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[YoderIII]

Hello Everyone!

I am very new to FTA. I just bought off of craigslist a Direct TV Slimline 32"X22 1/2" dish. I also have a DishPro 500 Round 20 1/2" dish. I want to use these dishes. I want to receive the USA and international signals. I was looking at Ebay and they sell a mount for 6 LNA's for eight satallites. I am thinking of buying that or making one of my own. I have an old FTA receiver I got from a garage sale. I do plan to update soon. I also have older DishNetwork and Direct TV recievers. But I do not think any of those can be used for FTA. So here is my question: What satellite shoud I try for first. I live in the 282 zip code. I want any and all advice for setting this up and for upgrading my receiver. I just moved to a new home so I am doing a complete setup. I think I have my sight for my dish and plan to dig a hole tomorrow and to set it into concrete. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[turbosat]

First off I would try to find a bigger dish, fta signals come from lower powered satellites than the pay services do, so you really need a bigger dish. I'm not sure if the dish you bought, slimline has a linear lnbf or not, but you will need one for fta, as the pay services use circular lnbfs. You can get NASA off 119 and maybe some barker channels frm Dishnetwork but no real channels. You didn't mention what receiver you have, you'll need a blind-scan receiver to really enjoy free to air, as many of the signals are temporary and not published. News feeds, sports events, and things of that nature. Don't know about your programming interests, suggest you read The List, top of the page here, look at the KU satellites for samples of some of the signals you might find. A big c-band dish is required for the C-band satellites, as they also have digital free to air signals. Look at the equipment/packages our sponsors have, top of page for some ideas on receivers and dishes.

 

[YoderIII]

Thank you for your help. I will check into that. Any and all advice is welcome.

 

[italsat1]

I recommend you to buy a motorized dish in a combo!! that is the best deal.

There is a lot of things to watch up there in the clarke belt!!!

Have fun.

 

[freezy]

The multi lnb brackets are designed for stealing dish network and bell expressvu(Canada). They only fit the DSS directv style circular LNBs.

As advised before, buying a motorized FTA system will give you your greatest value and enjoyment.

If you move up to a 1.2M dish and a better motor you can get a combination c/Ku bands LNB and pick up a bunch more channels.

There is a thread around here somewhere detailing some of the stronger c-band channels.