Satellite Radio

mburke

Don't know if this is the right form but can satellite radio be picked up in Ireland. I know in the states it is provided by amongst other sirius http://www.sirius.com/
Any idea if a similar service is in the pipeline here in the near future ?

Tony

BBC and RTE radio can be picked up here but there is no dedicated service like sirius radio unfortunately.

mburke

Just wondering is that country wide our just the major towns that can pick up satellite radio ?

watty

There is or was Worldspace for portable Satellite subscription radio.

All other satellite radio here uses the TV set box and fixed dish, though Eutelsat is doing experiements.

The woes of Sirius/XM in US and Worldspace everywhere else show there is really no market.


Using the fixed satellite Dish and TV set box (actual TV not needed), you can get radio channels of TV satellite anywhere you have a view of the satellite. The UK and RTE (about 70 channels) are at 28.2E slot. That's about 20 degrees elevation and South East, in all of Ireland.

With a Motorised dish there appears to be over 2,000 free radio channel on 22 satellites. Alongside the TV.

Some setbox have a digit display for channel, so you don't need the TV one to change channel. Others you need at least a 5" portable TV to use the menu. You can use a video sender or "iTrip" gadget to have the Stereo someplace else in the house.

Tony

Satellite signals cover vast areas since they are in orbit. Any free to air receiver can pick up RTE BBc etc

mburke wrote: »

Just wondering is that country wide our just the major towns that can pick up satellite radio ?

Capt'n Midnight

It's great for BBC Radio 4

Can't ever see it going mobile since no subscriptions income and high cost of broadcast,

Apogee

Solaris Mobile, based in Dublin, are due to roll out mobile TV and radio services via DVB-SH with the recent launch of the S-band payload onboard Eutelsat W2A.
http://www.solarismobile.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAMuALmgAk

mburke

anyone know how the DAB rollout is going ?

It would be nice to know if this device would work across the country

http://www.digitalradio.ie/images/in%20car%20dab%20cutting.jpg

Apogee

EU selects satellite broadband providers

The EU has awarded Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile enough radio spectrum to run trans-Europe satellite data networks, but Ofcom remains undecided if they'll still have to pay market rates to run their network down to the UK's street level.

The spectrum concerned, two blocks around 2GHz, has been allocated to satellite data services by every country in Europe. The EU has been deciding, by beauty contest, who would offer the best connectivity to the remotest parts of the EU, and it's come down to Inmarsat and Solaris, but they'll still have to do regional deals with the regulators in each country, with Ofcom presenting one of the more serious obstacles.

Satellite internet is a lovely idea, but a commercial disaster in recent years as a succession of companies have failed to make it pay. With near-ubiquitous ADSL available in the bigger and more profitable EU countries, satellite services have been left with remote communities hard pressed to cover the costs and businesses who can't be bothered with fixed infrastructure: tenants in out of town shopping centres and remote petrol stations being prime customers.

But existing services are very high frequency, which means a couple of grand's worth of kit and a big dish pointed in the right direction. Operating around 2GHz means briefcase-sized kit that should be a lot cheaper too, it will still suffer the latency inherent in communicating with geo-stationary satellites.

This makes it fine for web browsing and e-mail, but not so good for VoIP and online gaming. Furthermore, without serious bodging you're not going to get iPlayer or similar no matter how much raw bandwidth is available.

The new owners are also allowed to broadcast TV and radio from their birds, but that will mean having local re-transmitters in each territory being covered - satellites work great for line-of-sight, but to get proper coverage you need to retransmit the signal on the same frequency, which is where the regional regulators get involved.

Ofcom proposed, back in November, that the contest winners should be required to pay full AIP* to set up ground stations in the UK, a proposal that met swift rebuttal from Solaris Mobile at the time:

"Given the limited number of potential licensees, ACR [Administration Cost Recovery] in conjunction with concurrent trading of spectrum rights is sufficient to ensure efficient use"

Solaris also claimed that even if Ofcom did want to charge AIP it had the calculations wrong, as it had failed to allow for the fact that no-one except the EU-level contest winner could use the spectrum in the UK anyway.

Inmarsat didn't get drawn on pricing in their response to the proposal, claiming that this would be detailed in a separate letter.

We spoke to Ofcom this afternoon, and the regulator told us it would be issuing a statement in the next couple of weeks. But whatever the decision it will be heralded as a disaster by someone. Existing broadcast networks will be livid if the spectrum is handed over for free, but the satellite providers will threaten to leave the UK bereft of their services otherwise: not to mention shouting at the Commission about open and equal markets, in an attempt to force British compliance.

Based on previous performance Ofcom is marginally more likely to upset the EU Commission than existing broadcasters, but it will likely try to find a third way that can upset everyone involved equally.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/15/eu_satellite/print.html

Tests after Solaris anomaly
Further tests are to be carried out on the S-band payload of the Eutelsat W2A satellite after the discovery of a potential anomaly.

In a statement Dublin-based Solaris Mobile, owned jointly by SES and Eutelsat, said additional analysis was planned with the satellite’s prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space, in order to “identify the cause of the anomaly and fully to assess the extent of the S-band payload’s capability to provide mobile satellite services to the European marketplace”.

The company said it remained confident of its ability to meet the commitments made under the European Selection and Authorisation Process. Solaris said it would be evaluating a range of options to deal with the situation.

Separately,The European Commission has confirmed both Solaris and Inmarsat as operators of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) systems under the co-ordinated European S-Band Application Process.

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?p=18012

Apogee

DUBLIN-BASED Solaris Mobile, which has invested €150 million in launching a satellite to support mobile data services, has confirmed that the satellite payload which it launched from Kazakhstan last month does not comply with its original specifications.

As a result, Solaris Mobile has filed a claim with its insurers for the full insured value of the payload.

Solaris expects that it should still be able to provide some of the services it was planning to offer, but on a limited basis.

However, the company remains confident that it will be able to meet the commitments made to the EU, which involve providing mobile satellite services to the European market using the S-band spectrum.

Solaris Mobile is a joint venture between satellite operators Eutelsat Communications and SES Astra.

It opened its headquarters in Dublin last June with support from IDA Ireland.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0702/1224249909242.html

DF1

Is there any mobile satellite radio receivers available for europe ?
Just wondering if Irish stations could be picked up in europe mainland ?

Apogee

European pay-radio gets closer
Written by Chris Forrester
Thursday, 04 February 2010 09:01
Solaris Mobile is the satellite joint-venture between SES Astra and Eutelsat. Despite technical problems last year it is now geared up for operations. European viewers – and listeners – might shortly get satellite TV to their mobile phones, and a pay-radio service similar to Sirius-XM.


Solaris has kitted out a car which is currently being road-tested and shown to “interested parties” in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona (for the 3G Global Forum show) and elsewhere in Europe.


Eutelsat’s new CEO Michel de Rosen said: “Our short term intention is to showcase the [Solaris Mobile] system, and to continue working with regulators at national and European level to see the licences fully developed. Our friends at Inmarsat, to my knowledge, have yet to be active in the field. Obviously regulators want to know what Inmarsat and Solaris are doing and going to do. It is our common duty to answer clearly and convincingly these legitimate requests.”


Mr de Rosen said that Solaris is now re-addressing the whole market, especially in regards to potential partners. “The rate of development of mobile video services in Europe has been slower than anticipated, and the fact that we ourselves have not moved faster than the market is not a handicap.”


But the technical result is now a tangible reality. The transmission system is beaming S-band/DVB-SH video and audio signals to some test vehicles. Customers – or more accurately potential customers – have already seen the snazzy set-up, and the vehicle is now on a true road show to most of Europe’s major cities, which will include Barcelona for the upcoming 3G Global Forum, showcasing what a real system can look and sound like.


And it is impressive. A test drive offered up a half-dozen video channels, a few radio services, and most importantly rock-solid images with zero video drop-out or other troubling artefacts. Moreover, Solaris’ clever technical solution beams a mini-WiFi signal into the car enabling up to 3 different images to be viewed (including your editor’s iPhone). It was seamless to set up.


Solaris Mobile’s next iteration will be a more powerful chip-set allowing potentially dozens of different users (on a bus, or a train, for example) to pick and choose their own channel, or data stream. Indeed, it will be obvious to any operator that the concept’s ability to handle data and other vehicle-based telematics is a key advantage. Currently the scheme assumes the satellite will beam its couple of Muxes to Europe’s major regions with terrestrial repeaters filling in the local urban gaps but also complementing the core channel offerings with, perhaps, local traffic, weather or other personalised information.


Solaris is also working on a battery-driven ‘dongle’ receiver that will have a similar chip-based battery driven device that will transmit content to mobiles without an on-board receiver. The Paris test uses four 30-Watt transmitters to cover the city. Solaris’ key target markets, remembering the problems with the antenna, are currently France, Germany, Italy and Spain.


Ondas Media is seen by most as being a strong contender in this space and already has contracts signed with Renault, BMW and Nissan. Interestingly, the specification also allows SMS-type short messages to be sent directly from a vehicle up to the satellite. Transmission power is just 1 Watt, but the technicians say it all works fine. Solaris is looking to see standards body ETSI establish an open standard for this aspect of the technology.

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/201002045775/european-pay-radio-gets-closer.html