[Dafe1er™]

This is for everyone to read, seeing's how there is a lot of lingo to know in the FTA world. Please enjoy, and if you need help feel free to ask.



Dafe.

[Dafe1er™]

A, B

Angel – Satellite.
Antenna - Satellite Dish.
APID – see PID. Azimuth - The Left/Right positioning of the satellite dish.
Autoroll - The automatic reading and storage of the encryption keys.
Auto TP – Automatic location of a channel if it moves from one TP to another.
Back Haul - Live Feed / Up link feed (E.G. Sporting events, News , Etc.) (Meant for station affiliates only.) Note: Never call trouble number on the screen it's for TV stations only! (If they know you can see it, they may move it!) BB – Blackbird. BEV - Bell ExpressVu. Canadian satellite broadcast service.
BIN – A file in a Binary format suitable for flashing a ROM. Bird – A satellite. Bird Dog – Satellite finder.
Bootstrap - Code that allows the receiver to power up and access the programming on the TSOP. BUD - Big Ugly Dish. Bouquet - A group of channels on same frequency. Box Keys - Secret keys that are in each receiver's firmware that identify the particular receiver. BSS - Broadcast Satellite Service. Also called DBS (Direct Broadcast Service). This is a satellite service that is up linked for the specific purpose of reception directly by consumers. This includes XM/Sirius Radio, Direct TV, Bell ExpressVu, StarChoice, and Dish Network. StarChoice, though a BSS service, actually operates in the FSS portion of Ku-Band.

C

*C – StarChoice. Cable on a stick - Another name for the small dish CAM - Conditional Access Module. With Dish/BEV receivers, it is built-in. With FTA receivers such as Dreambox, it is a removable unit. CAMs process the information from the smart card and allow the receiver to decrypt channel information. C-Band - 3700-4100 MHz (down link) and 5925-6945 MHz (up link) Frequency. Also the general name used for the big dish. Used mainly for commercial purposes: linking feeds to network affiliates and cable systems. Most of these are not intended for general use but you can subscribe to them and many of them are not encrypted. Charlie - Charlie Ergen, DISH Network CEO. Also known as Dish Network.
Circular LNB - Circular polarity signals travel from the satellite in a corkscrew pattern, either right hand (clockwise) or left hand (counter clockwise). Dish, Dave, and Bev use primarily circular LNBs.
CI Slot - Common Interface Slot, CAM card is inserted in this slot. Clarke Belt – Another name for the satellite belt. Named after it’s discoverer, Arthur C. Clarke. Clean Feed - No commercials (Back hauls usually) E.G. Watch the Zambonie clean the ice. Cloning – Changing the IRD number, box keys, bootstrap etc. in a receiver's TSOP to match another. Closed - Encrypted or Scrambled channel. Composite Video – Phono jack (RCA) Video. Conditional Access - System in which access to a particular channel requires unit (box) information and channel tier information before decryption can take place. Used by Dish Net/BEV receivers and CAM-equipped FTA receivers.

D

DAVE - Digital Audio Video Entertainment. Also known as Direct TV. DBS - Digital Broadcast Satellite.
Digicipher 2 Free-to-Air - (not the same as MPEG2 FTA). Digicipher 2 - Encryption system and video standard created by Motorola. Used by Star Choice, 4DTV, and Direction - Also called azimuth. DiSEqC - Digital Satellite Equipment Control. DISH Network - Digital Information Sky Highway Network. DL Freq. - Delivery Frequency / Down link Frequency. DSS - Digital Satellite System. Video standard used by Direct TV. DVB - Digital Video Broadcast. Video standard used by Dish Network, Bell ExpressVu,

[Dafe1er™]

. E, F, G, H, I

ECM - Electronic Counter Measure. Elevation - The Up/Down positioning of the satellite dish. EPG - Electronic Program Guide.
Firmware - Software in the TSOP that allows the receiver to run. Flashed – Software program that reads the TSOP bin and makes changes in specific locations such as; the IRD number, Box Keys, Bootstrap etc. FSS - Fixed Satellite Service. Satellite service intended for commercial applications, such as transmitting feeds from an up link facility to a down link facility where it can then be processed for other uses. With few exceptions, FSS transmissions are usually not intended for consumers directly. Encrypted - Digital Video and/or Audio have been encoded and require special keys or processes to make it visible.
FEC – Forward error correction. Usually calculated for us by the receiver.
FTA - Free To Air, Non-encrypted channel (digital). GHz - Abbreviation for Gigahertz.
IF – Input frequency.
ITC - In The Clear, Non-scrambled channel (analog). IR - Infra-Red. IRD - Integrated Receiver Decoder.

J, K

JKEYS - Software used to read a receiver's box keys. JTAG - Joint Team Action Group. A device made of five resistors and a DB-25 connector that allows the receiver to communicate with a computer. (JTAG is used to read from or write to the receiver's TSOP).
Ka-Band - stands for "kurz-above". Frequency 17.7-20.2 GHz (down link). Will soon be the standard for broadband Internet via satellite and may even become useful for DBS at some point in the future. KHz - Abbreviation for kilohertz.
Ku-Band (BSS) - 12.2-12.7 (down link) and 12.7-14.5 GHz (up link). Used for Direct TV, BEV, and Dish Network. This portion of the Ku spectrum requires a circular LNB. Ku-Band (FSS) - stands for "kurz-under". The 10.7-12.2 GHz (down link) and 12.7-14.5 GHz (up link) portion of the satellite frequency spectrum. In North America, this portion of the Ku spectrum requires a linear LNB.

L, M, N, O

L-Band - 1000-1500 MHz satellite band. Most commonly used for Radio navigation (GPS) and weather satellite use. Linear LNB - Linear signals travel from the satellite in a plane oriented either vertical (up-down), or horizontal (left-right). Linear LNBs are use for some Dish sats and Ku.

LNB - Low Noise Block converter. LNBF - LNB Feedhorn - Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) and many Ku (FSS) dishes use an LNBF, which integrates the antenna's feedhorn with the LNB. Small diplexers are often used to distribute the resulting IF signal (usually 950 to 1450MHz) "piggybacked" in the same cable TV wire that carries lower-frequency terrestrial television from an outdoor antenna. Another diplexer then separates the signals to the receiver of the TV set, and the IRD of the DBS set-top box.
L.O. Frequency - Local Oscillator Frequency (C-band = 5150, Ku Linear = 10750, Ku Circular = 11250) Looped – A card that has lost its ATR (Answer to Reset). LyngSat – Website that maintains detailed satellite programming and other information. See Addendum.
MCPC - Multi Channel Per Carrier. MHz - Abbreviation for Megahertz. MPEG II - Moving Picture Experts Group II, A system for compression of digital data. MUX - A group of channels on same frequency.
NAG - An on screen error message.
Nagravision – Encryption method used for satellite broadcast transmission. NAGRA 1&2 - Nagravision encryption (Dish Network & ExpressVu systems). NID - The Network Identifier, identifies a certain Network Provider. This enables the receiver to search for just those channels originating from this network provider. The NID is usually unique for each provider, which enables this receiver function to work. Occasional feeds, and channels intended only as feeds for broadcasters, often do not adhere to this rule and are broadcast instead with the default NID value in their equipment. Both NIDs and TIDs are used in the EPG scheme to get the programming for the channels.
NTSC - National Television Standards Committee. TV standard used in North America, Japan, and most of Latin America.
Open - In The Clear or Free To Air. Open Access - System in which access to a provider's entire network is accomplished by entering the public and parity keys. Used by the popular Fortec and Pansat receivers, as well as DVB-S cards.
OSD – Onscreen display.

[Dafe1er™]

P, Q

PAL - Phase Alternating Line. TV standard used in most parts of the world, including Asia, Europe, and Australia. P-Band - 200-1000 MHz satellite band used for amateur DXing and weather satellite use. 200 MHz is the lowest satellite frequency possible because frequencies lower than that bounce off the ionosphere. PID – Packet or Package Identifier. All digital data sent from satellite are sent as data packets. PIP/PIG – Picture-in-picture or Picture-in-graphic.
PCR - Packet Clock Rate. Pizza Dish - Generic name for the small dish. Polarization - The physical orientation of the waveform from the satellite. R/L are right and left 'circular' rotation similar to a corkscrew. H/V are horizontal/vertical similar to a fishing line cast either overhand or sidearm. P4 & P5 - Video Guard encryption (Direct TV, Sky Mexico systems).

R, S, T, U
Rain Fade - When rain or snow affect the satellite signal. Also called attenuation. RF - Radio Frequency.
S-Band - 2310-2690 MHz frequency. The 2310-2360 MHz portion is used for XM and Sirius Radio. The higher portion (2500-2690 MHz) is allocated for DBS television service; but due to the small size of the spectrum, it has not been used. SCPC - Single Channel Per Carrier. Scrambled - Analog video has been manipulated so that it is not intelligible. SECAM - Another TV standard used primarily in France and Russia.
SID – Station identifier

Skew - Rotation (Clockwise / Anti-Clockwise) of the LNB or LNBF. Smart Card - A credit-card sized card with a microchip containing decryption information. A smart card is read by a CAM. Software Fix - A software upgrade that gets around a NAG or ECM.
Spotbeam - Satellite signal that is location specific and not viewable in all areas.
STB - Set Top Box. Stream - The information sent to the receiver or card from the satellite. Also called data stream.
Symbol Rate (SR) - Size of the digital package transmission.
TID - Transport Identifier, identifies a certain transponder (unique for each transponder per network). This enables the receiver to search for only those channels on this particular transponder. Both NIDs and TIDs are used in the EPG scheme to get the programming for the channels.
TP – Transponder. TSOP - Thin Small Outline Package (The memory chip within the receiver, which contains the software to run it. UHF - Ultra High Frequency.

V, W, X, Y, Z

V-Band - Frequency 47.2-275 GHz. V-band is actually a generic term for the several FSS bands that exist in that huge portion of the spectrum. VC - Virtual Channel. VC II+ - VideoCipher II + decoder.
VPID – See PID.
Wild Feed - Show that is not yet scheduled to air. (Meant for station affiliates only.) Note: Never call trouble number on the screen it's for TV stations only! (If they know you can see it, they may move it!) Also, you will probably see "dead Air." (black screen) This is where the TV stations insert their local commercials. X-Band - 7250-7750 MHz (down link) and 7900-8400 (up link) frequency. Used for military purposes.