by eitherside that they may also be working on some National BasketballAssociation (NBA) and World Hockey Association(WHA)events. They plan to makethe VISTARchannel, in so-calledprime time, the 'sportschannel for cable'.Here they will of coursebe headto headwith MadisonSquare Garden.And their approachof how they will ACE'SACE-Dana Atchley(lll) provided the expertise,equip- chargemay end up beingthe approach ultimately menl and manpower to bring off more than 20 hours of im' employedby MadisonSquare Garden Events as prompto' vldeo productionfor CCOS'78. well. As noted,VISTAR is not goingto chargeyour cablesystem anything-not one thin dime-for weekbasis. There may ultimatelybe more useof theirprograms. They are going to makea here than meets the surfaceannounce' go of it by sellingcommercial time withinthe ment;oriental wisdom suggests you need programsand sportingevents they bringto you to keep a close eye on John Sie and his via satellite.Within each hour they are setting NewYork. asideeight minutes; six minutes of which they will compatriotsin 'cable-network' So much for the establishedsatellite folks. sellon a basisand 2 minutesof Nowwhat about the newcomers; those who are whichthey will offerto yoursystem for you to sell, promising(ahead of theirsigning with RCA)to do if you havethe inclinationto do so (thereis no greatthings for the satelliteprogramming busi' requirementthat you do so). is VISTAR;a ness?The most immediate of these "We group that headquartersin PrincetonJunction VISTAR'sConnie Smith told us are (honest-thereis such a place!),N.J. VISTAR bracedfor the longpull; we expectto haveto operate plans what othershad promised forsome time at a deficit."But the experienceof has to do several 'experimental to do sometime ago;to put ontothe birdan ex- MSGin sellingsome commercial tensiveschedule of entertainmentand sports time'this pastseason, plus the nationalrating whichwill be advertiser, not cable customer sup- serviceresults for MSG tune-instells VISTAR ported.And they plan to do it as earlyas October that ultimatelynational advertisers will be will' first on verticaltransponder 5. For the record, ingto standin lineto reacha cableaudience. lf RCAsays no transponderhas been assigned yet. youwant to previewsome of theVISTAR produc- tionsand have the capacityto switchor f lip over VISTARsays their ten hour a daysatellite feed, to verticaltransponder 5, they were scheduled to franklytime-slotted to appealto the two eastern befeeding some pre-October 1st sporting events timezones, will be availableto cablesystems at on the followingdates: September 4 (8 PM),5 (8 nocharge. That is, no buckor threebucks or even PM),9 (2PM), 10 (2 PM and 5 PM),16 (10 PM),17 (2 a dimeper home per month. All theyrequire is PM),23 (8 PM),24 (2 PM\and 30 (8 PM);all times that if you taketheir service, you takeit full time. are EDST.And VISTAR,because it is a non- Nofair cherry picking the sporting events. broadcastservice, can be addedto your cable Startingon Octoberfirst they plan to be up system at will withoutprior FCC approval;pro' videdyou have an earth terminal license. from 3 PM easternto 1 AM easterndaily; again "TCS on transponder5. lf youcan't remember what the Then there is the appearanceof the transponder5footprint looks like, see page 62 of SatelliteNetwork", an offeringof a groupknown "RCA the May CATJ.That's as close to what as TotalCommunications Systems. TCS is start- believesit lookslike" as anybodyhas available ingoff by offeringPenn State University football at the moment.Basically, except for farsouthern gamesand laterthis yearcollege basketball to Florida(where the map suggestsit dips to 31 cablesystems nationwide. The first gameto be dBwor slightlybelow) it is (like9, which has the so offeredis scheduledfor Saturdayevening the samefootprint) in prettygood shdpe.Their ten 9th of Septemberat 10:30PM (easterntime). hoursper day will break down this way:(1) from 3 TCS, like Fanfare'scoverage of southwestern PMto 6 PMdaily they will runchildren's programs, conferencesporting events, will be videotaping tr such as Bozo,Laurel and Hardyand so on; (2) the day'sgame and then rushingit backto the 'family' U from 6 PM to 9 PM daily they will run studiowhere it willbe uplinked to thenetwork on programs;some of the oldiesbut goodiesinclud' the Saturdayevening of the game.The schedule ing'Life of Riley',a groupof countryand western looks like this: September9th-Penn State vs 20 Rutgers;September 16th-Penn State vs Ohio CCOS'78 State; September23rd-Penn State vs Southern Methodist;September 30th-Penn Statevs Texas Christian;October 7th-Penn State vs Kentucky; October14th-a special one hour review of the Penn State season to date; October21st-Penn State vs Syracuse;October 28th-Penn State vs West Virginia; November4th-Penn State vs Maryland;November 11th-Penn State vs North Carolina State, and, on November25th a tena- tively scheduled game between Penn State and Pittsburgh;provided the folks at ABC do not electto havethe dateof the gamechanged. What transpondermight you find all of this good PennState action on? Well,that is one of the problemsstill facing the folks at RCA. Re- memberthat unlessyour satellite programmer is usinga transponderpretty much fulltime, RCA is unable to assign a transpondervery far in advance. RCA sources indicate that trans- ponders1B and 20 areboth possible;or, perhaps the gameswill be fed on a verticaltransponder. lt might even start out on one and then switch to another during the fall season. Such are the reasonswhy everyCATV terminalneeds at least one, programmable,all-channel tuneable receiver in its headend!
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I srcxnr-pRocEssoR-MoDEI.rspSIGNAL PROCESSOR-MODEL TSP I 1i oNoN-DUpLTCATTON Ourfull product range includes: il rF SWTTCHER.. .any 6 | _g:l:Lr:1::'lung"incrudes: I Ii x:t channelsto anu 6 outputs. .switchon .SMALL gYsTEH TRUNK AMPLIFIERS contact .:il*|j}il"l$1li,[#PlrFrERs APARTITENT + i:i: (sink | AMPLIFIERS | ifi . l mA at + 5v) for remote control interface . | .LINE.r.rxE EXTENDERgEXTENDERs I iii opHASE .FEED'reEoronwenoenprrrrens FORWAND AMPLIFIERS fii LocK coNTRoLLEDCONVERTER. . | I iii lilacceptsIFandconvertstodesiredchannellocked-ii'\"J"'-y." to reierencesisnal. ?:':|,"],"";,":L:i""i*: o il .lii{i iii compositetriple beat resrs. or just plain - X-talcontrolied marke.. . .$4500 tuys 36channet a - i -1Y; write or call: . y ^- :iif "P*la' V6pV jl I H$ 42 RacineRoad, Rexdate, ontario trtgw 2zz3 ii$ J iiii l*f.e)- - TelephonelsrGPlrt lrG (af 6) Z4g-l4El''t't'I'tol qf)-V - i:ii \ iii \./ l'rrrt, !iii: li.,l',i"'*ii$liiiriiilgit',ii,',i'*lit:iiiiiiiiiiiiir:tlritii+i:i :lltliltl 21 CCOS'78 Whenthe CATVindustry shift from F2 to F1 was madeon Junefirst manysystems were sur- prisedto find the F1 signallevel was apparently wasnot as good as F2.Where this reallyhurt was whenthe CATVsystems had designed terminals "predicted" aroundthe signallevel contours from F1 and the predictionsproved to be low; oftenby as muchas 2-3 dB. lf youwere designing yourterminal around the FCC'srequirement that yoursystem have a 3.0dB "margin"(i.e. excess signalabove the sparklie noise print or threshold of yourreceive system), and, when you got to F1 with the antennayou foundyour initial estima- il i;,,* tionsor predictionsof signallevel from F1 had beenhigh by say 2.5dB, suddenlyin the real sY worldyou ended up with very little (if indeed)any t, "margin". AFC,MICRODYNESman about antennas,Howard Hubbard, Thatproved to be the cruxof the prob- describesthe featuresof their new 5 melerfiberglass antenna lem.But not the only problem. to GuyRoumain ol Tele-Haiti,Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. F2 was a rock-stableand rock-solid,depend- ablebird. You knew you could count on the signal levelto be present,typically to within + I - 0.4 followedby a starkwhite, search out someone dB,day in andday out. Fl, at leastthrough the connectedwith RCA Americomand ask them earlypart of July,had little of thisdependability. "What are you doing about the health of Indefense of RCAF1 was during the latterpart of SATCOMF1?'' Julyand earlyAugust acting much more tame; The officialparty line is that "Fl is a healthy but theerratic service nature had not completely bird,operating normally". Strong evidence sug' disappeared.The instability manifested itself as gests to the contrary,at least that was the eithersudden drops in signal level(often as bottomline on the mounting pile of evidencethis muchas 10dB) or justplain total outages. Some pastJune and earlyJuly. To a man RCAis ada- werebrief (see strip chart illustration here) while ment that thereis nothingwrong with F1 and othersproved to be quitelong; on the orderof 5 whateversignal leveldifferences as the cable minutesor more. mayhave spotted after the shiftf romF2 And throughall of this therewas mounting industry "bore-sighted" to F1were "totally expected simply because of the evidencethat RCAdid not haveF1 differentfootprint patterns ol thetwo satellites". where RCA said it was bore-sighted.That is, RCA first got into troubleby providing,UII- thoseportions of the UnitedStates that hadex- "predicted officiallywe admit,copies of their pectedimprovements in signallevel from F1, footprintcontours" to variousmembers of the overF2, found they had the sameor a worsesig- "predictions" CATVindustry. Pretty soon the nal on F1 whileother areas expecting reduced "the real world" and systemplanners signallevels on F1 foundquite often they were became "gospel". beganto takethe footprint maps as As experiencingimproved signal carrier levels on we havesubsequently determined footprint con' F2.Again the problemwas simplythat lacking tourpredictions are just that;predictions based adequateinformation to planwith, CATVtermi- upon computerizingthe static antennatest nalswere running shy of the expectedmargins. rangeresults made of the birdwhile it wasstill Manysystem operators with 4.5meter terminals onthe ground prior to theactual launch. installedwere wishingafter the fact that they YetRCA had no realchoice in the matter;they hadgone ahead with a sixmeter terminal. "ill"? had to provideEIRP data simply because ls thebird itself Crimsonand white skin Comsearchsand Compucons of theworld had to colorsaside, that remainsthe sixty four dollar havereal (and assumed to be hard)numbers for questiontoday. RCA admits only that they are the preparationof CATVFCC applications. ln a continuallyconducting tests. Testing was parti- sense,the FCCcan be blamedfor this mess;by cularilyvigorous during the latter portion of June insistingthat every individual terminal prepare a and into earlyJuly. Some of the testsare hardly detailedlicense application form that must(by static(i.e. measurements made while the birdis rule)include an analysis of theexpected C/N and left in a stationaryposition); certain test se- S/N parametersfor the terminalin a specific quencesinvolve purposeful rocking of the satel- location,the FCCin effectsaid to RCA"Give up lite "yaw"; a test that deviatesthe satellite's yournumbers so thecomputations can be made". bore-sightedposition by movingthe bird back RCAdid this,apparently never considering the and forth (as in a rockingchair) on its vertical ; possibilitythat by doing so they might be axis.All non-statictesting is doneby carefully U incurringsome obligation(if not outright firingone or moreof the hydrazinemini-rockets responsibility)for the accuracyof the numbers on boardin botha timingsequence and for pre- provided. determined(by a computer)length of time.RCA 22 I
lf everythingreally is OK,why is RCAcontinu- ing the tests?RCA has clammedup about furthertesting apparently aware that even the announcementor admissionof additionaltest- ingmerely fuels the fires of skepticism. Dr.lgor Leliakoff, an experton satellitestabili- zation techniquesand in particular body- stabilizedsatellites such as F1, at Ford Aero- spacein Californiaoffers thesethoughts on what"might" be the problem: "The SATCOMstabilization system is verysus- LOSS OF TRANSPONDERI STGNAL-Ju|y4th was another ceptibleto any imbalancein errors.The effect one of thosedays when Fl seemedto havemultiple problems. of solarradiation pressure, for example,is parti- Between1000 and 1030 EDSTseveral transponders dropped in and out intermittently;here CBN on transponder8 is lostlor cularilycritical if one solarpanel were not fully a few secondsat 1025 EDST(recorded CATJ Lab). extended.This partial deploymentof a solar "almost panel,as a possiblespacecraft problem, would admits"that during at leastone of these makethe spacecraft rotate about the lineof sight testingperiods the "yaw" got out "rocked" of handand to earthunless corrections are made by thruster the spacecraft backand forth in an er- firings.Just as an example,if one panelwere raticfashion for perhapsten minutestime. This 50% deployed,the hydrazinegas thruster firing wasthe nowinfamous June 21st test sequence ratemight have to be increasedto as muchas whichwas notedby cableoperators from coast 200to 500firings per day, as opposedto a nor- to coast. mal10 to 20 perday. This in turnwould have a Theskeptics in the industrybelieve RCA does substantial ,,everything effecton spacecraftlifetime in orbit havea problem;inspite of the is becauseof theincreased rate at whichthe hydra- healthy"pronouncements from "Let's RCAheadquart- zine gas is used for stabilization;leaving that ers. facefacts. . .theRCA Americom people muchless for'station keeping'." havebeen saddledwith a very difficultproblem. The normalSATCOM rotating about line of They admit they are short on real world data to sightto earth(or yaw) is about1/2 degree maxi- analyzewhat their real contour might be. They were mum.The period of rotationshould match the 24 forcedinto releasingpredicted ElRp contours by hourday; in thatway the spacecraft is keptpoint- the natureof the CATVlicensing scheme. They ing at the properbore sight (or centerpoint on havea $25,000,000investment in Fl and their earth of its transmittingantenna pattern) imageis at stakeworldwide. They are torn between throughoutthe full day. resolvingthe problemquieily-the option they RCAsays there is nothingwrong with either like best-and admittingthey haveone or more solarpanel nor have they utilized more hydrazine problems.I'd hateto be saddledwith thatproblem gas 'station " for keeping'than they had initially myself notesa highlyplaced engineer at a com- beenprogrammed to usewhen F1 was originally petitivesatel Iite manufacturingfacil ity. launchedin 1975.But the testing goes on.
Designedespecially for the CableTV Industry: The TS2515Tis a multi-purposeunit that mounts on any Yz ton or largervan or pickupand offers asstandard features .2i'nlortdng helght ullth lS' of out- reach, r35O buchct ratlng, eA ocparate conlrol funcdon pcmlt- tlng 5'ln and out movencnt of the top laddcr, oFull 360 degree contlnuouc totadon. ts2st5-t oFull powcr controle In the buchct o VAN |-ADDER,lNC. o c o BOX 7O9 SPENCER, tOUfA Deatetarnqutttea I Call800-831-5051 or 712/262-5810 rnorted J \ The programmingof CBN and PTL is con- sidered,by the FCC,in thesame general classif i- cationas other non-broadcastservices. That is, theseare not broadcastsignals and you there- foreare entitled to carryas manyof themas you wish;without regard to the cablesignal carriage rules.TBN, which is actuallysatellite-carrying lhe 24 houra dayprogramming of southernCali- forniatelevision station KTBN. is a different story.lt maybe a 100%religion station, but it is a broadcaststation none the less.Which means it has differenttreatment, for cablecopyright pur- poses,than CBN or PTL.In short,"it counts" againstyour copyright signal carriage count and it countsin the eyesof the copyrightrules as a "full independentbroadcast station". That can hurtthe cable operator who is facingincreasing RCA AMERICOMPRESIDENT Andy Inglis,appearing during copyrightfees as his stationcarriage mounts, the televised dedication ceremonies for PTL on April first, and for that reasonTrinity's KTBN is seldom said that "RCA has a specialrelationship with the religious seriouslyconsidered for cablecarriage. So why satellitebroadcasters". isTrinity on the bird then? All of the religioussatellite users have broad- TheReligious Transponders cast stationinterests. CBN has the most ambi- Thereare now three religious programmers on tious programin this area,followed by Trinity SATCOMF1. RCA Americon acts like they enjoy and then PTL. CBN operatescombination a specialrelationship with the religious groups. secularand religiousbroadcasting properties in Characterizingthe three groupsnow on F1 severalcities, including Atlanta, Boston and the requiressome generalizationsrooted in the Norfolkarea. Trinity has its KTBN,serving the secularworld. PTL ('People That Love') occupies Los Angeles/southernCalifornia market, plus transponder2. lt is headedby Jim Bakker,a f ire channel21 in Phoenix.Trinity has several other and brimstonepreacher who has visionsof affiliate stations pending at the FCC,as we shall reachingthe entire free world with satellite tele- shortlysee. PTL has a singleoutlet in Canton, visionfor Christ one day soon. Ohioand plans more including one in the Char- CBN('Christian Broadcasting Network') was lotte, North Carolinahome marketwhere they the originalreligious broadcaster on the bird; headquarter. theyoccupy transponder B. CBN is moremiddle- of-the-roadthan PTL;it is led by Pat Robertson There is considerablecompetition amongst who remindsthe casualobserver of SteveAllen the threeoperations for audienceand prestige. 'in cloth'.His styleis smoothand polished and Viewersof Trinity'sservice are often confused by the Trinity programtitled 'PTL-PraiseThe hehas a quickmind and scholarly approach. 'PTL TBN ('TrinityBroadcasting Network') is the Lord'.ls that not the sameas the Club'that newestreligious telecaster to the bird, having comesout of Jim Bakker'sorganization? Trinity's come on boardin May.Trinity occupies trans' Paul Crouchbegan his religiousbroadcasting ponder it is headedby a formerassociate with Bakker.Crouch conducted a programtitled 14and 'PTL'and of PTL's Bakkernamed Paul Crouch.Trinity's thenone day he pickedup stakesand Crouchis pureHollywood; his carefully coiffured left Bakker;taking with him the programtitle. greyhair is matchedby a dressstyle and a mode Bakkerwas reluctant to giveup his mostpopular 'title' so he retainedthe name(PTL) but of operationwhich sets him apart from both show 'People BakkerandRobertson. changedits meaning;it nowstands for broadcastingis a business.But it is a ThatLove'. Religious 'PTL businessoperating under special rules. The FCC The Club' is perhapsthe most visible gives religious broadcastsand broadcasters religiousprogram in the Americanhome these specialpermission to do thingsother (commer- days.PTL syndicatesthe programthrough ap' cial) broadcasterscannot do. The IRS treats proximately150 television markets by purchas' religiousoperations with specialrules. Even ingtime in theearly morning time slot (or closer otherbusinesses treat religious businesses with to primetime in the largermarkets)and he pays special.. .well,reverence. for this purchasedtime by openlysoliciting take supportfor his programover the air. PTL,it is The religious satellite broadcasters 'nut money directly out of your town; more so said,has a $3,000,000 to crack'every month perhapsthan Super17 or HBO or SHOWTTME and it is growing.PTL recentlyexpanded into F (etc).They may not takemore money out (andthen severalSouth American countries with a Spanish 'receive'goes versionof the sameprogram and it is now seen LJ againthey may), but whatthey do directlyto them, not throughyou as a middle- in Brazil,Argentina and elsewhereon a daily man. basis. 24 "l PTLadmits to financialproblems. Early in July qecularprogrammi ng andrel igious programmi ng, they released100 of their 300 personstaff in 'economy CBNhas a cashflow base which has more poten- what was characterizedas an move' tial than PTL.CBN also 'money would appearto have andthen immediately following the cut backin more leveragepower' than pTL; they crewa disastrousrain storm filled the basement haveproperties which established banking oui- of theirbuilding with several feet of water.lt was lets can identifywith a firm basethat secular in the basementwhere their multi-million dollar businesspeople can more readily understand. computersystem was housed;the systemthat CBN originallyintended to put theirchannel keptautomatic track of whotheir supporters are 27 in the Norfolkarea up on the bird.When they and how much 'pledged' money the supportershad came up just 13 monthsago that was their to PTLeach month. masterplan. The not so friendly folks in thecopy- PTLhas all of the appearanceof the mid-60's rightbusiness killed that; whereas CBN wanted strugglesof the ABC network;they presenta to maketheir satellite feed of channel27 avail- brash,upstart appearance seemingly teetering ableto cablesystems for eitherno fee or a very someplacebetween chaos and financial disaster. smallfee the copyrightfolks insistedthat any Theirgrowth in just a coupleof yearshas been secularprogramming carried by channel 27 must phenominal;it is thatgrowth that perhaps is the be paidfor, by the cableaudience, at the prevail- greatest causeof concern.lf they were in the ingcopyright rates. CBN balked, and then created secularbusiness world one mightsuggest that thecurrent 12 plus 12 hour per day satellite feed. theyare ripe for a takeover by moreexperienced, Thesatellite feed is new for 12 hoursand then seasonedbusiness people. Because they are in a repeatedfor the next 12 hours;seven days a specialbusiness world with special rules their week. nearterm fate is lesscertain. Trinity'suse of the satelliteis for apparent CBNhas the direction and business sense of a differentreasons than either CBN or pTL.The seasonedveteran. Their on-the-birdprogram- lattertwo admit,quietly, that their satellite feed mingis lessspectacular than PTL, but it is also costs are recoupedbetween 60 and 70o/" per morepolished and their requests for support are month by donationsreceived from cable-only not nearlyas overtas PTL.Because they operate viewers.That says that both are still losing full broadcaststations in severallarge markets moneyon their satelliteservice, but both ap- andthese broadcasting properties combine both parentlyfeel that as the cable use of their
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z:t years,perhaps sooner, some cataclysmic event is goingto overtakemankind on earth.There is a constantmessage of urgencyin theirstatements andtelevision's reach is essential to theirplans. Shakarianbelieves the FCCwas moved by the Spirit to createthe rule making of last Holy 'translators Decemberwhich now allows to be fedby FM microwave'(seeCATJ for March,1978). At the July meetingof the 25 yearold groupa majorportion of the sessionswas turned over to proposalsto createa national'network' of UHF translatorsto carrythe wordof Godvia satellite. At a plenarysession held the afternoonof July 6th variousspeakers, all membersof the fellow- ship,outlined how local FGBMFI chapters (there are 10,000chapter offices worldwidewith the largestconcentration in the UnitedStates and Canada)would returnto their respectivecom- TELEVISEDCOVERAGE of Full Gospelgroup's 25th annual munitiesto raisethe funds to supporta local100 proceedingswas carried extensivelyby Trinity Broadcasting watt UHFtranslator and six metersatellite tele- ouiletsthrough Fl's transponder14' visionreceive terminal. Shakarian's son Steve,a servicesexpands they will graduallyreach the leaderin the groupand seeminglythe man in breakeven point. Both feel it is good for their chargeof the group's headquartersin lrvine, imagesto be on the bird,and as longas theyare explainedthat the typicalsatellite terminal fed competitivewhat one does the other must do; for UHF translatorwould cost around$60,000 per now.Trinity recognizes that becausetheir satel' installationplus perhaps $6,000 per year to main- lite feed is a full broadcastservice they cannot tain and operate.Booklets preparedfor the hope to crack the big donationdollar market sessionexplaned how the systemwould work, which PTL and CBN have crackedvia cable. how local groupswould re-couptheir initial Trinityis moreinterested in thesatellite being a $60,000investments (through the use of 30 per hour of broadcasttime for local system wherebythey can inter-connecttheir seconds 'pledge affiliatedtelevision stations. At the momentthe messages)and the bookletsended with 'Network' of onlytwo stations; forms'upon which localchapter groups could Trinity consists 'bind channel40 in southernCalifornia and channel 21 themselvesto the project'.At the end of in Phoenix.However, Trinity has affiliate appli- the afternoonlong session335 chapters placed cationspending before the FCC for channel 31 in theirnames on the dottedline and signedup for Denver.channel 22 in Seattle,channel 43 in one-each$60,000 satel Iite television station. OklahomaCity and channel45 in the Houston That evening,in reportingback to the full area. (15,000member) assembly Demos Shakarian Trinityalso has their eye on yetanother broad- announcedthe Board of Directorsfor Full fed by satellite. Gospelhad voted a $90,000interim fund to the casterrelated area; translators "to And hereis whereanother religious group, to group'sproject hirea full timeadministrator now not directlyinvolved in the religiousbroad' castingbusiness, enters the picture. That groupis the Full GospelBusiness Men's FellowshipInternational, headquartered in lrvine, California.FGBMFI, as it is known,is a twenty- fiveyear old layman'sministry begun by a Cali- forniacattle rancher named Demos Shakarian in 1953.The group recentlyheld its 25th inter- nationalmeeting, at the Anaheim(California) ConventionCenter and during the courseof that gathering,which attractedsome 15,000mem' bers of the 600,000member organization, Shakarianunveiled his plan to expandGod's "We ministryvia television. arein ourlast days on "and earth" beganShakarian now due in large partto the suddendevelopment and use of a whole newtechnology, we haveat our disposalthe tools to createone last, great revival. . .". Shakarian,like officialsof PTLand CBN and 'PTL' tr ". PRAISETHE LORD-the original is the program title U Trinity,speak quietly of theirbeing . .nomore carriedby Trinity's Paul Crouch.Here in opening sequence than four more yearsbefore. . ." and then they Scientific-Atlanla5 meter terminal set up for convention is stop. They all seem to agreethat within four shown in front of the AnaheimConvention Center. 26 Wlnz 'i. 'Ei:.1:i: f tlt:l "+ ! Ytd'l ,{ |3# f;\it;Lif-{,"p:hxl
FULLGOSPEL MEETING attracted reported 15,000 ptus dete- DEMOSSHAKARIAN, the Californiacattle rancher who founded gatesfrom all 50 statesand throughoutthe world. FullGospel 25 yearsago following a visionstill leads the group.
and provide the legal and technical expertise tenance of all of the worldwide NASA space neededto make the programfly". The group is communicationfacilities; he even spent several hardlywithout technical or legalexpertise. In the months overseeing the installation of the technical departmentit numbers amongst its Moscow/Washingtonsatellite connected'Hot members such as George Metcalf, a 15 year Line'.Fisher knows about as much as everybody veteran of NASA (National Aeronautics and around concerningsmall receiveterminals for Space Administration)and Patrick Fisher, an the worldwide terrain mapping and world re- executivewith CAN-TELCommunications Inter- sources plotting LANDSAT satellite systems. national,a Canadiancompany headquarteredin Both are pretty heavyfellows and both are dedi- Sidney, British Columia.Metcalf is the fellow catedmembers of FullGospel. responsibleat NASA for operationsand main- Let'ssee now; 335 satel I i te/trans lator term i nal s
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Egci$IFYOU DON'T HAVE AN EABTH tsn;;Ef STATION,SSS GIVES YOU MORE A'rNOtltl-l3rvs l3NNVHCZ I g REASONSTOHAVE ONE! frE;:E;E; €;# COMEBY AND SEE US AT THE SOUTHERNCABTE CONVENTION. sv 8/-82-9 c,uvlsnoc o = igtigiilligil o I E€sfi 5:j Ei;t F Fe;;+;gEEBE€a \ 29 f handlethat problem;they weretalking, back in lateApril during the NCTA convention, of renting a secondtransponder from RCAand usingit to feed their Canton,Ohio UHF broadcaststation backout throughthe bird for translatorservice. Anotherplan involvedPTL getting a stationon the air in Charlotte,and then usingthat broad- castsignal to feeda secondtransponder. Still a thirdplan involved PTL taking their existing cable feedoff of transponder2, and replacingit with a feed from their existingCanton station. That wouldprobably cause many (if not most)of the existingcable systems carrying their signal to dropfeed since conversion of the transponder2 feedto a broadcastclassified signal would have serious copyright impact upon the cable systems. WASHINGTONATTORNEY Jim Gammon(left) with Trinity's 'baby Sittingout in the lobbyof the AnaheimCon- Paul Crouch discuss Trinity's applicationsfor four sister stations', translalors fed by satellite, for four markets ventionCenter, during the full week of the filedfor by Trinityrecently. FGBMFIgathering was a portabletelevision set up by the folksat TrinityBroadcast- studio; 'remote at $60,000each. That comes to $20,100,000to be ing.Trinity's KTBN did numerous tele' invested."And this is onlythe beginning"notes casts' from the conventioncenter, including SteveShakarian. "Our goalis for no lewerthan coverageof the appearanceof OralRoberts and 1,200such terminals. . .and soon." In the secular other noteablesin the religiousbroadcasting worldthat is a prettyfair pieceof businessfor field. Duringthe July 7th coveragefrom the somehardware suppliers. lt shouldnot surprise center,Trinity's Paul Crouch may have tipped his you to learnthat at leasttwo'small earthtermi' ownhand in thecompetitive religious broadcast' nals' werein operationat the Full Gospel25th ingworld. He broughton cameratheir Washing' JimGammon (of Gammon & Tierney) conventionin Anaheim.One was the 5 meter ton attorney 'showman' terminalof Scientific-Atlanta;brought on site at and theiras an exercisein Crouch the behestof the folks at Trinitywho havean ship' Gammonand Crouchsigned'off on four FCC UHF translatorapplications. The appli- existingbusiness relationship with the Atlanta "for firm. The other was a six meterterminal from cations,which Crouchcalled Trinitybaby USTC;the Afton, Oklahomamanufacturer of sisterstations", were for the cities of Denver, steeland aluminum earth terminals for the cable Seattle,Oklahoma City and Houston.Crouch has notedthat the FCChad notacted on the Trinity industry.USTC's Maynard'Stormy' Weathers "full a specialinterest in the Full Gospelprogram; applicationsfor the high powerChristian Stormyis a memberof the groupand he has televisionstations" so Trinitywas goingahead beenclose to the projectsince it was first con' ahd applyingfor UHF translators,to be fed by year.The same meeting brought satellite,on thesame channels as the full power ceivedearly this "as out representativesof at leasttwo of the trans- stations an interimway of bringingChristian lator manufacturing firms; Television serviceto thesecommunities". Crouch also noted TechnologyCorporation out of Arvada,Colorado that translatorswere a big part of the Trinity was on handas was the largestsupplier in the serviceplan; leaving the impressionhe wouldbe piece fromFGBMFI to handlefor translatorworld; EMCEE. Both were after a opento anyovertures "feed of theaction. the FullGospel group their needs"for the Not everythingabout the FullGospel program bythen pledged 335 translator stations. showedas muchorganization as the orchestrated programJuly 6th that resultedin 335 chapter FullGospel's Shakarian is in a bit of a strange FGBMFI spot.He hadgone, he said,to Jim Bakkerat PTL pledgesto constructterminals. The "work primarily the program' earlythis yearto outa contract"with PTL bookletspoke of utilizing "PTL mingservices of PTL;the Jim Bakkeroperation whereby wouldsupply the programming (via from Charlottethat is havingits own problems satellite),'andFull Gospel would supply the trans' thesedays. Bakker had beenscheduled to ad- latorstationslearth terminals". Everyone seems to dressthe group;a combinationof his problems agreethat such an agreementdoes exist. Yet madethat impossible. He was later scheduled as Shakarianis onthe Boardof DirectorsforTrinity, a stop gap measureto addressthe group via and Full Gospel also utilizesthe servicesof satellitetelevision. Even that fell through at the TrinityFCC attorney Jim Gammon. lt is a curious last minute.Use of the PTLservice in its present situationsince Trinity is readyand willing to bea formis impossibleof course;PTL is nota broad' satellitecarried full (religious)broadcast service, tr castservice and the FCC'sDecember 1977 ruling capableof going directlyon translatorswhile not. U limits translatorsfed by microwave(or satellite PTLis microwave)to operatingwith real broadcast Crouch,for his part, carefullysteered away theirinputs. PTL did havea planto from any direct mentionof the Full Gospel 30 signalsat satellitefed translatorplan during his live con- And finally,in the religiousarea, there is the ventioncenter coverage of the 25thgathering of story of the chap who walked into the New york the group.But throughouthis oratoryhe was City offices of one of the two U.S. sateltite eluding to just such a plan constanily. operatingcompanies; in Novemberof 1976.,,|'d Meanwhilelate in Julythe first actual apptication like to buy an hour of satellite time" came the for a UHFtranslator to be fed by satellitehit the request.He didn't balk at the then-oneshot one "And FCCPublic Notice file. That application, filed by hour rateof $1,800. whenwould you likethis a group known as UpperPeninsula TV Systems, one hour?" askedthe satelliteoperator type. "Christmas Inc.of lronMountain, Michigan seeks FCC permis- Eve.. .December24th" came the sion for 100watt UHF translatorsto servethe reply. "And lron Mountainarea on channels53. 56. 59 and where do you want the program brought 64.The channel53 translatorwould'cariy KTBN down?" askedthe satelliteman, working thru his I from Trinity while the channel 64 translator check sheetand orderform. "Down???" t would carry PTL's WYAH from Portsmouth. came the response.,,What do you Channel56 would carry Chicago'sWGN and meanDOWN?" "Well, channel59 would carry Detroit'sWKBD; the the satelliterelays the signal.lt takes the I latter two to be deliveredto the translator earthtransmission and turns it aroundand sends it companyby terrestrialmicrowave. backto earthfrom space" explainedthe satellite man as patientlyas he could. "Does The FullGospel plan is not withoutits detrac- it HAVEto come down?" asked the time "l tors; even within the religious broadcasting buyer. mean.. .can'tsome of it go intospace?" community.Pete Warrenand Alex Blomerth, The satellite chap took a deep breath. ,,Well operatingInternational Christian Television and actuallymost of it does go right by the satelliteand SatelliteTechnology For Christout of El paso I guess you'd have to say it goes on into space. are particularilypiqued over what part "profiteering" they consider Only a small is actually intercepted by the of the Full Gospelgroup. ,,We satelliteand sent backto earth." "Well havepriced out all of the equipmentrequired for a that's the part that I am interestd in" "How 100watt UHF translator station and we cometo the responded the buyer. much does that conclusionthat they may be paddingtheir terminall part. . .the part that doesn't go throughthe satellite station costs by as much as $15,000each" . . .cost?" lamentsBlomerth. Full Gospel for their part does "Ahhh. . .well, the ,,$15,000 rate is the same either way. talk, unofficiallyof course,about in $1,800for an hour. Now where do you want your engineeringand administrativecosts per instal- lation".Warren notes "lf somebodyreally wanted to shavecosts, using an existingtower for the lranslatortransmitting antenna and an existing building for the equipment,and a 5-10 mile Gan you use a Trap coveragetranslator transmitting antenna. . .he could put in one of theseterminals using a 4.SZ that costs only meterantenna and a 100watt translator for around $22,000."Warren and Blomerth were sufficienily angeredby the FullGospel high-dollar approach $z,go? "Fact thatthey prepared a long,detailed Letter" VITEKolfers two differentmodels settingout what they feel the realcosts should at thatprice . . . andeither one be;a letterwhich they are planning to distribute will provide50dB rejection.* directlyto the FullGospel chapters nationwide. Meanwhilethd Blomerth/Warrenoperation in lf youare interested in keeping your Pay-TV Security El Paso(see CATJfor January1978) is costsdown and can use either of our Soecial Mid-Band finally ChannelGor H Traps, here's how you can save money making progresson their own over-the-air withoutcompromising onyour security. religioustelevision station. Their channel 14 is l.-- 0rderaquantityof l,000ormoretrapsforeither now underconstruction and they are thinking of ofthe two channels (Gor H) and you pay only an on-airdate of aroundthe first of December $2.90each. (ln quantities of500-1,000 the "We price this fall. will programboth secularand isstill only $3.25 each.) religiousmaterial" notes Warren.lt is an 'open 2. E[hefof these special, 3-Section Wide Traps aftecttwo lower and one upper adjacent secret'thatthey have talked at somelength with channels.Therefore, you must have channels both Ed Taylorof SouthernSatellite and Bill E,F andH vacantlor the G tra0 and channels F,G and I vacantfor the H trap. Bauce of ASN about moldino their new o '50d8 station'sprogram schedule into a s?teiliteuplink is lhemlnlmum attenuation over the br0ad temperature range ol -20oFt0 +120oF feed.And so whenanother year has rolled by it is o entirelypossible that there will be another ll you can useeilher of lhesetraps, broadly give us a call at: (201)469-9400 basedreligious channel available on satellite; J only this one, unlike those now there,will combine both religionand non-religiouspro- \ gramminginto a programschedule which may ultimatelybe moreattractive to cableaudiences. VITEKELECTRONICS, lNC., 200 Wood Avenue. Middtesex. N.J. 08846 31 J "on signal delivered;Atlanta, San Francisco,Los able to ship GaAs-FETS demand".Who Angeles...?" knows.. .one of thesedays the price of LNAs "lwant it deliveredto God"said the man. mighteven actually come down! Thesatellite representative took a deepbreath The new HP model HP22O1is a packaged andonto the orderform where one is supposedto device.lt sellsfor $325in'l'24 quantities, $295 in notethe terrestrialpoint of deliveryof the satel- 25-49quantities and the pricekeeps on dropping litedelivery he wrote down G O D. as you get into the OEMareas. These prices are "l thinkthat's a capitalG anda smallo andd" comparableto thoseprices that NECusers have offeredthe buyer"."And hereis your$1,800" he been payingwith the obviousadvantage that notedpulling 100 dollar bills out of hiswallet. HP'splant is a wholelot closerto the statesthan And sureenough, on schedulehe delivereda NEC's,and, HP (unlike NEC) claims to beable to onehour tape to thesatellite company off ice and shipalmost at will.There is moregood news for go transmissionon the devotedGaAs-FET technology buff. These indeedit did via satellite 'claims' ChristmasEve in 1976.The man promisedto arenot selected devices; that is, HP that "as comeback and buy another hours time soon theiryield on the HP2201issufficiently high that aslgetareply". they are not into a gradingprocess with the units. An initial order from a European LNAProgress And Equipment UPdate manufacturertook severalhundred of the new85 '78 As reported in the August CATJ CCOS degreeKelvin devices. Our informationsources technologynews usingNEC's imported GaAs'FETS tell us that a Report,if there is one bit of "supply bounds to excite the pulse of those people of severalhundred would amount to withinour industrywho arecharged with seeing several (perhapsf our) month's imported thatequipment for theTVRO explosion gets out, production from NEC". That apparentlysays on time,in the properform. . .theannouncement somethingfor the HPcapability in thisarea. by HewlettPackard that they are now in the 85 A chart here breaks down the HP22O1 degreeKelvin GaAs-FETdevice field with an parameters.There will be, later on (when is not "off the shelf" 1/2micron GaAs'FET has got to knownat this time)a companionchip version; bethe newsof theyear. the HP2001.There are also, for those who Now we havenothing against either Japan's missedthe earlierannouncements in thevarious NECor the recent confirmationfrom AVANTEK microwave-fieldpublications, two other HP (see this month'sTECHNICAL TOPICS section) GaAs-FETSalso available; at substantiallylower 1/2 prices.The HFET 1101 is a2.2 dB (195degree K) that they too are now making their own "typical micronlow noiseGaAs-FET devices. But if you devicewith a noisefigure" of 1.8dB (150 haveclosely followed, as we have,the trialsand degreesK) at 4 GHzand 9.5 dB of stagegain. lt tribulationsof the LNA suppliers.. .if you talk sellsfor$105 each in smallquantities. And there peoplelike EarlDavis of RF Systemswho is theHFET 1102,a 1.7 dB (140degree K) max, 1.5 with "14 seemsto constantlyhave TVROantennas dB typical(120 degrees) device with 11.0dB of installedand NO LNAsto go withthem. . .", then stagegain that sells in smallquantities for $150. you have some conceptof the importanceof Rememberthat it takesan 85 degreeK GaAs'FET havingthe'big HP' in theGaAs-FET field. transistorto createa 120degree noise f igureLNA TheLNA crunch is notover. But at leastnow, or (giveor take a few degrees- it dependsupon shortly here after, if an LNA supplier is isolatorand other losses plus the inputmatch to complainingthat he can't make deliverythe the first stage);so a 150 degreedevice will reasonis probablynot his inabilityto acquirethe typicallyproduce a 185degree LNA. GaAs-FETShe needs.This has beenan almost totallyfrustrating 18 months;waiting for a major Sothere is lightat theend of the LNAtunnel. lf U.S.supplier with no LNAproduct of its ownto get you havea chance,you mightlet HP know how into a positionwhere it was ready,willing and mucnyou appreciate their getting into this field. Theyare still a bit unsurewhy the world needs an 85 degree U.S. producedGaAs'FET and we would sure hate for them to put this whole productlint on a back burnerwhile the LNA industrygeared up to the onslaughtwe see aheadin 1979. Which brings us to the balanceof the equipmentanalysis. Gear, any gear,is still in very tight supply.The recentincrease in FCC applicationactivity by CATV systems when coupledwith othernewly emerging present day and soon-to-beusers of TVRO hardware is lineslong and tempers short. - keepingthe supply We know of severalantenna supplierswho U routinelygo without a receiverin their own shopsfor daysor evenweeks on end now;being 32 forcedinto'loaning out' theirown shop receivers to somecustomer someplace who simply'must' g_eton theair. LowNosEl People(meaning firms) keep announcing new *":;:q"".1:^- BROADBANDIttttT-zor receivers;seemingly left and right. And the MlcRowAvEGaAs FETI fasterreceivers are announced,the longerthe lENlAltvE DATA AUOUSI 1a7! delivery cycle becomes.Not all receiver Features LOW NOISE FIGUNE suppliersseem to be havingthis problem;but 2.4 dB lyplcrl NF .t 10 OAr 3,1 d8 Typlc.l NF .t la OHr most are. lf you find yourselfin a tight for a HIGH MAXITUM AVAILASLE GAIT receiver,perhaps the bestadvise is to go through la.5 dg lyplcrl G.tm.r .l t0 GH. HIGH OUTPUT POWER the pages of CATJ and call every receiver 12 d8h Lln..r Pow.r rl t0 cH: manufactureryou see advertisinghere. You a might strike pay dirt with one that you had XERMETIC MICROSTFIP WIDEBAND PACXAGE originallydecided not to buy from. Remember HIGH TRA(SDUCEn CAlt TO 18 GXr "lf that old song I can'tbe with the one I love,then 0.5 MICROUETER GATE l'll "receiver" l. lovethe one I'm with"? Plug in and starthumming. Description/Applications lhe HFET-2?Ol 13a lalliua.Bonide Schonky gare ri€td In addrlon. d3 ch..aclsri3tca lend th6m36tv0s lo s6!eol oll6cl f .n3i3lor. I lsaturosa.ug96d, h€rhetic h'cro3trp crcud d6rgn 'n apphcaton3 soch 13 rodEr End con- Thereare a coupleof newcommercial receiver p.ckage comp6lbl6 ihrl i9 de3igned tor co.3r3loni munrc.ton3 6qurp66nr b.ordband or nanoe-bend opsranoh ov6rlhe k6que.cy theHFEr-220r'sprck.ged nrheHpaC-i70 Thep.il,3 supplierson the market.RF System'sparent .0ngool2GAtro 18GHr Thsdsvic6s3upeno.nor3ed.d c.psbre ol heetng lh..nvrronmenral requireme.t! ot g.r. p6notm..cs. coupled wlh i13 wid. dynamrc re.ge MIL-S'19500 and th6 lesl /equdemenrs ot MrL-STO-750/ cspsbilily 6ake il id66lly suil6d lor such.pplicero^s as corporation,COMTECH, is about to pop with a 883 w'deband coupleof new modelswhich EarlDavis claims ECM. eurve'llance !nd warn'.9 3y.r.m! willrun rings around anything else on themarket today.Just deliver them Earl; that's enough rings Electricalspecif ications TcrsE= 25oc atibd hdmrh .nd tdt tudt6. U.n. *h, Itp. h1 for now.Scientific-Communications, $lor.td o..ln cur.nl, vD3- 35v, vos = 0v 25$S Inc.,the LNA Vosp Anch OrrVolr.e., Vos= 35V, ros J SUMMARYOF TERMINAL SALES 'Sold'/License Category:Total Terminals Applied For Rating(*)Company Antenna TerminalsSold TechnologyNews column appear- Throughour Satellite 'tracking'the 1 ScientificAtlanta 5 meter 141 ing monthlyin CATJwe havebeen pro' 2 Andrew/Hughes 4.5meter 90 gress the TVROsegment of the cableindustry since 6 meter 30 of "statistics" 3 RFSystems Januaryof this year.Our portionof that 4 USTC 6 meter 27 columnreports monthly on the newapplications before 5 Harris(RMS) 6 meter 23 the FCC,the licensegrants of the Commissionin this 6 Prodelin 4.5meter 14 area, and how terminalprices and channeluseage 7 Microdyne/AFC(--)5meter I changes. 8 AFC 'Horn' I 9 ScientifcAtlanta 10meter 4 datais compiledby monitoringFCC releases; when Our 'public 10 Andrew 10meter 2 a TVROapplication goes on notice'the Commis' .-Ratings about each application.This aresimply numerical sequential listings sion releasesbasic data **-Microdyne joined includesthe antennamanufacturer specified by the lrom the statisticalbase. the an' fiber- applicant,the cost of the terminal,the channelsre- tennabusiness with an AFC manutactured 5 meter quested on. We havenot previouslypublished glassdish in approximatelyweek 14 of the measured and so 'strength' ourcompiled data which indicates the relative period. of eachsupplier in this f ield;nor indicating how various Category:Dollar volume per company terminalsuppliers stack up againstone anotherin $$Business variouscategories of Pricing. Rating(') ComPanY Anlenna Reported Thedanger with this data is many'fold.Assuming that 1 ScientificAtlanta 5 meter $5,381,738 we knowhow to add and divideaccurately, the oppor' 2 Andrew/Hughes 4.5meter 3,051,194 accuracyof the applicant's 3 RFSystems 6 meter 979,831 tunitieslor errorshift to the 'copy' ownapplication and the ability of the FCCto that 4 Harris(RMS) 6 meter 976,545 datainto their public notice release forms. 5 USTC 6 meter 741,281 6 Prodelin 4.5meter 414,175 We havestudied the 28 week periodrunning from 7 ScientificAtlanta 10meter 385,772 January30 through August 7,1978. In that 28 weeks347 Microdyne/AFc 5 meter 274,250 B 'Horn' applicationsfor TVROapplications landed at the FCC. I AFC 274,238 These347 applications accounted for 864'channelsof '10 Andrew 10meter 193,824 perapplicant. That service';an average of 2.489channels "-Ratings are simplynumerical sequential listings in'reportedbusiness'according addedup to $12,672,848 fromthe statistical base. to Commissionrecords. In caseyou are interested, that dividesdown to $36,521.18per terminal' Category:Average cost per TVRO channel delivered DollarCost Per 'Neutral so far. Now whatabout Numbers, numbers' Rating(') Gompany Antenna Channel(") the performanceol the individualsuppliers in the field? 1 4.5meter 8,453. We have divided the terminalsuppliers into ten Prodelin $ 6 meter 11,766. categories.Two suppliers show up twicein this break' 2 USTC J 4.5meter 13,682. the ten meterterminals trom ScientificAtlanta Andrew/Hughes down; 6 meter 13,800. andAndrews are listed separately f rom their respective 4 RFSystems 'measured', Atlanta 5 meter 15,246. 5 and4.5 meter terminals. The areas we have 5 Scientific againfrom the FCC's data, are in fivecategories' Beyond 6 Harris(RMS) 6 meter 16,552. a 5 meter 18,283. thatyou are on yourown ! Microdyne/AFc 'Horn' 8 AFC 21,095. Scientific Atlanta 10meter 24,228' 10 Andrew 10meter 38,577. Category:Total Channels'Sold' .Ratingsare simplynumerical sequential listings fromthe statistical base. Rating(') Company AntennaChannels Sold .'-Found by taking total cost of terminaland 1 ScientilicAtlanta 5 meter 353 dividingby number of channelsapplied for' 2 Andrew/Hughes 4.5meter 223 Category:Average channels per terminal sold 3 RFSystems 6 meter 71 AverageChan' 4 USTC 6 meter 63 Rating(*) ComPanY Antenna nelsPer Terminal (RMS) meter 59 5 Harris 6 't 4.5meter 3.500 4.5meter 49 Prodelin 6 Prodelin 6 meter 2.867 7 Microdyne/AFo(-.)5 meter 15 2 RFSystems 'Horn' 13 3 Harris 6 meter 2.565 8 AFC meter 2.504 10meter 4 4 Scientific Atlanta 5 9 Scientific Atlanta 4.5meter 2.478 10 Andrew 10meter 2 5 Andrew/Hughes 6 USTC 6 meter 2.333 *-Ratings are simply numericalsequential list- 'Horn' **-Microdyne 7 AFC 1.857 ingsfrom the statistical base. ioinedthe 8 Microdyne/AFC 5 meter 1.667 with an AFC manufactured5 meter antennabusiness *-Ratings listings fiberglass dish in approximatelyweek 14 of the aresimply numerical sequential measuredoeriod. fromthe statistical base. playing well,like receiver'sproduction is all tied up for Wheeler's forhis system. . .but for around, entirelydif- immediateneeds in Canadaso the questionof the privateterminal user, that is an for U'S' ferentmatter. F whetherit will be sold(that is, delivered) cableuse is a mootone. Again, we've seen it play Finallythere was at CCOS,as reportedin the U AugustCATJ preliminary report on this year's and haveplayed with it ourselvesat the CATJ "master" "slave" Lab.We can'tsee a cableoperator wanting one gathering,a new and approach 34 ]IIGRO E MEASUREMENTSMADE EASY! A-. - 9-a-\ Nfoe -'ttllpilSZlt]t-aJtrl- _ -ta.a tt TURO GARS _!? - Texscan'smicrowave down converterpermits measure- ment in the MDS (2.1 GHZ) TVRO (9.7 GHZ) and CARS (12.7GHZ\ band with existing VHF test equip- ment. Spectrum analysis, signal strength and even microwavesweeping are possiblewith the MDC-3. Available as an option are three bandpassfilters which speedand simplify the measurementprocess. The filter kit is required for sweepoperation. The MDC-S has a calibrated insertion loss and adjustablelocal oscillator for eachband. Other frequenciesare available. Texscan TEXSCANCORP.: 2446 N. Shadeland,Indianapolis, lndiana 46219,(g17) gS7-8781,TWX 810-341-3184 THETACOM: 2960 Grand, Phoenix, Arizona 85017, P.O. Box 27548,85061,(602) 2s2-S021, (g0o) s28-4066 TWX: 910-95i -1399 r receiverfrom a Texasoutfit knownas SATCO. thatmany of the privateterminal guys have been out for Our commentsof last month (see page 17, buying.Witfr teed and mount it nets AugustCATJ) would only be redundant.For arouni$1,500 and they promise to havean ortho systemswith morethan a singleTVRO channel ioupler for this antennaby November;a $300 - rom to demodulatedown to baseband,the receiver's option.The best part may be the delivery f it' masterplus slave approach with a singledown 3-5weeks depending upon when you order converterfor multiplechannels just might be We'll havemore to say about both of the A-M worthlooking into. antennasas the fall Progresses. And then thereare the antennawars- In our Fort Worth Tower,after missing the NCTA Juneissue report on the NCTAmeet, we noted show with a previouslypromised 7 meter "You'll be hearinga greatdeal of discussion fiberglassantenna, is backwith a lineof three from the antennasuppliers...concerning fiber[lassjobs; one each5,6 and 7 meters'We 'resins'in the monthsand yearsahead; undeistandthe 5 meterjob is pricedin the$5,000 fiberglass,unless properly resin-prepared, will pricerange but whetherthat includesan ortho burn quite easily...".Sure enoughthat is couplerfeed or not we areuncertain. Fort Worth preciselywhat is being touted.The TVRO 'possibly is notyet into a deliverymode' reflectormanufacturers who are still hanging TheAFC/Microdyne 5 meter fiberglass antenna onto metal designs(and we mean them no f irstshown at NCTA,and then again at CCOS'78, malice;they may turn out to be rightwhen all is is possiblythe antenna-hit of theyear to date'lt's saidand done) almost universally echo the same thiee 'andpiebe construction(see CATJfor June' plus story.That being"We havenot yet beenable to 1978) its clever mount system the it finda fiberglassresin supplier who will guarantee apparentability of the supplierto deliver to us that in the heatrange one can expectin a promptlyis creatingmany new inroadsfor the grassfire that the fiberglass will not deteriorate". bompany.'best One thing Microdynehas done that Somefiberglass mixes will just plainburn up; can be describedas a bit of marketing at temperaturesto be expectedwith grassand geniusis to mount severalof their 5 meter kindlingfires. Others, with special(and more intennason trailermounts. Several of the MSO's expensive)resin mixes are flameretardant. Still havemade use of the trailerhauled antenna to others,even more expensive, will not burn at put on demonstrations,ala our Coop'sCable grassfire heatbut accordingto the metalskin bolumnof lastApril, for f ranchise battles' suppliersthe fiberglasswill deteriorate.What Another new fiberglassentry will probably Canadian does that mean?Well, so say the metalskin neGiiie sold in the-statesbut our Rod suppliers,fiberglass can buddle and warp under readerswill find it of interest.The Yukon's his heat.Sort of likedeveloping a giantcase of warts Wheeler,having designed and constructed orthe hives. own 4.5meter metal reflector (see Coop's Cable favorite Column,August) decided that oncewas enough Headendfires are not unkown.Our put storyin this areainvolves an antennasupplier for that exercise.Consequently Rod has who shall go namelessand an installationin togethermolds for a fiberglass antenna which he Arkansaslast March.Seems in the processof is packagingwith his new privateterminal installinga TVROantenna a carelesscrew r""biuetior iate in Canada.Canadian's looking membermanaged to burndown around 15 acres forWheeler will find it in careof theWhitehorse of Arkansaspine including the property Yukoncable sYstem offices. surroundingthe headend. lt's a hilariousstory- During the past 8 months CATJ has been askyour favorite TVRO antenna supplier about it. keepingtloseiabs on the waythe variousTVRO lf he balksat tellingyou it he'sprobably the guy terminilshave been bought. We've put together thatdid it! As TVROantenna stories go it ranks some statistics,which appearhere, showing right up therewith the famousdropping of a (from FCC f ile records)just how well each of the Prodelin4.57 meter f iberglassantenna off of the antennasuppliers is doing, and of perhaps roof of the DisneylandConvention Center in greaterinterest (to us anyhow)how each antenna Decemberof 1976. iupplier averagesout on a cost-per-channel FCC Mostof the antennawars are priceconscious. baiis with his product.By takingthe total into Everyoneis lookingfor waysto reducethe user reportedcost of theTVRO terminal, dividing cost of the TVROantennas. Anixter-Mark, not thatdollar cost reported the number of channels previouslyin theTVRO antenna field, is finishing the terminalwill initiallydeliver (that measures bring the numberof receiversinvolved), we comeup up heavytooling (around $100,000 worth)to "Gosl'per-channel". the marketplacethis fall a 5 meter metal with a We don't claim this into for (petal)antenna. Pricing in the $5,000range will provesanything. . .concretely. . .but it is food includean orthocoupler, mount and feed. They thought. to claimthey will be ableto offera high quality tnIne final analysis, equipment is stillhard are metalantenna for this type of priceprimarily come by, and becausemost suppliers tr becausethey will haveinvested in toolingthat concernedthat the rapidadvance of technology parts in productionline couldcatch them with partson handfor 100or U will stamp out the assemblyform. Anixter-Markalso has a very more receiversthat may suddenlybecome 3 meter(not lor CATV'yet) spun dish operationor cost relics they are approaching 36 interesting eachreceiver run of a semi build-to-orderbasis. to coincidewith their own terrestrial time zone. lt That keeps off-the-shelfdelivery tight and it will be possible,with all fourPBS transponders createsmassive juggling problems of the scarce in operation,for a devotedSesame Street fan, for inventory.With the probablestart up of religion- example,to watchthe same program from begin- nourishedUHF translatorsfed by satellite ningto endfour times in fourconsecutive hours. signals,the Holiday Inn program and others now Thesame holds for otherPBS programs, for the takingshape, the crunchon hardwarewill last, full broadcastday at PBS.Ultimately, starting in we feel, for another year or more. We see 1979,regional PBS feeds limited to the re-distri- substantive(but not revolutionaryprice, butionby stationswithin a singletime zone or a reductionsahead for antennas(especially if the singleregion of thecountry will be addedto the 12-13footers hit andare approved for CATVuse), PBSlineup. in LNAs(a combination of the availabilityof HP Cana cablesystem utilize the PBSfeeds? The GaAs-FETsand the rapid growth of 200-300 answeris no, it maynot. There are two reasons degree K LNA markets)and receivers(the whybut, the f irst one is sufficientto puta crimp NorthernSatellite Systems $2700 tuneable is in yourplans even if youhave the bestof reasons just the tip of the iceberg;a yearfrom now that to wish to do so; i.e.your CATVsystem is so may be considered'expensive'). For TVRO locatedthat no terrestrialPBS service is avail- technologybuffs the year aheadwill be an able.And that reason?Simply this. PBSwon't interestingone indeed ! authorizeyou to do so. Just in case you are interested,lacking a changein this'official' PBS policy,the secondreason you can'tdo so is that The NonCATV Developments the FCC won't grant you authorityto do so Officially,the non-CATVservices going to the either. satelliterelay serviceare moving much more Severalcable systems, in locationslike west slowly than CATVis moving.The exceptionto and southwestTexas and centralNevada, have this statement,for now,is the evergrowing use madea stabat breakingthrough the PBS'no'. To of WESTARland ll andSATCOM ll for non-GATV datethey have met with no successwhatsoever. video program services;primarily broadcast That'snot to saythat someday this policywon't relatedservices for eitherreal-time feeds or for change.. .butfor now,that's the way it is. insertioninto edited networkor independent The next largestuser of regularilyscheduled stationentertainment, sports or newsprograms programming,not availablefor (U.S.)CATV use at a latertime in the relayday. is the threechannel set offeredup on ANIK lll In a separatesection of this issueof CATJwe haveattempted to showall of the existingusers of videofor the five primarydomestic satellites TWOBIG REASO]IS TOCAlt BEI: of interest;WESTAR I and ll, SATCOMI and ll andANIK lll. Video feeds via satellites generally rne 8E/,naRqaEE fall intotwo generalcategories. Inspection of the issue revealthat LET n'tE PERSOIYAL.ZE chartelsewhere in this will if all HA of the 'regularilyscheduled' video transponders N.IYC AC TERffiJIERATAR ! plus all of the 'occasionaluse' video trans- pondersare in serviceat one time,there would AND ME PRICE be somethingapproaching 40 separatevideo wA, RTEHT! programchannels in operation.In truth, on a busySunday afternoon in the midst of the pro- fessionalfootball season the numberof trans- ponderslikely to be in useat anyone time on the five satellites in questionmay well number thirty plus.And ten (or more)of theseare likelyto be carryingpro football games or programsdirectly relatedto that afternoon'sprofessional football schedule. 'busy' just The BEl-Marqueegives you the newest Such timesaside, howare the non- and best look tor your news,weather or mes- CATV video servicesbeing utilized,and by sagecnannel. 'regularily It lets you decidethe format,giving you whom, today? The heaviest sche- the sophisticationand individualityyou duled'program services user is the PublicBroad- desrre. With all its soDhisticationand llexF casting System,or PBS, which is presently bilitythe Marqueegives you more for operatingon threeof the WESTARI transpon- your dollar by using the latest LSI ders.A fourthtransponder is due in servicethis technologyand eliminatingthe cost o 'real of pre-wiredrack frames. fall. PBS utilizesits transpondersto feed Call or write today. BEI.MARQUEE: broadcasttime' networkfeeds to its 150 plus Tho systffi lhat lets you deidc. satelliteconnected terrestrial transmitters from J the Virginlslands on the eastto the west coast s on thewest. PBS stations on theground take the IEIEfilftififfi*...., appropriatefeed from the appropriatetransponder 37 f At [IiCfOWaYeASSOCiateS, we,re doins somethins aboutone of yourprime concerns. CAry system acquisition costs. with over25 yearsof solid-statemicrowave technology behind us, we cangffq'you an unbeatablecombination of highquality and low pricein CAWequipment and systems. That means a comblete, turnkeysystem or anyof theindividual components you may need forbackup or expansion.You'll find that with a MicrowaveAdsociates CAryinstallation you can count on equipmentreliability, low main- tenance,and long service life. lt's an excellentinvestment. _ Hgwdo we giveyou a priceadvantage? For example, there's the VR-3CAry satellite video receiver. This singlechannel unit is a genuinebargain at under 54000. Nowwe've just introduced the VR-4 all channel satellite receiver thatsets a newstandard of excellence.At $0500, you'll find that it hasthe others beat hands down in performanceand versatility. Wealso have a new,low cost CARS Band FM microwavesystem. It'sthe MA-12x transmit/receive system that incorporates state of the art,field proven, solid-state circuitry and provides great flexibirity. Throughinnovative design and engineering, we've come up with a qualitysystem that costs one thirdthe price of simitarsystems. Forlong-haul relay, the MAJ2G and FML systems are the stand- ardsof performanceinthe industry. whateveryour CATV needs, Microwave Associates can fiil them economically. . . fromtotal, custom designed satellite and terrestrial systemsto individualcomponents. Fordetailed literature and specifications, contact the Microwave salesoffice nearest you. Microwave Associates, Com m u nications Equ ipment G rou p, NodhwestIndustrial Park, Burlington, MA 01803, (617) 212-3100. -o 5:T;^i_:?,?1i:?,:%'l!1"Ji1i;i,ifi::^''6,alMicrorrvave o ;A;;"-;;;; ; ;'. i:?;; i'j""."r% 8y ASSOCiateS fiili,'uir', . ou .0.. A M/a-coMCoMPANY Northeast(617) 443-5139. : \ 39 f iguredout whatto with it yet.They insist that it staydomestic; that is, Canadian.That includes any and all uses and usersof the serviceson nNtf. Telesatjustifies its hugeannual budget by conductingmore and more experiments, dabblingin-providing radio, telephone and tele' vision serviceto the far northernportions of Canada(at leastto the 80th parallelwhen the curvatureof the earthblocks further north use), moreexpensive and moresophi- anddesigning 'toy' 'B' sticatedexperiments for theirlatest ANIK to be launchedthis fall. By generouslow-ball pricing,ANIK 'B' will costCanada no lessthan $so,oob,oOOto launch. The ground support facili- ties beingretro-fitted for the new 11 GHzdown- linkand the new 14 GHz uplink will add millions this expenditure.The 6 GHz up and 4 GHz to 'B' downportion of ANIK hasno earlypractical use;there are already 36 similartransponders in TYPICALWESTAR FARE, other than PBS,are sportingevents orbit with a peak load that fills perhapssix of fed from their originationpoinl to the terrestrialtransmitter those 36 will temporarily site (herea feed for Los AngelesKTTV). these. In November growto 48 transpondersplus the six newtrans' by Telesatof Canada.Here, as the chart shows, pondersin the 14111GHzband. of the wholeof the CanadianTelesat one channelof Frenchlanguage television and Critics 'B' two channelsof Englishlanguage (essentially program,and ANIK in particular,point out Canadiannetwork CBC) programming is trans' that just the spacevehicle and launchcosts, mittedfor whataverages 18 hours per transponder $50,000,000conservatively, might have done any per day.As the separatereport appearing here of the followingindividual projects for thosefar (see"And In Canada?")indicates, the Canadian northernareas in Canadastill without reliable by Telesatis basicallyno radio,telephone or televisionservice: policy implemented "any' policyat all.That is notto beconfused with 1) $50,000,000would havebought a total of thinggoes" as a policy;rather it meansthat absent 3,333complete $15,000 earth receive termi- specificconsent and policy approvinga particu' nals,or; "nothing laruse of theTelesat birds, goes". 2) $50,000,000would havebought a total of 1,250complete $40,000 TVRO receive and The Canadiancable systemsare prevented 100watt VHF (TV)channel transmit facili- from usingthe satellite.Or the signalsnow on ties,or; the satellite. Moreover,the Telesat lack of 3) $50,000,000would havebought 200 com' positive policy makes the Canadianspace pletely outfitted $250,000 receive experimentjust exactly that; the longest on (televisionradio, telephone) and transmit goingexperiment in the satellitefield. Telesat (SCPCtelePhone) termi nals. seemsto like it that way;it is almostas if they It willof coursedo noneof these'Rather it will fearthere developing any regular,paying custo- add to the already600% overkillof existing mersfor their satellites because then they might transponder-in-the-skycapacity and it will pro' haveto quit conductingexperiments and start videTelesat with 6 brandnew 14/11GHz trans' runningthe system like a business. pondersto further'experimentwith'' Viewingof CanadianANIK signals, even on an The Canadianshave no policyfor U.S.use of experimentalbasis here in thestates, is a breech their existingthree channelsof television of law and regulationson both sides of the service.Which is of courseunderstandable. ' . border.Approximately one year ago when a they havevirtually no policyfor the use of the totallydifferent satellite program, LANDSAT (a same three channelsby the Canadiansthem- whensomeone gets you in a cornerat satelliteprogram that mapsthe earthresources) selves.So "l've wantedto createdata links between a coupleof a CATVtrade show and says got this great northernU.S. based remote 4 foot uplinkdata planto bringdown Canadian TV signalsfor use terminalsand an ANIKbird, for the purescienti' on Americancable systems". . .checkthe guy's 'river f ic purposeof monitoring andstream f low' lD.He probably just got off a busfrom Hoboken' on two U.S.tributaries, it took somethinglike The next most frequentregular user of the 'negotiations' 3,000hours of formal betweenthe satellitesholds out some promise for CATV U.S.and Canadiangovernments just to procure systemuse. That's SpanishInternational Net' the necessarywritten agreements so that a pair work,or SINas it is so cleverlyabbreviated. SIN of SCPCdata channel uplinks could spit data is up on WESTARll, along with a host of sportingevents' F intoANIK for monitoringpurposes at a Canadian occasionalfeed video news and SINhas in factalready allowed limited CATV use U LANDSATdata accumulation site. The Canadiansare fiercely proud of their of its programming(see CATJ for February,1978; domesticsatellite system; even if they haven't page36). SIN programsbetween 6 and 12 hours 40 perday in the Spanishlanguage with program- 'Visions'earth terminalvia WESTAR.'Visions' ming that originateseither at one of the half did most of the preparatorywork itself,with an dozenSIN "network" affiliates here in the United assistfrom the legaltypes at WesternUnion; it States,or, via a terrestrialmicrowave link that showswhat could be done if a personset his dragsMexico City's flagship station XEW north- mindto thetask at hand. wardto the U.S.border where it getshauled into aTexasuplink site forWestern Union. Butthe balance of the'occasional'videofeeds SIN is generallyfirst classSpanish program- are not for CATVeyes. Not untilyou haveall of ming.Highlights are bull fights,boxing, soccer the necessarywritten permission to be watching matchesand their '24 Hora' news programthat andusing the transmissions which so proliferate originatesat XEW.lt is alsosoap operas, variety on theU.S. domestic carrier birds. shows,serials and the occasionalEnglish movie Whichleaves us withone unfinished piece of dubbedinto Spanishor run with Spanishsub- business;the HolidayInns system for providing titles.Because it is a pure'network'feed it drags in-roommovie and entertainmentprogramming at the stationbreaks; there are usually none. The viasatellite. When initially announced (see CATJ SIN feed is programs,not a broadcastschedule for May 1978,page 64) the servicewas to be perse. Virtually every month at leastone or two carried on transponder16, sharing in some or threecable systems apply to the FCCfor per- strangeway the Fanfaremovie feed with Fanfare missionto carrySIN programming. Once you get sportsto be carriedon an undeterminedvertical it (whichis actuallysimply permission to access transponder.And the service was to befor a wide WESTARll andSIN in particular),then you have to varietyof competitiveinns, with Holidaytaking go to workwith the officials at SINto arriveat a the lead but others such as Sheratonet al 'rate'.There is no rate card for this and those sharing. who havebeen there beforeyou wish you Vaya Then in our July issue(page 60) we updated Con Dios.In English"Lot's of Luk!" is a rough that reportwith the notationthat 'upon further translation. investigation'Holiday had determined that they 'go Which brings us to the non-regularilysche- would it alone'withoutsharing the service (or duledtransmission; of whichat peaktimes there costs)with other ('competitive') motels. may well be a dozenor more spreadbetween Whereis the programtoday? Holiday Inns has WESTARl. ll andSATCOM ll. There are even still assigneda managementteam to the projectand timeto timeon SATCOMI whilethey are still talkingabout being opera- a fewshowing up from 'early also RCAvows that will only last until theycan tional in 1979'it appearsmore likely that it retro-fittheir various earth terminals (see "And will be Aprilor evenMay of nextyear before it is With The Carriers",another segment of this turnedon. At the presenttime there is a five specialreport). lt maysurprise you to learnthat meterAFC/Microdyne trailer mounted terminal under the right circumstancesyou could at the flagshipHoliday Inn in Memphiswhere possiblybe pluggedinto some of thesefeeds. TVROdemonstrations are underway.Officially, Legally.For money of course. theterminal is in Memphisto testwhether or not About 50% of thesefeeds are contractcar- a site which a computerstudy could not get riagefor variousindependent television stations acceptableinterference free picturescould in aroundthe country. ll you hadan agreement with factget such pictures (yes, it can).Unoff icially, it producingthe sporting is also pointedout that in mid Septemberthe the televisionstation 'fran- event, a similar agreementwilh the satellite HolidayInn folks are holding their annual permissionto access chiseaff iliates' meeting and on the agenda is the commoncarrier, and FCC 'aff the satelliteand to carry the 'cherrypicked' matterof iliateapproval' of the satelliteinter- sportingevent on yourCATV system, you'd have connectionprogram. A ratherambitious demon- accessto a prettyfair number of sportingevents strationis plannedas the hundredsof Holiday perweek. lf you rolledall of them togetherinto Inn franchiseesgather in Memphis.Most one grandtotal per week,we count between8 observerssee the mid Septembermeeting as and 15 events per typical week. lt varies of pivotal(if notcrucial) to finalapproval of the pro- coursewith the season. gramat Holiday. Thereis someprecedent in thisarea. This past Theservice, when up, will amountto 12 hours summer'Visions',the Alaskan(Anchorage) MDS perday (roughly 4 PM to 4 AM eastern),fed on a system that has had so much press in other verticaltransponder on F1;primarily movies but CATV publicatioqs,contracted with Western not limitedthereto. The initialnumber of termi- Unionto takea 'WorldSoccer Cup Finals' series nalsinvolved will numberin the 100-200region; ol feedsvia WESTAR.The soccermatches ori- not an insignificantamount of new antennas, 'industry' ginatedin Argentina,were brought to the states receiversand LNAs in an already o via lntelsatand were then relayedon to the strappedfor hardware. o And. . .thereis more to this report. o "The "The ].r Our followup appearingin the October issue of CATJ will include in-depthlooks at Problem In Canada", (common) "The "CATJ Carrier View", "smaller Than 4.5 Meter (CATV)Terminals", PrivateTerminal (Explosion?)",and, Lab Tests Ot The 1.83 \ Meter Dish (forvideo reception)".All of which provesthat evena'special issue' is not big enoughto hold all that needsto be said in one placeat one time as the satelliteworld continuesto expandaround us! 41 r every service they wish to carry on their initial applications;and there is good reason to conjecture that the actual numberof servicesto be carriedby the 73 applicants this month exceeds the 3.25channels per applicantindicated. Based upon an average terminal price of $35,685and 73 applicants,this month's summary amounts to "business" $2,605,005in for the TVRO suppliers; and annualized volume of $31,260,060for new installations. To this must be added additional equip- ment purchased by existing system operators as they add new satellite program services now coming on the bird(s). FasterTVRO Processing The Federal Communications Com- mission'sBill Lombardiadvises that as of July 5th the FCC'scomputer system is now 'on line' for the processingof TVRO applications. The result? Lom- bardi expects as many as 150 appli- SoptomberStats cations to be approvedin the month of FCCactivity for the monthof July vices. For some months CBN has August! And he further expects all continuedto set new recordsin the either led the tally or been a strong future applicationsto be turned around developmentof the CATV industry's secondin theapplications received by in 60 days time with 45 days as a goal. rush into satellitetechnology. The the FCC.Baring some mixup in the Thereis more good news;something followingnew'records' were set during FCC tallies the drop from the lead to take note of if you have not yet sub- the monthof July:(1) most new termi- positionin Apriland June and a strong mitted your application. Effective im- nal applications-73; (2) most new secondin May to a decisivelyweak mediatelythe applicant need only sub- terminalFCC grants-61; (3) largest thirdspot in theJuly applications is an mit an original plus two copies; pre- numberof channelsrequested-237; indicationol something;only we are viouslyyou had to submitoriginal plus and(4) the highestnumber of channels notsure quite what! nine cooies. The new Commission perapplication-3.25. Other than the five trend setting computer system allows them to The five meter sized terminalsre- programservices tallied in our TVRO generate their own extra copies as gainedtheir leadin the 'terminalsize' Statisticsbox scoreeach month here neededfor processing. category;undoubtedly the resultof the are some of the other servicesmen- The most significantimpact of this new Microdyne/AFCfiberglass an- tionedin the monthof July:(1) KTVU faster processingis going to show up, weight to the Oakland/SanFrancisco-3; (2) WGN we feel, in the hardware availability tenna adding its Pre- 'planning' viouslyavailable five meterScientific Chicago-3; (3) Fanfare-2; and, (41 area.Systems that had been Atlanta antenna.With additional5 PTL, SIN (Spanish International on the 100-150day turn around for meterantennas becoming available it Networkon WESTARll, KTTV(Los application processing may suddenly is doubtfulthat 'otherantenna sizes' Angeleschannel 11 proposedbY ASN find their applicationsback in their. 'size will everagain regain the lead'for on WESTARll) and WOR (New York chan- hands before they have the gear on anyperiod of time. nel9 proposedby ASNon WESTARll) hand. Keep in mind that you have 90 A surprisingdrop has occured in the one each.Again, the FCC no longer days to construct and make opera- requeststo carry the religiousser' requiresapplicants to list each and tional a terminalafler receivingyour CP (license). Lombardi reports that the new computersystem will be most helpful, CATVTVRO STATISTICS-AUG, 1978 he feels, when the expectedonslaught facilities and 1 1978 of Holiday Inn TVRO Applicalions Filed/FCC May'1978 JUNE978 July begin n satellite fed translator systems 1) 11meter 0 0 to show up at the Commission'sdoor- 2) 10meter 4 2 1 steo "around the first of 1979" 3) 6 meter 18 20 12 4) 5 meter 12 22 36 5) 4.5 meter 19 24 24 SunOutage Time 53 68 73 Tolal Apps getting when $87,412 It is close to the time Cost Max. $106,412 $96,412 you wary eye $19,900 should be keeping a Cost Min. 5,000 $22,500 cocked on your reflector surface; and Avg. Cost $37,'l20 $34,024 $3s,686 noticing where the shadow from the ChannelsRequested 124 217 237 feed/cassegrain reflector falls over AverageChannels 2.3 3.19 3.25 the antennasurface. Sun outageis iust RequestingWTCG 36 38 43 ahead. RequestingCBN 31 40 29 When we last had sun noise out- RequestingHBO 36 32 48 age, back in the early portion of March, RequestingMSGE 10 15 12 all CATV terminals were looking at RequestingSHOWTIME 13 11 SATCOM F2 which for most of us had Avg. Cosl Per Channel $16,1 39 $10,666 $10,980 a higher elevation angle above the F TVRO's LicensedlFCC 38 57 61 horizonthan our presentF1 does. And, it was more easterlythan F1. Q from FCC sources,adjusts forwardone month with each Note: Datacomoiled Both of these factors play an impor- lsSUe. tant part in determining the precise 42 First MexicanTVRO? dates when the sun, in its daily east 'Weathervane'On A Sub-Carrier? Tentative approval (meaning to west movementacross the sky, will verbal A new 24 hour per day full time but not yet in has granted line up exactly behind the geo-sync writing) been weatherinformation channel designed by the Mexican (FCC)for orbit point for F1.When that happens, SCT a earth to be transmittedto cable systems via receivingterminal. The is not, solar activity on the sun's surface plus user satelliteon a (6.2MHz) sub-carrier of an however,going to be usingthe terminal withinthe sun will combineto produce existingvideo carriagetransponder is (initiallyat least)for CATV signal delivery. a'noise outage'at yourCATV terminal. plannedfor 1979operation by a group Spanish InternationalNetwork (SlN) For most of us the actual outage period that has been working with Southern is offeringon WESTARll a numberof will run around 15-21minutes of de- Satellite'sEd Taylor. hours daily of live televisionprogram- gradedreception with total outage last- ming from MexicoCity. This includes ing for a coupleof minuteson 'Weathervane' eachof The new service will both film features,live drama and sport. two-threedays. involve a staff of 8 accredited meter- ing events as well as news. The XEW With F1 lower on our horizon,the ologists and a considerablebackup created '24 Horas' newscast is one of time in Octoberwhen the sun outage staff which will preparegraphs, maps, the most professionally done news can be expected will come later than charts and audio commentary of segments in Western Hemisphere in 1977;dates in the middle to latter weatheron a local, state, nationaland televisiontoday, and it is this '24 Horas' portion of October will be common. even worldwidebasis for display via feed which the f irst terminalin Mexico And with F1 further west, ratherthan the cable service.One of the unique will be receiving. the outage happeningtrom 1:30to 2:30 aspects of the new exclusively-for- The SCT is still somewhat unsure (as a time frame) the outage will be in cableweather service will be a toll free how '800 exactly the arrangement might the 3:30 to 5:00 PM time span for number'which viewersmay call work;under Mexican law all microwave most systems. lf you have never wit- for customized weather reports and communicationsystems are installed nessed a solar outage,you might want predictionsfor specific locations(of either by the government and owned to checkwith someonelike Comoucon their choosing)around the world.The by the government,or, installed (and 'real-time' to determine the exact dates at your servicewill be an on-going paid for) by the user but owned (i.e. location and then take a peek. Watch- servicewith constantuodates and no donated to) by the government. The ing otherwise good signals get buried repeats. Provisions for local system preliminaryapproval for the first Mexican in thermalnoise is a little bit exciting. inserts (2 minutes out of each 30) and terminalis along those lines;the end 'cueing' lf you happento havethe abilityto chart- automatic of the local inserts user will purchase,install and pay for record the passage of the sun (by re- by the cable system'sequipment are the terminalbut it will be owned by the cordingthe thermalnoise through your includedin lhe program. government.The user (who prefers not receiver)we would like to hear from to be identifiedat this time) is hope- you;we are attemptingto enlist a group Charges tor the new service are ful that beforethe terminalis installed of volunteers to do this from several expectedto be in the nickleper home that the governmentownership require- spots in the country. per monlh region. Service start date ment may change since the terminal will be dependentupon the availability will be for receiving purposes only of a 6.2 MHz sub-carrieron the San (therationale for governmentownership Francisco/OaklandKTVU (indie)trans- is that normal microwave 'systems' The Listings ponder which is currentlybetore the have both transmit and receivecaoabi- While this issue of CATJ contains FCCf or approval. lities). an extensivesatellite by satellitelist- ing of video transpondersin service, for those concerned only with the satelliteactivities on primary-for-CATV the bird SATCOMF1 here is an abbreviated versionof that information. The present line-up on SATCOM 1 and the services they provide or are scheduledto be providingby October f irst is as follows: Transponder Service 2 PTL 4 (broken-noservice) q vrSTAR(.) 6 WTCG b CBN I MSGE(..) 10 SHOWTIME/mountain, west 12 SHOWTIME/east, central '14 KTBN/Trinity 16 FANFARE 't8 HTN(' ..) 20 HBO/reserve 22 HBO/mountain,west z4 HBO/east,central And the asterisks.'-VISTAR is sche- duled to begin 10 hours per day on I ThcTD-100 byCRC Eleclronics, Inc. -o transponder 5 October first with o limitedevening sports duringSeptem- TIME DELAYVIDEOCASSETTE CONTROLLER ber;see'The Newly Promised Services' *.-Madison A LOGICAL COMPANION TO ANY EARTH STATION report this issue. Square : Garden Events switching f rom prior transponder20 to new (vertical)trans. \ ponder9 this month.*'*-Home Theater CRCElccfronics,lnc. Network scheduled to begin G, GP (BOB) moviemini-pay service September 4th. P.O. Box 855 Waianae, Hawaii 96752 668-1.227 43 J RADIATION '1978, EffectiveJanuary 1, new rules were put into effect regarding the radiation limits and frequency co- ordination for signals carried on your system. The key frequencies are the guard band (74-76MHz), 108-'136MHz, R.Stelle's and 225-300MHz. AS an appendix to this report is a frequency chart com- piled from a readilyavailable sourcel and presentedin graphicalform. Technologg Beforewe tackle the complexitiesof radiation modes, location of leakage sources and troubleshootingin the system,let's examine the natureof the Corner serviceswhich will be disturbedby a radiationproblem. The immediateneed is to protectthe Aircraft NavigationILS (lnstrumentLanding System), and the air traffic control communications system. The RF portion of the ILS sys- - temconsists of a 75 MHzmarker beacon RaleighB. Stolle Tex systemwhich is amplitudemodulated. The OUTERmarker normally indicates the point at which the localizercourse interceptsthe glide slope. The marker beacons oDerate with a maximum power output of 3 watts into an RALEIGHB. STELLE,lll-now a regularwlth CATJ.Most peoplein the CATV antenna system which directs the industry,and certainlythe maiorityof the technical/operationaltypes, know energy upward.The antennasystem is and havemet Texscan'sRaleigh B. Stelle.Raleigh is one of those unique designedto createa f ield which is 2400 individualswho learnswell and teachesbetter. His Texscantest equipment ft. by 4200 ft. at a height of 1000 ft. seminarshave been carried on throughoutthe industryfor years(as many as a abovethe ground.A iet on approachat dozena year).For three years running (including 1978) Raleigh's contributions 160kts (184.86MPH) will be in the cone to CATAisCCOS have been iust this much shy of yoeman.He comesearly, for about 8.9 seconds if he is on the helpswith the equipmentset ups,conducts a seminaror two on test equip- localizercenterline. The outer marker mentprocedures, and stays late to helpwith the tearingdown' identification is two dashesper second Startingthis monthin CATJRaleigh becomes a staple'His main thrust each continuously.The outer markeris usu- monthwiil be test equipment,test equipmentprocedures and the FCC'srules ally locatedabout 4 to 8 miles from the as theyrelate to testing.Raleigh invites your specific questions and as time approachend of the runway.See Fig. 1. rotls on he has agreedto expandthis columnto includea few questionsand Other markersalso on 75 MHzindicates answerseach month. Address your test relatedquestions to: RaleighB. Stelle' proximity to an airport and denote elo-CATJ.Suite 106, 4209 NW 23rd, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73'107. heightsat whicha decisionis required. Thatdecision is to eithercomplete the approachand land or to execute the 4-8Mr 78 To ' sosris nr too rrs I 000 r 500FT ABOVEGROUND 3500 FT. I 3 SECS@ .66Mt 160KTS I I 2-3' I 2OOFT FT1 .t I I MIDDLEMARKER DECISIONHEIGHI OUfen,r,tenfe n I INTERCEPTGLIDE SLOPE INNERMKR CATII ONtY "COMPASS RUNWAYEND CO LOCATED LOCATOR" GROUNDTEVEL 200-415KHz 25W OMNIDIRECTIONAL ItS MARKER SYSTEM tr 75 MHz U FIGUREONE 44 tI MIDDLE MARKER rrs GUDEsloPE 329.3-335.0llHz FIGURETWO t'he locallzerls a dlrectlonalbeam direct the approachingaircraft to the do not havealtitude (glide slope) infor- which providescourse informationto runway. lt ls useable under certain mation.Only the VOR/DMEapproach appropriate missed approach pro- conditionsup to 20.7 statute miles provides measured distance infor- cedure.These points are normallyat from an airport, and to volumee in- mation for these approaches.Other- 200 ft. above ground for the middle cludingthe coursecenter-line t35' wise, distanceis calculatedbased on marker and 50 ft. above ground for (within 11.5 SM) and at altitudes groundspeedand time from the final specialCategory ll operations. between1000 and 4500ft. aboveground approachfix to the missed approach Thegllde slope le a narow beamslg- level. Thls beam lapers to provlde a point.Since this can produce consider- nal providingcontinuous descent in- "wlndow" 700 ft. wlde at the runway ableerror due to inaccuratewind infor- formationto approachingaircraft. The threshold.The localizeroperates by mation, barometricaltimeter height operatingfrequency range is 329.3to amplitudemodulation and on a fre- control and a less sensitivedirection- 335.0MHz. The cockpit indicationis a quencyof 108.1to'111.9 MHz (20 chan- al control,lt is easyto see why these barwhich commands the pilotor auto. nels,each palred wlth a discreteglide approachesare termed non-precision. "fly pilotto either up" or "fly down"to slopechannel). See Flg.3. The approachminimums for this type maintainproper alignment on theglide The Non-PrecisionApproaches, approachare much higherthan for an path. Aircraft on approach intercept such as VOR, VOR/DMEand ADF, ILS precisionapproach. VOR's also the glideslope at the appropriatealti- operatein a similarfashion except that operatein the 108-118MHz frequency tudeat the outermarker. See Flg. 2. they are not so preciseas the ILS and range. NOTE:CORRECT INDICATIONS UP TO 20.7 SM FROMTRANSMITTER AND COURSE+ I OOFROM CENTER ANDWITHIN I I .5 SMCOURSES CENTER t 35" FLYLEFI 3-6' 4-8 Mi - w o o tf t 3 INNER MIDDIE OUTER o MARKERMARKER MARKER rrsrocAuzEn J Iot.I ro lil.t \ FIGURETHREE 45 U clF Nd NC ^l> rit N< NQ Ko @o Ro Ro U 5 U q ea P:i o -o- I b .eE,e i?{ 9 \ 999 9 XX FN fr fi R FH F HH H R R R R F HF* a! h = RRRRRRKRF HR FH HR H RR F N H =-q >3.9e )u @ .!- EiJEE'Yn {= {: O o dE iC gfi PE @o oo oa NO Nv I J E o.9 u N 1-= o- == x=< x-> 5E! .gu > 3RFilR X P S F RR35$33 3 t 5 3 3 tsSq EEI E3E E!t(TNNNNNNNNN EqE EB8 E E I F a-"c\ E N cL O -d I r> J o o J ine x< = d - E|/| o ( d= ; U U'' o 6 o' E q u Eg o -d:5 -N - O =8gE< c;* 8E H: u -Efit*;;3;d3 ?243 :==E H = (E: *ff: I o@N€oo F N o€6@€ooo 838tb 3BB F PPFp I Fp9:=ii :i: i:3FF il$$ FF cNc 9E< moI tt> oo< ooI u trJ @ o 6 vl o UJ '= '=nE ' o 3=====3 d= = 5 o (J s: U 'F: o F = | , F lil zx $=H -' =t= U JJJ ( o rfi ! s t Er[== ; rT rll *E[i ttl o lal lc- l.l l=. o 1.il|e=r--=E?iilii irEq=Er . ,jti=Ela=T; s ;ii IiI I1J z #au=E-s= =rE=r-liF*r-. lrl f F N d,r''o @ F o s o g = $ g : p g F F 9R F N R X R R N R & g 5 S 3 3 g g 5 B g3 5 $ UJ . d, l! u 6 .1 3 ov o Ro u U @ 6 :! Ea 385 3 B B E I3 3 3 8 5 3I P F s<->RR I q g = NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO $ $ $ H EHfig3 5 S $ $ s 5 3 g E U @ {E 3v 3= Kz Ro o ir cir cic tst tuo No oo 3o =o U = o 9c E --=?o c o - 060- - == .^=PEIE >.9 _ = & 'Y!X 6qUj lll t! U 6 NO Ro Ro Ro Rr c,aE cic -t tsE ; oo oo :o oo = U 6 3;" c!o +;: o NO qo E?! qo do - F 604 o l. = I o YB J !l o: UR o,.! U ooo 9 3E (J:^ F OU E q U z.- >q a>: o S*- lc! = i -) \=/ ix 95tr -c 4 d 5 d r Eo = qo il6- ts6F ., d 5il E===<== I t INITIALAPPROACH FIX NON PRECISIONAPPROACH, VOR FIGUREFOUR 118' communicationband, 118'136 importanceduring radar controlled cationsfrequencies involved are The with the is almostequally vital. The pilot approaches.The highly publicized PAR 136 MHzand 225'400MHz, MHz usedby the has extremelyprecise and well esta- (PrecisionApproach Radar) or GGA higherfrequencies being blished proceduresin the event of iGroundControlled Approach) is no military. interferencegene- communicationfailure. Via the com' iongerin use by civilianairports. The It is obviousthat the pilot re' military,however, uses those techni' rated in these frequencYbands is municationschannels, yet,no major altitudesand head' ques extensively.A communications potentiallydisastrous. As ceivesclearances, due to inter- ing information,traflic and weather interruptionof 1 to 2 secondscan be incidentshave occurred cable systems.. .but, advisories.In theapproach segment of disastrouswhen PAR is in use. Civil ferencefrom says.. .lf it can happen, the flight,the vectoringand altitude airportsdo sometimesoffer ASR (non- Murphy'sLaw informationis vital! Remember,dis' orecisionradar approach) approaches eventuallyit will! is being consumedat 269 ft/ whichhave high landingminima and tance we will lookat TheCable miles/minute!(These are usuallyare reservedfor loss-of-navi- Nextmonth sec. or 3.06 a potentialsource of des- numbers,based on an aP' gationcases. The controllerand pilot Systemas minimum radiationto air-navigationand proachspeed of 160kts.) communicateconstantly during both tructive air-communication systems. Communicationsare ol Paramount typesof radarapproach. The communF INITIALAPPROACH MINIMUM DESCENTALTITUDE -+ LDISTANCE CALCULATIDBY ,...... --l- I I TIME/GROUNDSPEED I I I so,urrtivtEsDME FRoM voR #l t INITIALAPPROACH FINALAPPROACH FIX I Ftx; voR #l INTERSECTIONOF I MISSED VOR #I & #2 COURSES APPROACH POINT NON PRECISION APPROACH VOR F FIGUREFIVE 48 { for our tower.mounted arrays. rrlllrrrlrll r I I HE'S ARRNING AT I I CABLE SYSTEMS I I AtL ACROSS I t I I I Iq> r I lt-. I I I I I I T I r You can get them in single bays, yertical stacks, stagger stacks lm;r+il'*"ffiv= or staggor.stecked quads! I tt* only rvbndaytrough Friday, I I pimerirne,lourpriced,G ard PC I For 25 yearsSITCO has designed arrays to withstandthe severeelements I *u=" pa^age oeln€recr of weatherconditions and to givetop performancethroughout the world. on a I All arraysare cut to channeland includeall the requiredinstallation I tugu- scneoue Dy saeune. I materialsfor mastor towermounting. Phone or writetoday and give us !! ^uu,,uoretrom I yourrequirements. We'll give you the bestarrays 25 years of experience I HOMETHEATER NETWORK I canproduce. 10330N.E. Marx St. P.O.Box 20456 ir'ii'$ifli"iii4fli= SITCOPortland,Oregon97220 Al.lTEIS{ASPhone:(503)253-2OOO TheGRTY Filter GHRMPI0IlS Havellone it 0g3gj The"gID-BR1{D TWIJ{s" il lDB A ll DP[ SS(*34 3t t- 12olrs6) Passes12O-1 56 mhz with 50db SuppressionO-1o8/175-3oo I MI DBA il DSIOr (#ll gOS - tzofise) Suppresses12O-t56mhr with 50db t Passes O-1o8/175-3oO 0l coursewe do94!1911 things,too- [ite: pe ( - ! ! gnn9l Drop rs. Band pa ss Vlt t/U il f ). I i QTra ps ( V H r/U il t ) lly'lo Pass.Co.Ghannel Iliminators. Sound Reducers TT\ -/ ICROWAVE | | lrrr-ren Gota toughproblem? l{eed Action? Call Eill Zajac -tl J J'C o^rtont.'n.. NYS r-800-962-7965 6743 KINNE STREET.EAST SYRACUSE. N€W YORX 13057 oTHER STATES 1-800,448-r666 f time (suchas nooneastern) on a regu- lar dayeach week (such as Thursday or Friday),CSM (see-l'm doing it all ready!) is to be produced here in Oklahomawith the cooperationof the Universityol Oklahoma,and it is get- coopera- l^ tingonto F1 with thg support, GdoflDes tion and directassistance of Ed Taylor '- at SouthernSatellite Systems. Ed, like us,feels that unlesswe as an industry try new and innovativeapproaches to our own fast changingtechnology we Gebfle cannot hope to surviveas a competi- tuay tivemedium. l\- It \ I Now back to the communicatlon problem.The whole premise of CSM )'{ (OK-l give up) is to providea forum throughwhich the industrycan talk wlth itself. Note it says with not to (itself).CSM is a vehiclefor expression, hoh cooper editor in chiel dialogueand just a bit of 'hardnews'. The lateritem is the kind of stuff you CA readCablevlslon or VUEto pick up on. We don't Intondto be competitiveto the twice-a-monthnews magazines althoughthe weeklyformat suggests thatthere could well be a few minutes of their line of hardnews included in the CSM telecastsin the interestof stayingcurrent within the industry. The forumwill work something like this. We havealready begun putting in the can (that's TV productiontalk for pre- taping) short magazine-likefeatures dealingwith field strengthmeter use (Raleigh Stelle of Texscan has consentedto do arounda dozenfive to WeeklyOn The Bird DavidBrinkley; and truthfully the situa- ten minutepieces for us on test equip- Most of the telephonecalls and tion calls for being relaxed,not pro- ment procedures),TVRO site trouble letters receivedhere after CCOS '78 fessional.The viewing audienceis shooting,and system powering. Pretty seemedto agreethe television medium generallyspeaking smail, primarily dry stuff when it comesto the contro- is indeed a very useful and perhaps made up of other cable peoplewith versialworld we all live in...but the forcefulmedium by which the cable whom you would be comfortablein stuff that the industryis madeof, and industrycan conductits internalbusi- personso whynot via the tube? needsto get backto. nessalfairs. Like any first effort of the magnitudeof the CCOSuplink there Outof CCOS'78came the proof I had Thenwe are schedulingsome long wereof coursetechnical glitches and beensearching for that this industry visits with pioneerssuch as Oliver personnelbugs. All ol thesecould be does a lousy job of communicating Swanin Arizona;with the helpof AGE correctedwith infinite time and money; wlthlnour own industry.We havefour TV's DanaAtchley we will be visiting a luxurythat you simplycannot afford or f,ivemagazines and a bevyof trade Oliverthis fall and taping several hours on a once-a-yearshot. showsthat woulddo prideto an NBA of Oliver'smagic in the rural back leagueteam schedule.But, with rare countryof Arizona.We will be putting The technlcal accompllshmentol exception,we spend most of this out20 lo 30minute segments from this CCOS'supllnk aslde, the most impres- media-timetalking to ratherthan talk- visit and insertingthem into CSM as sivething to me hadto be the manner ing wlthone another. There is a subtle feature reoorts over a several week in whichthe seminarprogram partici- but importantdif f erence, I feel, period.In a waywe'll be expandingthe pants handledthemselves before the betweenthe two and I am just naive confinesof our CATJin-depth reports peeringeye of the 1 inch IVCplumbi- enoughto believethat a betterindustry to video reportingwhere you as an 'oncameras. To a man,almost without mightresult if we chooseto focuson industryperson can becomea formof exception,people who were selected that difference. participantin ourvisits with the people to be in the seminarsessions came The tool to do this is so obviouswe whomake this industry click. acrosswell. relaxedand with a mini- keeptripping over it. The bird. So far we are talkingto you,not with mum amountof amateurishness.And you.So here'sour f irstcrack at solving let's face facts.. .almost without Starting in October (possiblythe that one. Manystate and regionalas- exceptionthis was a first-timeexperi- weekof the 16thto the20th) we will be sociationshave been inviting CATA's encefor the 80 or so seminarsession directingyour way a weeklyone hour ExecutiveDireclor Steve Effros to ap- participants;we all spenda greatdeal programvia SATCOMF1. The program pearat their meetingsand participate of timewatching the tubebut veryfew will be called "CATJ'SSatelllte Maga- in a panelor addressthe group.We'd of us spendany time insidethe glass zine" whichwill probablybe shortened liketo seemore of this.. .notbecause 'CATA envelope. to simply"Magazine" or even"CSM" Steverepresents the view' but beforelong. This one hour per week morebecause everyone needs to hear A lew partlclpantsexpressed ad- shot will be releasedto the industry bothsides of the variousissues before tr vancedfears to us concerninghow well throughsome readily-receivabletrans- us so thatan informeddecision can be Q they would do; a naturalanxiety but ponder(such as 20 but a definite an- madewhen required. We recentlysent in most casesan unfoundedfear. Not nouncementon this will be another out a letter to all state and regional everyonecan be a JohnnyGarson or a month) at a hard-scheduledregular associationssetting out the ground 48-B t -;'r,i1r ^ni{Hi "Novylgon reqchpopulqtion pockets withoutemptyitig my o#nl' "Loleto hod 195potentiol subscribers, Som soyshe opensthe receiversso seldom chonnelmicrowove systems, write Hughes Hydesville,190. Thot's pleniy if you con lhey're oflen coveredwith cobwebs. CommunicotionsProducts, P.O. Box 2999, 1 reochthem economicolly,"soys SomShults, HughesAML receiversore coble pow- Torronce,CA 90509.Or coll (213) 534-2146. Presidentof RedwoodCoble Vision in ered ond designedto work outdoorsfrom We'd like to help populotionpockets f ill your Fortuno, -40o a Colifornio.And thot'sexoctlv whot F to l2Oo F.Although Som is trons- oockets. Somdid. He reochedthese ond other smoll mitting nine chonnels,AML syslemshove AML Conodiondistributor: Micro-Sot communitieseconomicolly ond profitobly 4O-chonnelcopocity wiih VHF input ond VHF Communicotions,Lid., 975 BrockRd. South, with o HughesAML microwove sysrem output.So when Somodded two chonnelsto Pickering,Ontorio, Conodo LlW3A4. feeding 50%miles of oerioldistribution. hiStronsmitter in 1976,he didn't even hove (4r6)839-5182. Eventhough receiversiles ronge from berry lo louch his AML receivers. Leanon the leaderto keepahead. poichesto ihe secondfloor of o doiry, Theseond other odvonlogesof AML servicerequirements ond downtime hove microwoveore lhe resultof fourth-generotion beenminimol since instollotionin 1972. provendesign i xuCxeiI fl',liif,ilfi1fi.* by Hughes.There ore now more ----'j PRooutrs thon 6000 video chonnelsbeing distributed !ouo-rr*-.rril u- by HughesAML receiversoround the world. Coll our servicenumber ony4ime,ooy or For more informotionon Huohesmulti- night: (213) 534-2170 f rules for their participating CSM. lrom coastto coast.. .". Havingcreated the forum and having Hereis what we said: Now we aretalking with one another; suggesteda mechanismwhereby state "lf you will bring SteveEffros to your not merelyto one another.Now we are and regional associations (and their meeting and assist him in locating providinga forum whereby all cable members) can participate, let's carry someonein your area with 3/4 inch operators,attending their own stateor this one step further.Let's suppose that (live) Sony tape production equip- regionalmeetings, will be ableto voice the NorthDakota association meets with- ment.. such as a porta-paksystem their concerns,beliefs and fears about out benefit of Steve Effros. ls Effros . . .Stevewill usethat equipmentwhile the issuesbefore this industryto all of mandatory to get access to the CSM your guest to creale a video tape re- the industry,on a nationalbasis. lt is a forum? No, not at all. We happento port on your meeting for CSM. The rather bold. new step in communi- believethat as our'roving correspon- tape,forwarded back to CSM,will then cation.The cameraand the microohone dent' he will assure a degree of co- be edited into the next availableCSM arepowerf ul toolsand after some thirty hesivenessto the projectwhich may be uplink program and in this way the years of helping the broadcasters difficult to acquireif everyonewings it views of your state area or regional spreadthat power around the time has on their own, but if North Dakota meeting, on matters affecting our comefor us as an industryto try,in our decides to tape a report to CSM and induslrytoday, will be shared nalion- own small way,to capturesome of that send it along on 3/4 inch Sony format ally via satellitewith cable operators force for our own. taoe.it will be consideredfor CSM use on its own merits. Havingstepped down from the "Ef- fros requirement",how aboutstepping down one further step to the local system level. Can a system owner or manageror engineernot go into his own studio,turn on the camerasand tape a commentor two of his own for CSM?Affirmative once again.lt is dia- logue amongst the industry we are interestedin; not the mechanicsof how it arriveshere. Could not a system in'no.vc'lorwith what the system considers to be an innovativebit of localorigination or a clevertechnical tip or innovationalso 1Y 1J- | share it with the industry via CSM? (in'o.vat.or Again a positive answer. That's what ) we hope CSM will grow into as it "magazine matures;a veritable for the n. One who beqins or cableindustry". Havingbrought the individualsystems startssomething new. into the CSM format can we afford not to extend the same privilegesto the LRC Electronics hos been the innovqtor ol mony CATV con- suppliersto the industry?Again the nector ond connector reloted developments. LRC wqs lirst answeris obvious.Yes of coursesuo. with the hex crimp qnd the qttqched lerrule hex crimp on pliers should have the opportunityto "make connectors. A problem in the Europeon mqrket led LRC to theirpoints" on CSM. the development of the entry extension connector, onother We'll have some shakeymoments at first. LRC wqs olso lirst with Vq inch crimp rings. And when first; just as we did with CCOS.There the need lor tomper proof trops becqme evident LRC wqs will bethe doubtingThomases who will Iirst with the Security Shield. rub their crystal balls and see the It's LRC's engineering know-how ond unrivqled product whole project failing; perhaps miser- quolity thqt hos convinced hundreds oI CATV system own- ably.We, however,have the same spirit and dedicationabout "CATJ's Satellite ers, operotors ond engineers to select LRC connectors qnd '78 other products. Contoct the innovotors ot LRC lor complete Magazine"as we did with the CCOS informqtion. uplink project and the will to see it through. We have prepared a set of guidelinesin pamphletform for anyone who might be interested(initially or IrRC down the road a piece)in participating in or contributingto CSM.This sets out n.The CATV Connector Speciolists. the technicalformats, the rules (there are a few) and it explains how you should submit materialfor airing on CSM.lt is freeto anyonewriting to me here at CATJ;simply requesta copy of the "CSM Operations Pamphlet" and we'llget you a copy. For nearly thirty years the cable ELECTRONICS, I NG. industry has been generously pro- IRC vidingour own mediumto enhanceand 901 SOUTH AVE., pHOf{E expand the fortunes of others. The HORSEHEADS,N.y. 14845 607-739-3844 '78 AVAILABLtlN EUR0PtTHRI.J: Electro Servrce N.V., Kterne Nreuwendrlk 40, I 28OOMrcheten, BelBrum CCOS uplink demonstrated how CANADATHRU: I lectrotineTV Iquromenl,M0ntreat. Quebec well the same medium can be out to F work for our industry'senhancement. Now let's all get behindCSM to build U on the first efforts of the CCOS '78 uplink. lt is simply too good an op- portunityto passup. 50 TETHMT4LTEPITS EnjoyedBeing On TV in the warm rays of CATA'ssuccess, is readyfor the uplinkto SATCOMl. Don "i really enjoyed the opportunity to to takenote of allof the littlesacrifices jumped into the center of the frey as share some of the work we've been and acts of total unselfishnessthat soonas he arrivedat Fountainheadand doing these past yearswith the opera- madethis imoossibledream come true. pulledit all togetherfrom the structure tors through CCOS '78. I was pleased The CCOS participants,both cable erection through operationand then at the numberof folks who 'tuned in' operators and associates-and even afterwards the breakdown of the an- and apparentlygot some insightsinto the few people who were on vacation tenna after programming was financialplanning for their own sys- and not even a oart of the cable in- completed.lf there was any one indi- tems. Needlessto say your accomplish- dustry-gave freely of their time and vidual who could be named as indis- ments in putting it all togetherand on laborto put the uplinkantenna struc- pensible it would have to be Don the bird caught the eyes of the entire ture togetherand raise the 11 meter Pidgeon.Without his knowledgeand industry and strongly demonstrated dish into position.Many of the CATA experienceit could not have been the abilityof the industry,particularily associatescame out to the uplinksite done. Don, like many of us, worked CATA,to utilizethe tull capacityof the and wouldwait aroundfor hoursas we continuouslyover the five day period technologythe industryhas fostered. laboredto identify defectiveparts that with littleor no rest.standing side-by- So what the heck are you going to do we needed to replace to make the side with us throughfrustrations, per- nextyear to top this?" uplink operational.These people pro- sonalrisk and nearexhaustion. I know GaryA. Dent vided the test equipment that was of any numberof peoplein the cable GaryA. Dent & Associates required from time-to-time,and even industrywho feelDon must be the best Dallas,Texas 75208 more astounding,would actuallytear satelliteengineer in the world today. down the equipmentthey had brought RCAis certainlyfortunate, and must be What about CCOS '79? Would you to CCOSfor demonstrationand sale to very proud,to havethis man on their believe two birds? Why stop with two provideus with partsto get the uplink payroll. when we might use three or four! One operational.I can recallnumerous oc- There were so many other people thing for sure...it gets tougher and casions when nobody at the station who made contributions;some large, tougherto top ourselvesas the yearsgo area had the specific item that was manymore small, and all important.We on. Sooneror laterwe are going to catch neededbut somehow knew somebody who workedon the projectknow who up to technology. else attendingCCOS who might have you are and we thank you from the the item needed;and they would go bottoms of our heartsfor your generosity LaunchingA CATASatellite and get that personout of at 4:30in "Another bed andsupport. super-successfulCCOS is the morningto try to locatethe replace- And thenthere must be extra-soecial behind us and I for one am already ment parts. In every instancethe party mention for Tony "Diller Hair" Bickel wonderingwhat crazy ideas you will awakenedfrom a night's sleep and who proved how wrong those few dream up in your nightmaresfor CCOS arose and came with parts re- people '79. up the were when they said it could Somewhere along the line we quired without complaint 'Can about the not be done. I know there must have should run out of You Too This': strangehour or the personalloss they been times when even Tony felt the but I wouldn'tbet on it. experiencedto do so. non-believersmight be right; but he I know we tried to thank everyone A very special thanks is due Don never gave up and maintained an who contributedto the successof the Pidgeonof RCA AmericanCommuni- amazingpace from beginningto end. satelliteuplink terminal but I am sure cations, Inc. who's only tunction Tryingto sum it all up in a few words I we probably missed a few here and should havebeen to verifythe quality would have to say this was an experi- there.Most importantlyas we all glow of the uplinksignal when it was finally enceof a lifetime.lt simplyproves that Don'tput Before you decide on your money lender, consider Firstmark. For ovellg years, Firstmark Financial has provided the resources and professional guidance to cable operatorsacross the counlry. Competitive rates coupled with repaymentterms up to 12 years offer you the financialflexibility thelock on you'relooking for. For a confidentialanalysis of yourfinancial requirement, calI PhiI Thoben at (317) 638-1 331. Firctma* ts CabteFinance. your o ,ilAil$tls 3 Beforeyou - lF,rstrarkFmancnl ji checkthe Firstmark FinancialCorporation @_Master! CommuncittronsFnarnce Drv llOE WilshrnctlainSl ndirnapors N 46204 \ 317/6381331 51 f when you have alot of technical know- DidThey Like Me? ledge, unfailinglabor and toil, and a "Applied Data Research sincerely touch of magic,that even the impos- appreciatedthe opportunity to partici- siblecan beaccomolished. pate in CCOS '78 and to put on a semi- I certainlydon't wantto overlookthe nar session dealing with CATV system other areas of CCOS that so well use of low cost computer technology. complimentedthe uplink terminalef- We receivedan excellentreceotion and fort. The television crew headed by are off to a good start in the industry Dana Atchley from ACE TV certainly thanks to CCOS. We look forward to deservesa big orderof plauditsfor the being active in CATA and we will cer- excellentjob they did in putting their tainly be at CCOS '79. The idea of the end all togetherin the face of many uplink was tremendouslyinnovative unusual adversities.They have every and it showedwhat an organizationcan right to be proud of their accomplish- do when it outs its mind to the task at ment of producingmore than twenty hand. As an aside, if a VTR tape copy hours of television from the barest of can be procured from my uplink pre-' toolsand the most unskilledof partici- sentation,we would appreciatehaving pants. some copies. lt might make a good The seminar participantsdid their salestool, if I wasany good that is!" usual fantastic job; even though most JosephA. Mannino of them had never before been faced AppliedData Research Inc. with twin TV color lelevisioncameras Princeton,N.J.08540 peering into their inner souls under just searingstudio lights.They made the You did fine Joe. lt will take us a programs enioyable, informative and tew months to sort out the tapes but they the famous Cooper atmosphere kept are all masleredon 3/4 inch Sony format everything lighthearted and even and laterthis lall somesegments will be entertaining.The technical crew availableon either 3/4 inch Sony or 112 headed up by Gayland Bockhahn kept inch Betamaxformat lor those who may the terrestrial system running be interesied. smoothly and the advance planning they had done for the in-housedistri- WantsRichardson Address bution system and the exhibit hall "We tuned in oortionsof the CCOS madethings much easierfor everyone Seminaron the satelliteand were very concerned.How you manageto get all interestedin the low-costGunnolexer of these people to volunteer their portion.I didn'tget the addressof Bob efforts year after year is in itself Richardsonwho did such a great job amazingI Pete Warren and Alex explaininghow to put the Gunnplexer Blomerthfrom InternationalChristian video packages together; he men- Televisionwould havedone more than tioned that he was coming out with their part by providingthat wonderful an extensive'GunnplexerCookbook' $200,000color television production laterthis fall. Can you tell me how to van; but when Pete and Alex worked get in touchwith Bob Richardson?" side by side at every step of the way JohnSwelnis with us to get the video production Mt. LebanonCATV 'tuned gear up' and with Pete's very Pittsburgh,Pa. knowledgeablehelp in the uplinkelec- 15228 tronics area, well, lhey are truly great We've had more letters and lelephone gentlemen. Christian calls about lhe Richardsonseminar pass There really isn't any way to sessionsthan any other single uplink along to CelesteRule and her office program. For those who want to contact staff sufficientthanks or recognitionfor ihe very talented Richardson,his job the outstanding of keeping so address is: (Bob Richardson),P.O. Box many loose ends from being freyed or 1065, Chautauqua,New York 1 4722.For tattered. thosein a hurry,his telephonenumber is you CongratulationsCoop; did it 716-753-2654. again. However if the rumors I hear aboutyour planningto launcha CATA Other RequestedAddresses '79 satelliteduring CCOS in Wisconsin Many others have called or written .well, are true.. don't call me; l'll call for full names and addressesof other you ". ! people who aPPeared in the CCOS RalohHaimowitz uplink program. Here are a few of the Director, CATA District4 more frequently requestednames and Sebastian,Florida 32958 addresses: The problem with publishing your 1) Rod Wheeler from Whitehorse, lellersRalph is that you neverleave room Yukon (he's the fellow with the 'lines'; for any great you use them all. $2700non-CATV 24 channel tune- Tony Bickel teels uncomfortablewith a able receiver for privateterminal '1979 launch date for a CATA satellite use) can be reached at Northern but he doesn'trule 1980out. We all know Satellite Systems Ltd., No. 203' ihat in 1979we will be in LakeGeneva, 4103 4th Avenue, Whitehorse, Wisconsinand that's not an ideal loca- YukonY1 A 1H6, Canada. tion to launch from. There is a move 2) Oliver Swan had some $175 high '80 underwayto scheduleCCOS ai Cape current capacity (20 watt) solar tr Kennedy/Canaveral.However the specu- cell arrays.You can reach Oliver U lation that this indicates we will be at Swan Antenna ComPanY,P.O. launchingour own bird in 1980 is the Box 5378. Bisbee.Arizona 85603 sheerestof wild guessing;for now. (602-432-5526\. 52 FederalRegister Delended 3) The session dealing with TVRO system proofing mentionedusing "Your Satellite Technology News a coaxial switch to allow you to section is excellent and virtually the switch between a vertical and sole source of current transoonder horizontal feedline on an ortho- activity information. However your coupler equipped terminal polemics are occasionallydifficult to antenna. One such switch avail- pass by without comment. In parti- able is the MicrowaveAssociates cular, your editorialcomment in the '. MA7524-PND;a one input/twoout- June issue that someone . .assign a put port N fitting switch that is gal 2 hours per day to go through the good (that means flat) through 12 (Federal)Register just to pick out the GHz. Contact J. Duke Brown at CATVrelated material. . .'. Microwave Associates. 63 Third Frankly, I have my own, personal Avenue,Burlington, Ma. 0'l803. subscription to the Federal Register becauseit is the quickest,least expen- sive and most convenientway to find going MakeTheir Own GaAs-FETs out what is on in the Govern- "l ment-including the FCC! Becauseall recently read your July issue of Federalactions must be oublished in CATJ and found the Satellite Tech- the FR, it is a foolproofway to not miss nology News section of particular in- anything.lt is alsovery well indexed- terest. On page 59 you indicate that 'nobody within each issueand annually.lt takes according to your sources is me about 15 seconds to check if there using U.S.manufactured GaAs FETs in is a CATV related materialin an issue. the f irst stage of a 3.7 to 4.2GHz LNA'. To suggest that the process takes I would like to take this opportunity to two hours is a disserviceto the Federal point out that Avantekdoes produce 3.7 Registerpeople who really attempt to to 4.2 GHz LNAs which utilize U.S. cut down on needless federal manufacturedGaAs FETs, and these paperworkand producea well indexed, are in fact Avantek-manufacturedGaAs reasonablyreadable publication." FETs.All production1.5 dB (120degree A.M.Tony Rutkowski K) noise figure amplifiers manu- CableTelevision Bureau o rf"* i F factured by Avantekuse AvantekGaAs Federal Communications Com- !.9:i!9 ai 1 FETdevices. mision - = ===-- = = Avantek is. of course. known in the Washington,D.C.20554 rt ,! GATV industry for its family of test O O i=i'; instruments. What some of your Good grief Tony. We siand corrocted. We'll modifyour June commentto now readersmay not realizeis that Avantek ". €fili?! = i€ is also a malorsupplier of transistorized read . .a federal bureaucrat totally LNAs for both wideband and narrow- familiar with the Federal Registercan ?tr ri band applications.Since 1965Avantek locate matter relating to CATV in the v;P-*4 has supplied state-of-the-artamplif iers FR in 15 secondstime: but for the rest = =' par". to the communicationsindustry. In of us, two hours is about Fair I: l===: 1968 Avantek establishedan in-house enough? -l semiconductor facility to supply its tE::==iJ=E=---- own device needs. In 1974 we began Coop's Poop =-- supplyingLNAs to the industryusing "My main complaint with the CCOS -fl *€FFgr; our own GaAs FETs. Avantek also '78 uolink telecast was that there was markets transistors and we recently too much of 'Coop's Poop' on the introduced the first GaAs FET to that schedule.Otherwise it was great". line of devices. We hope you will be R.V.Golby able to adequatelyexpose your readers Chicago,lllinois to this additionaldata regardingthe state of (TVRO)LNAs so they might In defenseof the frequent appearance consider purchases with the appro- of Coop on the telecast. He was sche- priateconf idence in U.S.technology." duled to be on the 'PrivateTerminal' RobertC. Mullaley sessionand one 'How's The Healthof VP,Telecommunications Division Fl?' session. That was it. However he Avantek,Inc. was also responsible for seeing that SantaClara, California 95051 come hell, high water, or busted IPA Correction noted. The U.S. ability to stages that the whole shindig came olf create 1/2 micron GaAs FETs with relatively smoolhly. To insure that adequate parametersto allow the GaAs there be no 'dead air' time on th6 bird FETsto be utilizedin 120 degreeKelvin or during the 8:00AM to 1:30PM period LNAs is a key developmentin the future Bob went into the studio on the of large scale production of LNA devices Saturdayand Sunday prior to the CCOS for TVROapplications. The LNA remains and taped several 20 minute interyiews part people the most critical ol the TVROinstaF with various such as Stevo o lation and while your own ability to pro- Birkill of England, Rod Wheeler of the duce GaAs FETs is welcome news Yukon, Guy Roumainof Tele Haiti and o indeed, we are as a fasi developinguser so on. These were held in the prc' 'emergency of TVRO services not out of the woods duction yan as tapes' to be o yet. We'll know when the crunch is off utilized in the event of some technical : . . .LNA shipments will become 'off-ihe- failure in the video production area. lt J shelf' and prices will drop to under turned out that all of these got run at \ $1,000for 120 degree K units. Anyone leasl once at some point in time as car6 to guess-timatehow lar we are from 'panic fill material';a decision usually that point? made by the program producer Dana 53 a Atchley lll when some emergency pretentious;not a place for stuffed especiallyfrom some of the'star' arose.We figured havingsomething up shirts to hang out. . .a uniquely de- oersonalities." was better than dead air. But loo much centralizedstyle and format...CCOS Jim K.Vines '78 Coop, like too much rich food, is hadsoul!' Paraframe probablynot good for anyone's consti- Beingable to watchthe seminarson ParkForest, lllinois 60466 tution! my lodge room TV with a cassette recorderat my side was one unique Jim Vines is one of those peoplewho thing about CCOS. The decentrali- are pushing the limits of satellitetech- zation seemedto enhancethe CCOS nologythese days. Vines has working 1 0- Freeldeas Prevailed shirt sleeveatmosDhere. Ted Turner's '15foot redwood lramed screen grid re- "Here are my impressionsof CCOS remarks at the CCOS had flectorswhich he plans '78. bar-b-oue to offer with 0.1 In 50 words or less.. .'the most whatCCOS itself had. . .soul. inchtolerances (il can be done)for 4 GHz exciting, business show of any kind As a sourcefor new ideasCCOS was private terminals this fall. As Jim that I've ever seen.. .a place not only ecclectic.Free trade in ideasorevailed. progresseswe'll keep you advisedof yet for making contacts but also for ex- In the yearthat follows cable operators another approach to'lower cost changing ideas...dynamicyet un- will be ableto sortout whatthev heard. antennas'in the TVROf ield. ln recognition of the untiring support given to the nation'sCATV operators,and their never-endingquest for advancementof the CATV art, the COMMUNITYANTENNA TEIEVISION ASSOCIA- TION recognizeswith gratitude the efforts of the following equipment and service sup- e!.!gtj-!g.thg-cgblgtelevision industry, who have been aicoiaea nssoctATEMEMBER STATUSin CATA.lNC. AEL.lNC , CArV C0MMUNICATI0NS DlV.,P.0. Box 552, Lansdale, PA19446, (Ml, 52) 215-822-2929 , AmerrComSatellite Network, lnc, 6350LBJ Freeway, Suite 148, Dallas, IX(S4) 214-341-4502 Anirter-Pruzan,Inc.,P.0. Box 88758, Tukwila Branch, Seattle, WA. 98188 (Dl) 206-251-6760 AppliedData Research, Inc.,Route 206 Center CN-8, Princeton, NJ08540 (M9) 609-921.8550 Avantek,lnc.. 3175 BowersAvenue, SantaClara, CA 95051 (M8) 408-249-0700 BeldenCorp., Electronic Division, P.0. Box 1327, Richmond, lN473/4 (M3) 317-956"6661 8ESI0NELECIR0NICS. lNC.,903 South Kansas Ave., 0lathe, KS 66061 (M9 Character Generators) 913-i64.764.1900 EestvisionHome Cinema. Inc., 5540 W. Glendale Ave., Suite C-106, Glendale, Az.85301 lS9 Pay.TV programming andma*eting 602-931-9157 BL0NDER-I0NGUILABORAT0RlES,One JakeBrown Rd., Old Bridge, N.J. 08857 (Ml, M2, M4, M5, M6, M7) 201-679-4000 BR0ADBANDENGINEERING, lNC.,1525 Cypress Dr.,Jupiter, FL33458 (D9, replacemeni parts) 1.800-327-6690 Budco,Incorporated, P.0.Box 4593, Tulsa, 0K 74120 (D9 Securitt & ldentification devices) 918-584-l I 15 CableIV Su pply Com pany, I I 505 West Jelferson Blvd., Cu lver City, CA 90230 (Dl, D2, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, D8, M5, M6) 2 I 3-390"8002 CCSHATFIELD/CATV DlV.,5707 W. Buckeye Rd., Phoenix, AZ.85063 (M3) 201*2i2-3850 C.CORELECTR0]{lCS, Inc.,60 Decibel Rd.. State College, PA16801 (Ml, M{, M5, Sl, 52, 58) 814-238.2461 Centurylll Electronics, Inc.,3880 [. [agleDrive, Anaheim, CA92807 (Ml, M3, M4, M5, M7, M8, Sl, 52, 58) 630-3714 C0LLINSC0MlvlERClAL TELECOMIVIUNICATI0NS, MP-402-101,Dallas, TX75207 (M9, Microwave) 214-690-5954 COMlvl/SCOPtCOMPANY. Rt.I, Box199A, Catawba, NC28609 (M3) 704-241.3142 C0lvllVlUNlCATl0NSEQUIIYASS0CIATES, 651Lincoln Center, 5401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL33609 (S3) 813-877-8844 cOlvlPUIERvlDtO SYSTEMS, lNC.,suite E, 6290 McDonough D.,Norcross, GA30093 (M9) 404-449-3800 Comsearch,Inc., 2936 Chain Bridge Rd., 0akton, \A 22124(S8, 59 earth station placement frequency coordination) 703-281.5550 ComSoncis,lnc.,P.0. Box I 106,Harrisonburg, VA22801 (M8, M9, SE, Sg) 703-434-5965 CR C ELECTR0NICS. lNC..P.0. Box 855, Waianae, Hl96792 (M9 Videotape Automalion Equipment) 808-668.1227 CustomBuilding Products, Inc.. P.0. Box 32231, 0kla. City, 0K 73132, (Sg, Underground Boring Equip.) 405-495-1935 Daniels&Associates, 2930E. 3rd Ave,, Denver, Colo 80206 (S3, 59 Brokerage) 303-321-7550 DAVCO,lt{C., P.0. Box 861, Batesville, AR72501 (01, Sl, 52, 58) 501-793.3816 DFCountryman Co.,1821 University Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 (Dl, Sl, SE) 612-645-9153 DurnellEngineering, Inc.,Hwy. 4 So., Emmetsburg, lowa50536, (Mg) 712-852-261 I EAGLEC0lvl-TR0NlCS, lNC.,P.0. Box 93, Phoenix, NY13135 (M9 Pay Tll Delivery Systems & Products) 315-695-5406 EALESC0lvlM. &ANTTNNA StRV.. 2904 N.W. 23rd. 0klahoma City, 0K 73107 (01,2,3,4,5,6,7,S1,2,S7,E) 405-946-3788 FANFARiTELEVISION, l0 Greenway Plaza, Houston, IX77046 (S4) 713-960-8731 FARIN0NELICTRIC, l69l Bayport,San Carlos, CA94070 (M9, 59) 415-592-4120 \ FERGUSONCOMIVIUNICATI0NS CORP.,P0. Drawer 871, Henderson, TX75652 (Sl, 52, 57, 58, 59) 214*854-2405 GardinerCommunications Corp.,2000 S. Post 0ak Rd., Suite 1490, Houston, TX/7056 (ilg IUR0 Packages, Sl,Sz, sE) /lJ-961-/J4E GILBIRTINGINIERING C0.,P 0 Box14149. Phoenrx, AZ85063 (M7) 602-272-68i1 GT I SYLVANIA,3046Covington Rd.,Marietta, GA30062 (Ml, Dl) 404-993-1510 Heller-0akCommunications Finance Corp., 105 W. Adams St., Chicago, lL60603 (S3) 312-621-i651 H0MEBOX 0FFlCE, lNC., 7839 Churchill Way-Suite 133, Box 63, Dallas, TX75251 (S4) 214-387-8557 HUGHESMICR0|VAVE COMMUl{lCATlOl{S PR0DUCTS,3060 W.Lomita Blvd., Iorrance, CA 90505 (M9) 213-534-2146 Ind.Co. Cable TV lnc., P.0. Box 3799, Batesville, AR72501 (Dl, Sl, 52, 38) 501-793-5872 InternationalMicrowave Corporation, 33River Road, Cos Cob, CT 0680i, (Ml, M{) 203-661-6277 In SPACEC0MlllUNlCAIl0NS, lNC.,69 Spring St., Ramsey, NJ07446 (M9) 201-825-1600 JERR0IDElechonics Corp., P.0. Box 487, Byberry Rd. & PA.Turnpike, Hatboro, PA 19040, (Ml, M2, il4, M5,M6, M7,03, 08, Sl, 32,53, 58) 215-674-4800 JERRYC01{l{ ASSOCIATES, l1{C.,P.0. Box 444, Chambersburg, PA17201 (D3, D4,05,06,07, DE} 717-263-8258 KlungnessElectronic Supply, P.0. Box 547, 107 Kent Street, lron Mountain, Ml49801 (Dl, Dt, 52, Stl 906-774-1755 tr LARS0NILECTRONICS, 3ll S.LocustSt., Denton, TXi6201 {M9 Standby Power} 817-387-0002 (MD U LRCIectronics, Inc., 901 South Ave., Horseheads, N.Y.14845 607-739-3844 lMaqnavoxCATVDivision. 133 West Seneca St., Manlius. N.Y. 13104 (Ml) 315-682.9105 MICR0DYNECORP0RATl0N, P.0.Box 1527. 627 Lofstrand La.,Rockville, MD20850, (ll9 Satellite TVRecs.) 301-762'8500 IVIICROWAVEASS0CIATES, lNC., 777 S. Central Expwy., Suite 4-C, Richardson, TXi5080 (M9 Microwave Radio Sptems) 816-891-8895 54 rrrrrtrrlrlt Installersneeded. Consistent and co- I I ordinatedwork. Excellentootential for HE'S ARRMNG AT as follows: advancement.Tools and vehicle not I I supplied.Contact: t CABLE SYSTEMS I member,indi- MatrixEnterprises I qualifies for DavidNorcutt ALL ACROSS t space free P.O.Box 219 I I (limit 50 words/- LenoirCity, TN 37771 I 615-986-6536 r pay regulardues l=* I a rfionthly basis: As- SystemTechs w/construction and fire rt- I pay a one time up experience wanted. New, small dual" members systems.Highest quality plant. Excel- I I fee of lent ootential for self starters. Send I t resumewith salaryrequirements to: is also MatrixEnterprises I I s at the DavidNorcutt I I word P.O.Box 219 I He'sbringing i! th' of LenoirCity, TN 3777'l I i\l I rn" EXTRAgh6i-nslo, tr,H i1 per 615-986-6536 I -box Reoliesheld in strictestconf idence. I tft" only lvlondaythrough Friday, I primetirne,low-priced, 15th each EOUIPMENTWANTED I G and PG I wing th's Top dollar paid for Hewlett-Packard ! rrouies pdcKageoervereo on a I 4920A coaxial fault analyzer.Contact I ,.gu* scneoureDv saterlte. 5) T memDers sfull Wayne McKinney or Mel Jenschke - (noin ng). at 214-595-3701or write: ol -CAT erial TELESERVICECORPORATION OF ! nriru'?il8frenNEniloRK = TAd srng, AMERICA 4209 23rd P.O.Box 6840 731 Tyler,Texas 7571 1 ifiL"$i'ifl3"iii4fli= ItlicrowaveFiller C0.,6743 Kinne St., Box 103, E. Syracuse, N.Y. 10357 (M5 Eandpas Filten) 315*437-4529 MfDSTATE Communication, lnc.,P.0. Box 203, Beech Grove, lN46107 (M8) 317-781-9426 MSITELEVISI0N, 4788 South State St., Salt Lake City, UT 84107 (M9 Digital Uideo Equip.) 801-262-8475 N0RTHERNCAIVDISTRIBUT0RS, lNC.,8016 Chatham Dr., Manlius, NY13104 (Dl) 315-682.2670 OAKINDUSIRIES lNC./CATV DlV., Crystal Lake, lL 60014 (Ml, M9 Converten, 53)815-459-5000 PR0D[L|N,lNC., 1350 Duane Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95050 (M2, lil3, M7, 52) 408-244-4720 Q-BlTCorporation, P.0.Box 2208, Melbourne, FL32901 (il4) 305-727-1838 RADI0MECHANICAL STRUCTURES, lNC.,P.0. Box 1277, Kilgore, TX75662 (M2, M9, 52) 214-984"0555 RF SYSTEMS, lNC.,P.0. Box 428, St, Cloud, FL32769, (M2, M6) 305-892.6111 RICHEYDEVEL0PMENT C0RP.,6920 Melrose, Oklahoma Crty, 0K 73127 (Ml, M4, ME, 58) 405-495-3953 RMSCtW Division, 50Antin Place, Bronx, NY 10462 (M5, M7) 212-892-1000 Sadelco,Inc., 299 Park Avenue, Weehawken, NJ07087 (M8) 201-866-0912 ScientificAtlanta Inc., 3845 Pleasantdale Rd.,Atlanta, GA 30340 (Ml, M2, M4, M8, S1, 52, 53, 58) 404-449-2000 SCIENTIFICCOMMUNICATIONS, lNC.,3425 Kingsley Rd., Garland, IX75041. (M4 low ]loise & Parametric)214-271.3685 ShowtimeEntertainment, Inc.,l2l 1Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036 (S4) 212-575-5175 SouthernSatellite Systems, Inc., P.0. Box 45684, Tulsa, 0K 74145 (S9l 918-664-4812 SystemsWire and Cable, Inc., P.0. Box 21007, Phoenix, AZ85036 (M3) 602-268.8744 IERRAC0M,9020Balboa Ave., San Drego, CA 92123 (M9 Microwave Earth Stations) 714-278.4100 TtXSCll{Corp., 2446 N. Shadeland Ave., lndianapolis, lN46219 (M8 Bandpass Filten) 317-35i-8781 TheAssociated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 (S4) 303-825-6046 Theta-Com,,P.0.Box 9728, Phoenix, AZ85068 (Ml, M4, M5, M7, ME, Sl, 52, 53, 58, AMt M|CRoy{AVE) 602-944-441 I TIMESIYIRE &CABTE C0., 358 Hall Avenue, Wallingford, CI06492 (M3) 203-265-2361 Tocom,fnc., P.0. Box 47066, Dallas, TX 75247 (ltl, il4, M5,Converten) 214-438.7691 T0MC0COMMUNICATI0NS, lNC.,1077 Independence Ave.,Mtn. View, CA 94043 (M4, M5, M9) 415-969.3042 IonerCable Equipment, lnc.,418 Caredean Drive, Horsham, PA19044 (02, 03, D4, 05, 06, D7) 215-675-2053 TrencoInc., P.0, Box N, 385 South 300 West, Salem, UT 84653 (Sl, 52, 57, S8, 59 Consulting) 801-798-8633 IripleCrown Electronics Inc.,42 Racine Rd., Rexdale, 0ntario, Canada M9W2Z3 (frl4, ME) 416-743-148_ IURNERC0IVIMUNICATI0NS CORP.,(WICG-IV), P.0. Box 4064, Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, CA (S9) 404-522-7250 UNIIEDPRESS INTERNATIONAL, 220East42nd St., New York, NY 10017, (S9 Automated ilews Svc.) "S", 212-682-0400 UNITIDSIATES IOWER & FAB. C0., P.0. Drawer Afton,0K i4331 (frlz, M9) 918-25i-4252 UnitedVideo, Inc., 5200 S. Harvard, Suite 4-0, Tulsa,0K 74135 {S9} 918-749-8811 VanLadder, lnc., P.0. Box 709, Spencer, lowa 51301 (M9, Automaled ladder Equipment) 712-262-5810 VlDtoDAIA SYSTEIVIS, 400ser Avenue, Hauppauge, NYI 1787 (M9) 516-231-4400 VITEKELICTR0NICS, 1NC.,200 Wood Ave., Middlesex, NJ201-469-9400 WIVETEKIndiana,66 N.FirstAve., Beech Grove, lN46107 (ME) 317-i83.3221 WEATHTRSCAN,Loop132, Ihrockmorton Hwy,, 0lney, TX i6374 (D9, Sony Equip. Dist., M9 llleather Channel Displays) 817-564-5688 WesternCommunication Service, Box 347, San Angelo, IX 76901(M2, Toweg 915-655-6262/653-3363 WinegardCompany,3000 Kirkwood Street, Burlington, lowa 52501 (M2, M3, M4, M5, M7) 319-753-0121 ll0l[: Asociateslisted in boldlace are Ghailer Members Distributors: Manulacturers: SeniceFirms: Dl-FullCATV equipment line lVll-Full CAIVequipment line Sl-CAIVcontracting d D2-CATVantennas M2-CATVantennas S2-CATVconstruction 3 D3-CAIVcable M3*CAIVcable S3-CAIVfinancing o- D4-CATVampliliers M4-CATVamplifiers S4*CAIVsoftware : D5-CATVpasives M5-CAIVpasives S5-CAIVbilling service D6-CAIVhardware M6-CATVhardware 56*CATVpublishing D7-CATVconnectors M7-CATVconnectors S7-CAIVdrop installation \ D8-CATVtest equipment M8-CATVtest equipment S8-CATVengrneering M9-0ther 55 J LOWCOST... SIGNAT LEVEL METERS DT.9R The DT-9R is an improved version of the DT- series introduced five years ago. It is basically a combination ohm meter and two channel signal level meter. The units are available in any two channels desiredfrom 30 to 300 MHz. It is easy to use and a real value at $169. Quantity prices LM_13 available. Delivery for channels 2 and 13 is normally two weeks.S 169 I LM.I3 The LM-13 is an installer-middletech type meter. Its operation is very simple, and it operates from throw away or rechargeable batteries. The standard LM-13 measures the video carriers of channels 2 through 13. This meter also has provisionsfor adding a 13th channel if you have a pay channel or pilot carrier you wish to measur€. A leather carrying case is available. Jll$ MIDSTATE COMMUNICATIONS INC. 174S. FIRST AVE., BEECH GROVE, IND. 3l 7-787-9426 .Signalleyel M etersrGalab ratono Radiation & Frequenct Instru menb ffisrfrsutoruD Pnffius From America'sOldest CATV Distributor! EVERYTHINGYOUNEED-ONESTOP! Antennas and pre-amps Pole line hardware Headend equipment Cableand strand Test equipment Drop materials Line extenders Safety equipment Trunk amps Tools of all kinds Pedestalsand mounts Staple guns i SameDay Shipment- Help lVhen You Need It I (since1949!) Call or write: DAVCO, Inc., P.O.Box 2456 F Batesville, Arkansas 72501 U 501-793-3816 WENREHOLDING A FULI HOUSE Thot'sright! CCS Hotfieldnow holds o completeline of oluminumsheoth cooxiol coble feoturingfirst ond thirdgenerotion gos injectedond ormoredcoble, you coble requirements con filloll your righthere without.noving to jumpfrom one suppjier to theother. plus - we hoveour own trucks fo deliverthot coble on iime,onwvneie-in'tn. U.s. - ond it,s suretough to beot oddslike thofl Socontoct your neorest representotive,or coll ccs Hotfielddirect of goo-52g-3341for qll yourcoble needs.You cont losewith o fullhouse like Hotfield,s! CEJH#trfIET,fl-PNODUCTS DIVISIONOF CONTINENTALCOPPER & STEELINDUSTRIES, INC. P. phoenix, o. Box 14710,5707west BuckeyeRoad, AZ aso6s,'taoo)52g-3341 llil-ltoffi ffifireM su4treffitionrr ff i s \ \- \- 8"...t al a-lf Along with its proven performanceand reliability,the MagnavoxMX-504 offers you NEW five-levelprotection againstAC shorts and high-leveltransient surges... I Surge prctectlon on all ports. I Thermal brealrers to assure r€llablllty of surge arrcstons. I Prlmary transformer ovedoad pnotec{ion. llYlCrglncrvcD;x. I Power supply secondary high voltage protection. I flodule oyervoltage protection. MtTEMS,rNc. ,t33W. SENECA ST., . MANLIUS,N.Y. '13'|04 Five more reasons why the Magnavox MX-504 Phone:Toll-free, West of Mississippi:800-448-5171 is the right amplifier for your new system, East of Mississippi:800-448-9121 rebuild, or od got 9zH :Norq 6 @ N ooQ a q!q)€o (oN @o Q r N(?{ 6€ N€O O rNc?S o@ N € o o F N [ ^.) F Fe{ N N NNN N o o o(ao q € ti q ( (i = ! N N N NN o oo o ci <9 < { < 6 tr, .^z- N N N N N N N si N N a\i ci c,i ci oi oi il N N N cn i\i N N i.i N dr d ci N N ci cn dt cit ci N oi oi i -a