Need help with deciding my setup

[lwizardl]

Hello, I was looking to get some help with my planning of FTA system. I am looking for help with a few things.

1.) I have a RS232 serial version of the Birdog satellite meter. I plan to reprogram it to find only valid FTA satellites only. From what I have been told is the meter can only save 33 satellite locations so I think that should be more then enough for me. What I need to know is are these on the "TheLIST" on this site are the best ones for viewing.

2) I am currently using a old 18" dish that is installed in my yard on a pole. I plan to get a BUD dish later I just have to find one that someone wants me to remove from their yard. So for now I have to work with what hardware I have. For now which are

Dish Network 500 Dish
Dish Network Quad LNB
DP44 x2 (Was free)
Captive Works CW-600s(Was free)
Viewsat VS2000 Extreme (Was free)

3) I know that to get access to the most of the FTA stuff I will need to upgrade my dish to a larger sized one. I also know I need to get C-Band LNBF or some that do both. Those will be upgrades that i will do later. The things I am looking to do is mainly access the international news feeds so i can see what all is going on in the world versus the small news my local stations broadcast.

I do not care to deal with anything that has encryptions so do not send me any PM's dealing with such I will forward them to admins and I will not respond to them.

James

 

[jmc98]

to get FTA i would recommend at least a 80 to 90 cm of which i have a fortec star 90 cm that i will let go for the price of shipping and all you would need are the screws to put it together and a new lnb bracket of which i think sadoun satellites still sales those parts

 

[lwizardl]

I also have access to a 33" dish network elipictal dish and an old DirecTV dish. These was freebies that I was given locally.

 

[Pittsville]

I would say to get a motor to move the dish if at all possible. You'll really want one later so you might as well start out with it if you can. If you motorize the BUD when you get it, then you will need some way to control the motor. The Ku dishes are easily moved by the receiver over the coax. The big dish will need power and pulse wires in additon to the coax, and a way to control the dish as FTA dishs generally aren't set up for it. Maybe you know all of this already. I didn't when I first started out. I was using an old receiver to move my BUD but it died. I plan to get one of the new controllers designed to work with FTA but I haven't decided on which one to get yet. I think a review I've read here is what will decide for me. For help, advice, assistance and the latest news you've come to the right place, and I would say it's the best place you will find on the internet for reliable, informative satellite information for every level of experience.

 

[lwizardl]

I would say to get a motor to move the dish if at all possible. You'll really want one later so you might as well start out with it if you can. If you motorize the BUD when you get it, then you will need some way to control the motor. The Ku dishes are easily moved by the receiver over the coax. The big dish will need power and pulse wires in additon to the coax, and a way to control the dish as FTA dishs generally aren't set up for it. Maybe you know all of this already. I didn't when I first started out. I was using an old receiver to move my BUD but it died. I plan to get one of the new controllers designed to work with FTA but I haven't decided on which one to get yet. I think a review I've read here is what will decide for me. For help, advice, assistance and the latest news you've come to the right place, and I would say it's the best place you will find on the internet for reliable, informative satellite information for every level of experience.

Yeah I planned to get a rotator/Motor for the dish later. I just want to get a working setup even if it was just for a couple of satellite birds. I have one of those so called "Magic LNB" mounts. The ones that are just a bunch of poles that get screwed into place and then you plastic clip to hold the LNBFs. Not sure how well these work so I figured I would just start off using hardware for a couple of working locations and then start to switch out the LNBFs to see if I get better or worse signals from the gear that i have currently.

Also has anyone used these "Conical Scaler Rings KU to C-Band Conversion kits" ? From what I have been reading they seem to allow the KU band LNBFs to receive C-Band signals ? What about the BSC621 LNBF units? If I was to go with a combo LNBF unit how would I mount that to the standard pizza pan style home dishes ?

I know the small size of the dish will not allow me to get everything but giving me a taste of what is there could make me search more for the large dishes.

james

 

[FaT Air]

Conical scalar- -KU band LNBFs to receive C-Band signals ?

Impossible. A conical scalar enables a C band LNBF to be used on an Offset Ku dish. I would suggest a 1.2m. For Ku FTA reception I would suggest a 80 or 90 cm dish and a linear Ku LNBF. The dish network circular LNBF will NOT work. An 18 inch "pizza" dish is really, extremely, undersized. You may get something, but it would be a BLIND search requiring a LOT of time to find anything. Get a proper dish and LNBF, then later, experiment with the undersized dish.

 

[lwizardl]

okay then I'll remove the LNBFs from the satellite dish tonight. I'm going to take pictures of my satellite equipment and make notes of the numbers from each one. Hopefully i hae something that will let me make use of the stuff I have currently while I get the upgrades i need. For example the receiver boxes that i have currently I need to get better ones and was looking at a few of the nicer ones on gosatellite.