I think it was!
Thanks.
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It surprises me that FTA cable isnât a thing even in the very dense urban cores. I can understand it not being viable in the outer suburbs where aerial reception is far more cost effective, but CBDs are notoriously bad for reception so I wouldâve thought something like that would be done by now.
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Youâd have to fight Foxtel on that one. No idea if Foxtel actually leaves anything unencrypted on their cable transmission.
AlthoughâŠ
This is also something that Opticomm does.
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Can you access blank sports broadcasts on satellite channels, like you can studio feeds of news programs?
occasionaly but the use of satellite feeds is dying. most use ip links or fibre.
I have never seen any big events - 99% of what i see (and my dish is only pointed at D2) is horse racing
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Have no idea where to put this but thereâs a few unencrypted audio stations available to listen to at the moment, most of them seem to be delayed ABC Radio feeds but there is a unencrypted âCentral Highlands Hit 94.7â feed named âSCA DRâ that can be accessed at the moment. Just using a standard config Foxtel dish with a ibravebox V8 Magic box and getting some good results.
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DR would be âDisaster Recoveryâ.
Maybe due to flood damage they are feeding the transmitters using this alternate link?
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I believe SCA uses satellite as a divergent path to shunt content around the country as a failover if their IP links fail
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Yep. They have redundant satellite uplinks in at least Sydney and Melbourne and there is IP links everywhere else. But I believe every bit of network content, even if not from Sydney or Melbourne still gets transported on the satellite link too.
Quite an advanced system with near instant failover if the IP or satellite goes down.
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Metro commercial TV used a similar satellite backup to restore an individual market if the fibre to the Class A transmitter site got cut. Rarely did they ever end up using it and normally the transponder is used for Sat ENG from their Sat truck or fly-away VSATs.
Most sites had the Sat receiver at the studio and a microwave link up to the the transmitter site. There was also a 2.6Ghz ENG receiver up at the transmitter site and it used the backlink to get video back to the studio from their link vehicles.
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For those who donât know, Optus D2 is at the end of its life and is being decommissioned in Feb/March 2023. It is not being replaced. Iâve alluded to this before in another thread. There have been no press releases about it, but everyone that broadcasts on D2 knows about it and are scrambling to work out where theyâre going.
I first heard about it in December last year from Optus. SES (formerly MX1 or RRSat), who rent a transponder on D2, sent out an email about it today. I think theyâre a bit late since so many already know about it. I believe TBS had already informed their customers about it.
Optus D3, which is co-located with Optus 10, and runs the Foxtel and Optus Aurora Digital (VAST and Narrow caster) platforms is also at its end of life, but will be extended with a fuel pod for another few years (I canât remember how many exactly).
Optus D1 will be replaced by Optus 11.
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Just got myself a new V8X sat Box off eBay to check if the Dish on the roof of the new rental I am in still works and came across SCA DR and wondered what the go was and when I did a Google search good old Media Spy popped up⊠Reading above it answers my question⊠pity SCA didnât have all the rest of their various feeds unencrypted, would make it good for people out west with nothing but sat
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There should also be some other unencrypted audio feeds around, some seem to be very delayed ABC radio feeds and some raw horse racing feeds of some sort, I hope you enjoy your new sat box!
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Yeah been it is a small Foxtel dish only picking up 156° and 160° it seems, donât seem to be able to quite get the SATs at 152° with the more interesting stuff
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Nice box. Should try swinging your dish to 166.0°E and pick up all those Nine Network channels and feeds! Might not be big enough thoughâŠ
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Going to buy a second hand portable VAST dish off Facebook or something and set it up in the backyard and have a play around so I am not messing with the alignment of the Foxtel dish on the roof
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Tried my 98cm portable dish out in the yard and couldnât even get a slight signal from 166E sadly
I did however have success with 152 and 160
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ABC (ABA) as in ACT, that would be internal for ABC Nortbourne.
The official callsign for ABC TV in Canberra is ABC.
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I have since played around with my dish over the past few weeks and had success picking up Intelsat19 and even managed to watch the Channel 9 stadium sat feed of the NRL Grand Final.
Have been having a ball playing around and as I write this am listening to RAW FM off D2
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