One of my friends has a house with an old 8-12' C-Band dish installation. They have the receiver, and possibly the remote laying around. I found where the cables come into the house, to hooking it up will be a piece of cake.

If this thing still works, is it still possible to pick up free analog channels? Can somebody point me to a channel guide, etc...? This is kind of dumb, but you would have to have a 4DTV box to do scrambled and digital signals, right. He couldn't connect the side whateveryoucallit into his ATSC/Clear QUAM TV and get digital signals, correct?

One of my friends has a house with an old 8-12' C-Band dish installation. They have the receiver, and possibly the remote laying around. I found where the cables come into the house, to hooking it up will be a piece of cake.

If this thing still works, is it still possible to pick up free analog channels? Can somebody point me to a channel guide, etc...? This is kind of dumb, but you would have to have a 4DTV box to do scrambled and digital signals, right. He couldn't connect the side whateveryoucallit into his ATSC/Clear QUAM TV and get digital signals, correct?
if memory serves me correctly you will need whats called an FTA receiver that will locate the unscrambled channels. the 4dtv receiver is a dish mover. there is a totally different forum that is dedicated to the BUD and should be able to give you all the info you need.
rviele

http://lyngsat.com/
There you will find out what is on every sat that is visible from your area. Lots of channels that are in the clear on C band are not worth watching unless you are into religion, the shopping channel, religion, oh, and did I say religion?. It can be fun looking for wild feeds that pop up once and a while.

What you can also do is buy an FTA receiver and a liner / Circular LNB for the KU band and mount it beside your current feedhorn. This way you can receive all the stuff on KU band as well (like the Nasa channel on Dish Network, and others if you have a sub. Infocom makes a nice LNB for this. The nice thing about this setup is that you can turn the BUD to hit any of the sats on KU band with absolutely no rainfade :) This would be a killer FTA setup as most people only have a 3ft dish for this.

..Just an idea for ya.Have Fun!
...HM

http://www.4dtvforum.com/

Thanks for all the suggestions. Their not interested in spending $. I just wanted to know if there was any analog kicking around on C-Band.

Matt-

The simplest answer is, if the system can be reconnected and the parts still work, then, yes, it will still receive some free analog signals. C-Span 1 and 2 are still available, as are religious and shopping channels as mentioned, and if it includes one of the (analog video, digital audio) Videocipher descrambler modules, it may even pick up Showtime, which was not blocked the last couple of times I ran my C-band system here a month or two ago.

if it includes one of the (analog video, digital audio) Videocipher descrambler modules, it may even pick up Showtime, which was not blocked the last couple of times I ran my C-band system here a month or two ago.Still, best I know, watching a subscription channel for free without permission from the provider (Showtime in this case), even without the cipher, is illegal and subject to Federal prosecution.

Still, best I know, watching a subscription channel for free without permission from the provider (Showtime in this case), even without the cipher, is illegal and subject to Federal prosecution.

By turning off its encryption, Showtime has effectively given permission for anyone who owns a videocipher descrambler to watch it. In fact, a decade or so ago, it was not uncommon for some of the popular, basic cable channels to turn off their encryption in the afternoon and turn it back on when the more desirable evening programming was being shown.

But don't make any long run decisions based on the avalability of free analog, videocipher Showtime. Showtime announced a drop-dead date for that transponder being shut off of February, 2007 and has probably left it on to help bridge some hotels through the digital transition. If a hotel only has one C-band dish, and if it is still using that dish to get CNN, Headline news, TBS, TNT, ESPN and ESPN2, it cannot repoint that dish to get the digital Showtime off another satellite, and won't spend several thousand dollars to install a second, large dish, so Showtime has kept that transponder operating, but it will soon go off without prior notice.

Did you say religion? I gotta admit, I'm actually surprised a lot of these religious outfits are allowed to say the things they are on television. People say there are extreme religions in the middle east, but heck you don't have to go that far to find them.

Back on topic. I've noticed a few local "new" BUD installations. There must be something on there worth watching.

Did you say religion? I gotta admit, I'm actually surprised a lot of these religious outfits are allowed to say the things they are on television. People say there are extreme religions in the middle east, but heck you don't have to go that far to find them.

Back on topic. I've noticed a few local "new" BUD installations. There must be something on there worth watching.

They're watching the BEST HD picture quality (broadcast) you will ever see. ;)

Puts E* and D* in the weeds. And a few are free.

IMO, a few dollars spent for QUALITY picture and hidden backhauls is worth it and is my hobby. Click on my sig for more info on c-band info