Has the Eye Patch Gang taken over the FTA name?

[truckracer]

couldn't have said it better myself

"Free To Air" was a term originated by the broadcast industry referring to unencrypted transmissions (either via satellite or OTA). FTA has absolutely nothing to do with decrypting pay channels, since those channels are not, by definition, FTA. Its just a case of a term being hijacked from its original meaning, probably because the receivers they use for piracy are supposed to be used for unencrypted reception (FTA receivers).

wonder why not on ebay they don't say ....."Receiver ready to steal dish network" and leave true FTA along and out of it? That way just because we all have legal legit true fta boxes for the truely free unencrypted broadcasts - we are not considered theives.

Subscription tv is fine and i wouldn't mind paying at all. True FTA gives you channels that are not provided or carried by the big commercial program providers.
Its essentially the only way to get these channels if you discover and like them.

Cable companies and small dish providers only carry the mainstream channels.
If you want to watch mainstream...you have to pay for it.
Thats how they pay their bills and eat.

I enjoy a lot of non mainstream programming only available on a true FTA system.

Whenever we go out of town and i am staying in a hotel that has only mainstream subscription programming...I feel like there is "nothing to watch" LOL
No news feeds or sports feeds, no blind scan LOL..... What a limited tv system and the picture quality usually sucks compared to the master feeds you can see sometimes wth an HD FTA box when feeds are not encrypted.


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[Jarhead84-90]

We've got a lot of craigslister folks here just flat out advertising the theft of signal as Free to Air.
Does anyone have just an eloquent paragraph describing the difference between real FTA and stealing it. Something we could just copy and paste in an ad to clarify the difference to anyone reading those ads? I'd really like to post something there but I'm not very good at whipping up a nicely put description. Just a thought. Thanks

 

[kirara386]

Not sure if this is quite what you're looking for, but somthing like this could work.

Free to Air or FTA, in its true meaning, is the reception of signals that are broadcast without encryption. The use of FTA equipment to receive encrypted services is piracy and as such is illegal.

 

[avg1joe]

I sold my traxis and a dish on craigslist recently. I posted links to channel lists of available fta channels. Once someone has seen The List, ftalist or Mike Kohl's list they should get the point. It's more fun to point out what you can get rather than what you shouldn't get for channels because it's illegal.

 

[TimLones111]

I sold my traxis and a dish on craigslist recently. I posted links to channel lists of available fta channels. Once someone has seen The List, ftalist or Mike Kohl's list they should get the point. It's more fun to point out what you can get rather than what you shouldn't get for channels because it's illegal.

That is very true. I still have Time Warner Cable for my regular TV. I got into FTA for 3 reasons:

1. Because I'd been wanting to for several years, and I had a pretty good Income Tax Return this year..

2. I had a perfectly good metal pole sitting in my front yard that has had Directv, Dish and Skyangel in the past. Figured I might as well get some use out of it..

3. To just have more (and some better) programs other than just what we get on cable..Having a Dish pointed at G18 has whetted my appetite for more, once I can get my motor put on..Plus I am basically a Satellite geek..LOL

 

[glen4cindy]

That is very true. I still have Time Warner Cable for my regular TV. I got into FTA for 3 reasons:

1. Because I'd been wanting to for several years, and I had a pretty good Income Tax Return this year..

2. I had a perfectly good metal pole sitting in my front yard that has had Directv, Dish and Skyangel in the past. Figured I might as well get some use out of it..

3. To just have more (and some better) programs other than just what we get on cable..Having a Dish pointed at G18 has whetted my appetite for more, once I can get my motor put on..Plus I am basically a Satellite geek..LOL

I have wanted to be able to get into satellite TV reception since I was 12. (I'm 41 now). This was obviously in the era when everything was ITC on the BUD's, but, I never had the income to do so, even after I grew up, and always lived in rented houses too, so a landlord would not want a BUD on his property!

Now that I have the money to put up a BUD, I live in an HOA that doesn't allow it. When I moved here, I didn't even know that FTA existed. I didn't know there was any use left for BUD's.

Since I finally found this, I finally bought a system, and thankfully I decided to get a motor setup. I don't know how one would have time to fiddle with all the stuff they must have to fiddle with to keep the illegal view going. I have so much fun watching what is actually FTA and finding feeds like I did this weekend, it's just the best.

I obviously cannot give up my DirecTv, but, there sure is plenty to keep you busy on real FTA than what the eye patch gang calls FTA.

When I bought my Fortec Lifetime Ultra, I knew that the eye patch gang used to own it because the screens did not look right. The info screen showed something strange, and the remote was a Pansat remote. I loaded factory firmware into it and the remote stopped working! I had to order a Fortec remote from E-Bay before I could use it again! The other give away was it only had 2 satellites programmed in and added. 110/119. That was the best give away. I was so glad to get that hack firmware off of the box. Last thing I would have needed was to be investigated and found with a box with hackware on it, though I wasn't sure how I would have even been investigated in the first place, it was just a fear.

Hopefully N3 will shut them down for good. Maybe N3 will be as hack-proof as DC II has proven to be.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

I have wanted to be able to get into satellite TV reception since I was 12. (I'm 41 now).

I also wanted a dish from a very young age. When I was about 8, I wasn't allowed to have a t.v. in my room so I took our old vcr out of the garage and hooked it up to a commodore monitor to make my own monochrome t.v. (green and yellowish). I decided I couldn't get enough channels with that setup so I decided to make my own dish. I had no knowledge as to how satellite technology worked so basically all I made was a giant antenna out of copper wire that was in the shape of a dish. Needless to say, I got no satellite love, but I did get some channels that I didn't know existed before.

 

[TimLones111]

I also wanted a dish from a very young age. When I was about 8, I wasn't allowed to have a t.v. in my room so I took our old vcr out of the garage and hooked it up to a commodore monitor to make my own monochrome t.v. (green and yellowish). I decided I couldn't get enough channels with that setup so I decided to make my own dish. I had no knowledge as to how satellite technology worked so basically all I made was a giant antenna out of copper wire that was in the shape of a dish. Needless to say, I got no satellite love, but I did get some channels that I didn't know existed before.

When I was young..Late 1960's through early/mid 1970's..I got interested in TV DXing,,From my Canton area location I was getting Pittsburgh, Columbus, London, Ont. and Detroit semi-regularly. DXing made me interested in distant signal TV and Radio. I first saw Home Satellite in action in the early 1980's at my brother's house in Magnolia, Ohio..It was cool to see San Francisco and Los Angeles TV from Ohio..Plus, I first heard Yesterday USA on his setup.. YUSA is one of the channels I want to get on my Ku setup eventually..He had a crank you had to pull to get on one Satellite or another. He now has Dish Network..

I guess my point is there is plenty to do out there without feeling like you have to steal it..

 

[Blindowl1234]

I remember being interested in Dxing and tv stuff at about age 5. I took communication arts in my last two years of high school in the 70's. My best memory is in grade school the whole school going to the auditorium to was watch Nasa launch an apollo mission. Some of you remember the big tv's the schools had in the 60's...the wood box on the AV cart lol....well the teachers never could get a picture on them and would always say well guess we'll have to go back to class! I stepped up and asked for a piece of wire or something and always managed to make an antenna out of something...saved the day I guess. I helped a cousin put in the Bud's in the 1980's we would drive 3 hours out in the country and I got the glorious job of digging the trench to put the rg-6 into. Hey I got $100 each time...couple of hundred extra a month in those days was good money....personally I hope they eventually shut down those who steal the encrypted stuff...I'm sure somehow they'll find a way around it somehow. Thanks! Blind

 

[cracklincrotch]

Some of you remember the big tv's the schools had in the 60's...the wood box on the AV cart lol

Remember it? My son has one of those at his school. TV has to be 30 years old, with a VCR that ejects manually through the top like a cassette deck. They keep it right outside of the gym for assemblies.

 

[toucan-man]

Remember it? My son has one of those at his school. TV has to be 30 years old, with a VCR that ejects manually through the top like a cassette deck. They keep it right outside of the gym for assemblies.

I remember that type at our school, when the coach would record basketball games on them in B/W.

Reminds me, there are two BUDs at a nearby rural school. Wonder if they are in use? Think I'll go ask.

 

[Stargazer]

The thing about the eye patch gang is it encourages the FTA manufacturers to make more product and make more improvements so it does help out the hobbyist in that way. Otherwise there would not be many choices out on the market and advancement would be a lot slower. It also means a lot of cheap receivers when they get hit.

 

[gillham]

It also means a lot of cheap receivers when they get hit.

Also there might be an influx of people looking for real FTA. Maybe we need to create a "Here's how you get legal FTA now that you have been shutdown." sticky on the front page.

 

[avediswolf]

I also wanted a dish from a very young age. When I was about 8, I wasn't allowed to have a t.v. in my room so I took our old vcr out of the garage and hooked it up to a commodore monitor to make my own monochrome t.v. (green and yellowish). I decided I couldn't get enough channels with that setup so I decided to make my own dish. I had no knowledge as to how satellite technology worked so basically all I made was a giant antenna out of copper wire that was in the shape of a dish. Needless to say, I got no satellite love, but I did get some channels that I didn't know existed before.

OMG! At that age, I was trying to make satellite dishes out of old pie pans and using bottle caps as an LNB. Hooked it directly to the B&W TV and nothing.

But I did think I was on to something when late at night on an old tubed AM radio, I could use it as an antenna and pull some stations from a few states away.

We were going to get a BUD, but the mountain behind the house blocked all the good satellites. I almost cried, then set off to make my own.