the lean years of FTA?

[toucan-man]

After HBO and others went encrypted, and once they had truly secure systems -- when the old days were gone for good -- what did hobbyists watch that was FTA? Did unencrypted signals come and go as they do now? What did the hardcore seek out with their dishes in those pre-DVB years? Was there always something of interest, or was there a severe drought of many years? Did everyone just throw in the towel? If you were there, what were those years like?

 

[Pismire]

They were wonderful years. I remember watching abc, cbc, pbs, learning channel and many many feeds. My Dad and I used to watch the Outdoor Channel every Sunday together. There was plenty to watch back then.

 

[Corrado]

Back in the analog days it was a bit easier to find the unencrypted feeds. Simply running through the 24 channels on C band or 32 of Ku with no scanning time required. If the picture was wavy, flip the polarity. Many publications existed that listed wildfeeds and schedules years ago.

I think today with digital there is more than ever.

 

[harshness]

I think today with digital there is more than ever.

I bet your wrong. Given the necessity and complexities of multiplexing channels, I'm betting that satellite is not as much of an option as it was in the analog world.

Internet streaming is surely the beginning of the end for the lion's share of FTA.

 

[cyberham]

This is a capture from March 2006 of what was available from the sky on C-band.
View attachment C-Band Channels by Interest.pdf
View attachment C-Band Channels Chart.pdf

 

[T4Runner]

I certainly have more than I need on C-band right now. Bloomberg news, shopping channels galore, old retro channels on METV1 and 2, Movies on REELZTV and THISTV, East coast feeds ( I am in calif)' and the high quality of most of the C Band except for that NBC channel out of Casper, WYO.... Lousy video...

 

[SatelliteAV]

True FTA did get lean as most analog cable network stations transitioned to encryption. Entire satellites went black and hobbyist predicted the end of FTA.

Certainly many, many, many more channels are available now than were ever available in the analog days! Remember that one C-band transponder could only carry one analog channel. KU-band transponders could be split, but it was very rare to find more than channel one on a KU transponder. Very few 24/7 channels were on KU-band. Mostly backhauls.

The mainstay basic and upper tier channels were mostly unencrypted..... That is what made the good 'ole days so good!

 

[AcWxRadar]

True FTA did get lean as most analog cable network stations transitioned to encryption. Entire satellites went black and hobbyist predicted the end of FTA.

Certainly many, many, many more channels are available now than were ever available in the analog days! Remember that one C-band transponder could only carry one analog channel. KU-band transponders could be split, but it was very rare to find more than channel one on a KU transponder. Very few 24/7 channels were on KU-band. Mostly backhauls.

The mainstay basic and upper tier channels were mostly unencrypted..... That is what made the good 'ole days so good!

AMEN!

RADAR

 

[Dee_Ann]

Way back when, when we had a C-band in the 80's & 90's, I remember we got some Canadian channels. I don't remember what they were, I think there were similar to our PBS down here.
And I remember seeing wild feeds. I remember seeing reporters smoking, cursing, digging out wedgies, picking their noses, using air hankies, etc... That was the most fascinating thing on TV to be honest..
That's about all I really remember of it. We subscribed for a time but the darn thing was broken more than it worked so there wasn't a whole lot of TV watching going on back then.
And back then I knew absolutely nothing about how anything worked. The policy was, "Look but don't touch".. So when it broke, which was often, it stayed broke..

 

[RT-Cat]

........And I remember seeing wild feeds. I remember seeing reporters smoking, cursing, digging out wedgies, picking their noses, using air hankies, etc... That was the most fascinating thing on TV to be honest..

I get a big chuckle out of the set ups also. Recently watched a gal reporter before she went "on air". She must have adjusted her hair at least 10 times, wiggled around in the chair, and did another "hair fix" then went live. Really lady, you looked fine when you first sat down.

RT.

 

[Conky]

a real eye opener

a documentary made with wild feeds

 

[WhyMe1]

I get a big chuckle out of the set ups also. Recently watched a gal reporter before she went "on air". She must have adjusted her hair at least 10 times, wiggled around in the chair, and did another "hair fix" then went live. Really lady, you looked fine when you first sat down.

RT.

What got me hooked on sat TV was a feed of a beautiful Japanese reporter doing the news in Japanese. During the commercials she would grab her makeup and mirror and touch up her face. Then seconds before she went live she would hide the mirror and makeup. So I was watching this for like 10 minutes and about to change channel and look for something else when another commercial break took place. This time she grabbed the mirror and started picking her nose! Maybe picking her nose isn't the right wording for what she was doing...... she was almost 2 knuckles up into her nose!!!! I've been hooked on sat TV ever since then.

 

[freezy]

we likely wouldn't have heard about Jesse Jackson's disdain for Obama if not for open mic news feeds

 

[Lone Gunman]

I get a big chuckle out of the set ups also. Recently watched a gal reporter before she went "on air". She must have adjusted her hair at least 10 times, wiggled around in the chair, and did another "hair fix" then went live. Really lady, you looked fine when you first sat down.

RT.

Seen John Edwards (former VP candidate known as the "Breck Guy") do this same stuff back in 03! ROTFLMFAO on that one, especially since he still had the wart on his lip back then!!! ;-)

 

[Lone Gunman]

we likely wouldn't have heard about Jesse Jackson's disdain for Obama if not for open mic news feeds

PRICELESS INDEED!! ;-)