Engineering 

Our clients own a VSAT (teleport) facility because they need Internet connections or reliable telephone service; some clients need both. The correct selection of equipment, and purchase of bandwidth (space segment) depends upon the type of use that it will be put to and the location of the teleport.

The major Satellite operators, companies like SES, Intelsat, Eutelsat and Telesat Canada provide two common types of commercial frequency to choose from. Our clients choose from either C-Band or KU-Band service. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Ku band provides very high frequency transmissions well suited to TV transmission or credit card validation applications. C band a lower range frequency better suited to voice and ISP needs.

Ku band normally has much higher signal strength in areas of spot beams; this means that a signal can be received on much smaller dishes (antennas). Antennas of 1m diameter are often used for Ku transmissions. The downside to Ku is that bad weather can cut off the transmission, leaving your clients without service until the rain passes.

In the wet tropical regions our clients all use C-Band because C-Band is much less subject to rain fade; the downside is that is does require a larger antenna. Our smallest C-Band systems use a 2.4m antenna, many of our clients chose a larger 3.8m antenna in order to allow for future growth.

One of the most important decisions when planning a VSAT installation is the choice of dish size, if the dish is too small the client may have to pay a penalty in monthly bandwidth costs.

In most cases we recommend that the VSAT installation be carried out by somebody with prior experience. Some clients have taken months when doing it themselves. Although it is not technically challenging very few have the patience to carefully find the satellite and correctly align the antenna.

On the next few pages we have prepared a photographic history of an installation of a 4.5M Andrew antenna, these pages show the Site Preparation for a relatively large antenna and follow on with pages discussing antenna alignment and commencement of service.

For additional reading we have prepared several non-technical discussions about beam coverage and why we need to know your location before quoting hardware or service.

Finally in the Engineering section we ask do you need a BUC or Transceiver? leading into the reason for choosing the traditional 70 MHz or the newer L-Band in the page L-band or 70 MHz cross site?