Satellite Update - August 7, 2009

By Doug Lung
published

From FCC Report SAT=00621:

PanAmSat Licensee Corp. (PanAmSat) has requested permission to cease operating at the 76.85 degree west longitude (WL) orbital location for more than 90 days. PanAmSat is authorized to operate C and Ku-band satellite Galaxy 4R at that location, but the satellite was recently de-orbited due to technical issues. PanAmSat plans to relocate Galaxy 11 to that orbital location in the first quarter of 2011. Sirius XM Radio requested special temporary authority to operate terrestrial repeaters for 180 days with an EIRP up to 2,000 watts at specified locations through the United States using the 2320-2345 MHz Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) band.

From FCC Report SAT-00620:

  • • The FCC has granted, with conditions, applications from DirecTV Enterprises LLC for authority to construct, launch and operate 17/24 GHz Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS) space stations DirecTV RB-3 at 101 degrees WL, DirecTV RB-4at 110.9 degrees WL and DirecTV RB-1 at 99.175 degrees WL. These satellites will use the 17.3-17.7 GHz (space-to-Earth) and the 24.75-25.15 GHz (Earth-to-space) frequency bands.
  • • EchoStar Corporation was granted authority, with conditions to construct, launch and operate 17/24 BSS space stations EchoStar EX-1 at 110.4 degrees WL and EchoStar EX-2 at 107 degrees WL The authorizations permit use of the 17.3-17.8 GHz (space-to-Earth) and 24.75-25.25 GHz (Earth-to-space) frequency bands, with use of 17.7-17.8 GHz (space-to-Earth) limited to international services only.
  • • The FCC has granted, with conditions, applications from Intelsat North America LLC for BSS space stations Galaxy BSS-3 at 99.10 degrees WL and Galaxy BSS-1 at 90.9 degrees WL. These satellites will use the same frequencies as the EchoStar BSS satellites with use of 17.7-17.8 GHz limited to international service only.
  • • Pegasus Development received authority, with conditions, to construct, launch and operate two 17/24 GHz BSS space stations—one at 91 degrees WL and the other at 107 degrees WL. These satellites will also use the same 17.3-17.8 GHz and 24.75-25.25 GHz bands with the same limitations as EchoStar and Intelsat.
Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.