OTHER Newbie just starting out

[greg59]

Hello all - as the title reads - I am just starting out with this hobby and am trying to learn as much as I can.

I am not sure where to start - sorry in advance for any dumb questions - this hobby seems difficult to master.

My goal is determine if in fact that I can install FTA equipment (ku band preferred) and have it function based on my geographic location. I think yes because I had Directv some years back and the dish was fixed on the south/southwest sky (on the roof) and it worked fine.

Fast forward to today - I am in a residential neighborhood - no dish obstuctions to speak of - based on my latitude and longitude - I think I may have a decent line of sight.

Am I able - by using multiple dishes - to view multiple sats? Or - is a motorized dish a more common sense option to expand viewing/browsing options beyond one sat? Or - is one fixed dish/one sat a more common option for most? Pros and cons fixed dish vs motorized?

My goal is to slowly get away from cable and to optimize what I can view. At this point I am not sure what I can and cannot do - due to lack of knowledge in this hobby.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge and wisdom from the great minds out there.

 

[KE4EST]

to the forum Greg!
Well some like motorized and some like multiple dishes. You can go ether route. If you have one motorized dish, changing channels between sats will be a little slower, but not that big of a deal, for me at least. Some like the fast switching option. Also, with a motorized dish and if you have more than one receiver and TV in the house, everyone has to watch the same sat. If you have multiple fixed dishes, with dual LNBFs and switches, everyone can watch what they want, when they want. Just remember that this is a hobby like you said, there will be no main channels here, like HBO's, discovery, fox news, etc.

Feel free to ask any questions you wish. We will be glad to help get you started.

 

[greg59]

to the forum Greg!
Well some like motorized and some like multiple dishes. You can go ether route. If you have one motorized dish, changing channels between sats will be a little slower, but not that big of a deal, for me at least. Some like the fast switching option. Also, with a motorized dish and if you have more than one receiver and TV in the house, everyone has to watch the same sat. If you have multiple fixed dishes, with dual LNBFs and switches, everyone can watch what they want, when they want. Just remember that this is a hobby like you said, there will be no main channels here, like HBO's, discovery, fox news, etc.

Feel free to ask any questions you wish. We will be glad to help get you started.

KE4EST - thanks for the warm welcome - there seems to be some good folks around here to learn from.

Actually - multiple fixed dishes sounds more in tune with what I hope to end up with as I hope to have more than one tv location in the house. The challange would be the location of multiple dishes.

Yes - I am aware of what this hobby offers...I may augment my sat viewing with other options such as locals, youtube tv or other internet based options. For me personally - I am tired of being a slave to cable.

For what I am paying for cable each month - that money can go a long way toward building a decent home hobby system.

One question - do most receivers nowdays have the ability to tune in locals assuming an antenna is fixed for such?

Thanks!

 

[KE4EST]

One question - do most receivers nowdays have the ability to tune in locals assuming an antenna is fixed for such?

Not in NA. You can get a dongle for the Mio to use it for OTA, but it does not have it built in. There are a lot of receivers with T2 built in, but this is mainly because FTA is more of a "normal" thing in other parts of the world and not a hobby necessarily. That would be a good receiver, at least for your main receiver and a good one to start with. It is sold by Titanium, whom is also an active member here and very helpful guy! Here is the link to that receiver: Titanium Satellite - Store
I also sell a more basic receiver: Amiko Mini HD265 FTA Receiver DVB-S2 H.265 HEVC With NTP 5999883023525 | eBay

Do you have a space to set up a C-Band dish?

 

[FTA4PA]

Welcome to Satellite Guys greg59!

 

[greg59]

That is a good thought...main receiver then secondary etc. Currently I have 3 tv locations in my house - spoiled by cable...so I need to rethink how to make it all work. I like that receiver of yours - it looks like good secondary type of receiver.

Regarding C-Band - the truthful answer is I don't know. I have plenty of yard space and no restrictions to speak of. The question I have to figure out is location. I could easily put an 8' dish in the yard - but I don't know if it would see the line of sight clearly. Again - I am completely new to this and don't know what I can and cannot do yet.

Does a tool exist where I could stand in my yard and point a hand held meter toward the southern sky and see if it picks anything up?

 

[greg59]

Welcome to Satellite Guys greg59!

Thank you!

 

[cyberham]

Do you have a smartphone? If yes, go to your Play Store (for Android) and you can quickly find apps that will allow you to virtually "see" the satellites in the sky. This will tell you if you have line-of-sight.

Sent from my SM-G950W using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[greg59]

Thanks for the reply. I have downloaded a couple of different apps - seems as if there is an app for everything nowdays!

 

[harshness]

Currently I have 3 tv locations in my house - spoiled by cable...so I need to rethink how to make it all work.

This is a key question and it comes down to how many TVs will be in use at any one time. If they're likely to all be on at once watching different live content, this will be a rough road.

 

[etlam34]

What i recommend for starters is to go one step at a time. 1 fixed dish to begin with, then move on from there. If you like your initial setup and want to expand, then it’ll be worth it. Personally , i like 103w because it has a lot of feeds, nbc, nhk, cgtn and the music channels. 90cm is a good size dish to begin with.

 

[greg59]

This is a key question and it comes down to how many TVs will be in use at any one time. If they're likely to all be on at once watching different live content, this will be a rough road.

Likely only one at a time for the most part - but I do realize that in order to have two tv's operating independently would require a separate system for the most part - and that is under consideration I don't mind putting the investment into it...thanks for the reply.

 

[greg59]

What i recommend for starters is to go one step at a time. 1 fixed dish to begin with, then move on from there. If you like your initial setup and want to expand, then it’ll be worth it. Personally , i like 103w because it has a lot of feeds, nbc, nhk, cgtn and the music channels. 90cm is a good size dish to begin with.

Good advice and I may do just that and hopefully any starter equipment I choose to start off with - I would be able to integrate into my larger system down the road....maybe second and third tv locations. I am still in the planning stage...so step one might make most sense. Thanks for the reply.

 

[harshness]

Likely only one at a time for the most part - but I do realize that in order to have two tv's operating independently would require a separate system for the most part - and that is under consideration I don't mind putting the investment into it...thanks for the reply.

You also need to remember that no matter how much you invest, it won't bring much of the content that you're used to from cable. FTA is typically a supplement to -- rather than a replacement for -- pay TV.

 

[greg59]

You also need to remember that no matter how much you invest, it won't bring much of the content that you're used to from cable. FTA is typically a supplement to -- rather than a replacement for -- pay TV.

Yes, I am aware of what is and what is not available via FTA...ideally I want to end with FTA, Youtube TV or similar and OTA content - so I won't rely only on FTA. It will certainly be a change for me and my viewing habits - however - with the cable industry radically changing and cost of broadcast service going straight up - I need to explore other options out there.

Thanks for the input.