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AcWxRadar

SatelliteGuys Pro
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Apr 26, 2006
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40 miles NW of Omaha. Omaha?
Who owns a private island in these waters that needs their very own satellite? Excuse me while I compose myself a bit, I am about laughing myself silly here! Take a look at this footprint for Intelsat 701 at 180 E.

RADAR
 

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Okay - I see it now!

If you go to Satbeams.com, you can see it more clearly. WOW! You really have to zoom in for this. But, there it is... Tahiti.

RADAR
 

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Nice find RADAR

Thanks Sadoun!

It just goes to show that Geography is an important subject. I bet that the ancient navigators would have known this right off the bat. I had to go look it up!

So, here is yet another benefit of being a FTA guy (or gal) - you learn more about geography. What an excellent hobby this is!

RADAR
 
Several years ago while working on the television production team for the Portland Trailblazers, we would light up a transponder, bring additional crew and produce a complete show for just one guy on his yacht. The sat and the footprint would vary, based on where he was positioned! :cool:

Who could this mystery man be? You probably guessed right......
 
Several years ago while working on the television production team for the Portland Trailblazers, we would light up a transponder, bring additional crew and produce a complete show for just one guy on his yacht. The sat and the footprint would vary, based on where he was positioned! :cool:

Who could this mystery man be? You probably guessed right......


Um...Paul Allen?
 
Hey guys, the American taxpayers are probably paying towards that bird as it covers American Samoa (spot2 and spotB beams)

Curious observation, pedro. How you figure that...?

Looks like the signals cover hundreds or thousands of islands, including American Samoa.

American Samoa islands appear to total about 80 square miles in area. People there number about 70,000 and speak indigenous Polynesian languages. Often they speak another tongue like English or French. How many TV viewers there are is another story... (Topics like this give me an excuse to look up some geography, for fun... I'm no authority, I like to read about far away places... :))

spot2 appears centered over New Caledonia. spotB appears centered over Fiji.

Channels on spot2 (Ku band) are mostly French language, and the names refer to New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia (French territories). Interesting how even though they carry much of the same RFO stuff, spot3 (French Polynesia) appears to be ITC, whereas spot2 is encrypted, according to Lyngsat.

Channels on spotB (C band) are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Pacific"][U]Sky Pacific[/, which appears Fiji centric, but with affiliates all over.

On the other hand, we do know American taxpayers are paying for the American Forces Network transponder on 4174L.
 
Well the 16 year old bird is owned by a US company without much in the way of subscriptions or support outside the US. There are certainly 100's islands around there and it is a great service and although it also covers eastern coast of Oz it does not have much of a following.
 
It's not filled up like a western europe bird, but it looks like there are subscribers to me. Guess I'm not reading Lyngsat correctly, or something else is amiss. Or are you saying Intelsat does not own it... just operates it

What I read is that Intelsat, headquartered in Bermuda is owned 75 percent by Brits. Nevertheless, looks like most of the uplink stations and adminstrative staff offices are in the US. IIRC, you are in the biz, so I'll take your word for it...

Wow. 16 years old and they don't plan on replacing it with Intelsat 18 until late 2011. When it comes on line, they appear to have plans for a western US footprint on both C and Ku. :up

Probably nothing to get excited about, though. Seems like the central / eastern Pacific is a satellite wasteland or desert...
 

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This is the usual corporate tangle but my understanding from Norad is it is financed and operated by Intelsat General corp HQ Maryland but it may well be "financed offshore."

IS18 looks promising for the US west coast but will not reach Michigan :(

Intelsat General Corporation quotes its customers as the U.S. government and military and NATO members through fixed and mobile satellite systems hence My thinking THe US tax payer contribution.

The French encryption channels do not have a large subscriber base
If they could get a subscription base in Japan, US and OZ it would make a huge difference

I am interested to know where you saw Brits have 75% stake?
 
Norad... Oh yeah, they track all sorts of stuff in space. Got to check that out...

You won't see IS18 in Michigan, but I'd still trade view of the sky at your US longitude for the view of the sky at my longitude. ;)

In other words, I bet the stuff that can be seen at your far east horizon is better than the stuff that can be seen at my far west horizon... If calculations are correct, your skyview is theoretically ~163ºW through ~7.5ºW. My skyview is theoretically ~170ºE through ~31ºW...:rolleyes: :)

My http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat"][U]source for that 75% stake thing[/ was Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia anyone can fiddle with. :eek:

The Wikipedia article mentioned BC Partners, (a UK firm) but before the smoke cleared, Silver Lake Partners (a US firm) was also involved. However, they were advisors and made the deal happen... But after a little more review the fund is owned by Serafina Partners, Serafina was renamed Intelsat Global Ltd. ostensibly, another Bermudan anonymous society of venture capitalists. :eek:
 
Yes there is even a Norad ID for the tool bag that got lost.

You would really hate my skyview, in Michigan I can only get 129w to 30w plus 7E, 13E, 19E, 26E, 40E, and 62E all via slingbox from Cyprus. 40 and 62 east have English football FTA on the most unlikely channels like Iran tv.
I don't have C band yet, just a matter of time.
 
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