Going back to Optus Aurora

[irritant]

Hi all. I admit I am going to ask a pretty weird thing, and that's because I'm just a strange kind of guy I guess.

So, the thing is, I'm from South Africa, but I've always been intrigued by Aussie satellite channels, particularly Optus Aurora for some reason (don't ask why ).

I'm sorry if asking about old stuff is annoying, and I hope not to irritate someone on the forums. I'd just like to know a few things about Aurora when it was still running because obviously I was not in Australia to see it first hand.

From what I have learnt, you had a transponder, for example 12.407 Vt, 30,000 kbaud, FEC 2/3 and it had 20 TV slots and 20 radio slots available. However, only some of the slots were filled with TV/Audio channels, and many were blank.

It's these blank channels that are intriguing me the most, because on the older boxes (like the UEC's), they still had channel numbers, and when you used to look on SatcoDX, they had SIDs, so they were actual allocatable channels. Also, these UEC boxes confirmed this because they did not automatically skip these services, the channel number list actually included them (e.g. going from SBS on channel 9 and then to ABC WA on channel 21 again, with apparently "nothing" in between).

I guess my first question is, on the information plate at the bottom of the screen, what did it say when you actually tuned to one of these blank channels? Can anyone remember? Does it say "BLANK", "UNKNOWN", "TEST", "---" or something to indicate such? Does it give an error banner on screen - e.g. "No signal", "E38 Service is not currently running", "E37 Service unknown", "E37 Reserved for future use", or "E16 Service is currently scrambled"? Or is there some kind of test screen/soundtrack? I know on some blank channels they ran the 990 AM radio for print handicapped soundtrack as a test. And there were 1 kHz and 400 Hz test reference tones somewhere too if I recall correctly.

The second thing is, I understand too that people in WA couldn't watch 7 Central/QQQ/TAL from Queensland and Imparja from NT, and likewise people from "eastern Australia" couldn't watch WIN and GWN. My other question is, what would the error be on screen when one tuned to a channel you were not allowed to watch in your state? Was it "E16/E30/E34 Service is currently scrambled" or even "E43 Not allowed in this country (region)", "E45 Service not authorized"?

I recall many scrambled business channels too, and SKY horse-racing TAB channels.

Once again, I apologize for annoying anyone with my silly thread and wasting space. It's just you don't get this sort of information unless you talk to someone with first-hand experience.

Thanks guys

[HILLVIEW103]

Hi all. I admit I am going to ask a pretty weird thing, and that's because I'm just a strange kind of guy I guess.

So, the thing is, I'm from South Africa, but I've always been intrigued by Aussie satellite channels, particularly Optus Aurora for some reason (don't ask why ).

I'm sorry if asking about old stuff is annoying, and I hope not to irritate someone on the forums. I'd just like to know a few things about Aurora when it was still running because obviously I was not in Australia to see it first hand.

From what I have learnt, you had a transponder, for example 12.407 Vt, 30,000 kbaud, FEC 2/3 and it had 20 TV slots and 20 radio slots available. However, only some of the slots were filled with TV/Audio channels, and many were blank.

It's these blank channels that are intriguing me the most, because on the older boxes (like the UEC's), they still had channel numbers, and when you used to look on SatcoDX, they had SIDs, so they were actual allocatable channels. Also, these UEC boxes confirmed this because they did not automatically skip these services, the channel number list actually included them (e.g. going from SBS on channel 9 and then to ABC WA on channel 21 again, with apparently "nothing" in between).

I guess my first question is, on the information plate at the bottom of the screen, what did it say when you actually tuned to one of these blank channels? Can anyone remember? Does it say "BLANK", "UNKNOWN", "TEST", "---" or something to indicate such? Does it give an error banner on screen - e.g. "No signal", "E38 Service is not currently running", "E37 Service unknown", "E37 Reserved for future use", or "E16 Service is currently scrambled"? Or is there some kind of test screen/soundtrack? I know on some blank channels they ran the 990 AM radio for print handicapped soundtrack as a test. And there were 1 kHz and 400 Hz test reference tones somewhere too if I recall correctly.

The second thing is, I understand too that people in WA couldn't watch 7 Central/QQQ/TAL from Queensland and Imparja from NT, and likewise people from "eastern Australia" couldn't watch WIN and GWN. My other question is, what would the error be on screen when one tuned to a channel you were not allowed to watch in your state? Was it "E16/E30/E34 Service is currently scrambled" or even "E43 Not allowed in this country (region)", "E45 Service not authorized"?

I recall many scrambled business channels too, and SKY horse-racing TAB channels.

Once again, I apologize for annoying anyone with my silly thread and wasting space. It's just you don't get this sort of information unless you talk to someone with first-hand experience.

Thanks guys

You dont have to worry Optus Aurora no longer exists....its all Vast

[irritant]

You dont have to worry Optus Aurora no longer exists....its all Vast

I know, hence the statement: "...just like to know a few things about Aurora when it WAS still running..."

I'm intrigued by the blank channels, how did they "look" on-screen (or in the electronic programme guide)? They weren't skipped, the old UEC's did not skip blanks in the "Public Bouquet".

[irwazza]

You dont have to worry Optus Aurora no longer exists....its all Vast

Pretty sure he is aware of that.....

[irritant]

Wow, I knew I should probably not have started this stupid thread in the first place, I'm really regretting it now. I really am sorry it annoyed so many people, including my post on the UEC DSD 700. I guess I'm too optimistic for my own good and should have known better. I guess it was stupid of me to think there was still this one area in my life where I could just be me, my quirky and weird self, and it was OK to be a nerdy, geeky satellite TV nut. Depression has robbed me of everything else in life, and now this too, the one thing I still loved. I guess it was just a matter of time. Maybe I should just go ahead already and take that handful of sleeping tablets after all, or go and visit my favourite bridge.

[LeroyPatrol]

Or building. Or you could stab yourself in the eye? I'm only kidding. It's a forum. Because aurora is now dead there is no interest in It. I never noticed the empty slots that you mentioned and unfortunately we can't check now

Leroy

[tristen]

I do not recall any blank channels either, on any satellite receiver. This includes Humax, Strong, Openbox or the official UEC satellite receiver.

From memory, I believe that the UEC receiver, which was officially approved by Optus for use with the Aurora bouquet, had custom software in it, as did all the UEC receivers intended for use on encrypted services in Australia.

You might not be aware that the Aurora service was Irdeto encrypted in order to limit viewing to various "authorised" areas due to licensing restrictions applicable to the commercial channels which Aurora carried. Australian government owned ABC and SBS channels were not restricted in any way and consequently were available Australia-wide as a matter of government policy.

Edit...

I've posted a link to a UEC DSD700 Owner's Manual in your other thread.

[admin]

Wow, I knew I should probably not have started this stupid thread in the first place, I'm really regretting it now. I really am sorry it annoyed so many people, including my post on the UEC DSD 700. I guess I'm too optimistic for my own good and should have known better. I guess it was stupid of me to think there was still this one area in my life where I could just be me, my quirky and weird self, and it was OK to be a nerdy, geeky satellite TV nut. Depression has robbed me of everything else in life, and now this too, the one thing I still loved. I guess it was just a matter of time. Maybe I should just go ahead already and take that handful of sleeping tablets after all, or go and visit my favourite bridge.

A bit extreme dont you think ? Where are all these annoyed people ?? There isnt any interest because it no longer operates.

[irritant]

A bit extreme dont you think ? Where are all these annoyed people ?? There isnt any interest because it no longer operates.

Sorry, I owe you guys an apology. It's just that phrases similar to "it's over" or "it no longer exists" is such a huge trigger for me, I can't help it. It digs open old wounds for me. It is a personal loss I am struggling with and those few words and the idea that something is "over" or "dead" is massively upsetting for me at the moment. I find it really hard. Satellite TV obsession is all I've got. I know Aurora is gone now, but I was hoping someone might remember something perhaps.

You see, I don't know if these channels actually displayed on the receivers or not. Maybe on the older ones. You see, why I say that is because the UEC scan screen used to have a couple of stats as it was scanning, and what I read was it says:

"Number of TV services: 69", "Number of radio services: 66", "5 of 5 transport stream(s) processed". Now I know Aurora never had a full 69 channels. So this tells me the decoder is seeing the channel number place-holders as actual blank channels, just without video or audio, but they are there.

With MultiChoice DSTV in South Africa for example, there were also gaps - channels went from 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21 and so on. But, these spaces (e.g. 18, 19) were never counted as channels in the scanning process. Yet in Aurora they were. On UEC boxes, I know that in the bouquet called "Public bouquet" it did not simply skip blank channels, unless they were non-existent. So in other words, if you wanted to make a certain channel number order in the Public bouquet, you had to put in physical place holders, it would NOT generate channel numbers like a Pay-TV service would. It stacks them, indiscriminately. It would count all channels, no matter what. Aurora fell in this Public bouquet.

Later receivers did find a way to "skip" these placeholders, and the UEC did have a "Channel arrangement options" menu where you could delete these blank channels, but if you did a "Search service names" it would bring them all back.

I know some of these blank channels ran 990 AM soundtrack but had no video, some even gave a message saying they were scrambled.

So, I don't know. As you guys say, we can't check anymore. That sucks a lot, for me personally. All that "finality" was highly triggering for me, and I apologize.

On SatcoDX (when it still existed), these channels were actually listed. They were listed as "-". But each had their own SIDS and data, just like a running channel would. I can't link the chart now unfortunately because the SatcoDX site is long gone.

So, I'm sorry. But, you guys have to admit, it is pretty frustrating when you ask about Aurora (which I know no longer exists) and people answer and pretty much (in not so many words) say "Hey, wake up, get with the times, it's all VAST now." I know this guys, that wasn't my question.

[irritant]

I do not recall any blank channels either, on any satellite receiver. This includes Humax, Strong, Openbox or the official UEC satellite receiver.

From memory, I believe that the UEC receiver, which was officially approved by Optus for use with the Aurora bouquet, had custom software in it, as did all the UEC receivers intended for use on encrypted services in Australia.

You might not be aware that the Aurora service was Irdeto encrypted in order to limit viewing to various "authorised" areas due to licensing restrictions applicable to the commercial channels which Aurora carried. Australian government owned ABC and SBS channels were not restricted in any way and consequently were available Australia-wide as a matter of government policy.

Edit...

I've posted a link to a UEC DSD700 Owner's Manual in your other thread.

Yes, thanks. The encryption was Irdeto 1 if I'm not mistaken? The restrictions were on basically the channels carrying local versions of 7, 9 and 10, called RCTS (remote commercial television service), forming part of the overall RABS (remote area broadcast service). But, even though the ABC and SBS were viewable, you still had to turn on the smartcard for it (free-to-view channels, not free-to-air).

These blank channels could then be much further back in time I guess, probably even 1999 (using the UEC 642 IRD) and now I know for sure people are going to flame me for bringing up something from 1999, so I think I'll rather end it here.

And why the edit? What was written there?

[irritant]

A bit extreme dont you think ? Where are all these annoyed people ?? There isnt any interest because it no longer operates.

Oh but there are. On another thread, many people flamed this one guy because he was bringing up things from the past, and by past I mean barely 3 years ago. "Nobody wants to hear of your old stories of I owned this and did that which you keep bringing up" something along those lines. Everyone climbed into him and took their shot. That's why I've taken the preliminary precaution of warning the readers of this thread beforehand that it is going to discuss old stuff. I don't wish to be attacked like my fellow forum-poster was. It was so intense, I felt sorry for his part.

[OSIRUS]

a lot of us here on the Forum used Aurora when it it was broadcasting, but most of us would have been using STB's other than the UEC STB ....... (I know I was)

Aurora was also available as a card only option & could be used in most satellite STB's of the time (& Cams) like, Humax STB, Strong STB's, Mediastar STB's ...... & even Dreambox STB's etc ...

although I think the UEC STB was the "Official STB" to begin with ......

Hell, we didn't even need a card in the end, card details could be logged from the stream & made into "Autoroll" files or "ppua" files or inserted in "Softcams" programs etc ....

[irritant]

a lot of us here on the Forum used Aurora when it it was broadcasting, but most of us would have been using STB's other than the UEC STB ....... (I know I was)

Aurora was also available as a card only option & could be used in most satellite STB's of the time (& Cams) like, Humax STB, Strong STB's, Mediastar STB's ...... & even Dreambox STB's etc ...

although I think the UEC STB was the "Official STB" to begin with ......

Hell, we didn't even need a card in the end, card details could be logged from the stream & made into "Autoroll" files or "ppua" files or inserted in "Softcams" programs etc ....

Thanks for the response. Yes that is very true, and I couldn't help but hear people speaking of "gold" cards on the web and suddenly viola...full Aurora even the WIN and GWN channels in eastern Australia . I think it was that the Irdeto 1 system was eventually quite hackable in the end. The problem was too that UEC and Irdeto were basically bound at the hip, UEC's CA system of choice would always be Irdeto, it still is. I think they did one box with Nagravision once, and that was it.

I think my questions are probably referring to something that happened long ago. So the things I speak of were probably on the UEC IRD 642, and DSD 700. So that makes it 1999/2000.

[weirdo]

I have a question for you Adrian
What could you possibly want to do with this knowledge if/when you find out? Is there another part to this or is it just your obsession with needing to know for no reason?
Just curious

[tristen]

I strongly suspect that it is something he has always wondered about and has so far not found an answer to.

I too retain a curiosity about some things from the past which remain unanswered, but to which, (when I remember), still desire answers to, even though the matter might no longer be of any practical importance to me, or indeed to others.

Also, as people grow older they tend to reminisce a little more than they did earlier in their lives.

"Curiosity for curiosity's sake" (or knowledge for knowledge' sake) if you like, i.e. possessing an inquiring mind.

[tristen]

...These blank channels could then be much further back in time I guess, probably even 1999 (using the UEC 642 IRD) and now I know for sure people are going to flame me for bringing up something from 1999, so I think I'll rather end it here.

Yes, sadly many of us lack a little sensitivity at times, myself included. But try not to let it put you off too much.

And why the edit? What was written there?

I merely added a little more to my answer, which I had neglected to include originally. It happens sometimes .

Sometimes I'm guilty of editing a post in order to eliminate a later-noticed grammatical error.

[OSIRUS]

Before there was Aurora there was a Satellite Service called something like HACBSS (Homestead and Community Broadcasting & Satellite Service)

Again it had regional Australian ABC & SBS Services & a Channel 10 like service from Townsvile (I think) & an Imparja service (I think) from Alice Springs ..... & Golden West Network for WA .... on Satellite

& I bought a Plessey BMac Satellite reciever in 1994 to get only my local ABC & SBS at that time ......

& it had a channel line up like you are describing where the Channels were given channel Number order & there was channels not used between assigned channels... if that makes sense

I have not got the exact details at hand .......

I think one channel equaled one transponder at that time for some channels ........ & there were some channels using Half a transponder at that time for other channels.....

& later when Aurora & Foxtel (Galaxy then Australis Media) & Austar came on the Scene they compressed many channels into one transponder ......

This was my Plessey BMAC channel list in 1995




By the way I have just seen the Receipt & I paid $1300 for the second hand Plessey BMac receiver at the Time .........

[tristen]

Once again, this time in response to OSIRUS' posting above, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check Google for reference to "Optus Aurora blank channels".

My search led to the page at , which confirms that there were indeed "blank" channels on the Optus Aurora platform.

This has stimulated my memory a little....

The Optus Aurora platform also carried channels (SMA on the chart) providing in-store background music for the likes of Woolworth's supermarkets and others, and also staff training, dissemination of head office news, policies etc. for the Commonwealth Bank (and possibly others), all of which were encrypted and required a special single-channel smart-card issued for the sole purpose of decrypting those channels. I remember that branches of the Commonwealth Bank were equipped with rooftop dishes and UEC receivers for the purpose.

In addition, other channels were used for providing outback hospitals and other health professionals with additional training tutorials and other information concerning various health-related topics, such as treatment of specific diseases, obstetrics etc. These channels were the ones the chart shows as Optus Business TV.

I seem to remember outback mining companies using the service for similar purposes.

The page I referred to at the beginning of this post indicates, that while some of the "blank" channels are designated as "No signal", others had the same content as some radio channels (e.g. Radio chs 42, 43, 44).

[irritant]

I have a question for you Adrian
What could you possibly want to do with this knowledge if/when you find out? Is there another part to this or is it just your obsession with needing to know for no reason?
Just curious

Thanks for your responses guys. I realize it is weird. OK, I have Asperger's syndrome (which is like a weird, geeky, hobby-oriented, obsessive kind of autism basically) so I am obsessed with sat TV channels and specifically certain packages/systems in particular.

I come from South Africa, so here it is MultiChoice's DSTV, I know all the channels and frequencies out of my head from 1995 when it first started. I can even list the PAS-4 (a long gone satellite which used to be at 68.5 E then at 72 E, used to beam C-band into Western Australia, was replaced with PAS-10) transponders which were used and each and every channel by heart. The reason I'm so obsessed with all this stuff, is because I was only 6 years old in 1995 , so there was no way I could understand it really back then, now that I'm older there is an uncontrollable urge to go "back in time" to see the things I "missed" you could say. I am a nut, and a weirdo, that's true, but I wouldn't have it any other way .

For the last 7 years or more, I became obsessed with Optus Aurora, the channels, the transponders, each and every thing about it. I have spent probably the equivalent of several years on the internet searching for information. I have collected probably 1000's of pages of literature over the years. Then I started going back in time, to when Aurora started, which was end 1998/beginning 1999. Then upon learning of that, I saw there was a B-MAC service long before that called HACBSS and RCTS and that led me to become obsessed with the Aussat satellites from the 80's. My primary source of info there was the 1988/1991 "World Satellite Almanac" (I don't know if some of you guys remember that book) which was a book which basically did what Lyngsat on the web does today, it listed all the channels, frequencies and footprints from around the world. Stuff like the old Intelsat 5 and 6 series, PAS-1, the Hotbirds (was still called Eutelsats) and Astra over Europe, and the Aussats.

So, for me, going back to all this is just absolutely fantastic, especially if I can meet people who actually had these systems (thanks OSIRUS and Tristen, I will answer your posts below ).

I do apologize if at any time this does irritate the you know what out of people, I get that a lot in my life . My obsession about irrelevant junk is sometimes annoying, I know.

If any of you guys are ever interested, there is this amazing tool I found on the web called web.archive.org which allows you to see webpages which no longer exist! It is an archive, and one cool thing I found is SatcoDX goes all the way back to 1996 and Lyngsat back to 1999! And, did you know that Christian Lyngemark (the guy who owns Lyngsat today and was basically SatcoDX's competition on the web) was the original webmaster at SatcoDX! The way Lyngsat is today (contributors, the pinkish-yellow colour format, the channel colour codes, everything) is exactly how SatcoDX used to look in the 90's! I find that pretty cool. Lyngsat is basically the original SatcoDX from the 90's.

And, sorry again guys for the emotional stuff earlier, I just lose my head sometimes.

[irritant]

Before there was Aurora there was a Satellite Service called something like HACBSS (Homestead and Community Broadcasting & Satellite Service)

Again it had regional Australian ABC & SBS Services & a Channel 10 like service from Townsvile (I think) & an Imparja service (I think) from Alice Springs ..... & Golden West Network for WA .... on Satellite

& I bought a Plessey BMac Satellite reciever in 1994 to get only my local ABC & SBS at that time ......

& it had a channel line up like you are describing where the Channels were given channel Number order & there was channels not used between assigned channels... if that makes sense

I have not got the exact details at hand .......

I think one channel equaled one transponder at that time for some channels ........ & there were some channels using Half a transponder at that time for other channels.....

& later when Aurora & Foxtel (Galaxy then Australis Media) & Austar came on the Scene they compressed many channels into one transponder ......

This was my Plessey BMAC channel list in 1995




By the way I have just seen the Receipt & I paid $1300 for the second hand Plessey BMac receiver at the Time .........

Thanks so much OSIRUS for your great post here, this is just great! Oh yes, the HACBSS service from the Aussats. Yes, and all in analogue B-MAC. So, the channels listed (1-15) where equivalent to the 15 transponders on the Aussat A series at the time. I think the first 8 were vertically polarized and the next 7 were horizontal. You also had a single polarity 11.3 GHz LNB basically, which you had to rotate to match up only one polarity at the time (wasn't dual polarity like today). So NT, SA channels were on the horizontal polarity (Imparja, ABC central) and stuff like QQQ and ABC eastern (which became TAL with channel 10 programs which changed to 7 central in Aurora) for QLD, VIC, NSW and TAS were vertical. There was a NE beam (QLD) which then carried QQQ and the ABC NE B-MAC channels, then there was a SE beam (NSW, VIC, TAS). There were the WA channels (GWN, ABC WA, WIN) also on their own WA beam. So, unlike Aurora, you couldn't really pick up these channels in an area where they weren't allowed because the footprint never reached there! The strong beams (tp's 7,8,14,15) were only 30 W power, and the others only 12 W (compare with today's satellites, some have 125 W transponders).

Ooohh yes, and the Plessey B-MAC receivers . Also the Scientific Atlanta 9708 which didn't even come with a remote .

This is so cool to talk about all this stuff.