Start Here Index - FTA Satellite Guide

What you will need to receive Free satellite:

• An area on or near your house with a southern view of the sky
• Satellite dish that is a minimum of 30 inches
• Dish rotator motor (Optional, but needed to view more then one satellite from the same dish)
• Ku-band LNBF for your dish
• Free-to-air satellite receiver (Blind search feature recommended)

Should you install it yourself or pay someone to install it for you?

It is not difficult to install yourself using our guides and the one that comes with your product. You know your abilities so you can look this over and decide for yourself.

If you want to have it installed, first use your local yellow pages and check the satellite and electronics sections and find a supplier and inquire about their package deals and/or installation prices. Use this online site to find a locale installer also: My Local Installer

Find the Do It Yourself cost verses the convenience of having it done price difference. And then make your decision after you review what is involved. (It is not only about saving $but more about learning and being self-sufficient.)

1. Use our system buying guide
2. Find out how much the price differences will be for buying online and installing yourself.
3. Or buying online and using a local installer.
4. Or buying from your local source and having them install it.

Do It Yourself Steps

Installation Tools: 7/16-inch wrench for most dishes Compass Portable TV to set up antenna outside Signal strength meter Level Screw gun/driver (If needed for wall bracket install) Ladder (If needed for pole install) Shovel (If needed for pole install)

System Components Needed

See System Buyers Guide

Components FTA Receiver 30" to 39" Dish Linear polarity LNB see LNBF guide Optional dish motor	Mounting 8' length x 1 5/8" diameter pole Concrete 5 bags Or bracket for house
Wiring See Grounding System for wiring help Coax cable RG6 #10 gauge solid copper wire Grounding block

Dish mount adjustments

Elevation Moves dish up/down	Azimuth Moves dish side to side Use the true setting
Skew On stationary dishes this is the tilt of the LNBF needed to adjust to the signal from linearly polarized satellites. ---===(*)===--- The Skew, elevation and azimuth (True and Magnetic) are adjustments found on your dish mount and can be found for your location at www.DishPointer.com

Site Survey

Use the Dish Pointer web site to determine what satellites you have a clear view of. Enter your street address and zip code to locate you home. Drag the positioner to different spots around your home to locate the best place to mount your dish. Activate the feature that will tell youthe distance and height that is needed to clear objects for that satellite.

Either secure a mounting bracket to a solid wall outside your house making sure it is perfectly level vertical or:

Mount a pole

A dish mounting pole should be 5 to 6 feet above the ground and 24 to 36 inches deep. Dig the hole about 24 to 30 inches deep and over a foot wide (big enough to hold about 5 bags of premixed concrete) where you have determined to place your dish. Place pole in hole and then use a small 2x4 wood block to protect top edges. Place block on top of pole and gently hammer pole into the bottom of hole to sink it further until it stands by itself and is 5 to 6 feet above ground. Practice leveling it now(if you wish) by checking all 4 sides (north, south, east and west). Now secure it with numerous bags of concrete to prevent movement. You can pour one bag in at a time while running water into hole to wet it and mix concrete in the hole. Concrete needs to be thoroughly wet but thick enough to support pole, not soupy. Now level it while all the concrete is in and is still wet so the pole can still be moved. Once level leave until set. Check level again within 30 minutes. This is the most important step and will make your dish installation go smoothly if pole is perfectly level.

Dish Installation

Use our motorized dish setup guide or fixed dish set up guide whichever is your option.

Use our 101 members area to find what satellites have the channels that you would like to receive for a fixed system. Click Here

For a motorized system find the southern most satellite to your location first and adjust the settings to it. Your receiver using DiSEqC 1.2 commands will find the general location of the rest. You may have to fine tune the locations for best reception. You will be able to save your adjustments so your system returns to fine tuned settings. Use the motorized dish setup guide

Install Wiring and Coaxial Cable

To run your coaxial cable (RG-6) from your house and satellite receiver to your dish location, allowing for enough cable to secure it to your mounting pole and run through your dish and to your LNBF. It is always better to leave too much cable until you permanently mount your dish rather than too little. For professional appearance, you should secure the cable to the side of your house with cable clips (Radio Shack) and bury any exposed portion that runs across the ground to prevent damage. Determine were you want the cable to enter your house. If you can drill through the wall near your receiver you can install a wall plate at that location. Use a dual grounding block and run a TV/radio antenna cable at same location for current convenience or future upgrade. Be sure to silicon the outside entry point to keep insects and moisture out. See Grounding System for wiring help and diagram.

Free to Air Receiver Setup

You should now have your dish mounted outside and your coaxial cable connected to it. The dish should be set to the elevation and polarization that you calculated earlier. Connect the coaxial from your satellite dish to the receiver and connect the receiver to your television.

It is recommended that you place your satellite receiver and television set close to the dish during the dish alignment procedure. If that is not possible due to where the dish is located, a second person may be helpful to relay information seen on the screen of the TV when the dish is being aligned. Do not turn the power on until all the cable connections have been made. There are two options when connecting the receiver to your television or monitor. The receiver has both audio/video outputs as well as a regular coax output on either channel 3 or 4. Attach the appropriate cables according to the system you have. If you use the standard coax, channel 3 or 4 output, ensure that you select the channel, 3 or 4, that is not used in your area for local off-air broadcast television. Your television would have to be set to the channel you selected, 3 or 4, in order for you to receive the programming. If the audio/video outputs are used, your television typically would need to be switched to the "video" input mode.

Now turn on your receiver and television. Use the on screen menu to locate the signal strength meter on your television. Consult your receivers operating manual for the setup setting. Initial satellite setup varies from receiver to receiver, some are easier than others. Follow the setup procedure and setup the satellite from which you will be receiving programming from. Once you have this complete, you will want to return outside to your satellite dish in order to locate your desired satellite.

Satellite Dish Alignment

Assuming that you have your elevation and polarization setting correct, and assuming that you have a signal finder connected to your dish, set your signal meters sensitivity to the half way point. Move the dish to the far left and slowly rotate it right until your signal meter picks up an active signal. One you have locked onto an active signal, you will need to adjust the signal finders sensitivity so that you can find the optimum signal strength. Once you have peaked the signal by adjusting the dishes azimuth, you should return inside to insure that you have locked onto the correct satellite. Peruse the available satellite channels and compare them to your satellite channel reference. If you are locked onto the wrong satellite, you need to return outside and continue searching for the correct satellite. Once you have the correct satellite, you now should return to the on screen dish tuning meter and return outside. Once again, ensure you have optimum signal by minutely adjusting the sign from left to right until you have peaked the signal. Once you have achieved the optimum signal, you should lock the dish into position by securing the azimuth adjustment bolts which secure it to your mounting pole.

You now need to loosen the elevation bolts so that you can slowly adjust the dishes elevation for optimum signal strength. Once again, you may need to adjust your signal finders sensitivity to achieve this. Slowly move the dish up and down again until you have peaked the signal strength and lock the dish into position.

The final setting is to fine tune the polarization setting. Some receivers have a separate meter for this, consult your manual for details on accessing this feature. You may find it easier to have a person on the inside watching the meter while you are adjusting the dish on the outside. Loosen the LNBF and slowly rotate it clockwise and counterclockwise until you have achieved the optimum signal. Once complete, disconnect the signal finder from the LNBF, measure the final coaxial cable length, allowing a short drip loop to hang from the bottom of the LNBF mounting arm and permanently secure the LNBF and all other mounting bolts.

Your final signal strength should be in excess of 45% or more. If it is below that level, you will need to check for obstacles in the satellites path, such as trees. A low signal will cause outages in heavy rain or other weather. This is known as rain fade. If you have a tree in your way, you my find upgrading to a larger dish is necessary.

This is also true of satellites that do not specifically target your area in their footprint.

Once you have achieved a good signal, congratulations and enjoy your free to air system.

About Coaxial Cable

In many cases you can buy the cable at the lengths required with the ends attached. If you need to make custom lengths and fit the ends you can do this with a razor knife and twist on ends and a little practice. But if you want to do it the right way with better tools watch this video.