Why do you have FTA?

[iafirebuff]

Since I have added FTA, I cut our Dish bill down to the Top 60, and we only watch about 5% of our tv on Dish. I hope to, after the Sopranos and The Shield end be totally free from Dish. I no longer have a lease, so I can cancel whenever.

For me, I got tired of paying money to providers with basically nothing to show of lasting value besides memories. I am now strictly OTA & FTA and I get more than enough in programming to satisfy my viewing needs. My wife and I have more than enough money to pay for the best that D or DT can offer. I simply tired of spending the money for a signal. Now, I'm reading more and "doing" more than when I was playing Mr. Couch Potato. Instead of being a spectator, I'm a participator. My wife and I are diving, I'm learning to kayak, and I'm expanding on my photography hobby. Given the fact that we have limited time on this planet, I've decided to make the most of it. OTA and FTA are perfect for me and my family.

 

[iafirebuff]

What website? I would love to listen in. I also have broadband and would like to partake in the sharing of the fire/police radio I think us FTA'ers are all technos

Yea I think a few of us are into shortwave.I am also into scanning local police & fire and provide the feed for a website in my area.

 

[charper1]

http://www.police-scanner.info/live-police-scanners.htm

http://www.policescan.us/

http://www.surfmusic.de/poli.htm

 

[Shawn95GT]

On FTA my favorite things to watch are the remote uplinks / new trucks. Anything big happens in the news and the feeds come out of the woodworks. Shuttle launches are also cool to hear without the news dork talking over the whole thing.

 

[iafirebuff]

I would like to watch news feed from the copters

 

[john green]

What website? I would love to listen in. I also have broadband and would like to partake in the sharing of the fire/police radio I think us FTA'ers are all technos

www.scanhallcounty.com

 

[dashaund]

Yeah, a bunch of us are "geeks" here. Except nowadays, it's cool to be one...I think...or atleast I think I'm cool haha (yes, I have a girlfriend). I'm a ham radio operator, call is KI4ABS. Done a good bit of scanning myself, and some shortwave. I've got over a decade in computer experience, including stuff with Linux, Mac, and Windows. I'm taking the FTA dive...about to order a system from Sadoun. After I get that going, I'll upgrade my PC (I'm a Mac guy now, so the older PC is in the corner picking up disc...let's put it to work, haha) and put a Twinhan 102g in it for the 4:2:2 HD stuff. I've got a modest home theather setup going. There's nothing like sports in HD....especially OTA without D*'s compression...and I can't wait to get the master feed, I might go crazy! While I don't have FTA YET, I know that this is a hobby and unless you watch a handful of dedicated channels, I can't see it as being the only source of broadcast TV. MAYBE with a large C-band dish and 4DTV or something, but other than that, nah. But then it's not free...

 

[iafirebuff]

www.scanhallcounty.com

Thanks! I will check it out!

 

[digiblur]

Quite the opposite. I have no valid reason to talk myself into it. That's what I was wondering why you guys did it. Maybe there was something there to do it. But, so far, not.

It sounds great for you guys though.

I'm shocked with the avatar.....not a sports buff eh?

 

[GaryPen]

I'm shocked with the avatar.....not a sports buff eh?

I'm a Mets fan. Will I be able to see more Mets games via FTA? If so, I'm there!

 

[digiblur]

I'm a Mets fan. Will I be able to see more Mets games via FTA? If so, I'm there!

Sports feeds are the number one feeds that most of us find.

 

[MikeI]

WPIX and SportsNet New York show most of the games. You won't get more, but maybe the other teams feeds.

I originally got satellite because I wanted to see the Angels, Dodgers and Lakers play more when I lived in Glendale, Arizona. Pat O'Brien picking his nose in the '87 finals during the CBS NBA halftime show made me want one even more. My dad was in sales at the time.. My instructions to him was to see if any of his sales businesses sold west coast satellite dishes for me to get the teams. My friend's neighbor had a little dish on his roof which I thought was a c-band dish, but later found out it was just a regular antenna for Tucson locals. My dad found one from a company going out of the satellite business and opening up a different type of spa business to install spas in peoples yards instead. I got it for $600 which $100 included shipping and installing. It was there display model circa early 80s and this was in October of '88.

I later got FTA because the analog feeds that I used to watch started going digital. WAC conference was the 1st. Boise State and Fresno State and others have followed. I enjoy the news feeds during an important event, but I mostly have FTA and c/ku for the sports feeds.

 

[GaryPen]

WPIX and SportsNet New York show most of the games. You won't get more, but maybe the other teams feeds.

I live in CA, so all I get currently are the WPIX games via Dish, and whatever few Mets games are on ESPN and InHD via Comcast. (as well as Mets/Giants on my "home" channels, Mets/Braves on TBS, and Mets/Cubs on WGN. At one time, the L.A. and denver "superstations" on Dish also had their NL teams, too, for more Mets games.)

I would love to get some SportsNet NY games. Are their backfeeds ever available FTA?

Do any of the local stations on FTA carry their local NL teams?

Considering how inexpensive many of these FTA systems are, it might be worth the approx cost of one MLB EI subscription to get an FTA system.

 

[PSB]

Another example of the benefits of FTA, I just sat and watched a full LIVE interview with President Bush by Neil Cavuto.

LONG before it will show up on Fox

If you want to see news AS it happens not when somebody decides you should see it FTA is the ultimate news service

 

[tom_v]

"Free" also means to see the "real" outsider 's viewpoints (Russian Today, CCTV9, etc...); kind of like listening to the shortwave international radio...

 

[drhydro]

I started in FTA because I was sick of paying the pizza pan dish providers oodles of money for programming that, frankly, stunk. I started out with one dish, now, well, take a look at my sig lol.

I enjoy playing with my equipment, and my family enjoys the "wholesome" programming we have been able to find.

I am the first to admit FTA is not for everyone, but for us it works fine. For the few channels we watch that are not fta (TNT for law and order, discovery) we have a c band dish with an "ala carte" subscription. We pay pennies on the dollar compared to what we used to pay for tv, and it is a better selection. Of course the programming is subject to change at any notice lol.

 

[GaryPen]

Depending on what sports and news feeds I would be able to receive, I may give this FTA thing a shot. Since I am adding a PC to my home theater for SlingBox reception anyway, I think I will opt for a PCI card FTA tuner, to avoid yet another set top box.

In fact, if I find enough programming on FTA, I may experiment with OTA and QAM tuner cards, and do away with STB's all together. I suppose that if I add a DL DVD-RW to the HTPC, I can get rid of my STB DVD-R, as well. I love selling off the old stuff to help pay for the new!

 

[kuperman]

I got FTA because of my wife being wowed by it at a couple friends' homes. She asked and asked for almost two years to get me to get something set up, and finally, when we built our new house, I did. Sure, it's just a motorized 90cm dish, but it picks up all of the Farsi & Arabic programming she can handle (the first night we got it working, she stayed up til 3 am watching soap operas on IRIB2). The other night, an Indian friend of mine was over, and within a few minutes we found some crazy movie in Tamil (think Knight Rider meets Rambo).

Me, I'm not too good with foreign languages (although watching "The Professional" in French on Senegalais TV was pretty awesome), so it's mostly for the 'what's up there' sort of thing - watching news anchors pick their noses or tell the guy in the truck they're not going to be able to make their rent that month. I loved it during the World Cup - so many different ways to watch the same match (without O'Brien, Balboa & Dellacamera making fools of themselves on ABC/ESPN) and look forward to the upcoming college football season.

I also like having more boxes with lights in my living room. That is awesome.

 

[mark_calgary]

My addiction started when my wife asked me to get BVN (Dutch) off of IA-5 for her early in 2005. At the time I knew nothing about FTA even though I did design work a few years ago for a commercial satellite transceiver manufacturer, equipment I now wish I had (funny, I think I'm more qualified for the job now than I was then because of my FTA hobby) .

Now I wonder if my wife wishes she had left pandora's box closed.

I now have a 3m c band dish, a 90cm motorized Ku dish, an 18" pizza pan for GolTV, and am about to get a 1.2m Ku dish (and appropriate forgiveness after the fact from the wife....) which will someday sprout a motor as well.

My wife really only watches BVN and the odd Dutch football game I find for her, while I use the system almost entirely for sports feedhunting - mostly foreign as I'm not into North American football, baseball, or basketball.

 

[barney_555]

I know about FTA since spring 2005, I never heard that word before ! I discovered Lyngsat and saw that there was some spanish stations available for free. I spent some time reading and bought my system a couple of months after discovering FTA !

I find it very fascinating to surf the different sats and finding new things. If I would not have my system, I would not believe it !

Many thanks to SatelliteGuys and it's members for all the stuff I learned !