Any FTA advice for us novices?

[Mark_AR]

OK, I've been looking around at all the FTA equipment and dishes available. I don't want to go with a 10' C-band(Although I could get one from a friend for FREE)- but am interested more in Ku and DBS with a 30" motorized dish.

My mind is tapioca after looking at all the different brands of receiver available on ebay and Sadoun.com .... Fortec, Pansat, & Satcruiser???

THen there is lifetime, ultra, and who knows what.... *arrgghh*

Which will automatically reposition the dish for each SAT? Any/all??

I don't want to hack pay TV, I just want a decent blind scan FTA receiver and a dish that will get a majority of FTA channels.

Any suggestions from seasoned FTA'ers???

Thanx!

 

[dishMIKE]

Mark I'm right there with you. Please Respond if you can give us some advice!!!

 

[VideoGrabber]

Mark,

just a couple comments until someone with more recent knowledge jumps in... I was an avid FTAer a few years back, and back then a receiver having the ability to position a dish was the exception, rather than the rule. The reason being that most receivers were used as slaves to C-band IRDs, which did the positioning; OR the receiver was simply used with a fixed dish, servicing one satellite. A couple models did have this capability though, and I assume by now that quite a few more will.

Both SatCruiser and PanSat are names I recognize as respected units, and there were a few others (cheaper) that performed well also. There was a Delphi forum that had lots of useful discussion in this specific area. If they're still around, I assume someone here will be able to supply a pointer.

- Tim

 

[Mr Tony]

Mark
I just got a Pansat 1500. It has DiSEqC 1.2 (which means you can control a motor) and USALS (which automatically controls the motor..you just tell it what your latitude & longitude is and what satellite is straight south of you. It does the rest). You want to watch CCTV-9 on G3 (95), the dish turns to it. Now you want to watch something on G10 (123), the dish automatically turns to it. Just got it installed this past weekend (Thanks PSB!) and I love it. No need to manually turn the dish.
I personally like the Pansat...real easy setup and use.

 

[dishMIKE]

Iceberg how do you like it? Where did you get it from and how much was it? What dish?LNBF?HH Motor did you get ? Thanks so much for all the info!!!!Mike

 

[PSB]

I would recommend a one meter dish and a universal Ku band LNB, ( you can add a dbs LNB also), a SG2100 dish motor, I like the Satwork 3618 and BEC 2000 receivers, a blind search receiver is really a must to scan quickly for live feeds... These are all legal FTA channels but its a lot of fun, hope this helps no matter where you get a system get one : )

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg how do you like it? Where did you get it from and how much was it? What dish?LNBF?HH Motor did you get ? Thanks so much for all the info!!!!Mike

Mike
I just got a Pansat 1500 about 2 weeks ago (upgraded from a real simple one) and absolutely love it! Love the "blind search" feature. It scans and finds things that we would never know about (like news remote feeds)

My setup right now is
-Pansat 1500 receiver
-30" ChannelMaster dish (I think...I'm not too sure on the make)
-an old Bell ExpressVu LNB (before they switched to the Dish versions)
-SG2100 motor

I loved the unit even before I got the motor installed Saturday and now its even better. My setup has been built piece by piece, which cost me in the long run.

If you're looking for a system, you might want to ask Pete (PSB). He got me a motor in a couple days for a real good price!

 

[PSB]

Test

http://www.expertsatellite.com/catalog/default.php?exp_affil=ref753029

 

[PSB]

Check out the link to "DMSI" on my web site for FTA systems and parts!

 

[pititi1974]

Is there any way to make that the pansat or another FTA receiver work until I want.
Something like an script in DTV.

 

[Mr Tony]

Is there any way to make that the pansat or another FTA receiver work until I want.
Something like an script in DTV.

didn't read the rules, huh?

NO HACK TALK!!!

 

[Tom Taylor]

Hold on

Hold on folks, you will be seing a lot more about Free to Air on this board shortly.
You may also want to check my website for more information on KMPEG2fta
http://www.mpeg2fta.com

 

[cpdretired]

OK, I've been looking around at all the FTA equipment and dishes available. I don't want to go with a 10' C-band(Although I could get one from a friend for FREE)- but am interested more in Ku and DBS with a 30" motorized dish.

My mind is tapioca after looking at all the different brands of receiver available on ebay and Sadoun.com .... Fortec, Pansat, & Satcruiser???

THen there is lifetime, ultra, and who knows what.... *arrgghh*

Which will automatically reposition the dish for each SAT? Any/all??

I don't want to hack pay TV, I just want a decent blind scan FTA receiver and a dish that will get a majority of FTA channels.

Any suggestions from seasoned FTA'ers???

Thanx!

The Delphi forum is now located at www.satforums.com Mike Kohl is well respected at satforums for equiptment http://www.global-cm.net/ As the other post said most of the FTA receivers are used along with a BUD.

I had a 8' C/KU dish along with 4DTV & a Satcruiser. There is a lot of FTA stuff up there. Read the posts in the MPEG forum before you buy. Modes of compression are changing. Some of the receivers cost well over $1,000.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

We now have a FTA forum here at SatelliteGuys, and I would not be surprised to see Michael Kohl posting here in the future.

Mike Kohl and Tom Taylor are two of the most widely know names in FTA info and equipment on the net. Both are also known regulars on Satellite Radio shows such as Friday Night Live.

I am proud to have known both guys for about 10 - 15 years now. It was good to finally meet Tom Taylor after all these years when I went to Dallas.

 

[Mark_AR]

I have a 2yr old Hughes DirecTV HANT-53B dish (appx 30" oval) when I switched to E* back in Jan.

Can I use it for anything(with or without orig lnb's)? Fta Ku? Paperweight? Can it be made to work with a DiSEqC positioner?

I also have a friend with a BUD that will give me the 8-10' dish & LNB(new 24" rotator included) and all I have to do is remove it from the pole. The receiver is supposed to be toast though.

Is it worth the trouble?

I may have asked this a while back, but now that we have a dedicated forum... I'll ask again.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a 2yr old Hughes DirecTV HANT-53B dish (appx 30" oval) when I switched to E* back in Jan.

Can I use it for anything(with or without orig lnb's)? Fta Ku? Paperweight? Can it be made to work with a DiSEqC positioner?

If you put a KU LNBF on it, you can get the free to air stuff
If you put a DBS LNBF on it, you can get the audio channels on Dish & ExpressVu

I also have a friend with a BUD that will give me the 8-10' dish & LNB(new 24" rotator included) and all I have to do is remove it from the pole. The receiver is supposed to be toast though.

Is it worth the trouble?

I may have asked this a while back, but now that we have a dedicated forum... I'll ask again.

There is a fair amount of free channels on C band. If you've got the room for it, I would go for it

 

[mikekohl]

FTA advice for novices

By all means, if you can get a free or low-cost C-band antenna,
and have a clear view to the west and southwest, you don't
even need to worry if the existing receiver is toast. 6 Anchorage
TV signals are on 137 West / AMC-7, and will work in most parts of
the country on a 7-1/2 to 10 foot dish. I have a customer in Iowa
getting usable signals on a 6-1/2 foot mesh antenna, and am personally experimenting with a 5-foot Paraclipse Hydro antenna to see if it can lock in reliably. A motorized C-band system would be good, but if you can just
get a suitable antenna, you might find a usable LNB that can provide
signals from one satellite connected directly to an MPEG-2 receiver.

Global Communications maintains a newly formatted MPEG-2 FTA list
within the MPEG-2 section of our website at www.global-cm.net
Take a look there to see if you can identify some useful signals.

Mike