Newbie - Help requested

[HammerHead001]

A friend loaned me his FTA receiver ( ViewSat Max HD) to try it out to see if I want to get into the hobby.

Anyway - I have an oliptical 5LNB (or 4) what ever the new DTV one is.

I have no idea what satellites to check in the menu or what LNB type to select?t

I have signal strength consistantly in the 60's but ever channel I select says "searching for signal" - so there is some idiot setting I dont have correct.

can someone give me a few pointers??

I am in the midwest.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[brentb636]

The DirectTV channels are encrypted. Even if you could get your settings right, you wouldn't get any TV . We generally recommend a dish no smaller than 30" and a standard linear lnbf for Ku band FTA reception. I suspect that your friend is trying to lead you into satellite piracy, which we don't condone. Two of our Gold sponsors above have complete systems, and partial systems that you can compare and see what FTA systems are composed of.


Satellite AV - Free to Air Satellite Equipment Distributors - Fortec Star, GEOSATpro, Glorystar - SatelliteAV, LLC.
Sadoun Satellite Sales (1-888-519-9595)

 

[andyb2]

Yup as said you need linear lnb and a minimum of 30" dish for TFTA and even that wont be enough in most cases.A motor is also something that should be used unless you like moving dishes around all the time as when you get the bug you tend to wanna get them all.If you catch the bug you will be looking at c-band dishes with a wishfull smile soon lol.

 

[HammerHead001]

Thanks for the info - my intent was not to "hack" anything. I was just uneducated about this stuff. I have been doing a fair amount of reading across these boards and now have an idea of what is going on here.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[AcWxRadar]

A friend loaned me his FTA receiver ( ViewSat Max HD) to try it out to see if I want to get into the hobby.

Anyway - I have an oliptical 5LNB (or 4) what ever the new DTV one is.

I have no idea what satellites to check in the menu or what LNB type to select?t

I have signal strength consistantly in the 60's but ever channel I select says "searching for signal" - so there is some idiot setting I dont have correct.

can someone give me a few pointers??

I am in the midwest.

Thanks in advance!!

Thanks for the info - my intent was not to "hack" anything. I was just uneducated about this stuff. I have been doing a fair amount of reading across these boards and now have an idea of what is going on here.

Thanks for the replies!

Hammer,

If you are thinking about getting into FTA, there are a lot of great channels to be found out there. Currently, and I mean as I am writing this to you, I am watching Montana PBS on satellite 125.0W AMC 21. I don't think that it is HD, but it sure has a very good picture.

I will tell you what equipment I use and then you can kinda do some comparison shopping and hear other members testimonials about this equipment and their own equipment.

I use a Winegard DS-2076 dish, an Invacom QPH-031 LNBF, A PowerTech DG-280B motor, a Chieta WSD-2041 4X1 DiSEqC switch and a Coolsat 5000 receiver. RG6U Commscope BrightWire quad shield cable and matching compression connectors.

In my personal opinion, this is about one of the most user friendly, least expensive and general all around best FTA systems that you can buy, if you want to buy a whole package off the shelf and not be a scrounger. A scrounger often learns a lot more about what works and why and what doesn't and why, so don't knock this avenue, especially if you are on a budget for this hobby.

Well, I have given you my own personal opinion regarding equipment. You will need to understand that there are many others out there who have other ideas and likes and dislikes, so listen to what they all have to say before you ever start buying anything.

The FTA hobby requires a lot of research and it is a continual enterprise, so don't expect to just toss up a dish and watch TV that afternoon or the next day. This is a DIY endeavor usually and it requires you to dedicate yourself to it. Once you do, you may find it very fun and rewarding. There is a lot of stuff out there that makes it fun. Meeting and experiencing the people here is just one of the many positive attributes of this hobby.

AcWxRADAR