Before the flames start - this is for FTA satellites not hacking the pay services!

1. KU band is small dish - 1 meter and smaller. C band is BUD - Big Ugly Dish
    Good channel list for Ku - http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistKuBandUS.html

2. Lyngsat has good channel lists and maps of satellite coverage
   http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html

3. Once you pick a satellite, check to see if it's visible at your site:
   http://www.dishpointer.com/

4. Couple interesting satellites:
   125W - PBS national feeds. Should be good until sometime in 2010.
       http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/84128
    97W - Tons of international channels
    72W - NBC and Weather Channel feeds

5. You probably want to start with a good "blind-scan" receiver so you don't have to enter channel data.
The Traxis 3500 is pretty inexpensive and has been a good unit for me.
Lots of people sell it but I think they all get it from DMSI - http://www.dmsiusa.com/links.html

6. There's a couple forums. I typically find them by Googling a particular question I have. (ie "Traxis 3500")
http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-equipment-reviews/56755-traxis-dbs-3500-a.html

7. I started with a motorized dish but have problems with it during the Minnesota winters.
-20C is only -4F and my temps are below that for long stretches. And it seems that when I'm channel surfing
the channels are on satellites at opposite ends of the arc so it takes awhile for the dish to move.
Fixed dishes with a switch in between is nice for quick channel changes but limits me to 4 satellites currently.


-----Original Message-----
>From: Carl Denk <cdenk@windstream.net>
>Sent: Sep 19, 2009 1:39 PM
>To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
>Subject: Re: [EE] [OT] powerline ethernet? going to change to [OT] FTA (free	to the air satelite TV)
>
>Could you talk a little about FTA, links to good info in particular 
>links would be appreciated. Have had Directv for 8 years, thinking about 
>going HD, but really would like DVR that could record whatever signals 
>are coming in including OTA sub channels. Having to program both a 
>receiver and a VCR is a pain.
>
>Last Sunday I chased out Dish Network after 4 hours of install that 
>resulted in a snowy picture to my network. Their 722 receiver has a 
>"Distribution" port, that even has a programmable attenuator, that 
>probably I wouldn't use, but they absolutely refused to even try it, 
>although the manual shows a nice picture with a splitter to 4 TV's. It 
>took me 3 hours to get my system usable, rescan the TV's in OTA (not 
>cable), and reinstall my 2nd Directv receiver.
>> Between OTA HD and FTA satellite I could just about dump the pay dish.
>-- 
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