Fixed Service Satellite (or FSS), is the official classification for geostationary communications satellites used chiefly for broadcast feeds for television and radio stations and networks, as well as for telephony, data communications, and also for direct-to-home (DTH) cable and satellite TV channels (although this role has been somewhat, but not completely, supplanted by DBS television systems). A geostationary orbit (abbreviated GEO) is a circular orbit in the Earths equatorial plane, any point on which revolves about the Earth in the same direction and with the same period as the Earths rotation. ... A telephone handset A touch-tone telephone dial Telephone The telephone or phone (Greek: tele = far away and phone = voice) is a telecommunications device that transmits speech by means of electric signals. ... A computer network is a system for communication among two or more computers. ...

Before the advent of direct broadcast satellite or DBS, technology, FSS satellites were used for DTH satellite TV from the late 1970s, up until the first DBS television system was launched in 1989 for Sky TV in the UK, with DirecTV following suit in the USA in 1994. Direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, is a relatively recent development in the world of television distribution. ... British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB - formerly two companies, Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, which merged) is a company that operates the most popular subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. ... Jump to: navigation, search DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States and the rest of the Americas. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

FSS satellites were the first geosynchronous communications satellites launched in space (such as Intelsat 1 (Early Bird), Syncom 3, Anik 1, Westar 1, and Satcom 1) and new ones are still being launched and utilized to this day. Early Bird is the name of the first communications satellite to be placed in synchronous orbit on April 6, 1965. ... Syncom-type satellite Syncom was a program of three experimental, active geosynchronous communication satellites which was started by NASA in 1961. ... Anik 1 was a Canadian geosynchronous communications satellite that was launched in 1972 by a Delta rocket. ... Westar 1 was the first commercially-launched American geosynchronous communications satellite, launched by Western Union and NASA on April 13, 1974. ... Satcom 1 was an American communications satellite operated by RCA Americom and launched on December 13, 1975. ...

FSS satellites operate in either the C Band (from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz) and the FSS K_u bands (from 11.45 to 11.7 and 12.5 to 12.75 GHz in Europe, and 11.7 to 12.2 GHZ in the United States). The Ku band (kay-yoo kurz-under band) is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 11 to 18 GHz. ...

FSS satellites operate at a lower power than DBS satellites, requiring a much larger dish than a DBS system, usually 3 to 8 feet for K_u band, and 12 feet on up for C band (compared to 18 to 24 inches for DBS dishes). Also, unlike DBS satellites which use circular polarization on their trasnsponders, FSS satellite transponders use linear polarization. In electrodynamics, circular polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a polarization such that the tip of the electric field vector, at a fixed point in space, describes a circle as time progresses. ... In electrodynamics, linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation. ...