# New to FTA World, How To Buy?



## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

Thinking about gettting into the world of FTA.....one thing is seriuosly confusing me...WHICH reciever? I know I need blind scan, that's a given from what I've been able to read and understand, I want a motorized system to track the arc like in the old C-band days when I was a lad. I miss chasing wild feeds and it looks like FTA is the new way to do this.....BUT WHICH DANGED RECIEVER? Should I just buy a systme all together dish,LNB, motor, reciever, or try to piece something together? 

Should I assume that more $ buys more reciever? Or will any one work as long as it has blind scan? I'll only be feeding one TV so do I need all the switches or dual LNB? 

Keep in mind that this will just be a HOBBY for me, not a sounce of main entertainment, although it WILL be hooked up in the family room to the HDTV, although I am not expecting to have the $$ to have a HD OTA reciever, if they become available. 

Will someone help me with this please?

Thanks.


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## DougRuss (Oct 16, 2005)

I would recommend checking out the following site.They have some decent $$$ on Packaged Systems. I bought my 90 CM Motorized Dish Setup from them and happy with the Service. Got lucky and got a New Fortec Star"Mercury II"( Receiver on Ebay for $36 US . And it works great !

http://www.sadoun.com/

* and if you decide to order from them, make sure you Add the FREE Satellite Meter Kit to the Order !

And some Menu Screen shots from another source:
http://www.commsearch.com/fortec_mercuryII_menus.htm


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

I signed on at Sadoun, thanks.....lots of good info there, too! Thanks!


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

stogie5150 said:


> Should I assume that more $ buys more reciever? Or will any one work as long as it has blind scan? I'll only be feeding one TV so do I need all the switches or dual LNB?


FTA receivers are a lot like cars; most do the same things. If you just want basic functionality, just about anything with blind scan support (for now) and DiSEqC support (for later) will do. And for now, you won't need any switches or extra LNBs.

Although I certainly have nothing against the fine people at Sadoun, you'll sometimes find a better price if you buy from _reputable_ sellers on eBay. In fact, you might even find yourself buying from Sadoun that way.


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

FTA Michael said:


> FTA receivers are a lot like cars; most do the same things. If you just want basic functionality, just about anything with blind scan support (for now) and DiSEqC support (for later) will do. And for now, you won't need any switches or extra LNBs.
> 
> Although I certainly have nothing against the fine people at Sadoun, you'll sometimes find a better price if you buy from _reputable_ sellers on eBay. In fact, you might even find yourself buying from Sadoun that way.


I've never gotten onto the ebay thing much...I just don't trust paypal or the folks at ebay....I DID do a search on ebay for OTA stuff and what I found the prices weren't much different than Sadoun. And on ebay I'd have to piece it together. Which I think I CAN do, BTW, especially after reading all the links on your site, Mike. 

And the searches also told me that there are a LOT of pirates out there using OTA to steal. Learn something new every day.

I am not going to lie here, price is an issue, so I don't wanna spend a king's ransom to start off with, before I know if I like it or not.....I was looking for info on using various DBS and former DBS dishes for FTA, but I didn't find much. Especially motorizing them. I know most any dish can be used ( round preferably) as long as the LNB is correct..but motorizing the same is problematic from what I gather.

Thanks for the info and as soon as I get something going I am sure I'll be back with many ignorant questions...:lol:


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## Ray_Clum (Apr 22, 2002)

stogie5150 said:


> I am not going to lie here, price is an issue, so I don't wanna spend a king's ransom to start off with, before I know if I like it or not.....I was looking for info on using various DBS and former DBS dishes for FTA, but I didn't find much. Especially motorizing them. I know most any dish can be used ( round preferably) as long as the LNB is correct..but motorizing the same is problematic from what I gather.


You really should go with a larger dish, 76cm or 1m, to get good signal. The 18" (45cm) really isn't up to snuff...


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## bruin95 (Apr 23, 2006)

stogie5150 said:


> I've never gotten onto the ebay thing much...I just don't trust paypal or the folks at ebay


You should really get over your paranoia.


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

bruin95 said:


> You should really get over your paranoia.


I know four folks that had problems..... I don't like having an online account of any type hooked to my bank account, for paypal to clean out without my approval. No thanks. :nono:

I'll stick with phone ordering with my credit card.....


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## Ray_Clum (Apr 22, 2002)

I set up a separate checking account and linked PayPal to it. Right now that account has a grand total of $.06 in it and nothing in PayPal. Anytime I pull money from Pay Pal, I transfer it to my main checking account the day it hits...


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

AFAIK, you don't need to register with a checking account in order to _pay_ using PayPal.


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## Ray_Clum (Apr 22, 2002)

True, but I bought and sold on eBay...


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

Ray_Clum said:


> I set up a separate checking account and linked PayPal to it. Right now that account has a grand total of $.06 in it and nothing in PayPal. Anytime I pull money from Pay Pal, I transfer it to my main checking account the day it hits...


That's the only way I'd ever do it. not leave anything in the account, anytime.

In other news, I think I am going to go with a 90cm dish. Invacom Quad LNB, and a good motor. I think I'll have about 400 bucks to spend, so I need to pick out a good reciever. Any thoughts?


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

My last three receivers:

Pansat 2500A
Traxis DBS-4550
Fortec Mercury II

They all supported multiple dishes and drove my motor with no-brainer USALS. They all supported AC3 audio passthrough to my Dolby AV receiver. They had other different features, but I liked all three receivers. I'm sure there are others that would also suit your needs.

One of these days, I'm either going to whip up some PC-based FTA DVRing, or the price of a dedicated FTA DVR will change to meet my desire to get one. Or vice versa. 

Oh, and stogie, what I was saying is that when you're just buying with PayPal, your only "link" to it need only be your credit card, which you were going to use anyway. But please use the method that makes you feel comfortable.


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## bruin95 (Apr 23, 2006)

stogie5150 said:


> I know four folks that had problems..... I don't like having an online account of any type hooked to my bank account, for paypal to clean out without my approval. No thanks. :nono:
> 
> I'll stick with phone ordering with my credit card.....


I was talking about ebay, not Paypal.


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

Ebay owns paypal, same thing. 

The real issue is from what I've seen the prices on ebay for FTA equipment is about the same as a regular website. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. If it was 50 percent less I might see doing it, but right now? Besides everyone prices stuff cheap then doubles the shipping to make up for the low price. Sheese...I ship once a week or so I know how much it costs ($$$), but some of these guys are crazy. 40 bucks to ship JUST a reciever? :lol: 

BTW I screwed up on my dish size on an earlier post.......I am looking at at 75cm dish, not a 90cm. I may have to compromise on something, though, I did a trial run last night and my dream system came to 455.00....gonna need to rethink something....


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

You could split up the cost by saving the motor purchase for a little while. It's easier to set up a stationary dish when you're getting started, and you could point it at G10R or IA5 while you get used to the system.


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## stogie5150 (Feb 21, 2006)

What about the Coolsat Recievers? The 6000 specifically. Viewsat? Sonicview? That Sonicview looks snice.


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## bruin95 (Apr 23, 2006)

stogie5150 said:


> Ebay owns paypal, same thing.


It's not the same thing. Nobody is forcing you to use Paypal to pay for an auction. There are plenty of other methods. I find it quite amusing that you're afraid to use a service like Paypal in fear of getting ripped off, but you have no problem giving your credit card number to a complete stranger over the phone. I got a chuckle out of that. :lol:


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## PBowie (Jan 4, 2006)

this is the package Im thinking of getting like Stogie I only want it to go to 1 TV 
as its just a hobby and not my main service which is DISH.

is this one any good??
M-2 Motorized Mercury II Blind Search Choice Set: This system includes the latest powerful Mercury II receiver from Fortec Star.



System Includes:

~ Fortec Star Mercury II Digital Satellite Receiver

~ Digipower SG-2100 DiSEqC Motor 

~ Fortec 31" FS80P Dish

~ Universal mount that lets you put the satellite dish on your roof or exterior wall of your house. 

~ Sadoun ULN1 universal 0.4dB Single KU LNBF


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

The Mercury II is what I'm using now, and it's working well for me. As long as the motor supports USALS, it'll all probably work fine.

Since you mention Sadoun, I'll use their listing for my current LNBF, the Invacom QPH-031 with linear and circular output from a single unit. http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Invacom/Invacom-QPH-031-Quad-lnbf.htm This lets me get my normal linear channels plus those Dish/ExpressVu channels that are FTA (such as Angel One and Gol TV). So far, I'm really happy with it.


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## DougRuss (Oct 16, 2005)

PBowie said:


> this is the package Im thinking of getting like Stogie I only want it to go to 1 TV
> as its just a hobby and not my main service which is DISH.
> 
> is this one any good??
> ...


I have that same system ,except I upgraded to the 36" Dish.

It does what it's suppose to do ....I like it,no complaints so far !!


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