newbe to fta

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mrmeandu

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Apr 25, 2011
27
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WV
iam new to the fta family and i wont to set up my sat and rec, not knowing what iam doing, heres what i have (1) sonicview sv-360 pemier and a dish500 with 2 heads and i have a Drectv with 3 heads not knowing what one to use and not knowing where to point it to rec my fta ch, can someone point me in the right dir.
 
The Dish Network and DirecTV dishes won't work for FTA. You'll need a larger dish (at least 30 inches) with a linear Ku-Band LNB for most satellites with FTA content.
 
iam new to the fta family and i wont to set up my sat and rec, not knowing what iam doing, heres what i have (1) sonicview sv-360 pemier and a dish500 with 2 heads and i have a Drectv with 3 heads not knowing what one to use and not knowing where to point it to rec my fta ch, can someone point me in the right dir.

First you need to check the different listings that are posted for "Free" FTA channels and then tell use what your wanting whether it's on KU or C Band as this can made a big different as to what size dish or additional equipment you might need., because from your posting I'm not at all sure what your after.
 
welcome :wave

lots of good info above but I'll add I have a SV360 and while it can be a nice receiver it does have some major quirks :)
 
ok so you are saying i need a biger dish? my dish500 and the drectv dish are not the right one's for the sv360 receiver, so my sv360 is a c band and not a ku band rec,
thats way all that come up on my scans are locked then, ok ill look and see if i can come up with a biger dish.
what wood b a ku receiver, all iam looking for is free tv, outher then pbs o theres notheing rong with pbs, my wifes on my back becouse i got all this equipment and its not doing aneything lol,so aney help i get is good.
so ill see what i can come up with and let u know thx.
 
Your receiver will do ku and c-band signals, it may just not be that great a receiver for a newbie. There's a search feature on the forum, try looking up some threads on the SV360 for some other opinions about it. A good dish size is a meter, or thereabouts. If you can find (or already have) an old primestar tv dish, most of those are nice-sized and work perfectly for fta signals on ku. And usually the lnbf on it is still working and fine for ku-fta.
 
Hello sir, got some question's for you iam looking at 2 thangs (1) a 6' dish with c/ku lnbf fixed and (2) a 30" motorized, sg9120 lbn or dsf-120+
I am not sure, i am trying to stay small but get big fta lol.
Do thay make a c/ku lnb for a 30 inch dish ?
 
You won't be able to pick up any C-Band at all on a 30" dish. A 1.2 meter (~4 foot) dish is about the smallest you can get by with for C-Band, and you'll only get the strongest transponders with a 1.2 meter dish. 6 foot is really the smallest RELIABLE C-Band dish, and a 6 footer will miss lots of the DVB-S2 transponders.
 
Ok well ihave now got (2) primestar dish's (1) 30"x39 1/2 40ish and (2) 4' so ill post pic on the 4' primestar i wood like to get eather one up and working just picked them up today and not sure if aney good,,,,, the 4' primestar has a lnb on it here are the stats Model# njr118f, Serial Nbr 7250776, and it has this on it also (Short H-Port for bss agc peaking ) have no idea what that means, dont have aney info on the 30" got dark outside.thx for aney help out there.
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looks like you got a few good ones

The 40x30 dish (also known by the name 84e) is the biggest oblong one. I've got a few here
If the other 2 are 4 footers then you truly hit the jackpot :)

THe LNB is a dual output but a unique one. One output is vertical polarity only and one is horizontal only. If you look by the outputs you'll see a "V" and a "H" on there. To combine them you would use a 3x4 multiswitch like they use for Directv.

Nice finds :)
 
Thank you sir i thought i got a god find was not sure,one is a 84e and the outher is a 4foot only 2 dishes, so i hope i can get one up and running not sure if the lnbf's are good but ill find out i have bean looking on the web and looking at a lot of site's and seeing a lot of stuff looking at the primestar history wow, i looked on the side and seen the "V" and the "H" and i got a multiswitch good to go there, well ll see where i get on saturday. thx much
 
The "round" larger one is a 1 meter dish. I have one of these fixed on 125W for PBS, and it works wonderfully, even on the DVB-S2 there. Both the 1 meter and the 84e are keepers :) ...
 
well now i have my 4" dish up now but still nothing yet good signal (84 to 99%) but still no quality, and how do i know what bird iam looking at ? i have good signal on all and its a fixted dish no motor. some of the stuf i am reading i am not understanding, and thanks again all the help is appreciated.

"O" i have a sonicview sv 360 and a 4" primestar dish i was told that the lnb is standerd
 
well i have got my 4' dish up now and have i have signal 86 to 99 % on all the birds but thats not right it is a fixed dish on a pole, and i have no quality but on one it about 67 68 % and thats a locked sat, and every thing iam reading is not doing me aney good becouse i dont under stand most of it like this comp lol.
O ya what part of this site do i go to and post a new thread ian still lost so go ahead and lol, and aney help i get is more then appreciated thx u

this reminds me of getting in to the CB Radio back in the day when it was fun lol.
 
Have you programmed TP(Transponder) information into the sonicview?. Without having the TP info programmed correctly, Q will never register. Check The List for Ku TP info to enter for the satellite you want to hit. For a guide to where that satellite is in the sky, www.DishPointer.com , enter your location and the desired sat. Zoom in and find a landmark to aim the dish over. 97W is a good sat to "train" on. 79W should be close to "due south"
The info in The List is formatted
11901 = frequency
H = polarity
2170 = SR
( 3/4) = FEC [if needed]
 
Ok, thank you sir did not know that i had to do that thats like doing blind scan for gathering tp info right or is that something that i need to do by the roc,
ill look in to the sat 97w due so i think iam just to the west a little bit , iam going to the list now and then back to dishpointer thx much ill let you know what i find lol.
 
You will have to program at least one active TP into the receiver, And watch the Q on that TP to aim the antenna at the satellite. When that one is tuned up, you can blind scan in the other TP's on the satellite.
If you're in WV, 79W would be close to due south, 97W will be to the west. Dishpointer will put a line on the map from your coordinates to the sat. Zoom in and you can pick out a landmark to aim over. Will also show elevation and skew for it.
 
Mrmeandu,

I understand that you are not setting up a motorized dish yet, but please give this a read: http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-faqs/190527-how-set-up-motorized-ku-band.html

You can apply a lot of it to your fixed point dish setups as much as for a motorized dish. I think that you will find the information helpful. It is just another resouce to have access to. Be sure to browse the entire FAQ section for more information. There are many smart people here that can tell you all sorts of things that you want to know. Read as much as you can and remember that there are no "dumb" questions in our eyes (except those regarding theft of services from pay providers). You have already read the rules of the site so you understand all of that and I need not explain it further.

One item that you will have to understand. When I or anyone tells you to point your dish to true south during a motorized dish installation, that is just a happy guideline or practice. You will have to understand that aiming at your true south sat is not entirely a mandatory step, but that doing so will simplify and expedite your setup (speaking of motorized dishes here). I just wanted to present that information to you so that when you get ready to put up a motorized dish you will understand it a little better.


I sincerely hope that you enjoy our company here on Satellite Guys! (and Gals, too). We appreciate that you came in and joined us! You will have a lot of fun and learn a lot, too!

RADAR
 
Well i think i have found me a home here becouse there is a lot too learn about the fta, and i dont wont to be a pest to aney one here.
well i moved my dish again so i wood have a better kool at the southern sky, lol, but not picking up aney thang.
then i read the thread above lol thats ok. so you say that i will need to progran at least one active tp in to the receiver befor i do the dlind scan i went to the sv360 book and i dident see aney thing of how to program the tp outher then blind scan or am i overlooking something ?
i am going to wate a little while be for i get a motorized dish i neeed to concor the set up of this one first lol.
YES i do appreciate all of your guys help. well iam going out to move the dish around the sky cant sleep now.
 
Well i think i have found me a home here becouse there is a lot too learn about the fta, and i dont wont to be a pest to aney one here.
well i moved my dish again so i wood have a better kool at the southern sky, lol, but not picking up aney thang.
then i read the thread above lol thats ok. so you say that i will need to progran at least one active tp in to the receiver befor i do the dlind scan i went to the sv360 book and i dident see aney thing of how to program the tp outher then blind scan or am i overlooking something ?

I think there is a menu to EDIT (or add/delete) transponders and or satellites. It has been a very long time since I played with the SV360, so my memory isn't very good.


I am going to wate a little while be for i get a motorized dish i neeed to concor the set up of this one first lol.
YES i do appreciate all of your guys help.
Setting up a single fixed point dish in the beginning is the best policy. You can learn a lot from this endeavor before you jump into the motorized setup. Just bare with us as we feed you information along the way. Many things will become obviously apparent to you which now may seem like learning Greek. Hang around long enough and most things will become second nature for you.

well iam going out to move the dish around the sky cant sleep now.

Obviously you are already addicted to the hobby! LOL! Welcome!

RADAR
 
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