Anybody here own a "big satellite dish"? (Howe: HOA, buying)

[Dopo]

Does anybody here own a "big satellite dish"?
The kind that you get all kind of international channels.

I'm thinking about buying one, but I'd like to talk to people in the area that own one.
I'm mostly interested in channels from Latinamerica and Europe.

[Mom2Feebs]

Not sure, but definitely check with your HOA if you have one first. They may not allow them.

I remember years ago a friend had one on their land--they picked up all SORTS of stuff! I was amazed...

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Yeah, ya gotta be careful though or weird stuff might happen. Remember the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster? You might get picked up by some out of this world visitors and dropped off in the corn field behind Mel Gibson's farm house. Not a good thing....

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

and dropped off in the corn field behind Mel Gibson's farm house. Not a good thing....

Now you are scaring me

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

LOL you made me spill my coffee. Anyhow, I saw one of those satellite dishes out in the country near Kendalia, but it didn't look functional at all. I will keep my eyes peeled.

[TexasRedneck]

Most of the channels started encoding so that you can't get the signal unless you pay a subscription fee years ago. Had one - by the time you get done with all the fees and maintenance, it just wasn't worth it. Others might not agree.

[Lee W.]

Those very big old dishes probably aren't functional unless they're for a business that has other uses for it...from what I understand, the broadcasted commercial satellite TV channels are encrypted TV channels. Of course, the local free broadcast channels can be received fairly easily with a good antenna in most areas. Satellite dishes and equipment from satellite TV companies are supplied by them nowadays and unencrypt (is that a word?), I believe. If someone knows of a way around paying commercial satellite TV to receive their channels...hey, I'd like to hear about that!

[ged_782]

As TexasRedneck and Lee W. stated, those big dishes (usually about 10' diameter) are pretty much a thing of the past. And yes, I understand many of the channels that were formerly in the clear, are now encrypted.

However, if Dish Network or DirecTV don't offer the International channels that interest you, you might look into free-to-air (FTA) satellite systems. Although you would have up-front equipment costs (Dish and DirecTV systems/installation are usually free with commitment), there are some free channels out there that can be received with these FTA systems. They usually have something like a 1-meter (about 3') diameter dish.

You would have to do some research into FTA systems to determine what kind of setup you would need, based on your programming desires.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by ged_782

you might look into free-to-air (FTA) satellite systems.

Those are the ones that I'm talking about,
in college, a friend of mine from the Middle East had one, the dish was about 3-4' wide and he could pick up all kind of channels from Asia (no monthly payments)

But I'm interested on channels from Latinamerica, Europe and maybe China (I was learning chinese a few years ago).

[eightball]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Those are the ones that I'm talking about,
in college, a friend of mine from the Middle East had one, the dish was about 3-4' wide and he could pick up all kind of channels from Asia (no monthly payments)

But I'm interested on channels from Latinamerica, Europe and maybe China (I was learning chinese a few years ago).

All you really need is a 30" dish and a free to air receiver, there's a distributor in town just google kingfta, they also carry dishes and even the mexican satellite SKY.
To get an idea of the channels available with a free to air system google ftalist. By the way you can do a lot more with this stuff if you do a little research.