Current state of satellite hobby?

aceb

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I took my 1.2 Gib down during the Spring of last year while we had the roof replaced, since then it's been sat in the shed awaiting a service. The 1.8 is still in place but I've not used it for over a year as I couldn't get much to lock on it and I've not had the time to go through the possibilities. The 2.4 is in the shed but is only ever a temporary affair and for the last few years there's been no time to play with that one.

So my New Year resolution is to get everything back up and running as it should be but even though I dip into the forum each day I rarely see any posts regarding current channels or feeds so it's left me wondering if this hobby is dying with the ease of IP links, tight footprints and encryption? I notice the fastsatfinder site hasn't been updated since November 2019 so are there other sites that offer up to date transponder lists?

Who's doing what on Ku and C Band these days, is it just a case of not bothering to post here anymore or is there a lot less interesting stuff about to report?

Paul
 

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I think it is a general decline in interest, but others may have other opinions, when I took up the hobby in the early eighties, there was no such thing as personal laptops, mobile phones, tablets etch all of which have diluted interest in the hobby and I have to include myself in that loss of interest.
 

moonbase

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...Who's doing what on Ku and C Band these days, is it just a case of not bothering to post here anymore or is there a lot less interesting stuff about to report?

Paul


Of the UK based members, John, scopus, nelson b and myself are still posting C-Band stuff. Apologies to any UK members I may have ommitted.
Vipersan who used to post a lot of C-Band is generally inactive on the forum nowadays, his C-Band contributions are missed.

In Ku-Band there seems to be more activity with several new arrivals on the scene posting stuff recently.
There are still plenty of feeds around as can be seen by the number of posts on other web sites.
 

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For me, yes, the more i've got into the scene, the more stuff I see is out there, but the need for bigger and bigger dishes is aparent.

However - since moving on from DISEQ motors, and 88cm \ 1m \ 1.2m dishes, my interest has grown and grown - as has my appetite for dish size...hence my recent acquisition of the 1.8m - i wont go bigger, unless i move house into a mansion or someting (unlikely) - but there are plenty of feeds out there - however, you need to be a geek, and have the time and natural interest in the hobby though to make it worthwhile

To me, its just interesting, i may have arrived late to the scene, but i think theres enough out there to fuel my interest and to keep me busy for many years.

For me though, its only really live sports events that interests me, but channels from other countries also interest me, apart from USA shows dubbed in many languages which lots of countries seem to have acquired and show.

maybe once my 1.8 is sorted, i will gradually get into the cBaND stuff also, and hopefully join the top team.
:)

dont forget, this for me is one of the go to sites for feeds \ feed reports
hxxps://www.satelliweb.com/index.php?section=livef-
 

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Manikm909

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usually either in english with foreign subs, or in foreign with english subs.
 

moonbase

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Forgot to include in my earlier post above there has been a cheap new receiver arrived on the scene that opens 4:2:2 feeds, it is the GTMedia Combo.
The receiver costs less than £100 and although the 4:2:2 is not high quality it does at least allow the user to see what is on the feed.

There is a multi page topic on the forum covering the receiver and a few members have bought them from overseas (Ali Express, Bangood, GTMedia)


On the subject of transponder lists I think you can download the ini files from King of Sat. I am not sure if the same functionality is available from Flysat or Lygnsat?
Other than that, if you have a DVB card you can create your own by blind scanning a satellite with EBS Pro or Crazy Scan and saving the result as an ini fromat transponder file.

If you use an E2 receiver there are several sites that provide downloads of xml files containing satellite details and their frequency parameters. Forum member Huevos has an excellent site for this.
 
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Manikm909

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Forgot to include in my earlier post above there has been a cheap new receiver arrived on the scene that opens 4:2:2 feeds, it is the GTMedia Combo.
The receiver costs less than £100 and although the 4:2:2 is not high quality it does at least allow the user to see what is on the feed.

There is a multi page topic on the forum covering the receiver and a few members have bought one from overseas.
me me me!
its good for feeds too - has tricks up its sleeve in addition to 4.2.2

thread @moonbase refers to:
 

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This forum is much quieter than it was 10-15 years ago. Im sure the old hands can remember when we had multiple language sections and the Portuguese section was overwhelmed with posts for the keys for the Porto TV service. They never asked directly for keys of course - it was the quiantly named "flowers" they were looking for :D (For a while we had several Portuguese members on the moderating staff to keep that section clean)

We also had a busy Indian sub continental section that had great content about receiving satellites & tv services showing adult content for the guys with no naked women on Indian services. Locked down pay tv encryption killed the Porto section & wide availability of fast internet did for the Indian questions.
 

Manikm909

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i remember the GOLD / PCB card days....but thats as far as i go - i remember buying satmags advertising fruity channels using a D2MAC decoder on certain sats, i could only dream :) I had no money other than pocket money.

i do of course remember SAT1 and RTL on 19.2e showing some saucy stuff after 10pm! FTA! :)

1987 was my first entry into satellite TV on a friends SKY setup - DJKAT show on SKY1, and USA gamehows on LIFESTYLE channel (i think), and SCREENSPORT showing ten pin bowling amongst other random sports, think it then got wrapped in the dreaded MULTICHANNELS when it merged with EUROSPORT - and the CARTOON CHANNEL vanished, as did TNT showing WCW wrestling - ahhhhh the memories.
 

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i remember the GOLD / PCB card days....but thats as far as i go - i remember buying satmags advertising fruity channels using a D2MAC decoder on certain sats, i could only dream :) I had no money other than pocket money.

i do of course remember SAT1 and RTL on 19.2e showing some saucy stuff after 10pm! FTA! :)

1987 was my first entry into satellite TV on a friends SKY setup - DJKAT show on SKY1, and USA gamehows on LIFESTYLE channel (i think), and SCREENSPORT showing ten pin bowling amongst other random sports, think it then got wrapped in the dreaded MULTICHANNELS when it merged with EUROSPORT - and the CARTOON CHANNEL vanished, as did TNT showing WCW wrestling - ahhhhh the memories.
I used to do regular articles for What Sat :D

And there is another indicator of the declining state of the hobby - what magazines are left now? I dont think any are still available in the local high street shops.
 

Manikm909

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I used to do regular articles for What Sat :D

And there is another indicator of the declining state of the hobby - what magazines are left now? I dont think any are still available in the local high street shops.
yes, none - if there was, id still buy them

i think there were 2 mags at time - one showed the arc, and what frequencies were live per sat ....i sat there plumbing in the frequencies into my analogue technomate - i remember there was something, at one time, you had to fit a device in between the dish and receiver (to the COAX) to receive extra channels in the early days of SKY / FTA - a vague memory - not sure if that was 19.2e or when they switched to 28.2e
 

Analoguesat

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Your memory is correct @manikm909 It was when Sky analogue was at 19E - the Astra 1D frequency extender when the low band frequencies came into use.

These can still be used today to shift the amateur transmissions at 26E up into an easily receivable frequency! Im sure I had one in the junk box long ago - I must have chucked it into the recycling bin as I cant find the bloody thing now.
 

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Forgot to include in my earlier post above there has been a cheap new receiver arrived on the scene that opens 4:2:2 feeds, it is the GTMedia Combo.
The receiver costs less than £100 and although the 4:2:2 is not high quality it does at least allow the user to see what is on the feed.

There is a multi page topic on the forum covering the receiver and a few members have bought them from overseas (Ali Express, Bangood, GTMedia)


On the subject of transponder lists I think you can download the ini files from King of Sat. I am not sure if the same functionality is available from Flysat or Lygnsat?
Other than that, if you have a DVB card you can create your own by blind scanning a satellite with EBS Pro or Crazy Scan and saving the result as an ini fromat transponder file.

If you use an E2 receiver there are several sites that provide downloads of xml files containing satellite details and their frequency parameters. Forum member Huevos has an excellent site for this.
I still have a GT Media Combo in its original box if anyone is interested. I accidently bought two direct from China. So I'm open to offers. Please PM me.
 

Manikm909

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I still have a GT Media Combo in its original box if anyone is interested. I accidently bought two direct from China. So I'm open to offers. Please PM me.
lol - still trying mate
 

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I still have a GT Media Combo in its original box if anyone is interested. I accidently bought two direct from China. So I'm open to offers. Please PM me.
Has it a keyboard?
 

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This forum is much quieter than it was 10-15 years ago. Im sure the old hands can remember when we had multiple language sections and the Portuguese section was overwhelmed with posts for the keys for the Porto TV service. They never asked directly for keys of course - it was the quiantly named "flowers" they were looking for :D (For a while we had several Portuguese members on the moderating staff to keep that section clean)

We also had a busy Indian sub continental section that had great content about receiving satellites & tv services showing adult content for the guys with no naked women on Indian services. Locked down pay tv encryption killed the Porto section & wide availability of fast internet did for the Indian questions.
From my perspective it is just as busy as ever, though it is not just a hobby but feeds and clothes the family.

With regards to satellite the reception of domestic broadcasts has trailed off as the cartel has swallowed up the majority of interest from clients, though there is a reasonable amount of work remaining for foreign TV installations and upgrades.

I am however spending more time on fitting systems for the AMSAT service , or qo-100 using S band and out of band Ku frequencies in one package (though I've also been installing dual reflector systems, much cheaper that way).

Additionally I am also spending time planning and installing the Starlink broadband systems in rural areas around here, since the equipment is now arriving on regular shipments from the US.

In the New Year I should be able to put some detail of the above on the forum, just a bit busy this week clearing down paperwork.
 

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Manikm909

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NO no keyboard.
put it in the classified ads section - will go quickly i think (to UK members as they're not easily obtainable)
 

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put it in the classified ads section - will go quickly i think (to UK members as they're not easily obtainable)
For those of us keen on feed hunting there is nothing better. A long time ago I decided not to pay SKY or anyone else for pay tv services. This box automatically reveals the feeds once you've scanned a satellite. I can't be more precise or I would be banned from the site!
 
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