Welcome New Members! (Please Say HI here!)
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Hi Peter!jasperjones said:Hi,Saw your site on DrDish.TV, last week which was been aired on Hotbird 13 west.
Been into satellite for a few years now (since 1989 !) ,but still a beginner (or should it be slow learner!) Using a 1.2M P/F dish,with a twin output LNB,moved by a 36volt superjack arm,not played with DiSEqC yet! I use a Strong 4375 to move it,and also use a Fortec Lifetime Ultra.We also have Sky tv,UK answer to Dish Network,but costs more!
I live on the coast in north wales,in the uk,on a clear day (no rain!)we can see ireland and north west coast of england
Nice to be here.
Peter
Greetings from Germany to the island
I also was a SKY subscriber a few years ago (German SKY Service). My favorite was SKY ONE with "The Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle". But the cost of SKY was to high ... we Germans had to pay €200 extra per year + the monthly costs of €28 for the family package and ~€500 for the SKY-Box
Now I have Kabel Deutschland (Cable Germany) on ASTRA 3A - 23.5°East for €13 (Home €9 + English €4).
Hi everyone
Was just cruising the net when I came upon your site.
Been fooling with fta for past year. I have a viewsat 2000 and a st2000a which keep me going crazy.
Look forward to famillarizing myself with your site.
Good luck to all
Was just cruising the net when I came upon your site.
Been fooling with fta for past year. I have a viewsat 2000 and a st2000a which keep me going crazy.
Look forward to famillarizing myself with your site.
Good luck to all
Yet another new member
All these new members! I guess I picked the right time to get into FTA!
This may sound corny, but it's been a dream of mine to receive satellite TV since I was a kid. I checked out a book on satellite TV (this is back in the mid-80's) and was totally fascinated. Well, this weekend I finally succeeded. It was all one big experiment for me, so I used the cheapest equipment I could get. I've had an old 30" x 40" ex-Primestar dish sitting around doing nothing for 6 years or so. I bought a cheap Chinese-made 0.3dB universal LNB and a cheap Taiwanese-made FTA receiver (many of you have probably seen them for - $60 or so) on eBay. The Primestar dish needs a 3" pole, which I couldn't find at Lowe's or Home Depot, so I bought the closest thing I could find (2.5" ID PVC electrical conduit) and wrapped enough duct tape around it to make it 3" OD (I only needed about 1/8"). I stuck it in the ground about 2' and made it plumb just by packing the dirt tighter on one side or the other. I then mounted the big, somewhat heavy dish to it, hooked up a cheap ($10 - $20) "satellite finder" to the LNB, and was shocked to discover that the dish aimed quite accurately! The satellite finder was worth its weight in gold, I swear. I just set the dish's elevation, pointed it in roughly the right direction with a compass, moved it back and forth (the whole pipe rotates in the ground quite easily - this setup will not hold up in a stiff wind), and I hit the satellite I was aiming for every time.
The only problem I encountered had to do with my lack of understanding of how my universal LNB worked. I didn't realize that I needed the 22 KHz tone to switch it to the high band, and that the LO frequency I gave the receiver had to match that. I was thoroughly confused and frustrated, so I swapped that LNB out for a DTV/DishNet-style LNB and aimed for Echostar 7. I figured that vastly simplified everything - no need to skew the LNB due to the circular polarization, the satellite didn't require ultra-precise aiming, and there was only one LO frequency to worry about.
Well, it worked - the first ever FTA signal I received was NASA TV on Echostar 7. After some reading on the net I eventually figured out I needed the 22 KHz tone for the universal LNB to work correctly, so I went about setting up everything for my intended target: Intelsat Americas 5. I wanted to catch the Dr. Dish rebroadcast on Sunday, and this was late Saturday night. I had a bit of trouble - the sat finder kept giving me a good reading but I couldn't find anything on the transponders I was expecting. Eventually I realized that I was receiving more than one strong signal from other nearby sats (Galaxy 4R was one, I think) so I'd just have to find IA5 by trial and error. I also had to trial-and-error my way to the correct LNB skew, which also took a while. But around 1:00am EST, I was successful. I had IA5 loud and clear! No wind blew my dish out of alignment overnight, so I was able to catch Dr. Dish's show Sunday afternoon. It was a good weekend.
All these new members! I guess I picked the right time to get into FTA!
This may sound corny, but it's been a dream of mine to receive satellite TV since I was a kid. I checked out a book on satellite TV (this is back in the mid-80's) and was totally fascinated. Well, this weekend I finally succeeded. It was all one big experiment for me, so I used the cheapest equipment I could get. I've had an old 30" x 40" ex-Primestar dish sitting around doing nothing for 6 years or so. I bought a cheap Chinese-made 0.3dB universal LNB and a cheap Taiwanese-made FTA receiver (many of you have probably seen them for - $60 or so) on eBay. The Primestar dish needs a 3" pole, which I couldn't find at Lowe's or Home Depot, so I bought the closest thing I could find (2.5" ID PVC electrical conduit) and wrapped enough duct tape around it to make it 3" OD (I only needed about 1/8"). I stuck it in the ground about 2' and made it plumb just by packing the dirt tighter on one side or the other. I then mounted the big, somewhat heavy dish to it, hooked up a cheap ($10 - $20) "satellite finder" to the LNB, and was shocked to discover that the dish aimed quite accurately! The satellite finder was worth its weight in gold, I swear. I just set the dish's elevation, pointed it in roughly the right direction with a compass, moved it back and forth (the whole pipe rotates in the ground quite easily - this setup will not hold up in a stiff wind), and I hit the satellite I was aiming for every time.
The only problem I encountered had to do with my lack of understanding of how my universal LNB worked. I didn't realize that I needed the 22 KHz tone to switch it to the high band, and that the LO frequency I gave the receiver had to match that. I was thoroughly confused and frustrated, so I swapped that LNB out for a DTV/DishNet-style LNB and aimed for Echostar 7. I figured that vastly simplified everything - no need to skew the LNB due to the circular polarization, the satellite didn't require ultra-precise aiming, and there was only one LO frequency to worry about.
Well, it worked - the first ever FTA signal I received was NASA TV on Echostar 7. After some reading on the net I eventually figured out I needed the 22 KHz tone for the universal LNB to work correctly, so I went about setting up everything for my intended target: Intelsat Americas 5. I wanted to catch the Dr. Dish rebroadcast on Sunday, and this was late Saturday night. I had a bit of trouble - the sat finder kept giving me a good reading but I couldn't find anything on the transponders I was expecting. Eventually I realized that I was receiving more than one strong signal from other nearby sats (Galaxy 4R was one, I think) so I'd just have to find IA5 by trial and error. I also had to trial-and-error my way to the correct LNB skew, which also took a while. But around 1:00am EST, I was successful. I had IA5 loud and clear! No wind blew my dish out of alignment overnight, so I was able to catch Dr. Dish's show Sunday afternoon. It was a good weekend.
First of all: Welcome to SatelliteGuys!pestie said:
what do you think about the DrDish show? Is it good or not?
You can watch it again over the internet ... www.drdish-tv.com
Hello,
I have had satellite since 1994 when I got my first c-band dish with a analog Toshiba TRX 1420 receiver. I have since added a second c-band dish, 2 4dtv's receivers, a hdd200 High def decoder, Pansat 2500a for finding c-band DVB HDfeeds, Twinhahn 1020a for watching c-band DVB HDfeeds and I also have a Dish 811 receiver along with a dish 500 (110&119) and a dish 300 pointed at 61.5° for the Vooms, HDnet,TNTHD and ESPNHD. I wish I could get everything (HD subscription channels ) on my big C-band dish's because the quality is so much better than DISHNET but I can't because of the different formats used to broadcast them that are not compatible with the 4dtv receivers. So that is why I have I have both systems. I really hope DISHNET does not screw with the bit-rate anymore than they already have.
Edited to add: I also receive all my LOCAL HD channels using a roof top (home depot special) OTA antenna. I cant beleive why people would pay DBS or Cable for their local channels when all it takes is a OTA rooftop antenna placed in their attic or on the roof. But I also understand that their are people in fringe areas that are unable to receive the signals. But by looking around my neighborhood it leads to me beleive most people pay for their locals who dont have to.
I have had satellite since 1994 when I got my first c-band dish with a analog Toshiba TRX 1420 receiver. I have since added a second c-band dish, 2 4dtv's receivers, a hdd200 High def decoder, Pansat 2500a for finding c-band DVB HDfeeds, Twinhahn 1020a for watching c-band DVB HDfeeds and I also have a Dish 811 receiver along with a dish 500 (110&119) and a dish 300 pointed at 61.5° for the Vooms, HDnet,TNTHD and ESPNHD. I wish I could get everything (HD subscription channels ) on my big C-band dish's because the quality is so much better than DISHNET but I can't because of the different formats used to broadcast them that are not compatible with the 4dtv receivers. So that is why I have I have both systems. I really hope DISHNET does not screw with the bit-rate anymore than they already have.
Edited to add: I also receive all my LOCAL HD channels using a roof top (home depot special) OTA antenna. I cant beleive why people would pay DBS or Cable for their local channels when all it takes is a OTA rooftop antenna placed in their attic or on the roof. But I also understand that their are people in fringe areas that are unable to receive the signals. But by looking around my neighborhood it leads to me beleive most people pay for their locals who dont have to.
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Thanks! The Dr. Dish show was very good! I've been aware of Dr. Dish for quite some time - I first encountered his name when I read some articles he wrote about eavesdropping on Inmarsat. I didn't know his shows were available on the net, though. I see him (Christian Mass) post occasionally on a satellite-related mailing list I'm on. I was especially interested in the segment at the end of the show about IP-over-DVB insecurity. I strongly suspected all that stuff was in the clear and easily monitored, but he illustrated the point quite nicely.Michael-Berlin said:
What's up fellow tv lovers. I am totally new to FTA, I just recently upgraded my three Directv DVR system to HD and absolutely love it!!! Kansas City Chiefs football never looked so good, except we lost this week . But anyway, I never new FTA existed until I made friends with my Directv installer this last week and he told me about this awesome technology!!!! I don't have a lot of time on my hands...so does anyone know of a good forum to get started with FTA? Any how-to's out there?
Thanks for the love!
. But anyway, I never new FTA existed until I made friends with my Directv installer this last week and he told me about this awesome technology!!!! I don't have a lot of time on my hands...so does anyone know of a good forum to get started with FTA? Any how-to's out there?Thanks for the love!
Ours right here. http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=24JDAWG11 said:What's up fellow tv lovers. I am totally new to FTA, I just recently upgraded my three Directv DVR system to HD and absolutely love it!!! Kansas City Chiefs football never looked so good, except we lost this week
Thanks for the love!
Please allow me to introduce myself.....
...I'm a man, of wealth and taste.
Okay, just finishing the line from the song, I have no wealth, and my taste is questionable.
Just popped in to say hi. I've been lurking around a lot lately ever since the VOOM-Lite fiasco started, and I felt bad about not introducing myself, and then maybe start contributing....though not much more than opinion, I'm no expert.
what a kick-ass site....
...I'm a man, of wealth and taste.
Okay, just finishing the line from the song, I have no wealth, and my taste is questionable.
Just popped in to say hi. I've been lurking around a lot lately ever since the VOOM-Lite fiasco started, and I felt bad about not introducing myself, and then maybe start contributing....though not much more than opinion, I'm no expert.
what a kick-ass site....
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