How much $$$$ have U spent on FTA?

[Blindowl1234]

Since I've been dumping money in to my FTA hobby...I mean obsession for the last year....I wondered how much I've spent?
I'm guessing about $500-600 in dishes, switches, Lnb's, and two receivers...not to forget the concrete and fence post too. I'm sure some of you have spent ten times that much? Anyone else want to take a guess how much they've spent since they got hooked on FTA? Blind

 

[brentb636]

I'm going to guess about $1800-$2000 out of pocket over the last 3 1/2 years. Had to deduct for items sold after purchasing them . Not as much money as I've sent to DishNetwork and DirecTV, by a long shot.

 

[Cadsulfide]

I'm in Brent's ball park, a lot less than a bass boat or a bar tab....

 

[Skyscanner]

Probably spent around $1500, mostly because of trial-and-error. Finding this site has helped spend more efficiently. Not a waste at all, have already had a "payday" or "break even point" over what I would have spent with D*or E*. Thanks Satguys!

 

[Inno]

Total for all FTA gear, probably less than $100 so far. Most of what I am using are reclaimed Star Choice parts and the two receivers I have, one from E-bay one from a former co-worker both had third party software installed so they had to be flashed back to factory. Total, one was free (traded for some work on a vehicle) and the other cost around $17 on Ebay.
I'm not cheap but I don't see spending money where it is not necessary, I get the whole C-Band arc with what I have and so far have 3 fixed Ku dishes and don't play on the Ku side very much. I prefer to be called a "minimalist".

4DTV is where I have spent a whopping $150 for a DSR905 (more for a year's worth of programming) but the C-band dish and all it's accessories were free.

 

[mikelib]

I spent well over $500, since April of this year. I give Comcast over $1800 a year for cable, HBO and internet. $500 is inexpensive.

It's not the money spent that counts, it's the enjoyment of the hobby. I love searching for satellites and tunning them in and scanning them in to my receiver and see what is on the satellite. If I don't have a LOS for a particuliar satellite I will go to a site that has LOS and try tunning in that satellite. The best of it all, I get to share all my satellite adventures with my satelliteguys' buddies. :up:up:up

 

[pro96]

I mostly look for killer deals on Craigslist.. average $20.00-$30.00 on great units too. Only major purchase in the last 2 years was getting my azbox but was purchased at a great price too at ebay.

 

[Mr Tony]

Honestly I dont know how much

Reason I say that is I seem to reinvest my money. I buy a receiver, dont like it, sell it, then buy something else. Perfect example is recently. Sold some stuff on classifieds. Reinvested that money in the 1m dish/NPRM from Jullius, 3 new receivers form some hacker and a Sonic Voom setup. Technically no money lost.

But if I had to hazard a guess......whew......way too much. Probably 6 grand

now I got something to think about

 

[LoTech]

Winegard DS2076 New on sale....................................$58
Coolsat 5000 Refurb.....................................................$48
ROC Linear LNB on Ebay...............................................$5
SG2100 motor New on Ebay.........................................$54
Experience of finding my first channels.........................Priceless

Including tax and shipping I've spent less than $200.

 

[Corrado]

I'm thinking probably around $800 for the FTA equipment since 2004. Easily $3000 for the other stuff over 20 years.

 

[Anole]

... Anyone else want to take a guess how much they've spent since they got hooked on FTA?

In a word: NO ! -

 

[Blindowl1234]

I figured Ice spent a bunch... but I didn't think about that you've turned some of that back around. Anole are you saying you've spent tens of thousands??? We won't force you to confess lol....I thought I'd spent a lot more on FTA stuff than I have....I didn't spend that much over the years on the pizza guys...thankfully they never sucked me in to the tune of over $100 a month. When it got to about $50.00 a month I told them good bye. Blind

 

[Inno]

I'm all about finding what I can cheap or free and finding a way to make it work.......maybe I've just been lucky but I have enough parts to set up another 2 C-Band dishes completely (currently) and enough spare LNBs and Feedhorns for another 5-6.

Right now my satellite "id" is satisfied. After removing a lot of trees and brush I can now scan the C-Band arc completely. I may look at doing Ku next but not in the normal way........thinking about re-purposing an old C-Band mount for that purpose. Again, it's not going to cost me more than a few bucks for some wiring.

 

[TimLones111]

Just over $300 for a FTA Motorized setup from Sadoun with a 36" dish rather than 30" or 31"

$195 for 3 Installers to help me get up and running..

$495 total since February 2009..Only because my Federal Income Tax refund helped me get going on FTA..Had difficulties, but part of that is because of no one real close to me (except Moribus-Thanks again) to help out..Though everybody here has been super helpful and that I do appreciate..

 

[phlatwound]

I have spent somewhere in excess of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND..........















cents.

 

[lonewolf85]

I have probably spent about $700 on all my FTA stuff.

 

[iafirebuff]

I don't want the amount I have spent posted on a public forum! Just kidding...I would say over the years.....maybe $1000 or so?

 

[Lak7]

It's a Hobby, like Poker, don't bother keeping track, you'll be disappointed.

 

[linuxman]

If you count everything that makes it all work, like grounding rods, grounding wire, coax connectors, switches, steel for NPRMs, grounding blocks, coax, and fabrication expenses, that drives the cost up exponentially.

That doesn't even count the cost of receivers, lnbs, and lnbfs.

I would think that I am right up there with Iceberg, and perhaps a good bit more.

Fortunately, I have been able to under-write all that expense by buying out a few installers, and making some good deals with former dish owners only to resell many of those items to pay for my "hobby".

 

[Bill_KY]

$182 Fortec receiver, dish and LNB and installation kit incl shipping
$ 32 Visionsat 200 incl shipping
$ 35 Fortec receiver incl shipping
$ 22 Viewsat Extreme incl shipping incl 4 X 1 switch !
$ 5 Direcway Dish with LNB (With Directway modem) new in the box!
$ 25 Extra RG6 coax, cable staples, cable ties, ground block..etc
$ 19 Dual Kuband LNB incl shipping....

Under $330 so far...great inexpensive hobby. Until recently ( for some reason) E-bay has had some outstanding FTA deals on receivers. The Viewsat Extreme was the best deal yet on E-bay.

The best deal was when Office Depot some six or seven years ago had a complete new in the box Direcway system for $5, some nuts and bolts were missing , but this was a close out..no returns. I bought it for $5 thinking that eventually I could use parts from it...$5 you can't go wrong...

I had this sitting in the spare room for years until very recently when I thought I would try this out for Ku Band 97 W...it turned out to be one heck of a performer.

This Direcway is that older technology where you would use dial up for upload and the satellite for download. It even has the AOL disc that came with it along with manual, modem, power supply, connecting wires...original box.

I plan to put up another dish (maybe motorized) within the next month or two at this location.

I do have C-band...but not at this location.....