No more pretending

[kymics]

I'm happy to say that within two days I will have actual FTA equipment. I bought a Pansat 3500S locally a few weeks ago that came with a diseqc 4X1, and on Wednesday my 1M Gospell dish I bought on Ebay will arrive.

I've decided to postpone getting a motor considering I wasn't even planning on getting any FTA equipment until Spring anyway (aren't birthdays great!).

So hopefully by this weekend, I'll be pulling in IA5 (true south) and then going from there. I gotta say, after all the reading and posting answers to things I only know about in my head, it will be good to get some actual experience.

Let the fun begin!

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Congrats and good luck with the system!

 

[SatinKzo]

Welcome to the club. I am newer to FTA than most here and have learned lots from this site.

I can only add, that yeah, I wasn't gonna motorize my system right away either. That changed after about 1 week. Never would of equated the words Blind-scan and leisure time activity in the same sentence before FTA.

 

[gabshere]

well only a few more days of freedom, be warned its an addiction... lol
have fun with you new system , if you need some help just ask there are a lot of good folks here that can help out.

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome to the family

 

[kymics]

Thanks guys. I haven't had any pre-satellite counselling with my wife yet, so I'll have to be mindful of her reaction while I blow away countless hours playing around with the setup.

I'm sure there will questions ahead, so thanks in advance for your offers for help.

 

[Mr Tony]

I'm sure there will questions ahead, so thanks in advance for your offers for help.

thats what we're here for. Heck, there's even a few people from Winnipeg that have FTA systems

 

[GaryPen]

Thanks guys. I haven't had any pre-satellite counselling with my wife yet, so I'll have to be mindful of her reaction while I blow away countless hours playing around with the setup.

Be prepared for hearing that broken record, every time she sees you scanning, "I thought you did that already!"

 

[kymics]

Ha, ha. I think for the first little while, it will be me saying "I thought I did that already!" each time I realize what I'm doing wrong.

 

[iafirebuff]

You will wonder why you did not order your gear sooner! - I did!

 

[kymics]

Checked my order tracking and it's confirmed, the dish has arrived at my house.

I've got the benefit of a friend with a motorized FTA system, so I'm going to his place within the next few days to blind scan IA-5 and perhaps a few other satellites into my receiver. That should make it easier to find the signal when pointing the dish.

I'll probably set everything up on the weekend because it gets dark here quickly after work.

 

[voomvoom]

I've got the benefit of a friend with a motorized FTA system, so I'm going to his place within the next few days to blind scan IA-5 and perhaps a few other satellites into my receiver. That should make it easier to find the signal when pointing the dish.

That's a very good idea!

Al

 

[kymics]

Well, I'm up and running on IA-5 as of tonight. Couldn't quite get a strong signal on every transponder but I do have lots of channels coming in now. After a blind scan, I know of a few that I'm missing for sure.

I might repoint the dish to another satellite, but IA-5 is cool to start.

 

[iafirebuff]

CONGRATS! Now the fun begins!

 

[Tron]

Another great satellite to point a stationary dish at is G-10R (Galaxy 10) at 123w. Plenty of English-language programming, networks, and of course, RTN!

 

[iafirebuff]

G10 is a MUST!

 

[kymics]

I'd like to point to G10R, but I have a LOS issue for the moment. Eventually I will put the dish up on the garage, but considering winter's already arrived and originally I was thinking I didn't want to commit to a roof install if the snow could be coming any day now.

So for now, I've placed it on the ground between the garage and the house. It gives me good LOS to satellites near my true South (say 93W to 103W) but I think 123W will be blocked by my house. I could get 123 from a different part of my yard, but then the dish would be out in the open and might get ripped off.

Now that I've got the bug, I might still try the roof mount if it looks like the weather will hold out a bit longer. Not too fun working out in the cold :tux:, but then again I saw posts from a few months ago where some members couldn't work on their dish because it was too hot outside, so I guess it's relative.

 

[Mr Tony]

Not too fun working out in the cold :tux:, but then again I saw posts from a few months ago where some members couldn't work on their dish because it was too hot outside, so I guess it's relative.

I'd rather work on it in the cold than the heat (IMO)
(Being in MN we get both)

 

[Tron]

I'd rather work on it in the cold than the heat (IMO)
(Being in MN we get both)

Totally agree! You can always bundle up for the cold, but when its hot, there's not a thing you can do (except have someone pour cold water on you constantly )

Of course, in extreme cold, ice and exposure could be a consideration. An icy roof would not be a safe place to work...

 

[iafirebuff]

I find I work faster and more accurate in the cold