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Message: <blockquote data-quote="T24" data-source="post: 56500" data-attributes="member: 175385">Satellite Tv.....The person most widely given credit for the concept of using this orbit for communications is Arthur C. Clarke. In an article he published in Wireless World in October 1945 titled \"Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?Clarke extrapolates from the German rocket research of the time to a day when communications around the world would be possible via a network of three geostationary satellites spaced at equal intervals around the earth\'s equator.It wasn\'t until 1963 that NASA set out to test Clarke\'s concept with the Synchronous Communications Satellite program. Unfortunately, Syncom 1—launched 1963 February 14—while successfully reaching geosynchronous orbit in an inclined, eccentric orbit was unsuccessful due to an electronics failure. Syncom 2—launched 1963 July 26—became the first operational geosynchronous communications satellite. Syncom 3—launched 1964 August 19—became the first geostationary satellite, finally fulfilling the prediction made by Clarke almost twenty years earlier.Satellite broadcasting is made possible by the fact that communications satellites are fixed in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, staying in the same position above the ground at all times. This allows satellite antennas that transmit and receive signals to be aimed at an orbiting satellite and left in a fixed position. Satellite programming:Satellite programmers broadcast, or uplink, signals to a satellite which they either own or lease channel space from. The signals are often scrambled, or encrypted, to prevent unauthorized reception before they are retransmitted to a home antenna. The uplinked signals are received by a transponder located on the satellite, a device that receives the signals and transmits them back to the earth after converting them to a frequency that can be received by a ground-based antenna. Typically there are 24 to 32 transponders on each satellite. In order to minimize interference between the transponders, the signals are transmitted with alternately polarized antennas. Each satellite occupies a particular location in orbit, and operates at a particular frequency assigned by the FCC. Satellite signals:The signals received at the satellite from a ground-based antenna are extremely weak in amplitude – much less than one watt. As a result, they must employ amplifiers that boost the signals to a level that can successfully be processed and retransmitted to the earth. After traveling 22,000 miles to a ground-based antenna, the signals are again very weak and must be amplified. Therefore, satellite “dishes” focus the signals onto the actual antenna. The signals from the antenna are then fed to a “low-noise block,” or LNB, amplifier which amplifies signal and converts them to a lower frequency. The lower the power of the satellite, the larger the antenna required to focus the signals. A C-Band satellite, with power ranging between 10 and 17 watts per transponder, typically has an antenna between 5 and 10 feet in diameter; whereas a high-powered Ku-Band satellite, with a range of 100 to 200 watts per transponder, only requires an antenna 18 inches in diameter. The signals from the antenna are fed to an integrated receiver/decoder (IRD), which converts them to a form that can be tuned by a TV set. Every IRD contains a unique address number, which is activated by a satellite programmer to allow it to receive subscription services. In addition, the IRDs modem port is connected to a telephone line, in order to access pay-per-view ordering services and transmit other data. A single IRD can supply one channel choice to one or more TV sets. In order to view two different programs at the same time on two different TV sets, two IRDs are required—one for each TV, and the antenna must be a dual-LNB type.</blockquote>

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