In my rush to complete RF Report for July 15 before dawn and starting my day job, I made several errors in my article Galaxy 15 Passes Galaxy 13 Orbit Slot. TV Technology has corrected the article online; however, for readers that missed it, here are the corrections Intelsat provided, along with some comments.
First, during my discussion of the AMC-11 pass-by, I said AMC-15 was used to provide protection for AMC-11 when Galaxy 15 passed through the 131 degree orbital slot. I should have said SES-1. Intelsat noted that while SES-1 was available, it was never used. Intelsat also disagreed with my statement that the second satellite (SES-1) provided SES Americom more options for AMC-11 than Intelsat had for Galaxy 13. Intelsat notes it used three satellites to turn around services for customers requesting this.
My intention was to highlight the efforts and skill of the Intelsat engineers and their customers in providing continued service on Galaxy 13, just as they had done for AMC-11, when Galaxy 15 passed through the satellites' orbital locations. I apologize if my article made it appear the Galaxy 13 effort was handled any differently than the AMC-11 effort.
As readers are aware, much of the public media coverage focused more on the potential for problems, rather than on the skill of the engineers in avoiding such problems. I felt that highlighting these efforts was important, as I've had e-mail and comments from people who said cable company service reps had been using the satellite relocation as an excuse for viewers' cable TV problems.
