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#1
11-06-2009, 04:55 PM
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Youtube find demonstrating analog satellite tv in the 80s
All credit goes to the producers and the uploader. BTW he has a bunch of other very interesting clips as well.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1muUQtTZC0 
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#3
11-07-2009, 01:12 AM
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Somewhere around here I have a copy of the Cassius Clay/Sonny Liston fight in Miami on Feb. 25, 1964. It is a copy of the fight as received at the Goonhilly Downs receiver in Wales, England. I am not sure how my copy started it's life. 525 was sent to Goonhilly and downconverted there for the Brits. I have no idea where my copy started it's life but is 525.
It starts before the actual broadcast with a slide of the Goonhilly Downs horn...about the size of a house. Then it moves to a 1 minute countdown clock for the local viewing theatres to time their start of the program in their theatre. The program starts with the American announcers setting the scene with all the noise in the background. A few minutes in to the program, the signal slowly fades to snow and when it recovers, the audio is only the crowd noise. This looks like a transponder change. This makes sense as the Brits would add their own announcers for the main event. I am mystifed at this part. Geosyncronous Syncom 2 was in orbit but had low quality video and no audio. Geosyncronous RCA Relay 2 was in orbit and had two transponders but NASA describes one of the transponders as being for PCM telemetry. I'm not sure how it got there but it did!
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“Once you eliminate the impossible...whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes.
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#4
11-08-2009, 03:07 PM
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We had a satellite dish by that time. It wasn't as simple as this guy's setup: you powered up a cipher box, tuned in the dish with your rotor control (an LED readout told you what position the dish was at) and then tuned into the station on that particular satellite with a 3rd unit. Fine tuning controls would help get rid of static. You could spend five minutes dialing in your favorite station.
As Dude111 pointed out, the picture was much better, with no pixelation, and we never had any dropouts. We did have freezing rain and ice jam up our dish rotor for a day, though. When we got Directv, we were very disappointed at the poor picture, which looked flat and pixelated. We also weren't too pleased at the loss of picture during even mild weather.
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#5
11-08-2009, 08:11 PM
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Nothing beat big-dish C-Band or Ku-Band analog transmissions quality wise. I had two big-dish systems at my home from 1989 until I moved a couple of years ago. (the dishes are still there, I still have the property but it's rented out). I recorded a lot of excellent good-quality network feeds and saw a lot of interesting stuff.
I enjoyed manually dialing in each satellite and peaking the dish and receiver for best reception. I always did this before recording some important program. Today's small-dish digital pictures look pasty and flat compared to the old systems. Not to metion the pixelation problem that was mentioned earlier. I may bring one of the old dishes and set it up here where I live now. I miss those old systems. Gilbert
__________________
I don't know anything about ignorance and I could care less about apathy. www.galaxymoonbeamnightsite.com
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#6
11-08-2009, 11:13 PM
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Hi guys..... Not to sound totally assinine but what analog satprograms are still 'out there'? If I set up a C or Ku satellite and receiverbox what would I get? Very interested in trying this if possible.
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#7
11-09-2009, 08:18 AM
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"Had"? I still use a C-band system and dish daily. Same Winegard Pinnacle 10' dish I put up in 1987. Nowadays though there is almost nothing free or analog. PBS still has a clear analog feed on W4-16, and C-Span has two analog feeds. Everything else I receive now is digital and requires a Motorola 4DTV receiver, and I subscribe through National Programming Service "NPS" one of the only C-band providers left. My days are numbered though, I don't have the digital "side car" unit to get what HD programming there is available and eventually there will be so few C-band subscribers there won't be enough business incentive left to keep it going. Also the cost difference for programming has narrowed since they now insist on bundled programming. In the old days (after General Instrument finally secured the Videocipher from the pirates) programming was mostly ala carte and a hell of a lot cheaper than cable.
Last edited by Ed in Tx; 11-09-2009 at 07:14 PM.
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#8
12-21-2009, 10:45 PM
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I've asked this before, but, is there any market for old receivers and equipment? Getting down to the nitty-gritty in closing out the TV shop; they did a lot of big-dish installs back in the day. Lots of used gear, probably some new stuff, seems ashame to just toss it.
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Bryan
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#9
12-22-2009, 05:35 PM
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Quote:
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#10
12-22-2009, 10:06 PM
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Thanks for the information-I don't know much about that type of gear yet; I'll try ebay with some of the parts. I've seen some feedhorns but I don't know what they are, new/used, what type of dish, etc.
I have a Drake receiver here that is factory reconditioned, in the wrapper. I've tried selling it in several venues but never any bites. Next time I dig it out I'll let you know...it can probably be yours for cost of shipping.
__________________
Bryan
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#11
12-23-2009, 05:23 PM
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Quote:
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(Almost no drop outs)
Hybrid Mode
