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Articles & Information about
Satellite tv
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The Broadcast TV Problem
Conceptually, satellite television is a lot like broadcast television. It's a wireless system for delivering television programming directly to a viewer's house. Both broadcast television and satellite stations transmit programming via a radio signal (see How Radio Works for information about radio broadcasting).
Broadcast stations use a powerful antenna to transmit radio waves to the surrounding area. Viewers can pick up the signal with a much smaller antenna. The main limitation of broadcast television is range, the radio signals used to broadcast television shoot out from the broadcast antenna in a straight line. You have to be in the direct "line of sight" of the antenna, in order to receive these signals. Small obstacles like trees or small buildings aren't a problem; but a big obstacle, such as the Earth, will reflect these radio waves.
If the Earth were perfectly flat, you could pick up broadcast television thousands of miles from the source. But because the planet is curved, it eventually breaks the signal's line of site. The other problem with broadcast television is that the signal is often distorted even in the viewing area. To get a perfectly clear signal like you find on cable, you have to be pretty close to the broadcast antenna without too many obstacles in the way.
More interesting information:
The Broadcast TV Problem
How Satellite TV Works
The Components
The Dish
The Receiver
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Satellite TV