Sign up today for Satellite Dish TV

Antenna   -   See "satellite dish".
ASOS - Automated Surface Observing Satellite tv. A network of automatic weather observation stations operated by the U.S. National Weather Service or Dept. of Defense connected to direct tv.
Audio subcarrier   -   Signal beside the television picture which contains the audio information. Either TV related sound or radio programming.
Backhaul   -   A terrestrial communications channel linking an earth station to a local switching network or population center.
Bit Error Rate   -   The fraction of a sequence of message bits that are in error. A bit error rate of 10-6 means that there is an average of one error per million bits.
Block Down Converter   -   A device used to convert the 3.7 to 4.2 KHz signal down to UHF or lower frequencies (1 GHz and lower as related to satellite tv).
C/T   -   Carrier-to-noise-temperature ratio.
Composite Baseband   -   The unclamped and unfiltered output of the satellite receiver's demodulator circuit, containg the video information as well as all transmitted subcarriers.
dBW   -   The ratio of the power to one Watt expressed in decibels.
Downlink   -   The satellite to earth half of a 2 way telecommunications satellite link. Often used to describe the recieve dish end of the link.
E3   -   Wide-area digital transmission facility used predominantly in Europe that carries data at a rate of 34.368 Mbit/s.
EOL   -   End of Life of a satellite connected to direct tv.
Footprint   -   Geographic area covered by a satellite transmission.
Gain   -   A measure of amplification expressed in dB.
INDOEX - Indian Ocean Experiment. Images (Visible, IR, Water Vapor as related to satellite tv) obtained from METEOSAT-5 centered over the Indian Ocean.
Jammer -   -   An active electronic counter-measures (ECM as related to satellite tv) device designed to deny intelligence to unfriendly detectors or to disrupt communications.
Kbps   -   Kilobits per second. Refers to transmission speed of 1,000 bits per second.
L-Band   -   The frequency range from 0.5 to 1.5 GHz. Also used to refer to the 950 to 1450MHz used for mobile communications.
Margin   -   The amount of signal in dB by which the satellite satellite tv exceeds the minimum levels required for operation.
MPEG   -   The Moving Pictures Experts Group, the television industry's informal standards group.
Multiplex   -   To combine two or more independent signals into one transmission channel, or the combined digital signals transmitted on one satellite transponder.
Netscape - Popular brand of web browsing software connected to direct tv. Available free of charge from: Netscape Site connected to direct tv.
Orbital Period   -   The time that it takes a satellite to complete one circumnavigation of its orbit.
Pay TV   -   Encrypted or scrambled TV service that can only be accessed by paying a subscription fee connected to direct tv.
Polarization offset angle   -   The angle from vertical that the LNB needs to be set at for maximum reception efficiency. The actual angle depends on the geographical location of the reception site connected to direct tv.
Quad LNB   -   A DBS LNB which provides all the transponders broadcast in KU-Band on four independent outputs.
Return Path   -   The transmission path issued from the end user and reaching the service provider.
Set-top-box   -   Generally a VCR-sized add-on box for a TV, enabling it to receive cable TV, over-the-air digital TV or satellite services.
Skew   -   An adjustment that compensates for slight variance in angle between identical senses of polarity generated by two or more satellites.
Spectrum   -   The range of electromagnetic radio frequencies used in transmission of voice, data and satellite TV .
T3 Channel (DS-3 as related to satellite tv)   -   In North America, a digital channel which communicates at 45.304 Mbps.
TVRO   -   Television Receive Only - earth-based dishes, receivers and other equipment needed to receive satellite signals. Typically home C-Band satellite satellite tvs.
Uplink   -   Transmission from earth to a satellite connected to direct tv.
WEFAX - Weather Facsimile connected to direct tv. Type of low resolution imagery broadcast directly from a satellite to a user on the ground with proper receiving equipment.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/Satellite-TV/