Oval and transponder - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

Sketcher · 2002-07-29, 03:39 PM

Here's are questions I hope no one has asked before. What is a transponder and why are the ExpressVu dishes oval in shape and not round?

james99 · 2002-07-29, 03:51 PM

Star Choices dishes are oval because (like Directv) they have more than one bird in the sky at different oribital slots.

If you see a picture of the satellite, you will notice different panels. Each panel is a transponder. Directv/BEV/DN uses 32 transponders (they have more in case one goes puff).

The more transponders you are using mean the more channels you can transmit. The FCC (in the states) dictates the amount of bandwidth that can be used at each slot.

Different channels are on different transponders. Each one has a different signal strenght. During rain some channels will be fine and others will have pixelation or be out of commision (until the rain stops)

Sketcher · 2002-07-30, 10:43 AM

Oh ok, so transponders are like...um... floors in a building so to speak. The building is the satellite, each floor is the transponder, and each room is a channel.

So my Bev IRD automatically switches transponders depending on which channel I am watching.

As for oval dishes... I forgot about th eelliptical dishes StarChoice has. I didn't mean those. I meant egg-shaped. Like my Bev dish.

2002-07-29, 03:39 PM	#1
Sketcher Join Date: May 2002 Location: Toronto Posts: 661	Oval and transponder Here's are questions I hope no one has asked before. What is a transponder and why are the ExpressVu dishes oval in shape and not round?

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2002-07-29, 03:51 PM	#2
james99 Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Burlington Posts: 24,791	Star Choices dishes are oval because (like Directv) they have more than one bird in the sky at different oribital slots. If you see a picture of the satellite, you will notice different panels. Each panel is a transponder. Directv/BEV/DN uses 32 transponders (they have more in case one goes puff). The more transponders you are using mean the more channels you can transmit. The FCC (in the states) dictates the amount of bandwidth that can be used at each slot. Different channels are on different transponders. Each one has a different signal strenght. During rain some channels will be fine and others will have pixelation or be out of commision (until the rain stops)

2002-07-30, 10:43 AM	#3
Sketcher Join Date: May 2002 Location: Toronto Posts: 661	Oh ok, so transponders are like...um... floors in a building so to speak. The building is the satellite, each floor is the transponder, and each room is a channel. So my Bev IRD automatically switches transponders depending on which channel I am watching. As for oval dishes... I forgot about th eelliptical dishes StarChoice has. I didn't mean those. I meant egg-shaped. Like my Bev dish.