Hello Atsuko!
Sunday April 12 1998 21:17, Atsuko Natsume wrote to All:
 AN> I'm kinda new to the Satellite TV scene.  Would someone mind explaining
 AN> to me exactly what a C-Band dish is?  In fact, what is any-band dish..
 AN> Thank you,
Well, I can't get too technical, 'cause I'm not an engineer. Basically to 
start out with the "band" reference is just a reference to a group of 
specific microwave frequencies used for communications sattelites. In some 
cases this can and DOES overlap with earth-bound communications (news trucks, 
etc.)
C-Band was the first group of frequencies, and they originally required 
MASSIVE dishes because the power wasn't very high on the sattellites. Then 
they fixed the electronics such that the "birds" had more power on 'em and 
thus you didn't need as big a dish.
Then they decided they needed another group of frequencies, so the FCC 
allocated another band of microwave frequencies and they were called "KU." 
The one BAD thing about KU is that it's highly susceptible to bad weather. 
BTW, the "mini-dishes" that you get for DirecTV, etc use a different spectrum 
that's still in the KU band. You can't pick them up on your standard dish, 
which is why they sell you that mini-dish (all you *really* need is their 
receiver, the cheap aluminum dish isn't *required* to pick up their signal. 
Just about any KU-compatible dish would do )
Hope that answered your question.... :)
            John
    Vice Moderator, TVRO
... Does your mom know you're reading this filth?
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