Well, just a little update. I've gotten a FTA (Free to Air) system a few weeks ago, along with some multi-satellite switches, and have it connected to two stationary satellites (Well, 1 dish with 2 lnbs pointing to 2 different satellites) and 1 motorized satellite, with the ability to have somewhere between 8 and 16 lnbs connected to 1 receiver, with the right switch combination.
This system is only setup for KU-Band Digital, but I believe you can also use it with C-Band digital as well, with the right lnb. The stationary dish is appx 20", and the only reason I needed it was because it uses legay dual lnbs, while the motorized dish uses a wide band universal lnb.
I had several problems trying to set up the motorized dish, for several reasons. First, I tried to set it up on a pole I already had, which used to be used for directv, and while it got a good signal on directv, there were too many trees, as well as a house, in the way, to catch a lot of the other signals.
So, I ran it out to the clearest part of the property, which is appx 220ft from where the receiver would be. After reading in several sources that 150ft is the maximum you'd wanna run any motorized fta dish, without using rg-11 cabling, I tried to get some rg-11. None of the satellite places locally had it. I had also read that a lot of people had ran 200ft on a good quality rg-6 cable, with no problems.
So, I bought some philips rg-6 cable.. Worst mistake I could have made. A lot of DB and voltage loss, unstable, etc. So, I took that back and got RCA rg-6. It is so much tougher, stiffer, more mass, and that did a lot better, but I still got some voltage loss.
So, I got all new barrel connectors, cleaned all the connections that had been screwed and unscrewed multiple times, and got rg-6 for even the smallest of connections (from motor to lnb, from switch to receiver,) and that for the most part did the trick.
The next problem was the switch itself, which was brand new, a coolsat diseqc switch. After re-arranging the switch order, I came to the conclusion that lnb input #1 wasn't working correctly, and after hooking up to input 2, 3, and 4, it worked.
To make matters worse, I was at a zero point (true south) of a satellite that I couldn't get anything from (nimiq 2, 82w) because it's a pay service. So, all I could do was try to get a signal there, and after reading lots of information about usals motors, I told the receiver to turn the motor to intelsat americas 5, and adjusted the dish between that satellite and galaxy 10r, and after those two satellites were aligned right, the whole system was setup.
So, if any one is considering getting an FTA motorized dish, remember when setting it up, you don't automatically have the dish aligned when you aim it toward your closest zero point. In fact, if there isn't a satellite near the zero point, just skip it completely.. after putting in your lat/long, tell the receiver to aim towards t5 or g10r, and adjust it from there, to save a lot of time and headaches. You need a minimum (supposedly) dish size of about 30"-33" to get T5. T5 = Telstar 5 = Intelsat Americas 5, just so you don't get confused. Also, make sure both the receiver and the motor support USALS, as it takes your latitude and longitude and makes that its zero point (where your true south should be,) and uses that to determine where to position itself for each satellite.
In the USA, you'll probably only be able to get somewhere between 61.5w, and 142-146w or so on american satellites (american satellites start at 61.5w and end at 148w), because that's about where the motor is going to stop. Ya may also be able to get some atlantic satellites too.. not sure yet.
In conclusion, i'm sure that some people may want to know what types of channels they can get on an FTA system. On G10R, there are quite a few pax, wb, and UPN, fox, and Retro networks, that have a lot of stuff on late in the evening, like a-team, lavern and shirley, andy griffith, sex in the city?, happy days, king of the hill, and more, but the real prize if for people that want to watch international stations. There are a lot of Chinese, Taiwan (also chinese? don't know,) and arabic stations, especially on telstar 5. There are also hindi, punjabi, a few japanese, russian, polish, a few german, thai, vietnamese, and who knows what else types of stations on there.
The best way to figure out what channels you can get is to go to lyngsat.com, click on frequencies-america (61.5-160) or your nearest location, and then click on the Yellow or Green satellites. All C-Band satellites are in 4 digit numbers under the Freq TP, and the KU-Band will be 5 digital. All of the channels that are light beige in color will be your digital clear channels, and should be what you can get for free, without modifying your receiver.
You will not be able to get every single channel on every single satellite that is in your arc/patch, depending on your location, and the size of your dish. With my 33" fortec dish, I probably get about 80% of what is possible, and some of the transponders do cut out a bit, which would be fixed by upgrading to a 36 or 39 inch dish most likely, and the biggest solid ku-only dish being sold now is 48", which would probably give you everything you could get with ku digital.
Anyway, I haven't forgotten about the big dish. I am still hoping to slowly get one back up again, and the best part is that I can use my fta receiver and slave it to the analog c/ku band receiver when it's setup, and get who knows how much more channels.
