Getting to Know More About Satellite TV

If it hadn’t been for television sets then, most people would have lead dreadfully dull lives without having much knowledge about the whereabouts of the entire world. Television has given a new life to people who were looking for an alternative to newspapers and radios for means of entertainment. Further, the visual pleasure that people got by seeing for themselves could never have been possible if not for television. Moreover, the popularity television only increased to reach the pinnacle it, now sits on. The popularity of television was supported substantially by the advent of technology and cable TV networks. For that matter, today the scene of television is very different from what it was a few decades earlier, all thanks to satellite TV. Satellite television sets are basically programmed by means of signals delivered via a communication satellite and receives the signals via a parabolic antenna. This antenna, usually called the satellite dish, is mostly a parabolic reflector. For household purposes, the satellite receiver maybe either a set top box or an inbuilt module of a satellite tuner in the television set. The tuner modules are also available in the form of a card or a USB device which can even be connected to a computer.

The main benefit of satellite TV is that it enables people living in remote areas of the world get access to television programs due to their geographical inaccessibility by cable networks. A directly broadcasted satellite television programming can be accessed by the public in two forms namely, digital and analog. This leads to the requirement of either a digital satellite receiver or an analog satellite receiver. However, analog satellite receivers are slowing giving way to digital satellites. These digital satellite receivers are now available in a better quality known as the high definition television or HDTV. The shape of most satellites is either elliptical or geostationary orbit. Satellite television like other satellite enabled communications is triggered by an antenna located at an uplink setup. These uplink satellite reflectors are usually large. The huge diameter of the satellite dish results in an enhanced signal strength.

The uplink reflector is directed towards a specific satellite and the thus uplinked signals get transmitted within a certain frequency range, so that one of the transponders on the satellite, activated to that frequency range, picks up the signals. The transponder again transmits the signals back to the earth though not at the same frequency band. This process is known as translation, and prevents any interference involving the uplink signal. Further, the inner working of a satellite TV system depends on the amount of sunlight reflected by the satellite dish. Thus, it is for this reason that the signal strength is the best during the day.