Not too hard, just have to keep eyes and ears open. A couple of months ago I came home with a brand new 10 foot unimesh perforated dis with a new actuator and a spare C-band mount. Cost, gas for a 500 mile round trip and a day.
Smallest C-Band Dish
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I'm using a 6 footer for C-Band. Only one I have ever had so I have nothing to compare it to. After everything I read about dishes I was, and still am, surprised at how well it works. I got this because it was being thrown away.
However, if I was going to buy one I would get nothing less than 10 foot.
However, if I was going to buy one I would get nothing less than 10 foot.
There is one 1/2 mile from me that the 85 year old widow said I can have. The only problem is that it is on a 20 foot pole attached to her trailer. My wife will kill me if I try to remove it.
I think you've considerably overstated the attraction compared to the "mid-80's". In the mid-80's you could get network feeds of popular TV shows days in advance and a large selection of sporting events (some of which are >$40 PPV today). Most all of that is long gone.
Back then, you could subscribe to cable channels fer cheap and that's gone now too. There's lots of content now but the appeal of said content can be pretty narrow and you certainly can't discuss it around the water cooler.
I don’t know what the C-band environment is like today, but I do remember the evolution back in the eighties. The excitement in the beginning was being one of the early adopters...when the providers hadn’t realized yet that we were online and seeing their clear transmissions. Within a fairly short period of time they started encrypting stuff and charging for subscriptions...each channel one by one. Eventually package subscriptions started to appear...the golden times were going away.
There were also down sides as the satellites were low powered requiring large dishes...hence many people experienced the notorious “Sparklies” effect. There was a lot of talk of Ku band becoming the next frontier, but by then the attraction was dissipating and I don’t recall that it really took off.
I am a nostalgia fan which is the reason that I still have an interest in Pioneer’s LaserDisc, Sony’s 8mm AV recorder and even 8 track and 4 track tapes in spite of their limitations and flaws.
There were also down sides as the satellites were low powered requiring large dishes...hence many people experienced the notorious “Sparklies” effect. There was a lot of talk of Ku band becoming the next frontier, but by then the attraction was dissipating and I don’t recall that it really took off.
I am a nostalgia fan which is the reason that I still have an interest in Pioneer’s LaserDisc, Sony’s 8mm AV recorder and even 8 track and 4 track tapes in spite of their limitations and flaws.
In 1983 I was US Army Satcom in Landstuhl West Germany. (after spending all of 1982 in satellite school) We had a FSC-78 (60 foot/7 story dish) and a GSC-39 (38 foot newer version). I used to hear from my friends in the US how great C band was as they laughed at me for maintaining a huge earth station and watching nothing.I don’t know what the C-band environment is like today, but I do remember the evolution back in the eighties. The excitement in the beginning was being one of the early adopters...when the providers hadn’t realized yet that we were online and seeing their clear transmissions. Within a fairly short period of time they started encrypting stuff and charging for subscriptions...each channel one by one. Eventually package subscriptions started to appear...the golden times were going away.
There were also down sides as the satellites were low powered requiring large dishes...hence many people experienced the notorious “Sparklies” effect. There was a lot of talk of Ku band becoming the next frontier, but by then the attraction was dissipating and I don’t recall that it really took off.
I am a nostalgia fan which is the reason that I still have an interest in Pioneer’s LaserDisc, Sony’s 8mm AV recorder and even 8 track and 4 track tapes in spite of their limitations and flaws.
In 1985 (after saying no to re-enlisting for 6 more years) I was sent to Honduras to baby sit a TSC-85 (10 foot Tactical dish with a van) I hated that last year with that 10 footer. Fast forward to 2013, my wife found a 10 foot Winegard for $75 disassembled and ready to move 4 miles from our home. I got it mounted in late 2013 and parked it on 116.8 for the winter. Fast forward to 2017. I have had more fun with this 10 footer than I ever would have imagined. I still work full time, so I play with it after work and on the weekends There is still plenty of interesting programming in the clear!Just my $0.02
Norman
There is nothing more frustrating than to be tantalized by a signal only for it to go out every time there is a cloud in the sky or it rains, or there is a breeze or a bird poops on the dish, or the Gods are in a playful mood. I would find a way of hiding the dish from the HOA rather then trying to make Cband work on ANYTHING less than 6'
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pnwdiver, speaking of LNA, back in the 80s they were 120deg. I noticed some today are low as 15deg. Now, I wonder if you have a 8ft dish, would you get a stronger signal.
With C-Band it is the bigger the better. There is still LOTS of programming ITC on C-band. I used a 1 meter KU band dish for 10 years. 4 years ago I put up a 10 footer and rarely use the 1 meter anymore.
Anything smaller than 6' is a waste of time and money. Just my 2 cents.
It really depends on whether the hobby fits your style. First off, i don't do pay TV. If you're expecting HBO, etc, buy Dish Network. But, if your like me, who likes watching some of the odd ball channels, who has access to channels that are not designed for main stream.. If you enjoy finding new channels pop up, if you enjoy watching feed channels where you can watch the news anchor chat with the camera guy and hawk a spit before airtime.. These are some of the experiences you have access too. Not to say there aren't some great FTA entertainment channels to watch too, but I often tune to some odd ball channel and leave it there for background noise and i find i learn interesting things, or see interesting things.
That being said, the other family members watch the C/KU TV a lot. My mother in Law is Hispanic, and there is a LOT of FTA Spanish channels, and there are a good number of KID friendly channels. But, the only reason they watch it now, is because i made it VERY user friendly. Being i hooked up so many fixed dishes, i have a large number of channels that can be tuned from 4 different TV's in the home, and can be channel surfed and pulled up instantly. I have an 8' foot fixed, a 10 foot fixed, and a 12' movable for me! The 8 footer would NOT be a good dish for probing. I purposefully have it fixed on a bird that has lots of strong transponders. There are LOTs of Signals the 8 footers CANNOT pull in. the 10 footer pulls in 99% of everything you would want, and my 12 footer pulls in 100%. This should tell you why so many people are telling you anything less than 6' is a waste of time, and i personally think 8 foot should really be the minimum if you want to be happy.
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