Requesting channel verification

[gsradio]

Hello,

Please allow me to state up front that I have placed this post on one other forum requesting help. I have since come across this forum and from what I have seen it looks as if this may be a more appropriate place to make my request. I know many forums frown apon cross posting so if is a problem I apologize.

I have an unusual issue I'm needing some help with. I own a small independent radio network located in the US. We currently have 5 channels on the Galaxy 19 satellite. We just added a new channel on Hotbird 13A using GlobeCast as our uplink.

My issue is being we are located in the US we are not able to see Hotbird so I have had to rely on the information provided by GlobeCast as to if we are up and the perimeters of where we are exactly located on Hotbird. To make this even more of an issue I have got 2 different sets of info from GlobeCast one from their sales team and one from their operations center. I'm really starting to get frustrated as I cant get a straight answer.

I was hoping someone out there who has access to Hotbird 13A could do a scan and see if they could pick up our feed and provide me with the correct info of exactly where we are at..

For anyone who would be willing to help me out here is the info I was provided by Globecast. Please note there are 2 possible frequencies I'm not sure which one is correct. Also this is a mono channel so I'm also not sure if we are on the left or right side. Currenty we are rebroadcasting other Sat feeds so Im providing a live stream link for you to compare. http://64.27.20.5:1334/listen.pls

Also thank you very very much in advance for any insight you can offer.

Todd W.
Global Star Radio Network

Eutelsat HOT BIRD 13A @ 13º East
Transponder 156 or 154
Frequency 11623 or 11585
Vertical polarization,
Symbol Rate 27500
FEC 3/4
Stream ID 192

Channel ID - Global Star (ID: 135)
Service Global Star (ID: 135)
Stream ID - 192
Program - 13514
PMT PID - 514
PCR PID - 1548

 

[Captain Jack]

Hi Todd,

There are no radio stations on 11585V but there is on 11623V including yours. I've verified this against the web stream. I am attaching a screenshot.

This information is also available here - http://www.flysat.com/r-hb.php

Thanks
CJ

 

[timo_w2s]

I'm picking up "Global Star" on 11623V too. My receiver lists it as stereo so it's coming out of both channels. However, quality is not great, the web feed sounds much better.

 

[timo_w2s]

PS. Nice to hear something a bit different on a European satellite! Who is this Hotbird feed aimed at?

 

[Captain Jack]

They are probably streaming the web stream on the satellite!

 

[timo_w2s]

Sounds like it. If Todd is interested I could record a bit of the stream and upload it to my webserver.

 

[gsradio]

Thank you both Captain Jack & timo_w2s for taking the time check for me. So it seems the Sales guys at the uplink were correct with the info they provided us about the feed and the guys in the Operations Center were off a bit. ( that has me a bit worried if the Operations Center does not know where they put the feed..lol )

in reply to your question of who we are aiming for. To be honest we had a few program hosts request us to beam a signal into Europe. Most of our hosts also use shortwave to reach other countries and shortwave single can be really spotty at times. Here in the US they have been very happy with feedback they get from listeners on the Galaxy 19 FTA feed and wanted to try in other areas of the world.

Yes, you are correct the uplink is currently pulling the internet stream and using that to feed the satellite. As for the quality we are working on providing them with a better feed but needed to get them something rather quickly and this seemed to work on short notice.

I'm hoping of being able to locate someone in the near future that I can pay a monthly fee to that could provide me with just 1 audio stream from the satellite over the web so I can monitor the feed and quality.

in the mean time timo_w2s. . .I would very much like to take you up on your generous offer of doing a one time short recording of the feed to give me an idea of the quality. I know that for the moment the quality may not be greatest but unless the uplink has their Audio Gain turned up to high it should at least be close to the internet stream quality.

Again thank you all for taking the time to help me out with this, your time is so very much appreciated at least now I know it is up and broadcasting .. now I need to get the audio quality up.

 

[Analoguesat]

Hello Todd, yup confirmed Global Star is on 11623V

We dont mind helping Stateside programme providers monitor their output here in Europe - a couple of years ago we helped a tv service monitor their output for several months.

Your output is 64kbps which isnt great, I always find radio channels transmitting at that rate is a bit muffled.


Globecast should be able to double hop your signal via one of the Atlantic satellites, or trunk the signal over via fibre.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hello Todd, yup confirmed Global Star is on 11623V

We dont mind helping Stateside programme providers monitor their output here in Europe - a couple of years ago we helped a tv service monitor their output for several months.

I thought this sounded familiar.

 

[gsradio]

Hello Todd, yup confirmed Global Star is on 11623V

We dont mind helping Stateside programme providers monitor their output here in Europe - a couple of years ago we helped a tv service monitor their output for several months.

Your output is 64kbps which isnt great, I always find radio channels transmitting at that rate is a bit muffled.


Globecast should be able to double hop your signal via one of the Atlantic satellites, or trunk the signal over via fibre.

........................................

Analoguesat . . .Thanks for the reception report. From what I just found out GlobeCast America who I'm contracting with is picking up the internet stream and then sending the signal over to GlobeCast France by way of fiber. They then uplink the feed to Hotbird. Also thank you for the offer to help monitor the network there. I'm just throwing this out there so please don't feel any pressure but would you or would you happen to know anyone that would be able to provide us with 1 24/7 stream so we could monitor the feed from our studios. I would certainly be willing to pay a monthly fee for this. We could provide a place on one of our shoutcast servers that you could send the stream to or we could even use something like Ustream if you would prefer.

I dont expect to get anything for free or would I even ask. So as I said I would be happy to pay someone say 100.00 - 125.00 per month to simply setup a used PC and lock it on our audio satellite feed and stream us 1 64k stream and thats it. Its an easy 100.00 each month .. it may pay for their internet service each month.. . . anyways Just thought I would ask.

by the way can you tell me is the audio just muffled or does it sound as if the audios gain is to high and it is hard to understand what is being said..

Thanks Again
Todd

 

[Analoguesat]

To me 64kbps just sound a bit overcompressed. The audio on my tv card in the computer isnt great - at some point this evening Ill hijack the main telly when swmbo isnt looking and have a proper listen.

id try to help with a stream but my broadband is more "narrowband"! (1.5 meg down 300 kbps up!) and we are fairly heavy users so the stream is maxed out fairly easily already!

Im sure someone will help though.

 

[timo_w2s]

Um, was going to record it but it doesn't seem to be broadcasting any audio at the moment. AS, can you hear anything?

 

[gsradio]

Analoguesat .. no problem at all like i said I just thought I would ask thank you

Timo_w2s... yes it should have audio I just checked the stream we are providing them and it has audio.. no idea why it would not

 

[Analoguesat]

Um, was going to record it but it doesn't seem to be broadcasting any audio at the moment. AS, can you hear anything?

Yup its working fine.

Some advert for Berkey water filtration systems on,

although there was an interruption for a few seconds mid ad!!

 

[timo_w2s]

Timo_w2s... yes it should have audio I just checked the stream we are providing them and it has audio.. no idea why it would not

It's working for me again now, might have been my box, just rebooted it. I'll get a file uploaded shortly.

 

[Analoguesat]

Yup its working fine.

Some advert for Berkey water filtration systems on,

although there was an interruption for a few seconds mid ad!!

Just like monitoring SW stations for QSL cards 25 years ago!

 

[gsradio]

Just like monitoring SW stations for QSL cards 25 years ago!

lol.. ya I remember the QSL cards my father had a scrapbook full of them I also used to give them out when I was more into Ham Radio and made long distance contacts.

 

[timo_w2s]

This is an 8 minute recording made just a few minutes ago with my satellite receiver in the UK. Quality sounds the same on my PC as it did via the TV and hifi so should be a pretty accurate representation.

_www.w2s-inter.net/tmp/GlobalStar.trp (3.67M

The file type is a bit odd, but it should play fine in something like Media Player Classic on PC: _www.sourceforge.net/projects/mpc-hc/

 

[gsradio]

This is an 8 minute recording made just a few minutes ago with my satellite receiver in the UK. Quality sounds the same on my PC as it did via the TV and hifi so should be a pretty accurate representation.

_www.w2s-inter.net/tmp/GlobalStar.trp (3.67M

The file type is a bit odd, but it should play fine in something like Media Player Classic on PC: _www.sourceforge.net/projects/mpc-hc/

Thank you so very timo... that sound clip told me alot. 1. at least the feed can be understood. 2. we need to get them to pull from our Galaxy 19 feed as I could hear the internet dropping in the clip. 3. Im sure the audio would be much better quality once they move to the sat. feed..... Thank you again.. that was a huge help!!

 

[timo_w2s]

Thank you so very timo... that sound clip told me alot. 1. at least the feed can be understood. 2. we need to get them to pull from our Galaxy 19 feed as I could hear the internet dropping in the clip. 3. Im sure the audio would be much better quality once they move to the sat. feed..... Thank you again.. that was a huge help!!

Glad I could help. If you need more samples at some point let me know. I too noticed a slight gap/drop out in the audio while recording that clip.

Would also have loved to have helped with a stream, but for various practical reasons I can't volunteer at the moment I'm afraid.