Free-To-Air Satellite TV

@ guruofsat
       bro,if u ve an information u don't want to disclose plz u better don't post about it here.
@ all
    this forum is not an avenue of making money this is where we share our exprience and knowledge so if u ve any info plz just share it if u can't don't post it or start giving out ur phone number.we ve real gurus like enigma and so many others yet they share any piece of info they lay hand on.

@ enigma & other FTA gurus around,

thankx for all d information. u r doing a grt job here. It is my guess that in the next few years dstv & co will be out of business.
kindly give me a layman  interpretation of the following fta concepts:

-Frequency
-Symbol rate
-polarity
-beam
-discEq
and other relevant terminologies.

Peace to all
 

i GUYS,

I have something quite important to discuss and i don't really know if this will be the proper channel to do that.
It's about the NSS7 satellite, I made some personal research and i thought i should let my people here know. For the few weeks i have been away, i was back in school, but still yet i continue with my research. I htink if given  some time i can get to provide you guys here in Nigeria the access to watch live premiership/ FAcup/Carling cup matches including serie A, La liga etc. on the nss7 satellite stations at ridiculous cheaper rates.

The reason is that, my school is at a border town close to benin republic and i have been making effort to get a contact there to help me with the provision of the cards, but am sure if given some time before the middle of the year i can get a contact.

But there's always a 'but' associated with this kind of proposal. Based on the knowledge i have about users of satellite packages here on nairaland forum, i can say majority are using strong decoders and the series is either 4651,4652 or 4653X, if am right by my guess. And the kind of encryption employed by nss7 is SECA/MEDIAGUARD both mean the same thing, and these series of decoders i mentioned above are conax embedded, i don't really know if anyone have experimented them on SECA encrpyted channels, if so i will be very glad if the person can open up or if thee is anything one can do to enabled those series to be patched to be able to work with conax and SECA.

If that can be done i guess we are all just a step away in dishing out hitv and dstv away totally.

Opinions on this strategy of mine is welcome by me, feel free to post and don't feel dejected me talking about subscription under a free-to-air scetion.
And remeber that good soup, na money cook am ooooooo. But the money here is not as much as that of dstv or hitv.

@Novice1 and All

I have just found a very useful website that contains explanations of various terms:

http://www.tech-faq.com/symbol-rate.shtml  Look on the right of the page and scroll down for a list of terms explained.


However, let me say that even without knowing all of these things in any detail you can still install a dish and master your receiver --- though the more you know the easier things will be.

@ urfriend.

i know one can track eutelsat w3a at 7 E, but it will be very difficult to achieve because the least size of dish you can use is 90cm, and most ku-dish they sell for us here in nigeria are not really up to 90cm, so if one is to use that one will have to wait 'till his kingdom comes' before you get any signal.
The least signal strength required for a clear picture starts from 38%, i can say with 54% the signal is still ok.

But based on my findings, i can't seem to find any good stations there. The mistake most people are making on that satellite package is the MBC1 and MBC2. I am saying this now that the MBC1 & 2 you guys can see on eutelsat w3a on 7E is Mauritius Broadcast Crporation, not the same arab MBC. don't make that mistake.

NSS7 for now is still the best for free-to-air on ku-band in the whole of west africa.


@ enigma,

i will still be waiting for someone who can help me out based on the issues i pointed out in my earlier post. About the price of the canalsat horizons card, i don't think we have a problem about that,90% of us here will be able to afford it, but first thing is me getting a contact at benin rep, before me travelling down there for the purchase of the cards, but the purchase depends on the desire people on this forum show towards that. If the desire is low then i'm going to there for personal reasons.

hi i just want to know if any one knows how to configure a vhs player to serve as a decoder, and all other things needed to do this.

hi,to get eutelsat w3a,use a strong 90cm dish.over the next 18months more betta channels will be on that satellite 4 free.right now msnbc,an american news channels is on that satellite[www.msnbc.com].

Hi again

As for elevation, you are right that it is written on most dishes. If you look carefully at where the dish is joined by the mounting clamp at the back you should see figures from 0 to maybe 100 or so. Thus if the elevation for a particular satellite at your location is 60, then you adjust the setting at the back of the dish till it is pointed at 60.

Please note that setting the elevation thus should get you close to the satellite but is not always 100%; therefore you may need to adjust it a little around the given elevation figure of e.g. 60.


Azimuth is trickier - because strictly speaking you need a compass to work it out or a protractor from 'Maths sets'!

To be honest, I don't generally ask people to look for or work out or use azimuth. The reason is this: what you need to know principally is the general direction where the satellite is and where your dish should face. If the satellite is at the eastern position, you know that roughly your dish should be facing the position where the sun rises or if western, roughly where the sun sets.

If you have the elevation correct, and you are willing to be patient to move your dish very very very slowly, you will hit the right azimuth once searching in the right area roughly. Say you are trying to get DSTV/HITV --- both of these are at 36e; say you are in Ikeja; www.dishpointer.com will tell you that for 36e and in Ikeja, the elevation is 51.3 and azimuth is 100.2/103.6.  The most important thing is to set the elevation on your dish; then look at where DSTV dishes in your area are pointing; then point your dish in that direction and start turning it very very very slowly either in the left direction or right direction till you get a signal.

Note: it will be very helpful if you have a small TV nearby connected to your dish and your receiver: then on your receiver you select a strong transponder (frequency) e.g. you select one of the Trend TV transponder/frequency which is 11747 H (Horizontal) SR (symbol rate) 27500.

Some FTA Stations not difficult to receive in Nigeria

Note:

1.   Things change frequently in FTA TV and this info will not always be totally correct
2.   The info below is very selective; there are other stations not mentioned mostly because they might be more difficult to get e.g. if a big dish is needed (thus FTA stations on satellites like Nilesat, Hispasat etc are not included)
3.   The list only mentions FTA stations on the Ku Band (no C Band Stations included)
4.   Consult places like www.lyngsat.com, www.flysat.com and www.kingofsat.net for more info.


A.   NSS7 at 22W
 

1. TV Monde Afrique         10986 V 30000
2. France 24 (Francais)            11051 V 30000
3. LC2 Int’l                                       -do-
4. Direct 8                                11551 V 30000
5. Equinoxe TV                         11606 V 3307
6. STV 1 (Cameroon)                11611 V 4070
7. STV 2    -do-                       -do-
8. RTG 1                    11617 V 4340
9. RDV                             11625 V 3334
10. Canal 2 Int’l               11631 V   3559
11. Ghana TV                11635 V 2855


B.   Eutelsat  W3A at 7E

1. TV Malagasy                         10976 H 3333
2. Ariane TV                              11063 H 27500
3. Go Africa                         11105 H 3800
4. MBC 1 (Mauritius)                 11190 H 3210
5. MBC 2  -do-                             -do-
6. Direct 8                          12728 H 30000
7. 2STV                                    -do-
8. MTA Int’l                                 -do-
9. MSNBC Africa                             -do-
10. RTS 1 Senegal                        -do-


C.   Intelsat 7/10 at 68.5E (Same as MyTV)

1. NTA Plus                   12522 H 26657
2. France 24 English                        -do-
3. BEN                             12562 H 26657
4. Press TV                           -do-
5&6 (2 Religion Channels)       12575 V 3378
7. Tourism & Trade               12682 H 26657
8-19 (11 Religion Chnls)                   -do-
20. CNBC Africa                    12722 V   26657
21. SABC News Int’l                  -do-
22. ETV (not strictly FTA)               -do-
23. (5 Religion Chnls)                   -do-



D.   Eutelsat W4 at 36E (Same as DSTV & HITV)

1. France 24 English      11747 H 27500
2. Fashion TV Europe          -do-
3. F Men                     -do-
4. EWTN Africa & India               -do-
5. Luxe TV UK                       -do-
6. DSTV Shuffle Update        12437 H 23438



E.   Intelsat 907 at 27.5 West

1. Nollywood              11661 H 7053
2. EWTN Africa & India               -do-
3. MBI Africa                    -do-

@ Enigma. You've done a great job listing those "True" FTA channels and Birds bro!


@
Go to these sites listed by Enigma below, look in the C-band section you will get your answers. Try it.

4.   Consult places like www.lyngsat.com, www.flysat.com and www.kingofsat.net for more info.

@bodejohn

Yes I know the "dish mover" well; I actually have one. I saw your question much earlier on whether you can get it in  Nigeria: I'm not really sure because the Naija installers use a 'jack' for the bigger dishes. 

If you want more info about the "dish mover", the correct titles are: 'Diseqc Motor' or 'Horizon to Horizon Motor' or 'H to H motor' or 'USALS motor' -- if you google any of that you will get info. It doesn't look like I will visit Naija for Easter else I might have said we can come to arrangement for me to buy one and bring down for you.

The better models include the Technomate 2200, the Moteck SG 2100, Dark Motor, Geotrack Motor etc.

In setting up a linear Satellite in Nigeria, what type of LNB and the L/O  (local oscillation) to be used? For example, In USA, I use a Standard Linear LNB, and L/O or LNB frequency of 10750. Can one also use a Universal LNB with L/O of 10600 in Nigeria?

Hi guys,

NTA Plus' is now encrypted in Conax on 12522H, for those who's NTA plus channel has not been showing for days now. So is no longer a free service, though I really wonder what it is that they re showing, to warrant encryption.

Thank you to all the experts on this thread that have contributed greatly to this topic. It has really enlightening my knowledge in FTA. I got all the necessary gears over the weekend and was able to track NSS7. For those living in PH, go to Ilabuchi to get your materials. You'll find everything at  reletively cheaper rate there.
Guys what are the limitation of mesh type 1.8m dish in PH area in terms of channels and satellite that could be tracked.

Thank you once more.

I am in Ibadan.
I am as suprised as you are to see TV Malawi.
I got it just this morning.