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Old 05-06-2014, 09:30 PM
 
2,331 posts, read 1,995,260 times
Reputation: 4230

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Back in the 70's and 80's, big dish antennas were something of a fad for getting satellite tv signal. You could get anything, from anywhere, for free.

Whatever happened to that? Is it gone because of digital signal and everybody encrypts? Is there some way for me, in Massachusetts, USA, to get Eurosports coverage from Sky, just by knowing what dish to install and where to point it?

The only reason I want this is because I am a cycle racing fan. And the options I have, for pay, are all bad, for one reason or another. Either I feel like the company is ripping me off, or the selections are abysmal, or customer service is more painful than a root canal, or something.

Anyway, I tried to research this via google, but got nowhere. At this point I'm hoping someone will give me a few minutes to bring me up to speed.

Cheers;

H
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Old 05-07-2014, 07:20 AM
 
Location: Keosauqua, Iowa
9,614 posts, read 21,257,171 times
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Around here they mostly make fountains out of them.
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Old 05-07-2014, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Where you aren't
1,245 posts, read 923,017 times
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Oh they're around, you just have to know where to look. If you're interested, you can check out this website SatelliteGuys
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Old 05-07-2014, 08:59 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
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Here you go:


"The Red Green Show": Handyman Corner: Homemade Satellite Dish - YouTube
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Old 05-07-2014, 10:03 AM
 
1,344 posts, read 3,403,390 times
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Whatever happened to big satellite tv dishes?

They got wet and shrunk. People were afraid they would mow them under so they moved them to the roof.

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Old 05-07-2014, 10:21 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,756 posts, read 8,573,379 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
LOVE that show
You can still get the whole series on You-tube.

To the OP, you can still pick up the signals, but the old dishes were analog, the new smaller dishes are digital.
Not only do you need a de-scrambler, but you also need to have either a digital reciever, or convert the analog signal to digital.

The old dishes went out of favor for a lot of reasons, space for one, the fact that most of the channels you got for "free" were in Swahilli or some other language.

It would probably be a better, and probably cheaper way to get the sports you want is to check out the options available on the web.

Personally, I wouldn't even mess with the old large dishes, very expensive for what you get out of it.
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Old 05-07-2014, 11:37 AM
 
Location: Where you aren't
1,245 posts, read 923,017 times
Reputation: 520
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
LOVE that show
You can still get the whole series on You-tube.

To the OP, you can still pick up the signals, but the old dishes were analog, the new smaller dishes are digital.
Not only do you need a de-scrambler, but you also need to have either a digital reciever, or convert the analog signal to digital.

The old dishes went out of favor for a lot of reasons, space for one, the fact that most of the channels you got for "free" were in Swahilli or some other language.

It would probably be a better, and probably cheaper way to get the sports you want is to check out the options available on the web.

Personally, I wouldn't even mess with the old large dishes, very expensive for what you get out of it.

Actually you can get a FTA reciever and pick up C-band, there is still some interesting stuff in the clear. At this point I would recommend the OP to look here SATHINT - Satellite Charts, Packages, Footprints to see if there is anything of interest. It will list the in the clear stuff, as well as the encrypted stuff.
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Old 05-07-2014, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,756 posts, read 8,573,379 times
Reputation: 14969
True, however the amount of programming and the fact you probably won't get the exact programming you want makes it a low value option for the price of the equipment involved.

Much simpler and quicker to stream the video to your computer using sites such as Cycling fans website.

When you are looking for something specific, it is best to find the easiest and most economical way to do it.
Those big old satelilite dishes are not the best option in the scenario outlined by the OP.
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Old 05-08-2014, 11:53 AM
 
Location: UpstateNY
8,612 posts, read 10,755,919 times
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The old hulks are still in the ground up here, but I doubt if they are watching TV on them, just too lazy to take it to the scrap yard.

We loved ours, we could watch F1 racing all over the world for free.
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Old 05-11-2014, 02:21 PM
 
2,331 posts, read 1,995,260 times
Reputation: 4230
Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanR View Post
Whatever happened to big satellite tv dishes?

They got wet and shrunk. People were afraid they would mow them under so they moved them to the roof.
Yeah!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
LOVE that show
You can still get the whole series on You-tube.

To the OP, you can still pick up the signals, but the old dishes were analog, the new smaller dishes are digital.
Not only do you need a de-scrambler, but you also need to have either a digital reciever, or convert the analog signal to digital.

The old dishes went out of favor for a lot of reasons, space for one, the fact that most of the channels you got for "free" were in Swahilli or some other language.

It would probably be a better, and probably cheaper way to get the sports you want is to check out the options available on the web.

Personally, I wouldn't even mess with the old large dishes, very expensive for what you get out of it.
That's the best answer to the question - thanks. That is kinda what I was thinking.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lookb4youcross View Post
Actually you can get a FTA reciever and pick up C-band, there is still some interesting stuff in the clear. At this point I would recommend the OP to look here SATHINT - Satellite Charts, Packages, Footprints to see if there is anything of interest. It will list the in the clear stuff, as well as the encrypted stuff.
Good tip, thank you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
True, however the amount of programming and the fact you probably won't get the exact programming you want makes it a low value option for the price of the equipment involved.

Much simpler and quicker to stream the video to your computer using sites such as Cycling fans website.

When you are looking for something specific, it is best to find the easiest and most economical way to do it.
Those big old satelilite dishes are not the best option in the scenario outlined by the OP.
Excellent tip, thanks. I've been going with Steephill.tv - but the pirated links are getting worse and worse - and I know they are pirated. Years ago I paid for cycling.tv when they were a startup - and they were pretty good. Then they sold out, the coverage became crap, and sfaic, they've never recovered enough quality to interest me.

I'll keep an eye on this one.
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