Here is a blast from the past

[Lynskyn]

Date shows 7/28/97 (From a Radio Shack research list)

I'm pretty sure that should be '87, not '97

 

[bladnoce]

ALso remembered:
Starion
Stardust
Xtv the Fun Channel
Olimpics '88? on TVN triplecast.
at that moment with echostar receiver, LNA and a 5 foot dish.

 

[dfergie]

Spotlight premium movie service ... I guess I threw away my old Satellite TV weeks... I have a couple of bookshelf speaker boxes in storage with paperbacks where there might be some...

 

[Wilis]

Thanks for the memories!!
I had a paraclipse back in the 80s and 90s - I sold it in 1998 and went to dish in 2001. Now after 9 years
iIve decided to return to C band. Got hold of a 12 ft unimesh and am very excited to set it up. Just ordered a c/ku/dbs feedhorn. Once it arrives I will set it up with a Motorola 920 and FTA receiver.
Can't wait to make that comeback!!!
Really missed the satellite surfing times!
This really affirms the good old days.

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome to the forum

I'vce only had C-Band now for a year but love it. SOunds like you're getting the "pimp daddy" setup (I use to say that when people would have C-Band, KU, 4DTV, analog & DVB...now I'm one of them

 

[mattb]

I didn't own a C-Band dish in the "good ol days" but I got to play with one in middle school and again in High school as both of my schools had them, I remember scanning from bird to bird and amazed at all the channels out there.

I remember Much Music and The Box and another music channel called Z that played christian stuff, those where the days.

I also remeber Viewers Choice, Request Tv and Cable Video Store PPV channels from the 30 channel Time Warner line up we had at my grandparents house.

 

[Carroll A]

In the late 80's there was First Run PPV on F2 and the Zap channels on S2 also.

Man I love it when the good ole' days of C-Band pops up... First run when they first started used the old Sony decoder so all the voices were pitched way up and they used a funky video inversion system everybody looked like an x-ray... Select TV was still around up until around 1989 when they gave up the ghost so to speak... By the end of their service life they were showing educational videos at night... Remember Home Theatre network it was on F3-16 I believe and also went away some where around the mid to late eighties... I remember when my dad got our Drake ESR-324 RCVR... it was being installed as there was a tropical storm coming... He wanted to be able to watch CNN which back then was really cool to watch... As for Playboy all the neighbors new what was being watched when that dish was pointing skyward looking at F4... AHHHHH The memories

 

[htownjoe]

i remember when i was a child back from 89 to 93 we had a bud, i remember watching ninja turtles and mario bros on i think t3 ch 18, they would run like 8 episodes a time, back then i didnt understand that they were sending them to the stations. i actually thought these were stations for these two shows, i also remember the viewers choice and the catchy tune, and dr gene scott, also a channel for schools called channel one. i always thought it was strange seeing someone staring in the screen during the feeds and didnt have a clue what a feed was. i also remember hearing baseball announcers cussing, it was and still is a crazy hobby. i would like to purchase any old orbit or c band mags from the late 80s to early 90s if anyone has any so i can look back at what i used to view.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I actually was selected to be a beta tester of the first GI VCII module and VideoPal order recorder. After the test I was able to keep the equipment for free. I sure miss those days and all the great programming.

 

[dfergie]

Still have both... unhooked the video pal...

 

[tvropro]

I actually was selected to be a beta tester of the first GI VCII module and VideoPal order recorder. After the test I was able to keep the equipment for free. I sure miss those days and all the great programming.

I got sent a free videopal from the satellite video center to test in 88 I think. I also was a beta tester for the VC2+ when they were having problems with the software on the first generation, loosing authorization when the keys changed. I actually had a heck of a time getting GI to believe they had an issue. With my persistance they finally realized there was an issue. Then they asked me to be a software tester for there fixes. What was cool at the time I had GI send me a VC2 back also, so I had my subscriptions on 2 modules, one VC2, one VC2+ and I only was paying one sub. I had 2 receivers so 2 VC channels could be watched at once. That lasted for 3 to 4 months till they finally solved the issue . Then they sent me a pink module (that I still use) and I had to send all the others back. At one point I had 4 modules here on GI's $$$. That was over $2000.00 worth of modules they trusted me with.

 

[GreatFTA]

I am still using my solid 8 foot fiberglass Odum dish for my 4DTV and C band FTA channels!!!
I bought it back in 1986.

 

[duchen]

Still Have A BUD; Thank for the Memories

I still have a BUD. I first got it it in 1991. A Hurricane blew it down in 1993 (our first storm in 26 years). Put it back up again shortly thereafter.

I still have the videocipher from those early days and it still works. No Y2K problems from GI! I had a Houston Tracker, but replaced it with the 4DTV. (I added FTA in April and finally got it running well in July; I needed a replacement receiver).

I had someone put up a new 10 foot dish after a Hurricane finished off the pole couple of years ago. Until I tried out FTA, I was regretting it.

I miss the old days, too. In the early 90's, most any football backhaul could be easily found up there. Basketball, Baseball, Hockey too. And, the comments announcers make off the air are not always how they present the games. TV program feeds. Feeds from RSN delayed re-broadcasts (so you could watch your school's announcers
instead of the network feed).

You guys brought back a lot of memories (TVN!). Does anyone remember when announcers used to talk to those of us who watched backhauls?

Iceberg, I think you will enjoy your new C Band dish during football season. When I watch the events on ABC/ESPN backhaul (Galaxy 16, 4DTV G4), NBC backhaul (AMC 6 KU) or CBS HD (Galaxy 26, T6), on the Coolsat 8000HD, the picture is amazing. Its better than on my Directv dish or on my over the air antenna because there are fewer re-transmissions (and therefore less signal degradation). And, it gives you more choices (although my research into the Yahoo groups suggests that a lot of the backhauls are on KU band).


Between my Diectv, local broadcasts and the FTA, I suspect I will have a lot of choices.

 

[SatPhreak]

I rememeber waching a Nascar race feed in about '99 and the announcer said "Hi, to my friends waching in Thunder Bay", then said the sat and frequency. It surprised me that he had friends from my town, it surprised me even more that it was during the last commercial break before the green flag. I guess his friends must of had a bud too!
I really miss not having a bud anymore.

 

[SatPhreak]

Anybody notice that this forum doesn't show the indentations at the begining of a paragraph?

 

[dfergie]

Remember these? All came from my BUD in the 80's (from old VHS Tapes)

 

[tvropro]

Remember these? All came from my BUD in the 80's (from old VHS Tapes)

Back in the great bud heydays. I miss those days.

 

[turbosat]

Good days fergie, remember all that. The summer they were testing the "VideoPal" thing out, my dish stayed on Cable Video Store for days at a time. 1988 I think it was.

 

[tvropro]

CVS was great, I used to get a program guide from them.

 

[TMair]

I was just telling my kids, as we watched the Hockey game from Canada on ASN how I used to watch programming from newfoundland and how they where 1/2 hour off on their time zone from the rest of the world.
Man I do miss the good old days of C Band/BUD programming.
Terry