FTA Newbie

[rdrunner]

I'm and old school satellite guru from back in the 80's. I've been out of the business for 8 years now, so I've forgotten a lot.

I want to set up a cheap FTA system just to pick up a few stations on G19, but I can eventually see me going deeper into the hobby. I'm on a limited budget and the freight costs on a 1 or 1.2 meter dish is ridiculously expensive. (I wish I had kept a few of the Primestar dishes people tried to give me after their conversion)

Is anyone here in western NC or upstate SC that could offer suggestions on getting a dish cheap?


Thanks,

 

[bpalone]

Not in your neck of the woods, but would suggest driving around and watching for might be abandoned dishes. Such as on old gas stations, etc. Then figure out who owns the building and see if they would like it gone. Also watch the list here and watch Craigs List, they do show up there once in a while. Since you are looking for just some stuff on G19 (97W), you could possibly get by with a larger Dish from one of the subscription service companies. 97W is pretty easy to get, I have gotten a large percentage of what is there with an old Dish 500 dish converted to a linear LNBF. Now, I was just playing around, so don't know just how reliable it would of been. I'm guessing that just a light shower might of whacked a lot of them.

Good luck finding something.

 

[rdrunner]

Not in your neck of the woods, but would suggest driving around and watching for might be abandoned dishes. Such as on old gas stations, etc. Then figure out who owns the building and see if they would like it gone. Also watch the list here and watch Craigs List, they do show up there once in a while. Since you are looking for just some stuff on G19 (97W), you could possibly get by with a larger Dish from one of the subscription service companies. 97W is pretty easy to get, I have gotten a large percentage of what is there with an old Dish 500 dish converted to a linear LNBF. Now, I was just playing around, so don't know just how reliable it would of been. I'm guessing that just a light shower might of whacked a lot of them.

Good luck finding something.

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely keep my eye open. I just picked up an old primestar dish from my aunt, but something must have fell on it and broke where the feed arm attaches to the reflector.

 

[KE4EST]

bpalone offered some great advice! Just for G19 lots of used dishes that will serve you well.

 

[rdrunner]

bpalone offered some great advice! Just for G19 lots of used dishes that will serve you well.

Thanks for the reply. I have a dish 500 and a black Dish HD antenna. (I guess this is the new style Dish 1000). From my research, I didn't see anything about an easy conversion to use either of these, is that true?

 

[KE4EST]

Not easy as in just swapping something out. Generally not too bad though. You will need a universal LNBF bracket and a linear LNBF.
Measure were the current LNBF is and match that with the new one by modifying it to take the universal LNBF Bracket.
You will not get everything with that dish but you will get enough to get yourself back into it and let you know if you want to invest in a larger dish.
Both can be found here: www.estsatellite.com

 

[bpalone]

Here is link to my Dish 500 modification:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/dish-500-conversion-with-text-pictures.351975/

Might help you see what is done. I modded the plastic that held the old lnbs, others have built metal extensions.

Edit: Shicks4 has also done well with a Dish 500 dish. Don't remember which thread his pictures and post are in. Maybe he will post a link to it.

 

[rdrunner]

Not easy as in just swapping something out. Generally not too bad though. You will need a universal LNBF bracket and a linear LNBF.
Measure were the current LNBF is and match that with the new one by modifying it to take the universal LNBF Bracket.
You will not get everything with that dish but you will get enough to get yourself back into it and let you know if you want to invest in a larger dish.

Thanks. I ordered a couple of brackets and a lnb. That should be enough to experiment. Now I just need to track down a receiver.

 

[rdrunner]

Here is link to my Dish 500 modification:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/dish-500-conversion-with-text-pictures.351975/

Might help you see what is done. I modded the plastic that held the old lnbs, others have built metal extensions.

Edit: Shicks4 has also done well with a Dish 500 dish. Don't remember which thread his pictures and post are in. Maybe he will post a link to it.

Cool, thanks for posting. I just ordered a few things and I'll be anxiously awaiting their arrival so I can experiment with a conversion.

 

[rdrunner]

Is the Linkbox 9000i Local the only FTA receiver that can record both FTA and OTA?

 

[SatPhreak]

I think it is the only one with a Ota tuner.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[jasjas]

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely keep my eye open. I just picked up an old primestar dish from my aunt, but something must have fell on it and broke where the feed arm attaches to the reflector.

I had a dish that broke like that.
It broke the welds but I was able to drill out at the welds and put bolts though the holes and all was well.

 

[rdrunner]

I had a dish that broke like that.
It broke the welds but I was able to drill out at the welds and put bolts though the holes and all was well.

Thanks for the advice. I'll take another look at it and see if I might repair it. This one is fiberglass though, but I might can do something with it.

 

[Shicks4]

Yeah a dish 500 will work, even with multi feeds. In my test run with the dish 500 I left it on for a week. Had various weather conditions such as high wind (50 mph gusts) light rain, and fairly heavy overcast. It never lost signal though the signal quality was in the low 40s. Using a turbohd dish the quality numbers jumped quite a bit, low 60s. The oval hugesnet dish is in the upper 60s. In all my tests I made my own brackets from steel stock, and used metal conduit hangars as my lnbf holder. the best i ever managed was about a 5 degree spacing on multi feeds on any of the dishes, though curiously the larger dishes could almost go to 4 degree spacing as i was picking up things from 2 satellites. The main reason I made my own brackets was it was cheap, i had the materials laying around and second it was way easier to do a multi feed. I cant find the thread i posted the pictures of my stuff in but making sure you match the angle of the factory lnbf, and the distance from the dish are very important. I can whip one of these out in about 20 to 30 minutes.

In all testing I was able to receive all available fta signals on 103w, 97w, and 91w with all dishes doing multi feeds. None of the dishes I tested would receive either PBS mux but did pick up Montana PBS after the power boost. I have tried a few other satellites and received some content but to me the best bang for my buck was as a minimum 103w and 97w. I even installed the modified hughesnet dish on my house doing the 103w/97w it worked so well. Still lose signal in severe heavy rain but even my 1m dish loses signal. My final conclusion on these tests verify that if modified correctly re-purposed dish network dishes (the only example of a directv dish i had was damaged and useless) work, and work well in most weather conditions. I doubt that id use one for a motorized setup (though I may see if i can build a low buck motor this winter just because it would be fun). However I believe these would only be good for stationary use on certain satellites.

I personally use a linkbox 9000I local on my stationary setup because I like the integration of the terrestrial signals with the satellite signals I receive, and I discorvered it is the only receiver that i have that utilizes modern usb powered external Hard drives. Also will play video content you store on the drive if it has the proper codec. I wish the iptv list was better and it had netflix but those arent deal breakers as i use a roku3. There is the option to add user defined iptv but I know next to nothing about xbmc and the few that i have tried to use doesnt do anything. I havent done any testing or read if this unit will alow you to dvr something from a satellite signal and watch something thats coming in off the terrestrial antenna or vice versa but Im sure that information is out there and think its possible since they are 2 separate tuners. Overall it is the best receiver I own, and I would recommend it to anyone. Doesnt mean I dont long for something better but its my personal favorite receiver right now.

 

[rdrunner]

Thanks Shicks4. The LNB and the 2 universal brackets that I ordered will be here today (Thanks KE4EST).

I think I have decided to buy a 9000i Local. I just have to choose a supplier. No pay-tv here, so the OTA tuner and DVR sounds great.

I have a Super Buddy and will probably want to do some experimenting before I buy a receiver. Can anyone offer a link or some guidance on aligning 97.0 W using a Super Buddy? I've only used it for DishNet, and that's been 7 years ago, so I have some cobwebs to clear.

Thanks,

 

[bigg t]

I've never used a Super Buddy so no help there. Shicks4 gives good advise in get the lnbf positioning as close as you can. The only repurposed dishes I have are pointed at 121* and 30*. Good luck on finding a bigger dish. You will find that is the best thing to get a reliable signal. I've watched the channels on 103* in a downpour and never lost signal on the 1.2mtr dish.

 

[kittyhas1000legs]

In all testing I was able to receive all available fta signals on 103w, 97w, and 91w with all dishes doing multi feeds. None of the dishes I tested would receive either PBS mux but did pick up Montana PBS after the power boost. I have tried a few other satellites and received some content but to me the best bang for my buck was as a minimum 103w and 97w.

Definitely. I had that on a 90cm dish and it worked well. I had 103w centered so I could get some of the weaker feeds, but I could still get ABC 1-4 on 91w.

I havent done any testing or read if this unit will alow you to dvr something from a satellite signal and watch something thats coming in off the terrestrial antenna or vice versa but Im sure that information is out there and think its possible since they are 2 separate tuners.

Just tried, no luck. It wouldn't let me change the channel while recording. Luckily I have my PC connected to the TV for OTA DVR.

I think I have decided to buy a 9000i Local. I just have to choose a supplier. No pay-tv here, so the OTA tuner and DVR sounds great

I like it. If you hit the EPG button it will list whatever info the local stations are providing. Sometimes it's a whole day's info, sometimes no program info at all. Press the button a second time and it will show you the schedule for just one channel.


***note: the picture from the receiver is much better than that snapshot. I have the receiver composite out (yellow/white/red) connected to a USB capture device that makes the picture mediocre.

 

[rdrunner]

Is it possible to record FTA radio feeds with the 9000i Local?

 

[Shicks4]

Yep, 103w centered.

As far as a larger dish, I picked up a 1.2m dish (think its a channel master) at my local hardware store they used to use for truevalue radio (not even a truevalue store anymore) and got a 1m dish about a month ago off a closed cases store that was a Hughesnet dish. Pretty sure it was an older Hughesnet dish as there was a newer hughesnet dish that was elliptical like the modern dish, direct and Hughesnet dishes are now except it was fiberglass. When im in Wichita i have seen everal 1m and 1.2m dishes on roofs of closed businesses. I believe they use these dishes for credit card transactions, or i was told that. About 80% of the time i ask for a dish thats not being used i get it for free, but your mileage may vary. Never seem too eager. In the case of the dish i got from caseys, I asked the lady that called me from corporate about grounds care about it. I told her it was for a personal project I was working on and she said as long as i can get it and not put a hole in the roof she was fine with it. There was a real nice non-pen roof mount it was on but i had no way to get it. Interestingly enough the newer dish was hooked up with what looked like dual rg-11. Figured i better leave that one which was ok because i was more interested in the older one anyways.

Interestingly enough im on the lookout myself now for another 1m dish because i found there is a place that I may be able to pick up 30w at my house. But it would require me mounting the thing near the peak of my roof at almost the northern edge. Seems like everyone likes whats coming from 30w so i figure i need to give it a shot. Worst case is i have some holes and a few shingles to replace if it dont work out.

 

[Shicks4]

Is it possible to record FTA radio feeds with the 9000i Local?

Yep, i get loads on 103w that i had to program in manually