FTA Satellites: Viewing requirements

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There have been alot of questions lately about what's on other satellites besides Dish and XVU. Here are some things to remember about watching true FTA.

Your 18" or 20" dish with Direct TV/Dish/XVU LNB will not work! For one thing, the dish is too small to pick up the lower frequency signals from the FTA sats. Secondly, the Dish/XVU LNB is for 12.2-12.7 GHz circular (right-left) polarity. Ku FTA sats require 11.7-12.2 GHz linear (horizontal-vertical) polarity. C-band sats require a C-band LNB. Using your Dish Net LNB for FTA is like trying to tune into AM stations on an FM radio.

Some satellites, such as Galaxy 10R and Telstar 5, have both C-band and Ku-band capability. This does not mean that you can use a Ku dish to get C-band signals or vice-versa. Listed below are the dish requirements for each satellite and/or band allocation.

Here's the lowdown on various FTA sats and what's needed to get them:

30" Dish, Ku Linear LNB (4-foot dish in Alaska/Hawaii/Canada/Carribbean) :
LOF1/2 = 10750

Galaxy 10R (123W) : UPN , Fox, ABC Affiliates from Little Rock, Cheyenne, Burlington, and others; Univision and Telemundo affiliates; The Tube; Mas Musica; Veterans Affairs; radio stations

AMC-1 (103W) : NBC feeds (these are sporadic and you'll need a blind search receiver to find them)

AMC-4 (101W) : Religious channels; Chinese Channels; Lawyers TV; RTP

Telstar 5 (97W) : Daystar TV; Globecast; hundreds of Foreignese TV and radio channels.

Telstar 6 (93W) : CBS and ABC feeds (need blind search receiver); Bush Propaganda Network (aka FoxNews); IRS Satellite Network; Lord & Taylor

AMC-3 (87W) : PBS stations (requires AC3 audio capability)This sat is not available in Alaska/Hawaii

AMC-5 (79W) : Utah Educational Network; Empire Sports Network This sat is not available in Alaska/Hawaii

SBS-6 (74W): NBC affiliate from Lake Charles, LA; Ohio News Network This sat is not available in Alaska/Hawaii

AMC-6 (72W) : NBC affiliate from Virgin Islands; Fox affiliate from Beaumont, TX; Comcast Southeast This sat is not available in Alaska/Hawaii



C-band 7 to 12-foot dish and LNB :
LOF1/2 = 5150

AMC-8 (139W) : PBS affiliate from Juneau; Alaska Rural Communications System; Gavel to Gavel Alaska This sat is not available in Canadian Maritimes

AMC-7 (137W) : Anchorage local stations This sat is not available in Canadian Maritimes

AMC-10 (135W) : California Channel; Tech TV (requires AC3 audio capability) This sat is not available in Canadian Maritimes

Satcom C3 (131W) : Fox Movie Channel; Bloomberg TV This sat is not available in Canadian Maritimes

Telstar 7 (129W) : Fuse; Loral Skynet; TV Washington; Sportsman Channel; Q TV Network This sat is not available in Newfoundland

Galaxy 13 (127W) : Azteca; RFD-TV; Asian Channels This sat is not available in Newfoundland

Galaxy 10R (123W) : Outdoor Channel

Anik F1 (107W) : CTV network; ASN; Newsworld International; Green Channel; French channels

AMC-1 (103W) : Pax feeds

AMC-4 (101W) : NBC network feeds; religious channels, UCTV

Galaxy 4 (99W) : Religious channels

Telstar 5 (97W) : TCT World, Urban America TV; BYU TV

Galaxy 3C (95W) : WorldNet; Horse racing channels

Telstar 6 (93W) : CBS Network Feeds (blind search required)

Galaxy 11 (91W) : WB network feeds; Independent stations from L.A.; Fox Movie Channel; EWTN

AMC-3 (87W) : !!!ociated Press; Michigan Gov't; TVU This sat is not available in Alaska/Hawaii

For more detailed info on frequencies, symbol rates, and PIDs, visit www.lyngsat.com

by Tam M Vo
09/15/2004