Pointing errors in SATCOM primarily affect the link performance by?

• A. Faster handovers.
• B. Degraded SNR and reduced link margin.
• C. Increases on-target gain
• D. Lower modulation efficiency

Answer: (B)

Pointing errors misalign the antennas with the satellite, causing the effective antenna gain to drop. For SATCOM, received power depends on the gains of both ends; with high-gain dishes, even a small angular offset can significantly reduce the gain in the boresight direction. That loss in received power lowers the signal-to-noise ratio and eats into the link margin, which are the main factors determining link performance. So the primary impact of pointing errors is degraded SNR and reduced link margin.

Other choices aren’t the main effect: faster handovers relate to network control, not pointing accuracy; increasing on-target gain would require better alignment, not misalignment; lower modulation efficiency can occur if SNR drops enough, but the foundational issue is the reduction in SNR and margin caused by reduced antenna gain.