newbie questions

[belashti]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum and to FTA. I have been reading about FTA and really interested to dive into the FTA world but as newbie, I have a few questions and I hope someone in this forum may have the knowledge and time to answer.

- I am interested in Arabic channels and English speaking ones. Does this mean I need a motorized system?
- I noticed multiple dish sizes. Is there an advantage to get something larger than 31". I live in Austin, Texas and have a clear view of the southern sky.
- I also used to have DirectV and the dish is setup on the roof. It is a large dish. Can that work for FTA? Do I need a special LNB?
- Any recommended receivers over others?
- Is an HD receiver worth it? Are most channels broadcasted in HD?
- Any recommended site to get the equipment from?

I really appreciate it any help in advance

Thanks
-ad

 

[rogerduncan100]

If you want English and Arabic you can use a fixed dish on Galaxy 19, 97 degrees west. It has over 200 channels. No HD on this satellite. If you want more channels you can go for a motorized system but you'll pay more.

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome

- I am interested in Arabic channels and English speaking ones. Does this mean I need a motorized system?

While the Arabic channels are on 97W there are English channels on various satellites. Best to get a motorized system at the getgo

- I noticed multiple dish sizes. Is there an advantage to get something larger than 31". I live in Austin, Texas and have a clear view of the southern sky.

While a 30" is sufficient the old rule "bigger is better" does work here. I'd recommend a 36" dish. If you go larger shipping is a killer

- I also used to have DirectV and the dish is setup on the roof. It is a large dish. Can that work for FTA? Do I need a special LNB?

The dish mgiht work but it would take some rigging of a new LNB and trying to make it fit on the existing dish

- Any recommended receivers over others?
- Is an HD receiver worth it? Are most channels broadcasted in HD?

The only 24/7 HD channels on KU Band are PBS. There are some sports feeds too but most of the channels are just in SD. Any receiver can pick up the SD channels like the arabic channels

- Any recommended site to get the equipment from?

either sponsor (SatelliteAv or WSI/Galaxy) would be a good start

 

[belashti]

Thank you all for the valuable info, I will be ordering the equipment shortly from one of the sponsors.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Belashti,

Don't "rush" into any purchase too fast. Not taking anything away from any one of our sponsors, mind you. But, be sure of what you want before you buy. Cheap (not quality-wise but price-wise) is the best reccommendation when first getting started. The sponsors here will help you out in making decisions and they won't try to ram anything down your gullet like a used car salesman. They are members here as well and they are all satellite enthusiasts, too. So you can trust them to assist you without the profit margin being their guide. They want you to be pleased with your purchase just as much as you want to be pleased.

If you begin with one fixed point dish (that can be easily modified later to accept a motor) you will be able to cut your teeth without getting in over your head at the very start. If you don't decide to motorize it right away, you will gain a lot of valuable experience in aligning that dish to check out other satellites. This is going to prove very worthwhile to you in the long run. You will understand much more about satellite and dish/LNBF alignment practices for the future. It's a damned good excercise that you won't regret.

Buying an inexpensive receiver or total system to play with at the start will also buy you some time to do some reading here and making judgements on other products that, although may be much more expensive may have the other perks that you desire. There is a method to keep the equipment expense low, while still leaving the door open for upgrades.

Be cautious, this can be an addictive hobby. Don't buy anything on a whim. Read, research and ask questions and read some more!

You will do alright if you follow the advice of the folks here, we won't steer you in the wrong direction. We were all new and green ourselves, so we know what to steer away from and what toys are good to play with and what toys are not necessary to spend too much money on.

Simply be very patient, that is the best I can reccommend to you.

RADAR

 

[belashti]

AcWxRadar,
You made some good points/advice. I am thinking about going with Iceberg's suggestion when it comes to the dish size (36"). Then follow yours with the receiver and get the motor later once build some experience with FTA. Pointing the dish towards like rogerduncan100 mentioned Galaxy 19, 97 degrees west.

I should be making my purchase in the next week or 2 once I read more about the equipment. I'm excited about getting into FTA and learning more about it.

Once again, thank you all for the advice

-belashti

 

[tripl3s3v3n]

I would have to agree with AcWxRadar on a fixed system first. That is what I did and just playing around with some real budget type stuff and now I could pretty much look into the sky and point out the satellite locations from moving the dish around to see various things. Once you have that kind of experience mounting a motor shouldn't present too big of a problem.