Listen to the FTA Satellite Show on Saturdays between 3 PM ET and 5 PM ET on Access America. They talk a lot of what is available on satellite, hands on stuff and different systems/receivers. For Internet streams and satellite coordinates go to http://www.access-america.net/schedule.htm.
Ralf Access America ----- Original Message ----- From: Frank Kennedy To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:30 PM Subject: [TVRO] FTA Q and A Some FTA Q and A's I found in a digest: newbie w/ alot of questions Posted by: "Pete Snidal" [EMAIL PROTECTED] pete_snidal Date: Tue Jan 8, 2008 7:47 am ((PST)) >I'm wanting to know this in cause of one I hear there a uprise in fta >sys, so so happy w/ my directv, and all the analog to digital >converison talk.. > >1. Is free to air the same as the one I remember my parents having >yrs ago w/ 10ft dish in bckyrd? I really do'nt have room for such a >dish. Not necessarily. The 10-footer is a K band dish. The smaller Ku Band dishes are being used both for commercial direct-subscriber TV and also for the FTA sats. The difference is that the DS dishes require that you pay a subscription fee, and use service-specific hardware (dish and receiver) for the provider you use. FTA service is provided for some sats as a series of unencoded "come and watch for free" signals. One such sat is Galaxy 25 at 92 degrees West. (I think. See www.lyngsat.com for info on the various sats. >2. How free r we talk? My wife and I like local ch. and discovery, >history, hgtv type channels along w/ disney for are son. Basically am >I going to have to subscrbe to these indivually chans to watch them >if I can still get. What? This is a pretty garbled question(s). What I can tell you is that the channels you like are not available on FTA TV. >3. I already have direvt tv so is any of that equipment compatible w/ >fta equipment? No. You need a different dish, aimed at a different sat, and a different receiver. You don't have to interfere with your present system (Dishnet?) You can connect your receivers so you can switch back and forth from one to the other. You still pay the fee for Dishnet, but your new channel choices (lots of radio in there, too) are free. Two dishes now on your house, two receivers (STB, or set-top boxes, in your house.) With FTA receivers, there is also a possiblity of externally re-programming them with "bin files" so that they will decode encoded TV from commercial providers. Trouble is, the providers keep changing their encoding, so it's a constant fight to stay on top of their game. Also, it's illegal - they call it "stealing signal" (some of us call it decoding a signal they send onto our property without us asking for it, so screw 'em!). Whichever attitude you adopt, it's still questionable whether it's worth the 30 bucks a month or so for basic TV service. Stealing signal is an interesting hobby, but it's also a real pain in the ass for most people. However, many of us find that the Really Free FTA programming is interesting. A lot like listening to international short wave radio used to be. International in scope, strange but fun. A lot of Arab, Oriental, Latino, even Russian programming comes down off of GA25, for instance. And there are more. I just stick with the one sat, since I don't feel like bothering with multiple dishes, actuator motors, etc. GA25 has enough channels for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1214 - Release Date: 1/8/2008 1:38 PM __________________________________________________ D O T E A S Y - "Join the web hosting revolution!" http://www.doteasy.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
