New with a few question

[acidflea]

I was looking for the FAQ section with readme files but dont see it anywhere.

I am wanting to do a small fta setup. One receiver and dish . I might be interested in upgrading later to HD and moving the old receiver to another room. What will I need for the setup? I know a guy that said I can get a Dishpro 500 plus from him for $20. From what I have found out all that I would need after that would be a receiver and cable. Do you have any suggestions on a new inexpensive receive or a decent one that I can get on ebay used? Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

[gillham]

Don't bother(*) with any Dish Network dishes as they only pickup a few free channels like NASA TV, AngelOne and some promo/barker channels.

You need a 30" or larger dish (36" recommended), an LNBF, and a receiver. FTAList.com has a good getting started page.

Check out "The List!" on this forum as well as FTAList.com and get an idea if they offer the type of programming you're interested in, then come back with questions.

(*) Later you might want a small 18" dish pointed at 119°W just for NASA TV, so a free small dish isn't a bad thing.

 

[acidflea]

Thanks for your reply. He said he also has a superdish. Any suggestion on that? I have been looking around and noticed the coolsat 6000 premiumsand 6100 on ebay. Any suggestions on receiver?

 

[gillham]

A Superdish would be ok for free, but I wouldn't suggest paying for one. They are still $40-$50 locally for me. Not worth that! You can get a nice 36" (90CM) dish + LNBF shipped for $95 or a bit less. Then you would have a way better FTA dish than a Superdish ever could be. You have to bear that in mind when looking at the "cheap" prices of old Superdishes or DirecTV International dishes. The Superdish requires a larger mast than most FTA dishes and is not really big enough to get great signal like a 90CM would get you. The band-stacked LNBF is cool for some uses but for a beginner is can be a pain.

Eventually you'll want a motorized setup so you might consider a kit from one of the sponsors at the top of the page.

I would say Coolsat 6000 as it blindscans well and is supported by the Channel Master program for editing satellites and channel information, particularly useful with a motorized setup. Around here I can get a Coolsat 6000 used for $30 while the 6100s are selling new for $100.

 

[Larobpra]

Here's a great deal on a complete system. Just picked one up myself.

Fortec Star Satellite Kit - FTAM90SINGLEK - eBay (item 280278892103 end time Dec-20-08 03:50:11 PST)

 

[gillham]

Here's a great deal on a complete system. Just picked one up myself.

They're back! I might need to get one of those also. I need another dish for my array and that is a great price on that combination.

 

[acidflea]

Here's a great deal on a complete system. Just picked one up myself.

Fortec Star Satellite Kit - FTAM90SINGLEK - eBay (item 280278892103 end time Dec-20-08 03:50:11 PST)

From what I head from the person that I know locally things are going to change after the first of the year. Will this receiver will work? If I wanted to later could I add a motor to it?

 

[acidflea]

A Superdish would be ok for free, but I wouldn't suggest paying for one. They are still $40-$50 locally for me. Not worth that! You can get a nice 36" (90CM) dish + LNBF shipped for $95 or a bit less. Then you would have a way better FTA dish than a Superdish ever could be. You have to bear that in mind when looking at the "cheap" prices of old Superdishes or DirecTV International dishes. The Superdish requires a larger mast than most FTA dishes and is not really big enough to get great signal like a 90CM would get you. The band-stacked LNBF is cool for some uses but for a beginner is can be a pain.

Eventually you'll want a motorized setup so you might consider a kit from one of the sponsors at the top of the page.

I would say Coolsat 6000 as it blindscans well and is supported by the Channel Master program for editing satellites and channel information, particularly useful with a motorized setup. Around here I can get a Coolsat 6000 used for $30 while the 6100s are selling new for $100.

He is asking $20 for the superdish also.

 

[gillham]

He is asking $20 for the superdish also.

I would skip it as your first FTA dish. A good 90cm like the posted eBay combo would serve you better.

From what I head from the person that I know locally things are going to change after the first of the year. Will this receiver will work? If I wanted to later could I add a motor to it?

This could mean two things. First that DVB-S will eventually move to DVB-S2 so the receiver would be obsolete eventually. This won't happen next year. Second, he *could* be referring to pirating Dish Network signals as Dish is swapping out access cards and hopefully shutting down the eye patch gang. We don't talk about hacking here, we talk about true legal FTA using 30"+ dishes and pointing at satellites that offer programming unencrypted.

The referenced receiver is a favorite of many on this forum. I haven't used them myself, but it should be a good first receiver and in a year or two you can pickup a HD receiver with DVB-S2 if more channels switch or become available only on DVB-S2 or MPEG4 etc. Or if you keep finding HD feeds and get tired of not being able to watch them. That was what decided it for me.

 

[acidflea]

Hey thats the info that I was looking for. I think i will end up ordering this kit and maybe upgrade to HD later. From my reading I will not have to upgrade the dish when I upgrade the receiver for HD is that correct? If I want to add a motor to the dish in the kit will that be a problem? Thanks again for all the info.

Thanks

 

[gillham]

Hey thats the info that I was looking for. I think i will end up ordering this kit and maybe upgrade to HD later. From my reading I will not have to upgrade the dish when I upgrade the receiver for HD is that correct? If I want to add a motor to the dish in the kit will that be a problem? Thanks again for all the info.

No need to change the dish or LNBF for DVB-S2 or HD, provided it gets good signal with the DVB-S setup. DVB-S2 needs more signal quality than DVB-S (generally speaking) but a well pointed 90CM dish is fine. Mine works for the 2-3 HD channels I can find. Yeah, 2-3 HD channels *total* FTA right now. With a count that low I should be more precise but PBS is moving stuff around.

Adding a motor is no big deal with the Fortec Star 90. It is the dish I have and is popular. Motors can be a pain sometimes as you don't know if it is a motor issue or operator error, but if you have a nice spot with a good wide view of the Southern sky and put in a perfectly plumb mast pole you won't have (too much) trouble upgrading. Search the forum for SG2100 and motor and you'll find some of the issues involved.

 

[cttong9889]

Hi all,
Newbie here, i've been reading some posts here to learn what dish size to use for Galaxy25 (like some chan on G25), I came up with two choices for me: one is "Directv World direct" dish (21 x 36 inch.), and other is a generic round 33 inch (from Taiwan). Both dishes are same price, relatively lower than most other dishes. My question is which dish will yield better Q, my thought would be the 33" one, please advise me.

I'd appreciate your advise, so I can buy tomorrow, have some time to work on setting up during the holiday.

Thanks ahead. Charlie

 

[voomvoom]

Get the 33" dish, you'll probably thank yourself for doing so at some point in the future.

 

[toucan-man]

DVB-S2 needs more signal quality than DVB-S (generally speaking) but a well pointed 90CM dish is fine.

You're getting DVD-S2 with a 90CM dish? Is that the experience of others here? Which receiver do you have?

 

[Lak7]

You're getting DVD-S2 with a 90CM dish? Is that the experience of others here? Which receiver do you have?

I have no problem with DVB-S2 on a Motorized 80cm Fortec Dish and Diamond 9000HD receiver.

 

[jayelem]

From what I head from the person that I know locally things are going to change after the first of the year. Will this receiver will work? If I wanted to later could I add a motor to it?

What exactly is meant when they said that things will change by the 1st of the year ? Inquiring minds want to know.

Just keep this in mind , as long as you're looking for TRUE FTA you shouldn't have to worry about changes , changes are what providers do to ensure that their encrypted channels are not being watched by hackers.

BTW. That $110.00 Deal is unbeatable , if I didn't already have 4 dishes and 4 receivers I'd go 4 it.

 

[voomvoom]

You're getting DVD-S2 with a 90CM dish? Is that the experience of others here? Which receiver do you have?

I have a Fortec 90cm pointed @ 129.0w ku with a 2nd lnbf pointed @ 125.0w ku and have no problem getting S-2 from 125.0w ku on a Pansat 9200.

Most of the S-2 I watch is from a 10' dish and on C-Band

 

[gillham]

You're getting DVD-S2 with a 90CM dish? Is that the experience of others here? Which receiver do you have?

Sure, Coolsat 8100HD works fine for the two Ku DVB-S2 transponders I know about, both from Southern states.

 

[toucan-man]

I have a Fortec 90cm pointed @ 129.0w ku with a 2nd lnbf pointed @ 125.0w ku and have no problem getting S-2 from 125.0w ku on a Pansat 9200.

With the add-on card?

 

[voomvoom]

With the add-on card?

I guess so?
But, my 9200 came with the S-2 already factory installed, so I'm not sure if you would call it an add-on card?