Playing with old technology - BSB Squarial and mini dish

[nanochickin]

After posting the pics of BSB squarial in the photos section it was suggested to me by analoguesat who has a BSB minidish to start a thread so we can discuss it, with the info benefitting everyone. The others can chip in to if / when either of us make a booboo. ops:

Good idea i thought so here it is.

Anyway to bring anyone who doesn't know what BSB is i'll quickly brush over it, or you can check out this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...e_Broadcasting

British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) launched in March 1990 on cable and April 1990 as a direct to home satellite service via the Marco Polo satellite, it was to be doomed from the start. It had been beaten by Sky, having launched in February 1989.

BSB had one thing on it side, it was the Government backed franchised satellite broadcaster, although this was to be no advantage in the end!

Things didn't go to well for BSB, finally being forced to merge with Sky in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting.

BSB used its own satellites Marcopolo 1 & 2 transmitting DMAC signals (Sky used PAL) with right hand circular polorization from 31w. Each satellite could broadcast 5 high quality DMAC signals although only 5 channels were ever broadcast. 2 on one satellite and 3 on the other. The other redundant transponders were kept for backup.


Prog Chan Service Frequency MHz

1 The Movie Channel 12091.90
2 The Sports Channel 11938.46
3 Galaxy 11761.74
4 The Power Station 12015.18
5 Now 11735.02
6 t.b.d. 11746.66
7 t.b.d. 11823.38
8 t.b.d. 11900.10
9 t.b.d. 11976.82
10 t.b.d. 12053.54

BSkyB could not legally continue broadcasting a service on both the Astra and Marco Polo satellites beyond 1992 because the Broadcasting Act 1990 prohibited the same company from holding both a domestic satellite licence and a non-domestic satellite licence.

Unfortunately Sky scrapped the better quality system in favour of the cheaper PAL system. Both the Marcopolo satellites were sold, 1 becoming Thor 1 at 1w and the other Sirius 1 at 5e.

The pictures below various BSB idents etc and also show the day it ended.

Anyway i think that covers it a nutshell.

I'm sure that it wont be long before myself and analoguesat start posting stuff regarding success or failure of trying to pick up analogue and digital signals using what is now obselete equipment.

[nanochickin]

A few more idents

[Analoguesat]

Heres my BSB dish - a mindish nearly 10 years before Sky thought of the idea! Will follow up this discussion later - its far too late to be thinking of none standard LNB oscillator frequencies tonight! Im going to find a large glass of whisky then Im going to get friendly with it

[nanochickin]

This is the picture of my squarial setup. I will start to play tomorrow if it stops raining. I will keep you posted.

Oh there is also a few more idents on the end of this.

[Analoguesat]

Ive got various info pages on my Analoguesat web site about aspects of the BSB operation:

General overview
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/...uesat/bsb.html.

squarials into the 21st century:
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/...bsbdishes.html

Info on dozens of satellites including BSB 1 & 2:
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/...omparison.html

[BGonaSTICK]

Hey, great thread.

Would you guys like to see a 'retro' section on the forum?

Speak up now, I'm not usually in this charitable a mood

[nanochickin]

Go on then Stick. Thats a great idea.

[nanochickin]

I can stick stuff on about my old Amstrad SRX-100 on to. You know the First ever Sky receiver. The one that only worked properly when it was just Astra 1a & 1b

And yes i know what your thinking. This guy really needs to get a new camera. ops:

[Analoguesat]

Originally Posted by nanochickin

And yes i know what your thinking. This guy really needs to get a new camera. ops:

I was thinking you need a new receiver

[nanochickin]

Dont be so daft. It still works and i can still get pictures on it. Not much point in replacing it as it only owes me a quid. As far as i'm aware Analogue's days are numbered anyway so i personnaly dont see any point in spending any money getting better kit. Its only going to end up in the same place as my Nokia D2Mac decoder which now resides at the local tip.

Very unusual though. Most Amstrad stuff only usually last about 2 weeks before it packs up.

The remotes in perfect working order aswell. I call her the wife