I'm burning data I want to keep on my computer onto disks so I can reformat my computer today. While I'm burning, I decided to glance at Slashdot. The first story listed at the moment is an article from MSNBC.com about U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed.

Reading about Telstar 12 and transponders reminded me of our old C-Band dish my father got about 9 years ago when we moved to Savannah. He had always wanted a satellite dish and when we moved here, he figured it was about time he got one. He really wanted the Sci-Fi network and Cablevision, our cable company at the time, did not carry Sci-Fi.

My family uses cable now. My father was content to watch stations beamed into the house from some dish located at 125ºW located directly above the Equator but the rest of the family would be bored. Plus, all the local stations never came in "in the clear" to our TV with our premium antenna. Finally, my mother decided to switch back to cable and we have used it since. It helped that the cable company finally offered Sci-Fi, the orginal reason for the dish.

However, the dish was still connected. We didn't pay for programming like Sci-Fi and Nickelodeon anymore. However, it didn't mean we couldn't get use out of the dish. On C-Band, there are plenty of free feeds on TV. My sister and mother would awake at 1 AM on Thursday mornings to watch ER before the 10 PM broadcasts. We would watch the national news feeds to local stations and listen to the reporters tell the main station that this location isn't a great place to shoot the story. I could go to school and come home in time to watch today's episode of All My Children on the CBC. Not only could we watch tons of English-language programing, we could find something in French, Arabic, German, and plenty of Spanish programing other that Univision. We could watch the NASA control room and see where Atlantis was located over the world.

The satellite dish hasn't been used in a couple of years since the gear used to switch the dish from one longitude point to another for switching dishes quit working. It's one of those items they'll get around to when they have a chance. And once in a blue moon, I miss it.

Posted by Shawn at July 12, 2003 12:32 PM in Entertainment, General.