Enter to Win: Sponsors Super Satellite Sampler System - Contest Ends 2.28.2010

[enoree]

What I would tell a friend

I would tell them that FTA is like early radio listeners, you have the thrill of picking up distant signals and the satisfaction of being on the cutting edge of signal seeking.
It is very enjoyable to find something new on your own and to be able to view programming and feeds that the average Joe never gets to see.

 

[FTAsquirrel]

I would tell them that you do not have to pay for the commercials and when your not watching, it's not costing you money. Be it not the same as the subscription services you get programing from all over the world and it opens your viewing horizons along with plenty of entertainment, wild feeds and mostly family friendly programing.

Or just tell them 2 words.

"Red Green"

That's a very good reason to have a FTA system.

Very Impressive contest, if I win this I will set it up for my friend or another family member.

Keep your stick on the ice.

 

[concord]

What would you tell a friend or co-worker to interest them in owning a Free To Air satellite system:

Showed a friend what I'm currently getting. I'm giving my MercII and fixed Fortec 31" dish to get him started into FTA, they only watch OTA programming, but this may prime their desire for more!

 

[bassist]

I got interested in free-to-air because of a random google-search when I was looking for information about self-installing a DN system with the used DN equipment that I had picked up on ebay & locally. I figured that if I could install the DN system, I should be able to install a small KU system.

 

[walker69]

Nice prize package.
I started out with a BUD many years ago. When I moved the yard was much smaller than the one I had. So i went the with a small dish subscription for a few years, and was not that happy with the cost and the channel line up. When I came across satelliteguys.us, I started to read alot about FTA. This site is how I got started on FTA.

 

[ronjohn]

I got interested in FTA for two reasons: Thai language programming for my wife, and LOTS OF FOOTBALL on Saturdays in the Fall.

I would and have recommended FTA to friends for LOTS OF FOOTBALL on Saturdays.

 

[gremlin411]

WOW this is a great contest. !!!!!!!!

I got interested in fta because of wild feeds. I read on a forum about someone watching the Oscar feeds and I wanted to that. I still need a C-band dish thought.
I try to tell to everyone about fta ( it is amazing that ever time I have to say I am not steeling anything.) Had some friends over for the super bowl and I keep checking the feed of Bourbon Street it was cool

 

[greatdaneguy]

Why pay for tv when when can get so many channels for free with this?

 

[equant]

What would you tell a friend or co-worker to interest them in owning a Free To Air satellite system?

This is a tough one. I don't know if I have a way to hook someone's interest if they're not already inclined to be interested. I think the most immediately accessible benefits of FTA are the sporting event feeds and RTV.

Some of my friends would respond well to the DIY aspect, so I might talk about the endless possibilities of setting up and expanding a FTA system.

What got you interested to purchase your first Free to Air satellite system?

97W, 121W and WhiteSprings. I had a BUD and a DCII receiver, but no MPEG or Ku. A friend introduced me to 97W, and then after a bit of research, through this forum, I discovered Whitesprings and 121W. I bit the bullet, buying my first receiver, and then later a motorized Ku setup.

 

[Roostor]

I would like to win.....

I would tell a friend that if an old guy like me can learn how to get free signals out of the air and into and out of my T.V.--They can certainly do it.

The disclaimer here is that I havn't done it yet....but that's why I am here...trying to learn how, and I'm sure gonna give it a run for the money!

By the way...I'm writing down all that equipment you have listed there so at least I have an idea what all I need to get started.

 

[stone1150]

I would like to enter. Thank you. Have a great day!

 

[srgrounds]

Nice give-away sirs. First and foremost is the crazy prices to watch tv, it's out of control. Thats what got me to buy a fta set-up.

I tell my friends once they set up a fta system that the skies the limit to what you can tune into. It's more fun to scan the skies to me than most hobbies, and once you do it yourself you really feel you accomplished something pretty cool.

 

[mister_jerry]

I would really tell my friends that FTA is the way to go in comparison to DISH or DirecTV. The way I see the "big picture" is that it gives me many more channels to view and from different areas of the country and the world.

The overall cost/benefit of such a system for a wannabe user (as I am) or anyone else considering it can be large in comparison to the DSS providers; and you won't get caught in the middle of a squabble between a network and those guys. Having a favorite channel blacked out over money issues only has one loser, and that's the consumer.
​

 

[terrancelee]

My first satellite system was a Drake that my Mom bought for my Dad and me for Christmas back in 1983. I was able to watch all kinds of stuff for awhile until VCII went full force and most things scrambled. The folks didn't care enough to buy a descrambler and I went off to college chasing girls.

Five years later I wound up engineering a radio station and playing with all kinds of OTA signals. When DTV went live in 94, I bought the first system they put out and had it until I moved to TX in 05.

Didn't bother with anything after moving, as I have cable for the net, but about a year ago I was offered a FTA receiver to see if I wanted to buy it. He was asking way too much I thought, so I passed. However, that got the itch started, so have just recently picked up a cheap one from the bay and am wanting to play around with it.

The house had a DTV dish installed when I bought it, with three LNBs. I know these are circular, so waiting on a new universal I ordered just Sunday from WS International! Once I get it up and running, can't wait to see what all I can find. I know I may not find much with just the small dish at the moment, so this system would do wonders for my recent "itch"!

 

[sbsi]

What would you tell a friend or co-worker to interest them in owning a Free To Air satellite system?

I don't know anyone who currently has a Free To Air sat system. I did drove by a neighbor one day while visiting someone and one of the neighbors got a free to air sat dish that does not say Dish Network or Direct TV on there. It was an Indian family who owns the dish.

Free to Air satellite system will be best for Asian viewers like Thai, Hmong for example. Thai and Hmong programming is not offered anywhere on TV. Not on Dish or Direct. Not even on cable. I don't know how good or bad are the tv stations for Thai viewers, but it is better than nothing if they want to watch programming in their language. I did image what will they watch on tv during evening hours when other ethnic viewers such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Flipinoes, Vietnamese can get their own shows from Direct or Dish. For others, only a free to air sat dish or IPTV.

What got you interested to purchase your first Free to Air satellite system?

I have been interested in a big satellite system/receiver about 20 years ago.

I wanted to get the certain Asian language international channels directly from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. A Indian sales staff from a satellite company told me that would not be possible due to signal restrictions. And, only
cable providers, TV stations got the technology to possibly get the actual stations all around the world. The pro is getting to watch the latest shows. The con is waking up earning in the AM hours to watch the PM shows in the actual country.

The cost to get the KU-Band or C-Band system cost $2,000+

No choice, back to cable TV and enjoy the American TV stations like ESPN, MTV.

About 10 years ago when Direct TV and Dish Network begin competiting against cable TV, I saw an ad about a Free To Air satelite system costing around $100-200 bucks. As advertised, I will get limited non popular Asian TV channels and other channels from Middle East and Europe. While those limited channels does not look appealing, I depend on the satelite TV providers for
better international programming.

Then, I join this forum about 3 years ago and I read more about the facts on free to air tv stations. There are more appealing TV stations over the air, but the TV station can block the free to air signal or beginning charging customers at any time. With Direct TV and Dish Network, the same international channels (pay channels) just air the same shows over and over. Nothing new. Maybe, it is time to check out the "free to air" tv stations on a different sat dish. Sadly, Dish and Direct will never add "free to air" tv stations as a pay or free channels. Might as well depend on a new dish to check out the latest free to air shows.

 

[ussexplroer]

Oh Wow Free goodies

Well I remeber being a kid and watching all the nice $3,000 sat systems going in and getting all the channels. So I looked around on the net and found FTA. As for freinds. I tell them FTA and they think *($%($*%. So I correct them and say with the proper dish, lnbf and receiver they can get 100% legal stuff. But that mostly falls on death ears. Sigh.

TTFN,

Josh

 

[aperry]

What got you interested to purchase your first Free to Air satellite system?
Being able to watch programming without having to pay. I'm tired of paying all this money for a few channels that I actually watch.

 

[danielsender]

Contest participation

I got interested in FTA because commercial TV in general is so bad that I had to justify myself spending hours with the TV. At least I can claim to myself and others that I had to adjust the arc of the motor, or the angle of the LNBF, etc. Otherwise, watching TV without doing any technical job is like sex without foreplay

 

[jerwucef]

My dad and I were always interested in getting a satellite dish, mostly to watch Portugal's RTP channel. The local Portuguese radio station would always advertise these C-band systems starting at like $1000, and I did a lot of research and subscribed to some magazines and got all juiced up, but the time was never right.

Then one day I heard you could get RTP on a smaller dish. Again, did a bunch of research, and ended up with a motorized 1.2M Fortec Star dish as our first dish. Not exactly a beginner set up, but hey, it's still working.

Sadly, I'm not into FTA as much as I would like -- although I did pass by SatelliteAV one day with my truck and a shopping list that may have been more impressive than this contest's prize package -- but one of these days I'll finally get around to finishing all the projects I have planned.

Hopefully there'll still be stuff up there to see when that time comes.

Eh, I'm sure there will be.

 

[Mikhel]

WOOOOOOOOW i waaant iiiiiit!!!

What would you tell a friend or co-worker to interest them in owning a Free To Air satellite system?

What I've told every friend that knows me that i do love FTA and have loved it since the mid 1980's because it has given me a LOT, news from other countries, cultural programing from other regions of my country, a lot of sports, and when i get the chance i show them my dishes and channels i can get, most of the time, since a lot of people where i live has come from other parts of the country, i show them a channel from their state, and they leave amazed and most of the time tell me to help them get something similar to what i have.

For example, almost 4 years ago i was searching for info on a Pansat receiver an uncle gave me, and ended up in a forum filled with guys with the eye patch and wooden leg, i saw they had a "True" FTA section, and decided to report whatever feeds i found, and slowly people who were stealing signals became aware that most of the time while they were waiting for a 'fix' for their receivers i was at home watching it for free on a feed with better quality in the picture LOL, so far, since then, i must say i've brought over from the 'dark side of the dish' to a lot of people who nowadays are addict to scanning the skies LOL.

I have to say, it's feels pretty to help people realize there's a world of feeds outside of the whole 'stealing because i can' and now focus on watching things they like.

I must say that the turning point for a lot of them is that since most of them live in México, they like soccer a lot, and when they saw that there was the chance of catching the soccer games that otherwise in México they couldn't get, they decided it was worth it.. i began 'teaching them' with Ku band, and now, i'm slowly turning them to the C Band world, wish me luck .

Cheers

M.