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netwire
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What is FTA, is it legal?

Hello, while at the trade lot today I found someone selling these satellite boxes called "ViewSAT" and it said they where for "Free To Air" service. I looked over the box, and it seemed kind of interesting but the price was a bit high for a STB so I walked off. I looked around on the net today and got a little bit of info on FTA but I cannot find anything saying if it's legal or not... can someone let me know if FTA is legal, and if so what on earth would anyone pay for service that you could obtain free?
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Dominokat
"Hi"
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Boothbay, ME
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

To be honest, I never heard of this.

CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
Do a search for FTA in this forum - yes - there are free to air stations. Not all stations are free and hence - some is only available on pay and not on FTA.

AvrilYay

join:2004-07-13
Yukon, OK


1 edit
Free to air= Legal
Modified fta box = Illegal.

"if so what on earth would anyone pay for service that you could obtain free?"

They aren't directly paying for service but rather the box itself. However on some of these sats ( Telestar5 etc) they indeed do have a few channels that require money to watch.

PCInTech
In another place and time.
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by AvrilYay See Profile :

Free to air= Legal
Modified fta box = Illegal.
That's it in a nutshell. If you're using an FTA receiver for it's "intended" purpose, i.e.; receiving FTA channels, then it's 100% legal to do so. IF you've modified that receiver by loading 3rd party software into it to intercept or decrypt proprietary signal from Dish Network, Bell Express Vu, or any other satellite content provider, then it is 100% ILLEGAL.

roamer1
sticking it out at you

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Atlanta, GA
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by PCInTech See Profile :

IF you've modified that receiver by loading 3rd party software into it to intercept or decrypt proprietary signal from Dish Network, Bell Express Vu, or any other satellite content provider, then it is 100% ILLEGAL.
...and for most people (people looking for international programming and hobbyists excepted) that's the attraction.

-SC
--
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune

netwire
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Mooresboro, NC
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With further searching, and the information found here I have learned a good deal more about FTA systems. They seem kind of nice, and have a decent channel line-up, but of course it begs the question... is the price worth it. Anyhow, I'll look around a bit more and see if I can get some more info from ppl that own one.
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

Most of the "cable" channels are going to be pay-only. So don't get illusions of being able to ditch the monthly cable or satellite tv costs in favor of a one-time FTA receiver cost.

There are a variety of FTA stations though that are free that you might be interested in. Also from time to time you might find an unencrypted uplink feed. This is the feed that a regional station provides to the national level. For instance you might get the source feed for a local university football or basketball game, or maybe the raw news footage that later gets cut up for a news segment on the nightly news.

There are also many foreign, religious, or educational feeds available as well. Here is a list of some of the US-based FTA signals that you may be able to pick up, depending on your equipment and location.
--
Go Colts

Hayward
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Key West, FL


1 edit

Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by cdru See Profile :

Most of the "cable" channels are going to be pay-only.
However you want to watch main chanel PBS and NASA TV those are free to watch... paid by your tax dollars.
--
»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)

PCInTech
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I'm an FTA hobbyist. It kind of takes me back to the days of Shortwave radio. You invest in a bunch of equipment, poke around in the sky, and see what you can find. It's a lot of FUN, and there is a lot of good programming up there, totally for free. Beware of buying that Viewsat STB from a non-authorized dealer, though, there are some "clones" of this line of boxes, that are fakes, and do not work correctly. There are many FTA STBs on the market through legitimate FTA equipment dealers. They're fairly sophisticated these days, with PVR and HD models available as well. "True" FTA is 100% legal, as legal as putting up an antenna and picking up FREE over the air TV stations. PM me, and I can give you some educational links if you're interested in looking into this hobby. I'll warn you, that it is not "cheap" to get into. You'll need a 30"+ dish, LNB, motor, cabling, switches, etc, as well as a GOOD quality STB. (Viewsat, Sonicview, Neosat are among the current high quality units.)

Hayward
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4 edits

Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by PCInTech See Profile :

I'm an FTA hobbyist. It kind of takes me back to the days of Shortwave radio.
Unencripted backhauls are always fun....

When I worked for a TV station and an ancelatory (consumer for odd in house feeds) dish it was fun to watch ABC NEWS live and the actual remote raw feed from wherever they were... once had Peter Jenning flipping the bird to a noisey helecopter when he was remote in DC about 10 sec or less before he was live nation wide, also saw him royaly chew outa PA in the same time frame, just before on the national net...unfortunately 26" of water in the house during hurricane Wilma destroyed all that.

But bet a lot of even that stuff is encripted now that it is all pretty much aqll digital even C band.

That was a wonderful era.... 80-90's

Yes there is still FTA... but not near what it once was.... and likely only ever more restricted to come.
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
teledatatech
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1 edit
I currently have a Traxis FTA receiver connected to 30" Ku dish pointed at SBS6 for OhioNews Network and a steerable 7.5' C/Ku dish that I use for FTA.
There are many FTA stations available from music videos to Live news/sport feeds,and ethnic programming.
I just was watching NASA TV. With my FTA receiver you can receive all 4 channels from NASA.
Getting into this hobby can get quite expensive. you can always start out with a single 30" or so Ku dish then add a
dish mover later and receive many more signals.
To get any C band stuff you will need a larger dish usually over 6 feet to get the FTA programming available there.
»www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
this link will give you a good idea what you can get with a FTA receiver.
Just look for DVB in the right hand side of that page.
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joako
Premium
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null
Does anyone know if I can get DW-TV somehow with FTA?

PCInTech
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by joako See Profile :

Does anyone know if I can get DW-TV somehow with FTA?
Not with true FTA, no. You can get it if you are a Dish Network subscriber as part of their German Language Pack. Check your PMs for satellite orientation and location for that channel. Be sure you have the ability to point to that bird before you sign up for DN service.

joako
Premium
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Thanks for letting me know, when I last received Dish Network they didnt have DW. I saw something on DW site where they state they are on NIMQ sat I think but then it says only in Germany>???
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PCInTech
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

said by joako See Profile :

Thanks for letting me know, when I last received Dish Network they didnt have DW. I saw something on DW site where they state they are on NIMQ sat I think but then it says only in Germany>???
It's on Echostar 9 satellite (121W) in North America on Dish Network. If you're in Canada, you can subscribe to Bell Express Vu and receive it on Nimiq 2 (82W). I don't believe you'd pick up Nimiq 2 in Germany, nor would you be able to subscribe to BEV outside of Canada. They must have meant that the station is only in "German", not "Germany".
Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
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is this the same thing as the big ole C-Band dishs that people used to have(you know about 1-1.5m in diameter).
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UncleScooter
I once was SatManWorkin
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

Actually the old C-Band antennas were 2.4m to 3.5m in the old days, IE early/late 80's. Some of the newer stronger birds could be received with a 2m antenna as long as they were not closer that 2deg spacing between satellites.
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UncleScooter
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Re: What is FTA, is it legal?

Click for full size
FYI, CBand still requires BUD's, thats Big Ugly Dishes. I've installed over 12 of these in the last year! This is a 3.0m Prodelin, I have 2 more of these and a 3.8m to install next month.
--
I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but what I'm not sure about is that what you heard isn't exactly what I meant.
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