Thinking about getting a c band antennae

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redlich
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Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by redlich » Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:51 am

Very new to c band and budgeting for an antennae. I am familiar with aiming the smaller ku dish but have some questions about c band.
  • How many TV stations will I get on c band?
  • Are there more feeds on c band or ku band? Can I get both with one dish?
  • Is nbc, abc, cbs available?
  • Is it worth it or should I stick to my sub?
I am sitting on the fence at the moment but I have started saving for a big dish. :bigsmile

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fatso
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Re: Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by fatso » Thu Aug 01, 2019 2:06 pm

Welcome to tvrosat!

Lots of channels available on c-band, but not necessarily the same ones you find in a paid subscription. The best way to think of c-band is like a basic cable package + tons of wild feeds. You will definitely get NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS and much more, including almost every diginet. Sometimes premium content pops up, which you can binge watch before it goes back to encrypted. At the moment, all the Discovery Channels are in the clear on 43W and I'm really enjoying them. :lol: The rule of thumb with c-band is that nobody knows when something new will pop up and how long it will last unscrambled. Some premium channels last for a few hours or days, while others remains unscrambled for years. It all depends on the program suppliers and the contracts they sign.

The other side of c-band is all the wild feeds. Most are transmitted unscrambled and there is a ton of it up there. Everything from PPV wrestling/boxing events to regular sports feeds and breaking news. The fun part consists in scanning and finding it.

I've been in c-band since 1983 and can definitely say it is worth it!! :thumbsup :thumbsup
12ft Mesh Dish
C-Band Enthusiast since 1983

zack
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Re: Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by zack » Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:07 pm

redlich wrote:
Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:51 am
Very new to c band and budgeting for an antennae. I am familiar with aiming the smaller ku dish but have some questions about c band.
  • How many TV stations will I get on c band?
  • Are there more feeds on c band or ku band? Can I get both with one dish?
  • Is nbc, abc, cbs available?
  • Is it worth it or should I stick to my sub?
I am sitting on the fence at the moment but I have started saving for a big dish. :bigsmile
Welcome!

Click on Satellite Charts above, then on each individual Sat for a look to see what is on each one!

I go there every day to look for the new finds!

redlich
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Re: Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by redlich » Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:40 pm

Thanks a bunch for your replies. I've been reading some here and did not realize just how many stations are available. I always thought c band had nothing left except c-span, hsn, jewelry and religious channels. :doh My sub keeps going up but more stations seem to disappear all the time. Just lost fox sports this week and not happy at all.

Will definitely try the c band dish and look forward to weaning myself off the sub. I'm also installing a televes antenna for extra locals. :smile:

redlich
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Re: Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by redlich » Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:44 pm

Do I need a ku band dish also or will the c band dish get both?

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Re: Thinking about getting a c band antennae

Post by Arion » Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:48 am

Without going into all the details a C-band dish can get both but most people aren't going to be able to manage it. For KU reception on a C-band dish everything has to be perfect as far as tuning and aiming and it's an incredibly tedious and frustrating process. And a big dish that does both is slightly detuned for C-band as the combo LNB that most people use that has both c-band probes as well as ku probes has a performance trade off.

For most hobbiests it's best to have a separate motorized KU band dish and C band dish and most of us [me included] started off with the KU band motorized dish as it's cheaper, simpler and easier to set up. I haven't tried to dial in my big dish for KU and have no intentions of doing so. I don't like frustration and my desire to 'tinker' isn't strong enough to endure the hassle. YMMV
10' Tek C-band dish, 1.2 meter KU band dish, ASC1 mover, Octagon/Zgemma/Edison dual band STB's. Running OpenPli on all.

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