DirecTV 13 Satellite approved

[digiblur]

S2693 SAT- RPL- 20060119- 00005 E
Effective Date: 11/ 16/ 2006 Grant of Authority
Replacement Satellite Application (no new frequency)
DIRECTV Enterprises, LLC


Nature of Service: Other
On November 16, 2006, the Satellite Division granted, subject to conditions, the remaining portion of DIRECTV Enterprises, LLC's
(DIRECTV) application to construct, launch, and operate a direct broadcast satellite, DIRECTV 13 (Call Sign: S2693), at the 110°
W. L. nominal orbital location. This satellite will replace the DIRECTV 5 satellite. Portions of the application pertaining to operation
in the 36 MHz and 82 MHz wideband modes and launch of a payload capable of operating on even- numbered channels 2- 26 were
previously dismissed without prejudice to refiling. Accordingly, DIRECTV is authorized to construct, launch, and operate the
DIRECTV 13 DBS space station at the 109.8° W. L. orbital location with feeder links (Earth- to- space) in the 17.3- 17.8 GHz band on
DBS channels 28, 30, and 32, and service links (space- to- Earth) in the 12.2- 12.7 GHz band on DBS channels 28, 30, and 32. In
addition, the Satellite Division granted DIRECTV's request for waiver of the requirement to provide the location of the telemetry,
tracking, and control (TT& C) earth stations associated with the DIRECTV 13 space station, with the condition that DIRECTV must
provide the information prior to launch of the DIRECTV 13 satellite.

Full PDF here:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-2322A1.pdf

 

[Happy Camper]

I am sixty. Is their any chance this launch might happen before I die of old age? Will my grandchildren finally get all the national HD channels everyone else has?

 

[dishrich]

I am sixty. Is their any chance this launch might happen before I die of old age? Will my grandchildren finally get all the national HD channels everyone else has?

NOT from THIS bird - it is only REPLACING an existing one. It will NOT give D* any more capacity at 110 than they do now.

 

[danielle_s]

Pardon my stupidity, but why are they replacing Sat 5? In addition I wonder why Sat 13 won't be more powerful to add additional channels?

 

[Brewer4]

Satellites only have a certain life span. The wear down and replacing them is a constant job. If you get 10+ years out of them, its bonus. Sat 5 has had issues in the past.

 

[kdarcangelis870]

I think it's kind of silly that they are spending all of that money replacing a bird that only has three active transponders. They should put this satellite up into a more useful orbital location such as 101 or 119 and move an old satellite from there to 110. Just my 2 cents.

 

[rad]

I think it's kind of silly that they are spending all of that money replacing a bird that only has three active transponders. They should put this satellite up into a more useful orbital location such as 101 or 119 and move an old satellite from there to 110. Just my 2 cents.

They just put 9S up at 101 and 7S went up a couple of years ago at 119. Why would what you want to do be more useful?

 

[Jimbo]

They just put 9S up at 101 and 7S went up a couple of years ago at 119. Why would what you want to do be more useful?

It is possible that this new sat would have more power and also more avaiable space, provided it's designed that way.

Jimbo

 

[rad]

It is possible that this new sat would have more power and also more avaiable space, provided it's designed that way.

Jimbo

Maybe more power would do something if they can cut back on the error correction overhead. But I don't see where there's more space available, all the DBS transponders that D*'s authorized to use at 101/110/119 are being used already.

 

[realplaya3tn]

yea....i wonder if anyone has had any problems with the 110 sat feed? how old is that dtv5 anyway? i would guess 5+years

 

[charper1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIRECTV-5

DIRECTV-5 is a communications satellite launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan in May, 2002 to provide mainly Spanish language satellite television programs to DirecTV customers from the 119 degrees West longitudinal orbit. It was built by Space Systems/Loral. It is now @ 109.8w. I have never had any issues with what comes from 110 or 119.

http://tbs-satellite.com/tse/online/sat_tempo_1.html