as the AlphaStar DBS satellite service ceased operations in August 1997 (and discontinued completely by the following month), as the services of Alphastar continued to be used under the auspices of the Champion Telecom Platform with 13m and 3.7m C/Ku-Band antennas and most being used for FSS Ku-Band (regular) and FTA channels. what were the AlphaStar satellite dishes being used for after the satellite company went out of service?
Alphastar satellite dishes after termination
- Thread starter JosephHolloway1998
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Are you talking about the subscriber's dish to collect signal, or the head end dishes?
The subscriber's dishes remained in their ownership, and they were able to do what they wish to do with them. Most left them where they were. Others sold them to fta enthusiasts.
The headend dishes I have no clue.
Sent from my LG-M153 using the SatelliteGuys app!
The subscriber's dishes remained in their ownership, and they were able to do what they wish to do with them. Most left them where they were. Others sold them to fta enthusiasts.
The headend dishes I have no clue.
Sent from my LG-M153 using the SatelliteGuys app!
The Alphastar dishes were reportedly turned upside down for sunshade for lizards in the south and squirrel rain shelters in the north.
But seriously, the hardware was abandoned and it was up to the property owner to dispose of. Maybe an installer for the next subscription sign-up would remove and discard.
But seriously, the hardware was abandoned and it was up to the property owner to dispose of. Maybe an installer for the next subscription sign-up would remove and discard.
Long ago, on DSL, I subscribed to a service that went under, just as my previous DSL provider went under. After a couple of years, I tossed it all.
There’s two different warts on most street lights around here, testament to folks underestimating how fast cell data would take off. Abandoned. No one wants to spend to remove. Hopefully, they’re not sucking power anymore.
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys App. For now.
There’s two different warts on most street lights around here, testament to folks underestimating how fast cell data would take off. Abandoned. No one wants to spend to remove. Hopefully, they’re not sucking power anymore.
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys App. For now.
but could an Alphastar satellite dish be useful for regular Ku equipment boxes? (MPEG-4, 4DTV etc...)
A satellite reflector doesn't care who the carrier is, only the band that it is receiving as determined by the surface area. The Alphastar reflector could be used for any KU band service.
Satellite dishes that were custom-designed for pay TV have never been a great choice for FTA (except maybe the Primestar dish). It was true 20 years ago and it remains true today. Just because you could conceivably use something doesn't mean it makes any sense to do so.
4DTV receivers were stupid expensive. It isn't reasonable to apply what happens today to what was happening 20 years ago and vice versa.
Reasoning that history could or should have been different is silly.
Yes, but it was the only receiver where you get to see the channels unscrambled and the digital channels (in high definition) as well.
Please list the KU services which used Digicypher encryption.
Please also list any digital KU service that was transmitted in a HD resolution and list the resolution.
Please also list any digital KU service that was transmitted in a HD resolution and list the resolution.
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You couldn’t get ‘all’ services with a 4DTV. It was DigiCipher II only, not MPEG2. Furthermore, the DSR-920 could only decode certain streams of DigiCipher the 922 released later could decode some more, but not all. Then there was the fact that you had to be able to actually subscribe to the service.
Also, you had to add on a HDTV decoder box, I forget the model number. The only thing I ever remember on Ku as far as DCII was HiTS on G7/G4 (X7/X4 in 4DTV lingo) and Star Choice on E2, which you could only get in Canada with the DSR-921.
I don't recall the resolution but the Nebraska ETV feeds (which was originally on C-Band S3 (W3), tps 600 EduCable, 601, Nebraska ITV feeds on tp 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, & 607), they were in the procress of moving to Ku-Band (since PBS already had their feeds on Ku and were being transferred to digital). Chinese Television Network on X4/7 went digital in April 1998 (a month before the G4 shutdown affected all pagers) as well as the NBC Skypath (including the Skycom satellite newstruck feeds) and News Channel feeds which were all in the process of going digital, as they were transitioning to digital transmission.
I believe there might have been some PBS/State Network feeds in DCII on Ku. It has been going on 20 years since I messed with 4DTV.
That being said, you seem to be missing the point, some feeds were going digital in 1998, but not ALL were using DigiCipher II, most were going MPEG-2, the 4DTV receiver could NOT decode MPEG-2 DVB, only certain (most) forms of DigiCipher II, if the broadcast was ITC/Fixed Key, or if it could be subscribed to by a consumer unit.
It was not the end all be all integrated digital/analog receiver you seem to have an idealized picture of.
It worked with DCII ONLY.
Not too bad. I bought my DSR-922 19 years ago for less then $500 (half of an iPhone today) and it's still going. I still use it as the dish mover on my BUD. Think the stuff being made today will work continuously for 19 years?
$500 in 2000 is equivalent to $745 in 2019. But 19 years of service makes it good value which is important.
The difference being that it hasn't performed its primary function for quite a few of those years. Kind of like keeping a car in the garage so you have something to stack boxes on.
The AlphaStar dish is very well suited for Ku-band. My first encounter with AlphaStar was an FTA receiver tuned to receive Chinese programming and GlobalStar in the 1990s and 2000s.
The DSR922 was very well built and I considered it worth the money. If someone could build an FTA receiver just as well I'd pay $1000 for it. You get what you pay for.
I doubt it. Partly because of improvements in technology will make today's receivers obsolete. Also, all of the FTA receivers that I've used have had some kind of bug that no one was willing to fix.
I remember adding a second dish and using my DSR-921 (StarChoice reciever, $999 CAN) to view AMC. I have some great recordings of Tarzan movies, with the introduction to them from inside radio city music hall, and at that time, with no commercials. The recordings I still have, the receiver went in the recycling about 2 years ago.
