new to free to air

[gatorlt64]

I am brand new to free to air and had some questions. I purchased a captiveworks cw 700 and cw600 receiver. I am ordering a 36" dish with a motor but while I wait can I use my old direct tv dish to pick up some satellites? What satellite is the the best to point at with this dish if it will work? I want to do this to set up my receivers wile waiting for the new dish. My bigest question is the cable in my house. My house is pre wired for cable. The manufacturer has wired coax cable to each room and I would like to know if this cable is ok to use? What type of cable do i use from the sat to the switch? If the cable in the house will work I plan on hooking the switch to it and run new cable up to the sat. Have I gotten in over my head or is this easy enough for a newbee to figure out? The free to air sat seems like a fun hobby and it looks like the ku band has plenty of free channels to view. Any input would be really appreciated. Thank You
Jeff

 

[jcrandall]

I moved your question to the FTA area - they can better help you.

Welcome to the site!

 

[qwert1515]

Until you get your 36" dish the only satellite worth picking up with your small dish is the 119.0°W EchoStar 7 Ku for Nasa TV and a very few amount of audio channels.

How is your house pre wired, are they split or do they go to one place and connect with a switch? For satellite it is highly recommended that you use RG-6 cable.

Also what type of wiring is done to your small dish and are there any switches or special LNBs used there?

I know it is hard to wait but it might be better if you wait for your 36" dish to arrive

 

[gatorlt64]

I moved your question to the FTA area - they can better help you.

Welcome to the site!

thank you new at this

 

[Anole]

I pretty much agree with everything QWERT mentioned, above.
But I know how frustrating it is to wait...
... and I know that it's going to be a real educational awakening when you get your dish 'n motor and try to hook it up.
So, a little practice with an old DirecTV dish would be good, if you're up for it! -

Aiming it will be difficult, but good practice for the 36 !
Working the menus on the receiver will be more good practice for later.
So, if you are really up for it, by all means describe your DirecTV dish (maybe with pictures).
. . . or see if you can find it on this web page . . .
A little NASA experience would be a heck of a lot better than going totally cold to the 36. -

 

[gatorlt64]

Until you get your 36" dish the only satellite worth picking up with your small dish is the 119.0°W EchoStar 7 Ku for Nasa TV and a very few amount of audio channels.

How is your house pre wired, are they split or do they go to one place and connect with a switch? For satellite it is highly recommended that you use RG-6 cable.

Also what type of wiring is done to your small dish and are there any switches or special LNBs used there?

I know it is hard to wait but it might be better if you wait for your 36" dish to arrive

my house wires go from each room to the side of the house to a splitter that has one in and four out. My recievers came with switches and I plan to use them, they are pansat 4x1 (w) premium that support diseqc v1.0 54-2400mhz high isolation. I hope these will work. As for the dish I am going to buy new cable for it I will find the RG-6 as you suggested. I also purchased a new lnb it is a dbs/circular dual lnbf and is tagged with i.f.:12.2~12.7ghz l.o.: 11.25ghz n.f.:0.3db(typ) I dont know what any of this means but it was recommended with the purchase of the free to air recievers. When I get my new dish it comes with a lnbf so I plan on using it and hooking the new one i purchased on the dish too. If i undestand how these work this will alow me to pick up two sats from one lnbf and two from the other. If im wrong please let me know. The new dish is a motorized dish and I looked at an article that said I had to set the peramiters do you know if that is hard to do? My cw700 has blind search and I undestand that is the most simple way to set up the dish. thanks for taking the time to help jeff

 

[gatorlt64]

I pretty much agree with everything QWERT mentioned, above.
But I know how frustrating it is to wait...
... and I know that it's going to be a real educational awakening when you get your dish 'n motor and try to hook it up.
So, a little practice with an old DirecTV dish would be good, if you're up for it! -

Aiming it will be difficult, but good practice for the 36 !
Working the menus on the receiver will be more good practice for later.
So, if you are really up for it, by all means describe your DirecTV dish (maybe with pictures).
. . . or see if you can find it on this web page . . .
A little NASA experience would be a heck of a lot better than going totally cold to the 36. -

My direct dish is the 18" round with duel lnb but I think the lnb only works for direct tv and I dont want anything to do with dish or direct tv. Had bad experiances with both providers and thats the reason im trying free to air. I would rather watch the free satallites than ever go back to those companys.

 

[qwert1515]

The purchased LNB will not work for most FTA (it is similar to you DirecTV LNB), you will need a linear LNB (The dish might come with one).

For FTA satellite you will need the larger dish, the small dish will only pickup a few FTA channels from the pay providers.

 

[SatelliteAV]

The LNBF that you were directed to purchase will not be capable of receiving FTA. It is a LNBF for the reception of Dish Network programming from the 119W satellite location. Unfortunately, your were misinformed by someone who is interested in programming that is received by theft of service and not the true Free To Air programming that we hobbyist enjoy!

You will need a Standard type linear LNBF with a frequency range of at least 11.7 to 12.2GHz or the extended frequency range of a Universal type LNBF with 10.7 - 12.2GHz coverage.

 

[bruin95]

My direct dish is the 18" round with duel lnb but I think the lnb only works for direct tv and I dont want anything to do with dish or direct tv. Had bad experiances with both providers and thats the reason im trying free to air. I would rather watch the free satallites than ever go back to those companys.

Just so you know, FTA is NOT a replacement for DBS or cable services. If you think that, you will be disappointed.

 

[Anole]

I am ordering a 36" dish with a motor ...

Before we all go off half-cocked and get too upset about this . . .
Nobody in their right mind would sell you a 36" dish, a motor, and a circular LNB.
Please give us some links to the LNB(s) you have coming.
The dish, too, if ya like.
Even the motor.
We can probably find you info to study now, to get you ready to hook up your equipment when it arrives.

AND, if by some small chance, you don't have a proper LNB in the incoming shipment, we can help you figure out what you'll need, and get that ordered.
hint: if you plan to run two receivers (only) then two-output LNB would be required.
Exactly which one, is to be determined.

So, don't have a cow. -
You'll be watching TV in no time!

 

[gatorlt64]

Before we all go off half-cocked and get too upset about this . . .
Nobody in their right mind would sell you a 36" dish, a motor, and a circular LNB.
Please give us some links to the LNB(s) you have coming.
The dish, too, if ya like.
Even the motor.
We can probably find you info to study now, to get you ready to hook up your equipment when it arrives.

AND, if by some small chance, you don't have a proper LNB in the incoming shipment, we can help you figure out what you'll need, and get that ordered.
hint: if you plan to run two receivers (only) then two-output LNB would be required.
Exactly which one, is to be determined.

So, don't have a cow. -
You'll be watching TV in no time!

ftasat4less is the site im going to get my dish from and it doesnt come with a lnb so ill have to find one that works. I dont expect to get the same programing as dish or direct tv but the free to air will do just fine. Im not into trying to steal satellite im just trying to find an exceptible alternative to the crapy providers that mess up my bill every month. Fta is just what it means free and what ever channels are out there are better than my antenna that I use now. I have had no good luck with the dish providers so im trying this. On that note the dish im purchasing is the pansat f-90u 36" and the motor that comes with it is the pm-900s so if this will work i would appreciate the feed back. I do plan on running two recievers so thanks for the info on the lnb. Im sure I got bad info on the purchase of the lnb that I orderd with the recievers and I payed the price for it seeing that it cost me around twenty four dollars plus shipping. A lesson learned the hard way i guess. thaks again for all the info it is really appreciated. Jeff

 

[Anole]

The dish and motor should get the job done.
HOWEVER, if you haven't ordered it yet, we might want to suggest other brands/models/sources.

As for the FTA-capable LNB, let me be polite to our supporting advertizers and list some at their sites:
Dual LNB @ GoSatellite
Dual LNB @ Sadoun
Dual LNB @ SatelliteAV
At least that'll give you an idea what we are talking about.

There are certainly other suitable LNBs available, and if you find one and want info on it, give us a link and we'll let you know.
Do your own Google or eBay search, if ya like.


Now, in the mean time, do you want to fire up your receiver for one or two channels, and shake the bugs out?
If so, get that little 18" dish, and aim it at 119°W.
From Sacramento, that'd be:
- Compass Reading: 160.9 deg.
- Dish Elevation: 45.2 deg.

Use some RG6, and connect one LNB port directly to your receiver LNB-in port.
Set the LO (local oscillator frequency) to 11.250 ghz.
You should be able to get NASA TV and Angel One, both of which are carried by Dish Network, but are unscrambled.
Whether you want to watch either is not the point - it's immediate feedback and familiarity getting your equipment running.

Here is some reference reading by our resident guru, on the subject:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-faq-s/34131-what-can-i-get-18-dish-dish-500-a.html#post1187324