I think my beverage, a traveling wave antenna, would be rather poor for
satellite use.

"warren" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 09:20:59 -0700, jopl wrote:

.
A Traveling-wave antenna is used for satellite up-link communication.
The signal is a microwave frequency up into the (multi) GHz region of
radio waves. The transmitting tube is a traveling-wave tube, which is
powered by a special pulsed amplifier.

A familiar use for this set-up is to relay telephone signals (from U S
Sprint, etc.) up to the satellite and then down load to another ground
station where the signal is converted back into a telephone signal and
sent (over land line) to the person you called. This eliminates the
use of land-lines most of the way for your long-distance telephone
calls.

There are also many military uses for this type of technology.

By the way, the signals are fed from the amplifier through Wave-guides
(a hollow rectangular cross-section sections that are held together by
flanges), rather than by wires. It would be similar to a squared-off
hose section, connected to other hose sections, if this makes the
concept easier to understand.

Waveguides have much less loss than wire or cable and because of the
ultra-high frequencies involved, are much more efficient.

Hopes this gives you some idea of this type of communication.

Regards

warren