FTA book?

[. Raine]

I just came across this thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/203691-FTA-Books

There's some talk in this thread about someone writing a more current book on FTA and maybe using proceeds to support this site, but it seems to have gone nowhere. It seems that it has been talked about before maybe, judging from a few of the posts, but I didn't see any other posts about the subject.

Would there be a problem with doing this? I myself personally don't know enough about FTA to write a book on the subject that would be anywhere near complete, but if a dedicated thread was started for it that members could give information in, it definitely could be done. There's definitely enough knowledgeable people here.

Writing a book is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun too, most of the time. It might be feasible if there's no issues with it being done and a dedicated thread for it could be made here for information gathering and proof-reading.

I haven't ever written a technical book, so I don't know how it works with liability issues, in the sense of is a simple disclaimer enough to clear you if some idiot hurts themselves doing something described in the book?

It'd also take a long time, it wouldn't be a month or two and done. year or two, maybe?

Any thoughts? Has this been discussed before?

 

[Chemist916]

I just came across this thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/203691-FTA-Books

There's some talk in this thread about someone writing a more current book on FTA and maybe using proceeds to support this site, but it seems to have gone nowhere. It seems that it has been talked about before maybe, judging from a few of the posts, but I didn't see any other posts about the subject.

Would there be a problem with doing this? I myself personally don't know enough about FTA to write a book on the subject that would be anywhere near complete, but if a dedicated thread was started for it that members could give information in, it definitely could be done. There's definitely enough knowledgeable people here.

Writing a book is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun too, most of the time. It might be feasible if there's no issues with it being done and a dedicated thread for it could be made here for information gathering and proof-reading.

I haven't ever written a technical book, so I don't know how it works with liability issues, in the sense of is a simple disclaimer enough to clear you if some idiot hurts themselves doing something described in the book?

It'd also take a long time, it wouldn't be a month or two and done. year or two, maybe?

Any thoughts? Has this been discussed before?

Hello. Im quite new to this forum, and like you i have also been looking for a a nice FTA book, or at least the one which would cover most of the topics that are in the scope of any satellite tv enthusiast.

I believe the subject by itself might be tricky to illustrate using layman terms in some aspects, like "frequencies", "bands", "geostationary orbit", "polarization" and so on. Let's not forget that there is some maths involved to explain those concepts.
The books i found cover more or less the needs for anybody interested in FTA but the problem lays that the information is too scattered in a sea of books, some cover satellite essentials but in a dense and too technically way to be useful for anyone which just want to see different tv channels. Others act as a "troubleshooting guide" or repair manual, which doesnt help too much. Then there are the antennas books, and all i found are about design, not a single one with practical use for the casual hobbyst.

Finally there is the issue on how new is the information presented. Its true that somethings are not going to change let's say there are timeless, but that only applies to some technical concepts which are the grounds of satellite communications, electronics and antenna theory. But there are other subjects which are in constant change, as noted in the thread you mentioned.

I also voice my opinion that if anybody well versed in this subject, not sure if holding a college degree or master in electronics, radio, tv, satellite communications, similar fields with theoretical background or not but with empirical experience of several years and with enough time and patience, would do a great favor to us who enjoy listening the air waves and understanding our world.

Writting a book its a tedious process, gathering all the data, presenting the information in an understandable manner, and yes there is a liability part, but that often comes with a warning that is written in the book.

Although my major has nothing to do with radio, electronics or communications, i enjoy reading about all of that as its my hobby and i learned a lot relying in very good pedagogical textbooks, let's say maybe i'm a self taught person.

Not sure how things are done in this forum, but i found that there are some forums which have released their open textbooks or manuals on the fields that they do specialize, like Allaboutcircuits on Circuit Analysis (see http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/), which i often referred during my years at university in Peru.

But such effort as explained above requires collaborative work (a-la Wikipedia), or enough discipline, diligent coordination, and that is subject to people's availability or time. Maybe this is a reason why much of the good textbooks are sold by big publishers like Cengage, Elsevier, Pearson Education (yes the owners of the Financial Times, Penguin, Adisson Wesley, Longman, Benjamin Cummings), McGraw Hill, Newnes, to name few, because they have a staff that does all that work alongside the writer, which goes through a process of peer and manuscript reviewing. In essence money most of the time is the key, like it or not.

I may have extended a little bit but those are my views. Best regards.

 

[migold]

I don't know if it is still available, since it was published in 1988. "Troubleshooting and Repairing TVRO Systems" by Stan Prentiss included much theory and practical information on the installation of satellite receiving antennas. ISBN 0-8306-0592-4 or 0-8306-2992-0 (pbk.) A lot of the content is now outdated, but the practice and theory of antenna installation is still relevant. And, Yes, I have been in the field for some years....

 

[hwm]

When I began in this hobby, I looked for such a book and came up empty. Read the FAQs on this site and some others, and jumped in.

With such a limited target audience, I don't think a print publisher would touch it. Maybe self-publish on Kindle?

I've never written a book. Done lots of magazine and newspaper articles though. Writing something to sell is not as easy as you might think.

 

[navychop]

People read more and more on the web. Publish it as a website. Better yet, publish it here.

An FTA book might attract more attention to the hobby. Too much of that would be a bad thing.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[northgeorgia]

People read more and more on the web. Publish it as a website. Better yet, publish it here.

An FTA book might attract more attention to the hobby. Too much of that would be a bad thing.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

That makes complete sense to me. Electronic sources of information, including the Internet, are the top places most people think to look for updated how-to stuff these days. My knowledge is limited, but I'd be happy to help out with the "hold my hand and walk me through it" write ups or revisions if we did something like this.

 

[primestar31]

Get a KU dish and an HH motor and read threads on this forum. Then install the dish and motor on a pole, and program in all the sats via Diseqc (instead of USALS, for your initial learning process).

IF you can actually get it installed, tweaked, and running 100% on the entire arc inside of 48 hours with little help, and no more than one swear word during the whole process, you will have the equivalent of a PHD, and no book will be needed. lol

If you can't, you'll learn something in the process, and can go from there...

I know guys who installed c-band dishes for 25 years who couldn't install a KU dish with HH motor the first time out.

 

[Hockeynut]

Primestar 31 hit it on the head...Nothing can be substituted for time in the yard!.That hands on experience is the best..Least it is for me!.Knowing trigonometry and geometry is very helpful in FTA.

 

[. Raine]

People read more and more on the web. Publish it as a website. Better yet, publish it here.

An FTA book might attract more attention to the hobby. Too much of that would be a bad thing.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

An excellent point that I never thought of, more attention could be a very bad thing! Primestar does have it nailed down too, a cheap Ku that's easy and sink or swim from there.

Publishing one here might be a viable option, although anyone already here has access to pretty much all of the information with very minimal effort anyway, so that would probably be a lot of work with little gain.

Thinking on it, I think Navychop and Primestar are right. Especially what Navychop said about attention, a book on FTA probably isn't a good idea at all.

 

[. Raine]

When I began in this hobby, I looked for such a book and came up empty. Read the FAQs on this site and some others, and jumped in.

With such a limited target audience, I don't think a print publisher would touch it. Maybe self-publish on Kindle?

I've never written a book. Done lots of magazine and newspaper articles though. Writing something to sell is not as easy as you might think.

I had in mind of using Amazon and a pen name. Relatively cheap and also at the same time publish onto Kindle.

The only print publishers for an FTA book would be like say, the ones who print the Dummies books, books of that genre, I imagine? Don't know, I've never written tech books and don't know any publishers who'd deal with it.

After mulling it over for a bit, I'd say that what Navychop said is very true. Too much attention to FTA could be bad and it probably wouldn't be such a good idea to write a book on FTA.

 

[Stargazer]

There's also Youtube.