New to this hobby

[tracker1998]

Hello all. New here. I was given a Coolsat 5000 by a friend that doesn't serve his purpose anymore. Looked around and it seemed that this was the site to ask questions and advise on getting this thing running. He tells me it's a nice machine for FTA. I would like advise first of all on where the best deal would be to get a dish and a rotor and what to get and then when I get that set up will be coming back for advise if the forum would allow me. Looking forward to viewing programing of all kind and enjoying FTA in it's true sense.

 

[starman345]

The Coolsat 5000 is a good receiver, several people here have them, I've had one for a couple of years and it is solid. For a dish and rotor, I would get at least a 36" dish, bigger if you have the room and the SG-2100 is a good motor. The advertisers here have some pretty good deals, check them out at the top of the page.

 

[qwert1515]

The Gold sponsors at the top of the page are all great companies to buy FTA products from.

 

[tracker1998]

Info

Ok, so 36" dia. minimum should be what I'm looking for? Will the dealers help me in finding the right product? I was reading that diferrent LNB's will be needed for different freq.?

 

[qwert1515]

We can help you find what you need, It is a good idea to get a 36" dish or larger, you should also look for a receiver that has the blind/smart search feature.

For the LNB for US all you need is a Standard LNB (11700 MHz to 12200 MHz), standard LNB's are useful if you want to have multiple LNBs (more than four). However if you want to watch Cubavision or another channel on an Atlantic satellite you will need a Universal LNB, this will limit the amount of LNBs your system can have.

 

[tracker1998]

..

wow, all chinese to me. What would be a good entry level dish that would satisfy someone starting out but still be happy in the long run? Cost versus all 'round good dish?

 

[qwert1515]

I am going to recommend that you take a look at both of these pages (There are a great place to start looking):
Sadoun Satellite System Bundles
SatelliteAV Packages

 

[Sadoun]

Try the MKit-1 here:
Motorized Dish Kits

You can upgrade the dish to 36" for stronger signal across the satellites arc.

 

[tracker1998]

thanks

Ok, this gives me a place to start and do some homework. Thanks to all for your time. I will drop in with questions as I move along with this hobby. Thanks again.

 

[updatelee]

take a look at

SatelliteGuys.US - TheList

it will show you the channels names of what is up there.

FTAList.com - The easy list of North American free-to-air TV channels

lets you sort by language which is nice too.