Ekran (Экран, Screen) was a Soviet-Russian type of geostationary
satellite, developed for a national system of
Direct-To-Home television. The first satellite of Ekran series was launched in 1976. Each satellite in the Ekran series was designed to provide one TV and 2
radio program
channels to
cable TV
systems throughout the USSR and to individual home
receivers in northern
Siberia. Ekran's downlink is in the
UHF range. Early Ekran satellites used orbital positions in the range from 48
degrees E to 95 degrees E, but recent Ekrans, including the current Ekran 20, have been stationed at 99 degrees E. These 3-axis stabilized satellites carry a single 24 MHz, 200 W transponder, feeding a 28 dB gain
antenna transmitting on right-hand circular
polarization to produce e.i.r.p.s in Siberia in the
range 50 to 55 dBW at 714 MHz. The corresponding feeder link uses left-hand circular polarization at 6200 MHz. Therefore, almost every householder could receive the TV signal at home from Ekran's
transponder using a simple
Yagi-Uda antenna.There were also various kinds of collective or individual
satellite receivers, such as Ekran KR-10, Ekran-KR-01 and Ekran. Latest version of receiver represents a simple individual TV
set-top box itself. A modified version of Ekran was called Ekran-M. Ekran satellites have been replaced by improved geostationary craft for
DBS, such as Gorizont, Gals, and Express.
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