Fixed Service Satellite

Information about Fixed Service Satellite

Fixed Service Satellite (or FSS), is the official classification (used chiefly in North America) for geostationary communications satellites used for broadcast feeds for television and radio stations and networks, as well as for telephony and data communications.

FSS satellites have also been used for Direct-To-Home (DTH) satellite TV channels in North America since the late 1970s. This role has been mostly supplanted by direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television systems starting in 1994 when DirecTV launched the first DBS television system. However, FSS satellites in North America are also used to relay channels of cable tv networks from their originating studios, to local cable headends and to the operations centers of DBS services (such as DirecTV and Dish Network) to be re-broadcasted over their DBS systems.

FSS satellites were the first geosynchronous communications satellites launched in space (such as Intelsat 1 (Early Bird), Syncom 3, Anik 1, Westar 1, Satcom 1 and Ekran) and new ones are still being launched and utilized to this day.

FSS satellites operate in either the C band (from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz) or the FSS K_u bands (from 11.45 to 11.7 and 12.5 to 12.75 GHz in Europe, and 11.7 to 12.2 GHz in the United States).

FSS satellites operate at a lower power than DBS satellites, requiring a much larger dish than a DBS system, usually 3 to 8 feet for K_u band, and 12 feet or larger for C band (compared to 18 to 24 inches for DBS dishes). Also, unlike DBS satellites which use circular polarization on their transponders, FSS satellite transponders use linear polarization.

Systems used to receive television channels and other feeds from FSS satellites are usually referred to as TVRO (Television Receive Only) systems, as well as being referred to as big-dish systems (due to the much larger dish size compared to systems for DBS satellite reception), or, more pejoratively, BUD, or big ugly dish systems.

The Canadian StarChoice satellite TV service relies on FSS satellite technology in the K_u band. Primestar in the USA used K_u transponders on an FSS satellite as well for its delivery to subscribing households, until Primestar was acquired by DirecTV in 1999.

FSS and the rest of the world

The term of Fixed Service Satellite is chiefly a North American one, and is seldom used outside of the North American continent. This is due to the fact that most satellites used for direct-to-home television in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere have the same high power output as DBS-class satellites in North America, but use the same linear polarization as FSS-class satellites.

Dish Network and FSS

The DiSH Network satellite TV service also relies on FSS satellite technology in the K_u band to provide the necessary additional capacity to handle local channels required by FCC must-carry rules and make room for HDTV resolution. The recently-introduced SuperDish system receives circularly-polarized DBS 12.7 GHz from both 110-degree (the Echostar 8 & 10 satellites) and 119-degree (the Echostar 7 satellite) orbital locations as well as linearly-polarized FSS 11.7 GHz from either the 121-degree (Echostar 9) or 105-degree (AMC 15) orbital locations depending on consumer choice. Dish has started using 118.7-degree (AMC-16 -FSS) on their Dish 500+ and Dish 1000+ dishes. It has an oval LNB called a DP DBS/FSS Dual Band. This LNB will receive both the 119-degree and 118.7-degree satellites.

While the original DiSH Network satellites use circular polarity at 12.7 GHz, the newer Intelsat 13/Echostar 9 satellite at 121-degrees uses the older FSS technology to broadcast local channels and international packages such as the Chinese Great Wall TV Package. As a result, newer DiSH Network receivers are designed to receive both circular and linearly-polarized signals at two different intermediate frequencies from up to 5 different orbital locations.

The SuperDish has three low-noise block downconverters to accommodate the three satellites and two different technologies. SuperDish comes in two configurations: SuperDiSH 121 is for international programming and SuperDiSH 105 is intended for high definition and for those customers in areas whose local channels are only available on the 105-degree satellite. As with other FSS technologies these signals are much lower power and as a result the SuperDiSH is a very large and lopsided appendage. However, since the SuperDiSH is under 1-meter in width it cannot be banned by homeowners' associations.

• • [ e] The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Visible (optical) spectrum	(Sorted by wavelength, short to long) Gamma ray • X-ray • Ultraviolet • Visible spectrum • Infrared • Terahertz radiation • Microwave • Radio waves
Microwave spectrum	W band • V band • K band: K_a band, K_u band • X band • C band • S band • L band
Radio spectrum	EHF • SHF • UHF • VHF • HF • MF • LF • VLF • ULF • SLF • ELF
Wavelength designations	Microwave • Shortwave • Mediumwave • Longwave

• • [ e] Analog & Digital Audio broadcasting (DAB)
Terrestrial radio modulation	AM • FM • COFDM
Frequency allocations	LW • MW (MF) • SW (HF) • VHF • L-Band • (FSS/TVRO • DBS)
Hidden signals	AMSS • DirectBand • PAD • RDS/RBDS • SCA
Codecs	AAC • Musicam • PAC
Terrestrial DAB systems	DAB/DAB+ • DRM/DRM (+) • HD Radio • FMeXtra • CAM-D
L-Band DAB systems	Sirius • WorldSpace • XM
C-Band & Ku-Band DAB systems	SDR • DVB-SH • DAB-S • DMB-S
Related topics	Digital radio • Audio processing • History of radio • International broadcasting

A geostationary orbit (GEO) is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator (0Â° latitude), with orbital eccentricity of zero. From the ground, a geostationary object appears motionless in the sky and is therefore the orbit of most interest to operators
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communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to comsat) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits
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In telecommunication, telephony (IPA pronunciation: [tə'lɛfəˌni]) encompasses the general use of equipment to provide voice communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other.
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Computer networking is the engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems or devices. Networking, routers, routing protocols, and networking over the public Internet have their specifications defined in documents called RFCs.
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Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception, also referred to as direct-to-home signals.
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DirecTV, Inc.

Subsidiary of The DirecTV Group
Founded 1994
Headquarters El Segundo, CA, USA

Key people Rupert Murdoch, Chairman
Chase Carey, President & CEO
Industry Telecommunication
Products Direct broadcast satellite
Revenue US$14.
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A head end is:

A central control device required by some networks (e.g., LANs or MANs) to provide such centralized functions as remodulation, retiming, message accountability, contention control, diagnostic control, and access to a gateway.

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DISH Network, Inc.

Subsidiary
Founded 1996
Headquarters Meridian, Colorado, USA

Industry Telecommunication
Products Direct broadcast satellite
Employees (EchoStar 20,000)
Website dishnetwork.
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Early Bird may refer to:

Intelsat I, a 1965 communications satellite nicknamed Early Bird
Early Bird (EarthWatch), a 1997 earth observation satellite owned by EarthWatch
Early Birds of Aviation, an organization devoted to the history of early pilots

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Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by Hughes Space and Communications.
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The Anik satellites are geostationary communications satellites launched by Telesat Canada for television in Canada. In Inuit Anik means "little brother".

The Satellites

Name Satellite type Launched Retired Launch vehicle
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Westar 1 was the first commercially-launched American geosynchronous communications satellite, launched by Western Union and NASA on April 13, 1974. It was built by Hughes for Western Union, using the HS-333 platform of spin-stabilized satellites.
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Satcom series was a family of communications satellites originally developed and operated by the RCA American Communications (RCA Americom). Satcom was one of the first geostationary satellites. The first satellite, Satcom 1 was launched on December 13, 1975.
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Ekran (Экран, Screen) was a Soviet-Russian type of geostationary satellite, developed for a national system of Direct-To-Home television. The first satellite of Ekran series was launched in 1976.
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C band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4 to 8 GHz.^[1]. It was the first frequency band allocated for commercial ground-to-satellite communications. A typical C-band satellite uses 3.7–4.
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The K_u band (pronounced "kay-yoo"; Kurtz-under band) is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 12 to 18 GHz
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circular polarization (also circular polarisation) of electromagnetic radiation is a polarization such that the tip of the electric field vector, at a fixed point in space, describes a circle as time progresses.
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linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation. See polarization for more information.
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A big ugly dish (often abbreviated to BUD) is a colloquial name for a satellite dish used to receive satellite television signals from FSS-type satellites on the C band.
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Star Choice

Subsidiary of Star Choice Television Network Incorporated and Star Choice Satellite T.V Inc.
Founded 1996
Headquarters Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Area served Canada
Industry TV Service Provider
Slogan You have a choice. Star Choice.
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PrimeStar is a now-defunct U.S. direct broadcast satellite (DBS) organization formed in 1991. PrimeStar was the first DBS system in the United States but slowly declined in popularity with the arrival of DirecTV in 1994 and Dish Network in 1996.
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20th century - 21st century
1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s
1996 1997 1998 - 1999 - 2000 2001 2002

Year 1999 (MCMXCIX
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Galaxy 23/EchoStar 9 due to a joint partnership with Intelsat.

These two satellite services, and their older Fixed Service Satellite technology, were provided to add additional capacity that lets DISH Network satisfy the FCC's "must-carry" requirements for local channels,
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electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" (usually just spectrum) of an object is the frequency range of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from thousands of kilometers down to fractions of
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visible spectrum (or sometimes optical spectrum) is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to (can be detected by) the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light.
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For the music band, see .

Gamma rays or gamma-ray (denoted as γ) are forms of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) or light emissions of a specific frequency produced from sub-atomic particle interaction, such as electron-positron annihilation and
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X-rays (or RÃ¶ntgen rays) are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz to 30 EHz. X-rays are primarily used for diagnostic radiography and crystallography.
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