Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

Westerners listen1 to their favorite2 programs on the CBS Radio Pacific Network3 1 Listen: This refers to "ears in use," not merely to "sets in use." 2 Favorite: As in Harry Babbitt, Sunday News Desk, Dave Vaile News, Ruth Ashton, Frank Goss News and Tom Harmon — to name just a few great CBS'rs. 3 Network: 245,000 watts to blanket the 3 Pacific Coast States. Summary: Programs, Personalities and Power . . . that's why your message belongs on the CBS Radio Pacific Network. GOVERNMENT continued WILL SATELLITES JAM SPECTRUM? • This is big question in wake of Russian Sputnik • Answers put forward are speculative, far-reaching As the Red-launched and red-tinged Sputnik satellite orbited around the earth last week, the implications of what is acknowledged to be the opening of space travel by unmanned and manned rockets spread in ever widening circles, bringing a host of questions impinging on radio and tv and the radio spectrum. The answers to these questions, mainly speculative, ranged from fears that the forthcoming decade would see a greater and greater demand for radio frequencies to the prospective projection of earth satellites in fixed positions above the earth acting as gigantic tv relay stations whose broadcasts would span half the globe. The possibility that the age of space would jam the radio spectrum was foreseen by many observers, who saw in the uprushing space future a swelling demand for radio frequencies for telemetering, for guidance and controls and (for the day of human space travel) communications. Qualified radio engineers, however, expressed the feeling that the demand would be met without any upheaval in existing radio assignments. Most felt that the demand for spectrum space would be in the uhf and shf (super high frequency) areas. Renewed were past years' theories that proposed the establishment of a "moon" satellite whose orbit could be set to correspond to the rotation of the earth — thus keeping it in one position in relation to the earth — and which would be used as a passive reflector from which vhf, uhf and shf radio and tv signals could be "bounced" back to distant points on earth, or as a repeater whose signals could be sprayed back toward terra firma with a coverage exceeding the fondest hopes of Westinghouse Electric Corp. in its post-war "Stratovision" promises. Early in the post-war years, Westinghouse proposed — and demonstrated — a system of tv coverage which used airborne transmitters acting as sky-high relays to cover vast areas of the United States. The proposal for a repeater station for communications and radio-tv broadcasting out in space was submitted in 1954 to the National Science Foundation by Richard W. Porter, General Electric Co. Dr. Porter envisaged a series of spheres in orbits about 2,000 miles from the earth acting as broad band repeaters. An alternative method, Dr. Porter suggested, was to use a plane mirror or repeater 22,000 miles from the earth to bounce radio and tv signals across the oceans. Earth parabolic antennas would be 250 ft. in diameter, Dr. Porter estimated. His discussion envisaged 5 mc video channels "provided by an eight-digit binary pulse code modulation and a wavelength of 10 cm. [3,000 mc]." Earth transmitters would have to produce powers from 100 w to 10 megawatts, depending on the type of satellite and its distance from the Earth. [Government, August 22, 1955]. A similar suggestion was made by another GE scientist, R. P. Haviland, at the 1955 meeting of the American Rocket Society [Manufacturing, Nov. 21, 1955]. In the discussions that circulated among broadcast engineers and attorneys last week, one startling comment was made by an FCC attorney — posing potential grave portents for broadcasters. It was this: As more and more countries put satellites into outer space and if there is no international agreement on frequencies to be used (the Russians did not use the accepted 108 mc frequency for the International Geophysical Year telemetering "moons"), all radio services may find outer-space transmissions interfering with their own communications. And, this source emphasized, our government certainly would want to monitor the transmissions of such satellites. This brings up the possibility that radio services in those frequencies would be asked to shut down during the life of the satellites' signals. This could run to weeks or months, it was noted. Comr. T. A. M. Craven, the FCC's only member with an engineering background, stated that it was going to take a lot of vision to prepare for the forthcoming space era requirements for spectrum space. "Right now and for some time it appears that these moons are going to be used mostly for scientific investigation," Mr. Craven said, "so there is no real problem. But, if and when they begin talking about using them for relay purposes or for interplanetary JOKE ON COMRADE The pranksters are always with us. Broadcasts on the 20 mc and 40 mc frequencies on which the Russian satellite was transmitting its beep signals last week were picked up by the FCC's monitoring stations in the Boston, Seattle, and mid-Atlantic states areas. The text of one message read: "CQ, CQ. DE SPUTNIK. THIS SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT IS A FAILURE. ARVA." FCC officials said last week they were investigating these fake messages ostensibly from Sputnik. They were all single shot transmissions, however, too brief to permit monitors to establish a fix on the transmitters' locations. The Commission warned that such misuse of radio facilities by a licensed operation would be prosecuted and could bring suspension of license to the guilty operator. The FCC's field engineering and monitoring service began "observing" the Russian satellite's signals at 8:10 p.m. EDT, Oct. 4. Page 62 • October 14, 1957 Broadcasting