From: lesnyd@monsanto.com (Larry E. Snyder)
Subject: Re: CATCHING A DOWNLINK
Organization: DSC
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:05:34 GMT

In article <719144869.0@fquest.FidoNet>, Omega.Man@fquest.FidoNet.Org (Omega Man) writes:
> 
> 
>  > Heck, if you can put together a cheapo system for a hundred bucks, 
>  > it might be worth it for a real STTNG fan!
> 
> ...actually, the major cost elements of a decent dish receiver system are
> the LNA (the "horn" at either the base or the point of the dish, depending
> on the design) and the actual downconverter itself (looks sort of like
> a VCR without the slot for the tape, in most cases).

Um, I don't know where you got your information, but the feedhorn is NOT the
LNA, and no one uses LNAs anymore, they use LNBs...

A C-band feedhorn can be had for $100 (I think, it's been a long time) and
I'll bet your local satellite dealer has a pile of old C-band feedhorns that
were traded in when the user went to dual-purpose feedhorns that handle
both C and Ku band. A good C-Band LNB, brand new, is $100. Again, you could
probably scrounge a higher-temp one much cheaper than that.

In modern satellite systems, there is no "downconverter." That used to be
a separate little box at the dish that converted the 5-6 gigaHertz frequency
from the satellite to a more reasonable 70 megaHertz for transmission through
a coax back to the receiver in the house. The new LNBs have the downconverter
built right in, and send the transmission to the house at a frequency below
the 5-6 gHz but higher than the old 70 mHz. The thing you are describing is
a receiver, not a downconverter. Cheap brand new ones can be had for $200-$300.
Used ones probably cheaper. This is a BASIC receiver, no discrete stereo,
no Videocipher II descrambler. You can always figure $400 for a descrambler.
If your mono receiver has a baseband output connecter, you can get a stereo
processor for $40 from Shop At Home that will give you discrete stereo.

I wouldn't try to BUILD a dish - shoot, some folks are trying to GIVE them
away, and new ones are't that expensive.

> 
> The dish itself can actually be made with relativly little cost, percentage
> wise. In fact, I've seen plans for a C and Ku-compatible dish that's made
> from - get this - screen door parts.
> 
> This isn't a joke, either. Hams have been tinkering with screen door 
> antennas for years, and the ARRL reportedly has recorded a moonbounce with
> the receiving dish being made from a screen door tuned for 2m ops!
> 
> ...be aware, however: a LOT of the serious stuff one would want to watch
> these days is scrambled (*). The only things I can state right off the bat
> that aren't are:
> 
> Paramount Syndication feeds (including TNG, ET, Limp Copy)
> Syndilink feeds (Jerry & Joan Rivers)
> The Sci-Fi channel (no shit! it's NOT scrambled!)

For the time being - after 1 year (Next September) they WILL scramble.

> The Nostalgia channel

Yeah! Ben Casey at 10 pm (CDT) nightly, followed by Combat!

> NASA Select
> CBS Regional Newsnet feeds
> CNN/Group W Syndicated news feeds
> Most of the CBC's programming (they USED to show Prisoner reruns on Anik)

CBC also shows Avonlea, which you pay big bucks for on Disney, as well as
MANY of the specials that appear on the Disney Channel. Also, Star Trek:TOS
is on CBC every night at 10 pm CDT.

> 
> One suggestion, if you own a dish, is to grab a copy of _Orbit_. Be aware,
> however, that I've found _Orbit_ not to be as comprehensive as one might
> expect. They don't list syndicated movie package feeds - which is not
> denounceable, since most of those feeds are "spur of the moment" - nor do
> they list transponders & birds for "raw" news feeds and anything else that
> a dishdigger would catch just for grins.
> 
> I truly suspect that the reason they leave out some of those "miscellaneous"
> feeds is not so much due to space, but to leave the sense and thrill of
> exploration for the dishdiggers. However, my complaint about that is that
> those rotors are damn expensive to replace when you've burned them out
> shooting back and forth between Satcom F2R and Telstar 303 several times
> a night looking for new signals :-(
> 
>                                                         OM
> 
> (*) One of the interesting things about scrambling is that according to
> the basic FCC rules, only the Federal government is allowed to scramble
> any signal. Everything else is supposed to be easily received to help
> prevent transmission of illegal and/or subversive signals.
> 
> Of course, nobody's challenged this rule yet...
> 
> 
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