Satellite Dish for over-the-air question

[nightflier]

I bought a Dish Networks satellite dish at a garage sale for $5 this past weekend. Before I climb up and install this thing, is it even usable?

I already have a Terk antenna installed in my attic and I'm using an RCA HDTV receiver. I can get some over-the-air HDTV channels, but I have to say that most of what I'm picking up is still analog or lower quality (some stations like PBS do come in great, BTW).

So I was hoping that with this dish I could pick up more & better stations. I figured I would point it in the general direction that everyone else in the neighborhood is pointing, but I wouldn't know what else to do. Can someone point me to some websites that have good recommendations for my type of setup?

[Smokey]

I bought a Dish Networks satellite dish at a garage sale for $5 this past weekend. Before I climb up and install this thing, is it even usable?

For over the air reception, the Dish is useless. Dish was desinged to receive satelite signal, not local channels.


Most HD channels are located in UHF region, so an antenna specifically made for UHF band (Radioshack) will work best. Does your Terk antenna cover UHF region also?

[godfatherofsoul]

For over the air reception, the Dish is useless. Dish was desinged to receive satelite signal, not local channels.


Most HD channels are located in UHF region, so an antenna specifically made for UHF band (Radioshack) will work best. Does your Terk antenna cover UHF region also?

I agree the dish is useless for off-air reception. As far as most HD stations being in the UHF band, that just depends on where you live. Where I am, my locals are 3.1, 9.1 and 12.1. The WB is 53.1 but then there are very few things (Smallville for example) worth watching on the WB...

Cheers

[nightflier]

Allright, so that's $5 wasted. My antenna is the Terk TV55, I don't know for sure, but I doubt it is missing UHF. The reception in the attic is less than stellar, but I suppose I could try mounting it under the roofline outside.

Just FYI. Would the dish be of any use at all because it is a dish (i.e. more focused signal reception)? Could I use it for radio, for example? Or is there anything from the satellites that is free and not encrypted?

[godfatherofsoul]

Allright, so that's $5 wasted. My antenna is the Terk TV55, I don't know for sure, but I doubt it is missing UHF. The reception in the attic is less than stellar, but I suppose I could try mounting it under the roofline outside.

Just FYI. Would the dish be of any use at all because it is a dish (i.e. more focused signal reception)? Could I use it for radio, for example? Or is there anything from the satellites that is free and not encrypted?

Have you been to antennaweb.org? Just a thought... They helped me with my antenna and figuring out where the signals were coming from. Could be that you just live in one of those areas where OTA reception is not so good...

Cheers

[nightflier]

SoulGodFather,

Antennaweb is a great resource. I had found something similar before, but this one is a little more clear. Thanks.

I'm reading a lot about Free-to-Air Satellite receivers ($100+). They typically have a programmable chip that can be programmed for a region (simple BIN file transfered via serial port), and will allow me to watch all kinds of channels for free. Is this true? If so, I could use my dish for that, no? Or is this illegal?

More importantly, do any FTA receivers support HDTV (720i/1080i)?

[nightflier]

Well it turns out that I may not be getting HDTV at all using my RCA tuner. The on-screen menu isn't very good about letting me know this. If anything, I think the stations like PBS are coming in at 480p at best.

I've started a new thread specifically for the RCA tuner because I need to hammer down some issues with that first.