CY> I still think a more practical system would be something like 3 or
 CY> 4 watts on Ku-band to a 7 foot reflector.  The smaller
 CY> dishes are much cheaper, and that power level can be
 CY> generated with solid state equipment :)
> I'm on the "TVRO" echo and other BUD message areas
> because I'm intrested in the use of LARGE DISH C-BAND systems,
> not in the hype behind the DBS/DSS market.
Did I say anything about DBS?  I did mention Ku-band.
I understand that BUD is an affectionate acronym for
Big Ugly Dish.  I have a 10 foot mesh dish in the back
yard.  It is not ugly.  That is why I never refer to
my dish as a BUD :)
> I'm sure those have
> their place with those that are in a limited space and need a
> small unobtrusive array, but I consider C-Band "alive and well"
> and prefer to base my actions/plans on furtherance of THAT band.
Yes, C-band is still an excellent band for distributing programming
to cable systems and big home dishes.  It has not been popular
for 2 way comms -- probably due to the requirement for a large
dish to avoid interfering with adjacent sats.  Since the
industry and government changed sat spacing from 3 to 2
degrees, 2-way comms are probably not in C-band's future.
2-way via satellite is a rapidly growing market, and may
explain why Ku-band time is more expensive than C-band
time.  If the satellite operators had understood the future
of satellite, they probably would not have gone along
with the cable industry's push to decrease the sat
spacings.
> So, while I appreciate your comments and you have provided some
> valuable information, when replying (if you ever do after this
> comment :) to me, please limit your references to BUD systems.
I thought you were interested in uplinking from home?  That is
probably beyond the scope of TVRO (Receive Only), but it is
not off topic until the moderator declares it to be so :)
OK, maybe I am beginning to get it.  You consider Ku band
off topic?  Well, lots of folks have had Ku for many years, but
if you don't want to talk about it, that's OK.
So why won't uplinking from home or business ever happen on
C-band?  Because it can be done cheaper with a smaller dish
on other (forbidden to talk about) bands.  Even if the FCC
eventually changed the spacing back to 3 degrees, it
would make little difference.  If they changed it today,
it would not actually happen until most of the sats
were replaced -- at least 10 years down the road.
The FCC is not even considering changing the spacing,
and if they do change it sometime in the next century,
everybody that wants to uplink with a small dish will
probably already be doing it on another band.  They are
not going to switch to C-band when they already have
invested in those "off topic" bands.
Sorry, I probably wrote a bunch of stuff you didn't want
to read.  Hope you didn't get too upset :)
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