Are you aware how great satellite television is? Satellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and attained by an outdoor antenna, typically a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an external set-top box or a satellite tuner element built into a TV set. Satellite TV tuners are also obtainable as a card or a USB stick to be attached to a personal computer. In many areas of the world satellite television provides an extensive range of channels and services, frequently to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers. Direct broadcast satellite television comes to the wide-ranging public in two distinct flavors – analog and digital. This necessitates either having an analog satellite receiver or a digital satellite receiver. Analog satellite television is being replaced by digital satellite television and the latter is becoming obtainable in a better quality known as high-definition television.

A distinctive satellite has up to 32 transponders for Ku-band and up to 24 for a C-band only satellite, or more for hybrid satellites. Typical transponders each have a bandwidth between 27 MHz and 50 MHz. Each geo-stationary C-band satellite needs to be spaced 2 degrees from the next satellite to stay away from interference. For Ku the spacing can be 1 degree. This means that there is a better limit of 360/2 = 180 geostationary C-band satellites and 360/1 = 360 geostationary Ku-band satellites. C-band transmission is at risk to terrestrial interference while Ku-band transmission is affected by rain as water is an excellent absorber of microwaves at this particular frequency. The latter is even more unfavorably effected by ice crystals in thunder clouds.

Last but not the least, there will be a sun outage when the sun lines up directly behind the geostationary satellite the reception antenna is pointing to. This will happen twice a year at around midday for a two-week period and affects both the C-band and the Ku-band. The line-up swamps out all reception for a few minutes due to the sun emitting microwaves on the same frequencies used by the satellite’s transponders. This happens during the spring and in the fall.