Initial fta setup advice (N00B Inside)

[tonio25]

Hello my fellow sat friends Thanks for taking the time to even read my book here (LOL) I have been lurking in the forums for 2 years but finally joined after coming to the conclusion that fta is where I want to be. That being said I will give a brief overview of what I'm leaving behind and ask for you input on how I should move forward. Currently in my house I have a dish network VIP 722k DVR set up in my living room and bedroom. I am shipping them back their equipment end of this month

So I am looking for a dish preferably one that is motorized with dual or triple lnbf ( is this possible ??)here's the kicker tho I want to have at least three rooms with service. I've looked at the glorystar systems because I will need a dish the receivers for each room and to be able to dvr off the main stb in the living room. I have looked at the ilink 9500 hd also the sonicview 8000 hd but in the end I am thinking go with Glorystar since I can get all of what I need in one order. And when the microHD comes out I should be able to use that stb in my living room is that possible (I'm buying the microHD either way Woot ) ?

I have looked all over the place on the internet sadouns to ricks satellite along with ebay and craigslist but my gut is telling me to not start out cheap and do it right the first time.

I have searched all the threads and it was a bit over whelming to say the least but Ice and a few other members posts have helped me learn a lot in this time.

So leave your suggestions, websites and any other advice you can spare on the best fta setup options, I would totally appreciate it and I thank you all in advance. God bless Antonio

 

[phlatwound]

Antonio, I don't know much about feeding multiple rooms from a single dish but here's a few thoughts....

To feed 3 (or more) receivers you will need a dual output LNBF and a multiswitch. It is possible to have multiple LNBFs on a motorized setup but it is not common and might be a little complicated for someone just starting out. With one dual output LNBF and a multiswitch you can watch different channels on your receivers at the same time, but only from whatever satellite you are pointed at.

GloryStar and SatAv are as good an outfit as you can find to deal with, but I don't think they sell motors, and until the Micro-HD is released I think their receivers are SD-only. I would definitely recommend getting an MPEG-4, DVB-S2 capable HD receiver.

Don't go smaller than 90 cm on your dish, bigger than that is great but the shipping costs go way up on the larger dishes.

SG-9120 (Galaxy Marketing) and the DG-380 (Sadoun) motors both have a lot of happy users on this forum, make sure the post size matches whatever dish you get.

SatAv/GloryStar and Galaxy Marketing (both are forum sponsors, see links on top of page) between them have everything you need to get you going, and will stand behind whatever they sell you. You are correct in not wanting to go cheap if you are planning on buying new equipment, the small price difference is not worth it.

I'm sure others with a lot more knowledge that me will have more ideas for you, keep reading and learning, and asking questions.

 

[kodaz]

your post kinda goes to both side extremes.
if you motorize a single dish, everybody has to watch that particular satellite with you. you will need 3 dishes and 3 motors or however many boxes you have?
If you are only interested in glorystar programming, isnt all that on bird 97?
at that point you would not need a real expensive box (s) for viewing and all your
boxes would be able to view that one bird and no motor needed ect.
if by watching in other rooms you mean just coaxial and splitters to other TV's. yeah, can do with a single motorized dish.
with that in mind the micro hd is the way to go. it looks reasonably priced and and looks EXTREMELY capable at this time.

Looks like you have a few choices.

good thing you came here, cause we got all the answers!!! LOL

 

[Nosbod]

If you are not restricted by dish size you should consider C Band, with a dual C/Ku lnb you can get the best of both worlds. C band and KU band only have dual lnb's so you can run 2 receivers, however you will still need 2 dishes and a Disequ switch. The C/Ku lnd is only for a single receiver.

One other thought, there is a loop out on the back of most receivers, and I have never tried this so I am just guessing, could a rg6 not run from here to feed a second receiver. You will still only be able to view whats on the single sat.

Someone else here will likely have more information on this.

 

[tonio25]

Hey everyone thanks for your replies I found the dish I am going to buy from our very own satellite_av over on ebay.

listed at eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

I've also decided to just order the microHD in January when it comes out and I can have the best of both worlds so thank you all so much for your responses God bless !!

 

[phlatwound]

That is a great deal for that setup.

The only problem with it is that you won't be able to feed 3 receivers in separate rooms with those single output LNBFs, you will need dual output LNBFs and a multiswitch.

With the the single output LNBFs you can watch programming one satellite (97W for example) on 1 receiver, and another satellite (say 101W) on another.

I may have misunderstood what you are trying to do but wanted to mention this.

 

[cyberham]

This seems like a good package. If you're a fan of FTA, it's unfortunate you won't have a motorized system. It is fun to explore all the satellites. According to satbeams, new satellites are being planned all the time.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Tonio,

Welcome to the forum! I took a quick look at the package you decided upon. I think that is going to be a great start for the dish. With the GloryStar receivers, I think they come pre-programmed for specific satellites and channels, but they are easily upgraded to include all other FTA services. You will want to double check this on the new microHD model to be sure, but I would expect it to offer the same perk.

With the GeoSat Pro 90cm dish, you will have the option to upgrade it to a motorized system in the future if you desire. If you do so, you will want to change the LNBF to a single unit with multiple outputs (rather than a two LNBF setup). Two LNBFs on a motorized dish is not something that you want to get into right off the bat. Right off the bat you will be starting out with a great system. I think that it is extremely beneficial for anyone just getting into FTA setups to qualify themselves with a fixed point dish first, before getting involved with a motorized system. There are a few prerequisite tasks that a person needs to become familiarized with before accelerating into the motorized aspect.

Besides the logical approach of "one step at a time", this strategy of setting up a fixed point dish first also allows you to dabble with FTA with very minimal equipment expense up front. It is good to set goals that are easily and quickly achieved at reasonable or minimal expense. You will find it more rewarding to see positive results this way, as opposed to undertaking a major step with a motor right off the bat.

With a simple fixed point dish, you will be allowed time to become familiar with the receiver (when you get it) and navigating its menus and options and programming. Not to mention tweaking on your dish to optimize your signal strength and quality.

I assume that you have done enough browsing around the FTA forum to understand that FTA is a major and total change from DISH or DirecTV. You won't have any of the same programming and what you obtain, you will have to work for. But, of course, it is all free after the initial expense of the hardware (no subscriptions). There is enough "up there" to keep me occupied. For me personally, 100% of the broadcast television I watch is FTA satellite. That makes up 50% of my total TV viewing, the other 50% is recorded movies (DVDs from Netflix).

I normally would recommend that you retain your subscription to DISH while you investigate FTA in order to make up your mind, but it sounds like you have already come to your own conclusions about the worth and the expense of subscription services. You can always have both, you know.

I wish you lot's of fun and good luck with your setup! I know that you are going to find it interesting and it will certainly keep you occupied!

RADAR

 

[tonio25]

Thanks phlatwound & http://www.satelliteguys.us/member.php?u=44249AcWxRadar I will be adding a SG2100 motor to the satellite dish Ive kind of given up on the multiroom system per se unless I just go with a glorystar 3-4 room system and then once the microHD comes out I take that and place it on my main tv in the living room. I have been researching and FTA will be the best and most expensive hobby I've ever had to say the least LOL. I have another 2 months before my contract is over for good so I have about 59 days before I make the switch & I must say I can't Wait !!! You guys are really helpful and I totally appreciate your advice and wisdom !!!

 

[phlatwound]

I think you will be glad you got a motor, once you get them setup the "sky's the limit".

If you are going to motorize I wouldn't suggest going with that 2-LNBF dish.

Here is the same dish with 1 LNBF, also a great deal:

36 Inch 90 cm Free To Air FTA Satellite Dish & HD LNBF (890963002636) | eBay

I don't know if SatAv has an auction for it but I would recommend seeing if you could upgrade to a dual-output LNBF, probably cost another $10 or so. That way you could feed multiple receivers in the future off of this dish.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Tonio,

You are most welcome.

All of us here enjoy helping others to the best of our abilities. It doesn't matter if you are a greenhorn or an old dog, but if you are interested, we like like to help and it is not a chore because we enjoy the hobby. If you keep it in your mind to treat FTA as a hobby first, then a lot of the critical and technical items will not seem to be so overwhelming. All the answers are available here, so you have arrived at the right place to get started. There are many of us here that have all sorts of information and resource links that we can provide or point you towards. That will make it a lot easier than wading through all the websites out there and trying to disseminate all the information available into what is beneficial and valid versus what is useless and erroneous.

I believe that you will find the hobby of FTA to be highly interesting and enjoyable, you will definitely find that you are going to learn a LOT of new information. That will be rewarding in itself. Just remember to set your own pace and don't feel that you must accomplish everything all at once. There is a lot of information to cover with FTA. You will be doing everything yourself and you will eventually know much more than the technician who set up your subscription service when you get done. You will know and understand how ALL of it works and how to set it up! That is definitely worth something. You will love that part of it. LOL

I will offer a link to another thread here, I think that you will find it informative and helpful when you get to the point of motorizing your dish, but you can gather some information from it now even for fixed point dishes. It is long, but you have time to wade through it. I put some good information in it to apply to the generalities of dish aiming, so it is not limited to motorized systems entirely. Please check it out through the link below...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-faqs/190527-how-set-up-motorized-ku-band.html

Enjoy!

RADAR

 

[cyberham]

When setting up my motorized system, the greatest source of frustration was trying to use a receiver that didn't work correctly (bad firmware). Once I got hold of a receiver that worked according to its manual, although there was still a lot to learn, things went more smoothly. When you don't know how to do something, don't use malfunctioning equipment.

 

[AcWxRadar]

When setting up my motorized system, the greatest source of frustration was trying to use a receiver that didn't work correctly (bad firmware). Once I got hold of a receiver that worked according to its manual, although there was still a lot to learn, things went more smoothly. When you don't know how to do something, don't use malfunctioning equipment.

A very good point, Cyberham.

One of the absolute friendliest and most simple and most functional STB's I ever used was (and is) the Coolsat 4000/5000/6000 series. The 5000 model being my absolute favorite! No fancy-pants bells and whistles that you didn't need. It did what you told it to do. It found the satellites and it scanned them beautifully! You could manage your sat and channel lists and edit, delete, add, move, organize, rename, reorder, print and so many other things with your lists with ease! So freaking simple and fun and accurate.

They are no longer in production, but even right now I highly recommend them for a starter. I am even still using mine! I currently have seven to nine Coolsat 5Ks (I bought extras when the pirates started unloading them on Ebay - for spare parts should I ever need them).

RADAR

 

[cyberham]

One of the absolute friendliest and most simple and most functional STB's I ever used was (and is) the Coolsat 4000/5000/6000 series.

The CS7000 continued in that tradition. It is intuitive to use; no manual is even needed. I will keep it after getting newer technology.