A recent thread (http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/264491-new-coordinates-fssn-fighting-sioux-sports.html) inspired me to tweak a dish to boost my reception of 87W. The experience reinforced the reasons I really like FTA - a combination of working with the gadgetry and then getting some good programming. I had an lnb aimed at 87W but haven't typically watched that satellite a lot so it wasn't well aligned. I was able to go from no signal, to a pixelated image, and then to a solid lock while the University of North Dakota hockey team was playing Air Force in Grand Forks last week. Since I grew up in the upper Midwest, I enjoyed seeing programming from that area. The advertisements on the boards around the ice included some for Old Dutch potato chips, which we always bought when I was a kid, and Bobcat (the small skid-steer loaders made in North Dakota). It is also nice to hear an occasional North Dakota/Northern Minnesota accent in the commercials. I was especially happy on the gadgetry side of things that I got such a good signal on 87W with a DTV AT-9 dish (~24x29") that has a boresight aim toward 97W. While watching the game, I recalled when I put up my first dish (a discarded DN 20") and then got the thrill of seeing NASA tv for the first time. Similarly, when I set up my first real FTA dish and got 97W and all of its channels it was pretty exciting. I came to FTA as a shortwave listener, and I consider FTA to be a 21st century version of that hobby (although shortwave is still good as well). It seems like there are still plenty of opportunities, even with Ku only, to try for a new signal and get the satisfaction of success. For me, it's a matter of finding enough time to do it all.
FTA Gadgetry and Programming
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Pretty good trick to get 87 with a smaller dish like that, good work. If you get a motorized dish, you would never leave your chair! It's highly addictive, with the big big bonus of NO contract, and NO monthly fee. Of course you can sink a lot of money into the equipment if you like, there's always a new box out there that needs trying, haha. I've looked in on various high school football games tonight, 3 different hockey games with a4th about to start, a college basketball tournament, and a few newsfeeds too.
With baseball,basketball,hockey and football all going on this time of year I sort of wish I had several different tvs!
With baseball,basketball,hockey and football all going on this time of year I sort of wish I had several different tvs!
Look up, FTA is addictive just ask anyone here lol...I started with a 30" and was tickled a few years ago to get 97W for the first time. Since then it's up to 3-4 dishes and several receivers. Many years ago I also was into shortwave as a teenager. FTA is kinda the same but with pictures lol...Still have an old Hallicrafters shortwave tube type set in the garage somewhere...blind
I'm convinced that the DTV AT-9 (and I assume Slimline) are good small FTA dishes because of their fine-tuning by horizontal and vertical adjustment jack-screws that allow you to squeeze every bit of quality out of a signal. That said, there isn't much margin for rain fade. We're fortunate to have lots of clear weather here, and when we do get moisture, half the year it is in the form of snow (which seems to have less effect on signal quality).
You are probably right, but I do like to group my favorites from different satellites into categories and surf through them without a delay. Maybe a hybid set-up with multiple-lnb fixed dishes plus a motorized dish to fill in the gaps would be the best bet! I am going to try for 30W, which being less than 3 degrees above the local horizon will require a tilted post or an upside-down dish - probably couldn't use a motorized dish for that anyway.
I still have my first Heathkit 4-tube shortwave receiver. Similar to FTA, that radio was a window to the world. I still like to listen (although with a slightly newer receiver) to both regular programming as well as "utility" signals (like reports from airliners over the Atlantic or cryptic "spy" signals, etc., which are analogous to some of the feeds that can be found on FTA).
When I mentioned in my initial post that FTA is like a 21st century version of shortwave, one difference is that there probably aren't many people out there reminiscing about their old tube-operated FTA receiver
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When I mentioned in my initial post that FTA is like a 21st century version of shortwave, one difference is that there probably aren't many people out there reminiscing about their old tube-operated FTA receiver
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