Living in London

Archives for: April 2005, 13

Wednesday April 13, 2005

08:56 pm, Categories: General, 109 words

How Far North?

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We have previously posted on the fact that London is 950 miles farther north than San Francisco. The distance was driven home recently when I noticed that the satellite dishes on people's houses were darn near horizontal.

As I understand it, the satellite TV providers position their satellites in orbit over the equator. In order to pick up the signals, people in the northern hemisphere point their dishes southward towards the satellites over the equator. The closer to the equator, the sharper the angle of the dish. The farther north, the lower the angle. We are so far north in the UK that the dishes appear horizontal.