hi, got a few questions from a noob

[Dee_Ann]

I have the remains of a few satellite dishes my ex had put up in the yard but they are ugly and some have problems. I want to replace them with a moveable satellite dish.

He had built a system so we could watch a few of the free to air satellites.
One of them was like Galaxy and it had the fashion channel on it. But that one quit coming in at all now. There were a few others, I don't remember because we really didn't use it much.

I'm pretty handy with tools around the house and yard and I can fix most pc computer problems so I'm a bit geeky. A few weeks ago when traveling I discovered the Retro network then discovered that it's on satellite. So I did the research and moved one of the satellite dishes out back around and now I get that channel. It comes in great too.
The tuner says the signal is 100% and the picture quality is 100% too.
I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to do that.

The Galaxy satellite that had Fashion TV on it though quit working completely. I guess the dish died. A neighbor told me I need to order a new part to fix it.

Anyway, I see that there's a lot of different stuff I could watch but the dishes he put up don't move.

He had talked about putting in a moveable dish but never got around to it.
I'm pretty sure I can put one in by myself except maybe get some help with the concrete.

I am wondering if anyone can recommend a good moveable dish.
The last time we had one was like 20 years ago and it was enormous. We cut it down years ago because it broke all the time.

Thanks guys!

 

[Anole]

Ku band dishes are maybe 30 to 48 inches across.
The Ku band is in the 11 to 12 ghz range.

C-band dishes are maybe 8 to 12 FEET across.
The C-band is in the 3.5 to 4 ghz ranges.

Receivers will connect to either size/band dish, and both can be motorized.
Why don't you take a look through some of these channel lists, and see if you can get a feel for which band might have what you are looking for?
Or, describe some of your preferences in programming, and maybe the folks here can offer suggestions.

Then, Please take some pictures of your existing dishes, and post them.
Post info on your existing receivers, too. Brand, model, etc.
After we do an inventory of what you've got, maybe we can make better suggestions.

The List (link at the top of every page, here. (Ku and C band)
Global CM (both Ku and C-band)
FTA List (Ku only) good beginners list


edit: Oh, I see. You wanted a motorized dish on Ku band.
Well, maybe one of your existing dishes would be a good candidate.
Here are some motors you might consider, with the 380 being for larger/heavier Ku dishes.
After we know more about your receiver, we can offer insight into using it or replacing it.

 

[voomvoom]

Welcome to the forum Dee_Ann
you might start by entering this contest:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...doun-heavy-duty-dg380-hh-motor-120-value.html

if you win, you could use an existing dish to look across the ARC with
Sadoun, SatelliteAV, and GoSatellite are advertisers found at the top of the page, you can find satellite equipment for most anything from these venders.
you can also look around your neighborhood for old C-Band dishes, that people will give away sometimes, this is a great hobby, have fun and enjoy
Good Luck!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Hi Anole,

well the dishes are all small enough that I can pick them up and carry them, most are pretty small.
Two of them say "Direcway" on them. On of the direcway dishes I made work on the RTN satellite. They used to be for internet but he said they also work on some certain satellites for TV. And he was right, they do.

The other one was working on Galaxy (I can't remember the number) that had the fashion channel on it. That is the one that quit working and needs a new part.

He had the whole mess controlled by our home theater system, it used to be on a ugly little black set top box but he changed it out and built a home theater system, it's windows media center and a program called GB-PVR to watch with.

I didn't set up the stuff, he did all that. It never really got used a lot because we were both gone a lot. It worked well enough for what little we used it.
He's gone now and I'm working from home so I have more free time to watch TV now and I would like to have a little better system and get rid of those ugly things out back.
They are about 75 feet away out in the middle of the yard due to trees, right smack in the middle of the yard. I already took two of them down and only have the two left that I want to keep until I get a new single dish.

I'm no expert but I learn quick. I really paid no attention to what all he did before so I'm doing a lot of reading and studying. I'm learning all the parts and lingo now. And I really found it easy to move that dish to the RTN satellite. I just looked it up and it said what marks to set the dish to, I did that then used a compass to point it and bingo! It works! Not bad for my first try..

 

[Dee_Ann]

Welcome to the forum Dee_Ann
you might start by entering this contest:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...doun-heavy-duty-dg380-hh-motor-120-value.html

if you win, you could use an existing dish to look across the ARC with
Sadoun, SatelliteAV, and GoSatellite are advertisers found at the top of the page, you can find satellite equipment for most anything from these venders.
you can also look around your neighborhood for old C-Band dishes, that people will give away sometimes, this is a great hobby, have fun and enjoy
Good Luck!

Oh, C-band. That's those old giant ones. No, I don't want to put one of those up again, we sawed down the old one years ago, it was a lot of trouble and hurricanes were always wrecking it. Besides, it was really, really ugly. I want just one small moveable kind, one that I can put in by myself. I could never put in one of those big ones.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Oh, as for a new dish, does anyone know of a place in Houston where I can walk in a store and buy one? Paying the shipping charges on a big thing like that would kill me. It would be cheaper to drive to Houston and buy one directly in a store.

Thanks!

 

[Anole]

Do you have any dishes which are roughly 30 to 40 inches and close to round?
I know what the DirecWay dishes look like - very wide and elliptical in shape.
Not that those are so bad, but they are a bit heavy for your first motorized dish.

Walk-in satellite shops are pretty rare in the USA.
One of our sites Gold Sponsors has a dish offer on Ebay right now that's pretty good.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Do you have any dishes which are roughly 30 to 40 inches and close to round?
I know what the DirecWay dishes look like - very wide and elliptical in shape.
Not that those are so bad, but they are a bit heavy for your first motorized dish.

Walk-in satellite shops are pretty rare in the USA.
One of our sites Gold Sponsors has a dish offer on Ebay right now that's pretty good.

Oh thank you, I will look at the ebay link in a bit.

The direcway dishes are sort of taken apart. He removed the internet parts from them because we got cable internet that was cheaper and faster. He made them into TV only dishes. I have the big heavy things that came off of them in a box here, they are big clunky, heavy metal things with fins on them, looks like a motorcyle radiator.

I went to a few satellite shops around here but all they do is sell subscription satellite and they want to charge you to install their stuff. They acted like I was the anti-christ because I said I wanted to watch free TV. Sheesh.. No help at all from them.

Oh, the part that is bad on the galaxy dish is an LNB. I guess it died. That's what my neighbor says. He works for the phone company so I trust he knows what he's talking about.

I found parts to an old dish on the side of the house but it's taken apart and it looks like some of the pipes are missing. It's 4 foot across and round, made of gray plastic.
I don't think I can use it. I have no idea where it came from. He had a bad habit of picking stuff up from the roadside that people would throw out.

I think it would be easier if I bought a whole new system and started all the way over, with instructions and warranty and everything. That way I don't have to guess and try to frankenstien a bunch of used junk together.

As to what I like to watch, well, I don't really know, never watched TV much to be honest. I think it would be fun to just look around and see what all it out there I guess. Mostly just to have some background noise so it's not so quiet and lonely here. I do sort of like the oldies stuff, I wish RTN had a little more variety but the price is right so I dare not complain.

 

[phlatwound]

The Galaxy satellite that had Fashion TV on it though quit working completely. I guess the dish died. A neighbor told me I need to order a new part to fix it.

You may not have a problem with your dish on that one, I believe FTV moved to a different transponder on that same satellite (G19Ku at 97 West).

If that dish is still pointed @ 97W you might try entering this tp info:

12060 H 22000

There is also a new FTV High Def feed on that same sat that is ITC (in the clear, = unscrambled):

11929 V 22000

If you are wondering how I seem to know so much about Fashion TV, well it's because my wife really likes the lingerie and swimsuit shows.....or something.

 

[Dee_Ann]

You may not have a problem with your dish on that one, I believe FTV moved to a different transponder on that same satellite (G19Ku at 97 West).

If that dish is still pointed @ 97W you might try entering this tp info:

12060 H 22000

There is also a new FTV High Def feed on that same sat that is ITC (in the clear, = unscrambled):

11929 V 22000

If you are wondering how I seem to know so much about Fashion TV, well it's because my wife really likes the lingerie and swimsuit shows.....or something.

Um, sure.. LOL...

Well the entire satellite is gone. Nothing at all comes in on it anymore. Channels began to die off over time until they were all totally gone. Nothing has been touched on it, it's solid and no one fooled with it, we've had no hurricanes recently that might move it. I can't even wiggle it so it's in really good.

Oh I saw a satellite I do for sure want to get, White Springs TV. That looks like my kind of stuff. I like the old movies.

From reading up, it looks like I need to get a universal dish so that it can tune in to anything, apparently all the satellites are different and that's why the ex had several different types in the back yard.

I'm reading like mad and learning a lot over coffee this morning. I think this could be fun exploring all the strange new stuff out there. I just think it's so cool that you can get so much TV from outer space! Got to love those brave astronauts!

 

[gabshere]

I found parts to an old dish on the side of the house but it's taken apart and it looks like some of the pipes are missing. It's 4 foot across and round, made of gray plastic.
I don't think I can use it. I have no idea where it came from. He had a bad habit of picking stuff up from the roadside that people would throw out.

if i was to guess i'ld say its probably an old primestar round (ChannelMaster) should be fixable

photos would help also some of the lnb's can be swapped around with other dishes if they fit

 

[melgarga]

Oh, C-band. That's those old giant ones. No, I don't want to put one of those up again, we sawed down the old one years ago, it was a lot of trouble and hurricanes were always wrecking it. Besides, it was really, really ugly. I want just one small moveable kind, one that I can put in by myself. I could never put in one of those big ones.

SACRILEGE! ......................LOL
All the guys here knew I wouldnt let that one pass, being a devoute C bander and all...........

We call them BIG USEFUL DISHES 'round these parts lil' lady.
Hi Dee, depending on which direction your are from Houston proper, your are in my neck o' the woods, more or less. You know how it is around here, anywhere within 75mi of the beltway is the Houston area....lol.
A good portion of the FTA experience is on C band. After you have been bitten by the 'bug' for a while maybe you will soften your stand regarding a big dish setup. Some of the members that live in an HOA community wish they could have what many of the rest of us are allowed to have.
Like gabshere said, if you can posts some photos of what all you have around there, there is a good chance folks here can maybe mix and match your stuff and get you setup on the birds you want to see. With a little creativity, ingenuity and luck, it may be possible to take that 4' dish and add 2 or 3 lnbs/bracketing that you may already have at the right spot to get most, possible all the Ku satellites you are interested in without going motorized.
Lots of possibilities, it's a fun hobby. Welcome to the club.

 

[Dee_Ann]

SACRILEGE! ......................LOL
All the guys here knew I wouldnt let that one pass, being a devoute C bander and all...........

We call them BIG USEFUL DISHES 'round these parts lil' lady.
Hi Dee, depending on which direction your are from Houston proper, your are in my neck o' the woods, more or less. You know how it is around here, anywhere within 75mi of the beltway is the Houston area....lol.
A good portion of the FTA experience is on C band. After you have been bitten by the 'bug' for a while maybe you will soften your stand regarding a big dish setup. Some of the members that live in an HOA community wish they could have what many of the rest of us are allowed to have.
Like gabshere said, if you can posts some photos of what all you have around there, there is a good chance folks here can maybe mix and match your stuff and get you setup on the birds you want to see. With a little creativity, ingenuity and luck, it may be possible to take that 4' dish and add 2 or 3 lnbs/bracketing that you may already have at the right spot to get most, possible all the Ku satellites you are interested in without going motorized.
Lots of possibilities, it's a fun hobby. Welcome to the club.

Actually I'm about 100 miles east of Houston, I just use it as a reference point as most people have a pretty good idea where it is. I'm right dead in the path of hurricane alley.. Rita, Humberto, Ike, etc.. Oh the joy...

Well, I looked over the dish I found on the side of the garage and it says Channelmaster on it. It is 4' across. But parts are missing so I'm not hopeful at all.
Basically all there is is the dish and two little metal tubes about as big as my thumb. The big mounting part on the back is totally missing.

After more reading and some help from my neighbor, I am pretty sure one of the direcway dishes is dead. I had my neighbor help me and we re-aimed the known working one at Galaxy 97 and it worked fine. So one of them is dead. We put it back on the RTN satellite, I think it is called AMC9. (still learning the names)

I didn't have the tools needed to take it apart so mr. handyguy next door helped me with that too and this is the part he says is bad and needs replacing. He said he can get me a new one for $12. I told him to go ahead and order it. Oh, the picture is attached, it couldn't put it into the message I guess.

I really am quite certain that I want to put up a motorized satellite dish. Looking at the list of stuff it looks like a lot of interesting things to check out. Plus I read that they are putting new ones up all the time and moving old ones around a lot. Oh, and if I can get a satellite dish that picks up all kinds of signals, that would be really nice since you say there's good stuff on the C-band ones too.

I also found a few things in a box he left behind, I don't know if it's good for anything or not, it doesn't look like it would fit onto any of the dishes left behind. It says ROC on it. I don't see any dishes that say that and none of the attachments look like they would hold this one.

He was always picking up old ones from trash piles, there must be a dozen or more that say dish and directv on them. He took them all apart and stacked em up and threw all the parts in a big box. I think it would be best to toss it all out and start over with a brand new system that I know works right to begin with rather than cobble up a bunch of old junk. Besides, I want to paint it so it looks pretty. That old gray stuff is soooo dreary and ugly.

What would I have to have to get the White Springs satellite? It says it is at 129 in the sky. I figure if I can find one I can find another. Can I use some of those old dishnet or directv satellite dishes to get it? They are little things about the size of a pizza, like the kind you see on just about every house now.

Thanks!

 

[SatPhreak]

Is the one in the picture the broken one? The second one will work but it you will need to remove the part (feedhorn) that the first one bolts onto and rig something up to mount the ROC lnb. For $12 I would just get a new one like the first one and bolt it back on.

As for painting the dish that is fine and it won't do any damage. Any new dish will most likely be gray also, so buying a new dish wouldn't help much as you still would not like the colour. I you paint the old one just don't paint the white cap on the end of the feedhorn.

The little pizza dishes are usually too small to get anything off the satellites that the free channels are on. The dish you are pointing at for Retrojams is at Galaxy 18 at 123W and White springs is on Galaxy 27 at 129W, so you would just need to point it a few degrees further west to get 129W.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Is the one in the picture the broken one? The second one will work but it you will need to remove the part (feedhorn) that the first one bolts onto and rig something up to mount the ROC lnb. For $12 I would just get a new one like the first one and bolt it back on.

As for painting the dish that is fine and it won't do any damage. Any new dish will most likely be gray also, so buying a new dish wouldn't help much as you still would not like the colour. I you paint the old one just don't paint the white cap on the end of the feedhorn.

The little pizza dishes are usually too small to get anything off the satellites that the free channels are on. The dish you are pointing at for Retrojams is at Galaxy 18 at 123W and White springs is on Galaxy 27 at 129W, so you would just need to point it a few degrees further west to get 129W.

The one that's broken is the direcway one on the left. It has a red sticker that says direcpc on it.

The one on the right that says ROC, I know nothing about it.
I can tell though that it doesn't match up to any of the dishes I can find here. Not even close. So I don't think I can actually use for anything.

I have a headache now from all the stuff I've read today. My head is swimming. Wow, so much to learn! Oh, I found and bought an iphone app that helps setup satellite dishes but it seems the names in it are all out of date and I can't figure out how to update them. I think what's more important is the locations than the names though. It does make me confused with all the conflicting information.

Oh, and I am watching retro TV network, RTN, it's AMC9 I guess. Maybe better to use it's location, it's at 83 on the list. HTH...

OMG... I did some checking and the cost to ship a new satellite dish to my place is like $200 !!
That's why I was hoping to find a Houston store I could go to. I thought shipping would be high but that's just way too much. That puts me out of the picture I guess. No moveable dish for me.

I guess I'll have to try to make some of this left over junk work.

 

[turbosat]

Congrats Dee Ann on what you've accomplished so far, finding AMC9 with a direcway dish is a pretty good job! Got to be 'dead-on' aimed for that so you're learning fast. The direcway dishes do a reasonable job on most free to air channels, but would take a lot of engineering to fit these little motors made for the average fta dish. I think a 36" dish isn't so bad on shipping, and should work fine for where you are. Lot of us just use these old gray primestar dishes too, but again, takes some rigging to make them light enough for the average dish-motor. If you bought a motorized system I feel sure you could install it, just take off the non-working direcway dish, make sure the pole is still vertical (check with a level for plumb) and you'd be set.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Congrats Dee Ann on what you've accomplished so far, finding AMC9 with a direcway dish is a pretty good job! Got to be 'dead-on' aimed for that so you're learning fast. The direcway dishes do a reasonable job on most free to air channels, but would take a lot of engineering to fit these little motors made for the average fta dish. I think a 36" dish isn't so bad on shipping, and should work fine for where you are. Lot of us just use these old gray primestar dishes too, but again, takes some rigging to make them light enough for the average dish-motor. If you bought a motorized system I feel sure you could install it, just take off the non-working direcway dish, make sure the pole is still vertical (check with a level for plumb) and you'd be set.

Heh! I swear, it was dumb luck. I hit it on the first try. I just did some reading and I set all the adjustments on it just like they said to and Wa La! There it was!

Now I have another little gem I may be proud of. Not sure yet if I got lucky, I'm sure one of you guys will know though.

I took that weird ROC lnb apart and discovered that it was just a big fat shell for a little skinny part inside. And I dug around in the pile of parts I found and found another dish the ex had frankenstiened up for Goddess knows what. He had put and lnb on the end of the arm that clearly didn't belong. It was jerry rigged up as was most anything he touched. I matched the arm up to the dish and it fits perfectly. So I put the insides of the ROC lnb on the end of the arm in place of the old one and it fits perfectly. I'm attaching a few pictures of it all.

The dish appears to say Channel Master on it, Part 3040865, mold no. 1x0.7-1
It's pretty darn big and fairly heavy, at least for me. It's got some large metal mounting parts on the back, it looks like the same size as the direcway dishes, I think they are old fence posts he put in. I put my hands around one then did the same on the gate post and they seem to be the same thing. So I've really pretty sure that it will fit on the posts that are there now.

The label on the ROC lnb says:
standard ku lnbf
digital ready
Model: 783A

RF:11.70/12.20GHz
IF:950/1450MHz
LO:10.750GHz
Gain:55db
Noise figure:0.5db

There is what appears to be a serial number and a bar code too.

Does anyone know if I can use this for the White Springs 129 satellite?
I would love to get that one. I can wait in the Galaxy satellite for until the new part comes in. All that was on it was Fashion TV, I like that a lot and want to see it in HD but I only watched it when I was bored or cooking. The movies on White Springs look like perfect time wasters now that I work out of the house. Lots of spare time on my hands.

I'm really getting into the spirit of this, I don't know what came over me, I guess a fit of DIYness and independence. I'm excited that I made some stuff work and may make more of it work all by myself. Well, with some help from you guys and a few iphone apps.

And I'm always excited about saving money!

Tomorrow I will roll that big round dish out and take some pictuers of it, maybe someone can tell me where I can order replacements for the missing parts.

Thanks guys!

 

[turbosat]

That oughta work! Nice rigging, you'll need to be sure you get your cable connectors on the cable, and weatherproofed to keep out the rain. And maybe have to move the lnb you put on backwards or forwards just a little to find the right focal point (distance from the front of the lnbf to the face of the dish needs to be right to optimize the signal it gathers). Once you find a signal with that one you can tweak that , and remember you may have to adjust the "skew", which is just twisting the lnb in that bracket to allow getting both horiz and vertical channels on whichever satellite you put it on.
If you aim that one at Whitesprings you should get nice signal strength-its a fairly strong signal. Unfortunately, there's nothing else on that satellite to watch. The picture quality of some of their programming isn't so hot at times, but its free and I watch it a lot too.

 

[Dee_Ann]

That oughta work! Nice rigging, you'll need to be sure you get your cable connectors on the cable, and weatherproofed to keep out the rain. And maybe have to move the lnb you put on backwards or forwards just a little to find the right focal point (distance from the front of the lnbf to the face of the dish needs to be right to optimize the signal it gathers). Once you find a signal with that one you can tweak that , and remember you may have to adjust the "skew", which is just twisting the lnb in that bracket to allow getting both horiz and vertical channels on whichever satellite you put it on.
If you aim that one at Whitesprings you should get nice signal strength-its a fairly strong signal. Unfortunately, there's nothing else on that satellite to watch. The picture quality of some of their programming isn't so hot at times, but its free and I watch it a lot too.

Oh cool!

I have to confess that the rigging is not mine, my ex did that. I just removed the old lnb he had in it and put the ROC lnb in it's place. I found the arm and lnb still attached to each other in the tool shed and the dish on the side of the garage in a pile of others. I just put the three pieces together and bingo.

There's all sorts of junk in a box in the shed and a good pile of dishes too. Most stuff is taken apart though so it's a guessing game as to what parts go together.

I enjoy the satisfaction of having accomplished something on my own. And it's so geeky! I guess there's not a lot of other girls that mess with this stuff.
I watch and learn fast. I also found a lot of videos on youtube on how to set these things up as well. So I'm leaning heavily on others for info.

I may spend a week or a month reading the directions over and over until I really understand what to do then I will go out and try it once I feel confident. I've also learned a lot reading through the forums here. Most of it is above my head still but I'm catching on.

For the time being I will use the stuff that's here and save up for a nice, single motor operated satellite dish. I am tempted to paint it to look like a giant sunflower.
I hate those ugly gray and white things. Ugh..

 

[turbosat]

I painted one of mine purple, for a joke lol. Post#16 in this thread:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/174035-everybody-wants-one.html

Its a thought, haha.........