Satellite TV Dishes - the history of the satellite tv dish system

The satellite communication industry owes its genesis to an essay written by Arthur C. Clarke entitled ‘Extraterrestrial Relays’ which was published in 1945 by Wireless World Magazine. In the essay Clarke gave the fact that by placing three platforms 22,300 miles above the equator into special orbits at exactly the same speed as earth, worldwide communications could be achieved. He suggested that by doing this satellites in the space would appear motionless when viewed from the ground.

The world's first manmade artificial satellite Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union, on October 4, 1957 for flaunting the technological superiority carrying the transmitter, which delivered a non-stop Morse code-based political message. In the wake of this America embarked on the largest technological programme for the landing of the Neil Armstrong on the moon. It leads to the development of Intelsat, which deployed a network of geosynchronous communications satellites. It was this time that Clarke’s dream of global broadcast was realized. Many private companies like Western Union, AT&T and RCA utilized the same satellite technology to support the rapidly growing telecommunications needs of the United States. In 1976 Home Box Office better known as HBO made a landmark by pioneering satellite delivery of programming to cable with the heavyweight boxing match known as "The Thriller From Manila". It offered the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier boxing match to its cable viewers and was the forerunner to 'pay for view'. However, the credit for the first consumer satellite goes to Stanford University Professor and former NASA scientist Emeritus H. Taylor Howard.

Then came the decade of geo communication satellites of second generation, which were concoction of C-band, and the higher frequency Ku-band technology centered at MHz. The use of small satellite antennas was made possible by the Ku-band technology. It opened the market for satellite delivered private data networks called VSATs (very small aperture terminals) and extended the application of SNG (satellite news gathering) services. The greatest advantage of the Ku technology was the affordability it brought to deliver all news through SNG vehicles.

Hybrid satellites were stalked by dedicated high power Ku-band satellites designed exclusively for the DTH (direct to home) television market for European and Asian TV. The markets of these countries are stroked with high-density urban populations and lack of TV cable networks, which made the direct broadcast services (DBS), small dish programming possible in every corner of the world. Currently, the newest satellite technology in commercial application is hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellites where Ka-band technology has even smaller receive satellite antennas.

Presently small dish measuring no more than eighteen inches are provided by free satellite dish systems that can be easily fitted in the window or balcony. The VMC satellite, leading dish network, provides a satellite dish, up to four receivers with professional installation. The programming packages include up to 500 channels and local viewing is also available in most areas. The satellite dish systems provided by Direct TV include access up to 225 channels with programming packages including CNN, ESPN, movies, family channels and many others.

With so much advancement in the satellite industry, it has grown manifolds. Earlier it was only avid viewers that took all the pains and expenses of putting in their own dish. They needed a huge space to install the huge dishes but today’s satellites dishes are so compact that they can easily be fitted anywhere without any hassles and pains.

To see the latest advances in satellite TV dishes, check out the offerings at eXpert Satellite and VMC Satellite.