Newbie says hi

[badpistacio]

Hi. Very interesting and informative site. I'm totally new to FTA and will be setting up a system in about six weeks in the Monterey, CA area. Since I have HD TVs, I'm leaning to the Azbox Elite HD receiver. I also know that I want the dish to be motorized so I can pick up more than one satellite.

Can anyone give me info on what to look for regarding the dish? I'm only going with the Ku band. Also, any info on what LNBFs to get would be great.

I don't have DirectTV or Dish Network and am not interested in either of those. I'll be adding an OTA HD antennae to get locals. I'm only interested getting the programming floating around out there that's free and would like to get as much as possible (without going with C band - since I don't have room for the dish). I'm NOT into pirating anything.

I'll have other questions down the road. But thanks in advance!

 

[Fizbi]

Check out what the sponsors have to offer at the top of this page.
There are many dishes to choose from.

Browse the different systems folks are using by looking at their sig lines. Most folks list their equipment.

 

[Bill_KY]

Welcome to the forum and to the community!

 

[Anole]

comprehensive system:

Let me suggest that you focus on the following products.
You can search for them on the web, look at them on our Gold Sponsor's web sites, see if we have reviews, and search for comments here in the FTA department.
There're lots of choices on the market, but we can help you get focused quickly to a few choices.

- dish: 36", 1 meter, or 1.2 meter. They're all good.
Bigger is better if you have lots of rain or looking for a few weak signals.
See our Review department and read a several-year old review of the Fortec 36" and how it compared to smaller dishes.
We also have reviews of later model 1.2m dishes, and while exceptional performers, you should try to decide how much dish you need and what you want to spend.
Bragging rights are great, but we had one guy get a 1.2 when he only needed 36", and then had troubles installing it on a too-small motor.
The system components should be chosen to work together.

- motor: Well, the DG380 should handle any of the dishes, up through 1.2meters.
If you use a smaller lighter dish, consider downgrading somewhat.
At least read the specs on the 380 to see what features a modern motor can have.

- LNB: A lot of people will recommend the unique Invacom QPH-031.
It can receive circular or linear polarized signals, and has two outputs each.
A little spendy, but pretty future-proof.
We should have a review.
There are dozens of fine LNBs with single or dual outputs that do linear only.
They sell for maybe 1/2 to 1/3rd the price.
Even some selling for $5 or $6 have good performance, so it's hard to identify a bad one.

- location: I'd strongly suggest the heaviest pipe that the motor will fit onto.
It should be about chest height, after burying three feet of it in concrete.
Putting a motorized dish on a roof, with no previous experience, will prove to be a hell of a task - more so if you are not pretty knowledable about running your receiver.

 

[DirectDishNet]

Badpistacio,
Based on your introduction, I would have to say you will fit right in!...... Welcome to Satellite Guy's!....We're glad your here!.....

 

[concord]

To see what is out there, check out SatelliteGuys.US - TheList and FTAList.com - The easy list of North American free-to-air TV channels

 

[badpistacio]

Thanks for the info so far. The idea to check out the member's signature to see what they are using is a great one - except I don't understand what some of the terms mean!

Why would one chose a dual LNBF over a single? Is the sole reason to pick up two satellites that are in close proximity to each other? And is the ability to get circular and linear polarized signals important?

Let me apologize ahead of time for the newbie questions.

 

[Stargazer]

Welcome to Satguys!

 

[Anole]

A dual output LNB will let you connect two receivers for the one satellite your dish is pointed at.
Or, if you follow a dual with a multiswitch, you can feed 4 or 8 receivers.

Circular is used to get things from some of the pay satellite that are not encrypted.
Couple of examples are NASA, Angel One, from 119°. Not a highly compelling reason.
And, when you are first setting up, the high-powered circular birds are much easier to locate in the sky.

 

[Tron]

Since I have HD TVs, I'm leaning to the Azbox Elite HD receiver. I also know that I want the dish to be motorized so I can pick up more than one satellite.

Can anyone give me info on what to look for regarding the dish? I'm only going with the Ku band.

The AZBox seems to be a great receiver, with a lot of potential due to its open nature. However, it should be noted that there isn't an abundance of full-time HD available on Ku-Band. There are a few full-time HD channels, including PBS feeds on 125w. There are also many feeds in HD that come and go, mainly sports-related. Most of the permanent channels up there, however, will be in SD. The AZBox is still a good idea, though, as it also does 4:2:2 sampling (which is found on a good number of feeds).

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hi. Very interesting and informative site. I'm totally new to FTA and will be setting up a system in about six weeks in the Monterey, CA area. Since I have HD TVs, I'm leaning to the Azbox Elite HD receiver. I also know that I want the dish to be motorized so I can pick up more than one satellite.

Can anyone give me info on what to look for regarding the dish? I'm only going with the Ku band. Also, any info on what LNBFs to get would be great.

I don't have DirectTV or Dish Network and am not interested in either of those. I'll be adding an OTA HD antennae to get locals. I'm only interested getting the programming floating around out there that's free and would like to get as much as possible (without going with C band - since I don't have room for the dish). I'm NOT into pirating anything.

I'll have other questions down the road. But thanks in advance!

Badpistacio,

Welcome! Welcome to SatelliteGuys!

Obviously, you are not without information coming in, so that is a great plus. And furthermore, you know what direction you desire to take right off. But, that may change with time as you continue to chat with some of the members here. You might find yourself a hybrid of "Red-Green" and "Dr. Carl Sagan" before too long!

You will definitely find it great fun, educational and highly addictive. Be cautious about the addictive portion of this hobby.

Good luck and have a great time here!

RADAR

 

[badpistacio]

Guys, thanks again for all the info. Here's where I am so far. I've got to put the dish on the roof because of space limitations around the house, so I'm looking at 30-36 inch Winegard or Geosatpro - I understand that both are really good. There's a good review on the 30" Winegard, so probably that one if it's still around. I'm going with a dual LNBF because I'll have two receivers to connect to. With that in mind, I read some reviews of some HD receivers but there wasn't one that stood out - except the AZbox, and I can only afford one of those. Can anyone suggest a less expensive HD receiver as a second one? My other question is about blind scan. I see that the AZbox and the Diamond 9000HD do NOT do blind scan. Is this something a newbie should depend on to help get started?

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Tron]

You can't go wrong with either of the dishes you mentioned. I used a Winegard 2076, and it worked well. It doesn't support heavy LNBFs such as the Invacom QPH-031 very well, but the performance with regular LNBFs is very good. I'm currently using Azure Shine 3ABN dishes on my motors, and these dishes are basically the same thing as the GeosatPro 90. They perform quite well, and have side strut supports for heavier LNBFs.

As for finding a cheaper receiver than the AZBox, while there are a couple of cheaper models out there, they have problems that will make you pull your hair out. The AZBox is almost certainly the best performer for the price. Actually, it is one of the cheaper HD boxes.

Lack of blind scan is not a show stopper, but you will want that feature to find the interesting wild feeds that are up there. You may want to purchase a cheap SD receiver to use for feed finding, and input the results into the AZBox.

 

[badpistacio]

Tron, thanks a lot. I think I'm pretty well set. I'll be setting up in a few weeks and we'll see how it goes.

 

[badpistacio]

Ok, here's an update on my FTA progress. I haven't gotten the AZbox yet (I'll do it once I get more familiar with things.) I got a Coolsat 5k and I'm setting that up tonight. I reset it to factory defaults so I could have a clean start. I also got my OTA antenna which I'll mount this weekend and get that dialed in. I hope by the end of the weekend, I'll have a re-purposed DN dish set up to receive 119 and be receiving locals via the OTA antenna. Next steps are to get the 36 " motorized dish and the AZbox Premium.

I've been reading every post I can on setting up the Coolsat and aiming dishes, etc but I think my brain is full.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Ok, here's an update on my FTA progress. I haven't gotten the AZbox yet (I'll do it once I get more familiar with things.) I got a Coolsat 5k and I'm setting that up tonight.

Badpistacio,

The Coolsat 5K will serve you well. It isn't a fancy receiver that will process HD signals, but it is very user friendly. It usually does exactly what you expect it to.

If you need the loader program, many of us have it and can send it to you. FreeHostia is also providing FTA firmware support for this model, which is really great.

I was just browsing for some information regarding your site and possible Ku band reception. Theoretically, you should be able to have a LOS for satellites 45.0W westward to 160.0E. But, there isn't really anything west of 129.0W in Ku Band.

If you get a Universal LNBF, which has two L.O. frequencies (9750 and 10600) and can receive the lower band of Ku, you might be able to pull in some channels from 180.0E Intelsat 701. You might get the Tahiti Nui Tv channel on TP 10958 V SR 6450. A beam from this satellite hits the west coast fairly strong with that channel as FTA.

Thought you might like that information for something to experiment with and test your dish and motor alignment.

Otherwise, most FTA Ku Band channels will be found on the satellites east of 125.0W.

RADAR

 

[badpistacio]

Radar, thanks. That's totally useful information.

I actually already got quite a bit done. I mounted the old dish and got it set up, ran cables and went through the aiming steps. I'm going to update the Coolsat firmware this evening.

I'm able to get NASA and Angel One but I can't get ION. Should I assume if I can get those first two, then the dish is aimed accurately?

Oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[queeny]

Bad Ive been here for just a short .These folks are great !!!!!! best i can tell ya right know is as they say 36inch dish great,bigger better but def what you gonna find is on ku and ya got to play lol its fun and put your dish on the ground mine on roof lol not to good!!! haha merry x-mas

 

[guapoharry]

FreeHostia is just a web hosting provider aren't they, Radar?

Anyway, I recommend going with at least a 90cm dish. I started with an 80cm dish, but wanted to get a bigger one later...

If I lived where you do, I would go visit SatelliteAV in Roseville and get a 1.2 meter dish. Otherwise shipping is really expensive for big stuff. But if you are going for HD and a motor, that starts sounding spendy...

 

[Bill_KY]

Radar, thanks. That's totally useful information.

I actually already got quite a bit done. I mounted the old dish and got it set up, ran cables and went through the aiming steps. I'm going to update the Coolsat firmware this evening.

I'm able to get NASA and Angel One but I can't get ION. Should I assume if I can get those first two, then the dish is aimed accurately?

Oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Welcome to the forum and to the community!

Maybe you have to plug in ION manually?

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