What's Changed with C-Band ?

[Greg Mueller]

Let's say you rescue and old BUD with 'lectronics (LNA and motor) and you scrounge up an old receiver (I'm assuming analog?)

Are there still C-band birds up there or have they all gone "digital"?
How many C-Band birds are there still?
Are there still independent little shows like "Boresight" ?
Are there still news feeds?
Would I need to buy all new electronics?

I really like the idea of resurrecting a BUD, but if you can do the same thing with a KU band set up..........

 

[charper1]

Let's say you rescue and old BUD with 'lectronics (LNA and motor) and you scrounge up an old receiver (I'm assuming analog?)

Are there still C-band birds up there or have they all gone "digital"? How many C-Band birds are there still?

First start: http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html

Yes, there is much still up there.

Are there still independent little shows like "Boresight" ?

Got me on that one.

Are there still news feeds?

TONS!

Would I need to buy all new electronics?

It all depends on what you get in the freebie. I would more than likely upgrade the servo, LNBs to a low temp C and a low dB Ku (maybe high stability too if you are serious). This assumes that you get a freebie, well working Corotor II or the like.

Great BUD webshop! http://www.daveswebshop.com/satmain.shtml

I also would get a cheap 4DTV Motorola 922 and a good FTA/DVB to slave to it.

 

[MikeI]

What's changed in the last 10 years for analog?

Pre-feeds of TV shows seemed to have disappeared for the most part. That used to be a favorite of mine for years. Very few left that I have seen recently.

NFL regular season backhauls from SBS 6, T4, T3, NBC's backup c-band feed & CBS are gone and soon ABC as well.

Satellite shows for the home market are gone with hosts like Ron Estes and Shaun Kenny are gone.

Playboy starting at 4:30 pm PT with the analog uplink and sometimes the switch to videocypher wouldn't happen until after the 5pm programming started. Nice for us in college at the time.

News feeds from c-band have almost completely disappeared. NBC's west coast LA feed on F1 when Brokaw was in LA and CNN war feeds from F1 are gone as well.

MLB OTA network feeds have been available for those teams that distribute on satellite for the last 5-6 years which is a plus. They were scrambled for about 12 years ending about 2000 or so.

The last of the analog cable channels are mostly gone. All are either videocypher subscripiton or the new in the last 10 years of digital subscriptions of 4DTV. TV Land, Comedy Channel, Travel Channel & TNN among the last to convert in the mid 90's from analog.

New 10 feet C-band dishes and receivers are much cheaper now compared to 10 years ago. My HTS 70 receiver cost me a $1000 in '91 or '92. Comparable receiver now is probably around $300 or so if that much. My 1st videocypher board was around $400 in 1990. I see the RS ones are now on Ebay for $50 including shipping.

There are still reasons today to watch analog feeds. There's usually an NBA game on most nights during that season and MLB is just starting in 06 so your Devil Rays, Mariners, Rangers, Astros, Cardinals feeds seem to be avaialble again this year.

 

[WyrTwister]

Let's say you rescue and old BUD with 'lectronics (LNA and motor) and you scrounge up an old receiver (I'm assuming analog?)

Are there still C-band birds up there or have they all gone "digital"?
How many C-Band birds are there still?
Are there still independent little shows like "Boresight" ?
Are there still news feeds?
Would I need to buy all new electronics?

I really like the idea of resurrecting a BUD, but if you can do the same thing with a KU band set up..........

The electronics are pretty reasonable on ebay , both new and used .

In some parts of the country , dishes can be scrounged for free .

Digital receivers are in the $ 100 - 200 range . They work on both C & Ku band .

Between analog and digital , there ai a lot of stuff still up there , some still unscrambled .

The wuestion is it something you wish to watch ? Tell us that & we may be better able to help you .

Wyr

 

[Greg Mueller]

I like odd ball stuff. Most of regular "TV" is garbage (IMHO), so I like non mainstream stuff. It's why I like Boresight and that type of show. To bad there's not a visual satellite internet you could watch. I liked the news feeds too as you had to figure out what was going on most of the time as there was no voice over. I guess I like DXing with a dish (sort of).
I guess most of all I'm a hardware junkie