Are we FTA folks insane?

[Blindowl1234]

I was wondering has anyone besides myself ever questioned your sanity after getting involved with FTA stuff? I remember my wife questioning my sanity from day one haha. I remember thinking ok I'll dump maybe $150.oo in this hobby...it's now an obession...and that's it $150. We start out with a reasonably priced setup...receiver, 30" dish and Lnb. Then we realize a 36" dish is really better. We need an easy way to receive the AC3 audio. The receiver we have doesn't get the HD stuff...and the receiver we really need costs several hundred dollars more. Oops there's no one receiver that does it all either. Then we see most all the stuff we got in to this hobby/obsession for...the channels on 123west disappear. I too remember the days when RTN/RTV was easy to get. So we realize we can get more stuff on Cband! So we spend more money. But if we want the HD stuff we still need a different receiver and maybe a dish larger than 6 foot. Has anyone ever thought about how much time and money you've put in to this hobby? Don't get me wrong I enjoy it most days, but it reminds me of all the time, frustration and effort I put into an old car I once had haha. Thanks! Blind

 

[cracklincrotch]

I've had a number of people say to me "With all the time and money you've spent on that why didn't you save your money and get cable?" I'm sure they're right. But it's an escape and a hobby.

Besides, I'd rather own equipment than pay somebody for something I'll never own. I lease nothing.

 

[Bumpy Gocart]

It's a definite maybe...

I'm new around here, this is post #1, in fact. But i had to add my 2 cents into this thread.
This same question has been on my mind lately as I've spent several days in the past month tweaking my 36" dish away from 123, trying to obtain the RTV channels on AMC 9.
I really believe the correct answer to your original question is a definite maybe. I came to this conclusion shortly after i steered the dish away from 123, looking for Nimiq 2, as amc 9 is right there beside it. I couldn't find it. Nor could i find 123 again, or G27, or any of the loud satellites, Nimiq 1, any of the echostar birds, DirecTv, nothing. After checking my receiver settings, frequency & symbol rates multiple times, swapping out cables and even going to a secondary receiver, i concluded it had to be the LNB. It was a bit corroded on the terminal as was the end of the co-ax cable. Ok, so I bought a new one.... Still nothing, not a single bird anywhere in the sky!!! It's a longshot that the new LNB is a dud, but that's all i can figure.
I won't even go into the ordeal of trying to motorize the bloody dish during the same time frame. That was fun... Lotsa pain, no gain. Sigh...

I have wondered why have i become so obsessed with this hobby. In part it's free tv, in part I'm able to get channels I can't buy up here in Canada, even if i wanted to. It's rewarding to haul in something none of my friends can watch with their subscription satellite or cable. But lately, the frustration level has gotten to me.

For now, I'm taking a break from trying to bring in anything new. When a buddy comes home from his cottage, I'm going to swap out lnb's on his big dish and see if both mine are duds.

I just bought a powerful mast mounted Wingard pre-amp for the free digital OTA stuff and am going to settle for that for the time being. A new RTV channel came on-stream in Buffalo, NY not long ago, WGRZ ch 2.3. I'm far enuff away from it that it fades, but with the new amp, I'm hoping it'll hold the signal much better, as well as all the other channels. Digital OTA is becoming more interesting these days and a lot less trouble.

But still, the obsession is there. I'm still reading in the forums, still bugged with my current situation with my 36 incher, still wondering if I couldn't reel in Amercan Life TV on AMC 18 using a Starchoice receiver. Still wondering... still more stuff to try.
Mountain climbers climb because "it's there". I think it's the same for us...
If an obsession can tip you into insanity, then I'm close.
My 2 cents...

 

[harshness]

I think it is telling that your post went from "I" to "we".

 

[Fizbi]

No. We are quite sane.

You may be spending big bucks on antennas and receivers, but in the long run, the equipment pays for itself because you are not handing your paycheck to someone else, month after month after month, for the rest of your natural life.

Then, there is the satisfaction of educating yourself.

You are not just a couch potato having your brains sucked out watching TV...

You are in fact a highly educated couch potato who enjoys fine tuning your system to catch faint signals from ellusive satellites on the edge of the orbital horizon, a way to flex your intellectual muscles.

We are the digital satellite Élite. We do what the lemmings cannot do for themselves. We endure mind numbing frustration as we fight rain, snow, high winds, and darkness of night as we adjust for the perfect antenna azimuth and declination on our rooftops.

The neighbors pay for "signal strength" but we deliver our own "Quality".

We amaze those around us as we haul our one hundred pound TV sets up to the rooftop to verify we get Quality.

It's not just a hobby, it's a passion for perfection.

 

[dashaund]

I agree. It's like a lot of other hobbies out there, at first it's just "for fun" and education, then it becomes a passion and a strive for excellene. To get squeeze the last bit of performace out of the equipment you have, and to try out new equipment to get even more. To scan the birds time after time to hope you can find that hidden gem that the rest of the world isn't watching. To watch uninterrupted news coverage that tells the whole story rather than the 30 seconds that your local affiliate will edit and show. To get the highest quality picture and sound you can get. To choose what you want to see, instead of what your local cable operator gives you in their over-inflated cost packages. I personally enjoy the benfits of the programming, but it's more of about the technical aspect to me. Never ask me "why do this?" because my answer will be "why not?" Nobody else that I know (outside of you guys) rides around and notices every satellite dish on every piece of real estate I see. It's a hobby, and it's a passion. And the end of the day it's plain fun.

 

[GrumpyGuy]

From the outside looking in, most hobbies are at best pointless - "That's great, Uncle Joe. You sure have collected a lot of stamps. Now what?"

No doubt many of us spend more time working on our systems and scrounging hardware than we do watching television - last time I sat down and watched a television show there was snow on the ground (I do however listen to FTA satellite radio every day.)

Many of us are old enough to remember when "television" was ABC, CBS, or NBC on channels 2-13. When a program was announced as "LIVE, VIA SATELLITE" it added an extra measure of gravity to the event - whatever it was HAD to be VERY important to justify the use of such bleeding edge technology.

30 years after I first scanned the Clarke Belt, the idea of owning and operating my very own personal "satellite Earthstation" is still more gratifying than just about anything riding on the downlink.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that my FTA system is an end in and of itself ... a little bit of interesting television once in a while is just the icing on the cake.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Thanks so far for the responses! I almost feel sane again haha...I like the comment "Dish satelllite elite" and passion for excellence!. Next time someone looks at me strange when I discuss FTA stuff I'm part of the satellite elite too. Not sure if the wife would agree though.
Blind

 

[Skyscanner]

It sure is easy to get bitten by the FTA TV bug. I got started as a way to get the Christian programming I lost when I became a Sky Angel lifer orphan. You folks here have helped me gain the knowledge of how to get legal satellite TV without spending a fortune, most of my hardware is scrounged P* or various c band dishes. I did have to pay for 1 of the dishes though, I gave the lady $20 and 2 quarts of homemade maple syrup for a nearly new 8" mesh dish the birds were using as a rest. Insane? Maybe, but it sure is great to watch TV you can't get OTA and don't have to pay for. Used to be a D* sub, but left them when they continually took channels from my package and moved them into a higher-priced package, usually 2 or 3 channels every year, but when they took away the Western channel from my package, we parted company for keeps.

 

[italsat1]

I am new to all this, and so far so good!!! I'm loving every degree!!!! :up

 

[Skyscanner]

Wow, Dashaund, I thought it was just me who goes around noticing satellite dishes everywhere! I even notice them on TV programs. It must be contagious, my wife is doing it now, and even tells me where there's a dish that might be available!

 

[avg1joe]

Now that is a good woman!

 

[james72]

I made my wife stop and drive around to the back of a local radio station the other day. I passed by a few months ago and they had a bud sitting there and it wasn't hooked up. This time, not only wasn't it hooked up, there was a For Sale sign up. I'm calling them tomorrow. Can't wait to hear the realtor when I tell her I'm not interested in the building, just the dish!!!

By the way, I'm thinking it's a 6 footer, but hard to tell from the other side of the road...

 

[MikeinBaja]

Thanks so far for the responses! I almost feel sane again haha...I like the comment "Dish satelllite elite" and passion for excellence!. Next time someone looks at me strange when I discuss FTA stuff I'm part of the satellite elite too. Not sure if the wife would agree though.
Blind

Almost feeling sane again is a sure sign of insanity!

Seriously, the FTA folks here are probably the most creative - fabricate something out of nothing - bunch that you are likely to encounter anywhere.

From "getto rigs" to KU using a snuff can as a reflector - if it can be built, the guys and gals on this board will pull it off, usually with little to no $. :up

 

[dougbrown]

I was talking to my physical therapist the other day, explaining about this neat dish I just got. She started to ask me about the recent digital conversion and how that affected our hobby, it was when I had blurted out the words "terrestrial broadcast" that I realized that I had lost her and just how far down the rabbit hole I have gone myself.

 

[Inno]

This is all very amusing. For me, I really have not spent a great deal of money on the hobby. Most, if not all of the Ku dishes and LNBs are reclaimed Star Choice units. It helps that I was once an Express Vu installer and some folks tend to jump around a bit. The C-Band dishes and numerous parts I've collected over the years also did not cost me anything. I don't have the most modern high gain LNBs etc. but I have systems that work! I have bought things like cable, ends, switches and one FTA receiver that I found on E-Bay for $16.50.....plus one other one that was given to me in exchange for some work on a vehicle. Both required re-flashing of the factory firmware.
So I wouldn't call my system "ghetto" but it is definitely not high dollar.

 

[melgarga]

I have absolutely no need to personally question my sanity. Those that know me do it very frequently.....

 

[Larry1]

I just bought a powerful mast mounted Wingard pre-amp for the free digital OTA stuff and am going to settle for that for the time being. A new RTV channel came on-stream in Buffalo, NY not long ago, WGRZ ch 2.3. I'm far enuff away from it that it fades, but with the new amp, I'm hoping it'll hold the signal much better, as well as all the other channels. Digital OTA is becoming more interesting these days and a lot less trouble....

Another Canadian in quest of RTV. I just picked up a 100ft of rg-11, Channel Master CM7777 pre-amp and a 91XG antenna ready for a weekend project on the holiday next weekend. My homemade 8 bay bowtie is just not enough. Guess i'm obsessed too. If you like the RTV stuff, try for WNYB as well as they play The Beverly Hillbillies and Dusty's Trail.

 

[Larry1]

I was wondering has anyone besides myself ever questioned your sanity after getting involved with FTA stuff?

Of course were all over the edge.... why else would we come here daily?

TV is a great obsession for me. 3 TiVo's, a PVR/DVD recorder and computer cards/USB box/network ATSC tuner keep me busy.

 

[freezy]

some brew beer, make wine, garden, hunt and fish even though this isn't necessary to survive or enjoy these products.

We want to know more about what tv programming we consume and want to have more control of how we view