How many FTA dishes have you seen in your area?

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

I'm about a block away from a house with a 31" Fortec on it, which looks like it is either beamed towards Ia5 or AMC4.

I am about 10 minutes from a Primestar sitting outside of a dilapidated house. I tried to go over to the neighbor's house to see if they knew anything, but that also looks like its about to fall over. Neither looks lived in, and the grass has been long been overtaken by weeds. The dish looks fine, even if the LNB is missing. Do you think anyone would notice? :devil: :devil:

 

[Tron]

It seems like tons of Phase III DTV dishes are popping up around Metairie (N.O. suburb)... far more than Dish. There are at least 5-6 of them on my block alone. Around the corner, there are plenty of apartment buildings. I can see their roofs when I'm up working on my dishes. A couple of them have 30"+ dishes (probably for IA-5), and there's one behind me with a good 'ol Winegard DS-2076

I know of a BUD just down the street from me that's pointed at the ground. I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask... it appears to be a 10 or 12 footer!

 

[TiminMb]

Not that common around here. Most are probably used by hackers so I'm assuming the dish would be their old bell or starchoice dish already up on the roof. The local suppliers are catering to hackers as most sell only small dishes and circular lnbs. I believe we, true FTA's are somewhat fringe.

 

[iafirebuff]

I can't even count all the Dish/Directv dishes

 

[gulfbreeze]

I've seen FTA dishes on gas stations, and at this apartment building in town. Some older houses still have c-band dishes in the backyard here. However, after hurricane ivan, the local cable company, mediacom, was very slow in bringing cable back on. We lived a half mile from their office, and it took them a month and a half to restore our cable. Most people lost cable for two months.
They didn't even have cable in their office working for atleast a month.

So, all the satellite dealers started up 4 room free installation deals for dish network and directv, and now you see a dish network or directv dish on atleast half the houses around here.

I remember Mediacom was so desperate to hold on to their customers around here that they were offering to buy people's satellite equipment for $500-$600 and give them like a year of free service. But they were making that offer when they didn't even have cable restored for nearly anyone.

 

[Optical Serenity]

I've seen some FTA equipment around here. Being from Iran, I've been to some other Iranian's houses who have basic FTA setups to view IA5 for the farsi content.

Turns out my grandparents also have FTA for IA5 and I didn't even know it. Haha...

My parent's neighbors have FTA for IA5 for the korean stuff. I talked to them and they said they paid close to $900 installed for it. They were told that included "2 years of service." Yikes...I informed them that viewing IA5 is free, they said they had been told the same by others in their Korean church.

 

[voomvoom]

Yikes...I informed them that viewing IA5 is free, they said they had been told the same by others in their Korean church.

That's not necessaraly correct. There are a lot of scrambled channels on IA5. Perhaps the ones they want are scrambled, but if they are not, it's a shame if they've been took.

Al

 

[n4bbq]

I am about 10 minutes from a Primestar sitting outside of a dilapidated house. I tried to go over to the neighbor's house to see if they knew anything, but that also looks like its about to fall over. Neither looks lived in, and the grass has been long been overtaken by weeds. The dish looks fine, even if the LNB is missing. Do you think anyone would notice? :devil: :devil:

Find out who owns the place and ask them. I'm 99% positive they'll give that "junk" to you. I did that with an old DirectTV/Dish Network installer office. I snagged about ten dishes and LNBs at one stop with that phone call. All I had to do there was send an e-mail wavier in case I fell off the place and wanted to sue them.

Good Luck...

 

[dfergie]

I have not seen any dedicated FTA Dishes around (other than the old BUD's)in this neck of the mesquite...

 

[brada]

My parent's neighbors have FTA for IA5 for the korean stuff. I talked to them and they said they paid close to $900 installed for it. They were told that included "2 years of service." Yikes...I informed them that viewing IA5 is free, they said they had been told the same by others in their Korean church.

You mis-informed them a bit To have their service uniterrupted, they have to pay for it. I saw these korean channels going up and down on my FTA just in recent weeks. G*cast charges for these channels. $25 x 24 = $600 plus equipment (~$200)
and installation. Are they G*cast official oval dishes with logo, or generic FTA-like?

 

[iafirebuff]

I just "found" another FTA'er. It is right across the street from one I found the other day. THey have 2 lnbs strapped together like their nieghbor does. I wonder if they are on this board?

 

[mdovell]

Actually that reminds me talking of BUD's...when I was in providence there was one house I saw that had one...must have been 12-16 feet and took up half the yard! I don't think it's on a motor because a fence is right behind it.

 

[Stefan]

I've seen FTA dishes on gas stations, and at this apartment building in town.

The dishes you see on gas stations and convient stores are most likely for credit card and ATM transactions and also possibly used by lotteries.

As for hotels, motels, and apartment complexes they often times run their own cable systems and probably have commerical recievers hooked up to those dishes which they use to subscribe to programming based on the number of rooms or aparments they have, in the same way a cable company would subscribe based on the number of homes they serve.

 

[iafirebuff]

In my area, I have seen some FTA type dishes on the convience stores that are owned by Middle Easterners. Some are Globecast, and others look to be generic. This is in addition to their Primestar looking type that they have. I have always wanted to ask them about it, but with the language barrier, it is hard enough to pay for items, so I don't want to confuse the matter any more

 

[dinyworld]

Here in Puerto Rico (Caribbean), just a few... but the hobbie is growing.
Ive notice a lot a C-band dishes that are still working. Also some 4' to 5' KU dishes pointing EAST