- Antenna Field
- A large outdoor area set aside for radio antennas or satellite dishes (the really BIG dishes). Sometimes used synonymously with Antenna Array.
- Bird
- Slang term for a satellite.
- Cycle
- The interval or period between peaks or troughs in a waveform. Period is the correct mathematical term used to describe the interval between peaks in a sine wave. Sinusoidal Cartesian graphs are often used to describe the wave motion of energy.
- Earth Station
- An earth station is the facility at which ground-based operations for satellite communications occurs. As used here in this site, earthstations contain one or more radio shacks and an antenna field.
- Footprint
- The surface area of the earth which a satellite covers with its broadcasts.
- Frequency
- A transmitted signal composed of electromagnetic energy at a specific wavelength.
- Orbit
- The path a sattellite takes while travelling around the earth.
- Radio Shack
- This is an old term used to refer to the location at which the radio frequency communications equipment is kept and/or operates from.
- Rain Fade
- Water can absorb or refract many kinds of electromagnetic energy. Microwave frequencies in specific ranges are very vulnerable to weather such as rain, fog, ice or snow. The effect of the precipitation is to absorb or refract some of the signal causing the signal to appear to fade.
- Solar Outage
- When the earthstation, the satellite and the sun are in a direct line, the sun's electromagnetic energy drowns out the satellite signal and communications are interrupted for a certain period of time around noon local time at the ground station.
- Spectrum
- A range of frequencies. The term refers to a selected portion of the electromagnetic spectrum containing a specific set of energy waves within a specified range of wavelengths.
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