Going back to Optus Aurora

[gordon_s1942]

I picked up a brochure at of all places, the Sydney Motor show at Darling Harbour in the early 90's that was advertising the HACBSS system using B-Mac.
As I was in a deep fringe Terrestrial area I wa intrigue by the option and the brochure actually showed you how to build your own 'antenna' to receive the signal.
I had heard about this service but this was the first actual written information I had seen.
You stood a post 4 feet high and placed a wooden box on top with one side open facing the satellite, then from the post, you ran out some 20 feet of galvanised chicken mesh on either side to form a funnel shape.
Now I know that the LNB was mounted in the wooden box with the 'aparture' pointing toward the satellite and the mesh formed a 'wave guide'.
There were no exact measurements shown as they would be dependent on what area you were in.
I know I lost immediate interest when I found I would have to outlay around $2000 plus just to get the ABC which I already had albeit with a snowy reception so that was the end of that idea.
It was after the introduction of Austar's predecessor Galaxy, and the 'Days of the Gold card' (and Austech) that I had learnt enough and had the money to buy a decoder (Humax) as I had heard the UEC had certain features that were not 'conducive' to allow the use of the Gold Card.
I still have printed pages of the Forums before the 'Big Melt Down' that wiped out all that information for ever, just as well maybe.....
During 'dead times' (nothing worth watching) I used to check out the channels available on the Humax and I do remember some had info pages but no picture or sound so I thought they were either not in use or had a form of encryption the Gold card could not decipher.
It was either ch 3 or 5 that 'opened' from the usual Test pattern one day with both audio and video from an Operating Theater in a Hospital somewhere about to carry out a procedure with the patient on the table and the medical team preparing her and the equipment needed but then it became encrypted and that was that.
I checked sometime later only to see the usual Test pattern and Tone was being shown.

[OSIRUS]

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)

Yes you are correct ...... here is the Optus B1 (Now Optus D1) transponder information from about 1995 (no date on this document ...... but before Aurora on Optus B3/C1....began )




Notice there are 15 transponders (like you said) & they are using Half transponders here & the information matches the channel list I posted earlier for my Plessey BMAC Reciever at that time (i.e. +7 & -7, 7 Upper & 7 Lower etc ) & about half Vertical & half horizontal transponders

The Plessey BMAC receiver would only decode the B-Mac signals ..... (mainly HACBSS services)

An Analogue Satellite receiver would decode the PAL/NTSC signals ..... (mainly Network Feeds around Australia)

E-PAL signals were picture only & you needed to put an E-PAL decoder board inside your receiver to decode them (or make an external Box & connect it) (This was the 7, 9, & 10 satellite network broadcast Feed ..... without the advertisements & with the "countdown" to resume the program)

MPEG-2 are the (then) New high compression signals for Pay TV (& Aurora) requiring the New Digital Receivers

(big changes were just around the corner )

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).

Yes Aurora Adopted the same Broadcast Format as The New Pay TV Satellite Service in Australia at that time (Irdeto 1 ) high compression MPEG-2 on Optus B3 at that time ..... (Optus B3 replaced Optus A3 & Optus C1 replaced Optus B3 )...... (Aurora then also ran Irdeto 2 simultaneously with Irdeto 1 until it was turned off)

Smaller Satellite Dishes of about 65cm (average) was then required instead of 1.2m or 1.8m or bigger satellite dishes needed before .....

And I think from memory that Aurora kept the same broadcast frequencies on Optus C1 until it was turned off in 2013 (12407, 12720, 12527, Vertical, SR:30000)

There were also Aurora services on Satellite Optus D2, & D1 as well as Optus C1 at the time Aurora was turned off ..... (WIN & GWN had a broadcast feed on Optus D1, Sky Racing etc ...& others on Optus D2 & sometimes D1)

Optus B1 is now replaced by Optus D1 & has been Broadcasting All the ABC & SBS Services (channels) FTA, for quite some time ..... these signals are what are used for Terrestrial ABC & SBS transmissions in their respective Terrestrial broadcast areas around Australia ......

Also the Scientific Atlanta 9708 which didn't even come with a remote .

Yes & I think the Scientific Atlanta retailed here in Australia for over $2000 dollars

[irritant]

I picked up a brochure at of all places, the Sydney Motor show at Darling Harbour in the early 90's that was advertising the HACBSS system using B-Mac.
As I was in a deep fringe Terrestrial area I wa intrigue by the option and the brochure actually showed you how to build your own 'antenna' to receive the signal.
I had heard about this service but this was the first actual written information I had seen.
You stood a post 4 feet high and placed a wooden box on top with one side open facing the satellite, then from the post, you ran out some 20 feet of galvanised chicken mesh on either side to form a funnel shape.
Now I know that the LNB was mounted in the wooden box with the 'aparture' pointing toward the satellite and the mesh formed a 'wave guide'.

Wow, that's pretty amazing . I miss this sort of thing today. Those days were different, a lot of people were highly innovative and the DIY attitude was encouraged in all facets of life. If you had to build something like that today, I'm sure some building regulation code or authority figure will come and instruct you to remove it and buy "standard" stuff. And, besides, today it's cheap enough to do so anyway, and much easier. It's a whole different "atmosphere" to life today.

There were no exact measurements shown as they would be dependent on what area you were in.
I know I lost immediate interest when I found I would have to outlay around $2000 plus just to get the ABC which I already had albeit with a snowy reception so that was the end of that idea.
It was after the introduction of Austar's predecessor Galaxy, and the 'Days of the Gold card' (and Austech) that I had learnt enough and had the money to buy a decoder (Humax) as I had heard the UEC had certain features that were not 'conducive' to allow the use of the Gold Card.

Yeah Galaxy. This is the one I really struggle to find much on. But, I do know that saw the launch of the Pace DGT 400. Being in South Africa, I've got a DVR 500 which at least on the outside looks the same. All I know is that before it was launched as a normal digital bouquet, it was first linked to the MMDS sites on Optus B1, using NTSC-based Digicipher. Imagine at the time, a normal consumer trying to figure out how to use a GI 1500 professional digital receiver and coupled to a standards coverter! This wasn't actually even MPEG-2 DVB if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, I found these cool snapshots of the screens/menus on, and a picture of, a Pace DGT 400 (credit to TELE-Satellite magazine):

I still have printed pages of the Forums before the 'Big Melt Down' that wiped out all that information for ever, just as well maybe.....
During 'dead times' (nothing worth watching) I used to check out the channels available on the Humax and I do remember some had info pages but no picture or sound so I thought they were either not in use or had a form of encryption the Gold card could not decipher.
It was either ch 3 or 5 that 'opened' from the usual Test pattern one day with both audio and video from an Operating Theater in a Hospital somewhere about to carry out a procedure with the patient on the table and the medical team preparing her and the equipment needed but then it became encrypted and that was that.
I checked sometime later only to see the usual Test pattern and Tone was being shown.

Ah yes, that would probably be one of the Optus Business Channels that operated every now and then. There were some interesting channels on Aurora in 1999, such as the "Horizon Learning Channel", "Pacific Knowledge Network" and "Rural Health Education channel". There was at one stage also NHK (Japan), Pheonix (China) and even an extra subscription ZEE TV bouquet of 5 or 6 channels from India. Also, the six SKY horseracing TAB channels. All this seemed to disappear from Aurora a while after they moved from Optus B3 to Optus C1, and it's almost as though moving B3 from the hotspot of 156 E to 152 E kind of dented it's popularity rather. Could just be my own opinion I guess. It was getting old too, which explains it's replacement with D2 not long after. But, I remember the Aurora bouquet at 152 E too, it retained the SKY horseracing channels.

It's a pity the transponders were all the same on all the birds, because it would have been quite something if they co-located several Optus birds in one slot, say 156 E or 160 E like they did the Hotbirds/Astras in Europe. You end up with thousands of channels coming through one dish, and you just fit one universal LNB to handle the whole Ku-band. But, I think they didn't quite use the full Ku-band when they designed the A-series in the 80's if I am not mistaken, so it could be that and then the familiarity with the 12.25-12.75 GHz range saw it continue to live on in the B-series.

Do you guys remember the UBI World TV package which popped up on Optus D2? Also used a customized UEC box.

[tristen]

...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.

Thanks for the link to web.archive.org.

And yes, I do remember SatcoDX and Christian Lyngemark as I was one of SatcoDX' Australian observers/contributors.

[irritant]

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).

Yes, that's it exactly! It was on the "aurora-g" page where I saw this for the first time . If you go to auspaytv.com, there's another page which shows how to load all the pay TV bouquets and Aurora onto a UEC IRD 642. On there they say it loads 69 TV and 66 radio channels when scanning in Aurora. But not all of these were filled.

Yes, that's true, the "Satellite Music Australia" channels. It's funny, once Aurora was fully settled on Optus C1, all this stuff seemed to disappear. By about 2005, there was no more SKY or SMA. Remnants remained on Optus B3 which was moved to 152 E, but basically Aurora shrinked quite a bit.

You see, if you look at a former SatcoDX chart, you can figure out a pattern - the SIDs of the channels gives the channel number on the decoder (not the Humax's and Strong's though, they skipped the blanks, so the channel numbers were "wrong"). Taking Optus B3 as example:

Tp. 3 - 12.407 V - SIDs 301-320 gave you TV channels number 1 to 20, then SIDs 321-340 gives you radio channels 1 to 20.

Then it went up to tp. 6 instead of 5 next - 12.595 V - SIDs 601-615 gave you TV channels number 21 to 35, then SIDs 621-644 gave you radio channels 21 to 44.

Next was tp. 8 - 12.720 V - SIDs 801-810 gave TV channels 36-45, SIDs 821-839 gave radio channels 45-63.

Then you go back down to tp. 5 - 12.532 V - SIDs 501-516 gave TV channels 46-61, SIDs 521-523 gave radio channels 64-66.

In the year 2000, The ZEE TV bouquet started on SIDs 509-514 (channels 54-59) on 12.532 V.

Then in 2001, Aurora took over another tp., at tp. 7 - 12.657 V - SIDs 701-708 gave TV channels 62-69 (no radio stations on this tp.). The ZEE bouquet moved onto this tp. 7 and so their channel numbers changed from 54-59, to 64-69 (SIDs 703-708), as you can see on the aurora-g sheet. That also explains the blanks from 50 to 63. There is a Lashkara logo at channel 50, but that disappeared. It was listed on the EPG as "RTV1 - Reminiscent TV 1".

The aurora-g sheet is about the most informative sheet I can find for Aurora at the time (2000-2001). Just a sidenote - the picture they show of the UEC at the bottom of that screen is listed as a 642 or 660. Nope, that's the MultiChoice DSD 645 . The 660, 700 and 720(i) looks the same, but the UEC 642 looked like this:



Looks just like the old Panasat IRD 520's you used to get.

Thanks for all the chats again guys, it was great .

Sometimes I think I should have become a cold-case detective .

[Smacca]

I remember all the . channels on Aurora. A fresh scan would bring them back each and every time. Pain in the ass if you liked to keep your channel lists organised! Must have been around 20 of them?...

[irritant]

I remember all the . channels on Aurora. A fresh scan would bring them back each and every time. Pain in the ass if you liked to keep your channel lists organised! Must have been around 20 of them?...

Yeah, if you did a "search service names" or rescan, you undid all your skipping work and had to start over .

Can you remember what it did when you happened to tune to one of them? Was it just a blank screen, or did the decoder show an error banner, like "E38" or "E16" or something?

You're right. It was actually a "." and not a "-". Thanks for that.

[Smacca]

I think they were all placeholders with nothing on them. Makes me think they could have been used as a way of separating and/or grouping channels on older boxes.

I remember the different eras of tuning channel slideshows, and sometimes seeing a Windows machine running PowerPoint out of full screen mode. :P

[irritant]

I think they were all placeholders with nothing on them. Makes me think they could have been used as a way of separating and/or grouping channels on older boxes.

Yeah, that's it exactly! . They were placeholders, because you couldn't assign channel numbers to Aurora like you do in Pay TV "bouquets". If you want to keep Channel Seven on position 7, and then start with ABC on position 21, then you need to slot in 13 blank channels as placeholders.

This was the "public bouquet" on the UECs. It had no programmable channel numbers, the broadcaster needed to slot in blanks to push/bump the others "up" or whatever if they wanted actual channel numbers for their subscribers to follow. The decoder software at the time just stacked them indiscriminately. You as the end-user had to delete or skip these blanks yourself if you didn't want them.

[pc9]

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.

The Scientific Atlanta was a rippingly good receiver though remote or no remote.

[irritant]

The Scientific Atlanta was a rippingly good receiver though remote or no remote.

Oh yes, many features. Was made in Canada, right?

[irritant]

and sometimes seeing a Windows machine running PowerPoint out of full screen mode. :P

Haha, very "professional" of Optus, huh? . Their whole tuning channel, nothing but a ppt file of a couple of hundred kB . I remember seeing a YouTube video of it once and low and behold there was a mouse pointer moving around on it!

[irritant]

Hey guys, so I finally found an archived link to a SatcoDX chart for those who wish to see the blank channels I speak of with name "." as Smacca pointed out. Look for the green coded data channels under 12407 V for example and you'll see there were quite a lot actually:



If you look at their SIDs, you can see they are indeed placeholders.

[pc9]

Oh yes, many features. Was made in Canada, right?

Yep and you could watch both BI-MAC and Pal services, dual F connector inputs etc.

[irritant]

Hey guys, for those interested, here are some of the relevant footprint and chart pages for the Aussats from the World Satellite Almanac for 1991 (the other pages are explanatory texts and stuff and quite a lot so I didn't upload them, but I can if anyone wants to see them too):

[OSIRUS]

so does this also mean the Satellites A1, A2, A3, B1 & B3 are still orbiting up there somewhere as unused space junk ? (I think Optus B2 was destroyed at launch or something)

I would have bought a Scientific Atlanta or UEC STB for Aurora in the Late 1990's - early 2000's ....... but Irdeto 1 was hacked very early in the piece & there was a guy selling gold cards at the Pub in about the year 2000 a lot cheaper

[irritant]

Hey guys, OK, so I couldn't resist, here are the other pages too...

[irritant]

so does this also mean the Satellites A1, A2, A3, B1 & B3 are still orbiting up there somewhere as unused space junk ? (I think Optus B2 was destroyed at launch or something)

I would have bought a Scientific Atlanta or UEC STB for Aurora in the Late 1990's - early 2000's ....... but Irdeto 1 was hacked very early in the piece & there was a guy selling gold cards at the Pub in about the year 2000 a lot cheaper

I think the A-series and B1 are pretty much space junk now yes, but Optus B3 is still running, at 164°E at an inclined orbit of 4.7°. It shows two feeds on it on Lyngsat. And, that's correct, Optus B2 was destroyed, the launch-craft exploded after take-off (21 Dec. 1992).

Yeah, Irdeto 1 didn't last long . I heard something about them wanting to use Videoguard encryption at one stage on Aurora, was that true? Apparently, this was also hacked, well, they say "reverse engineered", in the UK I think.

[gordon_s1942]

First, Galaxy wasnt the first 'Company' to provide 'Subscriber TV' as when I 'signed up' back then, it was called something else and they charged an installation fee of about $200 but I remember who ever 'serviced the area from Newcastle to the North, they sold you the STB and the dish and then you paid the monthly sub fee.
Wrongly or not I feel that once Austar became the service provider for PayTV, those who owned their STB's had to change over to the one issued by Austar, rather like the change over from Aurora to Vast.
Because it took a few weeks after I signed up to get connected, I received a pair of Coasters with the company's logo on as a gift to apologise for their delay.
I have them put away in that very safe place that you can never find !!!

Galaxy didnt last long before becoming Austar but it wasnt available in many areas to begin with.
Literaly the whole area east of the ACT to the coast and down to the Victorian border had to wait at least a year or more after my area before it was available.

The same applied to Far North Queensland as Austar wouldnt service above Rockhampton ? for a very long time, they flatly refused to even consider a 'Self Install' even though most in the general area were 'Satellite savy' as they had Aurora.
I do remember that most in FNQ needed a big dish, 1.8m at least.
Darwin around that time had that so called 'Wireless Cable' system as did a number of other locations such as Bathurst.

[OSIRUS]

Galaxy was founded in 1993, and begin test broadcasting on 1 January 1995 via microwave transmission, making it the first provider of pay-TV services in the country

Galaxy is a former provider of pay television programming in Australia via satellite and wireless cable (microwave) delivery methods.

Galaxy was founded in 1993, and begin test broadcasting on 1 January 1995 via microwave transmission, making it the first provider of pay-TV services in the country.[2] It was officially launched on Australia Day (26 January).[3] [4] At launch only two channels were fully operational, the local Premier Sports and international news channel ANBC.[5] Digital satellite broadcasts began in September 1995.

Galaxy was a joint venture between Continental Century Pay-TV and Australis Media. Each held licenses allowing them to provide four channels of satellite delivered television

Continental Century Pay-TV and Australis Media held exclusive licenses to broadcast pay-TV in Australia via satellite until 1997. Their main competitors were Foxtel and Optus Vision, both of which operated separate cable networks. The Galaxy channel package was franchised to CETV (Later Austar) and East Coast Television (ECTV) in regional areas.

At its peak, there were around 120,000 Galaxy subscribers. The service ceased shortly after Australis Media went into liquidation on 18 May 1998.

I had Galaxy Pay TV by MDS delivery from Centrepoint Tower "turned on" in February 1997 when I moved to a new Flat in Sydney .... (the Previous resident already had Galaxy MDS installed by then)

& I had Foxtel Cable installed in April 1997 in Sydney

You are right Gordon I inquired in Newcastle about 1998 with East Coast Television about Getting the Satellite Pay TV installed in the country & they said to me it would only happen if they can get a few installations in my country NSW area to do at the Same time & I would have to buy the dish & equipment & pay for the installation (quote was about $1200) & then just pay the monthly Pay TV subscription after that ......

It wasn't long after that Austar came on the scene in my Country NSW area & they did a $99 Satellite installation that included everything except the monthly subscription in 1999 (& I am still using the same STB they installed back then today ....)