Please help me Make a List of C/KU Receivers

[cbander]

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.

 

[Skyv1]

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?

 

[Mr Tony]

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

and pics of the cross reference options

 

[cbander]

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.

 

[Skyv1]

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.

 

[cbander]

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.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/member.php?u=120371

 

[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.

 

[Lone Gunman]

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.

 

[stecle]

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.

 

[tvropro]

My first receiver was a Uniden 9900, nice IRD. Then I got a Monterey 50 in 1990. It was the cats meow. It had all the bells and whistles and had a very nice picture even on the 36mhz wide transponders since it had a 4 step adjustable bandwidth filter. It has 14, 20, 26, and 36 mhz selectable per transponder. It had built in upper & lower selectable TI filters. 3 different audio bandwidths narrow, normal and wide. The wide worked on the Anik stuff great. I miss that receiver, and ran it till 2006 when the remote died and it was time to get a 4D. The receiver still works I just need a remote. It is in my archives with a HTS 10 plus, a Chaparral Sierra and a Memorex I forget the model # RS sold it. I got those all from a friend. I sold my 9900 after I got the Monty. I could talk for hours about the good old times with the bud.

 

[cbander]

Ya I have had both the Echostars made by HTS and GI neither where in my Opinion that great of a Receiver. I had a GI 2600 and a few other GI's back then and they where good receivers.

Toshiba also made a good receiver, the main problem with the Toshiba's was the led lights going out in the display.

STS made a decent receiver too.

As for Satellite TV week I just did a Google search for it and there site is gone. If I recall a few years back they stop printing the weekly version of there guide and either went out of business. But now as far as I know all the c-band printed guides are gone.

 

[Genna]

Satellite rec

Toshiba TRX-180

 

[dhj]

I still don't know what you're going to accomplish with all this, however I went out to the pile in the garage and below is whats been used here. Didn't find my original boxes from 1984,MA/Com H1 or T1. They were 2 full size boxes 1 receiver & 1 positioner.

Others: MACOM 2000E 1986 VC add-on, later replaced by GI 2100e units; HTS Trackers 5, 6, 7; GI 2650R; Drake ESR1024 with seperate ESR1024 positioner; Drake ESR1254; GI 650i; Toshiba TRX2220; President PS500XL; Uniden SQ560 & UST4880; Startrac 400; Uniden UST 4500; GI2000PS positioner only; and ICR 1800 (same as Startrac).

Hope someone starts a dish museum; didn't know that many boxes were out there.

I don't have the #s but neighbor had a Birdview. It probably cost twice what mine did. It was also seperate positioner and receiver. Heavy 8' dish still out there, too much trouble to remove. I bet if you strapped a small car to it it could be used to flip it over with heavy worm gear H-H drive. Its been parked since his channels went to digital years ago.

 

[oldsatdude]

In the "way back machine" I remember a guy that had a separate receiver, dish positioner, descrambler, and a TV game controller for the skew. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Nothing was remote. Thank goodness someone invented the IRD with a remote to simplify things. The original Birdview dish and 20/20 receiver sold in 1987 for $5000 to $6000 installed. That was before HBO scrambled and XXX was in the clear from 9pm until 3am.

 

[stecle]

I remember doing a service call in the early eighties to a hotel that had one of the first TVRO systems in the area. The polarity was changed by an antenna rotor turning the entire feed horn. Of course the N connector on the LNA cable would break in the cold winter which was what I was there to fix. There was no down-converter with hard-line cable running all the way to some kind of home brew receiver. Those were the days!

 

[Arkie2]

If I remember right (without digging up the box) our c/ku band ird was a DX Antenna. Was still working great when we put in the 4DTV receiver. Weird name but think it was DX Antenna Japan.

 

[cbander]

Ya DX made receivers

Once I get the time to work on this I will be making a receiver list with whatever info I can find for them. Right now I thought it would be a good way to get peoples insight on all the different C/ku receivers.

 

[dhj]

I'm surprised no one brought up the old hand cranked dish positioners. Bet you debated changing sats on a rainy day.

I had a similar thing by choice. For some reason back then, my MA/COM companion positioner box was on back-order. After a week, and being told it could be a month or more; I got anxious and replaced the screw-jack with a slotted board. Marked it with a pen for the satellite positions. Just loosen the nut and slide it to the next mark. A few years later I had a positioning problem and dug out the old board to use as a ruler to see where it was pointed!

 

[stecle]

Speaking of old junk does anyone remember the Tee-Com IRD 10? How about the Bowman PJ 460 actuator which you could hear for about 5 miles on a cold winter night.

 

[cbander]

I still have a couple of the Hand crank jacks I use them when I move my Dishes on there Stands there on. It helps when you move allot like I use too, also allot easier then leaving the Motorized on and getting it Damaged.