The Reason for Multiple “Receivers” on One Satellite Dish

I’ve incorrectly assumed for some time that the reasoning for the multiple “modules” attached to satellite dishes was for multiple receivers inside the home. WRONG!!

Today my roommate and I were on the roof of our house doing some site surveying for another experiment/discovery coming soon, so I walked over to the satellites left behind by a previous tenet to take a closer look since we’ll be using them in said experiment. Underneath of each of the modules I noticed one was marked with “110°” and the other with “119°.” This obviously threw my mind for a loop as I immediately realized there was more to it than multiple receivers.

By the way, before I go on, I know I’m interchanging device names and probably using them incorrectly: Bear with me.

A look around the Dish Network Wikipedia article set me straight and I’ll attempt to break it down in a quick-and-easy format. Dish Networks “owns” geostationary orbital slots 110°W and 119°W longitude and broadcasts their satellite signals from those locations using their EchoStar and EchoStar X satellites. The 110 and 119 locations make up the majority of Dish Network’s core programming and local stations. There are half a dozen other locations carrying other content from which Dish Network broadcasts which explains satellites that are facing different directions. Since 110 and 119 are directly next to each other (as far as geostationary orbit goes) Dish Network can put these two LNB’s (the “modules” I was referring to earlier) next to each other at slightly different focal points on the dish to receive both signals.

Boy, was I wrong.