Wouldn't it be easier to move a satellite to the 99 degree slot instead
of having to move all those fixed dishes all over the country?
Galaxy 4 had severe problems Tuesday afternoon (May 19th).  Many data
services were affected including pagers.  You probably know that a
satellite pager actually gets its data from a local paging transmitter,
but the local transmitter (as well as transmitters all over the country)
gets its data from satellite.
TV stations get their national weather radar via Galaxy 4 satellite.  In
Arkansas the Corp of Engineers also gets national weather radar the same
way.  These are the people that analyze rainfall upstream and decide how
much water to let through the dams on the rivers.
Radio stations receive their network feeds via Galaxy 4.
TV stations receive syndicated programs via Galaxy 4.
Businesses receive financial data via Galaxy 4.
I don't know how many fixed dishes are aimed at Galaxy 4, but I imagine
it is several thousand.  So why not move another satellite to the 99
degree west slot?  The government i.e. the FCC is to blame.  When
Telstar 401 died AT&T wanted to move Telstar 302 into that slot.  After
several months, the FCC finally approved that.  It is sad to know that
thousands of fixed dishes across the country can be moved to a different
position within a few days or weeks, but the FCC will not be able to
approve a change until perhaps next year some time.
Even if the FCC was responsive (which will not happen in my lifetime),
it would cost a lot to move another satellite.  Why?  Because there is a
shortage of C-band satellites.  Why?  Because the FCC has denied
permission to several companies to build satellites or the number of
satellites that were desired.
The FCC in typical government fashion does not make a lot of sense.
Years ago the FCC approved 2 degree satellite spacing.  The reasoning
was that there would be room for more satellites than with the old 3
degree spacing -- at least that is what we were told.  So, did the FCC
approve more satellites?  No more than would have been possible with 3
degree spacing.  So why did we go to 2 degree spacing if we didn't get
any more satellites?
In a better and logical world, the government would have kept 3 degree
spacing and approved new satellites to fill the available slots.  As it
is, C-band satellite time has fallen in value while Ku-band time has
increased in value.  In the last few years, the growing demand for
satellite usage is for small dishes to receive data.  You cannot receive
C-band with a small dish as long as the satellites are spaced only 2
degrees apart.
Now that the business world will realize how crazy the FCC is in regard
to satellites, the value of C-band time will fall even more.  Who wants
to invest in a technology that is unreliable due to FCC incompetence?
This is not the first time that a satellite has had big problems.
However, this may be the first time that many businesses have seen their
network go down and not be restored until a technician can come to each
of their locations to repoint each dish.
It didn't have to be this way.  If the FCC was responsive, a different
satellite could have been moved to that slot in the sky.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 2
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