The Rise and Fall of the C-Band
By Chip Morgan
[May 2026] Congress has ordered the FCC to auction off at least 100 MHz of C-Band spectrum. There may or may not be a sliver of C-Band left for broadcasters to use but a lot of current C-Band traffic is starting to migrate – or thinking of it – to other modes of delivery. Do you recognize the following contrasts in time?
THEN
I was already an 11-year radio guy in the early 80s when I took a job at the number one FM station in a top 25 market as their new CE. This was the in the early days of syndicated satellite programming.
The FM had changed from freeform to what was then CHR. The 5 kW AM was all-News with union staff. New station owners wanted to break the union, so after several days there, I learned my first responsibility was to coordinate installation of a C-Band dish with LNA to receive Satellite Music Network. This would be the new AM format after the entire staff was dismissed. A computer would be inserting spots and local imaging around the SMN music format.
Aiming the dish was the easiest part – point it in the general direction of the bird and then adjust for maximum signal level on the receiver. The LNA output was so weak we used ½-inch 75-Ohm coax between the dish and the receiver, which with its power supply took up about a third of a rack.
Fast forward to now
NOW
Today, aiming the dish is the hardest part of using the C-Band for broadcasting. With 2-degree spacing and a sky full of satellites that are low on the horizon in many areas, it is no longer point and shoot.
Older smaller dishes cannot handle the precision and gain required now. Network analyzers or special test receivers are generally needed with a lot of patience and time. Maintaining Fresnel zone clearance over trees and hills has become a major issue – and do not forget to use a C-Band filter to minimize interference from 5G cell systems.
What used to be a usable signal level is no longer sufficient to even commission a receiver. Be sure to have Internet backup for Sun Fade days and when snow on the dish tilts it slightly out of alignment. The aiming is so tight that a bird on the dish might be enough to deflect the aiming (well, not really, but it does seem that way).
Many C-Band dishes are 30 or 40 years old so they are lots of fun to adjust even if they have adjustable azimuth and elevation controls. New C-Band dishes are very expensive and fairly difficult to build and install.
THOSE THAT ARE DOING
So hats off to engineers maintaining these C-Band systems, and especially to local satellite service companies that continue to support C-Band!
On the other hand, it is only a question of time before these systems fade into obscurity.
A current client with many transmitter sites spent a lot of time and money trying to make a dish work at their studios when the program supplier changed satellites. After learning the cost of relocating the dish or even sharing another station’s dish, the decision was made to run Internet only until the next phase of program distribution comes along.
And guess what? It works fine.
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As head of Radio Operations International and ABIP Inspector for New England, Chip Morgen tackles everything from station construction to NRSC measurements. You can contact him at: Chip@roivt.com
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