hey there all!

i don't know where to start looking for help, but if figure you guys are probably the best one's to answer my questions...

i've recently come back to living with my parents after a few years away from the country, and found that my father had two dishes installed on the front wall of the house! i knew nothing of this, and had not educated myself about it either. but reading some of the things online, i can only assume that, because he was using some sort of usb key that needed updating, it was on the illegal side of things.

one month ago, my father had a stroke, and we're learing to deal with this, but before that, the "receiver" he was using, had been deemed out of commission. i don't know why.

anyhow, i don't think my dad knows anything about this stuff anyway, but my question to all of you are...

the dishes are "Ariza tech" dishes. one is 32 inches i think, and the other is a smaller one is 20 inches. both have only one "lbm?" or whatever those little nubs are that collect the signal. both dishes are round. the receiver is a sonic view SV360 premier (that was given to me as the older one was taken apart by my dad). i don't know if it's hooked up properly, but it's also hooked up to a pretty crap tv.

i was also given (by another friend), an antenna from channel master: cm4228hd which is just sitting in the windowsill connected to an HD tv downstairs.

SO... should i keep the dishes? should i replace one dish with the antenna? should have all three working? i realize that the antenna should probably be mounted on my slightly sloped rooftop...?

any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

Regarding the antenna - start with this thread in the OTA forum, read it and the links thoroughly and then post in the appropriate thread if you have interest in going OTA:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125161

Regarding FTA, other members better versed than I, should be along with some help shortly. Please note that we do not discuss piracy on this forum.

the sinocveiw "was deemed out of comission" "and needed updating" and given the size of the dishes it was being used to steal programming from 1 or more of the major providers, most likely dish network (110 119) however the 30" dish may have a linear lnb and be pointed at a fta bird (depending on your location) if you can determine the lnb we can tell you weather or not it can be used.

sometimes a couple channels may appear in the clear ( ie: not encrypted) on 110 or 119 but it wont justify to leave a dish on those satellites

What are the FTA channels that come in the clear? (This will tell us which satellite its likely pointed at.)

And what Symbol Rate & Frequency those channels are on. With this information it is possible to tell if your settings for satellite are correct or may need editing.

Read ya l8r,
Al

there are 3 unencrypted SD locals on 12530L 20000 7/8 regular DVB on the 110W DN sat.

Utica NY. NBC, FOX and ABC.
They do not scan in. You MUST enter the following PIDS for them to work!

Vid 4130 Aud 4131 PCR 4130 > WUTR (ABC - Utica) 6760
Vid 4386 Aud 4387 PCR 4386 > WKTV (NBC - Utica) 6762
Vid 4642 Aud 4643 PCR 4642 > WFXV (Fox - Utica) 6763
You must enter them manually then scan. Not sure for how long they will show up try this and if it works then you'll be fixed on which satellite you are

thank you all for replying! i am grateful for your wisdom, but seems that my brain is too tiny to understand all this (for now). i will revisit your posts in the near future, and try to make sense of it.

to the moderator, i'm not trying to do anything illegal. i wanted to know if there was any use for the two dishes that i have (within the legal boundaries), or if they would be rendered useless otherwise. i'm still trying to get an understanding of FTA, and how i'm able to capture those signals, and i'm thinking that the HD antenna would be the easiest to deal with (plug and play). i am probably going to un-mount the dishes...

but again, thank you all!!!

len...!!!

The smaller 20 inch dish is useless so you can throw it away. However, the larger 33 inch dish you have can be used to receive Ku band FTA. You can either use it as a fixed dish as is simply by pointing it to a Ku band satellite of your choice or adding a motor and aligning the dish in order to receive all available satellites from your location. You will have to replace the LNBF to a linear type if yours is circular (should be indicated on the LNBF itself).

The Sonicview FTA receiver you have can be used in order to receive these channels. There are about 270 channels available on Ku band when using this receiver with 70 in English.