What is Free to Air?

Of course we all know that air is free, may it be fresh air or polluted air, its for us to take (cough!). Almost the same thing in Satellite TV, Free to Air TV refers to signals that are unencrypted and without subscription or bill but somethimes with geographical restriction (thats fine with me, can't understand others language anyway). Since its Free to us, then someone must have been covering up the bills (if theres any), I guess advertisers and sponsors is on the back for that. The last time I check with lyngsat.com, there are other countries who have many FTA channels (wow! that's good). And for those other channels with subscription or Pay TV, there are experts who just can hacked them. Don't know how'd they do that, is it the hardware (receivers) or other softwares?, they have their own way, I just have to find it out for myself (if I can!). In the Philippines they say that there's no law regarding hacking encrypted signal for Satellite TV or there's some gray area on existing one.
Although as i recall, maybe last month there's been a raid on Satellite TV set dealers on Manila, headed by NTC (National Telecomunication Commision) and police. I don't have a clear view of this issue, but I think they confiscated the receivers and the dealers can have it back if they are willing to pay P5000 (WOW! higher than the actual unit price). To have a better picture on this, Well we just have to find out Attorney!

Rock band

Nope! I don't mean a group of musicians. but Yes! the band the we received in Satellite TV (Free-to Air) rocks! I was wondering on the significant effect the difference the two band that satellite TV transmits.

A C band (3~4 GHz) low frequency and Ku band (11~12 GHz) high frequency. A simple analogy that I read for this is using a celphone, if you recall older celphones use to have an visible antenna attached to it (if you don't, they have!), the new ones don't (well they do but not visible). same as the band, C band are somewhat old (original for communication) but still remains and the dish requirement are much bigger since the coverage of area are much wider.Ku band requires much less dish size and designed primarily for SatelliteTV, the coverage area are smaller.

To sum it up, the higher the frequency the less Dish size is required (that's good)but oless area of coverage also. The next difference is the weather effect (ex. heavy rains/dense clouds) on both bands, Ku band might have fade or lost signal while C band can still have a good signal on heavy rains. The Explanation for this is the dispersion, since C band has a wider footprint (coverage) dispersion are wide but for ku band dispersion are smaller or concentrated which makes them susceptible to weather disruption.

That's their major differences, they still do have something in common - the Azimuth and Elevation angle is the same for both C and Ku band on how to set up of a satellite dish,(considering you're in the same spot and targeting a single satellite). Well I somehow got the idea. Not to worry since majority of receiver are C and Ku band integrated, also LNB are with C and Ku band set-up it thats the case you should be getting both. I think I only utilizes the Ku band.

The Dish

Not the food we eat, but I think most of us are familiar with it. It is a bowl shape oval that usually or always (I think!) facing the sky. Actually it is a special kind of antenna that receives signal on a designated broadcast source, in my case mainly FTA (free-to-air). The shape of the dish is parabolic which is designed to reflect the signal to a specific point.

Basically, the Dish purpose is to capture or catch the signal then bounces it to its feedhorn. In the assembly of dish we can see an extended arm that has a tip that is pointing at the dish. I is called the feed horn or LNB (Low Noise Block-downconverter), it is the one responsible in organizing the signal collected by The dish (in this case a radiowave). It then passes the signal onto the receiving equipment (Receiver), then just watch TV (Yes!). Ideal Dish size to be used usually depends on location, there are areas that might need a bigger or smaller size, I guess distance from acertain satellite is the factor.

I think here in the Philippines a 55 to 60 cm long axis dish plate is Ideal in getting signal from Agila 2. Satellite dish size are included in the data produced in satbeam.com, just locate your area and the satellite you are pointing.

Things to check in Satellite dish Installation, I'm not an expert but these are pretty basic:

• After finishing the dish assembly, make sure that nuts and bolts are well tighten.

• Before Mounting it permanently make sure that there is no obstruction between

the dish and satellite.

• After mounting the dish (ex. wall), make sure that it is stable.

• The feedhorn (LNB) should be secured properly, the inside of its assembly should be dry always, check the sealant or add one.

Sky high Terms

This is the best (in my opinion) visual explanation of what the Azimuth and Elevation relate to. They define location of an object in the sky to the origin (center of the illustration). Azimuth angle reference is the North (value is 0), for this one any working compass will do in locating Agila 2 ( its 146 E right!). Already checked it and its right! my satellite dish is facing that way. As for elevation from the dish scale, my satellite dish elevation actual setting is 55 but from calculation it's 56.83, hhmmm! not exact but close, but I think it will do, anyways my TV reception is good for me.
I've found another helpful site in getting the calculation for azimuth and elevation angle it is dishpointer.com, all you need to enter you location, and the satellite you want to pinpoint for free to air (FTA) and the values for dish set up will be given. It is an excellent reference for us.