Thread: Please help me Make a List of C/KU Receivers

Hello all I am currently working on a little Site that will give Info on all the C/KU Receivers Made.

I am looking for People to List the Companies/Receiver Model and any other Info you can give me on all the C/KU receivers out there.

Let me Know if the receiver was a Standalone or IRD

Oh also if it is say a Echosphere/Echostar let me know if it was made by HTS or GI.

Thanks.

Impressive!
First post from a 3+year member.
Are you looking for someone to rattle a list off the top of their heads, or a much more specific and comprehensive offering?

well using the "Wayback machine" here is a list of receiver names

Receiver List

and pics of the cross reference options

Thanks Iceburg

And for the reason I haven't posted before is I joined way back then, when I got my 4DTV but it Died so I had to get another one which I finally just did. Also I only had Dialup back then due to not being able to get DSL where I moved. I also had not did much with C/KU then since where I moved I could not get a Clear shot at most the Sats.

Now that I am where I can get the whole Sat Arc and have my new 4DTV I will be on here allot more.

As for the List I have a few friends who Ask me if I have heard of a cretin Sat Receiver so I decided to just make a Small site with all Known and info I could get on them.

Sorry for any perceived snark, it was unintended.
Nice list, Iceberg.
It goes to show just how many brands and models receivers were once out there, when you consider that Toshiba didn't have/need a cross-reference and hence, doesn't even appear.

The Star Trak 8 listed, was an model upgrade from the Star Trak 6. For your premium price paid you upgraded to: UHF Remote; extra A/V outputs; enhanced audio; and buttons on the front panel!
The buttons may not seem like a big deal, but, as sturdy a performer as the Star Trak 6 was, it was totally bereft of them, making you entirely dependent on the remote control.
Both models used a lock and key at the rear of the receiver(top right when the receiver is facing you) to toggle between "run" and "program" modes.

Uniden had a model 500 series that was sandwiched by the 4000 series and the seemingly end-of- the-line Ultra/Supra series. In fact, the ultra seems to be a next generation SQ530, and the Supra a rough equivalent to the SQ560. It also seems that they didn't continue the SQ590 at all. That one was as loaded as they could make it then.
The entry level SQ530 had a large production run with coil problems(namely overheating, then failing due to being glued to the circuit board).
The upgrade to the Q560, yielded a UHF Remote, extra A/V outs, and event timers to move the dish for you.
The "Full Boat" SQ590, added more A/V outputs, A/V and composite inputs, more event timers, digital freeze, PIP, and selectable 4/9 screen scan.

skyv1 thanks for the info I knew about allot of these receivers but had forgotten allot of the Models and that there where actually that many. I know there where more not on that list iceberg found.

This is little project is going to take a bit to do since now I am thinking of making the whole Project a sort of C/KU encyclopedia may write a user interface for it and make it a offline program.

Going to need allot of Research on this so I will keep everyone updates as I go along.

I have a question how was the quality of the old Echostar C/Ku band receivers back in the day were they considered very good? I seem to recall that Birdview,GI and Uniden receivers were some of the best back in the day.

Also not to stray too far off topic does anyone know if Satellite TV Week is still being published? I used to love reading it and thought it was better than Orbit magazine.

My first receiver was an Echostar 7000 that was made by Houston Tracker Systems. I used that receiver from 1988 until I bought my GI-920 around 1996 or so and never had any problems with it at all. I kept it all these years and back last summer I acquired a 7.5ft SAMI mesh dish and tried to use the Echostar on that one but the counter for the reed switch was horked up so now it's sitting out in the garage doing nothing.

Originally Posted by n1wbd

I have a question how was the quality of the old Echostar C/Ku band receivers back in the day were they considered very good? I seem to recall that Birdview,GI and Uniden receivers were some of the best back in the day.

Also not to stray too far off topic does anyone know if Satellite TV Week is still being published? I used to love reading it and thought it was better than Orbit magazine.

The Echostar-HTS receivers were notoriously bad for their switching power supplies failing. I only sold a few but every single one came back with a bad power supply. The Echostar-HTS receivers also did not have a great tuner which meant you needed a lot of signal or you would see sparklies.

In my humble opinion Drake made the best receiver. It did not have all the bells and whistles of a HTS or a Chaparral but is was built like a tank with a great picture.

General Instruments, like the Drake, had a great tuner but the early models (2400-2500) could not handle power bumps very well.

I miss those days and could write much more. I am getting back into the industry as a hobby and did not realize how much things have changed and how much there is to learn.