Author Archives: Gregory Murphy

Satellite frequency coordination isn’t a paper-pushing exercise. It’s the hard prerequisite that decides whether your bird can legally transmit, whether it will step on its neighbors, and whether the whole business case holds together. I’ve spent more than twenty years wrestling with spectrum filings and interference disputes across GSO, MEO, and LEO systems, and the… Read More: Satellite Frequency Coordination: A Field Guide for Engineers »

When I started messing about with satellite links in the early 2000s, transponder bandwidth was tight and painfully expensive. Every megahertz mattered, and wringing an extra couple of decibels out of a link budget felt like a proper win. The business case hasn’t softened much: leasing a full 36 MHz transponder can still cost six… Read More: How to Optimise Satellite Transponder Capacity »

Satellite transponders burn through budgets fast. When you're leasing space segment or cramming extra services onto your own payload, every megahertz hits the bottom line. Over the years I've fine-tuned more link budgets than I care to count and argued with operators about margin, and here's the uncomfortable truth: most transponders leave 10 to 15… Read More: How to Optimize Satellite Transponder Capacity »

Most engineers working in satellite communications treat phase noise as a datasheet line item. You check the dBc/Hz number at 10 kHz offset, see if it meets a requirement, and move on. After years of designing, testing, and troubleshooting SATCOM links—from L-band terminals in the dirt to Ka-band gateways baking on a rooftop—I’ve learned that… Read More: Why Phase Noise Matters More Than You Think in SATCOM »

Mounting a satellite dish looks simple on paper. In practice, the difference between a rock-solid signal and a pixelated mess comes down to three things: precise alignment, a stable mount, and cable routing that doesn’t let water or interference ruin your day. I’ve installed and serviced hundreds of dishes through Scandinavian winters and Mediterranean summers,… Read More: The Best Practices for Satellite Dish Installation »

Installing a satellite dish asks for precision, a solid grasp of the signals you’re chasing, and a healthy respect for the physical forces that will push and pull on your hardware for years. I’ve spent decades in RF engineering and homebrew electronics, and I’ve seen setups that stand firm through howling gales while others fold… Read More: The Best Practices for Satellite Dish Installation: A Technical Guide »

Getting the Fundamentals Right Satellite dish work isn’t complicated, but it punishes you for getting lazy in the first hour. I’ve lost count of callbacks where someone slapped a bracket on a crumbly wall or eyeballed the line-of-sight through a tree that was half bare in March. Henrik Lindqvist here. If you want a signal… Read More: Getting a Satellite Dish to Stay Locked: No-Nonsense Field Notes »

I’ve been installing satellite dishes for over 15 years, and I’ve seen the same mistakes repeated by DIY enthusiasts and even some so-called professionals. This guide isn’t about theory—it’s about what works in the real world, on windy rooftops and in cramped back gardens. If you follow these practices, you’ll get a rock-solid signal and… Read More: The Best Practices for Satellite Dish Installation: A No-Nonsense Guide »