Overview on satellite TV systems
Even if you watch your satellite television 5 hours a day, I bet
you can't tell what a satellite TV system really is.
Satellite television is TV broadcast delivered by way of
orbiting communications satellites located 22,300 miles above
the earth's surface. Satellite TV system, like other
communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting
satellite antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink
satellite dishes are directed toward the satellite that its
signals will be transmitted to, and are very large, as much as 9
to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.
There are mainly two types of satellite TV systems: TVRO and
DBS. TVRO system, aka Television Receive Only, is the first
satellite system available for home satellite viewing system.
While the DBS system, Direct Broadcast Satellite is available
later. These two satellite systems work in different band
(C-band and Ku-band) and their working system specifications are
quite a different.
Television Receive Only (TVRO) systems
TVRO systems in United States are often referred as Big Dish
TV, C-Band Satellite TV or BUD (Big Ugly Dish). It was the first
satellite TV system being commercialized and brought into the
U.S. families.
Viewing TVRO broadcast requires a big and movable dish - which
is why it is well known as big dish TV. The TVRO dish's diameter
ranged from 3 to 6 feet. It works in C-Band with frequencies of
around 4 GHz. As news companies normally transmit their
materials to their headquarters using a C-Band satellite; and as
many of these types of feeds are not scrambled, chances to
unedited news are great. Besides with TVRO systems, you can also
receive free channels and independent feeds from for instance
news companies.
Ever wonder why do we need such a big dish to receive TVRO
signals? It's because of TVRO's wave length of these frequencies
is longer than in Ku-Band which requires a much smaller dish of
about 18 inches. Ku-Band, which is used by DBS, is at 12 to 14 G
Hertz.
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system
Satellite TV services were popular only after Direct Broadcast
Satellite system is introduced. DBS is meant for everyone with a
simple, low cost installation of the system. Small dish,
maintenance-free, and stable signals receptions -- all these
makes the satellite TV system a good commercial product.
Satellite broadcast via DBS system is done in the Ku-Band.
These satellites work on higher frequencies and can transmit
higher power signals. This is why smaller dishes can be used to
receive satellite signal for DBS systems.
As you might know, a small TV dish of 18 inches is already good
enough to receive all satellite TV signals by Satellite
companies. This makes it possible to have satellite TV from an
apartment on the 10th floor, if you have a clear line of sight
to the south. Once installed the dish needs no maintenance since
it is aimed at just one satellite. Some dishes actually have 2
or more feeds, which makes it possible to receive the signals
from more than 1 satellite.
Unfortunately, there are no free channels available on DBS
satellites broadcast. DBS broadcasting are often owned and used
by the satellite TV provider (for example, Dish Network and
DirecTV) it self. Often the installation is for free as it
really is very easy to do. The only thing that is needed is a
bit of knowledge of where to find the satellite thus a qualified
installer will find the satellite and point it to maximum
reception within minutes.
Currently in United States, Dish Network and DirecTV are the
major DBS systems provides. As satellite TV services are the
latecomer in home TV broadcasting services, they are now
fighting hard to win the market segments with extremely low
prices. Free satellite TV systems, free DVR systems, free DVD
players, free shipping, free installations, free HD upgrades,
free home protection plans ...they give free things as much as
possible! All you need to be to qualify the deals condition is
you must commit on the satellite TV deals for one year and you
must be a first-time customer. With extremely low start up cost,
online satellite TV retailers are now offering some very
lucrative offers. To review more about these online satellite TV
retailers: Recommended satellite TV providers and if you
would like to compare Dish Network and DirecTV, this page is
suggested: Dish Network vs DirecTV