WMartin@SIMTEL20.ARPA.UUCP (05/07/86)
To answer my own question that was included in Telecom #117: This has been thrashed out pretty thoroughly on the Videotech list by now (I had sent my query to both Telecom and Videotech). It appears that the descramblers will automatically go to pass-through mode when an unscrambled signal appears at its input, and that the pirate's signal overrode the HBO uplink signal until they boosted their normally low power to override him. The pirate signal, being in the clear, just turned off the descramblers for the period of time it was being relayed by the satellite. Will -------