LEGALFREETOAIR.COM

Getting Started with FTA: Overview

Copy and Paste from FTAList.com. All credit to Michael

http://www.ftalist.com/started.htm

What you absolutely need:

A clear view of the southern sky
A dish, 30 inches or wider
A Ku-band LNBF
A Free-to-air DVB receiver

To hit multiple satellites from one dish, add:

A dish-moving motor

Really helpful stuff for installation:

A compass with degree marks
A level
True RG6 coax cable
A 7/16-inch wrench, for most dishes
A portable TV
A signal strength meter

The four simple steps:

1) Find a place for the dish. It has to have a clear view to the south, although the exact direction varies.

2) Get your equipment. Choose what you want, see who sells it for a good price, and go get it.

3) Install. You can do it yourself with a few helpful tools, or you can pay someone else to do it.

4) Find your channels. Use FTAList or SatcoDX as a guide to where to look for the channels you want.




 ;)

It is a great set of instructions.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!!  ;D

Fellas,

When I was trying to set my system up before, I used what is called an "Inclinometer".
I have a picture of it, and will link it in here.

It's basically screwed to a piece of Board, with two screws which allow me to hang it on the Dish.
I know it's not a very accurate way to site in on a Sat, but it gets you in the ballpark, what do you think ?
Has anyone tried this besides me ?

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg88/SWHouston_bucket/Houston75d.jpg)

Have a good Day !  :)
S.W.

i have they work good

 Thanks SWHouston for the pic,I recently perchased a dish that does'nt have the degrees scale imprint so your idea will be very usefull to me. 8)

hopefully you know the dish to LNB offset if its like SWHouston's pic (notice its not in the center of the dish)

ie.
if your dish has a 20 lnb degree offset
and you are trying to see up at 45 degrees

you would subtract the offset whrn looking at the refleector angle
45
-20
------
25 degree angle on reflector to see 45  degrees in the air

I say to hell with the board and all that work,

I do it like this and it works great every time, i mean i never have to reset elevation after doing it this way

http://legalfreetoair.com/index.php?topic=450.0

With 'clear view of southern sky,' I have successfully aimed Direct TV dish for years and it worked great.  I live in the woods, however, and wonder if the Direct TV dish aiming will work with the FTA dish, or whether the aiming requirements for that are more stringent.  I know I can't cut down the trees because they are so beautiful and some of them are NOT on my property as well.  So if Direct TV works, will a Ku Band dish work?  Thank you. 

Its a yes and no answer really. Most directv dishes aimed at 101.0W so if you have a clear view of that you could certainly get 101.0W AMC 4 Ku no doubt. Probably 97.0W, 99.0W, 103.0W, anything near that but it depends on the trees. But having had Directv in the past you certainly could get at least some satellites for sure. And AMC4 101.0W is a good one to get too.

I was given a dish network 500 dish which is about 22" an a dish pro digital LNBF which has 4 hook ups  one side says 110W an the other side says 119W.. Can you tell me if this will work or is there a complete setup i can buy..

nether will do you any good getting FTA
you need a:
-a dish at least 36"
-and linear LNB the one you have is circular (for pay systems)

hyper has some packages here
http://www.hypermegasat.com/Package%20Deals.html

I know he's been real busy with orders lately, but this is what I would piece together

HD receiver
OPENBOX S9 HD PVR FTA Receiver
http://www.hypermegasat.com/Openbox%20S9%20HD%20PVR.htm

for Ku band

LNB
Spitfire Elite Single Output 0.1dB Universal LNB
http://www.hypermegasat.com/Dish_LNBs.html

HotDish 90 36" Inch (90cm) FTA Dish
http://www.hypermegasat.com/hotdish_90.htm

SG9120 Heavy Duty DiSEqC Dish Motor with Metal Gear & 55 mm Tube
http://www.hypermegasat.com/SG9120.htm

and or

for C band
hyper sells BUDs (bid ugly dish)
message or call him for this info

or

check out your area for old BUDs that are not used anymore..
sometimes you can get them free if you take them down for them!
10' is great! but I would not pass up a 6',but the bigger the better!

these will need to be upgraded for the modern digital receiver with this:

DMX241 Digital Ready 13K C-Band LNB
http://www.hypermegasat.com/Dish_LNBs.html

V-Box X DiSEqC Positioner/Controller
http://www.hypermegasat.com/v_box_6.htm
to control the dish mover

and IF the actuator (motor) is not good, hyper has them too

TA-24 24 Inch C Band Dish Actuator
http://www.hypermegasat.com/24_inch_actuator.htm
or
TA-18 18 Inch C Band Dish Actuator
http://www.hypermegasat.com/18_inch_actuator.htm

I know its a lot but thats for both bands and a HD receiver!  ;D
you can always start with Ku, and later add C band

Thank You
I see Hyper has a complete setup with a motor, and would that be the way to go an add the c band to that disk?  I don't have the room for a bud. Would i also haft to upgrade the receiver

What kind of receiver do you have now ric161? Any FTA receiver shoul;d work for C and Ku. If you want HD channels you will need a HD receiver. You can add C Band to a 36" dish, you need a Conical Scaler Kit and a C Band LNB. But my personal opinion is use a motorized dish for Ku, then get a 2nd dish 36" for mini-bud. I think thats the best way to go.

Hello Hyper
I don't have a receiver only the dish that was given to me but wont work for FTA, so I need a hole system. This is all new to me..

 Hi there  everyone i,m from the northern , part of Canada  i used too belong to another site they no long operate sense N3 . honestly and i do not want to sound optimistic or i should say a stick in the mud   what is left ? for free to air on a 27 in even if i had a 30+ dish north east of the city of Toronto ,Ont, Canada . all i hear is fta are gone move on , i do not mean to boar anyone  i guess what im trying to say is where are the facts what is there .  thank you for your time . and Happy new year

that 27" dish is a bit small for "free to air"
but 61.5w has several locals that are ITC, nice line up and my 18" works fine.

give that one a try, no need for hack bins, keys, or other stealing... its "free to air"

if you can upgrade to 36" dish or a cband, then there are a lot more channels around to choose,
a openbox receiver and you get even more.
 ;D


free to air is NOT dead  ::TVgood113
 

 Hi there , when you say open box receiver what do you mean , sorry new to the program started on another site , but everything went n3   more info please or good site too find what is up , thank you

http://www.hypermegasat.com/Openbox%20S9%20HD%20PVR.htm
this will get more channels because it does AC3 audio, DVB-S2 video, & HD  ;D

does not support 4:2:2 video or ANY encrypted programming like DN or DTV (pirating)

overhead,

You keep saying "everything went N3". We know what that means. 

We dont help with that here. We only promote legal free to air. Unencrypted channels.

So the point is, stop mentioning references to pirate terms, or stop posting here in our forum please.

If you are truly interested in legal to watch, in the clear FTA channels, we can help you.

 Hi there , I do apologize for the swear word pirate tv , i will say it no more . I should read a little more , i did have true free to air on a old 30 star choice , but i think it was the size of the dish along with a old receiver couldn't get it any more what i did have    was pan sat 2700 , captive works - 600 p what was informed was the diseqc 1.2 had switch to 2 or more is the true or can i still use the old receiver's that i still have if not what you recommend  to get started for true free to air thanks so much.      

yes its a lil small 36" or bigger would be much better, but you should get the stronger sat TP's though

these should still work for some of the FTA up there (no HD, DVB-S2, AC3 audio,4:2:2 video), but still there is stuff to watch.
one with a good blind scanner is what I look for  ;D
current receivers will do these...
    *Multiple LNB-Switching control (supports DiSEqC1.0/1.1/unicable)
    *Motor Support: DiSEqC 1.2/1.3 (USALS - GoTo X)

the largest switch I use is a 4x1, so DiSEqC1.0 is fine, if you use 2x1 or 4x1 switch or none yours should be ok.


you can always upgrade later and start FTA today, IF you have at least these.
-one of your receivers
-a linear LNB
-that 30" or larger dish

then do a lot of reading and or Q&A here  ;)

use a up to date sat listing site like:
http://www.sathint.com/america
or
http://whatsonfta.net/

and find a sat with the programming you want to try to get.
use http://dishpointer.com/ and it will tell you where to aim the dish and what skew to use for your location.

there wont be alot of channels on one sat, this is where a motor for the dish is well worth the $.
then you can move from sat to sat and program all you can get a signal from.
 

I think you'll find that FTA is truly a wonderful hobby and that FTA people have a lot more fun than the pirates do.  With FTA you never know what your going to get but sometimes you get real good stuff that pirate tv will never get.  Like the NFL games yesterday we were able to watch them in High Definition with no commercials on the uplinks and very often the college football and basketball games are the same way.  We can quite often watch the direct feeds from the sports facility without all the commercials and at times listening to the commentators discussing things during the commercials make it all worth while.  A lot of things are encrypted and we can't watch but a lot of stuff is in the clear as well.  If you absolutely must have TV and know that the channel is available every time then pony up and get a subscription.  The FTA channels come and go and that is part of the fun of the hobby.  It's like with a lot of hunters the thrill of the hunt is as rewarding as the actual kill is.  And a number of us have subscriptions to either directv/dish but we prefer to watch on the FTA side when the feeds are available as the video quality is almost always better than what you get on the overly compressed channels that the DTH providers use even on HD.

 Thank you all so much for the important info .Now time to get started , wish me luck and thanks for the support.

Good luck overhead! If you need any help just ask.

Thank you Hyper i will.

overhead,

Either of those receivers you have will work.

That 30" Starchoice dish should do pretty well for FTA possibly.

A 36" is better of course, but i have tested 30" and they work great for most ku sat signals.

Let us know what kind of LNB is on that dish. What model it is?


 8)

Hi , the lnb on the dish is a ...13  18  v dual output digital  Ku  Lnbf   lNBFD
                                         INPUT  FREQUENCY   11.7-12.2 GHZ
                                         OUTPUT   FREQUENCY   950-1450 MHZ
                                          LINEAR  POLARIZATION  VERTICAL  10-15V
                                                                            HORIZONTAL   16-20V
   other than that that is all i can see on it .               

 So having giving all info on the Lnb, will it work for the true free to air along with the dish size bigger is better . and being from north east of the city Toronto ,Ont, Canada what are my chances of getting true free to air or some of the sat,s , i was trying to find a sat close to my area . 

the only thing I see missing is the LO "local oscillator" freq
if its universal use 9750/10600 and "22khz tone" on
if its standard use 10750
if its a DSS use 11250

79W
is your true south sat
Azimuth (true):  179.5°
Azimuth (magn.):  190.0°
LNB Skew [?]:  -0.4°


only one channel ITC
11900 H    2170 3/4    KTEL-TV

Thank you , that doesn't leave much too watch lol , is it because of the size of the dish or the lnb or both ? thanks again for your help

That was an example
But an important one since it's your true south sat
You will use this one if using a motor

It's also the highest elevation you will see
The rest ate lower and to the left and right if it

Try 97w for a bunch of channels
  many are not English though

 Thank you ftabrat and hyper for all the help on getting started again . Much appreciation . 

Hyper, one thing you should add to the instructions; make sure the coax cable is rated suitable for outdoor and through the wall.  Some people might not realize that there is a difference between their indoor cables and what should be used for outside.  They won't get good signals if they are using indoor cables. 

Do I need a computer to work free to air box

No you dont need a computer if your useing a set top box receiver. Only need a computer if your useing a computer satellite card.

hello!

Do you know which fta receiver are to buy now, and which  brand name are working now? i just wanted to get one now. please email me back soon. thanks

Hello folks!
I have been working around satellite and land mobile based comms for quite awhile now but I have just got biten by the FTA bug ::grin

My wife and I both love the Retro TV Network (RTV) and I am thinking it was on KU at one time.  So I will ask the brain trust here...
Is this network still available FTA ?

This is one network I definitely would like to add for me and the family but Dish doesn't offer it as far as I can find and
cable does but it's a sub of a local that is not local enough for me to receive OTA with less than 200' of tower...I have already mentioned that but the wife shot that down quick..too many neighborhood kids:) and besides that the cable here doesn't impress me much at all..even when I worked for the company :)

Anything else I add would be a neat bonus as well and most of the receivers now seem to handle C and KU easily
making that the easy part ::grin

Thanks!!


Wayne

yes so far... there is one up on 83w AMC9
RTV East cost
Tuff TV
and some feeds that come and go
 ::grin


welcome to the madness  ::TVgood113

Ahh  Sounds great!  All I have currently is an old Primestar dish and LNB to play around with.
I found that bird but the signal is not all that great..likely need a larger dish and better LNB but I managed 10dbmv but no lock on the meter.  It's a start from humble beginnings I suppose  ::grin

Thanks a bunch for the info!


Wt

Dont forget you have to adjust the LNB skew for each satellite seperate if your useing a primestar dish. I get RTV on 75cm dishes

Absolutely.. and my LNB is the older design that has separate H and V outputs. Had a real time getting one of those screws loose..
My mount left a little to be desired in sturdiness too..kinda aggravating with that heavy a dish on a modified tripod lol !

If it's working for you with 75cm dishes it should do OK here in Va. on the elliptical Channel Master /Primestar

Thanks for the ideas!!

Wt

Best bet for Ku (my opinion, of course) is to invest ten bucks with Hyper and get an ESX521 LNB.

Yeah,
That is pretty much what I had intentions of doing as the cosmetic appearance of the OEM is not all that great and that can't spell too much good for the electronics.  I was mainly hoping to be able to hit the bird and get something on the meter at first then I can get on with the fun stuff  ::smiley

Thanks for the LNB recommendation!


Wayne

looks good the quick start guide,

the thing that cuase me some fun is the  mention of  a true coaxial cable (althought i know  is better usea quad shield one) but is not   very popular  those cables in  my area.

best regards

Francisco

Well, been reading. Tried to get some channels and no luck. I did have one comein on 119 when I fired up the Coolsat. It was a information for dish or direct (don't remember) and cant get any more. So I'm trying blind scan. Hmmmmmm Guess it's time to hang it up. Getting tooo difficult for mrbill. I remember a sat with a bunch of christian channels. But don't remember which one. Ya, I tried sathint, wow, big learning curve there. Too much for me. Bummer. Was pretty excited to get that one channel in tho.

OhnO
mrbill ::peace ::peace ::peace

Welcome back mrbill.

you can get-em using a linear lnb. good luck.

G-19 @ 97ºW Ku band has a bunch of christian channels.

sathint link below.

http://www.sathint.com/galaxy-19

Slayers

Cool, thanks. I'll give it a try tomorrow. DaD in law is dying tonight. We just got a call from medical care place. Altimmers took him. He is saved. So he'll be all better soon. Even better than new. ::D
I tried Sat Hint, but way too difficult for me. And my wife already said if the dish gets out of aim that that is the end for me. Too much stress. Bummer. Oh well.

OhnO
mrbill ::peace

Mr. Bill..........you and your family have gone through a lot............our prayers and thought's are with you and the family.

Mr bill;  It is a time of sadness, even though your "Dad in law" is passing from death into life.  Hold your wife and comfort her in this time of need.    Jess

Thanks guys. It's a little comfort knowing he's going to heaven, but till makes us here on earth. You see, were selfish. We don't want people we love to die. Man this dying thing is bad. But everybody is going to do it. Well DaD didn't pass today. Now there saying maybe in a day or two.All in Gods time I guess.

Haven't messed with dish stuff today. Been really busy. MoM fell today and she lives 35 miles away. I'm her lifeline. She be OK. She just wishes DaD will pass soon. The wait is hard.

OhnO
mrbill ::peace

I have a Directv Slimline dish can it be used for FTA? Also what is the best receiver for FTA ? What satellite has the most video channels on it for FTA? Lot of ?'s I know maybe someone can help.I'm a newbie at this FTA STUFF.
Thanks
Danny

Hello and welcome to our forum drush99!

You can definitely use the Directv Slimline for FTA.

There is a bunch of threads here on how to do it with pics and everything.

Do a search for "slimline" on the forum and you will get a bunch of threads.

One of them is here:

http://legalfreetoair.com/index.php?topic=23322.0


You will need to replace the LNB with one appropriate for FTA, and you will also need a Universal LNB Bracket to hold the LNB.

Check our forum sponsor HyperMegaSat.com for these items.

As far as the sat with the most channels Galaxy 19 97.0W for sure.

The best receiver is a matter of opinion i suppose, but I would look at the Linkbox 8000 HD models, and the Manhattan RS-1933HD.

Hope this helps.


 ::grin

Thanks for the reply.....I'll check them out.

Danny

I have one more ? I have a c-band dish with a 4dtv 922 receiver that is working. Will the FTA receivers you mention work with c-band and the slimline dish at the same time? Do they have inputs for ku and c-band? Thanks again.
Danny

drush99;  I don't know the size of  the "slinline", but most of those dish and direct dishes are just plain too small.  I set up a friend with a small dish[somewhere around 23"] and about all we could get was some ch's on g-3c ku.  These small dishes are everywhere!  You need at least a1M[39"] to recieve a reliable sig.  A 1.2m[almost 47"] will do a good job for you. Hyper is correct in that the best sat for you is G-19.  I have a Pansat 9500 and a Manhattan.  The Linkbox local might be a better choice in that it will recieve the OTA ch's. You do need an OTA antenna hooked to it.  Good luck on your set-up.  Keep us informed on how things are going.  Jess out in California

Hey!  Just red latest post, You can hook up either of the recievers to your existing dish and use the 922 as a mover and skew changer.  You need a splitter conected between the c band cable from the 922.  I use a "one way" splitter 5MHZ-2.3GHz. The power is supplied only to one side[between the 922 and the LNB on the feedhorn.  conect the other side to the DVB reciever.  Use the 922 to move the dish, and change skew.  There is a lot more on C band than there is on KU.  You can use a diesq to conect the C band dish and the Ku dish.  You need to set that in the reciever.  One port for C and the other port for KU  You can conect the diesq between the DVB reciever and the cable from the splitter.  Hope this helps  Jess out in California

Thanks Jess for the info......Some FTA receivers looks like they have a loop thru for the lnb hook up to the 922 rec.and would not need a splitter. Is this correct?

No!  You need a splitter.  The "loop through" is for conecting another DVB reciever.  The splitter's that I use are "Ideal".  should be able to pick one up at local electronics store. Jess out in California

Perhaps to be a little clearer about my hook-up:  I have different Imputs on my TV. [video , component , hdmI, ect]   I have my 922 on my TV input tunned to ch 4 to show the 922 screen.  My other boxes are on ;HdmI-1 , HdmI-2 , and Component 1.  My cable is conected to the component 2.  Hope my explanation helped   Jess out in California

Lowes sells "Ideal" brand splitters too.

Just for all the newbies like me out there.. I found the following things to be helpful but did not really notice them in the newbie threads.

1. Make sure to set your LNB correctly in the receiver - KU should be 10750, C should be 5150 and DSS should be 11250

2. Make sure to set the scew on your lnb correctly, make sure your on an active trasnponder

3. Have patience

4. A good satellite finder will go a long way, I had a junk one.. bought something better and voila..

5. Have Patience

6. A small tv is very helpful to watch the smeter during setup.

7. Blind scan is the way to go once you have some smeter activity

 ::bump2

hyper,
here is how i tune in the clark belt without protractor or cellphone.
 
i use an 8 dollar signal indicator that buzzes on a signal. i also have a sat hero hooked to it on the reciever side of the meter. the lnb side of course feeds the lnbf. i look around for south, lossen bolts on elevation and azimuth. i swing dish to south and start raising dish until i hear a signal on indicator. when i lock the bolts after peaking, i go thru sathero to find which transponders give me a positive . this tells me if i need to turn the dish left or right to get on true south. once i have it, i mark on the pole where im getting hits on indicator. then i go back and tune each one with sathero. indicating which sat is which by using a stick on sheet with these marks listing the sat locations.

I did this after my wife wanted to tune in a dish after a heavy wind storm. now, all she has to do is swing the dish to the mark,check for signal and watch. if its not, then undo the inline coupler,hookup meter and peak. wife has it down pretty good now. about 3 to 4 minutes after hooking up meter.

skymaster

I know this is brute force way sometimes but its quick and if you know where south is you will be pretty close. I did this when i didnt have my sathero. then, i just labled the marks a thru whatever and made a chart for where the sats are compared to the letters.

I found that alot of guys get overly worked up over the declination, elevation etc. yes its important,but if you are just starting out with a simple indicating meter, and have trouble getting on the internet like there are in some parts of the country like where i live, its a start.

 find the most high south sat by moving the dish left or right. and  move dish slightly up or down. it will tell if you are going to the left of south or to the right of south.once you find you are no longer moving dish downward either left or right,
 then you found your most high south sat.

i used to tape a string with a bolt or nut on it to tell me if im going up or down on signals.this is only for those who dont have internet and dont or cant put a tv out by the dish.and who dont have a meter that ids on given sats on certain transponders.others may have other tricks, but for  my wife who doesnt know squat about declination, elevation etc, this method has worked for her also.I find that when i place a dish on fixed position, i dont really worry about declination,etc.I find it, peak the dish and peak the lnbf,and go watch some tv.when i put in a motor, yes i worry about it so it will track the sat belt correctly end to end.

hope i dont sound stupid, but it works

skymaster