Free To Air Satellite TV, FTA
Christian Television from Galaxy 19 Satellite
This is information about Free To Air Satellite TV. Free to air is
often abbreviated FTA and as its name implies, it is free TV. You buy the
necessary equipment, set it up, and begin viewing. There are no monthly fees.
You do not pay anything for Free To Air programming.
When you think of satellite TV, you normally think of pay TV like Dish Network
and Direct TV. They broadcast encrypted signals that can only be viewed with
their equipment which unscrambles the signal. And you pay them a monthly fee.
But I repeat, Free To Air TV is free.
There are five basic parts to the system that you will need.
1. Antenna.
There are two types of frequencies in use for FTA
television. One is called C band. It requires a very large antenna. The other is
KU band which uses a much smaller dish. The antenna used for pay TV is too small to receive good FTA
signal quality. Pay TV uses the KU band but at a higher
power level and a different polarization. I recommend a 90cm / 36 inch offset antenna
to receive KU band frequencies. The offset refers to the angle that
the LNB is off center. Because of the offset, the antenna is not tilted up as
much and rain or snow will just roll off rather than collect in the dish. It is
very desirable to have the antenna at ground level rather than on the roof. You
must use the elevation angle scale on the antenna and not try to measure the
angle directly because the offset will throw off your measured angle above the
horizon.
2. LNB.
LNB stands for Low Noise Block Converter. Sometimes called LNBF which stands for
Low Noise Block Converter Feedhorn. These are sometimes sold with the dish. You
need a linear KU band LNB. Pay TV LNB's are not compatible with free to
air.
3. Free To Air satellite receiver.
There are lots of FTA receivers that you can buy. For Galaxy 19 you need one
that says DVB-S / MPEG-2 compliant. None of the channels on Galaxy 19 are high
definition so you don't need a high definition receiver.
4. RG6 Cable that connects the LNB to the receiver.
5. Ground rod and ground wire.
The antenna needs to be grounded. Use your existing home grounding
system if possible.
Equipment suppliers: Here are websites of some suppliers:
http://www.satelliteav.com/
http://www.glorystar.tv/
Also Check Ebay for: FTA Satellite Dish or FTA Satellite Receiver
Galaxy 19
There are several satellites available that you could point your antenna at, but
I want to concentrate on only one. Galaxy 19 which is located directly above the
equator at longitude 97 West. Longitude 97 west passes very close to Dallas,
Texas. So the satellite is roughly due south of Dallas, Texas, but very high
above the equator.
The Galaxy 19 satellite at longitude 97 west has over 200 FTA channels available
in the KU band. About 40 of those are in English. The others are not English.
About
30 of the English channels are Christian television networks. So if you like
Christian television you'll have plenty of channels.
Go here for
complete list of channels available from the Galaxy
19 satellite at 97 West Longitude:
http://www.sathint.com/galaxy-19
or
http://www.lyngsat.com/Galaxy-19.html
or
http://www.ftalist.com/galaxy19.php
The 4 digit frequencies are C band. The five digit frequencies are KU
band. The H stands for horizontal polarity. The V stands for vertical polarity.
Before buying equipment, make sure you have a suitable place to set up your
antenna. You must have line of sight to the satellite. Trees or buildings will
block the signal.
You can find an
Installation Manual from Glorystar. Some of the information is
specific to their equipment but some applies to all systems. Well worth reading.
Go here:
http://www.glorystar.tv/p/manuals
Click on the Glorystar One Satellite Installation Guide.
Equipment setup to find satellite
Motorized Antenna Setup
You could use a motor to turn the antenna to different satellites. Go here for a complete description of how to setup a motorized antenna:
http://www.repentnow.com/FTAMOTORINSTALL.htm
Antenna Alignment
You need to know
just where to point your antenna.
Start by finding your Latitude and Longitude here:
http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html
Find your location
on the map and write down your latitude and longitude. Write down both the
decimal latitude and longitude and the Degrees,
Minutes, and Seconds latitude and longitude. You will need both of these later.
Go here for antenna alignment data:
Go to Dishpointer.com.
Enter your address or decimal latitude and longitude in the "Your location" box. Separate
latitude and longitude by a comma and don't forget the minus sign if needed.
Select the satellite you want. For Christian TV select 97W Galaxy 19. Look
at the satellite picture. You should be able to see your house and neighborhood.
You can move the little teardrop point around. The line shows just where
the antenna needs to point to receive signal from the selected satellite. Pick
out some reference point along the line shown. Make sure the little
teardrop point is about where you will setup your antenna.
Write down all the "Dish Setup Data."
Make your initial antenna pointing using this reference point for setting the
azimuth. Use the elevation scale on the antenna to set the elevation.
Receiver Setup. When you first set up the satellite receiver, you might have to manually enter transponder information of frequency, polarity, and symbol rate to find the satellite. Use a transponder/channel that has a strong signal. On Galaxy 19 the Ebru TV channel has a strong signal. Enter this frequency: 12084. The polarity is vertical. The symbol rate is 22000. This transponder screen should have a signal strength and signal quality meter. Leave the receiver on this screen and begin to point the antenna. Make very small movements left and right (azimuth) and up and down (elevation) to find the satellite and "tune" the antenna. The satellites are 2 degrees apart in the sky. A two degree movement at the antenna mast is about 1/32 inch. Use the signal quality meter of your receiver to do this "tuning." Tune for maximum signal quality then carefully tighten the mast and elevation bolts. Have someone watch the TV and use a radio or cell phones to communicate or bring the receiver and a little TV outside near the antenna. After you find the satellite, do a scan to verify that you are at the right satellite. If you don't find the expected channels, you are at the wrong satellite.
Use the Sun for Dish Azimuth Setting.
Another method for initial pointing of a satellite dish is to use the
sun. Go here for sun azimuth information:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.php
Enter your city and state in form A or for more exact information Use form B and
enter the latitude and longitude you wrote down earlier. For the United States,
longitude is West and latitude is North.
Set tabular
interval at 1 minute.
Time zone for USA:
Eastern time zone is 5 hours west of Greenwich
Central time zone is 6 hours west of Greenwich
Mountain time zone is 7 hours west of Greenwich
Pacific time zone is 8 hours west of Greenwich
Click the Compute Table button.
Look down the Azimuth column on the right and find the number that is nearest
the True Azimuth number you wrote down from the "Dish Setup Data" at
Dishpointer.com
The column on the left shows the time in hours and minutes. Daylight time is not
implemented in this program. When daylight time is in use, add one hour to the
times listed in the table. For example if the time shown is 13:20 then you would
use 14:20 or 2:20 pm.
Get ready and at the exact minute given, (when the sun is shining) tilt the
antenna up and rotate the antenna left or right until the shadow of the LNB is
exactly between the lower bolts which would be the vertical center of the
antenna. Mark the mast and antenna hardware as a reference point so you can
return to this azimuth position setting later if needed. This sets the Azimuth
only. Set the elevation using the scale numbers on the antenna.