Re: [Swprograms] Getting Way OT: For whom the bell tolls

[Joe Buch <josephbuch@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, the Echostar satellites are geostationary.  But I see no real synergy between current Echostar businesses and the XM/Sirius satellite capabilities.  The DISH Network satellites all use frequencies above 10 GHz.  The Sirius/XM birds are in the 2 GHz region and have much more limited bandwidth.  Ergen probably wants to continue the current services and after the debt is wiped out by the bankruptcy, and Karmizan and Howard Stern and their inflated contracts are voided, the company can make a nice profit.

I am sure the only use for the XM birds would be for one way transmission of information to very small antennas in a ground footprint approximately the size of the 48 contiguous states and adjacent Canadian provinces.  The information could be anything with a point-to-multipoint mission and need for small antennas that need not be pointed accurately.  I believe the total bandwidth of the transponder is about 10 MHz allowing fast digital transfers of information. If one were to walk the XM satellites to different longitudinal positions, a similar area could be covered anywhere in the world.  One way transmission to small antennas located on military helmets or robotic vehicles could have interesting military applications.  One could even envision triggering events in politically or militarily sensitive locations with small solar-powered receivers prepositioned by clandestine operatives.

Sirius birds are not really in polar orbits.  They are in highly elliptical orbits that are geosynchronous but not geostationary.  The apogee of the orbits, as now established, occurs over central Canada.  The perigee occurs south of the equator.  I entered the Sirius orbital parameters into one of those earth-view programs many years ago.  From the current orbit at apogee the satellites could see Western Europe and Northern Russia.  I do not know if the satellite antenna beam is steerable to off-point the beam from directly under the satellite to a target near the horizon and that could limit many applications. If the satellite beam can be off-pointed, one could get excellent coverage of the Arctic Ocean region where geostationary satellites cannot see.  Geostationary satellites a cannot see anything above 81 degrees North Latitude.  If one were to walk the orbits eastward so apogee occurred over Western Europe, one might be able to send one way traffic
 from the USA to Western Asia with only one hop minimizing delay time.

Joe Buch

--- On Wed, 2/11/09, Richard Cuff <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Richard Cuff <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Swprograms] Slightly OT: For whom the bell tolls
> To: rdesantos@xxxxxxxxx, "Shortwave programming discussion" <swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 10:02 PM
> XM's satellites are geostationary; Sirius'
> satellites use polar
> orbits.  I believe EchoStar's satellites are
> geostationary.
> 
> I haven't paid close enough attention as to what
> EchoStar might do
> with the assets.
> 
> Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA
> 
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 2:31 PM, Rob de Santos
> <rdesantos@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > OK, not off-topic but off-frequency?
> >
> >
> > I can see Ergen's interest.  If I could raise the
> money, it would be mine, too.
> > What is the only asset they have that is really worth
> much?  The satellites.
> >
> > The problem with every satellite delivered service
> (think Iridium satellite
> > phones) over the past 30 years is the huge up front
> capital (cost) to get
> > satellites designed and launched.
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