Ready to take the plunge!

[snookjunky]

After a few months of research and whatnot, here is what I'm thinking about getting this for my first FTA system. GEOSATpro microHD, GEOSATpro 90cm & SL1PLL LNB . But before I "add to cart" I have a few questions. Should i get a motor now or play around with stationary dish first ? (i have room in budget for motor now).Also i have a Super Buddy 21 digital meter will i be able to find FTA birds with this meter?
And finally Is this system pretty much plug and play type deal? like install dish run scan and watch?

 

[danristheman]

Go with a stationary dish first so you can map the arch then once you get used to where the satellites are then go and get a motor for your dish. Start off small then go big.

Dan Rose

 

[coinmaster32]

Get a motor, there is over 24 FTA sats in the sky. Going outside to aim to another one is not fun during the winter.

 

[KE4EST]

First of all Welcome to SatelliteGuys!!

Yes much easier to learn to crawl before you run. You will have better and quicker success starting out with a fixed dish. Get it in your hands, get it installed and start to learn how all this reading you have been doing works. Once you have a grasp on it and a sense of personal achievement, you will be ready to add a motor or another dish or two. It is a very rewarding hobby, but if you try to hard to fast you get frustrated and burn out fast.

 

[KE4EST]

Get a motor, there is over 24 FTA sats in the sky. Going outside to aim to another one is not fun during the winter.

South Florida doesn't get to cold in the winter. Not a good idea to throw to much on a newbies plate.

 

[Anole]

I will recommend the Stab HH90 motor for that dish.
Since you will have to shop for a good price (around $70), get it later.
Take a couple of weeks to get used to your receiver and fixed dish before going motorized.

Keep reading other peoples threads, especially about your selected receiver.
Start simple (97 west, for instance) and master a number of obsticles before moving on:
- plumb pole
- dish azimuth with compass
- your local magnetic correction
- dish elevation (marks on mount aren't perfect)
- connector attachment to coax cable
- proper cable and connectors to use
- will your dish see over an obsticle?
- receiver / LNB / switch setup (too many items to list)
- scanning, blind scanning, etc.
- might be a good time to experiment recording a show

And THEN think about all the new concepts to master to setup a motor!

 

[snookjunky]

Thanks for info guys, fixed dish it is!
Is the micro hd receiver a good start for new guy?
and can I use a dgital meter?

 

[Anole]

You're welcome
Yes & yes.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Snookjunky,

I also recommend (highly) starting out with installing a fixed point dish first. Upgrade to a motorized system after you master your dish pointing skills manually. There are several benefits that you will gain by doing so.

First of all, you will develop a "second nature" or heightened sense of where all the satellites are across your horizon by aiming your dish (dialing the sats in manually) because you're the one doing it all, not the motor. This will assist you when you do eventually incorporate a motor. You'll develop a calibrated feeling for how all the angles ought to be, how the dish's aim should look, to pull in each satellite.

Secondly, you can fine tune your fixed dish to one satellite at a time - to perfection! When you do this, you will have the opportunity to monitor and record the signal level and the quality level from each TP on each and every satellite and make a really swell spreadsheet of data. You can use this data to help you scrutinize your motor alignment accuracy when you get to that point. Related to this aspect, you will learn which sats are a little tricky to align to and which ones are forgiving. That is also helpful information to have when you get into setting up a motor.

Third, you will have the advantage of learning the ropes and the operation of your specific receiver without being distracted by the daunting task of aligning the motor. It will make your initial experience into FTA more pleasent and offer more time to build your knowledge and expertise level up without feeling like you've been run over by a bus right from the start.

Fourth, and this kinda ties the first three perks together, you will gradually develop the proper sense of "patience" for this hobby. You have to build your level of patience up gradually as you move up every step. For many folks, jumping into a hobby like this with the idea that you're going to start with the top level can lead you to great frustration and a lot of cussing. Start from the basics and gradually learn on the gentle curve. You'll feel a lot more confident with your abilities and projects and each "next step" will be just a perfect advancement to the next level. This also allows your financial funding of this hobby to keep pace with what you are learning and applying and it allows you more time to digest everything that you read about the hobby and the equipment. It's just good common sense.

Your choices for equipment are very good! Read everything in the "STICKY" sections of all the subforums related to your direction and read all the posts from the other members.

Don't fret about asking anyone a question, regardless of how insignificant you think it might be. Don't worry about feeling sheepish or embarrassed because you don't know or understand something very well. If you don't know, just ASK! At some point in time, we all were greenhorns and unfamiliar with all the aspects of this hobby. Since this is a technical hobby, the technology keeps changing daily anyway, so we are all in a constant process of learning. That is the neatest challenge of it and one of it's greatest rewards! So, enjoy it all and......

WELCOME TO SATELLITE GUYS!!!!

RADAR

 

[Kraven]

I say go for a motor...When jumping into this hobby, I say jump in it full-ass, not half-ass. Stationary or motor, YOU WILL be pulling your hair out at first....
Besides, when you find a signal... do you really want to get back on the roof/pole/shed and re-aim it to the next satellite..and again and again and again...etc

Example, it almost took me a month to get a signal... now I can take everything out of the box new and watch TV within 2 hours.. Experienc in the FTA world, is priceless

Cheers,K

 

[cyberham]

I was waiting for somebody to say this. For me, to go to the trouble of perfectly aligning a fixed dish, then within a few weeks going out and taking it down to install a motor and go through the alignment again seems like wasted effort. I would say that almost nobody will be satisfied with what you can receive from only one Ku sat now. Buy the motor, do it right, have something you can enjoy once the work is done.

 

[Anole]

Oh, that reminds me.
Don't even consider putting your first fixed dish on the roof!
That's just a recepie for frustration.
Put it on a free-standing pole (of proper size) in the back yard, or on a wall.
And no more than chest high, so it's easy to work on.


edit: don't jump off the high dive board without knowing how to swim

 

[TRG]

When I first got into this hobby I decided to go all the way with a motor. I struggled for a week and never got a single signal. Then I decided to get back to basics and took off the motor. I had a signal in less than five minutes.

I'll share my biggest mistake when I was a "greenhorn." I assumed that all the transponders that were loaded into my receiver were all active. I spent countless hours trying to aim my dish to frequencies that had no signal on them. Don't do that!

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app.

 

[northgeorgia]

Welcome to FTA! It sounds like you're really excited about the hobby, so you're definitely going to want a motor. If you can find a great deal now...why not go ahead and purchase. But I have to echo what several others said -- experimenting with a stationary dish first can help you get a feel for the location of the arc and how all these technical concepts such as azimuth, skew, elevation work together to give you an optimal signal. When I was a newbie (just one year ago!), I remembered how shocked I was because I had thought that I had reset my dish (after it was accidentally moved) back to 97W, only to discover the Dutch station on 101W scanned in! It truly gives you the sense of how very little a degree is on the arc. After a month of playing around and manually finding satellites (kind of fun, actually for a newbie!), it was time to motorize it. That has its own set of frustrations. My opinion: plan on a motorized dish set up but keep it as stage two of your plan, after you feel comfortable with aiming a stationary dish (whether that be a few days or several months).

 

[snookjunky]

Thanks again guys for all the input! I do like the Idea of taking it slow and learning on a fixed dish first. I going to go ahead and or the equipment this weekend.
I'll let you guys know how it turns out. I am sure I'll be back with questions during the installation.
Thanks alot!!!

 

[johann12]

Many month before I set up a system I started out to read and read and read more.
Finally it came the day when I canceled dishnetwork.
Before I was willing to dump money into this FTA thing I wanted to try it first.
A guy gave me an old receiver and I bought a $15 LNBF and I used the dish dishnetwork left behind( a bad call for using this dish for an beginner ).
Even though I read a lot about it, I still had to go back and read it again.
I took my receiver and tv to the flat roof where the dish was in the winter. I had fun sitting there and finding out how to aim,scan etc etc. It was very exciting to see the first pictures over satellite. I remember it was cctv on 97w at least 97w that is what I wanted to aim at, it was Chinese or so, but I jumped up and down for being so happy.
I spend ours on the roof aiming at different satellites to see what i could get, but I learned a lot.
My neighbor even offered me to help me with my cristmas light problemLOL.

3-4 month later I set up a 7 1/2 c-band dish, got me a new receiver and other equipment, recently I up-grated to 10foot dish.
Currently I am looking into to set up/ purchase a 90 cm dish or bigger with an motor.

Take it step by step. There is no need to hurry into thing and get upset or frustrated about it.

Those folks here at satelliteguys are willing to help you, I could not had done this without their help