RF CURRENT
Welcome to RF Current, a weekly electronic newsletter focusing on Broadcast
technical and F.C.C. related issues. This newsletter is part of The RF Page @ www.transmitter.com, a web
site devoted to TV Broadcast RF engineering. For more information see the What is... guide to the R.F. Page site.
Issues are dated each Monday, although recently I've needed an extra day or
two to complete each issue. Articles may be posted earlier if time permits or
if there is a major, breaking story.
<<< Back to August 23 - Issue 179
August 30, 1999 - Issue 180 Final Edition
- Technology - Research Team From University of Toronto Brings Nanotube Electronics Closer to Reality (Aug. 30)
- Researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered a new, low-cost, low-technology method for producing carbon nanotubes. Nanotubes are submicroscopic carbon filaments a few hundred atoms in circumference. They have unique electrical properties - they can act as a semiconductor, a conductor or an insulator. The University of Toronoto lab demonstrated the synthesis of Y-junction carbon nanotubes earlier this year. According to the lab, this was a significant step towards producing nanotube transistors. Professor of Chemistry Martin Moskovits said "It's rare that nature hands you a material with these kinds of capabilities. A whole new generation of electronics could potentially be based on nanotubes with properties unlike anything currently in use."
You can read more about this discovery in the University of Toronoto Press Release Discovery Could Introduce New Age In Electronics. Also refer to the Nanophysics Group Web Page from the University's Optoelectronics and Emerging Technologies Laboratory. Team co-leader Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Jimmy Xu's home page contains references to additional papers on the technology.
- Wireless - Philips and Wi-LAN Demonstrate Transmission of IEEE 1394 data using W-OFDM Technology (Aug. 27)
- At the Internationalle Funkausstellung (IFA) 1999 in Berlin, Germany, Philips Semiconductor and Wi-LAN will use Wi-LAN's patented Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (W-OFDM) technology at 2.4 GHz to transmit a IEEE 1394 signal. A Philips Semiconductor set-top box will convert an MPEG-2 data multiplex into an IEEE 1394 signal and send it to the Wi-LAN W-OFDM radio system for transmission to a W-OFDM receiver. The data from the receiver is demodulated by two set-top boxes and displayed.
The Philips Press Release claimed "This latest development establishes W-OFDM, the most bandwidth-efficient wireless transmission technology, as the only technology capable of providing data rates necessary for in-home multimedia networking." It stated the W-OFDM technology is inherently immune to the effects of multipath, saying "OFDM technology is becoming increasingly more visible as American and European standardization committees are choosing it as the only technology capable of providing reliable wireless high data rate connections." The Press Release noted that the IEEE 802.11 working group selected OFDM for its proposed 6 to 54 Mbps wireless LAN standard and that the European Telecommunications Standards Institute has W-OFDM under consideration for the ETSI BRAN standard.
- FCC Satellite Applications (Aug. 25)
- The FCC International Bureau has released another Satellite Policy Branch Information Public Notice listing applications accepted for filing. Some of the applications of interest to users of satellite communications sytems are listed here. A complete list and other information is in the Public Notice (pnin9160), available only as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.
PanAmSat License Corporation filed an application to launch and operate a dual C/Ku-band hybrid satellite PAS-23 to replace its PAS-9 satellite at 58 degrees West Longitude. PAS-23 will have 24 C-band transponders serving the U.S. and Latin America from a single beam. Twelve Ku-band transponders will provide Direct to Home (DTH) service to Mexico and Central America. Another twelve Ku-band transponders will be switchable between a Brazil service and a U.S./Europe service. All transponders, C and Ku, will be 36 MHz wide.
PanAmSat also filed for Galaxy III-C, to replace Galaxy III-R at 95 degrees West Longitude. Galaxy III-C will have 24 C-band transponders with bandwidths from 36 to 24 MHz serving the U.S. and Latin America. The Ku side of the satellite will have 53 transponders with bandwidths ranging from 54 MHz to 24 MHz. Sixteen of the Ku transponders will be used for DTH service to Latin America, with the rest used for either U.S. domestic satellite or Latin American service.
Remember the original Galaxy IV which failed last year? It is now called HGS-4. Hughes Communications Galaxy, Inc. has requested Special Temporary Authority to communicate with HGS-4 "in order to reverse its drift rate and maneuver the satellite East towards 147 degrees W.L. at approximately 1 degree per day and then to locate the HGS-4 satellite at the 147 degree W.L. orbital location." The FCC Notice said Hughes was not requesting authority to operate the communications payload on HGS-4 at this time.
R/L DBS Company L.L.C. asked for a two year extension of its Construction Permit for DBS service for eleven DBS channels at 61.5 degrees west longitude to allow additional time to launch its satellite or pursue a transponder lease and channel use arrangement.
- Wireless - CEMA Industry Discovery Group to Discuss Multimedia Broadcast Service (Aug. 20)
- The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association will discuss its proposed Mobile Multimedia Broadcast Service (MMDS) at next Discovery Group meeting at the Loews' L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington DC on September 15, 1999. The Discovery Group is spearheaded by CEMA's Technology and Standards Department. Presenters include Michael Chryochoos with Visteon Automotive Systems, Jay Adams from the Mobile Multimedia Group at Delphi Delco Electronics and Gerald Chouinard from the Communications Research Centre in Canada. Topics include a vision of the potential capabilities of MMBS, the possibilities of data services for public reception and mobile reception challenges and technologies. More information on MMBS can be found in the August 9, 1999 RF Current. More information the Discovery Group is available in a CEMA Press Release.
- DIGITAL TELEVISION STATION ACTIONS - See ac990827.txt
for more information
-
Granted licenese or license modification to cover CP: WMFD-DT, Ch-12, Mansfield, OH
| Call (DT) |
Ch. |
Licensee |
Location |
ERP (kW) |
HAAT (m) |
Antenna |
| KSNK |
12 |
Witchita License |
Mc Cook NE |
10.6 |
216 |
Harris TAB-12H-M |
- DIGITAL TELEVISION STATION ACTIONS - See ac990826.txt
for more information
-
| Call (DT) |
Ch. |
Licensee |
Location |
ERP (kW) |
HAAT (m) |
Antenna |
| WOFL |
22 |
Meredith |
Orlando FL |
200 (mod) |
390 (mod) |
Dielectric TFU-28DSC-RT140 (mod) |
| WATL |
25 |
Qwest B'cstg |
Atlanta GA |
73.9 |
315 |
Dielectric TFU-18GBH-R |
| KPDX |
48 |
Meredith |
Vancouver WA |
200 (mod) |
530 |
Dielectric TFU-32GTH/VP-R DC SP130 |
- OTHER Items of Interest
>>> Next September 6, 1999 - Issue 181 >>>
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Last modified September 1, 1999 by Doug Lung dlung@transmitter.com
Copyright © 1999 H. Douglas Lung