RAW FM is off air in Newcastle.
I think this is a BS story from the broadcaster.
No mention of any power issues from intelsat (apart from launch)ā¦ all other transponders are operating at normal power levels
IMO Intelsat must of decided to send out some bills and turn off transponders who havent paid.
Another TARBS, UBI situation
TV Plus (which is on a different frequency on the same satellite) is also reporting issues
https://tvplus.com.au/outages/
[Pending] 14/02/2024 06:11 AEDT ā INTELSAT power issues affecting satellite transmission services
- 14/02/2024 06:11 AEDT ā Please be advised Intelsat Satellite has advised us that due to power failures on the satellite, high powered broadcast transmissions on IS19 are failing at the moment, Intelsat is working on a solution to fix this and we will update you as soon as we can. All broadcasters are affected by this issue not just TV PLUS. We apologise for the interruption to services, thank you for your patience.
- 17/02/2024 13:11 AEDT ā We have been advised by our satellite supplier that the outage is the result of a force majeure event and they are working to provide a solution. We are in constant communication with our supplier to expedite a resolution. We expect to have a schedule and return to service ETA in the coming days.
Anything Horizontally polarised seems to have dropped off
That transponder is operated by Telstra - highly doubt theyāve not paid the bill.
This is all very suspect
First Mysat says its a āsolar outageā with no restoration time
Then that problem turns into a satellite problem
then 4 days later Telstra goes off.
as you can seeā¦ Horizontal is alive on Intelsat 19 (these are non DVB carriers)
If it was a power budget issues intelsat can easily turn down all transponders to fit in with what the satellite can produce with its solar array
there could other issues with satellite however I cant find any news/ press release from intelsat about this and as they are a public company and this affects their assets and revenue they are bound by law to report major events such as satellite system failures.
Horizons 3e is next door and owned by intelsatā¦ lets see if the services move to that satellite.
Something tells me they wont
1 Like
I recall that some or even all the Aussie antarctic bases may have been on Intelsat 19, so if its kaput that will cause them major grief. Backup was always Inmarsat and Macquarie Island had Skymuster, so it may speed up AAp getting off Intelsat entirely. I believe Starlink works down there at some locations too. Telstra had a contract forever but lost it a few years ago to Speedcast.
From 3ABN
Intelsat-19 Transponder Shutdown
18 February, 2024
We regret to inform those who use Intelsat-19 to downlink 3ABN services (including radio affiliates) that the transponder we are on (12606H) has been shut down due to a power anomaly affecting the satelliteās solar array. This is an indefinite shutdown that happened at 3 am AEDT this morning. It is regarded as an āunforeseen challengeā by the satellite provider. This is beyond our control and we had no prior warning.
This will require a change in the transponder and thus a retune of the set-top box once they inform us of which transponder they will migrate us to. We do not have any further information at this time.
We apologise for this circumstance.
Please note: this does not affect viewers on the VAST platform.
1 Like
casey Base - i18 underground
Mawson Base - i18 - Underground
My last information from about 2012 was on the Mawson and Casey connectivity was they had 2 tracking uplinks that where using old inclined intelsatās (604 was one) and they switched between them as appeared above the horizon
As backup they had 1 transponder (7mhz) on an old syncom satelliteā¦ then HF radio as the backup to that
Just reading now, Most have starlink and there is a push to run a undersea cable to Antarcticaā¦ that will make the greenies happy!
1 Like
the satellite has a power generation problem but they can move them to a different transponder on the same satelliteā¦ that makes no sense.
Admitly they not technical people
Strange intelsat have said nothingā¦ not a peep
Theyāre no longer a public company - they restructured in 2022
If there is a power issue, I suspect theyāre going to have to balance the usage of the Ku transponders to make sure they can stay within power limits which could mean theyāll have to look at shifting services around to fit. Might make it difficult for the likes of TV Plus to continue their channel offering.
My last involvement was in the mid 90ās and back then it was a single Intelsat in inclined orbit with a 6m tracking antenna with an old Inmarsat A terminal as backup. There was a TV interchange visible on one transponder which we had a receiver for so got a bit of useful TV like the VFL grand final and the Melbourne Cup.
Intelsat was very expensive and the only other footprint down there was Inmarsat where a single page fax came out at $9.
Optical cables have been talked about for years but the cost to lay them would be massive and the cable landings at the southern end would get gouged by grounded icebergs being blown over them.
With services like Starlink available they could probably decommission the old Anaresat antennas and even give the wintering tech the heave ho and replace them with an IT person. They donāt sound like very happy places nowadays with some big harassment allegations out there and restrictions on grog. Reminds me of working in a TV station.
On the subject of TV Plus- Iām slightly surprised theyāve slipped under the radar with some of the channels they rebroadcast.
There was a period a few years ago where a lot of their channels were unscrambled and I did note a few sport channels among them such as the SportKlub channels from the Balkans (which broadcast a lot of football leagues and other sports like F1 and Tennis)- these appeared to be domestic feeds and there were no blackouts applied.
Guessing the likes of Foxtel and Stan Sport have either never gotten wind of it (given that itās sports that they hold the exclusive rights to that content here) or they are aware and feel itās such a niche market and a low threat to their exclusivity that itās not worth pursuing.
1 Like
Went for a gig thereā¦ got drilled for 3 hours by 3 psychologists
There was a lot of āscenariosā thrown at me including drinking and female expeditioners.
Apparently they brew their own beer thereā¦ maybe not anymore.
yes sorta the same, without the egos and the fear of being made redundant every 5 mins
1 Like
the signal before was fairly averageā¦ 65cm was an absolute minimum
So dropping their power or going onto a lower power transponder for a DTH service wont be good!
They banned the home-brew a couple of years ago sadly. At present they have budget problems so redundancies may still happen - for the tech jobs itās possible it may get dumbed down to a winter IT support role with techās only there in summer.
A couple of old school expeditioners I know have re-applied in recent years and got knock backs, so they sound like they are trying to change the culture of the place. I noticed the tech jobs got re-advertised over the last couple of years but that may have been due to a shortage of women and diversity applicants rather than a general shortage of takers.
1 Like
iāve got a dish pointed at 160 (for the old channels on D2)that iām looking at re-pointing. what are people re-pointing to? despite the issues iām thinking IS19
there is no DVB active there atmā¦ you wont get anything
Free to air satellite hobby is dead!
So even if you were aiming for and recieved Intelsat 19 you wouldnāt even be able to receive the likes of France 24 or Euronews? These appear to be unencrypted according to Lyngsat and I was thinking of setting up a dish for these more foreign news channels when my house is built (more as a hobby than anything else as obviously they can be easily streamed online).
That was what TBS were telling broadcasters (that they will be migrated). I wouldnāt be surprised if it never happens.
Since my post this morning, I received word from a sat installer that all transponders on IS-19 pointing at Australia were offline. I couldnāt verify it myself though.
EDIT: Iāve been able to verify that all the Ku horizontal transponders are off, as per what @bacco007 said. Iām still able to get the Ku vertical DVB-S2 transponders, which are just feeds. Theyāve obviously been prioritised.
Those channels arent on i19ā¦ you sure you arent confused with i18 ?
There are still Horizontal transponders activeā¦ They are non DVB and not receivable by your set top box.
Buy yourself a spectrum analyzer 