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Thank you, young Radar.

I understand several languages and am fluent and semi-fluent in 3 or so. Too bad about Cuba, hopefully Spain, Italy, etc will be available. I grew up on Bonanza, we'll leave it at that.

I'll read through the forum a lot before making any purchase, but needed a starting point rather than a bunch of never-heard of names and letters.

I got that from these posts and will continue to research since I am in no rush and find the OTA digital signals to be fantastic where I live, anything extra would be gravy.

FreeLance,

I assume that money is not a huge concern for you, however.... If you want to test the waters first in a very inexpensive fashion, you can become a scrounger and pick up simple fixed point dishes for free or nearly free if you have a mind to. Just start asking around at some of the satellite installer shops in your area. Especially the agencies that install C-Band dishes. I know a guy in my local area who has done so for many years and he always has old dishes in his shops attic and back room that were removed during an upgrade to something else. Five bucks and I have a new dish. Well, not new, but absolutely nothing wrong with it. Sometimes I just drop by his shop to chat and he tells me about equipment freebies.

For a very basic but strong DVB-S receiver, you can usually pick up a Coolsat 5000/6000 on ebay for next to nothing. These are no longer manufactured, but the pirates have dumped them on the used equipment market so they are still plentiful and cheap. This scenario, that pirates used them, is no indication of their true value. These older Coolsat receivers are highly prized units for their ease of use and flexibility and fast and accurate blind scan capability. They were and still are excellent receivers for FTA use and can be found for less than $50, sometimes as low as $20.
You just cannot go wrong with one of these to start out with. But, you have to remember that they are basic receivers. Not DVB-S2 or HD/4.2.2 compliant. Only standard DVB-S and they have no PVR capabilities, that would have to be accomplished with an external separate unit.

Motors... There are many to select from, but you don't need one right off the bat. In my previous post I mentioned the DG-380. That is an excellent motor for the smaller Ku band dishes. So are the HH120 Staab motor and the SG9120 motor. But, if you are just experimenting, a fixed dish is fine to start out with and this allows you to get some basic satellite dish alignment experience under your belt prior to upgrading to a motorized system. It is not mandatory or a prerequisite to begin with a fixed point dish, but doing so offers you some advantages along the learning curve. You will gain a better "broad" based understanding of the aiming techniques and that you can carry over to the motorized system when the time comes.

LNBFs... I mentioned the Invacom QPH-031 model for Ku-Band. This is a pricey unit and heavy/bulky and is both circular and linear, but there isn't much left up there in the line of circular signals that are free. There are multitudes of LNBFs available from many manufacturers that work extremely well and can be bought for $12 to $30. If you are going to dabble with Ku band only, get a standard linear LNBF with a L.O. (Local Oscillator) frequency of 10.750 GHz or a Universal Linear LNBF with two local oscillators - one @ 9.750 GHz and one @ 10.600 GHz.

When you get a receiver, you will have to tell it what the L.O. frequency of the LNBF is that you installed. This way the receiver knows what frequencies to look for coming in on the cable. This is akin to putting different sized tires on your car or truck. If you want the speedometer to read correctly, you have to recalibrate it for the tire size installed. This is simple to do in the receiver menus, but it is a stickler for some people to understand properly.

The LNBFs Local Oscillator runs at a specific set frequency and the incoming satellite signal is at another frequency. When these two frequencies meet, they "beat" together and produce a new frequency that is lower than either of these two parent frequencies (it is the difference between the two). This new "beat" frequency is the I.F. or Intermediate Frequency that gets sent over the RG6 cable to your reciever's IF input and then processed internally to a lower and lower and more manageable frequency level within the receiver's tuner.

Installation... When you get to installing your equipment, remember the first basic and most important rule. The mast that you mount your dish and or motor upon must be perfectly vertical. (plumb). This is your foundation for all the other angles that need to be set and those other alignments rely upon the mast being plumb for them to be accurate. Your mast must also be extremely sturdy so that it doesn't change position or become un-plumb if the wind blows against your dish. This is a very critical item and the subject is usually beat to death, but some folks don't always take it to heart so I always try to ensure that I hammer it in every opportunity that I get.

There is a lot of information to present, but I hope that you will find what I presented here helpful. I am just trying to touch on a few items that I can explain quickly, without reciting the entire book. There is a LOT more that you will be interested in knowing.

RADAR

freelance1k said:

Thank you, young Radar.

....Too bad about Cuba, hopefully Spain, Italy, etc will be available. I grew up on Bonanza, we'll leave it at that......

Click to expand...

I should explain Cubavision better. The satellite that carries this channel is @ 30.0°W and is under the control of Hispasat from Spain, not Cuba. Although it is Cuba's channel, it is not their own satellite that broadcasts it. They lease the transponder/s on Hispasat to make it available via satellite. I am not sure where they uplink the signal from in Cuba.

Oh, and I also grew up on Bonanza, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, I Dream of Jeanie, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek, Bewitched and the like. That was my era of growing up with TV.

RADAR

Thanks again.

I am still getting my feet wet in all this and greatly appreciate all the comments on this page and how quickly you all respond with valuable info.

I am located in the Reno area and yesterday, we drove by a house that had 3 dishes on the roof, one of them we could read the brand was GeoSat, we could not read the others.

Maybe we'll pass by again and have a chat with them and see what works for them and what they are able to receive.

Thanks a bunch for all your help. I'll keep reading the forums but from RADAR's post, I think I am leaning towards a smaller dish (not enough room for a 10 ft), motor and dual bands. Don't know much about receivers, but would love to get one that can record programming while watching another show.

That is the only thing we miss from paid satellite services. Found some stand alone DVR's but at $400 a pop it is not worth the money.

PEACE to you all, hope your weekend was fantastic.

Too bad about the size. Here is a free 10' in Reno

large satellite dish 10'


As far as recording one while watching another. That only works if the two programs are on the same sat with the same polarity.

putney said:

Too bad about the size. Here is a free 10' in Reno

large satellite dish 10'


As far as recording one while watching another. That only works if the two programs are on the same sat with the same polarity.

Click to expand...

Unless you purchase an AZBox Premium Plus ($350 - $400) and a second DVB-S2 tuner (~$70). Then you can do about anything. Come spring (warmer weather with no snow on the ground) I will provide more clues on this avenue first hand. Sorry that I cannot provide more information now, it will have to wait until I can get outside and dig.

If you are going for FTA Ku, I recommend one of these two dishes: Winegard DS-2076 (76cm) or GeoSatPro 1.2 M. I know that everyone states that "larger is better" but the Winegard DS-2076 dish is awesome and totally capable of receiving nearly everything. It is one of those design anomalies that just turned out perfect. It is inexpensive, it is small enough to handle easily, it is simple to set up and it works very, very well. It is also motor friendly if you desire to purchase a motor later and install it. If you go with a DS-2076 dish, you will want to specify the proper diameter motor tube to fit it. If you go with a DG-380 motor, I think you can specify a DG-380B model or order a separate motor tube for $12 or so. The motor tube differeneces are either 42mm or 50/55 mm diameter. You have to ensure that you get the right motor tube for the dish and the Winegard DS-2076 takes the smaller diameter tube.

The GeoSatPro 1.2 M dish will require the largest motor tube diameter and that tube still doesn't fit extremely snug. You have to either add some padding/shims or a third U-bolt for the clamp to lock it down tight. I used three U-Bolts on mine and that has been sufficient to hold it through all the winds and storms and temperature deviations for three or four years without slipping out of alignment. My brother, Walrus1957, used a sheet of sandpaper doubled over and wrapped around the tube. You also have to flip the dish mounting bracket upside down for installation on a downward pointing motor tube. The Staab motors won't require this as the tube points upwards. If you install it on any other motor with a downward pointing tube, your dish elevation scale markings (degrees) will be inverted and the numbers do not correspond to anything, but there is a conversion equation to use to make sense of it.

One word of warning. If you are using any small dish (Ku band) on a motor, make your dish elevation adjustments when the motor is at HOME or zero degrees (in the middle of its travel). If your motor is positioned off to one side or the other and you loosen the bolts / nuts to allow you to adjust the dish elevation, the weight of the entire assembly will tend to skew or twist the mounting bracket off to the side that gravity pulls it. If this happens you will introduce a small error in your dish alignment. It is barely measurable, but it will greatly affect the tracking of the arc. You want to keep everything square in this regard. This requires diligence and patience to drive the dish back to home before making an adjustment and then dialing it back to the sat you were testing to check the results. This means extra steps during the setup and alignment process, but if you do not follow this procedure, you will be fighting it forever trying to get it aligned properly.

These are some of the tricks of the trade that we pick up through actual (first hand) experiences. These hints are not written in any FTA manual. You have to experience them for yourself to know them, or have someone who has "been there/done that" inform you of these things. Everyone on this forum has found something "unique" and specific during their setup adventure that applies like this. Take heed of what we tell you in these instructions as it will save you time and headaches during your own setup process.

When I first started out with FTA, I did not know that SatelliteGuys were here. I was doing it all on my own accord. I made many mistakes and had to deal with damaged equipment and many unknowns. Much of what I learned was found out of sheer trial and error. A long route to take, but definitely a good learning experience. You do not have to take that route as you have found this site! Here, you can learn from the dummies who did it wrong at first, but learned how to do it right. So, most of us understand very well the delicate process and we can pass it on to you.

Please learn from us and take our past experiences and use them wisely for your own system. We do take pride in making your endeavor better and more enjoyable than our first run at it. Hopefully I am working on that with you now.

Have fun, enjoy and keep reading!

RADAR