A little background on satellite TV

[dannyzzz]

A little background on satellite TV. found this very informative reading c/p from the great Tyson01

In the beginning.............it was all free, lol, during the 1970's and early 80's all satellite TV was pretty much free, you did need a 10ft/12ft dish, $1,500-$3,000, but it was free, lmao.
Even with the high installation cost people were standing in line to get them by the early 80's.
This fact was not lost on the existing Cable TV companies, they paid for the majority of these channels to be on the satellites in the first place, they did not own the channels but they were in most cases the channel's only source of income, take HBO for example, they have no commercials to pay for satellite time or programs, they could only exist if Cable Companies sell HBO to their respective subscribers and then pay HBO a royalty per subscription.
Now someone putting a dish in their backyard and watching HBO costs HBO nothing, channel is already there, and it costs the Cable Company nothing in real money, but at some point Cable Companies would see their subscribers going down as more and more people switched to "free HBO" via satellite.
So in 1983/4 they(the Cable Companies) put their foot down, as a group the Cable Companies said they would no longer carry channels that were available for free via satellite, well this hit home for many channels that had become used to the "extra" cash from non-adverstier revenue, channels like TBS or WGN or WPIX are supported with local ads, but had a huge cash profit rolling in from Cable Companies selling these "SuperStations, to their subscribers.

In 1984/5 the satellite channels started to go scrambled, about 6 months later there was a "hacked" descrambler, lol.

Anyway the point I was making with the above is that nothing carried by a Cable TV company or a Wireless Cable TV company(like DN or DTV) will ever be "free" on satellite FTA, that was decided back in the eary 1980's.

What is on True FTA are oddball channels that you may or may not like, PBS is a government sponsered channel so will always be free.
If a True FTA channel gets popular then a Cable TV company will pick it up and it WILL BE scrambled.

So you will not find a replacement for Cable TV in True FTA, don't even try.
If you like the fact you don't have to pay every month for TV then you would already have a local antenna, the motorized 36" dish just expands that idea a little more.
Yes the wild feeds are very neat, but you spend most of the night checking each sat for new feeds, lol, not actually watching them.
True FTA is not for everyone, just for the very smart people, lol.

Here is a list of most of the American Ku band channels that are true FTA,
listed by satellite

74W
ONN - Ohio News Network

74W
WGNO-TV (ABC - New Orleans)

74W
WNOL-TV (WB - New Orleans)

79W
KUEN-TV

79W
NYN - New York Network

79W
OTB - Off Track Betting

87W
Coin Country

87W
Cutlery Corner Network

87W
Gem Country

87W
LPB - Louisiana Public

87W
Montana PBS

87W
MTA International

87W
NMSU - New Mexico State

87W
PBS X East

87W
PBS X West

87W
PBS You

87W
The Patient Channel

87W
TiP TV

87W
WYDN-TV (Boston)

93W
ABC News Now

93W
ABC News One

93W
Classic Arts Showcase

93W
IRS Satellite Network

93W
University Network

95W
ATV Home Channel

97W
Bridges TV

97W
UON TV

101W
3ABN

101W
3ABN Radio

101W
KUIL-TV (FOX - Beaumont)

101W
Lawyers TV

101W
LifeTalk Radio Network

101W
LLBN TV

101W
Radio 74 Internationale

101W
The Hope Channel

103W
NBC News Channel

103W
Pentagon Channel

103W
Safeway Satellite Network

103W
WCPE-FM

116.8W
BYU TV

116.8W
IF TV

123W
ACN

123W
CCCSAT

123W
Daystar TV

123W
KAMT-LP (Amarillo)

123W
KCBU-TV (Provo)

123W
KEXP 90.3 FM (Seattle)

123W
KFDF-CA (UPN - Fort Smith)

123W
KLEC 106.3 FM

123W
KPBI-CA (FOX - Fort Smith)

123W
KQUP-TV (UPN - Spokane)

123W
KTVC-TV (UPN - Roseburg)

123W
KTWO-TV (ABC - Casper)

123W
KWBF-FM

123W
KWBF-TV (WB - Little Rock)

123W
KWBM-TV (WB - Hollister)

123W
KWFT-TV (WB

123W
KWWF-TV (Waterloo)

123W
KYPX-TV (I - Camden)

123W
Pentagon Channel

123W
ResearchChannel

123W
Retro Jams

123W
The New Hot 96.5

123W
The Razor 93.3

123W
UWTV - University of

123W
WBIF-TV (UPN - Mariana)

123W
WBMM-TV (Tuskegee)

123W
WGMU-TV (UPN - Burlington)

123W
WMQF-TV (FOX - Marquette)

123W
WNGS-TV (Buffalo)

123W
WNYI-TV (Syracuse)

123W
WPXS-TV (Mount Vernon)

[evd]

Originally Posted by dannyzzz

[SIZE="3"][B]
So you will not find a replacement for Cable TV in True FTA, don't even try.
If you like the fact you don't have to pay every month for TV then you would already have a local antenna, the motorized 36" dish just expands that idea a little more.
Yes the wild feeds are very neat, but you spend most of the night checking each sat for new feeds, lol, not actually watching them.
True FTA is not for everyone, just for the very smart people, lol.

sorry but i don't agree with this guy .
true free to air have few thing that make it better is legal and free.
we all know you wont see HBO on the list of free to air channels but you get to watch news and few other things for free with out give cable companies a dime and if every body would go fta companies will follow where the profit to be made is .and as for looking for feed is damn easy get a motor and last thing i do believe any one can do fta not just smart people i do believe all members are smart enough.

[dannyzzz]

you right about that boss.

maybe i shouldn't have take it out of the context here's what the original poster stated. he kinda implied that he was expecting to get premium channels for free.

I've done a little reading but can't really find the answer. I noticed that on one of the threads it says that we can't get local channels via True FTA because they are scrambled. I really love locals from across the U.S. so that would be one of the main reasons I would go out an purchase a larger dish in order to get True FTA channels.

So my question is this: What's good on True FTA? I typically like what others like such as sports, local channels, etc. I am pretty interested in these wild feeds of the news stations but if that's pretty much all there is then I probably won't go through with it.

[evd]

nah you was right to post this i just added my opinion about it.

[greenweed]

just 123w and a OTA DTV box will get you some great viewing alone as evd said no HBOs and ppv but its enough to get by with out a sub then you cane always go online for a movie here and there netflix is great for that!! theirs no need anymore for cable and sat high rake you over the Cole fees!! a little work and a little cash for the right dish never pay a sub again!! as time gose on F.T.A WILL grow even with nag3!! if we were smart we could take up a collection from all the sites together and make a large donation to a true free to air sat company like G/10 123w give some MIGHT just get them to add more viewing just a thought!! it has been talked about before. as Manny FTAers there is if every one gave a $3.00 donation one time it would be crazy!! remember t.v viewing is paid for with commercials THEY WANT US TO WATCH T.V.!! if nag3 is never fully cracked i would bet money that fta WILL be looked at very hard for future TV growth viewing just so we can watch there commercials!!

[TD52]

k
I have been doing this from day one..at first ppl would setup a dish and the local city code would make hem take them down...because of a eye sore
then the FCC jumped in and said that was against the law...but they added the smallest dish you could use was 16' and you had to have a HAM operators license...then it was protested and company's that made system rallied to get the dish down to at least 12' and anyone could have one if they could afford it...( I got 10 grand a install ) and all ou got was a very big dish that was made out of plastic with a mesh built in
and you would go outside to move the dish to the place the installer put on the arm..it was a tube with another one inside and you marked it for the bids that were active
then you went inside the house and use a receiver that had a cable tuner that you watched the needle move to the channels..then if not right yet you used a LAN with a ant turner to move it to either horizontal or vertical and you uses a 213 cable to a box ( down converter ) from the LNB then a cable to the house and wires to move the rotor
then some company made up a arm 52" long that you could move the dish from inside the house and a counter so you had a idea of were the birds were...but had a couple draw backs..one was it used a pot to give you resistance to give a reading to the box inside the house..if you were hot you got one reading and cold another also they wore out and gave you what they wanted...second was ppl would drop the dish because they went to far...so you had to put on a collar with a hose clamp so the arm would stop
then they came out with a screen dish....made out of steel and weighed a ton and I know the guy who put it on the market after he saw a prototype at a Vegas show and went back to Minn and started Radimaker industry's ( Don Radimaker ) he is dead now and my dada was one of his pall bearers
so now they cam out with better Lna and the FCC said you can use a 10" dish..then everyone and there brother started to make up a system some only work with there stuff..and other worked with anything as long as the down converter was at the correct frequency
the first company to come out with a LNB was birdview and they got away with even a smaller dish..they had a few different versions of set direct feed and suspended feed..and they could keep adding on receivers so you could watch what you wanted off the same bird at the same time..it had 2 lnbs so no skew was not needed
at the time company's made up a whole system so anyone could install a system...all was there stuff so you could not use a different receiver
then they came out with the LNA then things changed big time..a person could use a feed that had a small motor and moved a small antenna inside the feed to get both sides of the channels and the receivers had motor controllers built inside of them and they could use a 5' dish to get the strong birds..most set hem up to G1 and got most of what they wanted..when this happened..it made the cable company's mad and made the programs use a scrambling system so any one could not watch without paying..HBO said it was gravy for them..they did not have to spend any money and they could charge ppl at home money..but they would charge a cable company a dime a month while you had to pay anything from 3-5 bucks a month depends of you went alacart or bought a package ppl that won the contract to scramble the signal was macom and it it made GI made because there system was not bought..so they bought macom..and then they moved in there system with the 4DTV system and if you look they are the only company that makes a receiver out of over 100 different makers
so now we have a dish that sits in top of a SUV, VAN, RV or PU from the days when you had 3 large bottles of ln2 to cool the LNA's of to get a signal you could watch
so we will see or signal come of the net over the sir line of site ..some places have it now but it will be the norm in all places..and dishes will be gone except in very rural places
so there is a lot more to be added to this post but I could go on for ever..I have seen it all and worked on so many systems and installed them it would boggle your mind

[whodat]

I believe most people can operate a true fta got superdish with pansat to do it