I moved from Wisconsin to suburban Chicago 20 years ago, and was going through Packer withdrawal. I learned that a friend of mine, who lived in St. Charles (about 40 miles west of Chicago, and, at that time, definitely BFE) had a BUD, because he lived in a tiny subdivision surrounded by cornfields (it’s all developed around him now), and couldn’t get cable. He pulled in all the Packer games on the BUD, and I’d drive out there every week to watch them.
The court decision allowing people to pick up signals using a dish came in the late-'70s. There were around a dozen TV satellites already in use at that time, and as far as I know the earliest dishes (fiberglass or aluminum, pole or tripod mount) came with at least the option of a tracking mount. Unless the dish were mounted directly to or on a roof, almost all installations anchored the dish in concrete, including soffit mounts. My parents actually got involved with satellite TV in 1980, two years before they started their business.
No, a concrete slab was poured around the dish so that it didn’t move off the satellite. The author was watching a network feed to the local affiliates, I believe NBC.
Each network used several satellites for feeds. There would have been no point in having a dish that didn’t track, unless it were something of a garage project. Not saying it didn’t happen, just that it was not the norm even then.
That is why I thought it unusual and worthy of mention. I presume it was very early on in the hobby.
On a more recent note, I just subscribed to the Denver Eight, the Network channels in Denver. Scrolling through them, I found that seasonal abomination, It’s A Wonderful Life. Mrs. Plant, a Jewish woman of valor nonetheless insists on watching it.
At least the Twickster doesn’t know about my disgrace…
Fortunately I found Celtic Women on KRMA, Rocky Mountain PBS and all is well.
God bless Big Dish. 
We had a gigantic dish in our backyard way back in the late 80s. At the time I didn’t really know what it was for, I was too young. I do vividly remember using it to play skeeball, though. 
I’m hogging this thread, but the guy I bought the receiver and six foot dish from in Louisiana said his kid shot baskets in it.
I remember when we went to the place we bought our BUD from the salesman talked about how we’d get to see the sportcasters talk and argue on the direct broadcast feeds while the rest of the schnooks in the world were watching the commercials…
…well, that may have been the case at one time, but by 1990 it was no longer the case. Typically for NFL games we’d just get a static wide angle “50 yard line” shot of the field and crowd noise. Yawn.
That’s because by then production teams knew better than to air their laundry for a growing satellite audience. Also, by '90 most broadcasts were scrambled. Prior to about '86 it was “open season.”
I laugh when I read about people down south with their “big” 6’ dishes. Up in WA you needed a 10’ dish to get a good picture, and I installed only 12’ dishes in Alaska. What eyesores they were/are. And far too many people were eager to cut down every growing thing in sight to ensure a clear shot at all the satellites. Woe to any Douglas-fir blocking one’s view of F4 and the Playboy Channel. I also remember in the early days having to install polarity switches in receivers by hand, because a lot of receivers didn’t come with them. Crazy.
My parents still use their big dish and love it. They laugh at my DirecTV every time a big black cloud kills my signal. They remind me constantly that doesn’t happen with the big dishes.
From what I’ve heard, the Big Dish will always be around for rural areas.
My parents only complaint is not getting local channels on their dish. Their local antenna reception is nearly unuseable since the digital switch over. I have local channels on DirectTV.
one time in 88 i was watching the US-USSR gymnastics meet, live from Phoenix at the same time as a NBA game between Bulls and Celtics live from old Chicago Staduimn back then i had a dish and the picture quality on both(had do receivers then) was superb showed me i didn’t need a antenna saw a lot of NFL games that were not seen locally
one time i saw a feed of then KNBC anchor Kelly Lange waiting to do a news update during the Tonight Show and for some reason the late Johnny Carson did an interview which ran a little long and ignored Ross Tompkins and kept going, Doc cued the whole band to play the chimes melody. That got his and Kelly Lange’s attention!
most broadcast were not scrambled until mid-90s 
i have a few…
One time, i was watching a NHRA race and it was boring to see the oildowns between rounds. but the announcers(Steve Evans and Brock Yates) would make the down time entertaining with some of the small talk.
the other one was watching the US figure skating championships on Wide World of Sports and listening to Al Michaels and Peggy Fleming talking before the event while ABC was showing bowling. at one point Peggy thinks that Jill Trenary could win. She was right for sure!
Another one…
at the end of the US Nationals i mentioned earlier, Donna de Varona was waiting with Holly Cook and Kristi Yamaguchi while the network was in commercial. Holly is talking very nicely to Kristi, but i was hoping Holly would say something mean to Kristi in front of Donna that would have been funny to say the least! those were the days when the raw feed were in the clear and not scrambled(ABC didn’t scramble much expect for maybe MNF back then.)
grandpa had a dispute with the cable comp and we had one and for a couple of years was heaven…we watched nasa although I wasn’t home for challenger but he recordered it …
What he liked was he could get prime time 3 hours later by watching the la channels or the straight network feeds because he worked 2-11 we even found the hardcore channels except they just ran previews 4 am to 8 pm
but then the pay channels started scrambling and then it went down from there to where even the free channels scrambled like Disney and then something needed to be fixed that would cost 300 dollars and grandpa passed on by them so grandma just went back to cable
I remember once for a NHL playoff game between the Rangers and the Habs, i could get the CBC feed or ESPN. Couldn’t stand Gary Throne, so ended up watching the CBC feed for Quebec.