central american possibilities

[heyswids]

until yesterday, i had never heard of free air TV, and that is what i am interested in. i live in costa rica. we get limited channels here and a few years ago we hired a guy who was selling DISHNETWOrk DOWN HERE. i don't believe he was doing anything illegal. what he did was use a 2 meter dish in order to get the signals destined for the US market. we had to subscribe as if we lived in the states. it did work, until the first clouds appeared. we were lucky to get signal 6 months of the year, and even on a bright sunny day, we often had no signal; only in the night. so after our contract ran out, we cancelled and returned our receivers. so now i discover you guys and i am wondering if there would be signal we could get down here. would anyone know? and if so, maybe delve into what wouod be needed to get set up. i still have the 2 meter dish! thanks for any help
mrlee

 

[RandallA]

I don't think Dish Network has services in Costa Rica but Directv does.

DIRECTV Costa Rica

As you found out even with the bigger dishes you were losing signal and it doesn't surprise me with the amount of rain that falls in Tiquicia.

 

[JamesJ]

I have moved this thread to the proper area, someone should chime in to help shortly!

 

[TiminMb]

Its all rather overwhelming when you get started out. True FTA means receiving signals that are unencrypted, many of which are intended for broadcast to the public by satellite, and some of which are not.

Your longitude and latitude will determine what satellites are within your range of sight, and of course some satellites have stronger signals or spot beams that increase or decrease signals in given areas.

Take a look at Lyngsat's site and see what satellites are in your area and what programming is FTA. The dish you have is suitable for Ku band reception, that is the higher frequencies (11000-12xxx), but someone may tell you whether it can receive the lower frequency C (approx 3xxx MHZ) band signals.

Hopefully there are some free broadcasts in your area that interest you.

 

[heyswids]

well, i checked out the lynsat sight and so far, so good. it says almost all programming would be Ku band. but most of the programs say dish network or directv; that would be encrypted, wouldn't it? so no free tv?

 

[qwert1515]

well, i checked out the lynsat sight and so far, so good. it says almost all programming would be Ku band. but most of the programs say dish network or directv; that would be encrypted, wouldn't it? so no free tv?

Correct Dish and DirecTV are not FTA.

 

[Anole]

You might work your way through the satellites on Lyngsat from about 20w to 150w, and see which ones have a "beam" that provides a sufficient signal in your country.
Clicking the link under "beam" often gives a signal coverage map.

I'm not sure what you are seeking, but you might also look at the programming described for these satellites.

edit:
One of our well-informed members (Jayelem) answered a lot of similar questions recently.

 

[jayelem]

One of our well-informed members (Jayelem) answered a lot of similar questions recently.

Thanks for speaking so highly of me ..... Anole.

What I can say is that a 2meter dish would definitely be something you can play with , I'm guessing it's a Prime Focus and with a economical LNBF such as the C/Ku BSC621 LNBF , you can definitely pick up an assortment of channels that are FTA .

2 meters just misses for borderline reception of Amc 4 and Galaxy 16 ( where the Networks are ), that is according to the EIRP diagrams on Lyngsat , that doesn't mean that it's not possible.

I just don't know if the programming available would justify you getting the dish operational , most members here would set it up in a heartbeat and blindscan away to see what channels are possible to get South of the Tropic of Cancer.

Programming would mostly be in Spanish and English and as suggested by Anole would be from the Atlantic Sats - Americas Sats.

A 2 meter dish would be excellent if motorized , that way you could watch Tv from different Satellites effortlessly.

Anyway you look at it , you would be adding many channels to your current line-up.