A couple of gems from the archives.

Satspot

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During a search for old sat equipment I unearthed these two gems from 1997. There was mention in a previous post about Sat publications and the lack of them so this was a timely discovery.

On the left it’s self explanatory. The Satellite Book was a 270 page comprehensive publication on the subject of all things satellites. By the end of it you knew enough to become a satellite system installer. Needless to say I never gave up the day job

On the right was that infamous Tele Satellite International half German half English magizine. It cost nearly £8 in Ireland at the time. Fairly technical and in-depth featuring among other things Dr Dish’s Confidential Frequency List and letters page. One particular article titles What is Digital TV was a giveaway to the eventual crossover from analogue to digital broadcast. One ad was for a Pace MPEG 2 receiver with CAM priced at 1799 DM. Based on 2DM to 1 Euro that was one damn expensive digital box.
 

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Channel Hopper

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The one on the left must be earlier since I helped with some text on the 'Complete Guide to Satellite TV Theory and Practice' published in 1997 - 5th edition ?

I also met Dr Dish a few times , travelling once to his uplink studio from Usingen and talk turkey (and Lemons) on air.

It was a long, long time ago
 

Satspot

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The one on the left must be earlier since I helped with some text on the 'Complete Guide to Satellite TV Theory and Practice' published in 1997 - 5th edition ?

I also met Dr Dish a few times , travelling once to his uplink studio from Usingen and talk turkey (and Lemons) on air.

It was a long, long time ago
Indeed sir. Nothing wrong with your memory either
 

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Satspot

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Satellite life before Astra 28.2. The gang were on 1b,1e and 1f at 19.2 east.
 

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Tony Daly

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Christian Mass aka Dr Dish.
Remember picking up the feed for his broadcasts back in the day.
One of my first receivers was a Pace 500 I think.
Tony.
 

Satspot

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Christian Mass aka Dr Dish.
Remember picking up the feed for his broadcasts back in the day.
One of my first receivers was a Pace 500 I think.
Tony.
Had the Pace 500 too. A greenish/blue LED dot matrix display panel.
 

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Had the Pace 500 too. A greenish/blue LED dot matrix display panel.
There was a Pace 1000 as well but couldn't afford one of them :(
Can't remember the difference between the two Pace receivers ?
 

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There was a Pace 1000 as well but couldn't afford one of them :(
Can't remember the difference between the two Pace receivers ?
I checked back and in fact it was indeed the Pace 1000 model I had. As far as I remember the main difference was the 1000 had the facility for attaching a positioner and had larger channel storage
 

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Don't know about number of channels stored but I would have thought that would have been the same. The essential difference IIRC is that the 1000 had an on-board Dolby Pro-Logic amplifier and came with 5 speakers.
 

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Don't know about number of channels stored but I would have thought that would have been the same. The essential difference IIRC is that the 1000 had an on-board Dolby Pro-Logic amplifier and came with 5 speakers.
Of course. A way under powered Dolby system that I never used. There was an option for an internal positioner upgrade for those models so maybe that’s what I was thinking. I think the number designation on each model referred to the amount of channels they could store, 500 and 1000 respectively.
 

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A must have publication for the pirates back in the day. Again not cheap but I imagine some cut their teeth with the aid of this
 

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Satspot

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How many used this to print out fancy charts and footprints back in the day I wonder
 

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Satspot

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Another blast from the past just as we were entering the digital age of satellite reception. No mistaking the price list for the then emerging digital satellite receiver twenty five years ago. A kings ransom required for ownership of one. Note the prices on the now defunct D2Mac receivers too. Not sure if Techtronics are still around either.
 

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Satspot

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The Nokia Mpeg2 price tag would knock your socks off in today’s pricing.
 

ozumo

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"Faulty return rate between 25-30%, clearance sale - no guarantee £99" :lol:
 

Satspot

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"Faulty return rate between 25-30%, clearance sale - no guarantee £99" :lol:
Early days of MPEG 2 digital boxes. Early adopters became the crash test dummies. Some things never change
 

ozumo

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Early days of MPEG 2 digital boxes. Early adopters became the crash test dummies. Some things never change
PSND1 was analogue? Looks like the MPEG 2 early adopters had to pay Rolls Royce prices.
 

Satspot

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PSND1 was analogue? Looks like the MPEG 2 early adopters had to pay Rolls Royce prices.
They were certainly out of the price range of the ordinary Joe Average. Became an elitist sport for a while until the mass producers bailed in. The tin casings are worth more than the contents these days.
 

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Redundancy pay got me the Echostar 8700 - the earlier SR version, same price as the LT. No Scarts or UHF remote as with the LT, but coupled with an SMW 1.05m dish and actuator, was my workhorse for many years. MPEG2 came later with an Echostar AD3000ip, which took over dish moving duties, and still does.
 
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