Soviet Satellite TV

[Adam792]

Just a question purely out of interest. I'm unsure as to whether I will get any response to it.

I've read a bit about the satellites used by the former Soviet Union and how all of their television channels as well as those of the other communist bloc states were carried. (Presumably in SECAM).

Did anyone ever receive any of these broadcasts in Western Europe? Were they easily viewable? I would imagine it would have been really quite interesting to see what the "other half" of the world as it was, watched.

This article seems to suggest that reception was possible, if written with somewhat of a lacking of technical knowledge.

_http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0004694.html

I'd be very interested to hear any experiences if anyone at all has any!

I must admit the whole topic of how the "other half" lived fascinates me, and there are quite a few interesting YouTube clips to be viewed of Communist era TV.

 

[Analoguesat]

Some of the old Soviet era satellite tv was delivered via high power UHF..

They used the Ekran series of birds

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekran

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hi Adam

It all depends on how far back you go

SECAM certainly, Gorizonts on 40E and 11W/14W were putting down good C band signal footprints round here in the mid 80's. The TV repair/sales shop I worked in put out a 90 cm dish on the pavement and when pointed just left of a lamp-post it would get two channels from the USSR.

Rather boring programmes though, even with a transcoder stuck inline......

But, wrt the article posted, maybe you are talking about Ms Oxana Federova. Now, children's TV presenter,

[tube]A3HKj72nG6Y[/tube]

but a few years back.....

[tube]QciogYIR8rw[/tube]

 

[Adam792]

Some of the old Soviet era satellite tv was delivered via high power UHF..

They used the Ekran series of birds

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekran

That's interesting, did that not interfere with analogue terrestrial UHF signals? Especially if it was fairly strong over Europe. Didn't there used to be an Indian system that was similar? (Using UHF)

Hi Adam

It all depends on how far back you go

SECAM certainly, Gorizonts on 40E and 11W/14W were putting down good C band signal footprints round here in the mid 80's. The TV repair/sales shop I worked in put out a 90 cm dish on the pavement and when pointed just left of a lamp-post it would get two channels from the USSR.

Rather boring programmes though, even with a transcoder stuck inline......

Very interesting, thanks for this!

Here are a couple of Youtube clips I've found from Soviet TV.

Firstly, the morning exercise routine:

[tube]jVUaYVjhcTQ[/tube]

And, some crazy adverts, including one for a dimmer switch. :

[tube]zzlzx8D4hYw[/tube]

 

[aceb]

Didn't there used to be an Indian system that was similar? (Using UHF)

Yes, that was ATS-6, went out on 860MHz at 35E, Steve Birkill, a pioneer in Satellite TV reception received it as well as Statsionar T Ekran & Gorizont in Sheffield.

There's an interesting video of his early work here
[video=youtube;GO79exZ9uIw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO79exZ9uIw[/video]

 

[Llew]

That's interesting, did that not interfere with analogue terrestrial UHF signals? Especially if it was fairly strong over Europe. Didn't there used to be an Indian system that was similar? (Using UHF)

Back in 1975/6, the ATS-6 satellite parked at 35E was used for educational programming to India, beaming UHF transmissions at 860MHz. As this was above Band V UHF, interference wouldn't have been a problem. Despite the beam being fixed on Central India, there was some off-beam radiation that allowed enthusiasts in Western Europpe to receive this transmission using home-constructed equipment.

 

[Adam792]

There's an interesting video of his early work here

Fascinating stuff!

Back in 1975/6, the ATS-6 satellite parked at 35E was used for educational programming to India, beaming UHF transmissions at 860MHz. As this was above Band V UHF, interference wouldn't have been a problem. Despite the beam being fixed on Central India, there was some off-beam radiation that allowed enthusiasts in Western Europpe to receive this transmission using home-constructed equipment.

Ah I understand, I take it an ordinary yagi aerial wouldn't have worked? The article Analoguesat linked to suggested that for the Soviet UHF satellite service you could use a normal yagi antenna - a concept which sounds strange for satellite! Is this correct or a Wikipedia myth?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Ah I understand, I take it an ordinary yagi aerial wouldn't have worked? The article Analoguesat linked to suggested that for the Soviet UHF satellite service you could use a normal yagi antenna - a concept which sounds strange for satellite! Is this correct or a Wikipedia myth?

Yagis (with some nod to parabolic reflectors) work at higher frequencies than the UHF downlinks

Have a gander at the S-band stuff around in the 90's

and the stuff used on more interesting communication

_http://www.eham.net/qslmgr/result?Callsign=SV1OE

_http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/qsl-propa6.htm

 

[aceb]

Fascinating stuff!
Ah I understand, I take it an ordinary yagi aerial wouldn't have worked?

Not really, most wideband or group C/D TV yagis would peak around channel 60-62 and then roll off quite quickly above that, by the time they reached 860MHz gain and directivity would be well down. The other problem being the polarity, the satellites used RH circular polarisation so a linear polarity yagi would be 3dB down.

 

[Llew]

Helical aerials were used to receive the circularly polarised transmissions from those early satellites.

 

[Analoguesat]

Helical aerials were used to receive the circularly polarised transmissions from those early satellites.

Yes I remember Tomnorrows World showing some pictures from the roof of TV Centre with some sort of helical aerial rig.