A BUC is a block upconverter, which takes an input from an L band and and sends it to the Ka, Ku, or C satellite band. Simply put, these are used in the uplink of satellite signals. These are also sometimes called Transmission Blocks (TXBs).

Lower powered Ka band transmitters can send out as little as 2 watts of power, and the higher powered C band converters can send out 200 watts. These work by converting a band (also known as a block) of frequencies from a lower frequency to a higher frequency (from L-Band to the Ka, Ku, and C bands).

Some of the older models were used to convert IFs (intermediate frequencies) of about 70 MHz to the Ku band or C band.

More on L band

The L band uses a frequency range varying between 390MHz and 1.55GHz. This frequency is commonly used for communications between satellites and the ground equipment.

More on Ka band

The Ka band uses a frequency range varying from 27.5GHz and 31GHz for the uplink and 18.3 GHz to 20.2 GHz for the downlink. The dishes used for this type of frequency use are smaller than the dishes in use with the C band frequencies. The Ka band dishes also operate at a much lower power rate than what the C band satellites use. These higher frequencies used by Ka can be heavily affected by types of interference such as rainfall.

More on Ku band

The Ku band uses frequencies that vary between 11.7 GHz and 12.7GHz. Different types of applications for the Ku band include use with business networks, educational networks, FM audio, mobile feeds, and many others. A C band satellite may be retrofitted to be able to receive Ku band frequency signals.

More on C band

The frequencies of the C abnd differ depending on what part of the world you are in. Below is a list of the various bands:

Band Transmit Frequency (GHz) Receive Frequency (GHz)
Extended C Band                   5.850 – 6.425                                  3.625–4.200
Super Extended C Band         5.850 – 6.725                                  3.400–4.200
INSAT C Band                        6.725 – 7.025                                  4.500–4.800
Palapa C Band                       6.425 – 6.725                                  3.400–3.700
Russian C Band                     5.975 – 6.475                                  3.650–4.150
LMI C Band                            5.7250 – 6.025                                3.700–4.000

C band is usually associated with those big dish system you see. This is becuase the smaller receiving antennas just don’t work as well with C band.The 5.4 GHz band of operation is commonly used by WiFi and cordless phone systems, and because of this may cause interference with C band equipment.

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