June 10, 2008
We'll ignore North American satellite news for May, and provide a report
on how I spent my spring vacation.. but first some more timely news:I was almost recuperated
from a 24 day adventure to Far East Russia, when the past weekend
arrived. Record amounts of rain not only threatened to wash out the
driveway, but also dropped a tree onto our power pole's transformer,
taking out electrical service just as it was getting dark. The local
power company sent a truck out in about an hour; amazing considering
that it was still in the middle of a thunderstorm, and restored service
after changing a lightning arrestor and fuse, as well as removing
branches from the top of the pole. Much of Sunday afternoon (between
blasts of heavy rain) was spent with a chain saw, attacking remaining
fallen trees and literally cutting my way out to restore access to the
driveway. Monday's weather reports indicated that as much as a foot of
rain may have fallen over the weekend in nearby locations. No
complaints from this neighborhood about a lack of excitement! And
then there was the Monday dam collapse at Lake Delton, near Wisconsin
Dells, which drained a large lake in less than 2 hours, and took four
luxury houses with it. But we're half an hour away and perched
nearly 50 feet above the nearest waterway.
Remember my December
trip nearly 18 months ago, which sent me to the northeastern edges of
Russia, flying through Moscow to get there? It was easier this time,
with only two days spent each way in traveling through Alaska and via
charter aircraft across the Bering Strait. Madison - Minneapolis -
Anchorage - Nome on commercial planes, plus two separate
charters, exchanging freight and passengers at the Anadyr, Russia port of
entry. Flying in during the first week of May means that one is
going to experience the remnants of winter, which is still holding its icy
grip to these extreme northern locations. Blinding white reflections
were what I saw for a couple of hours, flying over the magnificent scenery
of eastern Chukotka enroute to the Kupol camp. Snow everywhere, but
promise of warmer things to come. I arrived at the beginning of
literally 24-hour daylight, and over the period of three weeks the snow
rapidly vanished at the mine site.

VOSTOK
CHARTER AIRCRAFT IN FAR-EAST
RUSSIA
LOOKING NORTH FROM KUPOL MAIN CAMP
As a 13-year resident of
Alaska, I experienced many seasons of long summer days, but never an
extended period of time above the Arctic Circle. It is one thing to
have 24 hour twilight, where there is always a glow of light in the
northern sky despite the sun dropping below the horizon for a few hours,
but this was my first time dealing with the sun staying up all
night. Even with good window shades, it is quite impossible short of
duct tape (I did not go that far) to hide from the all night sun blazing
into the window. After several weeks, it tends to wear one down due
to a cumulative lack of sleep. It took over a week back at temperate
latitudes to become adjusted to the time zone differences, but I
immediately enjoyed the fact that it actually gets dark at night here in
Wisconsin. Guess it's something you get used to over time, and it
does not stay that way forever. My last trip in December showed the
opposite extreme, with little or no light at all.

12:30
IN THE MORNING DURING LATE
MAY
ROOFTOP VIEW OF THE SNOWFIELDS
This trip was started with a pair of TRUE FOCUS 3.7 meter
prime focus antennas, mounted on some superbly crafted towers welded and
cemented in advance by mine personnel. Antennas were pointed at 139 West (AMC-8)
and 166 East (Intelsat 8) for C-band reception of television and radio
signals from Alaska, as well as some from the Asia-Pacific region. An existing 2.3 meter
(8 foot) mesh antenna was converted with a circular feedhorn for primary
reception from 140 East C-band, to get a number of Russian radio and
television signals. Still more Russian signals from the Ku-band side
of this satellite, using a separate 90 cm offset dish which literally pointed 15
degrees into the ground. A 7 degree elevation angle on an offset
dish equals a reflector that is pointing 15 degrees past vertical,
providing a very unusual and somewhat strange appearance.

VIEW FROM THE
FLAGPOLE
139 WEST & 166 EAST-C BAND AND 140 EAST-KU BAND
Over twenty channels are now transmitted, representing English language programming from
Alaskan and Asia-Pacific sources, and Russian language on the remainder of
channels for the benefit of the majority of people at the camp.
Popular Russian channels are simulcast in NTSC and PAL formats, to allow
backwards compatibility for North American sourced big screen TVs and
expatriates' televisions that both use the NTSC format, and the PAL signals for
use on multistandards as well as locally sourced televisions. While
SECAM is the official TV system in Russia, PAL modulators are much easier
to source, and are quite compatible with SECAM TVs. Topping off the
entertainment choices are a few channels of FM radio distributed
within the confines of the main building. In English and Russian, of
course.

SOUTHEAST
VIEW THROUGH 2.3 METER MESH
DISH
MORE OF THAT WHITE STUFF, 3.7 METER TRUE FOCUS
The previous use of the
above Chinese SVEC 2.3 meter mesh antenna was for Alaskan reception from
AMC-8. Prior to converting this dish to Russian C-band reception
with a circular feedhorn, I had the privilege of doing
some
sky scanning on other C-band satellites. This allowed me to
second-guess the data provided by official satellite footprint maps found in otherwise
well respected sources such as Lyngsat. Our highest elevation angle
was a fraction over 14 degrees, and local terrain does permit a view of
satellites as low as 1.5 degrees above the horizon. The results confirm reception at this far northern location is better than
official predictions on some satellites, as well as agreeing with the
other maps
that reception is out of range on others. I was not able to clear
terrain to receive Asiasat at 105.5 East (1.2 degree angle), but had some
fascinating observations on low-angle satellites from North America such
as 127 West and 133 West. North American elevations range from 1.5
degrees on 127 West to 5.5 degrees on 139 West. There's no prayer
for weaker satellites at 129, 131 and 135 West, but we have very usable
signals from 137 and 139 West, and absolutely smokin' levels on 127 and
133 West, despite their 1.5 and 3.5 degree elevation angles. I used
the 2.3 meter mesh
antenna, which gave me the advantage of a wider beam than larger antennas,
which more or less compensated for the large variations in atmospheric
changes at those low elevations. Had I tried reception on a larger
antenna with more signal capability, it is likely that changing
propagation may have actually worked against me when the narrower
beamwidth of the antenna is considered. Past experience with analog
signals in the 1980s and early 1990s in Alaska showed me that reliable
reception could be had without major propagation problems on C-band down
to about 3.5 to 4.0 degrees elevation. Fairly constant digital
reception on 133 West (G-15) continue this theory's validity, with even
the California Channel matching the mid-20 quality reading that I get in
Wisconsin on a similar 8-foot antenna, while not quite dropping out.
Other channels on 133 West were typically around a 70 quality reading. I was
absolutely shocked to initially get usable reception on the 2.3 meter dish
from 127 West. BBC World and RFD-TV initially had quality levels
from 50 to low 60s at first glance, using a trusty Traxis DBS-3500 MPEG-2
free-to-air receiver. Just for grins, I left the receiver on RFD-TV
for almost 2 hours, with the quality meter function on screen, and
recorded the output onto a DVD. I have since carefully analyzed that
recording, and now report some amazing results. During that time, I
never lost the signal, or had pixelization, but saw quality readings vary
anywhere from 28 to 72. Reception could vary as much as 12 to 15
points during a 60 second period. It might drop down into the
30s and 40s, but rapidly restore itself into the 60s and 70s within a short
period of time as little as three to five minutes. There appears to
be a fine line in keeping uninterrupted C-band signals at these
elevations. Have just enough signal so that the worst case quality
reading is still above threshold. What the tradeoffs might be with a
larger antenna remain to be tested. An overall increase in signal
may slightly outweigh the losses from the tighter focus and narrower
beamwidth found on C-band. Hurricane force winds are common in these
parts, so you really do not want to install a larger antenna than
necessary. It does prove that reliable reception is
possible with enough signal burning into the ground. These
satellites pushed +38 to +40 dBw signals at the camp location.
Look at the C-band spot beam levels on newer Russian satellites, which can
provide as much as +48 dBw to a wide geographic area. A cheap
consumer antenna of 1.8 meters literally has tons of signal to throw away,
and many users get by with 75 to 90 cm antennas for everyday C-band
reception. This will never be a common situation in the crowded
2-degree spacing environment of North America, but it should be a
cost-effective method of serving other widespread geographic areas,
especially those in high rainfall climates. A former initiative to
alternate satellites and use higher power in the previously unused areas
between 3400 and 3700 MHz while continuing with normal power levels on the
established 3700 to 4200 MHz band is a great idea. Perhaps it should
be explored further by our own FCC, given the potential of what I see in
my observations during the last month from the Russian Far East.

Until next time,
MIKE
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