Hi Colin. I was wondering how do our satellites pick up radio waves from so far away?

Question: Hi Colin. I was wondering how do our satellites pick up radio waves from so far away?
- Keywords:
  energy,
  radio,
  satellite,
  space
Asked by Supersteve to Colin on 13 Nov 2014.
- Colin Johnston answered on 13 Nov 2014:
  
  It’s just a matter of engineering. Space communications antennae have dishes which are as large as possible. Larger means more area to collect more signal. The captured signal is focused on a receiver with electronics to amplify the signal. These days too the signal is digital encoded which eliminate “noise” in the receiver itself and interference to the originally received signal.
  
  Similarly with radio telescopes we can pick up radio radio waves which have travelled 13 billion light years or so.

Question: Hi Colin. I was wondering how do our satellites pick up radio waves from so far away?