I am looking for a complete motorized system that will show the Fighting Sioux Sports Network along with as many other channels as I can get. If the receiver shows HD, that would be a bonus, but not necessary. I live in Minneapolis and would like to find a place that I could buy the system from and have them install if possible. I am trying to get this all figured out and any information you can send my way is appreciated. I love all sports and am excited about the chance to watch many games I wouldn't normally be able to watch with FTA. So, can someone recommend a motorized dish system that would work with FSSN and that I could pick up a lot of other channels? Thanks for your help.
I'm looking for a motorized system to watch fighting sioux sports network along with as much other c
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I agree with Mikey11 that getting that on FTA is not going to happen as from what I found the FSSN is a local cable channel out of Grand Forks and North Dakota. Your only option I see is trying to get either Dish or DirectTV to allow you to get the TV station WDAZ/WDAY which just might carry FSSN channel. You need to check their programming for that. Both stations are both listed as being on EchoStar 10 at 110 degrees but that belongs to Dish and have Nagravision 3 encryption. If you can find the Fox College Sports they might just have collegiate programming.
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Fighting Sioux Sports Network is on free to air. Has been since Day 1 (back in 2002/2003). Check the threads we have here about it 
The feed is up because it is fed to many cable companies in North/South Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. While Mid-continent cable is the main cable co in ND/SD and they get a direct feed (they use to have a part time channel but now they call it MidcoSports Network) the little cable companies pick it up via FTA. Fox College Sports gets it the same way. Until this year they use to publish the coordinates on Ralph Englestad Arena website. Here is our thread from this past year
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/222686-new-season-fighting-sioux-sports-fssn.html
WDAZ (the ABC affiliate) produces the games in conjunction with Ralph Englestad Arena and Midcontinent communications
The FSSN feed is part time on free to air....would come up 15 minutes before the game and would go off about 2 minutes after the game
The feed is up because it is fed to many cable companies in North/South Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. While Mid-continent cable is the main cable co in ND/SD and they get a direct feed (they use to have a part time channel but now they call it MidcoSports Network) the little cable companies pick it up via FTA. Fox College Sports gets it the same way. Until this year they use to publish the coordinates on Ralph Englestad Arena website. Here is our thread from this past year
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/222686-new-season-fighting-sioux-sports-fssn.html
WDAZ (the ABC affiliate) produces the games in conjunction with Ralph Englestad Arena and Midcontinent communications
The FSSN feed is part time on free to air....would come up 15 minutes before the game and would go off about 2 minutes after the game
Iceberg will probably comment on this one as its his neck of the woods. FSSN was on 91w with sports this past winter etc.. As for a receiver with HD either the Azbox which does it all or the Openbox which will do everything but 4:2 video. Both boxes have their quirks but are the best out there now. As for installers I'll let someone else jump in with that one...except to say it might be hard to find one. Most of us are do it yourself kinda guys....Blind
Are you looking for something mainly for the FSSN or a true free to air setup? Lots of Sioux fans have a setup just for the FSSN and now that the season (for FSSN) is over they unplug the receiver until October when it starts back up.
If you want just a fixed system I suggest holding off til Fall. Main reason is the FSSN rents space for the games on satellite and we usually dont know what satellite they'll be on until September or so. Doesnt pay to install it now at the sat they are currently on when they could move sats next season (and they have done that usually yearly. This is the 1st year they stayed on same satellite in like 6 years.)
If you are looking for a motorized setup then the next question would be do you want HD or not? There isnt many HD channels on KU Band (which is what the FSSN is on) other than PBS and the sports feeds. Most hockey games on FTA are not HD so a regular receiver would work. I suggest a 36" dish from the get-go. Yes a 30" would work but the old saying "bigger is better" does work in this case. Check out the sponsors at the top (SatelliteAV & Galaxy Marketing). Some receivers have an option to hook a hard drive up to record the games if you want. There are folks who install them but honestly its better (in my opinion) to install it yourself. It may be a learning curve but if something happens down the road you would know how to fix it.
There are lots of college sports feeds on free to air. "Feeds" are programs that come and go as needed. They come up about 15 to 30 minutes before the game and go off the air after the game. The FSSN is an example
The thing I suggest is do some reading here about the systems and ask questions. We're here to help and if you decide to piece the system together instead of getting the whole kit at once (sometimes it may be cheaper that way) ask questions. Dont make the mistake folks have made and bought a receiver because the ad said "its our most popular receiver" and find out after the fact its a pile. Seen that happen way too many times
Are you in Minneapolis proper or a burb? (SW suburbs here)
I live right in Minneapolis, close to downtown. I am looking for a true free to air setup. I definitely want FSSN, but the idea of other feeds is nice. I would like HD, but if its not necessary maybe I'll stick with a regular receiver. FSSN is on the KU band, is KU the standard free to air? I'll try to look around this site and get some information and if I have questions I'll definitely ask. I'll also check out the sponsors for some possible units.
oh ok
FSSN is on KU Band. There are 2 Bands for free to air. KU Band requires a 30" dish. C-Band is a 6 foot minimum (the old backyard style dish). You could always start with s simple setup and expand to HD if you want later.
yes the motor moves the dish and compensates for both the elevation and skew of the dish as it moves. You set it for your "true south" satellite which is the satellite that is highest in the sky for your location. For ours in Mpls its 93W. So you set the motor and dish and bring in 93W. The rest of the satellites usually fall into place as its set up. The further east or west off that you are the lower the dish will be.
it depends really on where you want to put it and the line of sight to the south (SE to SW) where the satellites are
Some folks like a pole mount because no holes in the roof. Me I have mine on the roof because I live in a townhouse so I cant do a pole mount. I would get a 1 7/16" pole minimum (dishes would fit directly on it and is the stock size for most dishes) or you could go with a little stronger pole like a 2" which a motor would fit on just fine.
Some folks like a pole mount because no holes in the roof. Me I have mine on the roof because I live in a townhouse so I cant do a pole mount. I would get a 1 7/16" pole minimum (dishes would fit directly on it and is the stock size for most dishes) or you could go with a little stronger pole like a 2" which a motor would fit on just fine.
I am going to get a motorized 36" dish, I just need to figure out what receiver to get. I've read a few things about 4:2:2 and many sports being broadcast in this format. I want a receiver possibly that will be able to pick up all/most sports feeds. I was looking at the Openbox S9, but it doesn't appear that this will play the 4:2:2. Is there a low end (non bells and whistles) that will play the 4:2:2?
Thanks
Thanks
The only way t play 4:2:2 is one of 3 options
-azbox (I have one of those...they rock. plays HD and 4:2:2 flawlessly)
-Quali-tv (old receiver..the original way to view them...had one til it blowed up.)
-PC card
There are more sports feeds going HD so the number of 4:2:2 feeds are going down..but its usually the one you want to see that is 4:2:2
4:2:2 is mainly used on SD feeds
-azbox (I have one of those...they rock. plays HD and 4:2:2 flawlessly)
-Quali-tv (old receiver..the original way to view them...had one til it blowed up.)
-PC card
There are more sports feeds going HD so the number of 4:2:2 feeds are going down..but its usually the one you want to see that is 4:2:2
4:2:2 is mainly used on SD feeds
Do I want the Azbox ultra HD (AZBOX HD ULTRA SATELLITE RECEIVER AZ BOX FTA GRATIS TV - eBay (item 250786235451 end time Apr-08-11 20:23:57 PDT)) or the Azbox elite HD?
The Ultra can blind scan for unknown frequencies while the Elite cannot. I have an elite because....well that was the 1st model out there. I use a different receiver to scan the sports feeds in and then just manually load them into the elite
You WANT blind scan. This is how you find the sports feeds
You WANT blind scan. This is how you find the sports feeds
How about this unit...AZBOX NEWGEN FTA SATELLITE RECEIVER NEWGEN+ BRASIL FREE - eBay (item 260743934891 end time Mar-28-11 03:53:24 PDT)
I can't tell if its HD, will do the 4:2:2, or has blind scan. I am thinking I might want to stay away from this one, but I don't know.
I can't tell if its HD, will do the 4:2:2, or has blind scan. I am thinking I might want to stay away from this one, but I don't know.
those are mainly for Brazil.
There are only 4 models for NOrth America
Elite...the orignal
Premium
Premium Plus (blind scan)
Ultra (blind scan)
all do 4:2:2 and HD. Someone may correct me but the Ultra was the most "North Americanized" version with a US plug and S-Video outputs on it. The others have a SCART output which is for European setups. It does have component (red/green/blue) and HDMI
There are only 4 models for NOrth America
Elite...the orignal
Premium
Premium Plus (blind scan)
Ultra (blind scan)
all do 4:2:2 and HD. Someone may correct me but the Ultra was the most "North Americanized" version with a US plug and S-Video outputs on it. The others have a SCART output which is for European setups. It does have component (red/green/blue) and HDMI
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