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Is it still possible to pick up free OTA TV with a satellite dish, and what could you actually receive with it if you had one?

F

fordranger797

I've been wondering about this for a while. Remember the days of those giant satellite dishes that people would set up in their yard? And supposedly, they would bring in a strange assortment of random TV channels? Are there still dishes on the market that would provide this type of service?

I'd like to know if there are any examples of what you would get if you tried to pick up OTA TV on a satellite (that you actually purchase and own) in 2023/2024.
 
fordranger797 said:
I've been wondering about this for a while. Remember the days of those giant satellite dishes that people would set up in their yard? And supposedly, they would bring in a strange assortment of random TV channels? Are there still dishes on the market that would provide this type of service?

I'd like to know if there are any examples of what you would get if you tried to pick up OTA TV on a satellite (that you actually purchase and own) in 2023/2024.
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Definitely not like it once was in the 80s when people would pull in raw feeds of evening newscasts from the major networks, for instance, with the camera still on the anchor and him chatting with others in the studio and drinking coffee during breaks if that's what you mean. For one thing, most of the geosynchronous satellite systems from PanAm Sat and others from that era are defunct or have long been replaced. Also, for more than a few decades, much of the stuff that was once able to be picked up by most anyone with a "BUD" (Big Ugly Dish) way back in the day, now requires addressable transponders or specific hardware to pick it up. Lots of programming that was once available via satellite is now provided via the internet.

Most people in 2024 would likely have access to much more programming they'd be interested in by using a computer with an internet connection. As the guy in the video above alludes to, most people trying to see what they can pick up using a dish are hobbyists just seeing what's available using second hand equipment or stuff they bough off eBay.

I'm not sure how popular BUD systems were in other parts of the country, but where I grew up we didn't get CATV until about 1986 and many people in that area only pulled in 1/2 dozen OTA TV stations at most; many got fewer than that. The folks with BUDs usually had disposable income and were looking for other channels to watch and entertainment to view. With most everyone now having access to CATV, modern-day Dish providers and/or ISPs for streaming, the of wider-spread use of BUDs went away years ago.
 
Louisiana PBS is still in the clear as is all ION networks channels, including many NHL games, Mountan West college football games and NWSL and WNBA games. Galaxy 19 has many foreign language channels in the clear, and almost all religious and shopping channels are in the clear. It also appears that the CW is in the clear. You would need to be able to access both C and Ku to recieve these. So it's not the premium channels but it's better than nothing.
 
valvashon said:
Louisiana PBS is still in the clear as is all ION networks channels, including many NHL games, Mountan West college football games and NWSL and WNBA games. Galaxy 19 has many foreign language channels in the clear, and almost all religious and shopping channels are in the clear. It also appears that the CW is in the clear. You would need to be able to access both C and Ku to recieve these. So it's not the premium channels but it's better than nothing.
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I'd not be able to tell you now, but I can remember in the late 80s having friends who had the big dish, and all the networks were in the clear. When I worked at a TV station in the early 90s, late at night when we weren't using the one satellite receiver that was tuneable for sports or feeds of syndicated shows, there was a lot of weird stuff that was there. A preacher, Shepard's Chapel on 24/7, there were seemingly 176 shopping channels and of course newsfeeds. I once saw Sam Donaldson sitting at a desk. CBS was scrambled most of the time (East and West), NBC's Eastern/Central and Mountain feed was in the clear (Pacific was a "spot beam" and not receivable. Also, Spanish-dubbed Simpsons and Beverly Hills 90210 from one of the Mexican networks. I used to pick up one of the satellite TV guides from time to time for my DXing adventures.
 
fordranger797 said:
I'd like to know if there are any examples of what you would get if you tried to pick up OTA TV on a satellite (that you actually purchase and own) in 2023/2024.
Click to expand...
Very little that you might actually want to watch, unless you're into religion or foreign programming.

You can find listings of the feeds on LyngSat. The only domestic, English-language, secular networks I see are CW and PBS.

Lots of religion -- especially Christian and Islam.
 
I can't remember if they are still in the clear, but KRBK (Fox) in Springfield MO has been uplinked to C-Band for years. I think Montana PBS too (KUSM/KUFM). The days of Galaxy 5/Satcom C4/Satcom C3 are long gone, and all the cable networks are in PowerVu/BISS/DC2 encryption and home dish owners are not allowed to subscribe to them. Even a lot of the wildfeeds themselves have gone to multiple encryption systems, or fed via the internet.

I believe all of Mood/Muzak's feeds are still available on C-Band too, including FM1. Maybe 103 west? Or 105? There was a time when these were in SCPC or FM2 (Squared) format and you could tune them in with a special converter in the analog days.
 
CTV (CHAN-TV) Vancouver and CTV2 are in the clear on Anik F3 C-Band (119.0 W). CTV carries a lot of American network programs, including the NFL. The signal reaches all the way to Puerto Rico.
 
tvnut said:
CTV (CHAN-TV) Vancouver and CTV2 are in the clear on Anik F3 C-Band (119.0whej W). CTV carries a lot of American network programs, including the NFL. The signal reaches all the way to Puerto Rico.
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There was a time when I was working for that TV station when a satellite went out of service and everybody who used it was scrambling. Feeds usually scrambled were in the clear, and in particular was a Montreal French-language independent TV station that ran U.S. off-network shows and movies dubbed into French. I saw the Blues Brothers movie in French, The Adam West Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, Santa Barbara, Doogie Howswe: MD (Docteur Dougie) and many more.
 
Probably TCTV, which was the Cancom version of TVA, the Quebec French network. The situation might have been the Anik E2 failure in January 1994, solar activity-caused. It made everyone go to Anik E1 for 5 months and may have resulted in ITC channels for a while. At that time, WJBK/WDIV/WXYZ were still carried on Cancom (scrambled), plus CHAN Vancouver/CITV Edmonton/CHCH Hamilton.
 
crainbebo said:
I can't remember if they are still in the clear, but KRBK (Fox) in Springfield MO has been uplinked to C-Band for years.
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It was how they fed their 5-transmitter DTS. That went away with the repack, and so did their satellite feed. So it's gone.

- Trip
 
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