[Raymie]

Coming to the News Monitor today...

"Channel 5990, ‘TEST’ on E11 has EPG title saying ‘Local channels moving starting 5/7’, EPG info saying ‘Please contact DISH Network at 1-888-255-4791 for an important FREE equipment upgrade’ but the content on there is what is revealing. The channel appeared for a few minutes in true fta today and it is the LIVE camera that is onboard the Echostar 11 satellite that is pointed towards earth. The image updated every 5 seconds or so and was a rather neat watch before it went scrambled again."

-dsscpu, News Monitor Tip Line Golden Contributor

 

[P Smith]

Actually each 30 seconds as reported before.

I think 30 sec is to fast for update - a picture of half globe should change very slow as I saw on emulation screen.

 

[jerry downing]

Because it is a geosynchronous satellite, it should not change much at all except for the positions of the sun, moon, and stars.

 

[yihaa75]

Because it is a geosynchronous satellite, it should not change much at all except for the positions of the sun, moon, and stars.

Not even those will show. (well night and day should) Im guessing only cloud formation will change.

Hummm wondering if we will see lights at night over the continent.

Still should be pretty neat to watch!

 

[jerry downing]

The movement of the sun will show up as daylight moving across North America.

 

[P Smith]

Not even those will show. (well night and day should) Im guessing only cloud formation will change.

Hummm wondering if we will see lights at night over the continent.

Still should be pretty neat to watch!

It's sort of VGA quality - 640x480 or less; so, no details like night lights.

 

[James Long]

For those with the right setup, they should be able to pull the image off of the telemetry channel directly. The apparent 5990 version is uplinked from the ground.

I don't expect any major change from minute to minute. It would be interesting to see how fast the image refreshes on the source telemetry channel. Perhaps that is limited to one image every 30 seconds?

 

[kstuart]

How about one image ?

 

[P Smith]

Nope, TT&C will not carry such thing as video stream - not enough bandwidth and busy with other data.

[So much for a value of the channel - why it's encrypted ?!}

 

[James Long]

Nope, TT&C will not carry such thing as video stream - not enough bandwidth and busy with other data.

[So much for a value of the channel - why it's encrypted ?!}

So how, pray tell, is the image (not the rebroadcast but the image) reaching earth?

Hint: Read the FCC information filed by EchoStar describing the satellite. There is a dedicated telemetry channel set aside for the camera.

Narrative:
IV. EARTH EXPLORATION SERVICE
EchoStar 11 will be equipped with a camera that will supply satellite imaging information to EchoStar's customers by using the same DBS frequencies licensed to EchoStar at 110° W.L. Specifically, images will be transmitted back to earth on the 12.208 GHz downlink frequency. EchoStar duly applied to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration ("NOAA") for the required permit on November 14, 2006 and its application was granted on March 6, 2007.

Attachment A:
The ECHOSTAR-11 satellite is also equipped with an Earth-view camera system, for which EchoStar has received a license from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ("NOAA") of the Department of Commerce.6 This camera produces a real-time standard 720 x 480 pixel NTSC video feed, with image quality and frame rate configurable on-orbit, producing a data rate that is selectable in the 16-400 kbps range, and telemetered to the ground using a standard TM downlink carrier at 12.208 GHz.​

If you don't like scrambling see if you can pull up the standard TM downlink carrier. It isn't the same carrier that DISH is using for TT&C, but it is telemetry and it should be something that can be read.

 

[EVAC41]

I heard in the News Monitor that the camera aboard Echostar 11 was turned on for a little while. Was just wondering if anyone got any photos or screen shots of it. It would be interesting to see what earth looks like from 22,500 miles away.

Thanks....

 

[UGAChance]

Yes there is. I have seen it. It might be on a test channel.

 

[OldSkoolOpsGuy]

It's actually kinda cool - at night you see some stars - kinda weird. I'm not of liberty to take photos of it but it's definitely worthwhile if you are available to see it.

 

[jclewter79]

What type of equipment do you need to see this channel?

 

[James Long]

For "channel 5990" any standard receiver plus DISH permission to view engineering test channels.

For the source channel (the telemetry feed from 110°) I'd like an answer to that myself. What kind of receiver card/software is needed to read the telemetry channel and put it all together?

 

[OldSkoolOpsGuy]

For the source channel (the telemetry feed from 110°) I'd like an answer to that myself. What kind of receiver card/software is needed to read the telemetry channel and put it all together?

That's actually a great question for SCO in Cheyenne. I never could get much out of those folks (especially when something went crazy wrong - i.e. TWTA Failure etc.) Let us know if you can pry anything from them...

 

[tvjay]

Anyone have a picture of this for us DirecTV viewers?

 

[Raymie]

...I have READERS?