Question: Can dish box be used to get some FTA?

[familyupnorth]

Hello everyone. Just a quick question. We have been using a dish network box 301 to get sky angel. If we just aimed the small dish at a different satelite (such as Galaxy 25) could we use this box to pick up some FTA channels? Or would we need a different box?

If this is possible, what would be a good satelite to aim at to get the most out of a dish that otherwise would be going unused? We are going with IPTV but just thought that we could use this to get a few extra free channels. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[catkoko]

It is my understanding that the dish satellite dish is too small to receive most FTA programming. You may get some with a different LNB. the dish receiver can only be used for dish programming. You would be better off looking into glorystar

 

[familyupnorth]

O.K. Thanks. I knew it had to be too good to be true. On the bubble between going with glorystar and IPTV. I would like to just get a nice FTA system (not just glorystar channels and maybe add dish family). The wife feels like it would be too much messing around. Not sure how much I trust Sky Angel now at this point.......

 

[Mr Tony]

Unless you aim it at Dish 119 you can get Nasa and Angel One

The Dish reciever works only on Dish satellites

Also for the dish size, that is too small. You would need a 30" and a different LNB

 

[familyupnorth]

O.K. So basically the dish and box are pretty much worthless at this point. I'm sure ebay will be flooded.

How hard is it to set up a FTA system? I set up our sky angel and that was a piece of cake, except that I set it up in the middle of a snowstorm.

 

[Scroll]

Actually if you get a FTA receiver and used that 119 antenna you can get NASA and the Miami locals plus Hawaiian music from KTLA, so you might be better off putting the 301 up on Ebay and use the proceeds towards a FTA receiver, looking at it that way.


Come 3/31 nobody knows if Angel One will still be transmitted or not on Dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

Miami locals are only available within the spotbeam of there

 

[Scroll]

Thanks for correcting that! It never dawned on me that they were only on the spotbeam.

 

[Katybug]

Hi there! I am brand new to the forums, which I found when trying to figure out what to do about satellite when Sky Angel ends. I am a stay at home Mom with limited income for entertainment and Sky Angel was perfect for us in price and offerings and I am still not sure what we are going to do.

I need some clarification about this post. Do I need an FTA receiver in order to receive Angel one and Nasa if I point the satellite to 119 or will the dish receiver that I used for sky angel work for this? It just isn't clear to me when reading the posts.

Thanks,
Katybug

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome

as of right now, all you would have to do is aim the dish at 119. Nasa and Angel One are available on any previously subscribed box. I have an old Dish 811 box that was subbed a while back but now is not. I use for my digital over the air local channels and I get Dish 101 (the help channel) Nasa (213) and Angel One (262) on the box with no issues. So yes the Dish box will work
(The reason I say "as no right now" is because on 3/31 when SA ceases who knows if they'll make Dish pull Angel One. I doubt it as Channel 262 (Angel One) is a Dish Channel. They have an agreement with SA to carry it just like they would any other channel)

 

[Wescopc]

In addition, If you keep the dish for Sky Angel aimed at SA (61.5 degrees) then you will be able to watch 3ABN after SA closes down as FTA on your Dish receiver.
Bob

 

[Katybug]

I was wondering if I would still be able to get 3ABN after Sky Angel goes dark because I was finally able to make phone contact with Sky Angel yesterday, because I am a yearly subscriber and my year was not up, so I was wondering if they would give any refund. After reading about the lifetime subscribers in this forum, I was almost afraid to ask.

However, when I asked about the flyer they sent out that indicated that Sky Angel subscribers not getting IPTV may be able to get some of the channels (Angel 1, Angel 2, KTV) through Dishnetwork. I was told that Dishfamily would be offering those channels and she asked if I watched 3ABN and I said that yes I do, then she said that I would need a 2nd satellite and they would leave the current one where it is to get 3ABN.

Thanks for the help.
Katybug

I am sorry if this is obvious to everyone else, but I am still trying to grasp the FTA concept. So, 4/1, if I leave everything as is and do not subscribe to anything else, I should still be able to get 3ABN?

 

[Mr Tony]

In addition, If you keep the dish for Sky Angel aimed at SA (61.5 degrees) then you will be able to watch 3ABN after SA closes down as FTA on your Dish receiver.
Bob

Bob
That was kai-boshed a while ago. It was available to anyone (even without a sub) but not anymore. Only thing I get on 61.5 on the 811 is the "you have a dish at 61.5" screen

 

[Mr Tony]

I am sorry if this is obvious to everyone else, but I am still trying to grasp the FTA concept. So, 4/1, if I leave everything as is and do not subscribe to anything else, I should still be able to get 3ABN?

Free to air is a little different than what we are talking about with Dish. Dish has some channels that are available even if you don't have a subscribed receiver. Nasa and Angel One are two channels that can be picked up without a subscription on a Dish box. a few ppv preview channels and some of the knockoff shopping channels (between 216-229) are alo free to pick up

 

[Wescopc]

Bob
That was kai-boshed a while ago. It was available to anyone (even without a sub) but not anymore. Only thing I get on 61.5 on the 811 is the "you have a dish at 61.5" screen

Thanks Tony - I missed knowing about the kai-bosh!
Bob

 

[Stargazer]

Someone told me that the Dish Network boxes can be reprogrammed to receive FTA channels like a FTA receiver does but Dish Network would probably frown upon that.

 

[Scroll]

Someone told me that the Dish Network boxes can be reprogrammed to receive FTA channels like a FTA receiver does but Dish Network would probably frown upon that.

More than frown. Sounds like a description of hacking for unauthorized access and I'm pretty sure the mods will allow no talk of such things, nor should a Christian want to.

I am aware of no way a consumer can use a Dish box to get FTA channels at all. There are a handful of unscrambled channels that you could receive and that's it. But they are not FTA, as such.