FTA newbie needs help

[nbrege]

This is my first post here so go easy on me. I purchased a Glorystar system for my mom recently because I thought she would like the programming. (more on that later) Well after several failed attempts to install it & much fiddling around I finally got it set up & receiving the Glorystar channels. My mom was excited to be able to get more channels, since she lives in the boonies & only gets 4 or 5 channels with a roof-top antenna. Well after seeing that the only channels she was able to get were all religious channels, she was somewhat disappointed. She was hoping for some more conventional programming also. Well after some research & poking around I discovered I could switch the receiver from Glorystar mode to advanced mode & do a scan for channels. So after doing a blind scan we now had approximately 300 channels (rough count) that are 99% religious or ethnic/arabic/muslim/non-english. More disappointment.
So my question is ... what can I do with the system I have to receive some "more normal" programming that is worth watching? I'm not sure what is even out there or if I can get it. Do I need to aim at a different satellite? What channels do guys find most desirable?
Also, when doing the blind scan there were many parameters in the menu that I just left at their default values. Do I need to change any of these? Also, I keep seeing the term "transponder" a lot in posts on this forum. Can anyone explain what that is to me? Sorry for the long post & dumb questions. I would really like to be able to give my mom a good mix of religious programming & conventional cable-style programming. (movies,cooking,travel,documentaries,etc,) Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

 

[Tron]

You'll have to move the dish to other satellites to get different programming. 97W is mostly religious or ethnic programming. The other satellites have far fewer channels, but my have something of interest. 125W has lots of PBS programming, some even in HD. There are wild feeds (usually news trucks) across the various satellites, and these can sometimes be interesting. You generally won't find cable-type programming (channels like Discovery, TNT, etc.) in the clear.

SatelliteGuy's own TheList is a good source of info on what's up there and where it is.

 

[cyberham]

What he said! You need to do what's necessary to receive the PBS family of channels on SES 2 at 87W (LPB) and AMC 21 on 125W including Create TV. Every night those channels have cooking, drama, concerts. For Asian documentaries (mainly on China) in English you can't beat Galaxy 3C at 95W. And AMC 9 at 83W will give you old programming like Lassie, Route 66, Naked City on RTV/PBJ channels.

A transponder refers to the frequency that is used to transmit one or more channels. For example, 11807 MHz is the transponder frequency on SES 2 at 87W that is used to transmit three commonly received PBS channels.

 

[FaT Air]

To find some other satellites, it has to be "watching" an active transponder on that satellite. You enter the transponder's frequency and SR in the satellite 'setup' programming.
You can find many on TheList! (link on every page here) Another good list is global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html On either, look at Ku band.
Satellite Finder / Dish Alignment Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com can be used to help aim.
Also be aware that PBS on 125W are underway with a change to MPEG4, so shortly a receiver upgrade may be required. PBS mux on 125W moving around...preparing for changes

 

[KE4EST]

to SatelliteGuys Nbrege!!