Season 1 lasted for 2 years with 88 pages, Season 2 has been on for about 4 months now and we are almost on page 100.

In all we have succeded in creating the most viewed thread on nairaland and possibly the most resourceful FTA forum in Africa.

People, it will be great for us to carry on with our FTA journey here.

You are all welcome to season 3 of Free-to-Air thread on Nairaland.

This [url=https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-182209.3168.html link take you to the last page of the previous thread (Part 2)]link take you to the last page of the previous thread (Part 2)[/url] which is now locked and continued here.

Link to Part 1 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-7715.0.html
Link to Part 2 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-182209.0.html
Link to FAQ on FTA - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-152871.0.html

As [url=https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=182209.msg3540382#msg3540382 enigma suggested]enigma suggested[/url], let this Part three commenced with this piece of news from Globecast.  Different tunes for different folks. While GTV just recently wound up, Globecast came out within a month with this wonderful news.

GlobeCast launches new African DTH platform on Astra 4A

3rd March 2009

GlobeCast has today announced that its African DTH platform has successfully started transmissions on SES ASTRA’s Astra 4A (Sirius 4) satellite. African broadcaster VoxAfrica is one of the first channels to sign up for the new platform which provides sub-Saharan Africa’s widest and most powerful coverage.

VoxAfrica called on GlobeCast to provide capacity and distribution its programming to Africa. The new platform on Astra 4A, located at 5° East is the first Ku-band DTH platform with coverage over sub-Saharan Africa, providing broadcasters with the opportunity to reach households across the continent.

GlobeCast has contracted one transponder on the satellite that facilitates uplink from Europe and is compliant to distribute services to IPTV or terrestrial network headends. The new platform, which is an alternative to the pay TV bouquets in sub-Saharan Africa, responds to a strong demand for free-to-air Ku-band coverage of this crucial region. Several African broadcasters are already in contact with GlobeCast to secure positions in this coveted space to secure positions in this coveted space and extend their audience to 56 African countries.

Link to Part 1 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-7715.0.html
Link to Part 2 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-182209.0.html
Link to FAQ on FTA - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-152871.0.html

@ALL

Thank God we r all alive to see the beginning of season 3.Hopefully it will be better than the previous seasons.kudos to everyone

@  Oga Moderator,

I wish u could put the link to the previuos seasons on this page.Thanks

Wow, its nice to be @ the 3rd season, i welcome every one on here, and Long live FTA!
Where is ENITAN2002 oooooo

fxproff:

Where is ENITAN2002 oooooo

enitan will be the first poster on page 2 of season 3.

He is late on this season.

Greetings to All on this wonderful season.
More elbow grease to every FTA enthusiast

@All
Thank God we all made it to season 3. Long Live FTA

@All,
Welcome to season 3 FTA discoveries. May those constrained by space (like me) manage to motorise their 90cm dishes! May good things come out of Sirius 4 this season. Actually, STV2 & Canal 2 International are still using that bird. Only that they were moved to a new TP: 12540,V,4060. As at last night, Walf TV was FTA. It's great to have a blindscan receiver.

@All
Thank God we all made it to season 3. Long Live FTA

Season 3? Oh my gosh! Are we really here now?
Ok, looks like time is ripe for me to sharpen my armoury.
I'm going after Astra 2D-after I succeed in pulling down
star one C2 and Echostar 3 . Anyone care to join me?

@ Olofofo,
Thanks for highlighting receivers that are comparable with the juju-card. In addition to installation of fta dishes, I would suggest you open a shop and start sell receivers. @ All, Welcome to season 3

@All,
It is with great Sorrow that i observe that i couldn't make it as the first poster on season3

DatNiggaAk:

i'm not a technical man so what you guys talk about cant really help me.
i changed my decoder to an Echolink with the jujucard and i've been watching showtime/art programmes.
the problem i have is whenever it goes off, the '19 guy that got it for me rips me off 1k to download the
latest patch.
pls which site can i get the patch from and pls can you give a step by step explanation of how to download and install the patch?
my mail addy is akdatushman@gmail.com incase such help is not allowed here.
peace

Where are you? Your location will determine who could be of assistance. Check through the FAQ thread, the link is above, and see if there is anyone in the house listed in the place where you are. Give a call or better still when you see me online, buzz me. As long as you have a computer of your own, you should be able to do it yourself. Here we encourage members to do things DIY.

@Ecowas4all
But you are among the first poster for the first page in season 3

@ All
Here we come Season 3 may the Lord go before us to conquer all that may come our ways in Jesus mighty name and give us wisdom and strenght to be alive and see more of the Seasons in the future.May the Season brings and usher us all in to destiny of breakthroughs - so we can discover more birds satellite and put shame on the DSTV (people that do not support FTA).

@ All, Once again you are welcome

@Twinstaiye
Regards.

@Sathob
Are you free on Friday? Salamander and I plan to do some rounds, Maybe we could even check out Abdulai's place with the Fuji if we round up quickly enough

Good Friends and wonderful people of Nairaland FTA,

I hail all of una, this thread has grown from being just a source of information and SOS site for satellite TV in subsaharan Africa, to being a hanging out spot for people with similar ideas/tastes e.t.c. anyways, let's keep on rocking.
Oga big joe,

even after all these years, i'm still truly thankful you started this thread.

Oga moderator,

i dey greet oh.

Olofofo my man,

how body now, i see you are now a general supplier of everything. how lag now?

Jujukemist,

i see you have succeeded in changing the name of our precious AB card to yours. how KD now, i go show that side soon.

Toxnaija

Former Zaria boy, only you get two massive dishes in 2 different states? how's work?

Baba Egun,

how area?

Those with Echolink, am i the only one on this forum who experiences a gradual decline in signal levels while watching a program? it is really annoying cos you might be watching something interesting when the signal will just drop and you have to rush for your remote to change it to another channel and change it back and in the process miss out on a few precious seconds of entertainment. i'm going online now to check up other sites to see if there is a hardware fix for this anomaly.

All,

i was going to make a detailed post before buy I'm much too occupied to that now, so i'm just going to post this anyways. a while back, Nash FTA pointed out how one could change the batteries of a UPS to a car battery and in the process get a much longer viewing time from a single charge, the problem we were all considering then was whether the in-built charger of the UPS would be able to charge the batteries without burning out.
well i discovered that the problem wasn't the charger burning out, but rather the charger wouldn't be able to charge the batteries properly. i bought a 62AH SLA battery and every few days i would have to put the batteries in a car to charge it up cos the charge from the UPS could power my TV for less than 5mins, even after a few days charge, (compared to 5 hours after staying in a moving car for a while). so i remembered an old project of mine when i was trying to modify a computer AT power supply to  see if i could get 13.8 volts from the 12v line for something similar.
i got an ATX power supply and using a potentiometer in the 5v feedback loop, i was able to raise the voltage to 14 volts, now those ATX supplies can pump out a lot of current at relatively low voltages so even after 3hours charge (which is how long PHCN usually leave the light on around here) i can watch a complete EPL game, and since i get home late at night, i rarely have to put on the generator these days.

Now someone may ask what does this post have to do with FTA but this thread is all about INDEPENDENCE (being able to get what u want, when u want it), so a true UPS that can power your TV, decoder and sound system for hours with minimum fuss does give you the independence you need to enjoy your FTA system. now there are a few problems with the setup, the most notable of which is that the ATX power supplies are notorious for tripping off with slight voltage or current changes on account of a very sensitive surge protection circuitary, but like i said, i will explain all of this much more fully in a detailed post later, maybe i'll post it on the computer/electronics section of this forum and paste the link here.

I have attached a picture under the post:

By the way, does the jsc patch for echolink affect the showtime/art packages in anyway? what i mean is does it mean u give up the ability to watch the showtime/art packages, or do you have to remove the card every time or something else?

I who will learn alot from you guys salute all,welcome to season 3.

good day every body in da house.we are most greatful to GOD for giving us the opportunity to witness the season three of this forum.season one came and gone ,then we moved to season two and now season three in place.thanks to all the gurus in da house and so many others who may not have been frequent posters.

cheers to every one.

@ Gangsta101
Try this link. To download u are required to register. Also ensure u download right software for your STB
http://www.sat-mac.net/showthread.php?p=90398#post90398

@Gangsta101,
I salute You. I see here that you actually proved my UPS / backup theory right. An in-expensive way to assemble a power backup system. Congratulations. That setup is actually similar to what I have; and with "11-Watt energy saver bulbs" I can keep the house lit all night and leave enough power to drive my FTA equipment. However, the setup may not support those power-hungry Plasma TVs, etc. Some consume up to 200 Watts. Keep discovering. Nash.

Akuna mata ta ,you are welcome to part 3,

no drop in signal level on echolink may be you havent got the right signal strenght on your previous decoder before connecting your echolink and i see nothing bad in it ,if your receiver show 50% signal quality so far it doesnt break or crack is still ok .so it depends on your definition of signal dropping.To me i think echolink is better.

@gangsta101,
my brother, i am interested in the UPS back up system that you have put together. pls tell me what i need to get, and how to go about setting it up. with that power solution, i can always watch my favourite programmes late at night without putting on the Gen.
i await ur reply. you can email me also with more detailed info at :
linksman3@gmail.com

George_D:

Season 3? Oh my gosh! Are we really here now?
Ok, looks like time is ripe for me to sharpen my armoury.
I'm going after Astra 2D-after I succeed in pulling down
star one C2 and Echostar 3 . Anyone care to join me?

Star One C2 @ 70°W and Echostar 3 @ 61.5°W? That will be the day. I hope sey u get like a 40 meter Dish or something bigger than that, and u also dey ready to either dig a borrow pit to house the dish or u get enough people to help u install the Dish upside down.  Na wah OO!! Anyway nothing is impossible sha!

@all>> My regards to everybody in the house who contributed heavily towards ending the Page 2 of the thread on a good note. I LOVE YOU ALL & CHEERS.

Gangsta101:


All,

i was going to make a detailed post before buy I'm much too occupied to that now, so i'm just going to post this anyways. a while back, Nash FTA pointed out how one could change the batteries of a UPS to a car battery and in the process get a much longer viewing time from a single charge, the problem we were all considering then was whether the in-built charger of the UPS would be able to charge the batteries without burning out.
well i discovered that the problem wasn't the charger burning out, but rather the charger wouldn't be able to charge the batteries properly. i bought a 62AH SLA battery and every few days i would have to put the batteries in a car to charge it up cos the charge from the UPS could power my TV for less than 5mins, even after a few days charge, (compared to 5 hours after staying in a moving car for a while). so i remembered an old project of mine when i was trying to modify a computer AT power supply to  see if i could get 13.8 volts from the 12v line for something similar.
i got an ATX power supply and using a potentiometer in the 5v feedback loop, i was able to raise the voltage to 14 volts, now those ATX supplies can pump out a lot of current at relatively low voltages so even after 3hours charge (which is how long PHCN usually leave the light on around here) i can watch a complete EPL game, and since i get home late at night, i rarely have to put on the generator these days.

Now someone may ask what does this post have to do with FTA but this thread is all about INDEPENDENCE (being able to get what u want, when u want it), so a true UPS that can power your TV, decoder and sound system for hours with minimum fuss does give you the independence you need to enjoy your FTA system. now there are a few problems with the setup, the most notable of which is that the ATX power supplies are notorious for tripping off with slight voltage or current changes on account of a very sensitive surge protection circuitary, but like i said, i will explain all of this much more fully in a detailed post later, maybe i'll post it on the computer/electronics section of this forum and paste the link here.

I have attached a picture under the post:

By the way, does the jsc patch for echolink affect the showtime/art packages in anyway? what i mean is does it mean u give up the ability to watch the showtime/art packages, or do you have to remove the card every time or something else?

Good Job Gangsta101. and thanks To Nash FTA!!!!!

This is a good project for anyone living the "FTA" life, and also wanting to Shame "NEPA", or whatever they call themselves now. Imagine, watching your favorite shows without the noise pollution from Generator, or constant power failures from NEPA? That's way too COOOOOOOOLLLL!!!! People, this is something to look into short of installing Solar panels or a Wind Turbine to generate Electricity. Once again, KUDOS to Gangsta101 Nash FTA !!
BY the way you should share the blue print to this your wonderful achievement on this forum.

@all
welcome to Season 3 , season 1 is for ku band,Season 2 is for those that have space for 1.8m and 2.4m motorised,now i think Season 3 will be for 6m motorised and above.

linksman:

@gangsta101,
my brother, i am interested in the UPS back up system that you have put together. pls tell me what i need to get, and how to go about setting it up. with that power solution, i can always watch my favourite programmes late at night without putting on the Gen.
i await ur reply. you can email me also with more detailed information at :
linksman3@gmail.com

@ linksman,
You need the following:
A small ups (eg APC)  = 5,000 and
Battery(s). Deep circle preferable. I can't think of anything more. More info to be posted in the google group

@All
First This thread which i hear is now the envy of many around the world is not only a place where FTA enthusiasts share ideas, like someone said earlier we "hang out here". You see first they said Africa had 0.00000 something% tele-density. We proved them wrong by boosting mobile telephone sales by more than 400%.
Next they said we don't have internet access, Now you all can testify that it took only 4 months to kill season 2 here.
There a few more things which we all have in common, the desire to be free of the power problem is not only a NEPA related thing here in Ghana ECG is beginning to look strangely like NEPA. (My apologies to the brothers in Naija).
So i agree that power solutions and FTB (free to browse) are all part of FTA. We demand nothing less.
25 Gun Salute for Gangsta and Nash.

@ olofofo
thanks for ur assistance. Is art down in all receivers?
I welcome all to season 3

@ all
Welcome to season 3,
@ gangstar101
The jsc patch for echolink simply adds Jsc+ channels and does not affect showtime and art channels and you don't have to remove the card from the reciver to view it.
Enjoy
@ pitodenz
Art is up and running on echolink recivers.

pitodenz:

@ olofofo
thanks for ur assistance. Is art down in all receivers?
                    I welcome all to season 3

art and showtime is up on the update of 2/3 but i believe that it is down on the one of the third.

@all

a piece of news that might interest the house

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Al-Jazeera Said to Mull Bid for English Premier League TV Rights
09/01/2009

Al-Jazeera Network, the Qatar-based broadcaster that started a sports channel five years ago, may bid for the rights to show English Premier League soccer matches in the Middle East, two people with knowledge of the talks said.

The network is in talks with the league about the rights, which cover three years beginning with the 2010-2011 season, they said. They declined to be identified as the bidding process hasn’t started yet.

A deal may help Al-Jazeera lure more viewers to its sports channel and bolster advertising sales. Al Jazeera Sports, which can be watched in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, already broadcasts Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Lega Calcio Serie A. The broadcaster also has the rights for the UEFA Champions League from 2009 to 2012.

Last time the rights were sold, Al-Jazeera lost out to pay- TV network Showtime Arabia, which shows live matches across the Middle East and North Africa. Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Showtime Arabia is owned by investment firm Kuwait Projects Co. and Viacom Inc., the U.S. media company controlled by Sumner Redstone.

The Premier League said it will invite broadcasters to bid for the rights to show the games outside Britain once the local rights sale has been completed. The league last month sent out invitations to tender for the domestic rights for the three seasons from 2010 to 2013.

Al-Jazeera’s English soccer offering has so far been limited to FA Cup, the national knock-out competition.

International Rights

A spokesman for Al Jazeera didn’t immediately respond to calls and an e-mail seeking comment. Dan Johnson, a spokesman for the Premier League, said the process for the sale of international broadcast rights had yet to begin.

Premier League teams on average get about half their revenue from broadcast agreements that have ballooned in the past decade. The current U.K. deal for Premier League rights, worth about 1.7 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) over three years, expires in 2010.

The league’s total broadcast agreements, which include international rights, are worth 2.7 billion pounds over three seasons, ranking it as the world’s richest soccer league. The most popular teams and players, such as Manchester United and its Portuguese-born star Cristiano Ronaldo, have a global following.

Al-Jazeera, which means “The Island” in Arabic, began operations in 1996 and is financed with money from the Emir of Qatar, advertising sales and cable subscription fees. Besides the original Arabic-language flagship channel, Al-Jazeera now runs other channels including Al Jazeera Sports and an English- language news channel.
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