I'm just now starting to learn about FTA and would appreciate any advice or comments on if I'm getting started the right way. What I want to do is to get rid of my cable service and subscribe to either Dish or DirectTV for my main service providing, and also to aquire the galaxy 25 satellite for the Thai and Lao channels(my wife is Lao). I'd like to avoid having two separate dishes on my roof (I live in Hurricane Alley and insurance charges extra per dish). Is it possible to accomplish both a subscription service and FTA on the same dish such as the wave frontier t55? Can I get the FTA to work through the Dish or DirectTV receiver that comes with the service or do i need separate receivers for both services?
Newbie advice needed.
- Thread starter Acelon
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You'll need a free-to-air receiver, the contract-services box won't pick up
linear satellite signals (both pay services use mostly circular polarization)
Don't know the size of a t55 , don't see why it wouldn't work with the right lnbfs for both circ and linear signals and aimed at the satellite arc.
You need a bigger dish to get G25, 33-39" best, the satellites with fta signals are much weaker than those high-powered DBS sats.
linear satellite signals (both pay services use mostly circular polarization)
Don't know the size of a t55 , don't see why it wouldn't work with the right lnbfs for both circ and linear signals and aimed at the satellite arc.
You need a bigger dish to get G25, 33-39" best, the satellites with fta signals are much weaker than those high-powered DBS sats.
Thats good to know. Seems like the T55 might be too small for me then as the documentation says it is similiar to 22 inch dishes. The T90 was equivalent to a 36 inch dish, but i thought would be overkill for what i was wanting to do. Glad I asked here first, because the sales people at a couple of the fta store sites were trying to tell me the T55 would be ample. G25 is the most important piece for me because without it, my wife might make me stay with cable 
Thanks for the advise!
Thanks for the advise!
T55 is too small. You would need a T90 dish. T55 is for subscription services
T90 would work for FTA and subscription services
T90 would work for FTA and subscription services
Just read your review on the T90, will def have to remeasure the spot on my roof for it, and bring in some friends to help with the installation
From your experience, can the two plates be removed easy enough if I wanted to protect it somewhat from a hurricane coming through? I remember seeing all the satellite dishes being bent backwards on all the roofs after some of the latest hurricanes.
From your experience, can the two plates be removed easy enough if I wanted to protect it somewhat from a hurricane coming through? I remember seeing all the satellite dishes being bent backwards on all the roofs after some of the latest hurricanes.
Just read your review on the T90, will def have to remeasure the spot on my roof for it, and bring in some friends to help with the installation
From your experience, can the two plates be removed easy enough if I wanted to protect it somewhat from a hurricane coming through? I remember seeing all the satellite dishes being bent backwards on all the roofs after some of the latest hurricanes.
Depending on your line-of-site to the satellites, the dish doesn't need to be mounted on the roof, it can be much lower, even just placed on a pole that is planted in the ground. After travelling 22,300 miles, the extra few feet closer to the satellite doesn't make any difference for signal strength.
If at all possible you could somehow design a setup where you could clearly mark the pole/dish so that if a hurricane is coming, you can walk up to the dish, loosen up a couple of bolts and pop the dish off of the pole. That way there would be no need to risk roof damage due to the dish being pulled off by the high winds.. After the storm has gone through, you can then line up the marks on the pole/dish, tighten the dish back in place and you'll be ready to watch tv again.- Status
