BUD stands for Big Ugly Dish, a nickname for the massive, often mesh-metal satellite dishes that dominated rural yards before the advent of direct-broadcast micro-dishes. Typically measuring six to twelve feet across, they require a motorized mount to track different satellites across the geostationary arc. Hobbyists still use them to intercept unencrypted studio feeds and international broadcasts.
The new owners want us to tear down that old BUD in the backyard, but the motor still works perfectly.
Also heard as
- big ugly dish
Related terms
C-bander
An enthusiast or technician who operates large satellite dish systems to receive unencrypted television feeds.
Downlink
The transmission path from a satellite, cell tower, or network core to the end-user device.
Communications satellite
An orbital spacecraft equipped with transponders to receive, amplify, and redirect radio signals back to Earth.