My FTA Project

[Rick in MD]

You guys don't want to see my view of the Belt!!! Perfect is the only way to describe it, Limitations in my ARC are entirely self inflicted..

 

[Mr Tony]

You guys don't want to see my view of the Belt!!! Perfect is the only way to describe it, Limitations in my ARC are entirely self inflicted..

same here

from 30-148 with no issues

now the dishes on the deck is a different story
(the arc is blocked by the ones on the roof)

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Thanks for the good information. As I mentioned, I thought about using the shed roof too. It would give me some height and trees to the south would be less of an issue. But I can see something going wrong in the middle of winter during one of our legendary lake effect blasts (we sometime get as much as 300 inches per season). On the ground I might have a chance of fixing any problems.

I've got plenty of trees in my yard as well, 2 pecan trees (one of which is to the east and slightly behind and above my dish farm on my shed roof).

I thought the other pecan (to the southeast of my dish farm) would block my view of 61.5, but I can still see it with perfect quality. The tree must be just east of that bird.

From there west, there's a tree directly south of my dishes, and it's a high one. But I can see over it, since I'm 10 feet off the ground with the dishes and the tree is no more than 30 feet high and is at least 15-20 feet away. I will eventually have to cut the top of that tree though...

The tree is gone from about 95w, and I'm clear all the way past 130w, then the arc elevation and neighboring trees across the street become a problem.

A good point to remember is that birds close to your true south will be highest in the sky, and therefore a blockage south of your dish location might not be a factor unless its VERY high. It does become an issue, however, the further north you live in the country. This is because the elevation for all birds will be lower in the southern sky. My TS bird 91w is at almost 55 degrees elevation!

 

[Michael-Berlin]

I see a lot of trees on this pictures. And I guess, that's not so good for your FTA project
But for two or three single dishes is it not a big problem. In my neighborhood is a camping place with a lot of caravans and tents. And this guys have some small dishes. The dishes are fixed to germany's favorite satellitesystem ASTRA on 19.2°East and this are 5 high power satellites.

I would say, it's no problem for a DirecTV or DishNetwork project in your hood. But FTA? And what is with satellites in the east (Atlantic - transmissions from Europe, Arabia) or the west (Pacific - China, Japan, Australia)?

What would Homer Simpsons say? "D'oh"

 

[John W]

I had absolutely no view of the Arc. Then I bought a chainsaw......

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I have to get a new blade for mine. It will then be put to good use!

I had absolutely no view of the Arc. Then I bought a chainsaw......

 

[drhydro]

chainsaws are our friends HOA's are our enemies lets figure out a way to get our friends to attack our enemies lol

 

[WTguy]

I had been wondering when chainsaws were going to be recognized as a necessary component of a fta system. Oh, they are for the trees not the HOA board members.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Well, after buying a new chainsaw blade, learning to put it all back together and surviving getting my blade stuck (pinched) in a tree overnight, I finally have an improved view of "the arc". Suffice it to say I have a new respect for lumberjacks! I will post before and after photos when I get the area cleaned up a little.

In the meantime, I wanted to pose this question to the members. I would like to test different dish locations to see what I am getting and what may be blocked. This will help greatly when I am ready to install the motorized setup. I think I will have more issues on the southern end than the western. But if a small location change could help the south it would be great to know. So I am looking for ideas for some type of temporary movable mount than is cheap and easy to come up with (limited handyman skills). Also, I know that a "plumb" pole is needed for stationary but would a temporary mount have to be plumb or could you compensate somehow?

Thanks

 

[Cascade]

So I am looking for ideas for some type of temporary movable mount than is cheap and easy to come up with

Gah, I should really say something here but I can't - wait til monday, I'll have something for you then

 

[PSB]

You could always mount the dish on a wooden pallet then drag it all over the yard. Seems to work.

 

[ken2400]

Been there done that! I now have a P* 84E on a pallet with stone for weight. I also primed and painted it.

Good luck with yours!

You could always mount the dish on a wooden pallet then drag it all over the yard. Seems to work.

 

[PSB]

Ta!

 

[bigOleB]

I used USGS to find out where the best place to mount would be.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think Cascade may have a review coming that could help too.

 

[mr.crane]

I used USGS to find out where the best place to mount would be.

where can i get USGS? thanks in advance!

 

[vj9999]

You can go here and start zooming in (if data is available for your area):

http://edcw2ks51.cr.usgs.gov/website/orthoimagery/viewer.php

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Equipment Advice

My Ebay auction ends tomorrow so I am looking for equipment advice. I am thinking about getting:

Fortec Lifetime Ultra OR Coolsat 4000 pro
Winegard 2076 76 cm Dish
Invacom SNH-031 LNB
Motec SG2100 Motor

My thinking is that the Winegard seems to be easy to set up and works well with the SG2100. The Invacom would help me get all I could out of the smaller dish. I originally wanted the Coolsat but when I found out it wouldn't do the audio on PBS I started thinking about the Fortec.

Questions:

1. I want to run the receiver into my DVD recorder. The recorder has composite (RCA) audio and video and Svideo inputs. Would I still get audio (PBS) with the Fortec connected this way? I have nothing that has S/PDIF input-my audio receiver is Dolby 5.1 but analog only.

2. Which blind scan is superior-Fortec or Coolsat?

3. Which receiver is generally more easy to use for the newbie?

Any answers to my specific questions or comments or opinions on my other hardware choices are welcome.

 

[Tron]

Your shopping list seems fine, can't go wrong there!

You will not be able to get AC-3 on an analog surround (Dolby Pro-Logic) system. You'd have to upgrade your audio receiver to a Dolby Digital receiver (5.1 DD receivers are quite common and inexpensive these days). If AC-3 (5.1 Dolby Digital) audio is absolutely necessary, the Fortec passes it and I'm not sure the Coolsat does...

The SPDIF connectors on our FTA receivers (the ones that pass AC-3) pass both PCM (standard 2 channel uncompressed digital) and Dolby 5.1 (compressed 5.1 channel digital). The Dolby 5.1 requires a decompressing processor, but the standard PCM digital signal on most channels (other than PBS and 3 channels on G-10R that I know of) may be fed into a DAT recorder, CD recorder, and, I believe, some DVD recorders if they have PCM digital in.

I have a Pansat 2700 which passes both PCM and AC-3 (which is the same thing as Dolby Digital). I have the SPDIF out connected to digital computer speakers, and get great audio with any channel not AC-3 (Dolby Digital) encoded. On the AC-3 audio channels I get loud chirping, since the computer speakers don't decode AC-3.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Thanks Tron-good explanation. I may be leaning back toward the Coolsat now since it looks like I won't be getting audio on some of the PBS stations with my current equipment anyway. Have to upgrade my audio receiver at some point.