An overview on DBS or Direct Broadcast Satellite

In 1945, Arthur C. Clarke, a British scientist, inventor, and author published a paper titled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays" where he speculated that communication could be possible using satellites in "geostationary or geo-synchronous orbit" in which the satellite travels at the same speed around the earth as the earth rotates on its axis.

Today, DBS satellites, including DISH Networks, rotate in a Geo-synchronous Orbit along the Clarke Belt at 22,247 miles above the equator. Because the satellite and the earth are rotating together, the satellite remains in a fixed location above the earth, making it possible for a stationary dish to continuously receive a satellite signal from a satellite or group of satellites.

Each satellite has a footprint (the coverage area of its signal). DISH Networks DBS satellites' footprints include: the Continental United States (CONUS) at the 105, 110, 119 and 121 degree orbital locations; the Caribbean and Eastern U.S. at 61.5 degrees; Alaska, Hawaii, and the Western U.S. at 148 degrees.

A customer's satellite dish picks up the downlinked signal from the DISH Network satellite through its LNBF (Low Noise Block Feed) and sends the signal to the customer's receiver which in turn projects the signal to the customer's television.

Receivers have a smart card - the actual "brains" of the receiver. DISH Network uses MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (Moving Picture Experts group, Version 2 & 4) compression technology, you the customer experience an outstanding picture and sound clarity? We use technology, which is the latest standard in digital.

DISH Networks Digital Receivers are TVRO (TV Receive Only), which means that the satellite transmits its signal to the TV but no signal is transmitted back to the satellite.

DBS customers receive their television signals directly from satellites stationed in space. DISH Network receives signals from programmers, then compresses and encodes the signals as we uplink them to our own satellites. Finally, we downlink the signals from our satellites to our customers' equipment.

Bandwidth is the set of frequencies (frequency range) assigned to a communications circuit and a Channel is a segment of the bandwidth.

Think of Bandwidth as a pipeline and Channels as water droplets. The larger diameter of the pipeline, the more water will flow through it. The more water (channels) flowing through the pipeline (bandwidth), the more channels our customers will be able to receive. The FCC gives us a license for how big our pipeline is.

Echostar Spot Beam Technology

Spot beams enable DISH Network to deliver more local channels to specific, precisely defined areas, improving the ability to compete with cable broadcasters. "Spot beam" satellites are designed to aim spot beams at selected metropolitan markets (think of a flashlight beam), allowing the same radio frequencies to be reused in different cities, which increases the channel capacity. Spot beam satellites can direct about 50 different spot beam "projections" to the continental U.S. and deliver a lot more local programming to those specific areas. Each spot beam has an approximate diameter of 300 miles.

DISH Network Satellite Frequencies Explained

Programming sent from DISH Networks content providers is transmitted to the satellites from one of the uplink centers located in either Cheyenne, Wyoming or Gilbert, Arizona, the transmission uses a unique radio frequency (RF) channel. Each RF channel is similar to a traffic lane on a highway, which keeps the signals from interfering with one another en route to the satellite (referred to as "uplinking"). Unique frequencies are also used to "downlink" programming from the satellite to the customer's homes. The satellite's "transponders" receive signals from earth on one frequency and amplify and transmit them back to earth of a different frequency. On a CONUS ("CONtinental United States") satellite, each frequency downlinks programming to the whole United States. On a spot beam satellite, frequencies are re-used and downlinked up to five different spot beam locations ("projections").