a curious question

[Clato]

hello all, hope your having a good weekend,just curious about something,
back in 70',,1980's many people owned the BIG 10-12 foot dish's in their back yards, & were able to do much what DTV & cable companies are doing today.(ie; intercepting/recieving/taking the signal directly from the sattellite's overhead,

curious IF

These same people can/or are still being able to do this "free"?

If a person owns say one of those old satellite dish of the 80's you know the 10-12 foot wide dish,

can they also pick up DTV signal or the orignal station,(like tcm,or tnt, ect) or would they have to buy a dish like most of us use?

[FTA Michael]

Most satellite TV signals are encrypted. If you've got to have pay-TV channels such as Turner Classic Movies or TNT, they aren't available without a subscription. Some of those encrypted channels are available for purchase with the right receiver and your big C-band dish. (Example here: http://www.skyvision.com/programming/index.html) And there are also over 300 free channels in the clear.

C-band list: http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistCBandUS.html
Ku-band list: http://www.ftalist.com/master.htm

[BubblePuppy]

hello all, hope your having a good weekend,just curious about something,
back in 70',,1980's many people owned the BIG 10-12 foot dish's in their back yards, & were able to do much what DTV & cable companies are doing today.(ie; intercepting/recieving/taking the signal directly from the sattellite's overhead,

curious IF

These same people can/or are still being able to do this "free"?

If a person owns say one of those old satellite dish of the 80's you know the 10-12 foot wide dish,

can they also pick up DTV signal or the orignal station,(like tcm,or tnt, ect) or would they have to buy a dish like most of us use?

Good question. I wondered that myself seeing all these big dishes around here.
Those of the big dish could also receive the between air feeds which caused a few on-air personalities a bit of embarrassment.

[Richard King]

Those of the big dish could also receive the between air feeds which caused a few on-air personalities a bit of embarrassment.That was half the fun of owning a big dish. You never knew what you were going to see. :lol: I suspect that things have changed greatly since I sold mine with my house in 1995. :(

[Clato]

Most satellite TV signals are encrypted. If you've got to have pay-TV channels such as Turner Classic Movies or TNT, they aren't available without a subscription.

Thank you FTA i never owned one as stated,so that means NOW,(just guessing) that even those with the big sattellite dish's are having to pay to watch them now,?
=====================
Richard, (back in ??70's 80's I believe it was free tv from all the world right? or did you have yours when ? started charging for certain sattellite signals.

have a good weekend,

jazzy

don't think it would be "practical or economical to own one nowa days.

[James Long]

I bought an 8ft dish back in the late 80's ... and then HBO and others decided they didn't want people to watch for free and began scrambling their feeds. By the time I bought a home where I could put the dish it didn't seem worth it to install it. Technology changed - My receiver needed a separate descrambler or replaced with an IRD, satellite spacing went from 4° to 2° and I was told that the mesh on my dish would need to be changed to pick up signals without interference, plus Ku was launched ... requiring another change to the dish (C/Ku feed horn).

I should have sold the thing when I had a chance (before the 2° mesh issue) but I was not offered a good price. It still sits in it's original boxes 20 years later ... in the basement of my current home. Perhaps some day when I want to deal with the mesh and pour a lot of concrete it will end up being put to use. For now I can get nearly everything I have time to watch off of subscription services or OTA broadcasts. If I did go FTA I'd likely just get a 1 meter dish. A lot easier to install!

[Clato]

hello james, wow thats sad,that you couldn't get even a 1/2 way decent price for it,
very interestign chat everyone,thank you for the information,

i ask questions to learn, the only way for me to learn is to ask questions.
jazzy

[Richard King]

My old dish was still in place and aparently still being used when I drove past the house last Feb. I started out with a 7.5' dish and, even though lots of dealers were installing those, I just wasn't happy with the picture and so upgraded to a 10' perferated dish (rather than a mesh). Perf is better for KU, 10' is better to distinguish between adjacent satellites. When I installed the first dish at the house (1989 or so) things had just started to be scrambled. I had an early IRD, a box with a tuner, dish controler and a built in descrambler that could be used to subscribe to scrambled channels. My first box was made by General Instruments. Being a dealer I was constantly swapping out boxes, arms and feeds. I eventually settled on Toshiba boxes and remained there until I sold the house. How sad: :lol: http://cgi.ebay.com/T673-Toshiba-TRX-2220-Satellite-Receiver-Video_W0QQitemZ190159406627QQihZ009QQcategoryZ3284 7QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem If I recall correctly this was an $800.00 retail box. This is what was in place when I sold the house. :(

[Clato]

hi Richard,i can't remember what my friends was made of i know it wasn't mask,( dish looked like cream colored pottery,solid, & had a motor to aim from one sat. another on a 2 inch slab,but i even wonder if anyone use's/buys them anymore,

and isn't a shame,(and some may may not consider it fair) that because you & others who bought your big dish,
the gov't or companies,(like hbo,showtime,ect) devise a way for private citizens to have to pay to watch their programing, when you were getting the signal just like the broadcasters were,through the air,you weren't stealing anything.
clato

[Richard King]

isn't a shame,(and some may may not consider it fair) that because you & others who bought your big dish, the gov't or companies,(like hbo,showtime,ect) devise a way for private citizens to have to pay to watch their programingI have no problem with that at all. I had the big dish because of the wider variety of programming available and the FAR better picture quality over cable. When I had the big dish I cancelled the cable bill and got all my programming from the dish and an off air antenna. All was well with the world.