If yor system did not call last night !!! -- MIDRANGE-L


        Many of us use Paging to control and support our operations, 
 and day to day life.  Here is a Foward from anther list with regards
 the current outages being experienced. 

        Jeff Silberberg 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 21:53:40 -0700
From:JimMnn@frii.com
To: firepage-l@relaypoint.net
Cc: mnn@bmsinc.com
Subject: G-4 outage

Satellite Outage Interrupts Pagers

Filed at 10:48 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A communications satellite spun out of control Tuesday
afternoon, interrupting service to millions of pager users and disrupting
behind-the-scenes television transmissions across the country.Galaxy 4,
which is operated by PanAmSat, started having problems about 6:30 p.m. EDT,
said a company technician who asked not to be named. The company was still
able to communicate with the satellite, and technicians hoped to restore
its correct orbit.

Scott Baradell, a spokesman for PageNet, one of several paging companies
whose services were interrupted, estimated that 80 to 90 percent of the 40
million to 45 million U.S. pager users lost service. The only customers not
affected were those whose connections are through ground-based radio
transmitters, he said.  Baradell said it would take about a day for his
company to switch service to another satellite. ``You have to make
adjustments to your system,'' he said. ``If it's at all possible to get
Galaxy 4 back in service, that's much preferred.''

A woman who answered the phone at Greenwich, Conn.-based PanAmSat refused
to comment.

If Galaxy 4 can't be fixed, traffic would have to be redirected to other
satellites, said Russ Colby, a vice president at Digicom Services, a Los
Angeles-based pager company that has 40,000 subscribers. He estimated up to
20,000 of its customers were out of service.

``It's important that word gets out. People don't know it's not working,''
Colby said.

The pager problem was of particular concern to doctors. Dr. Steve Dickens,
a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said he was
spending the night at the hospital because of the problem. ``I have to tell
(the hospital) what to do and how to respond,'' he said. ``Protocol says
they can't make a decision without first calling the doctor.''

Television stations use Galaxy 4 to transmit feeds of advance shows, said
Marguerite Sullivan, satellite coordinator for KCAL-TV in Los Angeles. It
was not clear what television programming might be affected. ``Hopefully,
TV stations will be able to work around it,'' she said. ``It's just
satellite space is going to be very tight. It's going to be a problem for
syndication. ... Thank God most stuff is done two days in advance. We're
not too bad off.''  In addition to the syndicated programs, CBS radio and
television, the Chinese Television Network and the CNN Airport Network send
feeds through Galaxy 4.

CBS relied most heavily on Galaxy 4 but had a backup plan and has not been
affected by the outage, said spokeswoman Amy Malone. ABC and NBC also said
their operations have not been affected.

Galaxy 4 was launched in June 1993 aboard an Ariane rocket. Its coverage
area is primarily the United States and Caribbean, according to PanAmSat's
World Wide Web sites.

PanAmSat is 81 percent owned by Los Angeles-based Hughes Communications Inc.




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
James L. Richardson                     Satellite Newsfeed Buff

Administrator satellite newsfeeds list-serv; to subscribe send to
newsfeeds-request@maillist.net with subscribe in the message.

jimmnn@frii.com                         http://www.frii.com/~rmedic

Paramedic & Founder                        Mountain NewsNet
   "Colorado's Emergency Incident Paging Notification System"
970-586-4325 Voice                         970-586-4357 Fax
          "In God we Trust ALL others we Monitor"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



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