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Posted on 12/04/2005 6:42:16 PM PST by Stultis
Dishing it out
Man beams 5,000 radio, TV channels with a dozen satellite receiversBy Amelia A. Pridemore
Register-Herald Reporter
Are 20 movie channels on demand just not enough?
Do constant reruns of “I Love the ’80s” on VH1 have you ready to gouge out your eyeballs?
Then come to Al Jessup’s house — where his 5,000-plus radio and television stations from around the world beamed in by his 12 satellite dishes are bound to keep you entertained somehow.
Since 1998, the Beckley resident has amassed a collection of 12 dishes around his James Street home. He said he first just began subscribing to Direct TV and Dish Network, but he later learned that by purchasing special satellite receivers he could receive “free to air” programming from several different satellites swirling the globe. The information on how to adjust a dish and set up a receiver to pick up programming from these stations such as Galaxy 10, AMC 2 and Telestar 5 is included with these receivers.
“Up in the sky, there’s lots of free stuff,” he said.
Over the years, the 54-year-old disabled former ice cream salesman collected more and more dishes so he could pick up more and more “free to air” channels. Neighbors, he said, never complained about his large display of dishes in front of his house. In fact, some of his dishes were hand-me-downs from his neighbors.
The last time he counted, he received more than 5,000 channels. He has stopped counting since.
Now, he picks up local stations from Wyoming, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and Ohio, he said. Being a former resident of both Tennessee and New Orleans, he does like to watch the local news from there, just to see what is happening.
“New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, you name it,” Jessup said. “I get everything but Alaska. But if I pointed something toward Alaska, I’d probably get Alaska.
“... I can scoot one over and see what’s going on in Ohio ... or the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
His Beckley home would likely rival most government communications centers. Not only does he pick up stations from across the country, but across the world as well. He picks up stations from Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Jerusalem and other foreign locations.
“Sometimes they speak English, and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “You never know.
“It’s just interesting to watch stations from far away.”
In his home, Jessup has three television sets, and only one gets the plethora of stations. The other two, he said, just receive his programming from his Direct TV and Dish Network subscriptions.
Because the programming is free, it changes regularly, he noted. Sometimes, a program he likes will disappear and something he dislikes will be put in its place, or vice versa. For example, he once had three ABC stations from Wyoming only to have it reduced to one.
“One day it may be here, the next day it may be gone, the next day it may be back,” he said. “You never know.”
Jessup said some programming includes things he likes, like racing or music, and some of it is, well, “weird.”
Soon, he plans to add a 13th dish to his collection, he said. He may later get a “fancy” satellite dish that is basically like 16 dishes in one. This could eliminate some of the dishes outside his house — or enable him to get even more channels.
“I could point them toward the east where there’s a bunch of satellites running around,” he said. “I don’t know what I would get there.”
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5,000 channels and still nothng on!
The state flower of West Virginia is in full bloom, I see.
That's not just watching tv: That's a hobby.
I wonder what kind of receivers hw uses to view those channels.
ok. You win.
At least he's not stalking some little chickadee!
I had one of those large, movable dishes on my roof from 1990-93. A storm blew it down and ruined it, cost too much to replace. But during the time I had it, it picked up many interesting things, such as uncensored coverage of the 1st Gulf War and the L.A. riots.
That's a touch much. that guy's porch looks like a mushroom farm.
I have a ten foot movable dish with a C & Ku lnb. I can get nearly that many alone. I'm going to add an MPEG2 Free-to-Air dish to pick up some things no longer available on C-band systems such as NASA Select. Also, when there's bad weather here in Memphis, I'll be able to move the smaller dish to another city's affiliate that is carrying the program I'm watching sans the weather crawls and warnings. You see, I like as few view-obstructing graphics as possible.
Get over here.
< |:)~
I wonder what he could do with one of my 60 foot dishes? LOL!
thanks for the info. the image of the big and small dishes was sort of how I am planning to plant the Free-To-Air dish. I've never heard of StarBrand before. I'll do more reading about it. The FTA system I'm looking at was found a Skyvision.com. It's a Pansat 2700A MPEG2 FTA reciever w/a 3 foot movable dish. Pick up a few hundred more channels. More is never enough. Two dishes will do. I'm not going to turn my yard into a smaller version of NRAO's Very Large Array dish farm near Socorro, New Mexico.
StarBand is a consumer-grade internet broadband service, although I use the term 'broadband' with some reservations. The SkyVista stuff is far better, but the gear's more expensive. Since bot hStarBand and SkyVista transmit as well as receive, it's a bigger pop for that kind of gear.
If all you're doing is receiving, check out the Andrew Corp type 100 and type 100 satellite dishes. Good stuff.
LOL. The picture reminds me of the kids who stuff $5,000 worth of stereo and sound equiptment into a 1973 Vega worth about $300.
Those were the network feeds. A friend had one of those behemouths in his yard, and it was always a hoot to watch those feed stations. You got to see what all went on during commercial breaks during the evening news, sporting events, morning shows....anything the network did live. I think someone got into trouble for saying some things he shouldn't have said on one of the feeds as well. For some reason I think it was Al Michaels, but I very well could be wrong.
It was some anchorwoman who called CBS (Cheap Broadcasting Service).
Corin's secret is out ping.
I beg your pardon. I am NOT from West Virginia.
LOL!
You beat me to it!
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