The Ku Band is becoming very popular now a days. This band of frequencies are being used for Satellite Communications especially for broadcasting Satellite Television.
The Ku band frequency range spreads from 11.7 to 12.7GHz. (downlink frequencies) and 14 to 14.5GHz (uplink frequencies). The first commercial television network that used Ku band was NBC, back in 1983. The 12.2 to 12.7 GHz segment of the Ku Band spectrum is normally allocated to the broadcasting satellite service (BSS). These direct broadcast satellites typically carry 16 to 32 transponders. The receiving antennas for Ku band range from few inches typically 20 inches.
But there are difficulties in using Ku band. When frequencies higher than 10 GHz are transmitted and received used in a heavy rain fall area, a noticeable degradation occurs, due to the problems caused by and proportional to the amount of rain fall (commonly known as known as "rain fade"). This problem can be combatted, however, by deploying an appropriate link budget strategy when designing the satellite network, and allocating a higher power consumption to overcome rain fade loss.
Services that can be found on the Ku-band include educational networks, business networks, sports backhauls, tele- conferences, mobile news truck feeds, international programming, and various SCPC (Single Channel Per Carrier) transmissions of analog audio, as well as FM audio services.