Satellite TV Screencaps

Back in the very early days of the web – in 1994 or so – I put together a web page of screencaps from big-dish (“BUD” – C- and Ku-band) satellite TV.  It’s still online and worth a look.  (link removed September 9, 2019 – it’s not still online,)

I put that together from one VHS tape collection of random stuff I had recorded, because of a happy accident that allowed me access to a video capture device way back then. Fast-forward to the late oughties, when such equipment is commonplace and storage is cheap. It must mean it’s time to dig out ALL the old VHS tapes and get to work – both screencap’ing and digitizing and converting the actual video.

So the results of this long-term effort will now be on display at Picasa: here’s the pointer. (link removed September 9, 2019 – Picasa has been gone for years.)

September 9, 2019 update – one of these days I’ll get around to getting this stuff back online.

 

I saw the sign – and it opened up my eyes

I read in misc.transport.road that the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation had placed the state’s portion of US 17 on its “Places in Peril” list, essencially flagging it in need of funding for preservation and development purposes.

I remember driving on that road as a student in the early ’70’s, on the way from New York to Florida before the completion of I-95. At the US17/US17A split in South Carolina, just before the river bridges into Georgia, was a large, colorful and really strange neon sign promoting the relative merits of traveling along each highway. It would appear out of nowhere, around a curve, after a particularly long and dark drive through the swampland adjacent to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.

I’d love to see a better picture than the two I’m pointing to below – please leave a comment if you have one.

Here are the best two pictures I took of it – and in fact, they represent how they actually looked to me after a long day’s drive.

January 13, 1973 – Both sides lit, terrible focus, way past sunset

May 12, 1973 – Only one side lit, slightly less terrible focus, just after sunset