Getting ready to buy FTA...

[theslag]

Thanks for everyones help with all my questions..but here is another one..

Im looking to start off with a fix dish system pointing at G10. Im thinking that is the best for english speaking programs. But, how hard or easy is the system to set up? Im more worried about the dish pointing. I dont have a meter but Im thining i can use the receiver and tv to do this. Im going to put the dish in the area that I have my AT-9 on a deck post. I want to get my feet wet with the fixed dish and then move to the motorized dish.

Thanks

 

[zazu]

well from my little experience,, if you are pointing at only 1 sat from a fixed position,, then its all about the compass & angle,, if you dont have a compass, walmart sells one for 3$ that is great( in thier camping supply area), it has a moveable bezel so you can preset the dial for the Azimuth you need, also, Sears has the johnston anlge meter with a magnet , and its the nice big one which makes it easy to read, along with the fact that is has a magnet in it, so being a bigger angle finder means the magnet is bigger than others aswell,and they sell them for less than 10$( i need to go get one myself) , so along with these itmes its all about getting the right measures you need, but the net has loadds of websites that you put in your long and lat, and bam there you go,, and if you need your long and lat, Google will give you that no prob... hope this helps

 

[airgator96]

Its pretty much a piece of cake. G10 is a great one to single on.

 

[Sadoun]

I would recommend you get a 90cm dish with your satellite system. That way the signal received is nice and strong from G10. Also, it will be nice to have the 90cm dish when you decide to add a DiSEqC motor.

Good luck.

 

[briansanders007]

Go for the motorized dish right away. You won't be disappointed! Once you get the taste of FTA and lock on to one you will want to try your luck at other sats. It's so easy once you get the motorized install pointed!

 

[PSB]

[PIE]"Buying a dish without a motor, is like buying a car without wheels"[/PIE]

 

[airgator96]

I'd have to agree, you have to buy the motor. Its a better deal. So you may as well do it now.

 

[theslag]

thanks guy..when i finaly buy this set up anyone here in the lehigh valley, PA on this board to help me set it up??

 

[PSB]

We are HERE to help

(Scott beats us if we don't)

 

[Tron]

You should go for a motorized package, even if you don't immediately install the motor. Its cheaper that way, and believe me, you'll want the motor after a short time

Also, as Sadoun pointed out, bigger dish = better dish

 

[mrweather]

Yeah, like many things in life, bigger is better.

I've got a 90cm Fortec dish on a motor and it's great for everything I want to watch on the KU band.

While it can be tricky to set up a motor the first time, once it's done it makes the hobby so much more enjoyable. No more worrying about adjusting the dish angle, elevation and skew; the motor takes care of it for you.

As for aiming you really don't need a meter. The built-in one on your receiver is just as good as any outboard satfinder.

If you're looking for a receiver as well, I would personally recommend the Coolsat 5000. Great motor control. Fast blind scan. Nice user interface. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the Viewsat 2000 Extreme.

 

[Sadoun]

I agree with the previous posters. Get a motorized system, even if you are not going to install he motor right away. It is cheaper in the long run than adding the motor later. :up

 

[VinceT3]

I'm trying to weigh my options. I would like to get a T90 an put it up in place of one of my e* dishes, but I'm new to FTA so I don't know if it's worth spending the $$ on a fairly new hobby. Any suggestions?

 

[grusome]

I'm trying to weigh my options. I would like to get a T90 an put it up in place of one of my e* dishes, but I'm new to FTA so I don't know if it's worth spending the $$ on a fairly new hobby. Any suggestions?

Vince, I don't want to come across as being ugly, but you sorta hijacked the other guy's thread. Anyway, a dish & motor setup can be found pretty reasonable (sponsers) and would probably be much easier to setup than the T90. (and maybe cheaper too) It all depends on what you are wanting to do with FTA.
Personally, I would rather have a dish & motor setup as I knew when I started this that I would want to be able to pick up as many sats as possible. And do it as easily as I could. The one downside to the T90 in my opinion is having to deal with a bunch of lnb's and switches. With a dish & motor setup, only one lnb ( if using single Ku Linear lnb) and no switch. Or if you are wanting to be able to get both circularly polorized and linearly polorized sats, a linear Ku lnb, and a circular lnb strapped to it with a DiseqC switch or a Invacom QPH-031 lnb with a DisqeC switch. I have mine set up with the linear lnb and a circular lnb strapped to it and it works pretty good. But, I plan to replace that setup with the Invacom as I like the idea of everything being in one package. ( makes setting up the sats easier and working with USALS better)
I have found that like some others here, I enjoy scanning for new feeds and just generally having fun. And since I use my DVB-S card in my PC, I get to play with some HD on PBS to boot. ( which makes me want an HD TV even more!!)
grusome

 

[gabshere]

motor / multiple tv's can watch the same satellites (same channels)

motor / multiple tv's each with it own receiver can watch different channels on the same satellite - downfall is subscriptions moving motor would probably interrupt.

T-90 mulitple tv's can watch any satellite (to receive different channels on tv would require a receiver for each)

T-90 also requires a reversed polarity lnb for the e* and/or dtv subscriptions