Getting My First FTA Motorized KU Setup!

[Rendered]

Hey everybody, sorry I did not update as soon as I said I would. It’s been a crazy few days. Between work and trying to keep up with the political stuff going on I have not had much free time, and what little free time I have had I have spent in happy TV land.

I am now officially an FTA’er!

So, first off I have to give the folks here on the forum a BIG thanks for all the help and assistance!:up
I would have been in the dark trying to understand a lot of this otherwise.

And thanks Sadoun for supplying me with a great product for a great price.:up
BTW, I’m still wearing the hat!

This is absolutely AWSOME!:clap I have to admit that subconsciously I thought there had to be some reason that would come up that would prevent it from working. That’s usually the way it goes for me.

But sure enough with my brothers help we got it setup and working on Saturday. And thanks to the Sat finder kit we had no problem locating a satellite. Even though everything is coming in clear I still plan to go up and adjust it one more time because it was getting dark and we were in a hurry. The first channel I got after I did a scan was FOX 64 out of Beaumont TX.

Sunday it faced its first weather test. We had over 50mph winds but the dish only lost the signal for seconds at a time while my OTA antenna got blown sideways and lost all signal. Even after having a little time to play with the receiver the past few days I am still in a kind of daze trying to get my head around all these channels, and the fact that Nobody is going to try and charge me for them. It is just completely amazing!

This is hands down one of the best investments I have ever made. The only disappointment is that I have not been able to get the White Springs channel. I am fairly certain that the next door two story building is just close enough to partially block that angle and keep the mercury from getting a strong enough signal. But I can’t place the dish anywhere else. But, that is ok for now.



I have a few new FTA questions, but I want to play with the setup a little more first.

That is the same EXACT system I am planning to order. I have had dtv (back when it was DBS i think), then dish, and now cable. I am not going back to the little dish ($$$) and have never been really happy with the picture quality of the cable. I'll want to get a PVR later, but that mercury system looks like a greater starter with the $20 upgraded dish.

How did your install go Rendered? I am in TX along the border so it will be interesting to see what kind of stuff I can pick up around here.

How many birds will I be able to hit with the motorized system?

Hi empiretc,

I have not had cable in a long time but I can tell you that FTA is about a million times better then just using an over the air antenna.

So far I have scanned in AMC4, AMC3, AMC1, Galaxy 3C, Galaxy 25, Galaxy 28 and Galaxy 10R. I am getting a stable signal from all of them. Even Galaxy 10R is coming in good. I have only had trouble picking up one satellite and I think that is caused by a nearby building. So far I think I will be able to get pretty much everything listed on ftalist.com, not to mention feeds.

I am extremely glad I got the 20$ 90cm upgrade because if it makes as much a difference as Iceberg says in his review ( http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-equipment-reviews/33002-fortec-36-dish.html ) then I think a few of these channels I am getting would not be coming in with a 80cm dish.

 

[Sadoun]

And thanks Sadoun for supplying me with a great product for a great price.:up
BTW, I’m still wearing the hat!

Hey, thanks for YOUR business. : We appreciate it. Enjoy your new setup.

 

[Tron]

Sometimes White Springs won't scan in with a blind scan. Try inputting the frequency and SR manually:

White Springs TV
11964 (H) SR: 2920

 

[schlever]

I have to enter it manually on my F* Ultra. It only has a 20%Q, but works fine.

 

[Rendered]

Ah hah… take that you two story building!

Sometimes White Springs won't scan in with a blind scan. Try inputting the frequency and SR manually:

White Springs TV
11964 (H) SR: 2920

I have to enter it manually on my F* Ultra. It only has a 20%Q, but works fine.

Thanks!:clap:

Well Tron, that did it.:up Must remember programming, Users users usersss…


Being wrong has never been so great! I entered the info to add the transponder and the signal jumped right up. White Springs is coming in with my signal meter showing a SQ between 30 and 40, which is the weakest I have seen yet. But hey if it’s in it’s in! after that I also notice that I was not getting the create channel and the extra PBS stations on AMC3, so I found the transponder settings then entered it and now they are coming in. So I guess I am starting figure this stuff out!

I have found that there are a few more AC3 audio channels then I expected, but that is not a problem because I just bought a set of the sonic voom headphones from eBay.:


Here are some new FTA questions I hope you guys can help me with:

When I did a scan of Galaxy 25 I got four or five Arab channels at the end of the list that for some reason brought my receiver to a stand still. It would take forever for it to move out of those channels. I don’t particularly need those channels and I have no clue as to what they are saying, so I just deleted them. But I would like to know what was causing the problem. Does the Mercury II need a software update? Are they just broadcasting in a codec that gives some receivers a hard time? How many other people have seen this problem? Why are those the only channels with this problem?

Thanks to the digital satellite broadcast I will never have to worry about signal grain or noise again! I tell you watching PBS with perfect clear quality is like a whole other experience now.:shocked But, I see that some channels (especially some of the foreign ones on galaxy 25) have some levels of what looks like mpeg block compression artifacts. I am used to seeing this when working with low quality video on my computer. So there is nothing I can do to clear them up, right? Are those channels over compressing the signal so they don’t have to pay for the extra bandwidth?

Okay, I was looking through LyngSat and found a channel listed as KU FTA and it has a full America signal range. But, I have not been able to get it and I don’t see it listed on the forum’s thelist. I am probably missing something obvious. Why is it listed in LyngSat the way it is, and why am I unable to pick it up?

the channel is AmericanLife TV Network on: Galaxy 16 at 99.0°W - LyngSat


That’s the only questions I can think of for now, all this is so entertaining.

 

[digiblur]

That channel is Digicipher. Your DVB receiver can not pick it up.

Wait till you get into HD and 4:2:2 goodies... you'll then join the club of folks looking for that receiver that isn't out there for us yet.

 

[Tron]

Thanks to the digital satellite broadcast I will never have to worry about signal grain or noise again! I tell you watching PBS with perfect clear quality is like a whole other experience now.:shocked But, I see that some channels (especially some of the foreign ones on galaxy 25) have some levels of what looks like mpeg block compression artifacts. I am used to seeing this when working with low quality video on my computer. So there is nothing I can do to clear them up, right? Are those channels over compressing the signal so they don’t have to pay for the extra bandwidth?

Low bitrate channels can come from uplinkers' bandwidth limitations (due to funds or otherwise), and often due to trying to cram too many channels onto one transponder. Every time they share the bandwidth of a transponder with another channel, it reduces the quality of all channels on that transponder. Works the same way on ATSC OTA digital... the more subchannels, the more macroblocking