Finally going to join FTA

[bigjnsa]

Well I ordered the last piece to my FTA puzzle. Ordered a 31" dish from SGA yesterday so hopefully it will come in this weekend. One question though, I didn't buy a motor (I wanted to learn how to setup the dish first) so how hard would it be to install a motor to a dish that is already setup?

 

[tom_v]

I did the same thing. Set up your fixed dish first to get familiar with the satellites' elevation/Az and then go with your H-H motor. You would learn a lot from that.
It would be a lot easier to add motor once you have done setting up your fixed dish. (use a fixed channel as a meter, for example)

You should have bought the whole set (dish, motor,...) to take advantage of discount...

Good luck with your motor settinng!

 

[bigjnsa]

I did the same thing. Set up your fixed dish first to get familiar with the satellites' elevation/Az and then go with your H-H motor. You would learn a lot from that.
It would be a lot easier to add motor once you have done setting up your fixed dish. (use a fixed channel as a meter, for example)
You should have bought the whole set (dish, motor,...) to take advantage of discount...
Good luck with your motor settinng!

Well none of the Gold vendors had a package of what I wanted so I had to buy in parts. I got everything off of eBay except the dish. I picked up a brand new Fortec Ultra receiver for $80, SatFinder for $5 and an 0.4dB LNB for $13.
I have two co-workers that are interested in FTA as well, so you could say I'm the guinea pig I will probably recommend to them one of the packages from a Gold vendor.

 

[sharris]

Its always a good plan to start with a fixed dish, figure out the ins/outs of your receiver, then go to a motorized setup. Thats what I did and it wasn't such a steep learning curve. Good luck on your setup. One thing you may want to purchase or borrow is a good compass with declination seting so you can find the approx. location of the sats. If you have any questions/probs, which I'm sure you will have some, let us know and someone will give you a hand.

 

[Sadoun]

bigjnsa

Good luck on your setup. We have motorized packages that you can customize:

If you need some help installing your equipment, check our installation tips page. Any way, it beats the instructions that come with the receiver's

 

[Tron]

I'll second that, Sadoun's help pages put the FTA receiver manuals to shame!

The many members of this forum do as well...

 

[bigjnsa]

Thanks Sadoun. I get the dish in today and I've been scouring the 'net looking for tips on how to install it. I can't mount it on the roof yet, but I have a backyard patio set that I can put the dish on to play with. Thanks again!