couple of question about FTA

[korsjs]

I was debating about putting up a cband or FTA dish and deceided to go with a FTA dish since it will be smaller and should have more fun playing around with. Here are my questions.

I have found the links on what is on what satellite and what degree to point. will the elevation be the same for all of them and if i had a motor it should rotate left and right just depending on what satellite i am trying to look at. am i correct on this and will elevation be the same. Also, how does the motor recieve its power? Do i plug it into an outlet or is it powered by the coax cable?

i don't know if i can get clear shots at all satellites, will a receiver that has the auto scan working with the motor on the dish, just skip the one it can not see and just move to the next one?

would this get me started for a dish?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32848&item=5703495912&rd=1
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=61386&item=5704387493&rd=1

would this get me going for a receiver?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32848&item=5704508435&rd=1
I have found some cheaper on dealer websites.

Then if i just get a motor to turn the dish, will i be all set or will I need anything else. Does the motor adjust elevation if i do need to adjust that?

what kind of connections do the receivers have; svideo, digital out, hd connections? If i came accross a scambled channel that i would like to watch, will i be able to decode it if i pay for it, or will i need a seperate receiver/descrambler for it?

do any of the FTA broadcast in 5.1 or HD?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well, no elevation is not the same. The birds appear to be in an arc across the sky.

The geometry is not complex, but DOES exist. The change in look-angle is a combination of factors between the mount and the motor. They can be a real bear to set up. Your antenna links to do not include a motor, but it appears that one of those vendors also sells them: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5703641080

Programming the receiver can be half the game - and whether it auto-programs or not depends on the receiver. back when I was installing C-Band, even the auto-programmers weren't very good and you still had to figure out which bird you were seeing and which way to go next. Kindof like solving a puzzle.

You say excluding C-Band would be more fun - I think the opposite would be true. BTW, you can put both C-Band and ku/FSS LNBs on the same dish at the same time.

As for money - chances are a trip to the country will show you a fair number of BUDs still mounted on poles and not being used. Chances are you can grab as many as you want for free as long as you haul it all away. And the receivers would come with. If you're lucky, it might be a dual-band setup. And as long as you got it from close to home, the elevation offsets and everything would already be set - that's a big deal for a newbie, trust me! Just make sure you match the azimuth from where it is to where you set it up. If the dish is 'hanging loose' don't bother - just go to the next one.

Of course, you need a big LOS (Line Of Sight) to as much east and west of the southern sky as you can get, and enough room to place the BUD.

You don't say where you are, but of course the middle of the country is best for sky-scanning. When I had a BUD, I remember I could hit from the mid-60s to 130-something before I ran out of sky.

My old C-Band receivers had descrambler cartridges built-in so that I could buy programming. No idea how that works with Ku/FSS Channels.

Looks to me like scanning this forum should get you more answers.

I don't follow this forum (I was asked to answer this), so if you want me back in this thread, send me a PM.

 

[aqela]

To get regular pay programming on C-Band, you need a receiver capable of taking in a VCRS decoder board. These are usually pink, if they are black or blue, then you need a new one. THE receiver out these days is the 4DTV 922, which receives VideoCipherRS analog programming, and DigiCipher2 digital programming (which includes more movie channels then DBS and lots of other stuff) on both C and KU bands. The 4DTV 922 supports DD5.1 with coaxial out, and with the HDD200 decoder module, it can recieve pay and free DC2 HD programming. Most, if not all, of the free HD programming on C/KU band is encoded in DC2. There is nothing on KU that is an analog subscription service, but with KU, you get access to a whole lot more digital DC2 programming. In fact, NPS is selling a 922 receiver for 600 bucks with 1 year of HBO/Cinemax included. This package includes many HBO/Max channels not available on DirecTV and Dish Network. (400 for receiver + 200 i think for HBO/Max). PM me for details. The HDD200 decoder can be found on ebay for cheap or on the internet. The decoder boards can also be found on the internet, too, or from the previous owner.

Now on to FTA. The FTA we all know and love is not in DC2. Rather it is a format known as DVB. DVB is also used by E* with the nagravision encryption technology to provide Dish Network's content delivery. To receive DVB/FTA programming, you need a seperate DVB receiver slaved to your C/KU-Band receiver. The c-band receiver (or 4DTV) moves the dish, while the DVB receiver receives the FTA programming. Some DVB receivers have DD output, and some have AC3 conversion. I myself am in the market for an AC3 decoding receiver so I can recieve G4 TechTV FTA. TechTV has always been analog FTA until a month ago. I was one of its first viewers.

Motors on dishes big and small are powered by the receiver. I have not messed with small KU-only dishes, but I do know that on BUDs that the mover is powered by a series of 3 or 4 wires which make up one of 4 sections of the ribbon cable that all BUD users have grown familiar with. (C-Band RG6, KU-Band RG6, and Polarizer Controls being the other three sections).

FTA is more fun on a BUD than it would be a KU-Only dish. The wealth of programming from the 4DTV 922 and C-Band only addes to the fun of the BUD.

PS. If you find a KTI brand dish, I have for sale a brand new Horizon to Horizon mount that will allow you to point your dish at the entire viewable arc in your area.