New to FTA

[new2FTA]

I am looking into purchasing a FTA system and located several within eBay. I would like to get away from cable since I usually watch basic network channels (FOX, NBC...etc) and will use Netflix for my movies.

My question is how do I determine which system would meet my needs? I would imagine that I would want to explore wild feeds along with FTA. I really want to keep cost to a minimum since I am somewhat limited on the hours of TV that I watch.

I was reading that the best option is to use a motor with the dish to grab all available satellites.

One example of what I located within eBay is listed below:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbabeebluee07QQhtZ-1

1-Traxis DBS-3500
FTA with blind search Receiver
1- hotdish 30 inch dish 75 cm
1-lnb 0.4 db

Just so you know, I am new to satellites and have limited knowledge.

Also, I have a DirectTV dish and 3 Hughes receivers(model GAEBO). Could these be used for anything? I would assume I need 1 FTA receiver per TV set unless I want to share same signal all over the house.

If someone could provide their opinion that would be great!

Thanks in advance!
Mike

 

[havenx]

My question is how do I determine which system would meet my needs? I would imagine that I would want to explore wild feeds along with FTA. I really want to keep cost to a minimum since I am somewhat limited on the hours of TV that I watch.

To determine what would be the best system you must get a good idea about what is up there that you want. http://www.lyngsat.com is a good place to start.
Bigger dish is better. I would go 80c or up. You can't go wrong with a 1m dish for the KU band.

I was reading that the best option is to use a motor with the dish to grab all available satellites.

If you find that all the channels you want are on two birds you might as well just throw two fixed dishes up, otherwise a motor is a good idea. A motor will take more time, and will be more tricky to set up. Also, pay mind to the lnb you get. You might as well get liner and circular. I have an invacom qph-031, and am very proud of it.

Also, I have a DirectTV dish and 3 Hughes receivers(model GAEBO). Could these be used for anything? I would assume I need 1 FTA receiver per TV set unless I want to share same signal all over the house.

The recivers will make good door stops.
The direct TV dish is good for audio off echostar 7 or something, I supose you could serve chips at a party on it-I did, heh.

You do need a receiver for each TV unless you are going to watch the same channel on everything, or I supose you could walk across the house to change the channel. If you had a UHF remote you could change the channel from other rooms... On the positive side though, you don't have to use multiple cables from the LNB to each receiver. Most FTA receivers have loop through. Loop through can be problematic with moterized setups though. You have point the dish on the bird you want with receiver A and then receiver B C and D are all stuck on that bird until you make a change with receiver A.

So, 80c or better
Dual polarity LNB
receiver with options, pay mind to features listed

 

[PSB]

The direct TV dish is good for audio off echostar 7 or something

The DirecTV receivers are good for pointing a dish at 101/110 or 119w

Otherwise they are USELESS for FTA, they will NOT pick up any FTA at all, and will NOT work for the Dish ITC channels.


A 30" dish will work well, especially if you are in the southern half of the country.

We recently had a poll on motors and the SG2100 (The genuine model) was head and shoulders above all the others!

 

[iafirebuff]

Check out Sadoun's link at the top of the page. They are reliable, knowledable and have good prices. They have a motorized setup and a non motorized one for a decent price. I would suggust looking at satellite G10 and IA7. G10 has some Fox, WB/UPN and my favorite - RTN Retro TElevision Network which is like TVLand was when they first started - the good shows G10 also has lots of Spanish stations too. IA7 has White Springs which has all old movies on it. As for wild feeds, I am just getting started in that, so I can't help there. Good luck! You will love FTA!

 

[Das Hammer]

I've heard a few things about the Hotdish...none of which have been pleasant.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a Hotdish and it isn't bad but there are some "quirks" with it

-dont tighten the bolts too much or the dish will warp
-the elvation scale sucks. It works great if you tighten it down and don't change it EVER but I have moved my dish to a lot of different satellites and after a few times, it developes a "groove" that is tough to get out of
-I've actually had the 2 pieces that make up the elevation scale "mold" together so it didnt move. Had to take it apart to fix that

but other than that its a nice dish.

 

[iafirebuff]

The Fortec dish seems to be very well constructed!

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I have heard better comments on the Fortec and Winegard. I have a Winegard 2076 and it is a great little dish.

 

[new2FTA]

Thank you

I want to thank you all for providing answers!

I have a few other comments/questions:

I did review http://www.sadoun.com and was impressed with the pricing and information. Do you all think the 31" FORTEC Dish motorized package is a good decision for a starter?

What is the benefit of using a liner and circular lnb?

How about Two Dual LNBF's? Does this require a special dish? And if I am using a motorized system is a Dual LNBF's pointless?

Are there decent FTA receivers out there under the $100.00 range? I was thinking of using a stationary dish setup for the bedrooms.

For the living room I was thinking a satellite card within a media PC instead of using a standard receiver. (unless the PC cards are limited) I just like the idea of having the DVR(media pc).

How stable is FTA? I was thinking of using FTA a month or so before I place the good-bye call to Comcast if this all works out.

 

[iafirebuff]

The Fortec that Sadoun has in the kit is an excellant receiver! It is easy enough for a beginner, yet has advanced features for down the road. I have this reeiver and love it

 

[Shawn95GT]

What is the benefit of using a liner and circular lnb?

You need an appropriate LNBF for whatever satelite you are trying to tune. Most of the DBS sats are circular and the majority of the FTA stuff we are gunning for require a linear LNBF

How about Two Dual LNBF's? Does this require a special dish? And if I am using a motorized system is a Dual LNBF's pointless?

A dual LNBF just gives you two outputs on the same dish or motor position. If you 'only' have two recievers each can can independant polarity control. Many time people will use a multi switch which effectively dedicates on output to H and the other to V and then can share to as many receivers as the multiswitch supports.

Two LNBFs is the cheap way (free for most people) to do linear and circular on the same motorized dish. The 'pain in the butt' part is that you have to use DiSEqC 1.2 to aim the circular LNB since its off center. On a fixed dish you'd have to figure a way to locate the second LNBF where it will see the satellite you're trying for.

The Invacom Quad polar LNB lets you get linear and circular at the exact same sat position. Since it's all in one it's cleaner / easier.

For the living room I was thinking a satellite card within a media PC instead of using a standard receiver. (unless the PC cards are limited) I just like the idea of having the DVR(media pc).

I started with a STB and now only have a USB tuner. I SERIOUSLY miss the STB and will be picking up another one. The Blind scan feature is the best part fo FTA as far as I'm concerned. The readily available PC card / USB tuners won't blind scan. On the plus side the PC solutions will do 4:2:2 and High Definition.

How stable is FTA? I was thinking of using FTA a month or so before I place the good-bye call to Comcast if this all works out.

Not exactly sure what you are asking there. FTA is just channels in the clear on the satellites. They come and go all the time. Many feeds are only up for minutes at a time or at least as long as is needed to cover whatever is being uplinked. The remote news trucks are my favorite ones to catch.

 

[aegrotatio]

I have heard better comments on the Fortec and Winegard. I have a Winegard 2076 and it is a great little dish.

I have both the 76cm and 1m Winegard rigs and I beat the crap out of them regularly. They are very solid and reliable and don't warp. The new-style mini-bolt-and-nut arrangement on the 76cm dish totally solves the "oops I crushed the pole" problem (two mini-bolts instead of one straight-through carriage bolt).

They go on sale regularly at Surplus Computers and other "refurb" sites.

 

[neil_kc1]

welcome New2fta, the guys here will be all kinds of help. Just a word of encouragement, if you go with a motorozed dish you CAN do it. The full extent of my satellite experience was putting up my own dish network satellite dishes. It took me 2 weeks before I got my first channel, but from then on there was no stopping me. The key for me was getting your pole plumb and locating my true south satellite. I have am on my 4th receiver after almost 2 years on free 2 air. My first was a SATWORK 3688, I have tried the fortec, and even bought a globecast, all three worked fine for me at the time. Now i am using a PANSAT 3500 and a wineguard dish and love them. what ever receiver you purchase be sure it has BLIND SCAN ( some will be called POWER SCAN) capeablity. Good luck.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Believe me if I can setup a motorized KU system anyone can!