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Dish Network Satellite TV System Explained
Did you ever stop to wonder how all those movies, news and sports shows, music vidoes and your other favorite television programs get into your living room from outer space, or how they got out there above the atmosphere in the first place? It’s really not as complicated as it seems, though when you think about the science and technology involved you realize what a wonder and a bargain satellite television really is.
Why Use Satellites for TV?
The companies that offer digital satellite television service have customers around the globe, and it would simply cost too much to build lots of transmission stations and broadcast directly to viewers. Instead, after a suggestion by science fiction author Arthur C. Clark in one of his early stories, satellites are launched into orbits so high, around 22,000 miles above Earth, they are always above the horizon no matter where on Earth a viewer lives or works. The satellites travel in geosynchronous orbits at speeds exactly matched to Earth’s rotation, so they never change place with respect to the antennas back on the ground.
Going Up! And Back Down!
Back on Earth broadcasters fire digital signals carrying their shows at the satellites overhead using powerful, precise transmissions that can’t be sent directly to views because of obstacles like trees, houses, even the curvature of Earth itself. On board the satellites, computers redirect the incoming signal to a broad transmitter that sends the signal back down to Earth where it can be picked up anywhere in the hemisphere below.
The round trip from Earth to space and then back to your living room covers 44,000 miles, and at the speed of light the trip takes just over two-tenths of a second.
How Does That Funny Looking Antenna Work?
When the signal finally gets back to your house, it’s pretty weak and fairly spread out. That odd, bowl-shaped part of the satellite antenna, the dish, makes up for that weakness by covering a wide area with its big, curved surface. The signal hits the entire parabola shape and is reflected to a focus point where an arm holds the actual antenna wiring array. This is very similar to using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the Sun into a point hot enough to burn paper.
From there, the signal travels in a boring, old-fashioned wire down to the back of your satellite box where it gets processed again to give you access to the channels your subscribed to and to turn the signal into something your TV can use to show you your favorite programming.