Thread: Definition of CONUS

In another thread (now closed) the term Conus was used in a way I had never heard - so I looked it up and found this:

CONUS/OCONUS

CONUS, a technical term used by the U.S. Department of Defense and General Services Administration, has been defined both as the continental United States, and as the 48 contiguous states.[15][16] The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part of CONUS.[16] OCONUS is the same term with addition of O for outside, thus Outside of Contiguous United States (OCONUS).[15]

found here:
Contiguous United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was/is my understanding, just wondering if anyone here understood it to be something different.
Bob

This is the way I've always understood CON=continental or contiguous states+US=U.S. Also understand CONUS satellite as one located between ~67 and ~125 west. IE: Located between east and west shores of the continent. Satellites outside of these constraints can have CONUS coverage though. How was it used in the other thread?

We are in agreement-
Here is the post:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/248248-w...ml#post2510736
Look at the first sentence under the pictures.
Bob

Note the pictures disappeared!

CONUS to me has always meant Continental US but with AK & HI added

I got lost in the thread referenced by Wescopc, but I found my way to the most important post there, Ice's.

Regarding CONUS, there is reference made in many of the satellite footprints available at Lyngsat and such, to a CONUS beam, but that to me indicates that the beam is simply aimed from that specific satellite towards the CONUS as defined by FatAir above. There is nothing spectacular RF wise about such a beam. RF formulae still apply as does general physics. I think if I point my dish to the ground, using someone else's logic I can see signals traveling through wormholes.......

I am just glad that other thread didn't get into the optical properties of RF too much deeper than general talk about waveguides.

Originally Posted by Iceberg

CONUS to me has always meant Continental US but with AK & HI added

When I was in the Air Force - - - they defined it as the lower 48 states plus DC excluding AK and HI. The term CONUS was used a lot in the Air Force and as others have noted Continental US.

If you were talking about all 50 States most folks would use USA or America.

My interpretation has always been that CONUS described a broad service footprint that served the majority of the CONtiguous (or CONtinental) US.

However, I consider the actual coverage area of a CONUS signal to be quite vague and undefined. It may or may not include Alaska, Hawaii, parts of Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean and it may not even serve all of the continental US fully. However, I believe what sets a CONUS signal apart from any other beam is that its service area is not restricted by any legal requirements nor is it purposely beamed to ONLY one specific region or locality.

In other words, your local channels on DN and DirecTV would be on SPOT BEAMS for your area only, but most movie and sports channels would be on a CONUS beam.

Al Jazeera on 97W would be a CONUS beam, but Cubavision on Hispasat 30W might not be able to legitimately call their service CONUS since they cannot reach all the states. They may just have to call it a "US" BEAM. Whether there are any set rules governing that, I don't know. But, I think that you understand how I perceive the CONUS signals as being rather loose and vague in this matter.

RADAR

Originally Posted by AcWxRadar

CONtiguous (or CONtinental) US.

This is how I have always used the term as well. It is often used this way in logistics to define the availability of package delivery.

Are different antenna types used to emit Conus signal from a sat compare to Spot Beam? What's the difference in transmitter design or setup?