Satellite Antenna Fundamentals Rev1 PDF

Satellite Antenna Fundamentals
The following fundamentals are presented to help the lay person understand the
basics of satellite downlink and reception and why certain adjustments and settings are
so critical to close the satellite link. Closing the link simply refers to establishing a
communication path between the satellite and the earth station or satellite dish/antenna.
Most communication satellites reside in a belt above the equator at a distance of
22,260 miles approximately. The satellites rotate around the earth in the same direction as
the earth and at a speed that makes it appear as
though the satellite remains at a fixed location
above the earth. This is referred to as geostationary
as the pictured to the right shows. Every satellite
has an earth station which controls and maintains
its position above the earth as well as the direction
the satellite faces so its communication beams are
not directed to outer space but back to the earth.
To put the satellites distance into prospective the
International Space Station (ISS) is in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) which is between 100 - 1250
miles above the sea level. The ISS is approximately 250 miles above the earth.
The satellite's earth station keeps it within a specific area so it does not stray and
bump into other satellites. In the United States the spacing between satellites is 2 degrees.
However, the satellite has a specific amount of bandwidth and when more bandwidth is
needed satellites are stacked on top of one another (so close they appear as one satellite
from earth) with as little as .25 degrees of
separation and positioned slightly north and south
of the equator. The picture to the right is of the
Clarke Belt and shows stacked satellites. All the
satellites have an imaginary box within which it
can drift before the earth station will correct its
orbit with a short rocket burst. As long as the
satellite stays within the box the satellite's
communication antenna can receive and
re-transmit information.
If you were to stand on the equator, facing south, and looked directly up the Clarke
Belt would stretch from the east to the west. Now if you were to walk backwards, still facing
south, the Clarke Belt would start to get lower and lower toward the southern horizon. The
further north the lower toward the horizon the Clarke Belt would appear. If you could see
22,300 miles you would see the satellites stretch from east to west. And dependent upon
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the latitude at which you are standing the further north you are the lower toward the
horizon the satellites would appear.
When standing in the northern hemisphere and looking directly southern to the
Clarke Belt, the satellite directly south of you will be at the apex of the satellite belt which
is running east to west. Looking at the satellites to the left and right of the satellite directly
south of you, which is at the apex of the belt, the satellites appears to fall off toward the
east and west horizon until they disappear below the horizon. If you move to the east
more satellites will start to appear above the horizon but other satellites will appear to
disappear below the western horizon as you move away from the west. Although a satellite
appears above the horizon, unless the satellite is at least 10 degrees above the horizon,
satellite reception is unlikely because of obstruction and / or ground clutter. The higher
the satellite is in the sky, closer to the apex, the less likelihood of signal obstruction or
ground clutter.
Basically, a satellite has 500 MHz of bandwidth which is divided up into groups of 40
MHz bandwidth of which 36 MHz is usable. These groups are called transponders and the
4 MHz left over of the 40 MHz is to allow 2 MHz each side of the 36 MHz bandwidth for no
transmission signal. When two transponders transmitting on the same polarity are sitting
next to each other their 2 MHz of "no signal" combine together for 4 MHZ between the high
frequency end of one transponder and the low frequency end of the adjacent transponder.
12 transponders with 40 MHz per transponder occupies 480 MHz of the 500 MHZ
attributed to the satellite. The 480 MHz is reutilized by shifting the polarity of the signal 90
degrees. The electrical separation of the fields provide 20 - 40db of isolation which is
enough to discriminate between the different polarities in the receiver. The results is the
re-utilization of the 480 MHz by the opposite polarity. The following satellite frequency plan
shows how the satellite's downlink frequency plan is re-utilized to double the transponders
by using polarity and shifting the carrier frequency so peak energy is not coinciding with
the opposite polarity transponder.
4 MHz
11720
36 MHz
36 MHz
11760
11800
11840
11880
11920
11960
12000
12040
12080
12120
12160
Vertical
11700
12200
Horizontal
11740
11780
11820
11860
11900
11940
11980
12020
12060
12100
12140
12180
As depict in the diagram above linear polarity is identified as vertical (V) and
horizontal (H) and are separated in the electrical field by 90 degrees. Matching the earth
station or home satellite antenna's LNB to the correct polarity is critical to receiving signal
lock and receiving a good signal from the satellite.

Linear polarity is not the only polarity used on satellites. Circular polarity is another
form of polar shifting the satellite frequency for frequency re-utilization. Where linear
polarity is vertical and horizontal, circular polarity is left
hand circular polarized (LHCP) and right hand circular
polarized (RHCP). RHCP rotates in the opposite
direction of the LHCP shown in the diagram to the right.
The main benefit of circular over linear
is the home satellite user does not have
to consider skew for the LNB since the
circular polarized signal is constantly
rotating. When setting circular
polarization set the feed for a left or
right hand feed by positioning the
center baffle as shown to the left. For
the opposite polarity rotate the baffle
90 degrees.
For a better understanding of LNB skew please refer to

the diagram to the right which shows the earth with a
satellite antenna that has horizontal and vertical polarization.
Satellite w/ horizontal
In addition, the Clarke Belt shows three satellites with
and vertical polarization
horizontal and vertical polarization as well. Now consider the
earth satellite antenna to be located in the northern
Satellite antenna
hemisphere pointing directly south to the satellite with
w/ horizontal
and vertical
the same polarization. In this situation
polarization
Clarke Belt
the polarization signal of the satellite and
the earth antenna align, and therefore, no
skew adjustment is required. However, if the
satellite you want to view is either east or west
of directly south of your antenna, when you
point the antenna east or west the satellite's
Earth
polarization is skewed because of the satellite's
orbital arc. To compensate for this skew the LNB
is offset (skewed) in the same direction and by
the same degree as the satellite skew so the
polarization of the satellite and earth station align. The
amount of "offset" or "skew" is provided by most satellite
aiming programs when you enter your longitude and latitude and the desired satellite's
geosynchronous location. The effect of NOT adjusting for skew when it is necessary is
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for the LNB to pick up both some vertical and some horizontal frequency. This causes
interference with the signal you do want as well as reduced the signal strength
because you are not accurately aligned with your polarized transponder. To receive
maximum signal strength the transponder on the satellite and on your antenna must
match. As stated earlier the vertical and horizontal transmission is separated by 90
degrees so they don't interfere with one another. If your LNB is not aligned to maintain
the 90 degree separation you will pick up the other polarity and cause interference to
your desired signal.
To effectively establish satellite communications an earth station, or home user,
will have to know the satellite's location (geosynchronous location), the frequency of the
downlink signal, and the polarity (polarization) of the signal. This information along with
the earth station's own latitude and longitude is used to provide the azimuth, elevation
and skew information necessary for satellite antenna alignment.

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Satellite Antenna Fundamentals

lock and receiving a good signal from the satellite.

For a better understanding of LNB skew please refer to

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