Free To Air?

[danel-ksc]

I currently have Directv and am happy with the service, so all I am looking for is information and try and increase my overall knowledge,
With that said, can you give me a little insight as to what is Free To Air?
Thanks.

 

[brentb636]

Free to Air is the satellite is the hobby of capturing and studying the Free TV channels on the various satellites that we can reach from our location. It involves the big dishes (c-band) and smaller dishes (30" to 48") for Ku band. Dish sizes overlap, of course. Big dishes can get Ku band just fine.
There are hundreds of free channels available over North America, including HD and Studio Video uplinks of sports and special events.
Most of us are tinkerers, and enjoy playing with the hardware at least as much as watching TV.

 

[danel-ksc]

Thanks for the information, sounds interesting. Many years ago I was a Ham and enjoyed playing with that equipment and antennas. A;though much older now, this sounds like an interesting hobby to get involved in. Much more research needed and many more questions to come. I hope the Forum is patient with "newbies".
Thanks again for the response to my question.

 

[brentb636]

I'm a retired electrician, a former Motorola system tech working for GM, so I know where you're coming from. My social security benefits start in April .

 

[Wescopc]

I currently have Directv and am happy with the service, so all I am looking for is information and try and increase my overall knowledge,
With that said, can you give me a little insight as to what is Free To Air?
Thanks.

Take a look at this site, it will give you an idea of what is available FTA.:
FTAList.com - The easy list of North American free-to-air TV channels
Also look at the "List" tab at the top of the page.
Bob

 

[Anole]

We are very newbie-friendly, here. - :up

All the good lists were already mentioned, no wait... there is one more! -
And there's Lyngsat if you are really hard core.


Decent receivers can be had for between $30 and maybe $200 (or up to 4/500 if you must have some HD stuff).
If you should decide to jump in, we can offer laundry lists of hardware.
If you pick your own, at least run it by us for a blessing.
Save you from wasting your money on junk.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

Welcome!

Since you're a former ham, the learning curve should be lessened. If you dealt with shortwave listening, you'll probably get the concept -- foreign channels, odd mixes of network feeds, small town sports shows, big time anchors putting on make up, PBS, International news, etc...

Like ham radio, you can get started for under $100 if you search classifieds, dumpster dive, and do research. Also, like ham radio, looking at new stuff can be dangerous because you'll start drooling over the latest equipment.

Ask away!

 

[DishDigger]

Thanks for the information, sounds interesting. Many years ago I was a Ham and enjoyed playing with that equipment and antennas. A;though much older now, this sounds like an interesting hobby to get involved in. Much more research needed and many more questions to come. I hope the Forum is patient with "newbies".
Thanks again for the response to my question.

If you find a friendlier or more helpful site, please post it, I'd like to see it. What I'm trying to say is that you most likely won't find a more helpful, patient, friendly site than this one (I'm sort of new here & a ham myself), if you DO find a better sight, Ive GOTTA SEE IT!!.....

 

[SarK]

BTV WORLD (Bangla)

Hi all,I'm Rony from cape town,south africa.I am new to this forum as well as new to satellite knowledge.I have a delsat dsr 5500 digital gold FTA receiver and 2.3 m dish.I want to watch BTV WORLD channel.Is it possible?Help me,pls.

 

[turbosat]

Sark , I looked up that channel on google and their website says they are on AsiaSat 3S at78.5E
, but the LyngSat - Lyngemark Satellite sattracker shows that satellite to now be at 105E.
If you have a c-band lnb on your dish you should be able to pick up that satellite-you are in the 'footprint' of AsiaSat 3s. BTV World is at 3725MHZ, 4450 Symbol rate , 3/4FEC on c-band digital. According to the information posted at lyngsat, the channel is not encrypted. Good luck finding it!
PS>Start a new thread and you'll get better responses as more people will see it.
Welcome to the forum!!!