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Old 19th Nov 2018, 7:27 pm   #1
G6Tanuki
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Default BSB Squarials in the wild!

Many people here are contributing to the thread of old 405-line Band-I/Band-III 405-line antennas.

But who of you can point out late-1980s legacy "British Satellite Broadcasting" Squarials in the wild? I think they're much more of an extinct species than 405-line antennas even though they're decades newer.

I know of only one - pictures attached. It's to the north side of the main A4 through Thatcham.

/////////[Ponderings: British Satellite Broadcasting - BSB - assumed that only its D-MAC technology could deliver a sufficiently-strong signal to antennas that would not need to be granted individual planning-permission in a domestic setting. They went ahead on this based on the 'Squarial' that threoretically gave the receiver-end gain needed to work with a non-planning-permission antenna. Sky realised that if they rented a rather-powerful satellite they could deliver a good signal to terrestrial receivers using a small dish and PAL technology - so they could roll-out kit to consumers cheaply. The 'Squarial' technology was difficult to implement at a market-friendly price, meaning it was late-to-market: also the BSB people were reluctant to let what they perceived as 'bottom-end' manufacturers of decoders like AMSTRAD take out licences for their tech. Add in the consideration that BSB were lacklustre in terms of licensing "Must-have" program-content [meaning football] and they soon hit the point where income-from-subscriptions was spectacularly-less than the interest on the loans their investors had taken out to fund their initial play. Sky - their competitors - had serious long-term financial backing - and first-division/premier-league football viewership to support it. So they could happily run their operation for a decade without needing to show a profit]//////


Anyione else know of BSB "Squarials" in the wild??
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 7:54 pm   #2
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

I never saw many when they were in use, I was always under the impression that the reduced size of the Squarial receiving enough signal was due to the satellite having few channels, what power was available spread among 5 or 6 channels. Sky had 16 channels and required a better dish with each channel having less power.

Public then deciding which they preferred, which appeared to be Sky from the dishes I saw installed.

Not that I had either at that time.
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:16 pm   #3
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

BSB also offered a tiny offset dish as an alternative to the squarial.
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:19 pm   #4
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

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Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
BSB also offered a tiny offset dish as an alternative to the squarial.

That I never saw. Can you point me at any photos??/
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:23 pm   #5
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

I freind of mine, now long dead, acquired a squarial when they came out, but unfortunately didn't retain it once they were no longer functional.
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:25 pm   #6
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

I think that two things are getting confused here. Back in the early 80s when direct to home satellite broadcasting was first conceived, the receiving technology was quite primitive. Something like 250W per channel was necessary for reception. There was an agreement that satellite broadcasting would be in MAC. Because only high power satellites were suitable, the agreement said that high power satellites were restricted to broadcasting MAC. PAL wasn't allowed. Medium and low-power satellites weren't mentioned.

Things being what they are, direct broadcasting got very delayed. UNISAT which was supposed to be the British DBS was cancelled by Thatcher because it was too expensive. BSB took over doing it privately but didn't get going until the late 1980s. In the meantime technology had improved so much that direct reception was now possible with medium power satellites, around 80W per channel. Astra realised that it could buy an off-the-shelf satellite with 16 80W channels and broadcast in PAL as there was no restriction to the broadcast standard for medium power sateiiltes. People didn't need to buy new TVs to receive the broadcasts. Astra 1 was launched and could be received with cheap Amstrad boxes. BSB still wasn't operational at the time.

The main point about the squarial was that it could be steered electronically by varying the phases between it's elements. You didn't need to point it at the satellite. You could just turn a pot and receive from different directions. It was technically difficult to implement and wasn't ready when BSB went on the air. However BSBs failure had nothing to do with the squarial. Initially BSB used parabolic dishes just like Astra. The problem with BSB was that it was just too late. By the time BSB MAC receivers became available everyone was receiving Astra in PAL. Astra had more channels (16) than BSB (3) so why would anyone want to waste money on a BSB receiver? The German TV-Sat and the French TDF suffered the same fate for the same reason.
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Last edited by bluepilot; 19th Nov 2018 at 9:35 pm. Reason: Added last sentence.
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:49 pm   #7
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

Pragmatically, I think that UNISAT and its compatriots were rightly killed-off because they were expensive technology-overreach and [aided by spectacular improvements in low-noise amplification technology at customer-friendly prices] the commercial world decided that straightforward PAL from a rented Astra satellite could deliver a service at a price they could get enough consumer-subscriptions to make it worthwhile.

BSB were - like you say - late to the game. And overpriced for the content they had to offer.

[From memory, BSB only licensed their D-MAC decoder-box technology to 3 companies - all at the high-end of the marketplace and none of them in a position to produce large volumes at low prices - meaning they couldn't hope to rapidly get a good rollout. There's a good discussion of this in Bussey's "The Setmakers" book]

History being what is is, I view BSB as an interesting but financially-wasteful diversion up a technological dead-end. Kinda like Betamax and V2000 were to the video-recorder game.

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Old 19th Nov 2018, 9:55 pm   #8
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

In the late 80s, I worked at a local TV shop in Slough doing Audio repairs. I paid my deposit and waited for my BSB equipment to arrive. Little did I know, by the time I got it, BSB had been swallowed up by Sky. We had Cable TV and I objected to paying extra when I could only get one channel at a time. When the equipment arrived, I asked about installation. Your joking, the manager said. Do it yourself. I said I don't have any gear to set it up. He said "You don't need any". "Can you shine a torch at your chimney?" Its easy. So I had a go. It WAS so easy. I got a strong signal within seconds and phoned BSB to get the picture unscrambled. She asked me about the installation, I said I'd done it myself. She said " Where is the Squarial?". I said, "I've propped it up on a pile of bricks on the patio". She nearly fell off her perch. I could hear her laughing and telling her colleague what I'd done. Anyway, she switched it on and the picture/ sound were perfect. The FIVE channels were better than Sky especially the MOVIES. Eventually, I had to give it all back in exchange for a Sky system.
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 11:44 pm   #9
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

There's still a Squarial high on a wall of Debenham's in Stockport, along with an analogue Sky dish.

BSB managed to get the exclusive rights for some sports, including some cricket that wasn't scheduled until after the Sky takeover.

When the Squarials were being sold off cheap a lot were bought by Asian families to watch this cricket, or so I've been told!
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 12:18 am   #10
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

We installed BSB systems (Ferguson and Philips) and they were excellent - cleaner pictures than the PAL FM system employed by SKY, and the squarials were really neat. I even had a system at home. When they went bump I used the squarial (with a conventional 10 GHz LNB in place of the original one) on the 10 GHz (3cm) amateur band with good results.
The last squarial in the wild around here was on a council house opposite Audenshaw Grammar School, and the last mini-dish was on the side of a pub in Woodley. Both were removed a year or two ago.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 1:31 am   #11
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
BSB also offered a tiny offset dish as an alternative to the squarial.
That I never saw. Can you point me at any photos??/
Looks like there were two dishes offered not just one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squarial

I can't say I've ever seen the one with straight sides.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 1:53 am   #12
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Moll View Post
I freind of mine, now long dead, acquired a squarial when they came out, but unfortunately didn't retain it once they were no longer functional.
Bill Wright has a story about Squarial technology on his website. Embellished? Well I couldn't possibly say, but I offer it anyway as an amusing read.

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/stories...squarial.shtml
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 2:46 am   #13
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

I can recommend the Dished book, a very entertaining read.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 12:15 pm   #14
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Many people here are contributing to the thread of old 405-line Band-I/Band-III 405-line antennas.

But who of you can point out late-1980s legacy "British Satellite Broadcasting" Squarials in the wild? I think they're much more of an extinct species than 405-line antennas even though they're decades newer.

I know of only one - pictures attached. It's to the north side of the main A4 through Thatcham.

Anyione else know of BSB "Squarials" in the wild??
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=108113
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 1:57 pm   #15
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Default Re: Squarials in the wild!

There's one still attached to a chimney on a house in Station Road, Caldicot, Monmouthshire. I'll try to get a picture the next time I'm passing.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 3:12 pm   #16
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Default Re: BSB Squarials in the wild!

Here is a couple of pictures of my BSB Squarials along with the Ferguson box that accompanies them.


I used to sell them back in the day but if memory serves I only maybe sold about 20 or 30 compared to Sky boxes which numbered in the high 100s for myself.

I still have a brand new boxed BSB Unit in the loft which was new old stock I was given many years ago.


As you see from the picture, the two dishes are quite different.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 5:14 pm   #17
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Default Re: BSB Squarials in the wild!

Several Non-BSB posts removed, please keep on topic
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 6:38 pm   #18
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Default Re: BSB Squarials in the wild!

I recognise those two dishes I passed on.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 7:11 pm   #19
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Default Re: BSB Squarials in the wild!

I may be wrong, but is not the Squariel circularly polarised?
I recall they could be used with some other sattellite (Thor?) at the time, but needed a modified receiver.
Does anybody know if there is any currently used sattellites using circular polarisation? Tony.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 7:17 pm   #20
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Default Re: BSB Squarials in the wild!

Hi,

There's still a Ferguson squarial on the rear of my parents house in Manchester.
At the time of the BSB and Sky merger, my then boss decided to give away to staff any remaining stock.
For a while it was still possible to authenticate the receivers with BSB.
The antenna was actually still usable after the end of transmissions from the Marco Polo satellites,
if re-positioned it would pick up one of the French Telecom satellites, albeit in SECAM.

I modified the Ferguson receiver to D2-MAC and added a Eurocrypt decoder and coupled it to a steerable conventional dish.
Picture quality of the D and D2-MAC system was always impressive.

Stu
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