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What equipment to buy

Hello, never had a dish before. What solid and current eqipment would I need to receive as many channels as possible?
What web site should I visit?
Thanks

ballchinian said:

Hello, never had a dish before. What solid and current eqipment would I need to receive as many channels as possible?
What web site should I visit?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Ballchinian,

Do you have any technical background in electronics or Ham radio or anything that would assist you with FTA satellite endeavors?

Quite simply put, FTA satellite is a hobby for the DIY'er. You won't get much help from any retail installer for DishNetwork or DirecTV. What you need to learn, you will have to find out yourself and this forum is probably the best resource for the majority of it all. We do link to other outside websites for specific materials and instructions from time to time, but most of the knowledge is right here.

Incidentally, I should say to SatelliteGuys!

Since you haven't set up a dish before, I would like to recommend an excellent starter package for you. Something inexpensive, but with excellent attributes so that you get a good feel of what is possible and can learn with, without being out too much money if you decide you don't like it. I would start with the Ku band stuff first. The equipment is the least expensive and you can install it very easily yourself, without any assistance.

YOU WILL NEED:

A dish reflector (antenna). The Winegard DS-2076 is a really nice choice for Ku band satellites. It is a very well designed and structurally sound antenna. Easy to set up, light weight and very effective / efficient.

An LNBF (Low Noise Block Downconverter + Feedhorn). This is the gizmo that attaches to the dish to actually capture the satellite signals and convert the high frequency from the satellite to a lower frequency that you can send down a cable to your receiver. There are many makes and models and styles available. But, I would suggest something made by Invacom, the SNH-031 would be a good Ku band LNBF.

A simple, down to earth and basic satellite receiver that is user friendly. The Coolsat 5000 or 6000 receivers are my favorite, but they are both discontinued models. You can still get one dirt cheap off Ebay for about $30-50 USD. You just have to be careful buying used ones, they may have hardware problems. We can help fix software and firmware problems with these receivers really easily, but not hardware problems. The Fortec Star receivers may be the way to go if you wish to stay with all new equipment. The "Dynamic" is a great receiver, but that has also been discontinued, I think. But, they have a replacement model for it that is just as worthy.

Cable, good cable. RG6 or RGU (underground burial rated). Commscope is a fairly inexpensive but quality brand. Use compression connectors and not crimp-ons. You will need some tools to put it together. Specialty tools for stripping the cable and for putting the connectors on.

A HH motor. You won't need a motor right off the bat. I reccommend not using a motor at first, until you get accustomed to setting up a fixed point dish. That is a dish that is aimed at only one satellite. Get practice at aligning your fixed point dish first, before buying a motor. If you like what you are getting from FTA and get confortable with aligning the dish to pull in different sats, then you may invest in a motor. The SG-2100 motors are very good, the DG-280 and DG-380 motors are great. The STAB motors are excellent, too. You will have to research what to buy when you get to that point. But, I wouldn't get a motor right off. Get some learning experience under your belt first. Make sure you like what FTA has to offer first, then you can make the decision about installing a motor afterwards.

This is my reccommendations for a start up program. My personal choices in the equipment are my own. If you ask most others here, they will probably agree with me in one thing in particular, and that is keeping the cost down at the beginning until you get familiarized with everything that you need to know.

You can get a lot of money wrapped up in this hobby, quickly, and if you find that you don't appreciate it, then you are out all that cash! Start simple and work your way up the ladder. That way, you can back out without too much expense involved.

Most equipment you can resell on Ebay for nearly what you paid for it, maybe just a little loss involved, but you have to pay for the experience, just the same.

And, the most important rule... This is a hobby and you must always treat it as such. It is not a system like DishNetwork or DirecTV where you can call a tech to come fix your system if it fails. You install it, you align it, you set it up, you troubleshoot it and you repair it yourself. Well, for the most part, we help you here on the site, but we don't usually come over to your house and work on it with you, since we aren't next door neighboors. You understand that.

Well, I have given the best recommendations that I can for now. If you think that you would like to pursue it further, we would all love to help you with the finer details. Cannot say you will like it, cannot say you won't, but you came to the right place to try your hand at it, that is for sure.

Good luck and I certainly hope that I see you here for a long time.

RADAR

Post Script: Ballchinian, just one point to make for ettiquette on this forum. You should post your questions in your own individual post (make a new thread) instead of jumping in on another thread. Your post here may be detached and moved from this thread and made into a separate thread, so keep that in mind. You may have to look around the forum to relocate your thread later as it may not be where you left it. This rule is for the courtesy of the author of the original post, but also, you will get more exposure to your specific question or comment if the thread is all your own. Basically, if you don't have input for the original poster (the author of the post) to aid in their problem, or if your problem is not identical to theirs, then you should create your own post.

Thanks for the info, no I don't have any sat or electronic experience. But I have learned to turn off the breaker before changing a recepticle.
Anyway, I noticed some conversation about the AZ box. Can you tell me more. My starting budget is around $400. Thanks

ballchinian said:

Thanks for the info, no I don't have any sat or electronic experience. But I have learned to turn off the breaker before changing a recepticle.
Anyway, I noticed some conversation about the AZ box. Can you tell me more. My starting budget is around $400. Thanks

Click to expand...

Ballchinian,

Well, first of all, what brought you to ponder FTA satellite television?

Do you have any idea what is "up there"? On the satellites?

Do you like challenges and do you enjoy DIY projects?

Do you like to learn new things?

The items I listed for a starter package should keep you far below your budget, with quite a bit leftover. $300 is a good round number here, which includes all the components and the tools and the peripherals.

You can set up a really swell FTA Ku band system pretty inexpensively, if you take advice and don't go overboard on the equipment. You really don't need to have too many fancy pieces of equipment to simply get started. But, be careful... This is a hobby that becomes addictive and if you like it very well, you will end up spending more money down the road. Maybe a lot of money.

The AZBox receivers are not what the typical person would start out with. They have a pricetag attached. They are fairly new on the FTA market and they have some bugs that should be worked out. I wouldn't recommend them to a newbie with few electronics or computer skills. The AZBoxes are basically mini-computers or multi-media centers and so they require that kind of background to utilize them to their full potential.

Since you have only been a member here on this forum for a very short time, why don't you just browse around and get familiar with all the individual areas that are offered first, then read some of the many posts and threads and the "stickies" at the top of most pages. Get yourself up to speed and familiar with all the technology and the jargons that are used. Do this before you actually jump in head first.

I have been trying to learn FTA for roughly eight to ten years now, and I am no where near being a guru or an any sort of an expert on all of the aspects of this hobby. There is just so much to learn and it changes so frequently.

If you want a learning challenge, this would be it! It is fun, too, of course, because there are usually immediate rewards. But, you have to be prepared for this challenge. If you think you are ready for this challenge, you are probably wrong. You just grow into this endeavor, you cannot simply take it up like a book and read all about it and then go out and just do it. It is much more than that.

There is just too much information to feed you at one time, in one post, but I am trying to give you the best information that I know. Now I recommend that you take everything that I have said and put it up in your head and then go reading what others are doing with their setups. You'll get a better clue about FTA in short order.

RADAR

Thanks guys for all the good feedback. That Sathawk/Openbox does look like a fine unit for the money -- I just worry it would be a little redundant since I already have an AZBox. Was mainly thinking of something for solid/reliable USALS motor control. Seems like some of the folks here and on Rick's board have been using a Pansat or Coolsat for just that purpose.

AcWxRadar thanks for the good word on your experiences. I did get in and slave the unit off my Fortec Dynamic last week, fire up the wireless, SSH in and poke around a bit. Being a Unix/Linux guy from way back in the day ... I have to admit my inner geek was coming out and that the box is really starting to grow on me! Also liked that I could point it at my ReadyNAS Duo and stream VOB files with no problem whatsoever

The satellite directory constantly glitching seems to be the main point of frustration. Boy if they could just get that fixed. In the interim I'll have to spend some more time reading up on SatelliteGuys to learn more about the available workarounds.

Thanks again to all of you for the helpful advice!

John

Ok! I have been using the solomend as my primary receiver for my c-band setup and debating who will be master and who will be slave when my AZbox Ultra arrives by next weekend.It will be interesting comparing both side by side.