Tracking Dish Network

[dishMIKE]

I have wanted to ask this question for a long time. I have been a Dish Network customer since September of '96. I, in no way, condone piracy. I repeat , I don't want to steal any form of signal from Dish. I would love to get a FTA receiver to track transponder changes/channel additions,etc. for the different Echostar satellites! Also I would like to get all the locals on G10R. Is a FTA receiver what I need or would DVB PCI card(which I know absolutely nothing about)be better to keep track of Dish? Would one FTA blind scan receiver be better than another? Once again thanks for a GREAT forum!!! Mike

 

[PSB]

IMO, a receiver would be easier to get to grips with, any receiver with a blind scan and that is DiSEqC 1.2 compatible will work with a motor to track the Dish birds, if you plan to just unhook the cable from your dish receiver and plug it into a FTA receiver then there may be problems with switches and Dish Pro LNB's, but if you never plan to motorise then a simple blind scan receiver will work, all the talk here seems to favour the Satwork/Pansat/Fortec receivers.
I just added a DBS LNB to my motorised system yesterday and scanned in all the Dish birds! Wow! There is always something in the clear, on one of their satellites right now we have some local channels and a few premier channels too! Good luck with the new hobby we are all here to help if we can

 

[dishMIKE]

I know that there are only a few FTA channels , besides the audio ones, on Dish Network but , do the "new" not yet released channels(CSTV, etc.)show up? Which receivers the Satwork 3618/3688, Pansat or Fortec would be the very best to "track" new Dish Network additions.Thanks any and all responses, Mike!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

no. If its scrambled, it won't be shown on FTA.

The Pansat is nice (I have one), but the BIG drawback is every time you scan a Dish NEtowrk satellite, each TP it puts 13 "dummy" channels in your guide. There is nothing on them, and all they do is clog up your box.
When I scan 121 for FTA stuff (if there is any), I have to delete 400 channels...if I said show scrabled stuff in list, I would have about 800 channels to delete!!

 

[dishMIKE]

So would the 3618 be a better receiver or am I "barking up the wrong tree" for what I was hoping to do? Thanks for your guys insight !!!!!

 

[PSB]

A Satwork 3618 would work to keep track of the channels, but a 3688 could be motorized in the future and lists all the satellites, both will work on G10!