I tot there 'd be some people like me here who likes TV so much but can't afford DSTV.  Free-to air satellite TV is an option.
The Tv channels u will have to receive depends on the size of dish you're using and also the satellite u faced your dish to. You have the choice of Ku band which usually needs the 90cm dish(dstv size) but the number of stations u will receive wont be much. If you're using 1.8m or 2.5m dish u will need C-band lnbf and that means more stations. Depending on the satellite,it can be as much as 40 to 80 channels for 1.8 and 2.5 m dish respectively. You have to bear in mind that what you're using is free-to-air and not pay Tv so the type of channels u might receive will not be the best but they will be worh it. You will be Glad u did at the long run.

I 'd adsvise u try FTA. All u need is just the money for the equipments, VIZ: Dish, LNBF, Receiver (Decoider), and Rf cables. Its cheaper than u can imagine. A 90cm dish (DSTV) size costs only 6,000 naira. A dual KU band LNBF for the 90cm dish is only 1,500 naira and the receiver(decoder) is only 13,000 naira. A roll of Rf cable is 900 naira, and thats all you need for a Ku band FTA reception.

For 1.8cm dish C-band reception, your dish will cost 10,000 naira and the C-band LNB costs 2,500 naira. If u want 2.5m dish (the black net type) the only difference is in the dish and it costs just 24,000 naira. You will use the same Lnb with that of 1.8cm.

With C-band dish, there are a lot of choices u have depending on the satellite u face your dish to. Currently im using an 1.8m dish which is installed both a c-band lnb and attached a ku BAND lnbf by the side enablin it to get reception from to satellites, PAS 10 and intelsat 902 both in the east.
Dont go to people who are into the installation business they will not give them to u for the above prices. Just go to any major electonics market in your city to get them. Like Alaba international in Lagos or Iweka road in Onitsha.

Installation is easy. Just assemble the dish with the manual, mount the LNB/F on the dish and connect the Rf cable to it and then connect the end of the cable to your receiver(decoder). connect the Video and audio outputs from the receiver to the appropriate ports of your TV.
You are ready to start; put on everything (TV and receiver) with the remote control, go to the installation menu of your receiver and put in the TP frequency and Symbol rate of the channel in the satellite u wish to locate. (Some websites where u can get these frequencies for free abound,the most popul;ar is www.lyngsat.com ) when you're sure u have put in the correct TP and SR, go to your dish which u must have positioned in the mounting pole and start turning. with your primary geography u should know where is east and west. If the satellite is in the east face your dish in the east. Dont adjust the elevation of the dish for now. (elevation is the up and down movement of the dish). Just make the dish stand parallel to your mounting pole. Now start adjusting the azimuth (azimuth is the side by side movement of the dish). Move form one side of the east to the other. if posible start from west . while you're doing this your eyes must be fixed at the installation menu being displayed by now on your Tv. If your Lnb/f is good, if u move the  dish slowly from east to west, there must be a point at which the signal strenght will rise sharply. Try to move back and forth to locate this point. when u have done that. Screw the bolt that controls that azimuth movement and then go to the one that controls the elevation movement. Slowly again move the dish upwards until it gets to a point where the signal strength will rise very well. Thats is the position of the satellite you're lookin for. Remember if u have equipment that locates satellite (spectrum analyzer) u don't need all the stress.

When u compare these prices with that of DSTV u will understand what u have to gain bearing in mind that u do not have to pay anybody for anything ever!

For those of us who will be ticking to ask, im not selling the equipments nor in business of installation . So I have nothing to gain in all this. I'm just giving back what I have learnt for free. I have gained more than this in nairaland. But if you have any problem in installation and think u might need help, just holla me.

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Please download the attached frequently asked questions by twinstaiye

We can help you decrypt FTA channels here.

bigjoe, thanks a million. I have benefited immensely from your contributions on free to air sat TV.
I havea friend who has one, but he also subscribe. The subscriotion is though, optional. He waches live football maches n other important programmes you canot get free. I will info u when i get to know the brand name.
thanks

unfortunately danasco I will not disclose the procedure for you to watch all the live matches free that your friend is paying for. actually they are free but you have to decode it that`s why we don`t disclose it.

Thanks Bigjoe, you have been very helpful. The subscription on DSTV is killing me, I think I would have to explore your tip off. But then, my problems is what type of Decoder should I buy? Can any of those DSTV, FSTV, TITV, TRENDTV decoders, LNB and Dish be useful for FTA. Kindly throw more light.

Bigjoe! Kudos to you man, you are the first person online to provide comprehensive help on FTA in nigeria. (Trust me i know, been searching a ong time) Too bad i go ripped though, paid 30 grand for my FTA equipment SOB!

Anyway, do you know why SABC1-3 is not showin, been scanning over and over to no avail. Then does anybody know how to decode any other channels. Finally, i use a Skysat SK-201 reciever if you 've got updates for the software share pls. Viva la FTA!!!

I send a request to your yahoo address, kindly see it and reply. thanks

BIGGJOE, i am veryhappy for the information you just gave me. i am going to buy the components. to fix on my tv. But do you know the problem i have ? my problem is how to type in the tp frequency and symbol rate into my decoder.From the website you gave me to search for the channels, i discovered that the symbol rate comes in two partitions e.g PLANETSKY has its symbol rate as 30000-3/4, now what do i type in to the decoder ? Should i include the (-3/4) or i should type in only 30000. Another one is that the TP FREQUENCY comes like this "12520v". should i include "V"?
If i go to alaba market,and i want to buy a ku band decoder, what type do i tell them i am looking for. Thank you very much. I am really grateful for your help. bye

You will need to let us know the brand of decoder you are using, then we will know how to help you. But in any case, V means vertical and H means horizontal, symbol rate, frequency and Transponder are to be input differently in appropriate column.

For those nairaland members who are interested in watching English Premiership live, there is a channel that is FTA that is showing it now receivable in Nigeria. This is different from those arabs channels, the commentary is in English. At least they show 3 matches per week Live! That is exactly what I am on now, having discarded my DSTV.

Twinstaiye

Please tell us the name of the channel and what satellite it is on, thanks.

Anyone interested in installing this channel needs a satellite dish (Nilesat type) with C band LNB, and Strong brand of Decoder. At least that is exact decoder I use to get mine. If you already have Nilesat installed, you dont need another decoder. Get your technician to install it for you with your dish facing 55.5 degree west. The Channel's name is Sportsmax, i.e http://sportsmax.tv/index.php The specifications of the channels is as follows:
Fre - 3467, SR - 3255, V i.e http://www.lyngsat.com/i805.html
The only minus about it is that the channel is the only receivable channel on the transponder for now. You can get the azimuth by making sure the dish is standing straight and facing opposite direction of DSTV dish. There is however nothing the DSTV can do about the channel this time around because they no longer have monopoly over Nigeria, besides, the channel is a free channel, no de-encryption. Do I hear someone say Thank you?

Thanks; I will try later today if I can get signals from 55.5 w tonight; I don't think I've ever been able to get a signal from that bird yet; maybe my current location is outside its footprint.

No luck with 55.5w with my set up in Cairo; i think it will have to be motorised or need further LNBs to get it. Never mind, I'll search for the satellite when I get to naija in a few weeks.

pls i want to join the nairaland club and when u double LNB will it bring better signal for those using c-band and more channels

how can i decript the sabc and etv on cband.am using a 2.5fibre dish,apart from sportsmax,which other sports channel can i get 4 premier league

hi pals
if u can install it for me
and it will work
am ready to pay
holla me on 08055048039

Big joe and taiye remain blessed! I like when nigerians do cogent things like this. PLEASE can u identify d name of a shop @ Alaba that we can buy from cos u know aw 9ja is with Fake stuffs. I use an ECHO STAR SR-4500 decoder and can u apprise me more on wt 2 do, don't be selfish wt ur knowledge cos when u die we'll all remember what impact u left on us! merci beaucoup

dudes and duderesses,

gbade's got questions-

-what kinda channels can one receive? Pls, Give me a list of the ones y'all are receiving on your decoders.

-and. . .ahem(lol). . .can one get Teletubbies Tv?

Me i have benefited from using FTA.but it is not as easy as bigjoe put it! u need some basic knowledge of geography,i.e knowing the degree and angle of the various stations.secondly the dish most positioned where it can move 360 degrees.And for the receiver's there various models and brand in the market, like supermax,samson and strong.but of all the brand strong is the best and it comes in two models.one can read card and the other can not,although the price vary just slightly.If you need frequencies and stations,mail or call me with this address,[b]mayaky75@yahoo.com or 08056500411

ummm, can someone give me a list of channels one can get?

Please find attached a PDF file that should help you locate satelites around the globe. It's quite clear. Scroll to the last page, there's a graphical representation of the satelite positions around the globe with their angles of elevation. Once you get the agle of elevation correct, relative to your position then all you need to bother about should be the azimuth with is the horizontal position (by turning the dish sideways).

The best way to find a satellite is to buy a satellite finder a small tool that looks like a compass that you can attach to the Cable running from the LNB unit on the satelite dish and the receiver (decoder) and once you locate the satellite, it gives an acoustic sound. It should be pretty easy to do. I am currently looking a particular website I've come across before, which can give you the exact angles of elevation and the azimuth you need to position your satelite well, but you need to know your exact (not really exact) location on the globe (remember your longitude and lattitude from geography and geometry), but you can use that of the nearest city close to you as the angles may never vary beyond 1 degree.

Sorry the document refuses to attach but you can see the PDF document on this link: http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/about/What_is_a_Satellite_2006.pdf

for more information on how to position your satelite dish and calculate the angles, (finally found the weblink) click on these links: http://www.hansa-electronic.com/satcalceng.asp
and: http://www.inhousetechnologies.com/Look%20angles.htm

enjoy your stations

Just remembered something that might be of help: if you have a map (atlas would do provided it's detailed enough to give the location of cities with the longitude and lattitude lines showing). Just look it up and use it calculate the angles you need for the satelite dish from the websites given above.

Alternatively, you can use a GPS - I think more people own one now, just ask around.

Found another site which could give you the longitude and latitude of major cities (though they claimed they could give the villages but my search for Aba turned no result, though PH might do for those at Aba) around the world. For example, it gave me for Lagos this result

Coordinates:
Lat: 06 27 00 N degrees minutes Lat: 6.4500 decimal degrees
Long: 003 28 00 E degrees minutes Long: 3.4667 decimal degrees

The link is: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/index.html

Hope this will be of help to someone

Using the above link, i was able to search for some cities in Nigeria and found their cordinated on the globe. Using it to calculate the Azimuth and the elevation angles you need for a particular satelite would help. I did search using the Lagos cordinate I gave above for Astra 1C satelite - carries mostly german TV stations and some others, it gave me (A)Azimuth 111° and (E)Elevation 70°, for PH with following cordinates: 04.43 N (latittude) and 07.10 E (Longitude) the satelite position (still for Astra 1C) 110° (A)zimuth and 75° (E)levation

Cordinates for some selected cities are Aba: 05.06°N (Latitude) 07.21°E (Longitude);
Ibadan 07.23°N (Latitude) 03.56°E (longitude)
Gombe (Bauchi) 10.17°N, 11.14°E
Benin 06.19°N, 05.41°E

Ikorodu, Lagos 06.36°N, 03.32°E

Incase you have difficulties finding a particular location, you may fire off an email to me and I'll help out chivy30@netscape.net

<annoyed>,

will someone give me a list of the channels one can get, dammit?! All i've been hearing is fucking longitudes and latitudes, azimuth sh*t and what not. Jeez! The priority for every viewer primarily the channels/stations he'd be receiving. Secondary'd be azimuths and sh*t like that.

<still annoyed>

<annoyed>,

will someone give me a list of the channels one can get, dammit?! All i've been hearing is fucking longitudes and latitudes, azimuth sh*t and what not. Jeez! The priority for every viewer primarily the channels/stations he'd be receiving. Secondary'd be azimuths and sh*t like that.

<still annoyed>

@ gbade.x

You are really turning livid. How can you get channels when you can't locate the satelite. The information isn't meant for you alone. The channels you'ld get depends on the satellite your tuned to.

So take a deep breath and someone may see your frantic request and help you out of your hysteria. One more thing, learn to clean up your language. Doesn't make you hip to be talking gibberish.

@chidexy,

you know what? I'm sick and tired of all those longitudinal bullshit. Ok, ok fine. I admit one needs good position on the dish to receive good channels. But all i ask for is just a simple list/estimate of the channels one can get on this FTA thingy. That's all! Se fini! Ok, let me break it down for ya, what channels are you receiving? <sheesh>

oh, and one more thing. I'm not trying to sound hip. That's just me. don't get it twisted.

@gbade.x

I am not in Nigeria and my dish is tuned to Astra 1C, that's why I gave the azimuths and elevations of the satelite that I know, at least that I am tuned to. And i receive well over 150 channels, most of which I don't understand what they are saying. I only used the german and english channels, which are more than enough for me.

If you go through most of those threads, you'll find one or two persons who included their email address. Write them and they may give you what you need.

Have a nice day, though

hi gbade.x, the fact that you browse with your handset is the reason why you dont know all these fta channels. This is because you would have browse them on the net and see them all, because they are so many of them.
However, if you installed Nilesat satellites, you will have about over 100 free channels, most of them are arab channels but some of them are in english like MBC 2, 3 and 4, which is movie channels, then there is Nile TV, BBC, DWTV, CCTV9, Aljazeera sports chanell 1 & 2, etc.
If you installed Panamsat 7/10, there are also free channels there like christian channels about 3 - 5 of them, Islamic channel, etv (coded) (but you can open it with 6969, 6969 code from your remove if you are using strong decoder) MYTV introductory channel and etc
What other information do you need?