Installation

13. What is polarization and what are the cross-pol and co-pol limits?

StarBand's high-speed Internet access service operates bi-directional wireless signals. These signals can have one of two "polarization" orientations, horizontal or vertical. Satellites and antennas with horizontal and vertical polarization schemes are known as "linear polarization" systems. Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service operates in a "circular" polarization scheme.

The horizontal and vertical signals can interfere with each other if the antenna is not properly aligned. The desirable signal is called co-polarization, or co-pol. The interfering signal is called cross-polarization, or cross-pol.

When the antenna is aligned, the goal is to achieve minimum cross-pol and maximize the co-pol. A perfect cross-pol reading is zero and the desired co-pol reading is 23+db.