Large satellite dish still usable??
David Fraleigh
antennas I often see the old fashioned obviously unused 10 foot
diameter dish antennas around. (I can think of four of them within a
mile or so of my house.).. I am sure that the people would be happy
to let me have them,.. What I want to know is whether they can still
be used and whether it would allow me to get usable (and perhaps free)
TV signals.. I remember that ages ago I had a 6' diameter dish and
used it for a while before lightning ruined it... I remember also
that some of the more desirable signals were scrambled at the
time.... I can't remember much else about it though... Does anyone
still use those big antenna dishes and are there any signals nowadays
that are not scrambled???
Peter Huebner
says...
>
> Usually the foreign crap the ethnics want to watch.
>
What are we talking about here? Hollywood or Fox TV? Both foreign crap,
admittedly.
-P.
--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
George Grapman
dishes as they had been before they became popular.
The uplink is the raw feed sent from the game to studio which stays
with the game during commercials.
--
To reply via e-mail please delete 1 c from paccbell
Bill
a TV station or cable TV main office, you will notice that they have very
large dish antennas.
The free satellite stations are called "Free to Air" or "FTA". Here is a
list...
http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
Older large dish systems had "C band" feedhorn (little thing in center of
dish) and the receivers were C band. Most stations are now "KU" band and new
receivers are needed to receive the signals. New "Free to Air" receivers can
get both C and KU band.
Get new receivers, C/KU band feed horns (LNB's), and dishes here...
http://www.sadoun.com
George Grapman
> The larger the dish, the better reception you will get. If you ever drive by
> a TV station or cable TV main office, you will notice that they have very
> large dish antennas.
>
The bigger dishes a C band, the smaller are K band. They are not
compatible. Some of those big dishes that you see are for transmitting,
not receiving.
Bill
>
> The bigger dishes a C band, the smaller are K band. They are not
> compatible.
>
You can get a C/KU band LNB for a large dish. Here is one...
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/S/BSC621-2-C-KU-LNBF.htm
So a large dish can be C, KU, or both!
George Grapman
Ken Finney
"David Fraleigh" <david_f...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170670149.3...@k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
There are six major types of signals on the BUD (big ugly dish):
Analog unscrambled
Analog scrambled
Digicipher unscrambled
Digicipher scrambled
MPEG scrambled
MPEG unscrambled (aka MPEG FTA)
MOST systems out there only have analog tuners, there isn't much interesting
on analog anymore, at least for free. The Digicipher system never really
caught on, but most of what you can get on the LSDs (little silly dishes)
you can subscribe to on Digicipher, for probably about the same amount of
money. MPEG scrambled are generally not available to the general public.
Which leaves us with MPEG FTA. MPEG FTA requires a different receiver be
hooked to the BUD, but they can be had for less than $100. Here is a list
of what you can get for free in North America:
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed rod.sp...@gmail.com says...
>> Usually the foreign crap the ethnics want to watch.
> What are we talking about here? Hollywood or Fox TV?
Nope, stuff like Turkey and India etc.
> Both foreign crap, admittedly.
Rod Speed
> The larger the dish, the better reception you will get.
Its much more complicated than that with dishes.
> If you ever drive by a TV station or cable TV main office, you will notice that they have very
> large dish antennas.
Because they are using different frequencys.
> The free satellite stations are called "Free to Air" or "FTA". Here is a list...
> http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
> Older large dish systems had "C band" feedhorn (little thing in
> center of dish) and the receivers were C band. Most stations are now "KU" band and new receivers
> are needed to receive the signals. New "Free to Air" receivers can get both C and KU band.
And you dont need the very large dishes for KU band.
unsettled
> MOST systems out there only have analog tuners, there isn't much interesting
> on analog anymore, at least for free. The Digicipher system never really
> caught on, but most of what you can get on the LSDs (little silly dishes)
> you can subscribe to on Digicipher, for probably about the same amount of
> money. MPEG scrambled are generally not available to the general public.
> Which leaves us with MPEG FTA. MPEG FTA requires a different receiver be
> hooked to the BUD, but they can be had for less than $100. Here is a list
> of what you can get for free in North America:
>
> http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
All these dishes are parabolic. I have given some thought
to taking the LNB off one of my directway spare dishes
and putting it on a BUD to improve my during storms
reception. It needs to be a solid dish, not one of
those mesh ones.
I should get something like a 9db gain compared to
the little dish. I live far enough north that I have
a lot of atmosphere for the signal to come through.
Would I be better off using their $49 do-it-all LNB's
and save the mounting headaches?
John Gilmer
> http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
>
>
>
Sheldon
>
> Usually the foreign crap the ethnics want to watch.
What do you mean, foreign... have you ever thought about the
definition of "WWW"?
Ken Finney
"John Gilmer" <gil...@crosslink.net> wrote in message
news:45c7b1fa$0$10...@dingus.crosslink.net...
Hmmm... Works from me, and I have all sorts of "anti-java" stuff on my
computer that keeps a lot of site from working. Try this one:
Jeff
> Bill wrote:
>
>> "George Grapman" wrote in message
>>
>>> The bigger dishes a C band, the smaller are K band. They are not
>>> compatible.
>>>
>>
>> You can get a C/KU band LNB for a large dish. Here is one...
>> http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/S/BSC621-2-C-KU-LNBF.htm
>>
>> So a large dish can be C, KU, or both!
>>
>>
> You are correct. I should have phrased my reply to reflect that.
How accurate are the larger dishes? Dish gain is dependant on accuracy
of the surface (as a fraction of wavelength). As the KU band has 1/3 the
wavelength, would most C band dishes be good enough? It's much easier to
make a small dish accurate than a large one.
Jeff
>
Bill
>
> How accurate are the larger dishes? Dish gain is dependant on accuracy of
> the surface (as a fraction of wavelength). As the KU band has 1/3 the
> wavelength, would most C band dishes be good enough? It's much easier to
> make a small dish accurate than a large one.
>
So far as how accurate the dish itself is manufactured, I don't know. I have
always thought that the various size dishes would work fine for C or KU, but
C needs a larger dish, you can use a smaller dish for KU, and will get a
better signal with KU when using a larger dish.
I've not heard of a larger dish not working for KU, but have heard that you
will get better reception with a larger dish.
So far as accuracy of mounting the LNB/feedhorn on a dish, it is quite easy
on a small dish, but can be a pain on the large dishes which were used for C
band. Not a matter of just bolting these things on for the large dishes.
With a large dish, need to measure, adjust, etc. The feedhorn can be mounted
closer/further away from dish, or up, down, left, right a little. (Read and
follow directions.)
So far as pointing the dish and accuracy, you are aiming at an object 30,000
miles away in space (satellite). It is somewhat easy when just pointing at
one satellite like with DirecTV, etc. But quite difficult with any size dish
which is motorized and can tilt to receive from many different satellites.
The arc needs to be just right, then up/down just right, then left/right. It
helps a whole lot to have a signal meter with a beeper on it. Then you can
keep moving the dish back and forth, making small adjustments until you get
the strongest signals on all satellites in the arc.
Took me about a week and a lot of patience the first time I did this, but I
sure had a lot of fun getting it just right. (I like a challenge!)
Rod Speed
> Jeff wrote
>> How accurate are the larger dishes? Dish gain is dependant on
>> accuracy of the surface (as a fraction of wavelength). As the KU
>> band has 1/3 the wavelength, would most C band dishes be good
>> enough? It's much easier to make a small dish accurate than a large one.
> So far as how accurate the dish itself is manufactured, I don't know.
> I have always thought that the various size dishes would work fine
> for C or KU, but C needs a larger dish, you can use a smaller dish
> for KU, and will get a better signal with KU when using a larger dish.
Not necessarily, because the large dishes are normally
mesh and not as accurate as KU band dishes.
> I've not heard of a larger dish not working for KU,
No one said they dont work at all, but they dont have any advantage
over a properly sized KU band dish for the location its being used.
> but have heard that you will get better reception with a larger dish.
From someone who doesnt have a clue about the basics.
Rod Speed
Yes there are, but not likely to be of any interest to you.
jamestem...@gmail.com
Neon John
wrote:
>So if I have one of these old school dinasaur satellite dishes I can purchase a box and the
>receiver on the dish (the horn) I can get those channels for free no bills no fees right?
that's on C/Ku band anymore that is unencrypted.
Occasionally you can catch a raw network feed or an ENG feed from some
far off place but more and more of those are also encrypted.
You can buy a VideoCypher license but you have to do it for each
source. Most/all the consolidators are out of business.
Until last year when I tore it down and hauled it to the dump, I had a
fancy system. VideoCypher-enabled, steered the dish to the correct
bird for each "channel", etc.
I generally do not watch TV but I turned the system on before I
started the dismantlement. The above is what I found.
John
John DeArmond
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.tnduction.com
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
See website for email address
mac10...@gmail.com
wtjoh...@gmail.com
dba...@gmail.com
r...@ronwhiteart.com
Stumpy
> Is there a place to get old derelict ones? I want to use them for a sculpture??? I live in Akron Ohio. Thank you for any information!!!
>
theirs. They were very happy I volunteered to take them off of the roof.
Only expense was some caulk to fill the holes and asphalt emulsion to
seal over. 7/16" and 1/2" sockets were the only tools needed. I made a
6' tall "sunflower" and a mushroom is next. Have to buy some green paint.