BSB dishes / squarials that are still in place

[timo_w2s]

Hmmm. Takes me back. I loved BSB. The quality and the look of the Philips BSB reciever - so much better than anything else available at the time. Having proper now and next info (in those days). That lovely stylish BSB squarial. Quality DMAC picture, digital sound.

Yeah, it was a good system but for me it was too boring, 5 UK channels and that's it. For me the excitement back then was the ability to pick up a couple of German channels and one Dutch channel, see some scrambled channels like FilmNet and trying to get a steadier picture using teletext to generate sync pulses, picking up "exotic" radio stations and things like Radio Luxembourg in crystal clear stereo.

To me BSB back then is what Sky Digital is today, something you get to just watch British TV on. Which is fair enough as that is what it is supposed to be for, but it didn't have the same element of fun and excitement for a freak like me... ;)

(Of course after the merge you could get cheap BSB systems for next to nothing, THEN it became fun so I saved my pocket money, got and it set it up just so I could pick up Sky One and Sky News for a few months...)

 

[DishDick]

Yes that reminded me. When I bought my Amstrad I also got sold an unofficial Filmnet decoder. Now what did I use to watch on that, oh yes p*rn! Oh and some good films, until they digitalised the audio. I also bought a cheap BSB system after the merger, but the picture went downhill when Sky got involved. I then modified that box for D2Mac to watch filmnet etc again. And I think I used to get some French stuff as well. Blimey I must be responsible for a large part of a landfill somewhere!

 

[timo_w2s]

I also bought a cheap BSB system after the merger, but the picture went downhill when Sky got involved.

I seem to remember there was quite a strong yellow tint on the Sky channels but I could be remembering wrong.

I also had FilmNet (and BBC TV Europe) but legitimately in Finland for a while. The same card got both channels.

 

[Telia]

I had BSB back in the days in Sweden, i actually bought a plane ticket and went over to Manchester after i found a small add in What Satellite mag to get a BSB kit home, after i set it up at home i called my friend in the UK to call BSB to activate the box as i registered the sub on his adress.

However the signal was so low in my part of the country that i had to use my 2.4m solid dish having a elevation of only 8 degrees or something, but the D-MAC pictures were brilliant.

Actually everything started going downhill when the first Astra 1A satellite was launched at 19.2E, Sky regrouped their channels and Filmnet and other channels were changed.

It was great back when you had two major satellites in 1985, Intelsat at 27.5W and ECS F-1 at 13E, it was xmas turning the dish manually to Intelsat and watch when the Premiere movie channel started in the afternoon, the receiver i had used two knobs, one for frequency and the other for audio.

Still it was alot of sparklies but it was paradise watching those channels as they were FTA at the beginning, we only had two channels in Sweden at the time so this was paradise, back then you could get the real deal CNN USA from 27.5W, today we have CNN euro with is a totaly different channel really.

And not too mention Filmnet first year they broadcasted it was totally FTA before they started some inversion coding of the signal, this must been year 1984 or 1983.

 

[totalacedude]

hahaha...
god i was 13 ish when bsb came out! thats what got me hooked on sats.

i still remember bsb's catch line .... 'bsb 5 channel tv' lol oowwwww as many as 5 eh!!!

buying a defunked dmac bsb decoder and chipping it to d2mac! used the squareial to.
had that pointing somewhere to get a music channel called 'MCM' that was used for ages!
and beeing a teen also using it for red hot dutch tv!
lol
;o)

 

[jasonlong75]

There used to be a BSB squarial on the front of the old Currys shop in the High Street in Blackwood, Gwent, it was removed when a clothes shop took the building over, a house about 3 streets away from me still has a Squarial up on it's side wall.

 

[Analoguesat]

Theres definitely on on The Bridge Inn & I think theres one up in the chimneys on the Harrow - both Gala

Thanks to Google Maps here a snap of the one one on the Bridge Inn in Galashiels

 

[nelson_b]

here,s one i,v been noticing for a while now -- thanks to street view i,v now got a picture of it
it,s in -- Manningham , (Bradford)

cheers nelson.b.

 

[2cvbloke]

I forgot about using streetview to spot BSB stuff...

Anyway, here's a couple I know of, first one is just round the corner from here, it's on the side of the Crown Hotel here in jolly* ol' Colne, sited next to an Astra 19.2e dish (presumably also disused, too high up to upgrade!!), still there even today, and the second one is on Colne Road in Sough (pronounced Suff as I have been informed!!), I usually look out for that one on the way to Skipton by Bus, not sure if it is still there or not...






(*slight exaggeration)

 

[Analoguesat]

Here is a rather sad, overgrown squarial round the back of the old Comet store - (next door to the big Tesco's superstore) in Galashiels town centre. This pic was snapped September 2004 and shows the dish rapidly being hidden by an elderberry tree


Its still there and increasingly overgrown.

I noticed a few days ago this one has been removed at some point in the last 6 months.

 

[aceb]

Here's another one, on a TV shop in Eastbourne. _http://tinyurl.com/3a9tokx

 

[timo_w2s]

There's one on a house in Stoke Poges, Bucks.

 

[totalacedude]

Seems to be alot in Stoke. Just in 1 street there is a bsb dish a squarial and an old old sky dish still up lolol I'll get pics....

 

[Studio Muppet]

Here's another one in Bristol (Avonmouth).

Also, this electrical store _http://tinyurl.com/49fnwrz located on the Gloucester Road in Bristol has only upgraded it's signage within the last few years, all the way through the 90s and early 00s it had a BSB logo (within a diamond) on the shop sign the bit above the door way, very prominent position!!

-Has anyone taken the spot at 31 West?

 

[Analoguesat]

Well 30W was reallocated to Hisspasat, and the UK got a new slot at 33.5W which is going to be operated by Hylas.

 

[proterra]

New forum member, had to join to share my pictures on this one. The Zone 2 mini dish is mine, have a look at what is watching over it... Must be a bit of a rare picture!

 

[Analoguesat]

Excellent.


One request though - we love seeing pictures but can you resize them before posting - anyone on a slow connection will have to wait AGES for those files to download.

Get yourself a copy of the freeware PixResizer

-http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm

Its a cracking bit of s/w - it can do batches of files if you need to, and its dead easy to use.

 

[proterra]

Excellent.


One request though - we love seeing pictures but can you resize them before posting - anyone on a slow connection will have to wait AGES for those files to download.

Get yourself a copy of the freeware PixResizer

-http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm

Its a cracking bit of s/w - it can do batches of files if you need to, and its dead easy to use.

Will do,
Thanks for sorting it out!

 

[Analoguesat]

No problem - thats what the staff are here for.

I normally use pixresizer to make the pics 1024*768. Thats a nice size for the forum - its a decent compromise between picture quality and file size.

I use it for setting up my Facebook photo albums - batch resize all the photos in one go.

Just make sure you work on COPIES of the photos - not the ORIGINALS!

 

[Studio Muppet]

Another one spotted in Bristol. Checked location at Dishpointer and it is looking at 31w