Can I use existing dish?

[ken246]

Hi,

If I have a Dish Network satellite dish, can I hook that up to a FTA receiver or do I need a special satellite dish to receive FTA channels?

I'm planning on cancelling my Dish service since it's a waste of money, the dish is not going anywhere so if I can simply hook it up and receive some free channels why not.

Appreciate any advice as I was unable to locate an answer to such a question.

Thank you.

 

[FaT Air]

to Satelliteguys.
Sorry to say, a Dish network or Direct dish will not work for FTA. 3 reasons: The frequencies involved are different. The polarity of the RF is also different. Dish and Direct use circular polarity, while FTA uses linear polarity. So the feeds, the LNBF's, are incompatible in two respects. A slightly larger dish is needed for dependable operation as FTA signals are quite a bit weaker. Some services are usable on the larger Dish or Direct dishes after modification to incorporate a linear LNBF. I wouldn't recommend it as a first attempt at FTA unless your somewhat mechanically inclined. Recommend a 36 inch offset dish for "ease of accomplishment" on Ku FTA.
Before cancelling your subscription, Take note that FTA is more a hobby than a replacement, or alternative source, for subscription channels. Take a look at TheList! To see what's FTA , It's not complete. No list is. FTA channels are always appearing and disappearing. But lists channels that have been available for a long time and/or actually don't mind if we watch with our own equipment (without paying a sub- Free To Air). Another list can be found at global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html

 

[RT-Cat]

Fat Air and Puppi(the cat) covered it in mint quality. With that in mind I will just pitch out another WELCOME to Satguys. Hope you get something going and enjoy your new hobby.

 

[ken246]

Thanks for the welcome and informative reply, it was of tremendous help.

At this time I wouldn't want to invest time and money and configure things to receive such channels, but it does seem like a VERY interesting hobby.. maybe in the future.

I think I'm going to cancel Dish anyway, seems I'm only watching local news and got tired of the junk and commercials on the upper channels. I'm much more happy with internet streaming and netflix on a roku box. Fortunately I didn't pay for the satellite dish since it seems it's going to be idle for a while.

 

[freezy]

You can't complain about the Over The Air TV available in Los Angeles. Unless you're in the Canyon

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah makes what we have OTA in Minneapolis puny

 

[cyberham]

OTA in Minneapolis is WONDERFUL compared with Halifax OTA: 3 channels. Life is relative.

 

[freezy]

but the Lobster in Minneapolis sucks. And the worst part. Minnesota is full of Minnesotans

 

[cyberham]

but the Lobster in Minneapolis sucks. And the worst part. Minnesota is full of Minnesotans

You are lucky my post sits between you and Iceberg. He doesn't look like the type you should verbally abuse. He can find you even in the Land of Sky Blue Water, and his large BUDs would not look good on your head.

ken246: Those who think they can just cancel their pay TV subscription and continue getting the same or even similar channels for free aren't thinking logically. Obviously mega-businesses involved in the pay TV business would never allow such a situation to exist. They wouldn't be as big and powerful as they are today if their business plans were that weak.

 

[rogerduncan100]

OTA in Toronto is pretty good. I can get 31 channels (including sub-channels) when conditions are good. There are over a dozen that I might actually watch for more than a minute or two!

 

[cyberham]

OTA is the secret weapon for those fed up with pay TV. 31 channels with 12 that warrant 1+ minute viewing is an excellent plan. ken246 in L.A. could receive many more than that via OTA. Now couple all that with FTA and who's got time for pay TV?

 

[Mr Tony]

You are lucky my post sits between you and Iceberg. He doesn't look like the type you should verbally abuse. He can find you even in the Land of Sky Blue Water, and his large BUDs would not look good on your head.

nah me and freezy are cool. We both from Minnesota so thats ok in my book

You have to remember that Canada other than the Big 3 in most markets (CBC, CTV, Global) they dont want to add subchannels. Heck even in larger markets there may only be 4 or 5 stations total.

But I'd glady trade you the 5 EWTN, Cornerstone, Daystar, AND THE 5 TBN mux (TBN, Church, JCTV, Smile, Enlance) for the CBC OTA

 

[cyberham]

The reason OTA will never really take off in Canada among the masses is that everybody here wants the US networks and Sports (without working for it). Flip on the pay HDTV and most get what they want.

I already get the 207 (or so it seems) religious channels on 97W, but if I didn't I wouldn't trade them all for CBC OTA. I get it here (720p) on amplified rabbit ears along with CTV (1080i) and Global (1080i). Ship me an HD slingbox and I'll stream them back at you. Anyway, you already get multi-channels of CBC on C-band when you wheel that dish out of the garage.

 

[rogerduncan100]

I guess there are a couple reasons why subchannels are almost non-existant in Canada.

1. The CRTC regulators have to be satisfied.

2. The market isn't big enough to interest advertisers.