INTRODUCTION
Satellit TV reception........... 4
Satellit TV equipment............................... 5
Satellite receiver...................................... 6
Remote control unit.................. 7
OPERATION
Watching satellite TV................................ 8
Picture adjustment..... 9
Sound adjustment................................. 10
Satellite radio.........................................
11
Parental lock.
11
CONTROL FUNCTIONS
Remote control unit................................
12
Satellite receiver...................................... 13
SATELLITE TV RECEPTION
To
many people, satellite TV reception is something
completely new and, in some ways, strange. Some pe-
ople find it complicated, whilst other people consider it
the most exiting event
in
television for many years.
Satellite reception is not complicated, although the
equipment required differs from the set you already
have for the reception of ordinary TV programmes. Pro-
bably the most striking feature is the parabolic antenna
or dish, which is quite different from aconventional TV
antenna. Indoors there will
be
an extra unit (two if you
have apowered antenna) alongside the video
and
the
TV
set.
General
High up
in
space above the equator there are many
satellites orbiting the earth in what is known as the geo-
stationary orbit: this means that they appear to hover
directly above the equator over agiven point. Some of
these satellites retransmit TV signals for reception on
earth. These signals are weak and are transmitted
at
a
very high frequency; they need aspecial parabolic
antenna to ensure that the transmitted TV signal can
be converted into
an
acceptable picture. The antenna
needs
to
be
of acertain size
and
must
be
accurate-
ly
aligned
on
(aimed at) the satellite
to
give a
picture ofgood quality.
Each TV satellitetransmits several programmes on sepa-
rate satellite channels.
To
make optimum use of the
available frequency spectrum without the signals inter-
fering with each other, they are transmitted with verti-
calor
horizontal polarization.
To
ensure agood
picture, the LNB (low-noise block converter) of the
satellite dish must
be
turned to suit the polarization
of
the required channel. There are two ways of switching
rapidly from one TV satellite channel to another: the
antenna can be fitted with two LNB's, one for each
polarization, or asingle LNB can be
Htted
with amotor-
driven polarization changer known
as
apolarizer.
In
the latter case the polarizer is controlled
by
the satellite
receiver to switch automatically to the correct polariza-
tion when asatellite channel is selected.
To receive TV signals from several
TV
satellites, the an-
tenna will need to
be
re-aligned. This can be done by
hand, although it is atroublesome and time-consuming
operation. The preferred method is to use
an
antenna
motor
that tums the dish to aim it exactly
at
the
desired
satellite.
Acomplete installation package for satellite
TV
recep-
tion consists ofthe following:
osatellite receiver. This unit picks upthe desired
TV channel from the signal arriving
at
the
LNB
in
the
antenna.
The
unit also generates control signals
to
select the correct satellite and polarization.
oantenna power drive
for
antenna
motor
and polarizer. This is aseparate unit. The anten-
na powerdrive communicates with the satellite
re-
ceivervia acable link.
oantenna
with
motor,
LNB and polarizer (or a
double
LNB,
known
as
an ortho modetransduceror
OMT).
About the manual
Parabolic antenna.
The
assembly and alignment
of
the parabolic antenna are described
in
separate in-
stallation instructions supplied with the equipment.
The
manual goes to considerable lengths to point out the
importance
of
careful assembly and alignment to en-
sure the best possible picture and minimize snow.
This
advice
is
particularly important for the installation
of
a
dish antenna with antenna motorand apolar mount.
Installation.
The
installation of adish antenna
with
motor and polarizer or ortho mode transducer involves
running and connecting several cables between the
antenna and the TV set.
It
is, in fact, afairly complicated
installation. Study the wiring diagram carefully and
double-check
to
make sure that all the wires
run
to the
correct connections. We
don't
want
to
harp on
the point,
but
if
an item
of
equipment
is
in-
correctly
connected and receives
too
much
power It
will
be
damaged.
The
section entitled SETTING AND ADJUST-
MENTS describes
in
detail the many steps involved
in
setting up adjusting the satellite receiver. There is
no
need to carry out all these steps when the equipment
is
installed; the main thing is to carry out the basic
operations. The rest of the instructions
in
the chapter
are used when the time comes to reprogram or to load
new programme informationinto the receiver.
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