I was asked by a Chinese developer to work out a TV channel distribution system for a major project in Northland. The idea is simple, to put different channels together to meet a combination of residence demands. Some channels are only available by huge c band dishes so a centralized signal distribution system is a must, rather than multiple big dishes here and there.

This is the basic idea, to transfer digital satellite signal back to analog signal, then modulate them so we can use the full bandwidth to carry them to multiple points. This is a mini cable TV network.

I keep Sky signal separated because it’s subscription based. Each unit tenant can subscribe to Sky as independent residential subscriber. Sky is going to offer free dish installation and new cabling anyway. We do not have to spend money to transfer Optus D1 digital signal. Sky is going to take care of it. From the technical perspective, it’s much harder to transfer digital satellite signal far without quality lost within cable network.

In terms of c band dishes and channels possibly received, there are choices. For a 2.1m dish, it’s ok to receive all channels from 115.5′ Chinasat 6B. For 3m dishes, we have 105.5′ Asiasat 3s ( Asiasat 7), 125′ Chinasat 6A, 138′ Telstar 18 and 134′ Apstar 6. There are quite a lot channels to choose from, we are probably able to add up to 100 channels, but considering the transmission capability, we will keep it under 30 selected channels.