FTA Fun Poll 9/5

[Mr Tony]

Another week...another fun poll

When you first got your FTA box what was the dish size you worked with?

DBS
KU
C-Band

 

[lumpkin666]

The first antenna I used my FTA box with was a new fortec 90cm. Then a Dish500 (back when there were free music channels), and finally a BUD. Although I owned the BUD first, then the dish500, then the fortec.

 

[Diamond Jim]

I had and still have the 8 footer. It was wired for C and Ku when I got the Satworks 3618 in'03

 

[Mr Tony]

I can honestly say it was DBS

I went back and found my original post (Dec 03) when I asked about FTA (it wasnt on this site..it was another satellite site that did FTA)...and I was GREEN back then

I was thinking about getting a FTA receiver primarily for using with audio channels (preferrably BEV or Dish Netowrk..I have antennas up for those) and I had a couple of questions:

I found a receiver on Ebay for pretty inexpensive.


Will this receiver work for receiving FTA audio? Most of the audio channels are DVB and this says it will work with that, so Im assuming yes.

Do I just hook it up and it works? or is there more to it? (like having to program it)?

If I have a dual LNB for 91, can I just use the slot that isnt being used and run a cable to my FTA? (I only have one BEV receiver)

Im sorry if these questions sound really stupid, but I just thought it would be neat to listen to music without tying up my BEV receiver, and this seems like the way to go. Heck, I might get a bigger dish and see what video is out there

even I was a newbie at one time

 

[brentb636]

When I first found out about FTA , I bought an Ariza Extreme and tried to use it with a DTV Series 3 dish. What a foolish idea ! Then I read a little and bought a motorized 31" kit from Sadoun, and started scanning the sky !

 

[Mr Tony]

Brent
This was my first box. The Viacast 1500
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-equipment-reviews/15314-viacast-vistar-2000-a.html

still have it...and its STILL on G10

 

[Larobpra]

UPS dropped off my first box today!
It's the Visionsat IV200 that SatelliteAV ran on special last week. Will start playing tomorrow. Will probably be here looking for help if I need it.

 

[brentb636]

Brent
This was my first box. The Viacast 1500
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-equipment-reviews/15314-viacast-vistar-2000-a.html

still have it...and its STILL on G10

Looking at the programming of your first box , reminds me of the contortions in some of the DVB PCI apps. One thing is for sure, having worked with "Ardvark" systems , your knowledge base and experience increases as you see the variety of ways that data can be represented. Sounds like your first box is a GOOD candidate for sitting on a fixed location.
It turns out that my Ariza Extreme experience was quite valuable, since my "new" Coolsat 8000 was obviously programmed by the same folks. It's kludgey, but it works just fine.

 

[linuxman]

I was extremely blessed with getting a free 10 foot Winegard Quadstar dish, and I bought a brand new Chaparral Co-Rotor for it and a VBox II to work with my trusty Pansat 3500.

It took me a while to get the hang of everything, but I am so glad I did.

I started big, and have never looked back.

 

[Anole]

DBS dish

I had installed my Dish Network equipment some years earlier.
Also had Bell for a year or two, back then, maybe for variety.

When deciding to get into FTA, I came here and read all the good info on the best equipment to get.
I chose a Fortec 36" dish due to a favorable review by Iceberg.
I chose an Invacom SNH-031 due to a favorable review (probably also by Iceberg).
I was very much against the love-affairs with the SG-2100 motors at the time, so I ordered up a STAB HH-90.
And I thought I needed to record shows on my computer, so I stupidly got a Twinhan USB StarBox.
Got it all from Sadoun. - - (little plug there for one of our Gold Sponsors)

The learning curve for FTA receiver software was a slippery slope.
I realized right away that locating an FTA bird, much less running a motor, was way beyond me.
So, I plugged right into my DP34 switch, figuring once I had NASA under control, I could build on that.
Problems with computers, receiver software, the USB box (overheating), and real-life kept me FTA-less for over a year.
Somewhere along I got a cheap Satpros STB, and that really launched me into FTA.

 

[stogie5150]

Primestar 84e and a Coolsat 5000. My first satellite was Galaxy 27 and the SNOT channel. Ice had to tell me what and where I was, and Turbosat CALLED me, a stone rookie, to help me work through it. Pretty cool, fellers. :up

Now, I cannot get enough.

 

[Larry1]

My first dish for FTA was a 24" StarChoice dish. I had upgraded my StarChoice dish (they said my picture quality issues were due to my dish size... Boy do I know differently now) and wanted to see what others were getting off of the HITS satellite. (had read quite a few posts of the channels being in the clear) Used it to get AMC with my StarChoice DSR921 when it was in the clear. I'm sure glad I got my 1m dish, as when it was replaced with my StarChoice eliptical, I put that 1m dish to good use with a motor for my now Ku motorized FTA setup. I have got a lot of use out of that dish.

 

[voomvoom]

C-Band baby...!!

10' 4 panel fiberglass with Corotor2, using HF one port power passing splitters
actually I had regular splitters to begin with and had problems when switching from C-Band to Ku-Band
I also used an A/B switch in front of the DVB receiver, as I had never even heard of a Diseqc Switch

and like the Cylons
I have Evolved

 

[turbosat]

Though my first one was c=band, I didn't really start having fun until I hooked up the lnb line from my no-longer in use Direcway dish, which was still on the roof. And still pointed at Satmex 5 lol. Once I figured out how to aim that difficult thing at 123 I was on my way. Amazed at how much easier a voltage-controlled lnbf is to use, vs a corotor +analog c=band box! Dang I had forgotten about calling Stogie, glad I got him going!

 

[Lak7]

Fortec 80cm Ku. Got the whole "setup" from a guy at work. He bragged he was going to get "free" TV. He never figured it out. I got the Dish, Motor, Viewsat and the Invacom for almost nothing. It took a week of reading, but I got it, still going strong.

 

[Pismire]

12' c-band. 1984? Father son project. Took a week to find our first bird but we got it. Found Doc Gene first then discovered news feeds. The rest is history.

 

[schlever]

At my own house - my 36" Digiwave and DG7000. Then came the motor, then the Ultra, then the old SC box, analog box, Diamond 9000 and today a 18" pizza dish so I can get Nasa on 119.

At my family farm - a 8 foot mesh dish and a old GI reciever. Was as least 15 years ago, and the thing is still in use, but now parked on G26 and used only for catching the horse races from Winnipeg.

 

[rv1pop]

The very first dish I ever worked on - at all was C-Band. 13 meter! Then I got to work on Paul Crouch's Holy Beamer on the 18 wheeler (TBN) uplink, and the C-Band at the Tacoma station.
But my first FTA was KU band. Glorystar. A lot more dishes now though!

 

[SatPhreak]

My first FTA reciever was used on an old 30" alpha star dish that I got for cheap. I set it up on g25 with an old expressvu reciever and got about 4 channels that mapped to bell channels. So then I orderd a pansat 2500a and when it arrived all I had to do was swap it with the bell reciever and blind scan to get the other 150 channels on that sat.

 

[starman345]

I bought a Fortecstar Lifetime around 2002 or so, and bought a 76 cm Winegard to go with it. That was quite a few dishes ago now