Would everything fit on AMC-6 in MPEG4?

[bryan27]

Are there other options available with enough bandwidth to allow Voom to do this? And with room to grow down the road? I don't know enough to determine if this is feasible, but it's something I have been wondering about with the sale of Rainbow-1 to E*. If they have to go through a re-aim and/or new dishes anyway, it would make sense to consider this.

Good question let's investigate

AMC-6 72w--24TPs, all available for VOOM (500MHz), EIRP (signal level) is upto 51dB in several parts of the country, 52dB in North-West US.

AMC-5 79w--16TPs, but only 12TPs are available (375MHz) EIRP is lower 48dB max.

AMC-9 83w--24TPs, 3TPs leased to NBC, only 21TPs are available (436MHz). EIRP 50dB, 51dB in South-East.

AMC-3 87w--not available, leases to DirecWay, PBS, and various state ETV networks.

AMC-4 101w--not available, almost all TPs are being used.

AMC-1 103w--not available, most of satellite leased to NBC, also this is the major satellite for radio network feeds to stations.

AMC-2 105w--not available, all TPs leased to Echostar.

That's it, no more KU sats in SES-Americom's fleet. AMC-6 is it.

 

[who_the]

Great information; I believe AMC-15 is also up and testing at 105 with 24 Ku @ 36mHz.

 

[yanks2402]

Good question let's investigate

AMC-6 72w--24TPs, all available for VOOM (500MHz), EIRP (signal level) is upto 51dB in several parts of the country, 52dB in North-West US.

AMC-5 79w--16TPs, but only 12TPs are available (375MHz) EIRP is lower 48dB max.

AMC-9 83w--24TPs, 3TPs leased to NBC, only 21TPs are available (436MHz). EIRP 50dB, 51dB in South-East.

AMC-3 87w--not available, leases to DirecWay, PBS, and various state ETV networks.

AMC-4 101w--not available, almost all TPs are being used.

AMC-1 103w--not available, most of satellite leased to NBC, also this is the major satellite for radio network feeds to stations.

AMC-2 105w--not available, all TPs leased to Echostar.

That's it, no more KU sats in SES-Americom's fleet. AMC-6 is it.

If they wanted to keep up with the leasing the sats, they couldalso lease AMC-9 at 83w. With the 3TPs leased to NBC there is still 21 left. They could do a single dish since it is in a reasonable distance to 72.

I know AMC-6 as twice and maybe as much as three times as much capacity, but how many CONUS transponders does R-1 have?

 

[yanks2402]

Great information; I believe AMC-15 is also up and testing at 105 with 24 Ku @ 36mHz.

You are correct, but I believe E* has leased the entire satellite so that one is gone too.

 

[rvsixer]

The R-2 satellite has 110w/TP. A bit less than 1/2 R-1. But, since you need a 30" minimum dish anyways it more than makes up for the signal strength being lower. You need 30" minimum because Ku-FSS satellites are only 2 degrees apart and 30" is about the smallest a dish can be and see just one satellite and not get the neighboring satellites. Ku-DBS is 9 degree spacing allowing a much smaller dish since they do not have to worry about the neighboring satellites interfering with it. I suspect the new dish would be somewhere between 30 and 34 inches.

Okay thanks for the education, I didn't know about the dish size/spacing factor.

Rob.

 

[mike123abc]

Echostar has a deal for another SES satellite. This could be what is going on with the clearing out of 83. Dish has 85 (AMC-16), 105 (AMC-15) replacement satellites in orbit now. SES could also move a satellite to an empty slot like they did for Dish (moved AMC-2 to 105 while they built AMC-15).

 

[jame_g]

Very interesting information (and discussion) posted here over the past day. Thank you Mike, Davis, and especially Bryan.

 

[Bruce]

When E* went to their Superdish fiasco with the AMC birds they leased, a few states could not pick up the bird because it was too low powered (here in michigan for one ), I don't know if this will matter with the Satellite Voom is leasing.

 

[James Long]

Great information; I believe AMC-15 is also up and testing at 105 with 24 Ku @ 36mHz.

I don't believe AMC-15 has reached 105 yet. They have been testing ka at several locations on the way to 105.

AMC-15 will replace the lower powered and poor footprint AMC-2. SES Americom can move AMC-2 another location and open it up for lease, but the power level is poor and a slot would need to be available.

AMC-16 has been launched 100% leased by Echostar.

AMC-6 isn't too bad of a bird - about double the power of AMC-2 and a better footprint. It is the best space available for a DBS startup. (Note the word "available".)

JL

 

[bryan27]

I agree with lurker AMC-6 is a good bird. It isn't as powerful as the new sats, but it is the signal level on the ground that counts.

The problem with AMC-2 is that it is really weak powered and old only 60 watts. AMC-15 will be a different story as it is 140watts.

AMC-6 is 110 watts so it is almost double power of AMC-2.

For comparison here is AMC-2:

http://www.ses-americom.com/images/satellites/amc-2/amc_2_kuband_eirp.gif

And this is AMC-6:

http://www.ses-americom.com/images/satellites/amc-6/amc_6_kuband_eirp.gif

Big difference in signal level across the country.

A map of AMC-15 hasn't been released yet. I did see one for the KA TPs.

 

[kelljc]

VoOm figured that they would need to swap everyone's dishes out anyways if they were to have 61.5 and 72 so they figure this would not cost them more than it would previously. If anything it would cost less seeing that they would not be using 61.5 anymore.

Bruce, what is all those contraptions on that PrimeStar dish? It looks like it may be something used for receiving/transmitting transmissions for internet or something.

I agree but have you thought , Maybe this is the way to keep " VOOM " selling a bad bird for a good bird, 61.5 has many issues, with it and " AMC" don't have the same issue's, maybe " Voom" did well getting 200 mil for a bad bird for a good bird,? don't you agree?.

 

[rvsixer]

...61.5 has many issues, with it and " AMC" don't have the same issue's, maybe " Voom" did well getting 200 mil for a bad bird for a good bird,? don't you agree?.

OMG...!sadroll

 

[Bruce]

I agree but have you thought , Maybe this is the way to keep " VOOM " selling a bad bird for a good bird, 61.5 has many issues, with it and " AMC" don't have the same issue's, maybe " Voom" did well getting 200 mil for a bad bird for a good bird,? don't you agree?.

 

[James Long]

I agree but have you thought , Maybe this is the way to keep " VOOM " selling a bad bird for a good bird, 61.5 has many issues, with it and " AMC" don't have the same issue's, maybe " Voom" did well getting 200 mil for a bad bird for a good bird,? don't you agree?.

PARSE ERROR -- please resubmit.

Kelljc, I assume you are talkking about the satellites. You say that "61.5 has many issues". That makes it sound like a broken down satellite - and Rainbow1 (VOOM's bird at 61.5) is under two years old and has performed without anomoly. The slots are close enough that being at 72 really doesn't help the west coast much. (Although there is an improvement.)

Cablevision did well selling a good bird to a willing party.

JL