+'s and O's
Another way to think of skew, and why its necessary on linear and not on circular...
Picture the circular satellites sending down a signal shaped like an 'O'. No matter how the 'O' is turned, it is always the same, so skew does not matter.
Now picture the linear satellites sending a signal shaped like a '+'. The satellite closest to south from your location will look like an upright '+' (horizontal and vertical polarities). As you go east or west from your vantage point of south, the '+' will tilt (due to the curvature of the earth) toward the direction from due south that satellite is in. Toward the far east and west, the '+' will look more like an 'x' from your vantage point
