Your Satellite Tv Hobby -When & how did it start?

[catseye]

For me it started back in 1990

A relation of mine had been installing Amstrad sat boxes (SRX200) & those lovely white dishes for a company called Star Trax (I think)

Customers had them fitted on a free trial so overnight they appeared everywhere

Then when the customers were advised that had to start paying -The company was inundated with requests to 'take it back'

I was given a box & dish & thought it was amazing I could watch tv channels from space

Remember at the time we only had 4 TV channels

I soon got inquisitive as to what else there was out there

When I began moving the dish slightly I was amazed to pick up the Super Channel

[JOE.MADDISON]

I started in early 80s with a 1.5 prime focus dish,witch had to be hand cranked the treaded handle had paint lines to give approx dish sat positions.receiver had a rotary tuning knob and a skew knob which turned a mechanical probe on the polorator from vertical to horizontal and all positions in between.sky cable was clear and on hot bird,afew other news feeds as well ,on 27w. then superchannel started ,then lifestyle,premier the.movie channel,some were on 27w,all were in the clear.

[nml]

For me it all started in the early 90s with a churchill D2mac decoder for mainly TV 2000, moved on to a motorised dish and cam in about the late 90s opening almost everything. then various cards and cams. Satellite tv is hobby is for life but is changing every year, glad to have done it though.

[heyho]

It started sometime in the mid 80's when Sky launched before the days of subscription. Got a dish and receiver and proceeded, on a very very cold winters night, to set it up. Bad mistake to involve my dad though. I'm there up on an icy flat roof shouting can you see a signal and my old man has buggered off for a cup of tea. Got there in the end.

Then for the next 30 years or so I had a Sky subscription until the bill went to nearly £120 and I though 'enoughs enough, exactly what do we watch on Sky'. So, after ringing Sky and receiving appalling customer service, I transferred the broadband to BT and now pay half.

Fancied the challenge of a motorised dish though so got Santa to send my one. (And the rest is history and do***ented on here).

I actually like reimaging my Vu+ box and tweaking it. Would I get another motorised dish, probably not. I'd hook it up to my existing Sky dish. But it's fun.

[traveller]

For me it started back in 1990

A relation of mine had been installing Amstrad sat boxes (SRX200) & those lovely white dishes for a company called Star Trax (I think)

Customers had them fitted on a free trial so overnight they appeared everywhere

Then when the customers were advised that had to start paying -The company was inundated with requests to 'take it back'

I was given a box & dish & thought it was amazing I could watch tv channels from space

Remember at the time we only had 4 TV channels

I soon got inquisitive as to what else there was out there

When I began moving the dish slightly I was amazed to pick up the Super Channel

Snap thats almost how I started with sat receivers. It all really started back when I was 5 or 6 when for Christmas I got a crystal set. Unwound a transformer to use the copper wire for a 30yd aerial using Mums cloths post at the end of the garden. Often she would get me to tighten it as it would droop on her washing and put lines of blue on the washing. Listening to BBC Home and Light, with a Double length I could get some others.
That was sixty years ago. How time flies.

[finestrat]

I bought one of the first satellite receivers imported into the uk about 1980 it was called a Zeta and had a rotary tuner and skew for the lnb (probably the same one as JOE.MADDISON above) It came with a fairly large dish which I motorised using an old aerial rotator. I could scan the arc by tilting the mast back until I got the correct angle. Most channels were broadcast on 27 west and 13 east back then and no digital. I must have owned at least ten different receivers between now and then. One of my favourite was the nokia dbox which I think was the first digital receiver available, it was all a bit of a black art in those days. Its amazing how things have progressed and how much has changed since then.

[Detlef]

For me it started in 1990. A bachelor m8 who had more money than sense had an original sky setup SR100 with the external decoder.

He was going off to Le Mans for the 24 hour and wanted me to keep feeding his VCR with tapes. As he lived in Cologne and I was in Bonn (about 30km away) I wasn't too keen. Next thing I know is he is bolting on the complete setup to my balcony. I kept it for the rest of his stay in France and was sad to see it go. The following Xmas he phoned to say he had bought an newer dish and receiver and was I interested in the old one. A mental picture of DM300 (about £100 then) flashed before my eyes. When he said DM50 I think I was in the car before the phone got to its cradle.

For the 1992 Olympics, I found that manually moving the dish gave me 13E which is what the BBC were using to feed their coverage back to the UK studio.

A year or so after that I bought a SR200 and a twin LNB so I could watch one and record another from the SR100.

Then an SR400 followed by a SR600.

Much later I had a WinTV Sat card in the PC with a season interface and programmer. It was great for testing keys prior to blowing a new goldwafercard.

When digital got underway I put a SS1 Haupauge card in the PC and was most impressed. I then discovered Dudez and a constant stream of new keys - initially for Seca Mediaguard channels but later many other encryptions followed.

The weird thing is I don't watch much TV (motor racing being my forte) but, I suppose, the challenge is I don't like locked doors.

[brain]

Hi guys,
Fun thread this. It must be about 15-18 years ago - cant track too far back, in the early days of dialing in codes d2mac. Simple satellite and basic reciever, I well remember rushing to the phone a couple of minutes before an important film or sports event to get the new code; type it in and just make it as it started!! LOL
Since then echostar,Digiquest and technomate have all featured as receivers; dish has been upgraded to the present 1m auto satbox ljnked one, with twin lnb's. I stayed with the wired left/right control for years!!
Present setup is a DB8000 and 7820 with a variety of cam usage. Much help and learning has also come from a member of this site, for which I am very grateful. I will shutup now. Every success to all. Cheers - Brian

[CokeAddict]

For me, it was around 1993-1994, I wanted Sky but my parents kept saying no it was too expensive.

A friend of mine bought a "complete sky kit" in a box, from Curry's (think it was a cambridge/BT receiver, which was a rebranded alba that wicks sold), anyway we got the kit back to his house, and his mum (we were only 13 or 14) refused to let him put an ugly dish on the wall of her house. So we looked around the garden for somewhere to ground mount it, but nowhere was suitable as a tree was in the way.

So we overcame the problem, with a thick piece of wood, which we nailed into the tree, and then mounted the dish to the board in the tree (problem solved) :D

The thing that amazed us, as we were sat in the tree, with a 12" portable tv, an extension lead and a satellite receiver was the various channels we found, before picking up Sky on 19.2e

I think it was that, that got use hooked.

Soon after I sold my Super Nintendo, and bought myself an 80cm Mesh dish, and 2 16 channel sat receivers, 1 was an Alba sat-300 and the other was a Bush (same receiver just a different badge on it).

I fitted the dish, and then my journey began, I would constantly be moving the dish about by hand to see what channels I could find.

Not long after my friend upgraded to a 1m Lenson heath and then he moved house, and was allowed to put a dish on the flat roof, so he sold me the 1m Lenson Heath dish, and got himself a 1.2m Channel Master and Jaeger 1224EL, D2Mac decoder and a Pace Mss1000 (needless to say, I was pretty jealous lol).

I couldn't afford any of that, so I stuck with my 1m Lenson Heath dish, and moving it manually, I did get given a Thompson videocrypt decoder at some point, and a "white wafer" card which worked nicely for the ***** Channel and Eurotica on 13e.

I upgraded to an Amstrad SRD510 at xmas in 1994, which opened up the possibility to view VH-1 germany which was broadcast in soft videocrypt2, the fun I had shorting out pins 8 and 24 of the scart connector of the decoder port, to view that channel :D

I stopped messing with the sat stuff around 1998/99 and didn't get back into it, until around 2005, as I couldn't afford a digital box.

In 2005 I managed to buy a Dreambox 7000 off a friend cheap as he was fedup with having to reboot it several times a day and putting keys in, but this bought back my interest in sat tv, and i've been hooked again since then.

[TonyO]

I got a maspro receiver and 60cm dish in 1989 in anticipation of sty and BSB launching the same year, sty turned up and was free for quite a while but Basket case Broadcasting turned up so late all the early adopters had already taken up sty.

Within a month i had turned the 60cm dish around the Clarke belt and picked up loads of free channels, I sold the 60cm setup and bought an Echostar 4500 motorised reciever and 1.25cm dish and motor.

The main free plum was ITV's clear feed of the 3pm 1st division footy match transmitted fta in the clear on 13E, my mates like to come round to watch these games most weeks.

What a lot of chganges have happened in those 25 years !

[Detlef]

I forgot to add that in the dying days of ana1ogue I had a Pace MS1000 driving a 1.2m offset dish.

First digibox was an Amstrad SD which even the GF could operate (I hate to say that it is well thought out and easy to use). I still have a modded Pace in my French ski pad which works OK with a Zone 2 dish but, yes, some weaker channels drop out in very heavy snow.

I seem to have inherited a Zgemma 2S Star from a m8 who is non-techy and thinks it is too much hassle. That is used with a 4 way DiSEqC switch (28E, 19E, 13E and the steerable). Also just ventured into CS as the M8 had a min sub. Have also found some test C-lines but they freeze badly if footy is showing on the same provider; most need changing daily.

[catseye]

Fo me Ive had the following sat boxes over last 20+ years

Amstrad SRX200 + videocrypt decoder
Amstrad SRD400
Pace MSS200
Pace MSS508ip
Pace D150
Humax 5400z
Visionnet
Technomate 9100
Cuberevo 9000HD
Vu duo 1
Vu duo 2
Vu duo Zero

Cant think of anymore at the minute

[paintanddent]

Don't post many threads but this is a memory-jolter!!
Started a Video/audio business '86 and was soon installing Sat for BSB (Squariels) was doing some motorised stuff ---kinda winging it--we were supplying Amstrad, Grundig, pace, ferguson etc. boxes with separate v/crypt decoders. and doing distribution systems--- eventually was installing SMATV on blocks--- remember recording from sat to multi- vhs and betamax setups--- Filmnet stuff for the local worthies-- late night ****-- all was new to uk-- also had a tie-in with company called Funke-- did sat and lnb stuff---- Amstrad and sky started to direct market and killed off independents very quickly--- still resent that as they used VERY sharp business practices and cost us a lot--- I moved onto other things but have always had Sat systems and NEVER paid sky a penny(****s!!)

[geoffh]

I got into this some years back. I was on a business trip to Hong Kong and found a Saturday 3.0 epl (10.00 in the morning) game which made think whats going on here, no body is allowed to watch 3.0 kick offs are they?
So following this discovery I started to look into it all, invested in the kit chucked my sly card in the bin and happy days.
Started with a Diablo cam then progressed to a Linux based box currently investigating IPTV.
But going back to to the old days of analogue (70s & 80s) I had the hobby of tuning into foreign TV via the E, F layers and trops. Now this was fun, you had to modify the old CRT TV to the continental standard have a motorized VHF aerial, various pre-amps to improve sensitivity of your converted telly but best of all you never knew just what was going to come in it was all down to conditions in the upper atmosphere. Mostly it was Europe east and west inc Russia but best of all when we were at a sun spot max cycle I did get China and Vietnam bloody awesome! Half the fun was identifying the test cards (remember those).
Current hobby is fun but some how does not have the same impact on me as playing the airwaves and seeing what came in.
Did any body else do this in an earlier life?

[gadstamut]

I think it was the late 90's ! A Pace 800 i think and a chuchill d2mac decoder for TV1000 and a few other channels on 19e. I seem to remember we were forever paying £15 to have a green looking card updated. Twas a long time ago. Then a bit of a break and I got back into the Sat scene about 2000 ish ,then a Humax 2000 and matrix reloaded and Dragon cam. Was brilliant back then, before the dark times before the... I miss hunting out bits of information to get things working.

P.S couldn’t resist trying to get a Star wars quote in.

[EXTRAFACTO]

this is actually my second spell in sat game...first was many yrs ago...i knew nothing
was with a friend at one of his workmates house,he turned tv over...i could hear a wirring sound...it was his motor on dish moving...lol
so he was showing my mate...im thinking thats cool...but whats it for...he told me to watch tv from other countrys...
he said watch this...now i remember channel..tv1000...they had english films...
and he said at 11pm every night...bonus...***** educational film...well that hooked me
so this guy arranged for another guy put me a dish up...sold me a box..i know was pace..and gave me a green piece of board...said ok...
now you need stuff to put on it...program it...went way over my head...so each time card needed doing...i paid him a fiver
i already had a amstrad double decker recorder...copy tape to tape...so each night at 11pm...***** educational got recorded...
and then tape sold up pub for £3 i could not keep up withj orders...lol
after couple yrs..box packed up...guy who did my card thing...moved to cornwall...so that was me done untill about 8 yrs ago...

[luis88]

This lot brings back some memories. Like a lot of you mine started with sty in 1992 but within a few months I'd discovered d2mac, Pace with 80cm lenson heath initially soon to be replaced by 1m lenson and jaeger, the Pace being paired with a Pace positioner and after a couple of years upgraded to a Pace 508. Happy days setting up the motorised on a pole mounted behind the garage and annoying the hell out of my other half trying to peak the signal without a meter so relying on shouting up and down the garden. Not so happy memories reinstalling the lenson at the next house, I tried to be clever by leaving the dish on the motor so as not to mess up the settings, that's all well and good at ground level but when the top of your pole is above the roofline, and you need to hoik the lot 25' up a ladder and lift it above you onto the pole at which point the ladder starts to move....suffice to say I've never tried that again. More recently I've had Echostar, Darkbox, Azbox and currently Vu Ultimo.

[dog-man]

I started in 1986 with a Zeta receiver and a 90 cm fibreglass dish.
No motor and only two satellites visible from the UK.
If I wanted to view anything on the other sat, I had to go up a ladder and move it by hand.

The receiver had an inbuilt decoder of sorts in that it partially descrambled the Premier film channel (I think that is what it was called).
I say partially, because the picture was always a bit wobbly but always watchable.

I purchased it on credit, but for some unknown reason, they never took any payments off me so I had it for free.
I once had the dish struck by lightning and it blew the LNB polorator. I went to the shop where I purchased it and was given a replacement.

[cosworth4x4]

almost 30 years back , but i remember premier , wasn't it fta or part of early sky package , someone with a better memory may help.

i know it changed or went off fast after showing the better type of films, :)

found this

(Premiere was the original pioneer in broadcasting subscription premium movies via satellite. In 1986 it merged with rival film channel Mirrorvision, but kept the brand Premiere.

To view Premiere via satellite you would have needed expensive equipment and a dish around 1.5metre in size. It's largest audience was via cable tv.

The channel shut down in July 1989. Running up losses of around �10 million, could not survive with the high costs of new films and competition from the launch of Sky Movies.)

[dog-man]

I was able to view Premiere with my 90 cm dish in SE UK.

[williamtell]

silent gold motor 36v still working here like a dream 17 years on

[jallen01]

Another nostalgia trip!

I was in Bristol in the late 80's when I sort of heard about sat TV and, I think, I knew of a few people with C-band systems of that era - and then I discovered What Sat and began to get more interested.

Did not do anything more, except taking a What Sat subscription because I was quite interested until 1991 when I decided it was time to do something about it! Finally decided to "do it properly" and went to a Turkish-run sat shop in N.London and - having previously decided what I probably wanted - bought their demo NEC 5000 receiver/3000 80cm steerable dish that was set up and working (dish was on a ground-mount outside the front door!), so I knew that if I got the pole vertical then I had a fighting chance of the whole thing working!

Took it home and installed it, with a Lo***t of trouble on the flat top of the bedroom bay roof at the front of the house (18 ft from the ground!) and with the cables running through a "Hampton Court" maze of roof and ceiling sections to the ground floor at the rear of the building - and finally got it all working! IIRC, worked from about 30W to 30E or thereabouts.

Then added a 2nd LNB (not al ALL easy with the very unique LNB on the NEC dish!) and some sort of Sky Analogue decoder, + card, and that worked too.

A few years later moved the dish to the rear part of the back garden, but this time on a 10 ft high scaffold pole anchored in concrete - got that aligned and working and finally got signals from about 53E to 40-odd West! It's still there, but I wonder if it still works as it is about 15-18 yrs since I actually used it, but latterly with a Technomate TM-3600DAPCI which also had 36V steerable dish capability (still in the cupboard - but can't be bothered to get that working again)?

In the meantime I had set up a Raven Gemini 90 on a ground mount elsewhere in the rear garden - and put 4 LNB's on that for about 28E to 13E. Then moved that to the far end of the garden, along with a 60cm twin LNB dish for Sky (went digital as soon as that came out!).

Also, in the early days, played around with various D2MAC decoders (Filmnet, Churchill, etc.) and cards (still have a Phoenix USB programmer, which might still be useable), and collected a number of dishes from various places (local recycling site got me several including a Silent Gold 99 and 1m dish, and the 90cm that was on my neighbour's front wall) for little or no money for the time when I could get around to installing/using them, i.e. when I retired, which has now happened!

Now, finally, I'm now getting around to doing something with all those old dishes by setting up the Gemini again (separate thread) and mounting 2 of the 90cms dishes on further poles/fence posts at the back of the garden - and then, hopefully, replacing the NEC 3000 dish with the Silent Gold 99/1m dish. Rx will initially be an Icecrypt 3250, with a Superjack V-box (a firesale buy from ***-******* for less than £20 about 10yrs ago!) to drive the 24V NEC dish via the Diseqc from the Icecrypt, but when (if?)I get the whole system working then may get a Linux-based RX, and all that can go with that!

OTOH, things are a bit delayed because I am now in the process of replacing a number of raised planting beds which are immediately below the dishes, ready for the Spring planting (I really need some decent tomatoes and veg this Summer!).

Saga "complete" - for the moment! :D

[McrRed]

Love this thread!

I found a diagram for Marcus Kuhn's season interface and went to ******s to get the bits. Bit soldering and a dish out of Loot and a big long r232 wire to the pc and we had sky tv. It was magical.
Later all that went to pieces with rip off merchants stepping in and him getting p****ed off but someone mentioned d2mac and I discovered the joys of multisat via a couple of 18" actuators and a dodgy d2mac box i've still got in the shed.
When it all shifted from analogue I couldn't keep up so I had a break for 10 years or so while we were on cable but when tat got too expensive I came back to find the world had moved on to enigma receivers - but everything was still the same!

I know IPTv is taking over but there's something wonderful about getting your pictures from outer space :)

[filmfan46]

My first system was a Skyscan K1 with 36 mhz bandwidth on video, not the more common 27 mhz.
It used a 1.2m offset dish bought from a co in Cambridge and self installed.This was 6 months before the Astra sat at 19 deg was launched.
In those days Premier was scrambled on 27.5 deg as was Filmnet on 13 deg.
The early days were more fun for me.Then came the D mac that Maggie said the UK wanted and d2mac for the rest of europe.
Fantastic memories of changing dishes and over the years making feeds for depolorisers to get the best possible signal for the Scandinavian channels
Endless hours of fun.

[rockero]

I love this section
I started a lot later than most of you folks I guess
was in 2000...knew I was moving to spain in 2001 so decided to check stuff out thinking we would no longer get uk tv
bought 2nd hand 1.2 metre motorised dish and nokia ACU 8152 positioner for 80 quid
since we came here ive had various different boxes and cams and programmers
think my favourite was a triple dragon but that's no longer in use now...tried a new fuse in it but its still dead
using a technomate 5402 mark 2 now
also just got a hightechbox from goldwafers a couple of weeks ago so playing with that
ive had this dish set up in 4 different homes now and its still going strong
cheers to all
rockero

[jag123]

well I first started with a film net decoder and then went on to a pase satellite resever with various cams and cards and a imeter dish then I went to go on to the echostar satellite resevers and to a 1.2 meter dish with more cams and cards and finaly reading what satellite mag what a great mag I saw an advertisement on the back page sct montray and a 1.2 meter gegorian dish well I had to have one 8 card reader dmac etc like the echostar it was soposto be the best satellite resever going at the time I think it was the nower days I moved on to vu satellite resevers haven't the times changed from the good old days kind regards jag 123

[anthoney]

I'm just an ignorant nube. I mostly just used old sky boxes for the free channels. No trick to that one.

I did use a second hand pinnacle pctv sat card so I could record to my hard drive. It fell by the wayside as I upgraded my PC.

Three days ago I got a new but cut price Icecrypyt 3250 combo tuner with USB PVR.

The autosetup doesn't work. The blind scan channel list is a nightmare of duplicates and other language channels.

The EPG is pretty naff. It has seven days but mostly unpopulated. Even the now and next is flaky. Makes recording moot if you can't shedule in advance. I like the time shift though and HD is nice on my HD screen.

I just plugged it into my sky dish and it gets astra 2 astra 19 and a Eurobird channel. Astra 19 seems best for EPG info though still naff.

I noticed that it supports USB backups and updates straight from the box. So that's good I guess.

I've ordered a ralink RT5370N chipset WiFi dongle for a few quid from China. Be a month before I get that I expect.

I 've read the stickies and the threads that come up in a 3250 search.

The patched firmware supplied by coldasice was the thing that led me to this site from an interweb search.

Think I should be able to install it straight from USB as is but need to read more 'cause I don't want to brick my new toy.

Not sure what the benefit is with my simple sky dish but assume more previously encrypted channels and the EPG can't get any worse. Any improvement there would be a real boon.

Anyway getting off topic. In short I'm really just starting. The terminology is a bit overwhelming for now. I guess I 'll have to do a USB update and see what happens. Take it from there.

[echelon]

if its a fixed sly dish with single or quad lnb it will only get 28.2 east sly and freesat channels , nothing from 19e (astra 1) , not unless you had offset lnb,s on a rack or a motorised system , or youswung the sly dish away from 28e to 19e

most boxes will only give you now and next on 28e as the sly and freesat epg systems are bespoke, so now and next is the "norm"

[dave13142]

i had a skyscan receiver and a 1.2m dish this picked up premier north of Manchester i think i remember it was the childrens channel until 3 pm and premier started then and screensport was on the same satellite

[anthoney]

It's a twin or a quad. I forget, but I have two cables from it. It might be off kilter, I put it up. It gets astra 19.2e /12207 /v/27500. It's on now. Either I don't understand or I got lucky with the misalignment.

The others are astra2a 28.2e and Eurobird 1 28.5e.

My techie mate says they are all close and a blind scan will always find them all, whichever you try to scan. I don't really understand but he's usually right.

[echelon]

you will only get one , depending where you aim the dish, normally its 28 east that you will get which will be the two you mentioned , astra2a 28.2e and Eurobird 1 28.5e

if its aimed at 19 east you wont get any from 28 east , or vice versa

you wont get more than one no matter what you scan for , definitely not 2 or 3 different positions , not without an lnb rack and multiple lnb,s

see the dish forum and lnb forum here for further info on dishes and lnbs

a sly dish is pointed at 28 east in order to pickup both astra2a 28.2e and Eurobird 1 28.5e in the one hit


it gets astra 19.2e /12207 /v/27500. It's on now. Either I don't understand

there is no 12207 V 27500 on astra 19e , its on 28 east (sky news etc)

[anthoney]

As I said I'm ignorant and just reading what is on the screen. That's what it says. As you guys know your stuff I assume the box is misreporting. Is there any possibility that astra has added 19 to the other satellite recently?

That's prolly a stupid question but asking is part of learning.

[echelon]

no , your box can tune into various satellites , providing the dish is pointed correctly

each satellite position has its own transponders , sometimes they are duplicated in the different locations

any error is with whoever set the box up (or the dish alignment) , in other words , its user error

to check what satellite you are seeing , check the channel details for what you are watching

if its in french or german or similar it could be 19e , but for the most part if its english its on 28 east

you never said what the channel was that you were watching so impossible to say

[Bees]

It was around 1984 and I was driving past an electrical shop in North Wembley when I saw a black and white flickering picture from a TV. Turned out to be a Russian satellite transmission and I was hooked. I started with an Echostar 5500 with a Filmnet decoder with which we could see football games albeit looking as if they were playing in a blizzard. I graduated to an Echostar 7700 and the on to digital with various boxes. People at work used to take the Mick asking if I'd watched any good Bulgarian game shows! I guess that it all grew from my love of radio DXing, the satellite hobby is the modern equivalent.

[anthoney]

English so box set up error I presume.

The update by USB has several modes but I think I'll take my questions to coldasice's firmware thread ad I feel I am ******ing this one.

Thank you for your help.

[scrambled]

I started watching satellite in 1990. Where I worked the dish and Amstrad srd400 had just dropped in price to £200. So I got one, set the 60cm mesh dish up on a wooden post so I could move it from satellite to satellite. The engineer at my works then fixed a small kit so I could get 6.50 MHz sound controlled through the TV/SAT button. I received quite a few satellites of varying quality. Later on in 1992 I got a 1 metre motorised dish and this was controlled by a pace positioner. I was now using a Nokia D2Mac receiver and seperate decoder for ****. I had this for a number of years. When I left my parents in 1998 I left the hobby, but returned in 2004 with motorised digital system. All great fun receiving TV and Feeds. Euronet radio amongst others and being a TESUG member. I remember using a computer when returning to the hobby to uses keys to get football. How things changed. Great fun.

[far]

For me it started in 2002, when Eurosport lost the contract to show Champ Cars. I learnt ABMoteurs (then FTA) were carrying it so got an installer to swap out my minidish for a 60cm dish with Astra 1 LNB on a separate bracket. Until 2004 I was using an A/B switch and the dodgybox to get channels from 19.2E but I got a Skystar 2 second hand from that well known a*uction site for £33 second hand (bargain at the time). The same year I added Hotbird to my setup. Didn't go motorised until 2009 but been amazed at what you can get. Its not as much fun as it was even in the early 2000s maybe but, hands down, its still a fun hobby and beats Murdoch anytime!

[huston]

I have just come across this thread and really enjoyed a trip down nostalgia lane .
I am not a techie but I have always be inquisitive in communication equipment .
I guess it all started in my teens , in the 50's , I was given an old radio ( wireless ! ) which had good SW bands ,I rigged up an aerial from my bedroom and I remember picking up broadcasts clearly in N.Ireland from places as far apart as Canada and Ceylon.
Jump forward to the 60's living in Kent , BBC2 had just started , we moved to ***bria ,no BBC2 there , but I got a signal booster and picked up a strong signal from N.Wales with a large aerial , in good weather .
Then in the early 90's with a friend we set up a dish and had a box and we had to put codes into a variety of chips which we had to update nearly every day to get a good selection of channels , I think on 13E .
I retired in 1995 and treated myself to a motorised system . I really enjoyed tracking down news feeds , seeing how they were edited before transmission . One time I picked up a reporter in Scotland ,at the time of Dunblane , who before going on air he talked to his studio link about how he had phoned his wife to make sure his kids were OK !
When analogue became digital it was more difficult to keep up with new challenges , I have had Technomates , Spiderboxes and currently HiTech HD9000 , and changed my motorised system three times .
I have to say the information , and help , that you can find on-line , especially here , is what keeps me enjoying this hobby/pastime .

[Friendly-Face]

Nice reading :-)

I staretd back in 1989-90 and have been using sat since then
The first box was an Protek if i remember right, 1.5 cm dish and sharp lnb i think
i was mostly hntin new satellites from 45 w to 42 e and was amazed to what i did find, all the sat hunting i did manualy and remember that i was mostly outside near the dish then inside
later and since then i have had much fun with satellite equipments and still enjoy it to this day, even that in old days was more fun, with key hunting, card writing , moscing etc

Nowdays this are easy and borring :-)

[vamas]

My first set up was 1989 and I still have my 1.8 Channel Master going. Of course I have changed actuators a few times in the meantime. Have had several receivers, at least 15 of them. Now I am running a vu solo and vu solo se but am more concentrating on android boxes during these last 3 years. Sat viewing is still superior but good boxes are improving but still need some more time to catch up.

[necpl56]

Started with an old Amstrad receiver, then the fantastic D2Mac decoder, A French Philips ex cable receiver, Humax 5400, Spiderbox HD7000 and now a HD6000

[waverider]

I started in the Summer of 1983.

This was my setup:
Lenson Heath 1 mt Aluminium Dish
Cambridge Gold (0.7db) AE 31 Lnb
Jaeger SMR-128 H-H Mount Motor
Pace MSS 508 IP
Cable CT-100
ASTON-SCM MICROSYSTEMS-CAM cost £100

Satellite in them day's was a Satellite users dream