--> Satelite Communications ]-------------------------------[ lowtek ]-------
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                          -=Satallite\ /Communications=-
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                             |_----   A    |----_|         
                             /    |________|     \                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
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                    D /                                \E
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             /  \ /                                        \ /  \
             |B |/                                          \|C |
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--------------------[A] Satellite
------------------[B]Earth Station on one side of world
---------------[C]Earth Station on oposite side of the world as the other       
-------------[D]Is a Signal that is being Uplinked from Earth Station B
----------[E]Is The Signal Being Downlinked to Earth Station C
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                                                      
                             -----=Intro:=----
*****************************************************************************

We will jump right in.  The first satellite to ever orbit the earth on 
october 4, 1957 was the Russians Sputnik.  Next was "SCORE" which was the 
first communications satellite in 1958, able to broadcast only a single
voice taped messege from President Eisenhower "Peace On Earth, Good Will To
Men". Thus begun an everlasting race to see who could build the most
sophisticated satellite.  

Sometime In the 60's Americans jumped in to the race with Telstar which was 
far more sophisticated than Sputnik.

Today there are more than 3,000 satellites in orbit.  Each and everyone of 
those sends signals down to earth and recieves signals from earth to the 
satellite.  These are called an Uplink and a Downlink.  

The Uplink is when the base reciever uploads information to the satellite 
such as its coordinates ans programing for the satallites viewers. Just think
how many signals that is if every satellite can produce over 25,000 signals.

These signals are in groups of frequencys I have made a list of what bands 
control what frequencys (The ones with * next to them are based around just 
satellite signaling):

VHF 30 to 300 mhz

UHF 300 to 3000 mhz 

L-Band 0.5 to 1.5 ghz
       
*C band 4 to 8 ghz

*Ku band 10.9 to 17 ghz

*Ka band 18 to 31 ghz


Satellites are used for many different things such as:

Satellite TV
Radio                         
GPS
Weather
Telephone Calls over Seas

In this text I will try to cover most of these.

There are 3 different kinds of Satellites that I am formilliar with: 
GEOS LEOS and MEOS:  

GEOS (Geosynchronous earth orbiting satellites) are the most common of all
satellites.  These satellites orbit the earth in Geosynchronous Orbit which
is 22,300 miles above earth.

GEOS are slowly becoming obsolite because of there distance from earth.  
This effects the speed of data that the satellite is transfering to earth.
This is why most companys now a days are purchasing LEOS (Low Earth Orbiting
Satellites) these satellites cruise around 2,000-4,000 feet these satellites
are alot closer to earth hence making the data flow faster than GEOS do. Many
pager and cellphone companys are starting to use LEOS as there main satellite
just because the reception is alot better and can provide world wide
connections (check out www.iridium.com).

A good thing about GEOS is that basically they can cover more geographical 
area than LEOS cause they are higher and can cover more land. Now MEOS
(Medium Earth Orbiting Satellites) are basically just a weather satellite
they orbit around 10,000 feet.

TVRO/Television Signals
     
Satellite TV is a system such as "Direct TV" or the "Dish Network" These are
what are called TVRO (Tele Vision Recieve Only) and are becoming very popular
among people these days. There are about 5.1 million installations of TVRO's
today in North America and are becomeing popular in forign contries as we
speak.

The Satellite TV bands are:

S)Band          1700)3000 MHz
C)Band          3700)4200 MHz 
Ku1)Band        10.9)11.75 GHz
Ku2)Band        11.75)12.5 GHz (DBS)
Ku3)Band        12.5)12.75 GHz
Ka)Band         18.0)20.0 GHz

Now to Reach these Signals you will need a C/Ku Band Reciever and a C/Ku band
Dish these can be ordered on the interenet I have included some sites where
you can purchase these.

Here is a list of the Downlink Freq's for C/Ku band:

        Channel  1 = 3720/11730 MHz     Channel 13 = 3960/12096 MHz
        Channel  2 = 3740/11743         Channel 14 = 3980/12109 
        Channel  3 = 3760/11791         Channel 15 = 4000/12157
        Channel  4 = 3780/11804         Channel 16 = 4020/12170
        Channel  5 = 3800/11852         Channel 17 = 4040 
        Channel  6 = 3820/11865         Channel 18 = 4060 
        Channel  7 = 3840/11913         Channel 19 = 4080 
        Channel  8 = 3860/11926         Channel 20 = 4100 
        Channel  9 = 3880/11974         Channel 21 = 4120 
        Channel 10 = 3900/11987         Channel 22 = 4140 
        Channel 11 = 3920/12035         Channel 23 = 4160 
        Channel 12 = 3940/12048         Channel 24 = 4180 

Many of these channels are Scrambled then again you can find many open 
channels that have sporting events or public broadcasting channels.  

For the Scrambled Channels there are usually decoders in the newer Recievers,
most likely you will be able to watch some of the scrambed frequency's.  

The most popular of the channels are usually scrambled with VC II and VIII 
systems, now sometimes you will get lucky and actually be able to find a 
V II and V III decoder and then you can watch it without having to pay or 
subsribe to the channels.

Audio Channels/Radio Signals:

Audio channels are usually a higher frequency than TV channels, also there
are more than 70 audio only channels avalible from each North American
Satellites. The audio frequency's are usually in the 6.2 to 6.8 mhz but audio
can go through 5 to 8 mhz.

There are Radio Shows daily for other satellite hobbiests to listen to
including "Lets talk Radio" is a computer/radio/shortwave listening/
satellite navagationing show/ which used to be daily at 6p.m. that anyone
could listen to who had a C/Ku band dish and reciever.

GPS Satellites:

GPS stands for Global Positioning System, these satellites are fairly new
they provide navegation for ships, tanks, Hummers, airplanes, space stations,
satellites,and many other devices.  They provide navagation, position and
velocity by the second.  They were first introduced to the world from the US
Department of Defence (what a supprise), and are widely used today in many
aspects of communication and traveling.  This system of satellites are
controled by a main base all the GPS satellites are operated at what is
called "GPS Master Control and Monitor Network" which is located in Colorado
at the Schriever Air Force Base.

Today you can walk out to your local Radio Shack and pick up a GPS reciever
for traveling and it will tell you where you are most anywhere on earth. Now
tell me that is not amazing.  Today I was doing some Research on GPS and this
was amazing to me I found a company that provides GPS recievers that you
strap on to your kid and it tells you where they are anywhere in the world.
That made me kind of sick but it is a good example of how GPS is growing and
how accessible it is to the public (also how weird are society is with
technology of this kind).

Satellite Internet Connections:

Many Networks Today reside on Satellite's, and the amount is growing every
day.  More and More people decide they need more bandwidth for there
networks or for personal use alone.  Satellites have been offering personal
interenet services for about 3 years now and the users are expanding as we 
speak.  The reason for such wide expansion is satellite's high bandwidth.  
Today you can subscrube to a satellite ISP which data transfers 5 times the 
speed of DUAL ISDN Channels, of course this has its downfalls which include 
a $490 dollar a month bill and also the weather somtimes effects satellite 
reception, so in other words during a /rain/thunder/hail/snow storm you 
would ether have a terrible connection to the internet or no connection at 
all.  I have hered of some companys fixing the problem but have no other 
information about it. Also have found an Example of what one of these systems
may cost:

*********The Satellite Internet System includes the following hardware 
************specifications as well as unlimited access for 10-150 Users. 
**************Intel Pentium PII 266MMX 
****************16 bay server case 
******************4.0 gig IDE drive 
********************3.5" floppy 
**********************64 megs SD RAM 
************************512K cache 
**************************20X CD-Rom Multi Media kit 
****************************2 meg PCI Video Card 
*****************************104 keyboard - MS Mouse 
*******************************WIN95 OEM 
*********************************3COM 10/100 Base-T Network card 
***********************************56 Kbps Fax Modem 
*************************************14" .28 NI SVGA Monitor 
***************************************32 Bit Satellite software license 
*****************************************20" Satellite Dish w/uni mount 
********************************************LAN user access software license
**********************************************Activation prior to delivery

36 months free on site next day warranty. 
Price $4,900 (Includes Server, Dish, and Installation) 
Monthly Price $490 per month (36 Month lease) 

This means that after you pay your $4,900 dollar bill you have to continue 
paying your monthly bill which is $490 dollars.  For a large company this 
is no bill at all but you can see how one person who wants fast internet 
access might struggle financially. 

Many huge Companys are starting to connect there networks to ATM networks via
Satellites one of the many of those companys is COMSAT which is ahead of the
other competitors with there ATM Link Enhancer (ALE).  COMSAT wins first ATM
via satellite contract which makes them elegable to start building massive
ATM networks. The reson for this being so great is that companys can start
connecting all forms of communication devices, such as, video confrencing,
real-time logistics, and medical expertise to deployed field units
(Telemedicine) all in real time, Anywhere in the world.

-==Weather Satellites:==-

Weather satellites have helped the human race tons. Without these satellites
there would be no hurican warnings or storm warnings or how about you wouldnt
even be able to tell when it is supposed to snow.  With your C/Ku band
reciever and dish you can somtimes find an occasional public weather station
when scanning thru the C/Ku band it probelly wont be local but you get to
see what kind of weather france is getting.  Here i have included a list of 
weather satellites that are Operational and some of there frequency's:

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
NORAD ID# Common name Source Frequency 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

10061       GOES 2       US   
10489       METEOSAT   1 ESA    
12472       GOES 5       US   
12544       METEOSAT 2   ESA   
14050       GOES 6       US   
15427       NOAA 9       US   
16969       NOAA 10      US   
17561       GOES 7       US   
18820       METEOR 2-17  CIS   
19215       METEOSAT 3   ESA   
19336       METEOR 3-2   CIS   
19531       NOAA 11      US   
19851       METEOR 2-18  CIS   
19876       METEOSAT 4   ESA   
20305       METEOR 3-3   CIS   
20670       METEOR 2-19  CIS   
20788       FY-1B        PRC   
20826       METEOR 2-20  CIS   
21140       METEOSAT 5   ESA   
21232       METEOR 3-4   CIS   
21263       NOAA 12      US    137.5000 
21655       METEOR 3-5   CIS   137.8500 
22739       NOAA 13      US   
22782       METEOR 2-21  CIS   
22912       METEOSAT 6   ESA   
22969       METEOR 3-6   CIS   
23051       GOES 8 US    
23455       NOAA 14      US    137.6200 
23581       GOES 9       US  ** FAILED ** 
24786       GOES 10      US   
24932       METEOSAT 7   ESA   
25338       NOAA 15      US   

This is just a small list I am sorry I couldnt provide more frequencys. You
can download programs off the internet that connect to satellite's and you
can view stunning images of live weather around the globe. There are even
sometimes live camera's via the internet that broadcast live weather to some
satellites.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Satellite and Telephone Intergration:=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Satellites have greatly helped our communication in various ways but the 
telephone has by far been the greatest.  I will give an example of how 
satellites are used with a common telephone call from the U.S. to Australia. 
 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This is one of the most important parts of this text because it kind of puts
everything together into one big example. So please read this part carefully.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Fist the call would be releyed to Roaring Creek, Pennsyvania International
Earth Station via microwave signals, then from Roaring Creek up into the main
Anteanna on a 6ghz uplink.  Then processed to an Earth Station in Australia
via the downlink then shipped into the local switch and ran to the
subscribers house.  From there it would do exactly the revearse of what it
did in the U.S. So this time it will be ran thru the local switch up to the
earth station in australia and then uplinked at 6ghz and then downlinked to
Roaring Creek, Pennsylvania once again.  So every time one person talks it
has to ush to the earth station and be uplinked and downlinked then run
through the local switch (wow what a fast ride). Now you know why these calls
cost so much.

Please Examine the Ascii at the first part of this text.  You will see that 
the signal could represent a telephone call across the world which is
uplinked by Earth Station B and traveled on signal D and then Processed in
satellite A and then downlinked on signal E to Earth Station C.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
                          written by lowt3k aka upl1nk


                                 Conclusion

This completes my text on satellite communications Introduction, 
although expect many more texts from me about satellites this is just an 
opening of understanding for my other texts which will take this knowledge 
and combine it into othermore technical aspects of satellites.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*

  Shoutz and ma propez out to all of deze boyz, girlies, and companyz:

I would like to thank Norad you guys are leet I respect you thanks for helpin
me out with somethings,**ma h0meboy gr1p****NASA*hybrid**downtime*My home-boy
w1rep4ir*PD werd ma brotha**Substance need I say more? =)**#9x*#darkcyde*
USwest*all the peeps in NPA**Dr. Dish** DR. Joseph Pelton**optiklenz****
di9ital bosplaya****icon_****#legions***#satell1te***genocide2600***chammy
***aardwolf

lowtek@uswestmail.net
lowt3k@daz.dubuque.net

