INSTALLATION AND TRACKING OF DIGITAL SATELLITES PART2

In the PART1 of this post,we talked about the different types of satellite companies like DSTV,FTA,MY-TV,HI-TV....and how they broadcast their wide range of channel packages......... Today we are going to talk about "satellite dishes(antennas) and their sizes".....lets roll.... Satellite companies often transmit their channel broadcast signals through the atmosphere,now if the frequency of transmission is low,the wavelength(distance between successive wave crests from the transmitter to the receiver) of the signal are so large that the size of the satellite dish required to recover the transmitted signal at some remote points becomes impracticable..... Based on this,satellite companies often transmit their channel broadcast signals at high frequencies so that the wavelengths of the signal are so small that the size of the satellite dish required to recover the signal becomes very practicable. Thus satellite dish sizes usually ranges from centimeters to a few meters.... The common satellite dish sizes are;60cm,90cm,1.5m,2.5m.....and so on. Satellite dishes are available in two common forms; 1. The pan steel dish form and 2. The fiber dish form. No matter the form of the dish,it must be well coated and polished so that it can reflect,recover and collect signals effectively. All satellite dishes needs a component that will absorb the signals that is being reflected,recovered and collected by the dish,such a component is called "parabolic reflectors" and the commonly used ones are LNB/LNBF(low noise block/low noise block with feed horn)... They are both signal converters,they convert whatever signal that is being reflected,recovered and collected by the dish into a form that can be interpreted by the satellite receiver/decoder(to be discussed in another part of this topic).... The LNB/LNBF are available in two frequency band forms; 1. C-band 2. Ku-band Now when satellite companies transmit their broadcast signals through the atmosphere,the signal passes through the appropriate layers of the atmosphere with the corresponding frequency of transmission.....Now there are two frequency bands commonly used for satellite transmission; 1. C-band and 2. Ku-band.... With respect to satellite broadcasting,the c-band frequency ranges from 3GHZ-8GHZ,while that of ku-band ranges from 10GHZ-14GHZ.... C-bands are more suitable for adverse weather conditions(such as rainfalls,dews or snows)..thus with c-band dish you do not need to worry about sudden interruption of the broadcasting signal of channels due to bad climates. However c-band often carry low power signals since they are not prone to microwave(signal) interference during bad weathers........Ku-bands unlike c-bands are prone to bad weather conditions and thus with ku-band dish your are likely going to experience sudden interruption in the broadcast signal of channels due to the phenomenons called rain fade and snow fade..... Thus satellite companies that broadcast their channels in ku-band usually allocate extra powers to the broadcast signals to compensate for this sudden loss of signals associated with ku-bands in bad weather condition especially during heavy rainfalls. The ku-band often carry very high power signals that can withstand the effects of the bad weather condition at least to a certain extent...however during extremely bad weather conditions ku-band dishes may receive an unstable signal fluctuation that often results in what makes satellite channels to crack.....Now with all said i believe you can choose your dish size and type of LNB that suits you.... It may also interest you to know that with some dish type(such as 2.5m fiber dish),you can enjoy both c-band and ku-band channels with the accompaning LNBF.... Wise choice right? But cost is another factor... Choose your dish type,size and parabolic reflectors wisely.....just know that for c-bands the larger the dish size the better the signal reception,for c-band1m to 4m dish size would do depending on your location from the satellite you want to receive...... For ku-band the dish size does'nt matter that much just a 60cm to 100cm dish would do great.