Completely new to FTA, need advice

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Iceberg said:
most KU is from 72 degrees to 129 degrees west. Now on a compass 129 doesnt mean 129 degrees on the compass. As an example, I am in MN so my true south satellite (the satellite that is at 180 degrees on the compass) is IA6 (93W). Youe True South is the same as your longitude

What about C band?

I'm sorry to sound like a complete idiot. But how do you figure out where 72 degrees to 129 degrees is if it's not actually that on a compass? Does it have to do with the magnetic deviation? :o
 
By seeing your location (at least what you put), you're somewhere in NY so most satellites will be SW of dead south (true south)

couple options
you can use this
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm

put in your zip there and just see the satellites and where they are in the sky (azimuth) or just give us your zip and someone can post the angles for each of the satellites.

I chose Buffalo & NYC on the link I posted and Buffalo's true south is AMC5 at 79 and NYC is 74. So most KU will be SW. Hopefully that is what your looking for :)
 
Iceberg said:
By seeing your location (at least what you put), you're somewhere in NY so most satellites will be SW of dead south (true south)

couple options
you can use this
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm

put in your zip there and just see the satellites and where they are in the sky (azimuth) or just give us your zip and someone can post the angles for each of the satellites.

I chose Buffalo & NYC on the link I posted and Buffalo's true south is AMC5 at 79 and NYC is 74. So most KU will be SW. Hopefully that is what your looking for :)
I'll just post my zip here, it's 12953. So if I can get a clear view of the southwest sky, I should be good for all KU and C band reception? I don't have to make sure that I have a clear view of the sky from east to west in the south? To find if I have a clear view, I can take a compass calculate my magnetic deviation and see if that direction is clear from obstacles? Also, looking at LNBs, do I have to have two LNBs on a C-band dish to receive both KU and C band? If so, how would I configure that?
 
Code:
                      Malone, NY 12953
         Latitude 44° 50.892'N Longitude 74° 17.568'W

                       Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
--------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                       Amos 1/2    4.0W 104.2 120.2  5.2 -43.4
                               
                Atlantic Bird 3    5.0W 104.9 121.0  5.9 -43.2
                               
                Nilesat 101/102    7.0W 106.4 122.5  7.3 -42.8
                               
     Telecom 2D/Atlantic Bird 2    8.0W 107.2 123.3  7.9 -42.6
                               
                     Express A3   11.0W 109.5 125.6 10.0 -41.9
                               
                     Telstar 12   15.0W 112.7 128.8 12.7 -40.8
                               
                   Intelsat 901   18.0W 115.2 131.3 14.8 -39.9
                               
                          NSS 7   22.0W 118.6 134.7 17.4 -38.5
                               
                   Intelsat 905   24.5W 120.8 136.9 19.0 -37.5
                               
                   Intelsat 907   27.5W 123.5 139.6 20.9 -36.2
                               
                  Hispasat 1C/D   30.0W 125.9 141.9 22.5 -35.1
                               
                   Intelsat 801   31.5W 127.3 143.4 23.4 -34.3
                               
                   Intelsat 903   34.5W 130.3 146.3 25.1 -32.8
                               
                    AMC 12/T 11   37.5W 133.3 149.4 26.8 -31.1
                               
                        NSS 806   40.5W 136.5 152.6 28.5 -29.2
                               
                      Pas 3R/6B   43.0W 139.2 155.3 29.7 -27.6
                               
                         Pas 1R   45.0W 141.5 157.6 30.7 -26.2
                               
                   Intelsat 705   50.0W 147.4 163.4 33.0 -22.5
                               
                   Intelsat 707   53.0W 151.1 167.1 34.2 -20.1
                               
                   Intelsat 805   55.5W 154.2 170.3 35.0 -17.9
                               
                          Pas 9   58.0W 157.5 173.5 35.8 -15.8
                               
                       Amazonas   61.0W 161.5 177.5 36.7 -13.0
                               
                     EchoStar 3   61.5W 162.2 178.2 36.8 -12.5
                               
                      Rainbow 1   61.5W 162.2 178.2 36.8 -12.5
                               
               Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 164.2 180.2 37.1 -11.1
                               
                   Brasilsat B2   65.0W 166.9 183.0 37.5  -9.2
                               
                   Brasilsat B1   70.0W 173.9 190.0 38.2  -4.3
                               
                       Nahuel 1   71.8W 176.5 192.5 38.3  -2.5
                               
                      DirecTV 1   72.5W 177.5 193.5 38.3  -1.8
                               
                          AMC 6   72.0W 176.8 192.8 38.3  -2.3
                               
                          SBS 6   74.0W 179.6 195.6 38.3  -0.3
                               
                     Echostar 4   77.0W 183.8 199.9 38.3   2.7
                               
                          AMC 5   79.0W 186.7 202.7 38.1   4.7
                               
                      Nimiq 2/3   82.0W 190.9 206.9 37.8   7.7
                               
                          AMC-9   83.0W 192.3 208.3 37.6   8.7
                               
                   Brasilsat B3   84.0W 193.6 209.7 37.4   9.6
                               
                          AMC 2   85.0W 195.0 211.1 37.2  10.6
                               
                          AMC 3   87.0W 197.7 213.8 36.8  12.5
                               
                           IA-8   89.0W 200.4 216.5 36.3  14.3
                               
                      Galaxy 11   91.0W 203.1 219.1 35.7  16.1
                               
                     Nimiq 1/4i   91.0W 203.1 219.1 35.7  16.1
                               
                   Brasilsat B4   92.0W 204.4 220.4 35.4  17.0
                               
                      Telstar 6   93.0W 205.6 221.7 35.1  17.9
                               
                      Galaxy 3C   95.0W 208.2 224.2 34.4  19.6
                               
                      Telstar 5   97.0W 210.7 226.7 33.6  21.2
                               
                      Galaxy 4R   99.0W 213.1 229.2 32.8  22.8
                               
                     Spaceway 2   99.2W 213.4 229.4 32.7  22.9
                               
                DirecTV 1R/4S/8  101.0W 215.5 231.6 31.9  24.3
                               
                          AMC 4  101.0W 215.5 231.6 31.9  24.3
                               
                     Spaceway 1  103.0W 217.8 233.9 31.0  25.8
                               
                          AMC 1  103.0W 217.8 233.9 31.0  25.8
                               
                         AMC 15  105.0W 220.1 236.2 30.0  27.2
                               
                      Anik F1/R  107.3W 222.6 238.7 28.9  28.7
                               
                      DirecTV 5  109.5W 225.0 241.1 27.7  30.1
                               
                EchoStar 6/8/10  110.0W 225.5 241.6 27.4  30.4
                               
                        Anik F2  111.1W 226.7 242.8 26.8  31.1
                               
                  Solidaridad 2  113.0W 228.7 244.7 25.8  32.2
                               
                       SatMex 5  116.8W 232.4 248.5 23.5  34.2
                               
                         AMC-16  119.0W 234.5 250.6 22.2  35.3
                               
                     DirecTV 7s  119.0W 234.5 250.6 22.2  35.3
                               
                     EchoStar 7  119.0W 234.5 250.6 22.2  35.3
                               
          EchoStar 9/Telstar 13  121.0W 236.4 252.5 21.0  36.2
                               
                     Galaxy 10R  123.0W 238.2 254.3 19.7  37.1
                               
                      Galaxy 14  125.0W 240.0 256.1 18.4  37.9
                               
                  Galaxy 13/H 1  127.0W 241.8 257.8 17.1  38.7
                               
 Intelsat Americas 7/Echostar 5  129.0W 243.5 259.5 15.8  39.4
                               
                         AMC 11  131.0W 245.2 261.2 14.5  40.0
                               
                   Galaxy 1R/15  133.0W 246.8 262.9 13.1  40.7
                               
                         AMC 10  135.0W 248.4 264.5 11.8  41.2
                               
                          AMC 7  137.0W 250.0 266.1 10.4  41.8
                               
                          AMC 8  139.0W 251.6 267.6  9.0  42.3
                               
                   EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 258.4 274.4  2.8  44.0

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PSB said:
Yes you will need two LNB's for both C and Ku.

Some come combined (See picture below)

Some LNB's do both C and KU at the same time like the BSC621-2 LNBF

There is another way to combine C and Ku............

http://community.webshots.com/photo/100919814/1130616190051497581kAELDc
Thanks. Yeah I just found a thread talking about a new combined C and KU LNB. I think KU is the way for me to go right now I guess. There seems to be more available on KU than C right now anyway. According to the info in your last post, SBS 6 is what I should look for. So much that I still have to learn. I'll keep researching, thanks again for the help.
 
Here are the KU satellites that you can easily get (as long as the line of site is good)

Amazonas
AMC6
SBS6
AMC5
AMC9
AMC2
AMC3
IA8
G11
IA6
G3
IA5
AMC4
AMC1
AMC15-not much on there. Dish uses it
IA13-not much on there. Dish uses it
G10
G13
IA7

DBS SLOTS
NIMIQ2
NIMIQ1
ECHO6
ECHO7

most of the rest on the list are C-Band
 
GMFreak8 said:
Thanks for the info. Which offers more channel choices, c-band or ku-band?
It all depends on what you want to watch. All of the nets are available on c band, plus lots of other stuff. I set up for both c and ku band and have more channels than i know what to do with.
 
PSB said:
Ku, but most folks with C-Band also have a Ku LNBF!
Yeah, I figured that. Thanks again.

Looks like I may be going all satellite. FTA satellite setup, and I'm also looking to switch to Dish if I can get the equipment cheap enough....

It all depends on what you want to watch. All of the nets are available on c band, plus lots of other stuff. I set up for both c and ku band and have more channels than i know what to do with.

So, you get through a subscription service, most of the channels you can get through say Dish with C-band?
 
I have a sub for ala carte channels, it costs me under 10.00 a month for just the channels i want to watch. Most of the FTA i watch now is c band, tho i do have a dedicated dish just for g10 and Retro TV.
 
drhydro said:
I have a sub for ala carte channels, it costs me under 10.00 a month for just the channels i want to watch. Most of the FTA i watch now is c band, tho i do have a dedicated dish just for g10 and Retro TV.

So FTA and the ala carte programming is what you use for TV? You don't subscribe to cable or Directv/Dish?
 
No I dont subscribe to anything but my ala carte channels. With those, and all the other channels available FTA, we have plenty of tv to watch.
Sub ala carte:
Discovery
TNT
SCIFI
USA
Comedy
Weather Channel
Cartoon Network
FTA:
All the networks
Plenty of news channels (euronews, BBC world, russia today)
Retro TV
Movie channels (white springs tv plus others)
Music videos (the Tube, IMF, Fuse)
family style programming on some of the "religous channels"
Documentary channel (Lots of good stuff there)
PBS
NASA
LOTS of ethnic channels, some of which will show subtitled movies
I figure I have paid for all my FTA equipment with the money I saved since cancelling my DTV sub ($50 per month). About the only thing I miss is the EPG, but titantv (website that provides a tv guide) takes care of that.
 
drhydro said:
No I dont subscribe to anything but my ala carte channels. With those, and all the other channels available FTA, we have plenty of tv to watch.
Sub ala carte:
Discovery
TNT
SCIFI
USA
Comedy
Weather Channel
Cartoon Network
FTA:
All the networks
Plenty of news channels (euronews, BBC world, russia today)
Retro TV
Movie channels (white springs tv plus others)
Music videos (the Tube, IMF, Fuse)
family style programming on some of the "religous channels"
Documentary channel (Lots of good stuff there)
PBS
NASA
LOTS of ethnic channels, some of which will show subtitled movies
I figure I have paid for all my FTA equipment with the money I saved since cancelling my DTV sub ($50 per month). About the only thing I miss is the EPG, but titantv (website that provides a tv guide) takes care of that.
Wow, cool. :cool:

My only hangup really with going to C-band is the cost of the dish and motor setup, and getting a LNB that can properly receive both C and KU band feeds. And of course the LOS issue.....

If I can get a stationary C-band dish (that's compatible with both C and KU) somewhere around here, how hard is it to find a motor and a KU/C LNB that will fit it and is compatible with the mercury II receiver?

Edit: Would you recommend a computer based tuner for someone who's just starting out with FTA? I know they don't have the blind search feature, is there software that'll allow you to do that?
 
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