info for an FTA newbie

[petlachou]

Hello everyone!
I have been reading some of the posts on other forums and was referred to Satelliteguys. I am amazed by all the helpful info you guys provide.
I am hoping you can do the same for me.
A friend of mine sent us a pansat 2500A as a gift, knowing that our family has been trying to get european channels for a while.
We live in Chicago,IL and are interested in getting french, german, italian channels throught the FTA. Could you tell us if it is even possible to receive signals from here, and if so what kind of equipment we should add to use with this pansat receiver.
Any help would greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[PilotS77]

You can get several European channels using FTA - you will need a dis if you do not have one and then propably IA-5 would be a good start.

 

[Mr Tony]

You would need at least a 30" dish for FTA.

Check out here http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistKuBandUS.html
under "IA5" 97W
this lists all the FTA channels that you could get....most of the int'l channels I do not know the native language

 

[petlachou]

thank you for the replies so far, guys.
I'll check out the link. Pardon my ignorance but what did you mean by "IA5"
thanks again

 

[PSB]

Intelsat Americas 5 (IA-5) is the name of a Satellite : )

http://www.lyngsat.com/ia5.html

 

[phongluu]

Intelsat Americas 5 (IA-5) is the name of a Satellite : )

http://www.lyngsat.com/ia5.html

I'm wondering when did they change to that name from Telstar 5?

P.L.

 

[PSB]

This is the closest I could find........

http://www.abcnewsabsat.com/home.html#namechange

 

[petlachou]

Thank ya'll for the great input.
I found some more stuff out: do you have any idea whether or not we could get signal in Chicago for satellites such as Hispasat1D and/or AtlanticBird3?Because these actually carry the channels we woudl be looking for.
thanks again

 

[PSB]

I get great signals from Hispasat 1D here in the St Paul area,
No chance of getting AtlanticBird 3 by the looks of the below, drag the yellow dot over to Chicago : (

http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/ab3.html

 

[PilotS77]

You can go to:

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm

You can then calculate for your location if you can "see" that satellite or not.

 

[Timewave]

Here ia a link to a site that I have been using to do a site survey before I actually order my system.

It uses the sun and the moon to show where the best location's to place a dish are.

http://perso.numericable.fr/~gjullien/satellite.htm

This time of year is good for the sun because it is almost behind the satellite's

On sunny day go out look at the time that it is suppose to be at the right position, If You got shade no go, If You can see the sun you are good to go.

I have found a location for my dish that can see the entire satellite belt from about 8 west to 148 west

Good Luck