|
New Satellite Facilities Support Ongoing Global Development
GE Americom Establishes Gibraltar SCC, Expands Functionality of Sunset Beach Teleport
GE Americom recently unveiled two state-of-the-art facilities to provide operational support for the company's expanding global satellite fleet. GE Capital Satellites (Gibraltar) Limited's new satellite control center (SCC) was built to support GE-1A, and Americom's existing Sunset Beach teleport has expanded to a full TT&C facility to primarily service the recently relocated GE Spacenet 4 satellite.
The Gibraltar SCC, located in downtown Gibraltar, was officially dedicated on October 26, 2000, with a formal cocktail reception. The event was attended by more than 70 industry representatives and other distinguished guests, including the governor of Gibraltar, noted TT&C Manager Harry Pallas. The facility accepts full SCC responsibility for GE-1A, the recently launched Ku-band satellite covering the Chinese, Northeast Asia and Indian regions from its 108.2° E.L. orbital position. GE-1A is operated by Americom Asia-Pacific, a joint venture of GE Americom and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications.
 Originally built by the GTE Satellite Corporation in 1976 as an international communications facility, Americom's Sunset Beach teleport covers 11 acres on the rural North Shore of Oahu - near the Sunset Beach, Ehukai, Waimea, Banzai Pipeline and other world-famous surf breaks.
"At that time, we constructed an 11-meter antenna and a 9-meter antenna, and installed analog video transmitting and receiving equipment," explained Ed Abbot, manager, Hawaiian region operations, GE Americom. "Due to increased demand, the analog setup was replaced by a two-carrier digital system, which soon became a five-channel MCPC digital system."
Following the recent acquisition of Columbia Communications, Americom constructed a TT&C facility at the site. Using a second 11-meter antenna, this system controls GE Spacenet 4, currently positioned at 172° E.L. In addition, two Internet backbone providers now utilize the teleport for transmissions to and from various Far East locations, and three additional uplinks will soon be in service - bringing the station's total commercial traffic to six transponders.
The normally unmanned site is monitored via remote control systems from Americom's Honolulu and South Mountain Earth Stations for video operations and from the Woodbine and Vernon Valley Earth Stations for TT&C operations.
|
