Well now I am officially a FTA'er

[motorcycle_rider]

Well

Got my first real FTA dish. Aimed at G10r picking up a few things. Unfortunately my quality is only 3 on my starbox. I think I will try ordering a 36" dish hopefully that will help.

I had issues aiming this at first as I was up on the ladder with the ole compass pointing the dish. Go in the house nothing. I have my daughter watching the signal on the pc screen while I mess around for about 2 hours getting nothing.

I decide to go into the street look at the dish and see where I am pointed. Low and behold I am way off about 20 degrees or so. I go back to the house and notice that when I am near the house the compass reads different than about 10 feet away from the house..... oops. I reaim go in to check I have my signal at 94 with 3 quality. I mess around for about 1-2 hours more trying to improve the quality to no avail. But I am happy got somewhere

I will try tweaking my aim Friday maybe tomorrow and see if I can improve. But its viewable now on a couple of TP's:up

 

[PSB]

WELCOME to the hobby!

It may be an idea to get a cheapo FTA receiver for pointing the dish!

DVB PC cards are notoriously bad for using because of the greater time delay it takes for the signal quality to show on the screen and they seem to show lower signal quality than receivers.

Its ALL about signal quality!

 

[cablewithaview]

the electrical system in your house will interfer with your compass especially if your close to where your power comes in and or breaker box.

 

[updatelee]

fortec's are going for $50cdn on ebay right now, their also nice for scaning as fortec has blind scan.

channel master (the sharpc software) can then import that scanned list, once there you can then export it to mytheatre or ritzdvb format.

 

[brentb636]

I just bought a Fortec Classic NA for $42 US on ebay . It was delivered yesterday. At that price it's a damn fine sat finder. It's easy to setup and works just fine.

 

[Sadie]

The readings you get on the signal meter on the starbox vary a lot with the driver version with one version the picture will break up below Q35 while the another will work at Q3 .The software appears crude with the reading increasing in only a few steps

Don't forget to adjust the LNB skew angle it can make a big difference, I'm having no trouble getting G10 with a 30" dish on the east coast but it is tricky to set up.

 

[digiblur]

Well

Got my first real FTA dish. Aimed at G10r picking up a few things. Unfortunately my quality is only 3 on my starbox. I think I will try ordering a 36" dish hopefully that will help.

I had issues aiming this at first as I was up on the ladder with the ole compass pointing the dish. Go in the house nothing. I have my daughter watching the signal on the pc screen while I mess around for about 2 hours getting nothing.

I decide to go into the street look at the dish and see where I am pointed. Low and behold I am way off about 20 degrees or so. I go back to the house and notice that when I am near the house the compass reads different than about 10 feet away from the house..... oops. I reaim go in to check I have my signal at 94 with 3 quality. I mess around for about 1-2 hours more trying to improve the quality to no avail. But I am happy got somewhere

I will try tweaking my aim Friday maybe tomorrow and see if I can improve. But its viewable now on a couple of TP's:up

Get a real receiver for watching 4:2:0 SD and for blind scanning. You'll thank us all. I couldn't imagine only watching FTA with a DVB card. Slave the DVB card to a Fortec and you'll have the best bang for the buck.

 

[iafirebuff]

Congrats on getting a signal! Now the fun begins

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome to the FTA family

 

[mastermesh]

The metal of the dish itself can affect the compass too. Also, the best meter is a tv for normal receivers. I've not fiddled with pc card receivers. Guess if you could rig up some mirrors so that you could visually see the pc's monitor from the ladder it could be helpful. I used to do a lot of that sort of thing back in college in drawing classes... really helpful in doing self portraits.

 

[Sadoun]

We have one unit NEW Fortec CLASSIC NA special on eBay (no reserve auction bidding starting at $0.99)
Check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com/Fortec-CLASSIC-...ryZ32848QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[iafirebuff]

That's a great receiver! Easy for a beginner, yet has lots of features for down the road. Sadoun is a top notch store. My LNB is due from them today

 

[motorcycle_rider]

Just a little update. I was able to increase my quality on 2 transponders to 22 one of them fluctuating. and gained a couple more transponders. Tweaking the aim little by little.

 

[Sadoun]

Sadoun is a top notch store. My LNB is due from them today

Thank you. :

 

[iafirebuff]

I still "threaten" my wife that we are taking a road trip to Ohio to visit Sadoun's showroom I never have checked out how far away it is

Thank you. :

 

[Sadoun]

Well, if you tell her that Columbus is a nice town to visit and after you are done shopping with us you can visit the home decoration superstore 2 miles down the road from us, then that might convince her to come along

 

[iafirebuff]

Boy, that sounds like an expensive trip! And home decorations.....I thought that is what satellite gear and home theater equipment is for

 

[motorcycle_rider]

I orders a kit from Sadoun today. Put a note asking for ups but specified USPS for delivery. Either way does not matter but prefer UPS. Man this hobby is addicting.

 

[iafirebuff]

Hobby? I thought it was an addiction!

 

[WyrTwister]

the electrical system in your house will interfer with your compass especially if your close to where your power comes in and or breaker box.

More likely the steel in the dish , mount & pole .

Wyr