I was at the dump yesterday to get rid of some TVs i had blown up. As usual, i looked around to see if i could find something cool to take with me. Then i noticed a 1,5 meters tall 19" rack full of cable TV broadcast equipment. The rack was too big to get in the car, so i just took the equipment itself. 8 digital sattelite receivers, 7 VHF modulators and 3 ch converters and all the cables. Of course, i thought it had to be broken; we had some bad thunder storms last week. I brought it home and plugged it in, and all the power LEDs came on. So i connected one of the modulators to a Philips K40 TV and used a Nintendo 64 game console as signal source. I turned it on and pressed the tuning button on the TV, and surprisingly, after a few seconds, i had a crystal clear picture and sound. I don´t know if they are stereo, but if so they are NICAM, because the double-FM system on the Philips did not go into stereo mode. I tested the other modulators too, and all of them works. I have not been able to test the sat receivers because i have no "smart card" and the control unit is missing, but i have no reason to belive they does not work. The LEDs comes on and i hear a "pop" in the TV speakers and get a little flicker on the screen when i plug them in, but the screen stays black. I am not able to test the CH converters either, because i can´t figure out exactly how they works. They are aparrently custom made by a small norwegian company, and manuals may not even exist. I guess this is a once in a lifetime find.

Ain't "pack-ratting" around in dumps fun? No tellin' WHAT kinds of treasures you can find...Back in the day, I'd take my trusty .22, a couple boxes of Stingers, & have an Extremely Large Time making life rough for rats, bottles, etc...

You should be able to find at least some clear (free, not encrypted) signals in your area that those receivers will pick up without a card. It may not be something you'll actually want to watch, but at least you can test your receivers. Some receivers can be programmed without their remotes. If they are a common type a cheap universal remote should drive it.

There are various sites full of satellite info that should tell you what free channels can be received in your area. There's probably actually more channels available to you than there is here (where pretty much all the good stuff is encrypted or on C-band).

The rack probably came out of a hotel and was used to distribute satellite TV to the various rooms. I once found a similar setup here, but it was using MDS receivers which are now totally useless. The modulators and distribution amps were definitely worth having though. The system I found had provisions for some kind of in house guide channel, but unfortunately someone else beat me to whatever was generating this channel.

You should be able to find at least some clear (free, not encrypted) signals in your area that those receivers will pick up without a card. It may not be something you'll actually want to watch, but at least you can test your receivers. Some receivers can be programmed without their remotes. If they are a common type a cheap universal remote should drive it.


They uses a wired remote control with a 15 pin plug, the same type as used on computer monitors, so i am not able to do anything. I don´t have the antenna disc or LNBs either.

How big are those VHF modulators, and could you plug a DVD player into one of them? I might be interested in purchasing one if you're willing to part with one and if they're quality goods so that way I can know I'm going to have an RF modulator for my TV long after the old 3/4 RF modulators are gone off store shelves.

They are small "modules", about 2 inches wide. They plugs into a custom made rack unit with power supply (12volt DC, i think). The signal inputs is on the rack. They have used 9-pin connectors, the same as a computer serial port. The output are on the modulator itself, the same type of antenna connector used on satellite receivers. I don´t know if it is possible to use component video or stereo sound on them bacause I can´t get any kind of support for them. I don´t know where you live, but theese modulators are PAL, which may be a problem if you live in a NTSC country. But i may be interested in selling or trading one or two of them, but i have to keep the rack, so you will have to replace the plug-in connector with wires.

D'OH!

Yes, now I see Norway is your location. It might be a problem that they're 625 line modulators and use an 8MHz channel too, aye?

I was imagining them to be the typical looking rackmount gear with standard inputs/outputs on the back and a knob on the front to select which channel to modulate!

Well, thanks anyway.