Yeah, since I'm on the verge of getting some basic gear, I find myself wondering if any of the dishes I see out in the country are using fta tv or are subscribers to commercial "dish" entities.
US Free to Air Satellite Viewers
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I live in a rural part of Virginia and since Tripinva left the area I don't know of anyone else that messes with FTA here. I still see a few small Cband dishes around but they don't look like they've been used in quite a while. Two 6 foot mesh dishes are within a mile or so of my house and the owners don't do anything with them and want way too much money for them. There's a dormant 8/10 footer close to me too on a rental property but I haven't been able to find out who owns that property so it's still just sitting there doing nothing.
I did acquire a 1985 model 10 foot Unimesh last summer that was only a few miles from me but that one, though sitting next to the house wasn't viewable from the highway because of trees that had grown up around it. That one had an analog receiver and Cband only LNB and hadn't been used in a long, long time. I'm making good use of it now though. I found it by putting an ad in the local "Trader Paper" looking for a 10ft dish and a couple of weeks later I got a call about it and went and bought it for $100.
I did acquire a 1985 model 10 foot Unimesh last summer that was only a few miles from me but that one, though sitting next to the house wasn't viewable from the highway because of trees that had grown up around it. That one had an analog receiver and Cband only LNB and hadn't been used in a long, long time. I'm making good use of it now though. I found it by putting an ad in the local "Trader Paper" looking for a 10ft dish and a couple of weeks later I got a call about it and went and bought it for $100.
In our county the property records are online, type in the address and you've got the owner's name. Sometimes tracking down a phone number isn't possible, but there's always snail mail I suppose.
What is Tripinva? So, I guess you're doing C band, right? If so, what to you watch? What's the advantage to C band? Got any recommendations for a good basic receiver I might try? Also, what's a good place to buy my dish, receiver and LNB? Thanks.
OMG, my watched C band channels list is easily 5 times the list for Ku.
Manhattan 1933, Geosatpro MicroHD, Amiko Nano HD, and Traxis DBS6000 are on my "investigate list".
ke4est, www.gotcband.com and www.satelliteav.com and http://www.global-cm.net/ They are members here.
www.hypermegasat.com There's more but not at a computer with the 'list'
If interested in a video type that's pretty rare on satellite(except for one service that I know of) there's the Azbox MiniMe American Edition. http://www.azbox.us/
For a C band dish keep an eye on more Craigslist dishes for your perusal
Manhattan 1933, Geosatpro MicroHD, Amiko Nano HD, and Traxis DBS6000 are on my "investigate list".
ke4est, www.gotcband.com and www.satelliteav.com and http://www.global-cm.net/ They are members here.
www.hypermegasat.com There's more but not at a computer with the 'list'
If interested in a video type that's pretty rare on satellite(except for one service that I know of) there's the Azbox MiniMe American Edition. http://www.azbox.us/
For a C band dish keep an eye on more Craigslist dishes for your perusal
A member here. Now working in or around D.C. (FCC) A wealth of info webpage maintained by him is: http://www.rabbitears.info/ Is also the moderator of the OTA section on this forum.
My in-laws used to live near Bedford, VA, in quite a rural area. FiL had a 12 foot (I believe) mesh antenna, motorized. He had two boxes. IIRC, one was mostly used to aim the thing. Something went wrong and I offered to look it over. He declined and did not want me touching it. I always thought it was odd that he had such a setup, but I think he got most of it from someone in lieu of them paying him what they owed him. He had little in the way of electronic skills.
I tried to set them up with Dish. A retailer FINALLY came out but declared there was no LoS. A crappy cable company offered them service, and they went with that. No Internet. Just before they moved, I discovered an easy LoS on the flat roof over the garage. Sigh. When they moved, we tried to give away the big dish, thinking the home would sell better without it. Could not generate any interest whatsoever. Not even on this site. As we lived in a townhouse at the time, taking it wasn't an option. I'll bet it's still there today.
I tried to set them up with Dish. A retailer FINALLY came out but declared there was no LoS. A crappy cable company offered them service, and they went with that. No Internet. Just before they moved, I discovered an easy LoS on the flat roof over the garage. Sigh. When they moved, we tried to give away the big dish, thinking the home would sell better without it. Could not generate any interest whatsoever. Not even on this site. As we lived in a townhouse at the time, taking it wasn't an option. I'll bet it's still there today.
I know there are at least 25 KU setups working near me - I helped set those up. AND at least 12 C band in use. (Legal residences...)
In the monastery fire 8 C band were lost and more KU band -- along with a number of hacker systems. Most off grid shacks - running on small inverters powered by vehicle batteries. I replaced 2 of those - but neither rebuilt! Oh well! In MM28 fire this year, no structures lost - no injuries either! But this area is unusual, I think.
I see a lot of dishes and most are (KU) or (C band) could be in use. Several have current eq., but not hooked up - no time to watch if you are trying to farm.
In the monastery fire 8 C band were lost and more KU band -- along with a number of hacker systems. Most off grid shacks - running on small inverters powered by vehicle batteries. I replaced 2 of those - but neither rebuilt! Oh well! In MM28 fire this year, no structures lost - no injuries either! But this area is unusual, I think.
I see a lot of dishes and most are (KU) or (C band) could be in use. Several have current eq., but not hooked up - no time to watch if you are trying to farm.
I live out here on the "right coast" and I just learned recently about this "free to air satellite stuff." Long story short, I'll bet there's a heck of a lot of folks that just aren't aware it exists. I just don't know how people can continue to pay the high prices of conventional cable subscriptions. Don't get me wrong, I like to occasionally watch the history and discovery channels but I really don't think I'll miss any of it down the road. It's just not worth it.
On another track, the Cascade region sure is beautiful..... Had a chance to travel out there several years ago and was really impressed.
On another track, the Cascade region sure is beautiful..... Had a chance to travel out there several years ago and was really impressed.
If there was a big majority of people that did know it exists, the content owners would have the providers stamp it out like we were nothing but bugs. They ALL could encrypt very quickly if they chose to do so, we just aren't quite a big enough annoyance at the moment. US companies just don't give anything away for free, or out of the goodness of their hearts. It's all money, money, money, to them.
Well, when we invest money, in stocks, bank accounts or 401k, etc, it's money money money to us.
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Down here on the SE Texas coast I doubt there’s many, if any at all, BUD systems still in use at people’s homes. I haven’t seen one anywhere but mine for years.
We’ve had a spate of hurricanes here over the past 10 years which is usually very bad news to a BUD. I only put mine up recently, thankfully. I know there is no way it would have survived Rita (2005) or Ike (2008). No way.
Rita trashed this area hard. Ike was bad but not as bad for us here as Rita was. Rita was a direct hit, the eye of Ike missed us by about 60 miles.
Between those two I think they put an end to all the home BUDS around here. I don’t think anyone was using the ones that were still up before the hurricanes, pizza TV and cable rule the area.
We’ve had a spate of hurricanes here over the past 10 years which is usually very bad news to a BUD. I only put mine up recently, thankfully. I know there is no way it would have survived Rita (2005) or Ike (2008). No way.
Rita trashed this area hard. Ike was bad but not as bad for us here as Rita was. Rita was a direct hit, the eye of Ike missed us by about 60 miles.
Between those two I think they put an end to all the home BUDS around here. I don’t think anyone was using the ones that were still up before the hurricanes, pizza TV and cable rule the area.
Here in Central CT there are a handful of houses around me with FTA dishes (Scott, a couple houses with Ku dishes, and one with Ku and C-band). Cable covers the state pretty darn well, so there aren't many around with FTA.
Well, it sounds like the consensus is that there aren't many folks doing fta sat tv and that probably is a good thing. My sincere thanks to everyone who responded. As for myself, I'm pretty sure I'll push ahead and get some basic gear and join the rest of you. Although I'll miss stuff like the Discovery and History channels, I sure won't miss the monthly cable bills. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I progress. Thanks again!
The only other FTA dish in my area that I know of is a C Band dish at one of the local schools, which really surprised me when I saw it and surprised me even more when I found out that they still use it.
A lot of people are getting on board with IPTV now. I recently bought a Roku 3 and subscribe to Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu Plus. There are also tons and tons of free things you can get through the Roku system.
It’s a good investment. Between a Roku 3 and FTA, you can have more stuff than you can possibly watch in a life time.
Howdy,
What exactly is IPTV and ROKU? I'm way out in the mountains and consequently need a "bird" in the sky.
What exactly is IPTV and ROKU? I'm way out in the mountains and consequently need a "bird" in the sky.
IPTV = Internet Protocol TeleVision, i.e. streaming the video over an Internet connection to view tv.
ROKU = a small physical box that you purchase and connect to your Internet and your tv, and use it to watch streaming video. Comes with a remote control and gives you access to various services like Dee mentioned (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu Plus).
Since you say you are way out in the mountains, probably you would continue to use DISH/Direct/FTA instead. There are Internet options over satellite, but that may not be cost effective for watching a lot of IPTV.
sgs
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