Free to Air Satellite Receivers

[Lou Schneider]

"Free To Air" sounds a lot like the old 8 ft. satellite dishes and receivers that preceded Dish and DirecTV.

They use satellite feeds that are intended to be received by cable TV head ends.  Usually this means they are lower power than Dish or DirecTV's signals, so you need a larger dish to receive them.

These signals may or may not be encrypted.  Encrypting is what sealed the demise of the old 8 ft. satellite dishes - as more and more people began using them, the content providers became concerned about the number of "freeloaders" bypassing the local TV stations (and their commericals) so they began encrypting their signals, blocking them from direct reception.

I looked at the "Free To Air" channel lists.  They idon't make any distinction between channels that are definitely encrypted, including feeds via Dish and DirecTV that cannot be received without a subscription.  Of the remainder, there's no indication of which are encrypted and blocked, or which are truely free to receive.  They also noted that a channel that's free today may be encrypted and blocked tomorrow, depending entirely on the whim of the provider.

Sounds like fun for an experimenter.  However, if I was interested in just watching TV, Dish or DirecTV are a lot more convenient.

 

[Karl]

Otherwise the picture will be Black and White.  Grin

What? They've got colored pitchurs now?  Next you'll be telling me they talk too!  How dum you thinks I is? :

 

[John From Detroit]

"Free To Air" sounds a lot like the old 8 ft. satellite dishes and receivers that preceded Dish and DirecTV.

They use satellite feeds that are intended to be received by cable TV head ends.  Usually this means they are lower power than Dish or DirecTV's signals, so you need a larger dish to receive them.

Well, in part you are correct,  You are refering to "C Band" transmissions, FTA also uses KU band (same as Dish and Direc) and works with standard DISH or DN dishes (or with a Direcway usinga Bird on a Wire) Though I have not gotten mine up yet) Some broadcases are encrypted (DishNetwork, Direcway and Bev) some are not, Some (NASA TV for example) are intended to be Free, most religous channels are Free, and many broadcast stations are also Free to anyone capable of watching them.  Of course you get the commericials too.  Just like "OTA" (over the air, or standard broadcast)

But you are correct C-band is part of FTA and many FTA receivers (mine included) are capable of using and controling a C-Band Dish and LNB

 

[UK-RV]

Hi Guys

Starting with a reply from the manufacturer of the Tracvision......

........you can use the SF for FTA as long as the content is on the DBS satellites that are circularly polarized and in the frequency band of 12.2GHz to 12.7GHz.........I don't think the FTA content is in this band.

Thought I would add a reply Ive had from the FTA Forum mentioned previously.......

.....the dish is wide enough w/o a doubt but the hight i'm not sure about (no experience w/a dish that size) and the LNBF is good to go too.

with the proper firmware and STB(Set Top Box) you can achieve your goal! pick a STB...i prefer the pansat 3500S...of corse make sure it has support!! as does the pansat!

the LNBF(Low Noise Block-downconverter w/Freehorn) on your dish is a Ku circular polarized LNBF and can aquire signal from:
Echostar 1,2 @ 148.0W
Echostar 3 @ 61.5W
Echostar 4 @ 77.0W
Echostar 5 @ 129.0W
Echostar 6,8 @ 110W
Echostar 7 @ 119W
Nimiq 2 @ 82.0W
Nimiq 1 @91.0W

all of the above depend on your location!

So, it looks as though it will be worth it to order the FTA Receiver - I can always sell it on ebay later if no good.

Paul

 

[UK-RV]

Hi Guys

A brief update on the FTA Receiver :-

After spending 2 days with the DVD/VCR and Splitter Box hanging out over the drivers seat - and cables, cables and more cables everywhere, I finally got the Receiver connected (turned out I only had to change 2 connections? ;D).

Getting the shelves back into the compartment was probably the hardest part.

With the Tracvision locked onto a satellite with strong reception, I uploaded a file to the Receiver.

After a few false starts, Ive got TV !!!

I have also got a few PPV channels too - I think that was a result of the uploaded file to the receiver.

Just got to see what happens, due to the small Tracvision dish,? the further North we go.

Paul

 

[Tom]

Follow-up to an old topic....

I hadn't heard of free-to-air receivers until Paul started this topic. While we were recently visiting the UK I browsed around the local Tesco supermarket (something like a WalMart supercenter) and saw various models of free-to-whatever receivers. Seems like they're commonplace over there.