Comment by klaff

Ah, this brings back memories of listening to long-distance phone calls using a C-band dish and a general coverage (aka shortwave) receiver. Voice channels were placed on single-sideband channels between roughly DC and 6 MHz, and that whole set of signals was transmitted to the particular satellite transponder just like a video signal would be. The dish receiver couldn't decode that but it had a subcarrier output intended for accessories (stereo decoders maybe?). By plumbing the subcarrier output to the antenna input of the shortwave radio you could dial around to individual voice channels. I could only hear one side of the calls, but it was still very enlightening. I heard a number of mundane conversations, one drug deal, and a woman cursing in ways I'd never heard before. This was pre-internet and I was an impressionable kid - maybe 13 or so. Fun times.