FTA c band still available?

xoibsurferx

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Jan 31, 2014
24
9
Monroe, NC
hello everyone I have a bud I’m considering putting up but wanted to see if c band was still a thing. I got my dish a few years ago and wasn’t able to get it up until we purchased a home. I now have a good southern view and can put it up but don’t want to go through the trouble if there’s nothing fta still up there.

I believe it’s an 8ft Sami dish. I’ll need a fta receiver and a few other things to make it work though but willing to do it if there’s still some channels up there for free.
 
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hello everyone I have a bud I’m considering putting up but wanted to see if c band was still a thing. I got my dish a few years ago and wasn’t able to get it up until we purchased a home. I now have a good southern view and can put it up but don’t want to go through the trouble if there’s nothing fta still up there.

I believe it’s an 8ft Sami dish. I’ll need a fta receiver and a few other things to make it work though but willing to do it if there’s still some channels up there for free.

Yes :D
 
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hello everyone I have a bud I’m considering putting up but wanted to see if c band was still a thing. I got my dish a few years ago and wasn’t able to get it up until we purchased a home. I now have a good southern view and can put it up but don’t want to go through the trouble if there’s nothing fta still up there.

I believe it’s an 8ft Sami dish. I’ll need a fta receiver and a few other things to make it work though but willing to do it if there’s still some channels up there for free.

Absolutely


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Yes, there is still quite an assortment available on C Band. I spend about 99% of my time on C Band. To get an idea of what is available check out lyngsat.com and sathint.com. No list is accurate, but it will give you a good feel for what is there.

Just remember that those listed with four (4) digits for the frequency are C Band. The ones with five (5) digits are Ku Band.
 
C band has a better channel selection than any cable or pizza pan provider. It's a secret world up there that only a tiny fraction of the population has knowledge that it exists. Normies have no idea what they are missing out on. Take a look at Lyngsat, everything from 43W to 131W.

58W, 101W, 125W, 127W, and 131W in particular are packed with a high density of channels in better quality than any cable or satellite provider.
 
C band has a better channel selection than any cable or pizza pan provider. It's a secret world up there that only a tiny fraction of the population has knowledge that it exists. Normies have no idea what they are missing out on. Take a look at Lyngsat, everything from 43W to 131W.

58W, 101W, 125W, 127W, and 131W in particular are packed with a high density of channels in better quality than any cable or satellite provider.

Don't forget 91W and 99W ;)
 
I would not say that C-Band has better programming than cable of subscription satellite, but it's different - and the price is right! On FTA (C-band and Ku band), you'll find many more foreign channels than you'll ever find on cable, you'll find many foreign channels in English that are interesting and not often carried on cable, some of them with perspectives that we don't often see on US media (i'm not saying that I agree with them but it's still interesting to watch). Also, many feeds of various sources. However, you won't find premium "cable" channels. Those are all encrypted and there's no subscription available.
 
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Thank you so much for all of the responses! We have dish network and Netflix we obviously watch frequently but I’ve had this c band dish for a few years and finally own a home where I can put it up so I’m thrilled to hear there’s still some programming available! From these lists there’s quite a lot still available for free. Sad to see there’s no way to pay for some of the more premium channel bundles like you used to be able to do but still the free to air channels are still there which is great news so I can finally put this dish to use.

I’ll need a motor (may be able to get it to work), and a receiver and a few other things to make it work but I have the dish and the poles and all.
 
Focus on a site survey FIRST. The site survey is by FAR the most critical of all. It must be at a site that is completely open to all the sats you'd like to get, yet reasonably close to your house if possible.

If you can't find a good site or make one with a chainsaw, etc, it's no use doing anything else. Don't even bother buying stuff until that's done.

Use this, along with your house map coordinates, to start your search. You can move around your property, and get the best spot, within say 100-125ft of your receiver inside. DishPointer - Align your satellite dish
 
C band has a better channel selection than any cable or pizza pan provider. It's a secret world up there that only a tiny fraction of the population has knowledge that it exists. Normies have no idea what they are missing out on. Take a look at Lyngsat, everything from 43W to 131W.

58W, 101W, 125W, 127W, and 131W in particular are packed with a high density of channels in better quality than any cable or satellite provider.

Say WHAT? I watch a LOT of C-band and I have not found anything really interesting on any of those birds, but then again I don't have the ability to blind scan so I have to rely on what's posted in places like Lyngsat (which I realize isn't always accurate or up to date) and the WUT forum here. In all fairness I can't get 58W due to trees, but without getting too specific here's what I'm seeing on each of the others:

101W - Religious channels and a bunch of standard definition channels, mostly showing old TV shows. Which if you like that would granted be in higher quality than what your local TV station subchannel shows, due to not being so heavily compressed. The two exceptions I see are NASA UHD, a news channel, and ONE high def feed of a station that's typically carried on a local TV subchannel in all but major markets (but it still carries mostly old TV shows).

125W - Religious channels and some obscure standard def stuff. Only HD feeds shown appear to be a music channel of some kind. a shopping channel, and some other channel I never heard of (I'm not counting religious HD stations because I have less than zero interest in those, I'm also not considering Digicipher 2 stuff because I'm not paying anyone to watch standard def stuff, if you can even still do that).

127W - Some NASA channels, and an entertainment/movie trailer channel??? in HD (and NASA UHD). This actually used to be a decent bird but one by one the interesting services have all encrypted in the last few years.

131W - This one would be very difficult for me to get due to trees at the present time (I could move a dish a few feet if there was anything really appealing there) but according to Lyngsat all that is there now is a regional sports channel and a shopping channel. I suppose if you like sports and especially if you live in that area you might find it interesting, but otherwise I really don't see anything there.

If you know of something else that I missed on those birds that's in high definition and is not a religious channel (and of course in on C-band), please feel free to post it in the WUT forum. I do have a dish pointed at 127W because of what used to be there and because once in a blue moon I may look at NASA for a few minutes if something really significant is happening (I tuned in during the last big eclipse). I would have loved the NASA channel when I was a kid but I kind of outgrew that interest (partly I'm just hugely disappointed that space exploration pretty much stalled out after the moon landings; when I was a kid I'd hoped we'd be on Mars before I die - and yes I'm aware that some fringe types claim we already are as part of a "secret space program" but I think they are probably just spinning a fantastic tale while trying to make money off of appearance fees and videos, and in any case I mean in a publicly acknowledged way).

IMHO the prime satellites for C-band are currently at 91W (if you like the channels there) and then from 97W to 107W inclusive, although as I said above I'm not too interested in anything on 101W (but some might be, particularly if you are into old TV shows). Also 103W has become a lot less interesting lately as signals have either disappeared (encrypted) or become too weak to view (ION and PBS East in particular, but you can still get PBS East and West on Ku band). About the only thing left there is the English language service of a German TV network (it's actually a decent channel, I just never seem to find much of anything there I really want to watch). I may just repoint the dish I have pointing there to point at 101W at some point, that's how uninteresting 103 has become.

I saw the other post about the Luken channels moving to 113W but again those are mostly standard def and older shows. For whatever reason I have a strong preference for shows in full high definition. Unlike some folks who are nostalgic for the older stuff, there are only a couple of shows I liked so well that I'd maybe watch them again even though they are in standard def. I'm not at all into foreign language channels, religious channels, or sports so someone who is into those things would obviously have different preferences from mine. I know a LOT of people do like the older shows and in that case you'd probably want to add 113W to the list once the Luken channels move there.
 
What am I missing here? SES 1 at 101.0°W - LyngSat I see that there's quite a bit of high quality channels here on SES 1 at 101 W there's Nickelodeon, MTV West, etc...Some high quality channels that you normally pay quite a heap for with Dish or Directv. Are these not truly available over FTA?
 
No those channels are not FTA. Those are pay services, mainly directed at cable companies. Cable companies for years got all their programming from C-Band. Most still do to a certain degree. Some get all programing from C-Band and some now, use C-Band and Fiber.
This is a hobby and not a replacement for "normal" Pay TV. ;)
 
No those channels are not FTA. Those are pay services, mainly directed at cable companies. Cable companies for years got all their programming from C-Band. Most still do to a certain degree. Some get all programing from C-Band and some now, use C-Band and Fiber.
This is a hobby and not a replacement for "normal" Pay TV. ;)

This looks to be more accurate Dr. Sat :: Satellite, OTA Antenna, IPTV, Phone & Internet services

Seems there's still a ton of free channels up there though! As you mentioned not a replacement for a paid service but there's a ton there for free.
 
What am I missing here? SES 1 at 101.0°W - LyngSat I see that there's quite a bit of high quality channels here on SES 1 at 101 W there's Nickelodeon, MTV West, etc...Some high quality channels that you normally pay quite a heap for with Dish or Directv. Are these not truly available over FTA?
On Lyngsat you are looking for the channels that have a red F in a white box. Those are the FTA ones. :)
 
Dr Sat is a guy from Canada that sells FTA and Hack boxes, I would stay away. I was looking over that list he has though and it looks like it has not been updated in awhile, like most. However, yes there are still lots of channels up there and it is fun to see what you can get! There is plenty up there to keep my family entertained and I have a large family.
 
Dr Sat is a guy from Canada that sells FTA and Hack boxes, I would stay away. I was looking over that list he has though and it looks like it has not been updated in awhile, like most. However, yes there are still lots of channels up there and it is fun to see what you can get! There is plenty up there to keep my family entertained and I have a large family.

Ah that makes sense then since he sells hacked boxes. I have a large family as well (wife and I plus six kids). They keep busy on their devices but still like to watch tv so would be nice to have more
options than what my $100mo dish package offers.
 
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