Some things you may have never seen before!

[coinmaster32]

 

[Anole]

In your middle picture, there's mention of a motorized dish mount I never heard of.
A buddy of mine could use one, so I did a Google search on: Nitec Advanced Technologies
I found it in a 1985 special issue of Popular Science.
Scroll back to the top to see some BUDs on the cover, including a Birdview.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I had sent to me a few boxes of old Satellite Magazines from the 80's, I got to figure out how to digitize them and post them, lots of cool stuff in there.

 

[turbosat]

Those are from the old Satellite "Bible" , I call it. Satellite installation manual, old but still has some good information in it.

 

[Panavision]

Thanks for these, coinmaster!

I was told by a person in the industry that polar mounts have an inherent error in their design in various points on the arc. It blew my mind. Now, if I could just afford an Az/El mount! Until then, I guess I'll just have to deal with the shortcomings of the polar mount.

 

[Anole]

all things are relative

Use the table of Modified Polar Mount Tracking Angles at the bottom of this page, for better alignment of your BUD.
I think the tracking error is trivial for an 8, 10, or 12 foot dish on C-band.
Now, if you had a 24 foot dish, that might be another matter.
If anyone has documentation to the contrary, please post it.

 

[stanleyjohn]

I had sent to me a few boxes of old Satellite Magazines from the 80's, I got to figure out how to digitize them and post them, lots of cool stuff in there.

Scott! If your computer printer has a scanner in it (many do these days) you can digitalize it that way.

 

[Tron]

I had sent to me a few boxes of old Satellite Magazines from the 80's, I got to figure out how to digitize them and post them, lots of cool stuff in there.

Would love to have .PDF files of some of the old Orbit magazines! It would be interesting to check the listings and see all of the premium channels that were FTA back then...

 

[Diamond Jim]

Going through some things I still haven't put up since we moved (18 months ago) I came across the book I bought when we got the BUD in 1983. It's titled: The World Of Satellite Televison- Buying, Installing and Maintaining Your Home Earth Station. Home earth station, I haven't heard that term in years. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I have to say it was better and a lot more fun back then.

This what we had, east to west:

Westar 2, 79w
Satcon F4, 83w*-The Playboy Channel
Comstar 3, 87w
Westar 3, 91w*
Comstar 1, 95w
Westar 4, 99w* -PBS
Anik D1, 104w*-CBC (3 time zones), Hockey Night in Canada
Anik B, 109w
Satcom F2 119w
Westar 5, 123w*-WOR, Disney, The Nashville Network[/]
Comstar 4, 127w
Satcom F3R, 134w*[/B]-Nickelodeon, ARTS, PTL, WGN, Movie Channel, WTBS, ESPN, CBN, USA, Showtime E & W, MTV, HBO, CNN & Headline News, Cinamax E & W
Galaxy 1, 134w*
Satcom F1R, 139
Satcom F5, 143w

All of these satellites had feeds but these *were the big boys that had all of the scheduled programing on them. The channel list went on for ever, or so it seemed. F4 had the Playboy channel in the clear, that was something else. I had an MTI dish mover that had a keyboard with all of the satellite names on it and numbers 1 thru 8. When you found the satellite you wanted to store you pressed and held the name and number until it blinked. When you wanted to go to that location you just pressed the name and number. A KLM receiver that had a dail with numbers 1 thru 24 and a big knob that was turned like an old time radio dial and a toggle switch to change polarities. Real scientific.

 

[Tron]

Interesting to see the names of the various satellites at familiar orbital positions. Looks like the Anik satellites of that time were close to where the new ones are now, but in slots where satellites are no longer parked (104W and 109W).

 

[coinmaster32]

Il have to dig around. I have a sat map from 83, hand drawn in a satellite system book. If I can find it il post it.

 

[Blindowl1234]

I remember the good ole days lol....lots of free stuff in those days. Coinmaster I love the different dish shapes. I want the one in the last pic...Blind

 

[coinmaster32]

Your in luck!

 

[Conky]

I'm sure somebody already posted this site but it's worth posting again
Museum of vintage satellite receivers. BSB squarial, SCT Chaparral Monterey, Coship blind search.

I always wanted a cband system as a kid but they were about $2000. I remember guys had dishes on the back of a little trailer, doing demos at malls, plowing matches, wherever

As a sidenote look at how attractive those receivers were. Built like a tank and made to last I'd bet.

 

[trinidex]

I'm sure somebody already posted this site but it's worth posting again
Museum of vintage satellite receivers. BSB squarial, SCT Chaparral Monterey, Coship blind search.

I always wanted a cband system as a kid but they were about $2000. I remember guys had dishes on the back of a little trailer, doing demos at malls, plowing matches, wherever

As a sidenote look at how attractive those receivers were. Built like a tank and made to last I'd bet.

I had a BSB system when I was in the UK, before Sky bought them and became BSkyB

 

[classicsat]

Those are mostly British/European receivers, although some might have been American too. I would like somebody to do a museum of American TVRO recevers, or at least a history page.

 

[Panavision]

Good call, Anole! The person who told me this is definitely accustomed to working on HUGE earth stations. At least, huge to us!