Hi.
My habitual shortwave listening mainly from european radio stations is slowly being phased out in favor of satellite broadcasting emissions.
I believe it is called Digital Audio Broadcasting DAB.
What receivers brands/vendors are on the market in USA or Europe ? How do I search for decent ones ? Any of you have one ?
Please do not tell me I would have to pay Sirius or XM to receive them...

 

You mean like these:
http://nadelectronics.com/products/tuners/C-445-DAB-Tuner
http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-receivers/C-715-DAB-CD-Receiver
http://www.richersounds.com/products/hi-fi-separates/separates/tuners

 

Except for pay services such as Sirius/XM, I think all other DAB broadcasts are terrestrial.

 

Thanks. What do you mean by terrestrial ? From earth surface transmitter to earth surface receiver ?
Digging deeper into via-satellite activity for receiving radio, found also satellite activity for television. "Free to air" FTA

----> http://www.lyngsat.com [second white choice box]

Seems I need the FTA receiver and proper LNB + parabola, something like this cheap one :
----> http://www.ebay.com/itm/X2-FTA-DVB-...-Smallest-Receiver-in-the-World-/281032634991

Anyone has one ?

 

I've got a old Primestar dish on a HH motor mount with a few LNBs for FTA.

For NA this site has most of the listings.
http://www.ftalist.com/index.php

 

Thanks. What do you mean by terrestrial ? From earth surface transmitter to earth surface receiver ?
..................................

Yes, that's what I meant.

 

I've got a old Primestar dish on a HH motor mount with a few LNBs for FTA.

Good ! Can you explain if yours or useable LNBs are the same ones I could find canibalizing discarded DirecTV and DishNetwork equipment usually in route to a dumpster ?
Slowly learning the lingo, what is NA ? --> North America ? Is HH horizon-to-horizon ?

I have a 8' Unimesh dish, am after a receiver and the LNB, plus a lot of knowledge. Can you guide me for a convenient receiver that will get Galaxy 19, 17 at 87 and 91 degrees for DVB and also DAB ?
Are those LNBs with multiple waveguide heads at fixed angles, meant to select another satellite without need to re-orient the parabola ?
Are those multiple heads meant for the commercial suscriber providers only, working with fixed spaced satellites ? Which would you recommend for FTA ?

 

I've got a old Primestar dish

What is the highest antenna which looks like a pole with 4 thin sticks coming out if it?

 

What is the highest antenna which looks like a pole with 4 thin sticks coming out if it?

That's a old RS scanner antenna.
http://www.radioshack.com/outdoor-vhf-hi-uhf-scanner-antenna/2000176.html#q=scanner+antenna&start=4

 

Good ! Can you explain if yours or useable LNBs are the same ones I could find canibalizing discarded DirecTV and DishNetwork equipment usually in route to a dumpster ?
Slowly learning the lingo, what is NA ? --> North America ? Is HH horizon-to-horizon ?

I have a 8' Unimesh dish, am after a receiver and the LNB, plus a lot of knowledge. Can you guide me for a convenient receiver that will get Galaxy 19, 17 at 87 and 91 degrees for DVB and also DAB ?
Are those LNBs with multiple waveguide heads at fixed angles, meant to select another satellite without need to re-orient the parabola ?
Are those multiple heads meant for the commercial suscriber providers only, working with fixed spaced satellites ? Which would you recommend for FTA ?

Your dish will work for KU band but might need a little modification for the LNB mount.

I use a QPF-031 on my dish as I needed to use the original feed-horn to optimize the signal as the dish is moved but the QPH-031 or similar LNB will work nicely on a dish with 40mm clamps for most FTA stations. If you don't have a dish mover then a multiple LNB mount will work with closely spaced birds like at 87/91.
Original Primestar LNB with feedhorn: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/w8/~eckstrom/802.11a/primestar/01a-primestar_feed_horn.jpg

http://invacom.net/documents/Quadpolardatasheetwhite.pdf

https://www.google.com/search?q=mul...6KOLuigL1nIHYBQ&ved=0CEkQ7Ak&biw=1270&bih=847

I can't recommend a current receiver as mine are pretty old (Viewstat Xtreme/SatPros) or use internal PC DVB cards to receive stations.

 

That's a old RS scanner antenna.
http://www.radioshack.com/outdoor-vhf-hi-uhf-scanner-antenna/2000176.html#q=scanner+antenna&start=4

What is it used for?

 

Can you explain if yours or useable LNBs are the same ones I could find canibalizing discarded DirecTV and DishNetwork equipment usually in route to a dumpster?

New ones are LNBFs for Ku-band. Some of these LNBFs are for circular signal, some for polarized. Find your provider's satellite on http://www.lyngsat.com If you see letters R and L next to the channel frequency, this is a circular signal. If you see H and V, this is polarizied. For FTA, you need an LNBF for polarized signal.

People say that if your mesh is coarse (e.g. you can put a pencil through it), you won't get Ku-band on it. However, you definitely can get C-band on 8'.

 

What is it used for?

It mainly feeds an old RS PRO-2006 scanner with some frequency band/scanning mods.
http://www.monitoringpost.com/pro2006/2006rev.html

I also use it with a SDR usb receiver(RTL2832U interface IC & R820T tuner IC on USB dongle) but that's normally connected via a up-converter to a SW antenna in the attic or the FM antenna for music.
http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Ham-I...d_sim_e_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZZXN6P3PCHATY56M52C
https://flic.kr/p/dYB4q5