Satellite broadband: how it works
Find your lat and long
Satellite dish pointing
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Useful links to elsewhere on this web site: |
Satellite internet service in Africa Satellite broadband: how it works |
VSAT information Find your lat and long Satellite dish pointing |
The LinkStar broadband satellite internet access hub is in Turin, located within the coverage patterns shown in the left pair of images. Service started 20th Oct 2004
W3A Frequency bands are:
Africa: down 10.95 - 11.2 GHz and 12.5 - 12.75 GHz, Africa up:
14.0 - 14.5 GHz
Europe: down 10.95 - 11.2 GHz and 12.5 - 12.75 GHz, Europe up: 14.0 - 14.5
GHz
Transponders are cross-strapped so that signals going up in the Africa beam come
down in the Europe beam and vice-versa.
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| For the W3A hub end of the link budget calculations use downlink eirp and uplink G/T figures from the two coverage maps below. | For the W3A African end of the link budgets use the downlink eirp and uplink G/T figures from the contours in the map above | |
Depending on location, 1.2m or 1.8m diameter dishes are required to receive a satisfactory out-link signal from W3A. Use of the smallest possible dish size to achieve a service that just works well in clear sky conditions (e.g. 98 cm) will always result in outages during significant rain. Use of dishes with approximately twice the area will give a 2dB margin for rain fading and provide a satisfactory service in many cases. Larger dishes result in shorter outages during rain storms.
The return link (transmit) bit rate required is also a factor affecting the dish sizes required. If you need a very high return link (transmit) bit rate it may be better to use a larger dish rather than a higher power transmitter.
The Eutelsat W3A satellite was launched 16th March 2004, to orbit location at 7 deg east.
W3A link budget calculations: out link budget calculation and return link budget calculation
Links:
Broadband
Satellite Internet services in Africa.
BlueSky LinkStar
VSAT service provider based in South Africa
Page started 10 March 2004
Amended 14th Mar: W3A link budget pages added
16 March: after launch on 16th
20 Oct: W3A LinkStar Africa beam service started.
21 Dec 04, 1 June 06 links
