Satellite truck

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Two satellite trucks, large and small, the larger with a Ku and C-band antenna near Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA] photo by Michael Meinhardt

A satellite truck is a mobile satellite Earth station typically mounted on a truck chassis as a platform allowing satellite transmission from any location that the vehicle can reach provided a line of site (direct view) to the desired satellite is available.

Typically a satellite truck will have its own on board power source such as an electrical generator or inverter (electrical) to create the alternating current to power all the transmission systems which makes it a true independent mobile satellite transmission entity. Often such trucks also have various degrees of video production and editing gear. This gear allows these trucks to act as mobile news gathering facilities or can even be outfitted to do an entire television show with multiple switched cameras, graphics, and tape playback.

Some newer generation satellite trucks are also being used for crisis communications and command and control centers for law enforcement (homeland security) emergency managers and utilities companies.

The fact that these trucks do not reply upon terrestrial (land based) communication systems makes them ideal for information distribution and bandwidth creation in the aftermath of severe hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes when these land based systems are damaged or destroyed. In the wake of hurricane Katrina, when the communication ability of news outlets far exceeded that of many federal and state relief agencies, many governmental bodies have since migrated to a mobile satellite based communication platform.

[edit] C-Band Satellite Truck

In the United States, C-Band transportable uplinks (Satellite Truck) was initially used to transmit longer-format live television like sporting events and entertainment programming. C-band satellite transmission typically would require a larger antenna than the Ku Band trucks developed later in the 1980's; and a larger satellite antenna would historically have taken longer to set up and deploy.

Prior to dispatch of a C Band transportable uplink, a RF Interference study needs to be completed. An RFI is a computer-generated report detailing any FCC protected microwave stations in the 6GHz C-Band spectrum in the immediate area. This "frequency coordination" process has to be completed before an uplink transmission can commence. This is due to Terrestrial point-to-point signals sharing C-Band transmit frequencies (5.700-6.500GHz); full time terrestrial signals take priority over ad hoc (temporary) C-Band uplink transmissions.

At its first implementation, it was necessary to install land telephone lines (known in the business as hard lines) to differentiate between a wired phone line and mobile phone line, at the site where the transportable uplink was located. This was expensive and difficult to do at the time, since telephone companies were not used to setting up phone lines without notice of several days or even weeks. If a cell phone line was available at that time, it came at a very expensive cost and service was extremely poor in the early days of C-Band broadcasts.

C-Band transportable service remained a prevalent source of long haul transmission because of its immunity to rain fade that Ku Band experiences in significant rainstorms. Because of this, C-Band transportable service still costs more than similar Ku services.

With the advent of Ku-band trucks (that don't require frequency coordination) and long-haul fiber optics providing similar signal qualities, C-Band transportable service experienced a slowdown in service volume in the 1990's. It's still used in situations where rain-fades (a problem affecting only Ku-Band uplinks) are unacceptable and where fiber-optic links are not practical. C-Band uplinks are still commonly used for golf, auto racing, horseracing, and major college sports events in rural areas where local fiber interconnects to long-haul networks are either not available or where the low number of events at the venue per year made installation of fiber not cost effective. Even with diminished usage C-Band transportable services were still utilized as an alternate to fiber optics as an 'alternate' transmission path that most broadcast networks utilize to protect their remote broadcasts that cost them millions in rightholder feeds from remote transmission failure.

In the 2000 era, High Definition remote broadcasts caused a resurgance in C-Band transportable uplink service. The major factor in the resurgance was the limited amount of available bandwidth available in local and long haul fiber optics while uplink systems merely required installation of high definition encoders and decoders at either end.

[edit] Ku Band Satellite Truck

In North America, Ku Band satellite transmissions for television broadcasts actually started in Canada, until the Conus Communications of St. Paul, MN along with Hubcom in Florida built the first SNG or Satellite News Gathering truck in 1983. Along with the truck, and later used vans purchased from Telsat in Canada, Conus developed a comms, or communications, system which allowed satellite transmissions without the need to drop phone lines. ENG, or Electronic News Gathering was never the same, and it was now possible to go 'live' from anywhere the truck could drive, by raising the antenna, and seeing the satellite.

The development of the mobile phone, and it's decreasing cost of operation and hardware over the years means trucks didn't need a satellite "comms" system in most places in the continental United States. Satellite time was also easily book on an 'as needed' bases, typically around $500 per hour for the common Ku band TV transmission.

Over the years, Ku Band Satellite trucks have undergone changes, from large trucks with C Band dishes outfitted with landing pads and antenna wings to make them FCC compliant to more simple rapidly deployable Ku band type. The Ku band uplink vehicles are available in a series of small to large vehicles varying from a SUV, van, Sprinter, "bread truck (cutaway)", to the more common carryall (2 axle/6 tire truck). The typical Ku uplink vehicles, are as large as 13 feet 6 inches tall by 40 feet long, the largest (Non tractor trailer type) commercial units allowed on the roads of the continental United States.

Satellite Vehicles are either tv station or network owned and custom suited to their internal usage needs or are rental units owned by independent companies. Independently owned satellite uplink vehicles are often designed to be versatile to performing multiple uplink functions ranging from straight uplink/downlink services, network news, satellite media tours, or even being configured to being a full production vehicle.

Such large uplink trucks now have multiple camera television production capabilities all on board, as pioneered by SDTV (Satellite Digital Teleproductions) in the early 1990's. These combination, uplink with production, Transportable Earth Station (TES) are now the preferred vehicle for smaller (One to eight camera) on location live television broadcast instead of a separate uplink vehicle working alongside a larger 50 foot tractor trailer production only vehicle, although the latter is still a regular occurrence.

There are a few combination production/uplink combination vehicles where the uplink system is located on the semi tractor and the production facilities are in the semi trailer. These systems add the ability to physically separate the uplink from the production unit. Typical scenarios for this are when the production trailer has to park inside a building or if the uplink antenna has to be positioned farther away from the production trailer in order to make line-of-sight to the satellite arc. Phil Garvin co-owns 3 production/uplink semi systems with Fox Sports Net for use with Big Ten Network/Fox Regional Sports Nets, and 3 units with Marc Cuban for dedicated use for HD Net.

Larger Satellite vehicles are often television control rooms/Mobile Newsrooms/Workspaces on wheels, operated and maintained by engineers known as satellite truck operators. Both operators, of units large and small, are known to have a vagabond lifestyle, spending large parts of their lives on the road.

Now even a simple flyaway transportable units can be packed all into two suitcases, all small enough to be airline compliant. The smaller suitcase flyaway units are often used to supplement a build on location television control room or to provide satellite uplink facilities in locations where a truck cannot be easily transported.

A flyaway transmission system in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election recount.

[edit] Manufacturers

Some of the better known manufacturers list follows: Depending on the size and options satellite trucks can cost between $400,000 USD to well over a million dollars.

• Wolfcoach(L3)- Auburn, MA
• Frontline Communications - Clearwater, FL
• Shook Mobile Technologies - San Antonio, TX
• Bickford Communications - Chantilly, VA
• Gerling Associates - Sunbury, OH
• Television Engineering Corporation - St Louis, MO

[edit] Service Providers

This is a partial list of better known Satellite Truck service providers in the USA and Canada. The day rate for these trucks range from $1,700 to $2,800 USD for a ten hour day. Satellite time for video transmission can be purchased from $200 to $600 USD per hour.

• Calhoun Satellite Communications - Hollywood, FL (Miami area)
• Carolina Uplink - Raleigh, NC
• CentralSat - Cincinnati, OH
• Costal Satellite - Agoura Hills, CA
• Crawford Communications - Atlanta, GA
• First Call Uplinks - Boardman, OH
• Flight 9 - Nanuet, NY
• Interface Communications - Flushing, NY
• LiveOnSite - Washington, DC
• Locked Stream - Los Angeles, CA
• Locked-On Communications - Washington, DC
• Meinhardt Satellite Uplink - Chicago, IL
• Metrovision - New York City, NY
• North American TV - Salt Lake City, UT
• NES Communications (New England Satellite) - Shrewsbury, MA
• Pacsat International - Sacramento, CA
• PSSI Global Services Los Angeles, CA/Las Vegas, NV
• Peak Uplink - Newcastle, CO
• Relay House - Montrose, Minnesota (Minneapolis area)
• RF Linkup - Ft Mill, SC (Charlotte NC area)
• Red Dirt Communications - Stillwater, OK
• Sabil Uplink - Louisville, KY
• Satellite Communications Systems, Wacounda, IL
• Satellite Technology Systems, Crystal Lake, IL
• Satlink/Hailstone - Little Rock, AR
• Skywire Communications - Richmond, VA
• SDTV Satellite Digital Teleproductions, CA NV AZ
• Sure Shot Transmissions - Youngstown, OH
• TV2GO - Toronto, ON Canada
• Talking Rock Communications - Jasper, GA (Atlanta area)
• Videolink - Boston, MA

[edit] Satellite Truck Operation

Full times Satellite Truck operators can earn from $35,000 USD to over $100,000 per year depending on the number of hours worked and the area in the US typically served. The National Association of Broadcasters offers a course on the operation of satellite trucks but most operators have learned their trade from an industry mentor or a combination of both formal and informal training.

NAB Training Course [1]

While helpful formal training in electronics is not required to be a satellite truck operator in fact many camera persons have made the transition from photography to transmission. What is required is a clear understanding of the operation of each device on the truck and at what point in the transmission flow it is used. Most modern day electronic equipment is too complicated to repair especially in the field. A truck operator however is expected to be able to quickly identify a defective device and either replace it or engineer a way around it. It is for this reason a strong transmission flow understanding is essential.

By the very nature of the work a truck operator is expected to travel and in most cases is required to obtain a commercial driver license. Driving to and from event locations is a big part of the job. Having a back ground in auto mechanics is also a plus especially when you consider the truck's main power source is a diesel generator.