Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1963)

SILENT VOICES EXPLAINED Details of Telstar, Relay, Syncom failures presented to Senate Communications Subcommittee Radiation and an overheated transistor were blamed in a Senate hearing last week as the main reasons Telstar and Relay — both experimental communications satellites — lost their voices in space. Syncom, a high altitude experimental satellite, was believed last week to have been destroyed by a rocket motor explosion. During a wide-ranging hearing Feb. 18-19 concerned with why these experiments have had troubles, the Senate Communications Subcommittee questioned the FCC, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration and two giant electronics firms about space, undersea telephone cables, phone rates and when international television may become operational. Chairman John O. Pastore (D-R.I.) said he was concerned that public funds are being spent on research and development programs from which private industry alone, particularly the Communications Satellite Corp., would reap the profits. The FCC was asked to return Wednesday (Feb. 27) to present progress reports on the effects of all-channel set legislation and educational television. Last week's hearings produced these answers: 1. Telstar, built by Bell Telephone Laboratories (AT&T) and launched into a low-level orbit by NASA July 10, 1962, lost its voice because radia tion inside the satellite was "as much as 100 times greater than anticipated." 2. Relay, built by Radio Corp. of America and launched into a mediumlevel orbit by the space agency Dec. 13, 1962, lost its power almost immediately due to an over-heated voltage regulator switch transistor. (Both Telstar and Relay became operable Jan. 3 [Broadcasting, Jan. 7.]) 3. Syncom, a synchronous satellite built for NASA by Hughes Aircraft Co., was placed in a high-level orbit Feb. 14 but was lost to all monitoring installations about five hours after launch (Broadcasting, Feb. 18). It is thought a stabilizing rocket built into the satellite exploded. 4. The chief executive of AT&T said international television could be transmitted by undersea cable by about 1966. 5. The FCC was asked to justify new long distance telephone and news wire leasing rates. Space Detectives ■ Government and industry scientists detailed for the committee how they determined the satellites' faults. Scientists examined telemetry and manipulations of their satellites' command systems, previously untried in laboratory tests, witnesses said. Eugene F. O'Neill, director of AT&T's Satellite Communications Laboratory, said efforts would be made to develop materials better resistant to the effects of radiation. He pointed out that while radiation has decreased the efficiency of Telstar's solar cells, they will be adequate to power "experimental operations for at least two years" Lt. Col. Robert E. Warren, Deputy Director of NASA communications systems, explained he would recommend design changes in Relay's voltage regulation system which would separate switching and regulating functions. Relay's radiation monitoring equipment has worked well, the colonel reported. Col. Warren said that NASA ground stations would continue to search for Syncom, which ceased transmission 1.1 seconds before its stabilizing rocket motor was scheduled to cut off. Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, deputy administrator of NASA, explaining that he was not "bound to facts" as Col. Warren was, said that space agency scientists speculated the motor exploded. Tv Undersea ■ James Dingman, executive vice president of AT&T, re sponding to a question from Sen. Norris Cotton (R-N.H.), said a new transistor version of an undersea cable would carry 720 voice circuits or one broad-band tv channel when available in 1966. Sen. Cotton said he was interested in the cable as an alternative for the transmission of international tv if a space system should fail. Sen. Ralph W. Yarborough (DTex.) questioned Acting FCC Chairman Rosel H. Hyde whether the agency was acting in the public interest in approving new long distance telephone rate hikes of five and ten cents on calls placed under distances of 800 miles. Commissioner Hyde said the increases were small and were made at the request of telephone companies when the FCC asked the firms to reduce stationto-station rates to $1 after 9 p.m. The new rates are to go into effect April 1. Sen. A. S. Mike Monroney (DOkla.) challenged new rates approved by the FCC for private or leased teleprinter circuits and said they would probably put small newspapers out of business and hurt small radio and television stations, too (see page 44). Examiner satisfiedseven years after filing Seven years after he filed for renewal of his am and fm licenses, a Texas broadcaster had the satisfaction last week of knowing that an FCC hearing examiner believes the renewals should be granted. Howard W. Davis filed for renewal of KMAC and KISS (FM), both San Antonio, in 1956. Three years later, the commission designated the applications for hearing to determine, among other things, whether Mr. Davis was financially qualified and if he had the character qualifications to be a licensee. In his initial decision. Hearing Examiner Walther W. Guenther held Mr. Davis has the "requisite character qualifications" and is financially qualified to operate his stations. Mr. Davis's difficulties with the commission date back to a 1954 comparative hearing in which he sought a television grant in San Antonio. In rejecting his tv bid, the commission held that Mr. Davis failed to establish his financial qualifications and said he had misrepresented his financial position during the hearing. These assertions became the basis of the issues on which the renewal hearing was ordered. Faulty Memory ■ In his initial decision, Mr. Guenther concluded that any misrepresentations made by Mr. Davis in the 1954 hearing were the result of his willingness to testify about complicated accounting matters from memory, rather than relying on documents. The examiner concluded that Mr. Davis,. Beer and cowboys Television viewers who "don't want to be educated, but who want to sit down with a bottle of beer and be entertained" were endorsed last week by FCC Commissioner R.obert E. Lee in an appearance at Boston College. "I like a cowboy picture myself," the commissioner added. Mr. Lee, in a seminar on broadcasting, said that most criticism of tv programming comes from an '"articulate minority" of viewers. "The guy who is happy you don't hear from," he said. "The television industry is doing an extremely good job and is serving the public interest way up in the 90's, and I am glad to say it's doing a good job in informing the public, particularly in the category of news," he said. 46 (GOVERNMENT) BROADCASTING, February 25, 196a