Wonder how he was able to obtain permission and access from the building owners/landlord to install such a dish on the exterior walls of the building (installation looks like it would require the use of a swing stage or some other type of suspened exterior wall work/access platform along with the associated safety equipment along with safety training).
The good ol' days of unfettered Satellite TV. A neighbor (who no longer lives in Chicago) once had one of those huge C-Band Satellite dishes in his back yard. Didn't really know what sort of stuff he saw on his TV, though.
@@Raymund0 😂😂😂😂😂 My friend's Grand Dad had one and we use to sneak and watch the Playboy Channel as Pre teens and Teenagers.. God those was the times...
In those days some of the most popular satellites were the Galaxy sats, the Westar birds, satcom and anik (canadian) I also remember spacenet satellites. We got our first C band system back in 1984 and NOTHING was scrambled. I Loved to watch Lou Dobbs on CNN smoking a cigarette at the commercial break and then hiding it under the counter during the broadcast. Hell, even the porn channels were wide open. Oh the good 'ol days.
@@docrock66 me too! I wouldn't care what's on I'm just so intrigued on how it works.. I use to do that with Antennas back in the day.. At a certain time early in the AM you can pick up Stations from another state.. I'm from Alabama and I was picking up Stations In Atlanta and Tampa.. I was so shocked.. I know the Earth spins at a degree angle to make such a thing happen but man I was so amazed.. I'm still amazed to this day of it all..
Just imagine watching on an early round face CRT color TV (such as a 1956 or thereabouts RCA CT 100). or even a Philco Predicta or late 40's vintage round face CRT B&W TV.
This is possible, this type of feed called secontry focused dish.or travelling wave guide and at the end of the tube LNB is mounted. I also made similar one for C band
@@dimpsproductionsltd.2878 that isn't even possible now I don't think. If it is, it likely isn't worth the effort because it must be such a pain in the ass now.
thousands of channels out there now, but pretty complicated to get them. Check out some of my satellite videos. You have to buy a device about the size of a deck of cards, plug it into your computer, find the frequency, bit rate and other info, enter them in the program, then hope your satellite is tuned properly. Not as easy as just moving a dish back and forth. You can access C-band with a dish 6ft and up, and Ku band with a dish around 2ft and up.
It's crazy because during that time you didn't find many television sets that included a coaxial connection. Usually it was 2 terminal VHF/UHF connections.
By the mid 80's the new RF 75ohm inputs started to happen. Though given this guy's setup, he probably had to use one of those 75 to 300 ohm converters for that set.
We called those “The West Virginia State Flower”. Most of them were considerably larger than the one in the video. Growing up in DC, I was a little envious of those. In rural areas, they were everywhere. DC didn’t even have cable until around 1988, so we only had the big 3, plus Channels 5, 20, and 26 (the PBS station). I’m sure most of the 300 channels were worthless (unless you spoke a dozen languages), but it was something.
If only we could still get channels from other countries this way. Now, you gotta get a satellite channel bundle and all your channels are specific to your country.
@@ChristopherSobieniak In Europe we have Nickelodeon and MTV free to air on satellite. You need a 60 cm satellite dish and a satellite receiver and point it to Astra 19.2 East. We use Ku Band not C Band.
You guys missed out too. I knew a lot of people up in the Middle East who could watch a lot of the channels from the Far East like Channel [V] easy back in the 90's.
sushi dream I can receive free channels from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (but requires Thai set top box because it use biss key. Requires OTA twice a month) and also Indonesia (also use the same decoder) using KU Band. I get about 200+ channels for both countries (Indonesia is about 45 channels while over 160 channels from Thailand). Very sad that C Band was banned in Malaysia. But I use it quite illegally and get another extra 50-200++ channels from China, India, Pakistan and also Bangladesh. Normally I usually watch about 10-15 channels out of 200+ channels because I can't watch it all and maybe some are boring for me.
Also, Malaysia don't have their own free to air channels unless I get set top box + installation + satellite dish which costs RM355 whole life (another free 30 channels. Some channels require to pay and can't receive other satellite). While Thailand (I also own True Visions at home as well, other than other set top box I have used) can get KBS World and FOX channel for free. I owned 4 decoders already so far.
At least in Europe, you can still do this. I guess it's a different mindset... Pay-TV was never really accepted here, especially not in german-speaking countries, so most stuff is still free. All satellites combined, I can recieve about 1500 channels for free. The interesting positions in Europe are 5°W - 35°E. The most popular satellites are Astra 19.2°E, Hotbird 13°E and Eurobird 29°E.
of course it was legal, he wasn't decrypting encrypted channels without a paid subscription. It was all free-to-air. Not his fault if the providers where broadcasting radio waves into your house without encryption. He just simply picked them up.
He was just searching for FTA channels. People can still do that now. You've got a ton of feeds and fta on satellite. In Europe we have all sorts of sport feed on 7°E and 10°E most of them encrypted in BISS which has been cracked.
300 channels in 1985 was probably a hell of a lot of channels.
It is now if you have basic cable only..
@@victor.elkins lol. Yeah. The dude might be dead.
Oh cool, a furry
I'm here on this video in 2023 because I was just remembering 1980s satellite TV when you had to move the dish to get different networks.
He had a perfect dish with it's LNC at the backside. Nonetheless a huge one to enable C band reception.
Wonder how he was able to obtain permission and access from the building owners/landlord to install such a dish on the exterior walls of the building (installation looks like it would require the use of a swing stage or some other type of suspened exterior wall work/access platform along with the associated safety equipment along with safety training).
The good ol' days of unfettered Satellite TV. A neighbor (who no longer lives in Chicago) once had one of those huge C-Band Satellite dishes in his back yard. Didn't really know what sort of stuff he saw on his TV, though.
I'm sure it was plenty!
Christopher Sobieniak playboy channel
@@Raymund0 😂😂😂😂😂 My friend's Grand Dad had one and we use to sneak and watch the Playboy Channel as Pre teens and Teenagers.. God those was the times...
In those days some of the most popular satellites were the Galaxy sats, the Westar birds, satcom and anik (canadian) I also remember spacenet satellites. We got our first C band system back in 1984 and NOTHING was scrambled. I Loved to watch Lou Dobbs on CNN smoking a cigarette at the commercial break and then hiding it under the counter during the broadcast. Hell, even the porn channels were wide open. Oh the good 'ol days.
You were lucky. I envied those that did back then. I have a pal up in Canada that could pick up all the US channels that way.
Amazing that Lou Dobbs is still on television in 2019.
Various major league sports feeds (MLB, NFL, NHL) feeds were also available unencrypted from what I've been told.
The whole series was capped from Australian TV so if you look around you might come across it.
The guy seems more interested in the activity of picking up the channels rather than actually watching what's on them.
I think I would do the same thing!
@@docrock66 me too! I wouldn't care what's on I'm just so intrigued on how it works.. I use to do that with Antennas back in the day.. At a certain time early in the AM you can pick up Stations from another state.. I'm from Alabama and I was picking up Stations In Atlanta and Tampa.. I was so shocked.. I know the Earth spins at a degree angle to make such a thing happen but man I was so amazed.. I'm still amazed to this day of it all..
I'm in the same boat now, I try to receive weaker and weaker satellite signals, but I rarely watch them, it's a niche hobby and know a few like me
Ha of course he did that only as a hobby. Basically I do the same but for a lot of inmates as viewing audience.
@@dyalibya I do the same with a 10ft C band dish
Wow, now that is interesting in the middle of the 80s
I know! That's simply amazing!! WOW!!
Oh dear an modern satellite dish and an old black and white tv holy shit
Just imagine watching on an early round face CRT color TV (such as a 1956 or thereabouts RCA CT 100). or even a Philco Predicta or late 40's vintage round face CRT B&W TV.
Now that is cool!!! Makes me think about wanting to do the same if analog satellite broadcasts still exist.
It's digital now but it still exists. I get over a thousand channels on my big dish.
This looks like a blast! Too bad that it is not possible anymore.
That was a c-band thing
This is possible, this type of feed called secontry focused dish.or travelling wave guide and at the end of the tube LNB is mounted. I also made similar one for C band
Yeah Todd, only if you to try to hack into pay services like DirecTV, Dish Network, etc.
@@dimpsproductionsltd.2878 that isn't even possible now I don't think. If it is, it likely isn't worth the effort because it must be such a pain in the ass now.
thousands of channels out there now, but pretty complicated to get them. Check out some of my satellite videos. You have to buy a device about the size of a deck of cards, plug it into your computer, find the frequency, bit rate and other info, enter them in the program, then hope your satellite is tuned properly. Not as easy as just moving a dish back and forth. You can access C-band with a dish 6ft and up, and Ku band with a dish around 2ft and up.
what did he used to receive those frequencies on his TV? a set top box or some kind of frequency converter? that was just amazing hahahaha.
Early analog Satellite receiver
Well, the narrator was absolutely right. More television DOES mean more of the same programs.
Yeah.. he's right.. cause people will see what's popular and try to produce the same thing over and over.. So yeah it happens..
It's crazy because during that time you didn't find many television sets that included a coaxial connection. Usually it was 2 terminal VHF/UHF connections.
By the mid 80's the new RF 75ohm inputs started to happen. Though given this guy's setup, he probably had to use one of those 75 to 300 ohm converters for that set.
buzzydj - I wanna say that there were adapters by that point.
We had a top of the line 1979 Sony, it already had a coaxial connector.
he had to have a something to convert the signals to those frequencies. C band is 3.7 to 4.5 Ghz, but the TV will only tun up to around 850 Mhz.
@@mattcintosh2 It wouldn't matter anyways, as analog satellite used FM, while terrestrial TV AM modulation.
We called those “The West Virginia State Flower”. Most of them were considerably larger than the one in the video. Growing up in DC, I was a little envious of those. In rural areas, they were everywhere. DC didn’t even have cable until around 1988, so we only had the big 3, plus Channels 5, 20, and 26 (the PBS station). I’m sure most of the 300 channels were worthless (unless you spoke a dozen languages), but it was something.
not in the USA :) It's only illegal if you try to hack into pay services ( Dish Network, DirecTV, etc) but doing what he iis is legal!
Nice tube-type black and white RCA tv
I thought he was going to come across a picture of RonJeremy! 😂
That guy is like me in early 90s I had a 12 footer put up in back yard.
Dang, I'm jealous. I have a 10ft now. Wish I could find a 12.
If only we could still get channels from other countries this way. Now, you gotta get a satellite channel bundle and all your channels are specific to your country.
You guys missed out. I knew a friend up in Canada who could watch a lot of US channels like Nickelodeon easy back in the 80's.
You could always do fta g19 you will get a ton of channels and there from other countries mainly on that sat
@@ChristopherSobieniak In Europe we have Nickelodeon and MTV free to air on satellite. You need a 60 cm satellite dish and a satellite receiver and point it to Astra 19.2 East. We use Ku Band not C Band.
@@Nicholas_Chris Nice!
You guys missed out too. I knew a lot of people up in the Middle East who could watch a lot of the channels from the Far East like Channel [V] easy back in the 90's.
cable companies didn't like this and started not only scrambling their signals, but also making you pay a subscription for satellite.
you use to just have to move the dish around to get free channel from any country, now you have to pay for everything
sushi dream I can receive free channels from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (but requires Thai set top box because it use biss key. Requires OTA twice a month) and also Indonesia (also use the same decoder) using KU Band. I get about 200+ channels for both countries (Indonesia is about 45 channels while over 160 channels from Thailand).
Very sad that C Band was banned in Malaysia. But I use it quite illegally and get another extra 50-200++ channels from China, India, Pakistan and also Bangladesh.
Normally I usually watch about 10-15 channels out of 200+ channels because I can't watch it all and maybe some are boring for me.
Also, Malaysia don't have their own free to air channels unless I get set top box + installation + satellite dish which costs RM355 whole life (another free 30 channels. Some channels require to pay and can't receive other satellite). While Thailand (I also own True Visions at home as well, other than other set top box I have used) can get KBS World and FOX channel for free.
I owned 4 decoders already so far.
At least in Europe, you can still do this. I guess it's a different mindset... Pay-TV was never really accepted here, especially not in german-speaking countries, so most stuff is still free. All satellites combined, I can recieve about 1500 channels for free. The interesting positions in Europe are 5°W - 35°E. The most popular satellites are Astra 19.2°E, Hotbird 13°E and Eurobird 29°E.
You can still use an antenna to pick up channels in the U.S., you won't be able to channels from other countries though.
I've been looking for this series for a while. Does anyone know of any services which has a copy? Not much luck with Google.
I remember wondering at the time how they got all the presenters and actors and so forth into orbit!
This is interesting. Now I wanna do it.
My library once had a book that showed how to do it, very schematic and all that. Not sure if they do nowadays.
It's all scrambled digital signals now, just to stop this kind of thing.
@@anonUK not in Europe anyway. Many many feeds and FTA channrls running into many thousands but analogue was far more interesting
So he has a satellite which allows him to view 300 channels... But can't afford a colour TV...
Even Gordob Freeman has the best TV.
Cool video!
Satellite tv without a receiver
What? This was back then?
Look, he lives in the Projects!!
ابي اشترى دش 1994 في الجزائر 🇩🇿
What it didn't mention was wether what this guy was doing was actually legal or not!
The problem was that there was no rules governing this yet.
of course it was legal, he wasn't decrypting encrypted channels without a paid subscription. It was all free-to-air. Not his fault if the providers where broadcasting radio waves into your house without encryption. He just simply picked them up.
@@ChristopherSobieniak I don't think that was a problem lol
He was just searching for FTA channels. People can still do that now. You've got a ton of feeds and fta on satellite. In Europe we have all sorts of sport feed on 7°E and 10°E most of them encrypted in BISS which has been cracked.
Where's his receiver?
Sam DiSanto - All analog back then!
still required an analog satellite receiver though.
Back then, satellite TV wasn't scrambled.
Hahahahaha I love what you said about those pastors, such a crackup lol, those pastors are a bunch of negative whingers to my opinion
Only if he knew lol
rupert murdoch watched this too..and tht blokes diy satellite dish needs oiling.