New to FTA; entry level equipment and what channels will I find

[nearbeer]

All,

Many thanks for your forthcoming advice. I grew up on military bases overseas and had a great time with a shortwave radio back in the late 80's and all the non-US broadcasts I could pick up during the middle of the night.

I want to get in the FTA hobby but I am overwhelmed by the information I have found on the internet and suffer from overload right now. I have two basic questions...

First, I am intrigued by non-US point of view(s) on world events; I hope to find news broadcasts that will allow me to catch a glimpse of other parts of the world and also introduce my son to non-US events...he likes watching the national news but I want to expose him to the larger world out there.

My fear is that FTA will bring us nothing but multiple US generated religious broadcasts in multiple languages. I would rather see a generic news bulletin from South America or Africa. With an entry level FTA package, will I doom myself to very few non-religious broadcasts?

Also, I believe a motorized system will be my first one...any recommendations on suppliers for entry level motorized packages?

Thanks for your time!

In search of my next cold one,

NearBeer

 

[danristheman]

Talk to our vendors on here Wallyhts, ke4est, titianium satellite they can help you out with what you need. I would get started with ku band dish 36 inch amiko mini hd and pll ku band lnb. Then work with c band next. Welcome to the site.

 

[. Raine]

Welcome to SatGuys, Nearbeer!

There's actually a lot of international non US news available via FTA. Most of it that I watch is on C band, [the big dishes] but there's some on the smaller Ku dishes too. I'm not a avid news watcher, but there is some members on here that are and they may chime in and list some of the channels available.

 

[FaT Air]

English language CCTV is on Ku along with RT and NHK, and a few more are available. You can get BBC World Service radio on 55W C band on an Atlantic satellite. More News on C and Ku if you're multi language.
Take a look at Mikes lists at http://www.global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html
C band, (4 digit frequencies) Big dish
Ku band, 36 inch dish.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

Welcome!

I grew up on shortwave too, and I miss the feel of it greatly. FTA fills some of that gap, but nothing replaces spinning the radio and hearing a small island nations' shortwave service or waking up in the middle of the night just to see if you can catch Malaysia or Kiribati. Stuff's still around, but it just isn't the same.

As for your questions: In the US, yes you can find some non-US news. Off the top of my head, there's numerous Arabic channels on one satellite, including some English services: Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia for starters. NHK and RT (Russia), and CCTV also are up there 24/7 in English. A few other non-English are there too, like Telesur. And that's all on Ku. I think some other more popular ones (BBC, Al-Jazeera, France24, DW) are on C-Band, along with a number of other English and Spanish channels.

And that's not counting PBS, where BBC and a few other daily newscasts are broadcast via "Feed" channels and normal channels.

And what you'll need depends on what you want: A 30" dish is bare minimum for consistent signal on Ku (so no pizza dishes). C-Band needs about 6-foot to be consistent, with 8-10 feet for everything (although some of us have played with "mini-BUD" setups of 4 feet. You get a little stuff, but it can be inconsistent.)

Satellite boxes vary wildly in quality. I picked up a decent box for $40 the other week. It's great, but it requires a lot of effort and patience to setup. Another box I bought 5 years ago was about $100 and was top-notch for simply working (Openbox S9). Just make sure you get Blind Scan -- letting you check for new stations, and DVB-S2 -- a new standard that many new channels are using to broadcast HD at a more efficient bitrate.

 

[fred555]

Most start of with a Ku band setup. A 36 inch dish is a good size to start with.
Amiko Mini HD SE is a good choice for a receiver, and its not very expensive.

A good place to start is satellite Galaxy 19 at 97W, lots of channels.
And off the top of my head, international news on that sat:
PressTV from Iran. Lots of news out of the Middle East you wont get anywhere else, like the daily Saudi airstrikes on Yemen. ISIS Offensives in Iraq and elsewhere. Syrian situation.
CNC out of China
RT (Russian perspective)

Here are the links to stores of the Satguys members mentioned above:

KE4EST http://nc-electronics.com/store.html
Titanium http://www.titaniumsatellite.com/products
Wallyhts http://gotcband.com/

I have dealt with all of them and they are top notch.
You will not find such good customer service anywhere else.

 

[nearbeer]

Awesome info! Many thanks for the input; I think I will start with a Ku dish at first and if the wife will let me, maybe a C band later....I've got to buy and install new kitchen counter-tops for her in the meantime!

Again, thanks for your time and help as well as making me welcome to this forum.

ciao,

NearBeer

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the site NearBeer!!

Ever need any help just give a hollar. We are always willing to help!

 

[Martyn]

A good place to start is satellite Galaxy 19 at 97W, lots of channels.
And off the top of my head, international news on that sat:
PressTV from Iran. Lots of news out of the Middle East you wont get anywhere else, like the daily Saudi airstrikes on Yemen. ISIS Offensives in Iraq and elsewhere. Syrian situation.
CNC out of China
RT (Russian perspective)

Just to add my vote to Galaxy 19, you can also find channels from Africa and some from Asia. There are English-language news bulletins on VTV out of Vietnam, NTA from Nigeria is in English and there's English news from Kazakhstan. Probably others I have missed.

And the satellite is just two degrees from CCTV (China) at 95 degrees west and NHK World (Japan) at 99 degrees West. You can probably just swing it slightly to one side with your arm to pull in those.

That's before you conclude you need a motor, then you need a bigger dish, then you need C-band, then you need a second ku-dish, then you need ..... yeah, it never stops