K_u Band - Disadvantages

Disadvantages

There are, however, some disadvantages of K_u band system. Especially at frequencies higher than 10 GHz in heavy rain fall areas, a noticeable degradation occurs, due to the problems caused by and proportional to the amount of rainfall (commonly known as "rain fade"). This problem can be mitigated, however, by deploying an appropriate link budget strategy when designing the satellite network, and allocating a higher power consumption to compensate rain fade loss. The K_u band is not only used for television transmission, which some sources imply, but also very much for digital data transmission via satellites, and for voice/audio transmissions.

The higher frequency spectrum of the K_u band is particularly susceptible to signal degradation, considerably more so than C-band satellite frequency spectrum. A similar phenomenon, called "snow fade" (where snow or ice accumulation significantly alters the focal point of a dish) can also occur during winter precipitation. Also, the K_u band satellites typically require considerably more power to transmit than the C-band satellites. Under both "rain fade" and "snow fade" conditions, K_a and K_u band losses can be marginally reduced using super-hydrophobic Lotus effect coatings.