This was one of the opinions given at a discussion on a lecture by Mr W J. Bray of the Post Office Engineering Department before the electronics and communications section of the Institute of Electrical Engineers last week.
So 63 years ago, started a story in Electronics Weekly’s issue of December 7, 1960.
The story continues:
The apparent imminence of such a scheme in the US drew out the additional comment that the UK cannot afford NOT to be in the communications satellite field.
Mr Bray was sure that the present upward trend in telephone calls was going to force the issue in a very short time.
The disadvantages of submarine cable are mainly in the limited bandwidth available; HF Radio circuits for long distance, working, can provide no expansion of facilities, and wrer, therefore no solution to the problem.
Apart from the more obvious, high channel capacity of satellites, Mr Bray saw multistation operation, which would contribute to the cost of launching and maintenance.
Elliptical. orbits gave, in general, a larger payload for a given height. High orbits of about 23,000 miles give a transmission delay of up to 0.3 seconds. Against this, such an orbit provides a wide coverage d the vehicle is less subject to drag.
Three satellites in circular stationary orbit at a height of 23,000 miles could give almost complete coverage except for the poles.
Referring to modulation, Mr Bray said that wideband efforts give less power but good bandwidth while narrowband techniques offer more power with less bandwidth.
Asymmetrical single-sideband modulation is an example of a narrowband method, which could well be used for TV.
In his closing considerations, Mr Bright speculated, that perhaps direct broadcasting to receivers in the home, might be possible with a circular, equatorial, stationary satellites.
