Big-Ass Network

Welcome to the Triunfo Pass Earth Station in Malibu.  This is part of ComSat.  

I left this picture at full resolution - this thing is BIG.  If you will be watching the Beijing Olympics, all of the HD video feeds will be coming to the US through this dish, and getting distributed from this station.  Along with a metric shitload of other data. 

 

Although there are gears, the dish doesn't really rotate.  They are there only to correct for slight planetary wobbles.