FTA In Alaska?

[RadioPaulAK]

I've considered setting up a Free to air system here in Alaska. I'm in McGrath, 230 miles NW of Anchorage. I have access to 2 dishes already, seen below. This picture is taken looking north.. the dish facing the camera is used for Alaska Public Radio Network (an instate satellite feed) and the bigger dish looking east is used for NPR. I don't know what azimuth/beam they're looking at. I could easily run a splitter off the incoming coax, since I live upstairs.

I could also get a dish just for FTA if I needed.

What would I see if i tried using these dishes or got one just for FTA? What kind of receiver would I need?

Thanks!

 

[mikekohl]

I've considered setting up a Free to air system here in Alaska. I'm in McGrath, 230 miles NW of Anchorage. I have access to 2 dishes already, seen below. This picture is taken looking north.. the dish facing the camera is used for Alaska Public Radio Network (an instate satellite feed) and the bigger dish looking east is used for NPR. I don't know what azimuth/beam they're looking at. I could easily run a splitter off the incoming coax, since I live upstairs.

I could also get a dish just for FTA if I needed.

What would I see if i tried using these dishes or got one just for FTA? What kind of receiver would I need?

Thanks!



View attachment 154211

Suggest you verify...the Alaska feeds are probably on 139 West, which is your closest sat to due south on C-band. I would suggest that NPR may be on 91 or 99 West, but Anchorage elevation for 91 is about 5 degrees, and your dish looks slightly higher than 5 deg elevation. Take an angle finder and run vertically across the NPR dish, top to bottom to confirm elevation angle, subtracting from 90 to get actual dish elevation above horizon.

 

[RadioPaulAK]

Suggest you verify...the Alaska feeds are probably on 139 West, which is your closest sat to due south on C-band. I would suggest that NPR may be on 91 or 99 West, but Anchorage elevation for 91 is about 5 degrees, and your dish looks slightly higher than 5 deg elevation. Take an angle finder and run vertically across the NPR dish, top to bottom to confirm elevation angle, subtracting from 90 to get actual dish elevation above horizon.

So If I was to use one of these dishes, would i see or hear anything worthwhile is my question?

 

[mikekohl]

So If I was to use one of these dishes, would i see or hear anything worthwhile is my question?

139 should get you public radio from around the state of Alaska, plus the 4 TV channel ARCS signals (may be transmitting locally if you have operating digital TV transmitter in McGrath).
Check the elevation on the dish you mention for NPR. 105 West would be about 8 degrees @ 126 true azimuth. 101 would be about 6.7 @ 122 91 is 2.6 @ 113 elevation in McGrath. Calculations for other sats can be done at dishpointer.com If you are using that second dish for NPR, you can't move it somewhere else...so please confirm where it is pointing, and then you can check www.lyngsat.com for available channels. If you can acquire another C-band dish, other satellites could be accessed.

 

[RadioPaulAK]

I do have a local ARCS signal here. I'll check and see where that dish is pointing

 

[kofi123]

NPR broadcasts on the horizontal side of 99 °W. Other signals you could likely receive from that satellite and polarity are The Family Broadcasting Corporation mux and the Fox, NBC, and This TV affiliates from the Caribbean. ABC's network feeds are also on 99 °W Horizontal, but they would be more difficult to receive than the other two signals I mentioned.

Galaxy 16 at 99.0°W - LyngSat