C-Band Satellite Information

C Band was designed from the ground up, to deliver full broadcast video bandwidth. Initially, all C Band television broadcasts were "in the clear" as in, not scrambled. C Band transmissions by comparison, are of the highest broadcast quality, and the very ones used by all the major networks, cable providers and small dish satellite operators themselves to receive their programming. There are no digital artifacts, since the signals are totally uncompressed. What you see, is virtually the signal quality as from the master tape. C Band transmissions use no compression.

 

Smallest Possible C-Band Dish

Depending on the satellite footprint, the power of the satellite, and your location you can go as low as 5ft for receiving a signal from a few select satellites. The 8ft dish is very common for C-Band reception. One problem with having a small dish for C-Band reception is that of adjacent satellite interference. The minimum size to work with the 2 degree satellite spacing we have now is about 8 1/2 ft.

Offset dishes are typically more efficient than prime focus primarily because with a prime focus dish the struts that hold the feedhorn assembly block some of the signal. An offset dish will pick up less thermal earth noise lowering the noise floor level. You can get away with a smaller dish if it is an offset dish.

8.5 ft is about the smallest size for proper C-band reception in most of parts of North America. An 8.5 ft reflector should eliminate adjacent satellite interference issues. 10 ft was the standard back in the 80's when satellite transmission power was, on average, less.