Understanding How Satellite Television Works

Ever since satellite technology became available in the early 1990s, it has been quite popular. When it was first developed, however, only the most diehard television fans took advantage of the technology because it was so costly and it required placing a huge dish in the yard. Not only did this take up quite a bit of space, it was quite unsightly as well. In addition, obtaining satellite television was difficult to do when compared to traditional broadcast television or even cable.

Today, satellite television technology has come a long way. It no longer requires having a huge dish in the middle of your yard. Rather, you can have a nice, small dish on top of your house. Here, it doesn’t take up any space at all and really doesn’t detract from the overall beauty of the home.

An interesting fact about satellite television is that it actually works very much like broadcast television. This is because, unlike cable, both systems work wirelessly in order to deliver programming to your home. In addition, both utilize radio signals in order to broadcast their programming.

Really, the primary difference between satellite and traditional broadcasting is the fact that broadcast stations are limited in their range because the signals shoot out in a straight line. This means your antenna has to be in the line of sight of the signal. While buildings and trees don’t interrupt this signal, the curvature of the Earth does. In addition, though you can still pick up a broadcast signal if you are located quite a distance from the broadcast station, the picture does get more distorted the further you are from the station.

Satellite television solves this problem because the signals are transmitted from satellites, which are orbiting around the Earth. This eliminates problems with curvature and distortion from other obstacles. In addition, more people are in the line of sight of the signal because the satellites are located high in the sky. In fact, they are located about 22,200 miles above the Earth.

The satellites in the sky revolve around the Earth at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation. In this way, the satellites keep pace with the Earth and essentially stay in the same location relative to the Earth. This is why you only have to position your satellite dish once in order to stay in proper contact with the signal. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?

Technorati Tags: satellite, television