New to FTA, Looking for advice

[ColoradoSpringsGuy]

Hey guys hows it going? New here and just looking to get into a new hobby and I've read on the site a little bit and decide to see if you guys can give me some tips and what is the best stuff to start out with for a newbie like myself.
At the current moment I do not have anything at all. I do currently have Direct TV. Where would be a good place to start out at?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[primestar31]

Welcome to Satelliteguys!

A good place to start, is to make a list of any tv shows or channels that YOU think are "must have". The next thing to do would be to find out how you should best go about getting them, ie: satellite, internet, etc. Then, if you do decide to go with FTA satellite, you need to establish whether you even have a "line of sight" to the particular satellites you'd need to receive.

IF you pass all that 100%, then you need to decide on a budget of how much money you are willing to spend to achieve all this. That could be nearly zero if you are a good scrounger and not in any hurry, to a thousand dollars if you are flush with cash and want it NOW. Then, you can get recommendations on what equipment might work best in your situation.

It's a great hobby, but if you also have a wife, you might need to convince her to have a dish or two installed in your yard. Ultimately, you might end up with TWO dishes, one around 39" for KU band, and one at least 8' (FOOT) for c-band.

Here is a great premium starter system around $200 with nearly everything you'd need for a KU fta system: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GEOSATpro-m...US_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item1c304e40e7

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the site!! Lots of friendly people here to help get you going..

 

[northgeorgia]

Welcome to Satellite Guys!

If you have DirecTV, then you know about rain fade, and that the dish has to have a clear line of sight (no trees, buildings, etc.) to the satellite! The same principle applies to FTA, except the signals are even weaker. So, that means a larger dish, and a different type of LNBF (the little circle thing on the end of the dish) because most FTA is broadcast on different frequencies than DirecTV. The programming isn't found on just one satellite, so having a motorized setup can be really nice!

There is Ku-band (using dishes about around a yard in diameter) and the C-band (using dishes 6 feet and up in diameter). Most of the English/network programming is on C-band (but if you're like me, you might not be able to put up such a large dish right now). Ku-band has a lot of foreign programming, but also a lot of sports and news feeds, which I like watching just as much as the regular channels. Setting up a Ku-band system gives you a lot of hands-on knowledge and is physically easier to move around

I'd first check www.dishpointer.com and click on different satellites, particularly 125W, 101W, 97W, 91W, 83W, and 72W to see if you have a perfect line of sight to most, if not all of these, somewhere on your property.

If you find a good area for your dish, then go to The List at the top of the page (or Lyngsat), to get an idea of the kinds of stations you'll find on the air. If using Lyngsat, the lower frequency numbers (around 3000+) are C-band, the higher freq. numbers (around 10,000 and up) are Ku-band. Also check out the Beam column, which tells you whether or not the station is being beamed down to your area.

The big thing, which it seems you understand, is that FTA is no replacement for pay satellite TV (you won't find most of the nice premium channels for free out there), and that you cannot reuse the DirecTV dish for FTA (well some experienced people might, but I wouldn't try it!).

I'm sure someone has already posted, and you'll get lots of help here. Stick around, read the forums, and read the responses. Welcome to the hobby!

 

[madmadworld]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/
channels