FTA Virgin

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alebowgm

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Aug 29, 2004
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Hey,

Well, I was out at the flea market today and saw a MPEG 2 DVB Reciever, Fortec Lifetime Ultra for $40 (with 4 way Diseqc, plus another $10 for a single output FSS LNB (odd, it says Expressvu on it, but under it says Dish Network Canada)), so I figured I would take the plunge and give it a shot, especially since I had a few spare LNBs kicking and an older Directv Phase 2 dish. So after spending a few hours of getting everything setup, I am now pointed at Nimiq 2/3, Nimiq 1/4i, AMC 4 and Echo 8/10 (already have Echo 8/10 on my other DirecTV Phase 2 dish, which is basically acting as a Dish 1000). I got the idea to take the FSS LNB and place it in the slot based on a post by ICEBERG at SatelliteGUYS ( http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=573641&postcount=10 ) where he said he was successful in doing this. Vola it worked for me as well, sorta. AMC 4 comes in with 75-90 signal strength, the 3ABN Mux from 40-50, Adventist mux at 15-25. I can not grab the Home2US mux on a scan, and only see a 10 or lower signal.

Nimiq is nice, some free audio there including some real radio stations from up north. To bad Dish and DirecTV don't do this. I pointed at Echo because I had one extra LNB. My signal is way lower than on my Dish1000, although I do have the chimney in the way a little (its on the east side of the dish, where as the Dish 1000 is on the west side)) so it may be blocking it. Since my dish is rubbing up against the chimney, also making the skew a little harder to do . Nothing really free there. I may grab a 22khz off of fleabay to add the Echo7 for some music there, but I already get it so it would just be something to do...

Anyways, just wondering what others are getting on AMC 4 and maybe if there is a better way to fix my signal. Obviously a larger dish is better (as would be not using duct tape to mount the FSS LNB with the other DBS LNBs) but sorta want to go cheapy for now, especially since the plan is to mostly use the reciever for that free music off of Nimiq and maybe get the few football games off of KUIL and watch those Cowboys (at least I hope)...
 
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You will be seeing a LOT more FTA receivers at flea markets shortly :)

The Home2US mux is NOT FTA! Its scrambled!
 
This is on a Fortec Classic.

KUIL Fox-75
3ABN-60
Hope Network-50 to 52
LLBN-30

everything else is kaput (no siganl on the rest) :(
 
Hey Iceberg,

Thanx for the info. That is roughly what I am getting as well, although slightly lower signals on LLBN and 3ANB and Hope.

Are you sure about the Home2US mux? I know the HOTEL NETWORKS MUX is Scrambled (Powervu) but Home2US 12120 V tp 21 at lyngsat is showing FTA except for one station in the MUX which has Irdeto encrpyt.

Maybe you are confusing it with the other HOME2US Mux 11860 H tp 8
 
12169 H tp 24 RTP Internacional América

any luck with that station?
 
yeah there is 2 HOME2US mux's...one is scrambled and the other is not (except for one channel)

That I can't get a lock...20% max :(

Normally a 30" dish is what you need. But KUIL & 3ABN are really strong signals so a slighlt smaller dish will work but if cloud cover comes, the signal goes KAPUT :(
 
Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra for $40? Nice find! That's a great receiver as it can scan the satellite for active frequencies, perfect for hunting feeds.

An 18" dish is pretty much useless for FTA, however. You'll want at least an 80 cm dish. I personally would recommend a 1m dish, as they don't cost much more than 80cmers, and the next step up (1.1/1.2m) carries exorbitant shipping fees.
 
a single output FSS LNB (odd, it says Expressvu on it, but under it says Dish Network Canada))
When expressVu started out, they were linear (on 118.7 I think) and were branded as "Dish Network Canada". This is long before they switched to circular polarity and moved to 91 :)

Those LNB's are a .6
 
Iceberg said:
When expressVu started out, they were linear (on 118.7 I think) and were branded as "Dish Network Canada". This is long before they switched to circular polarity and moved to 91 :)

Those LNB's are a .6

Yep I have one, Sadoun used to sell them!
 
I thought that Dish already shut the hackers down. I was looking forward to finally getting into FTA if I can get the receivers for cheap and get some other people into it as well.
 
right now not yet. They're working on it but sometimes you can get good deals at flea markets, yard sales, etc.

Picked up some stuff at a yard sale a year ago. Receiver, couple dishes, cabling, etc (the guy was a C-Bander/Ham operator and he died. The wife was just selling it to get rid of it) :)
 
Ya, I always tend to just stop by when I see garage sales and once in a while check into the local fleamarket just to see what I can find, mostly on the satellite side... Once found a bunch of DirecTV recievers which has $0 account balance and was able to parle my $10 sale (for 4 recievers) into about $100 on fleabay...
 
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