HELP - moving to Columbus, OH
Gary Bourgois
>FIRST) TVRO system?
What do you want to spend? What do you want it to do?
I would get:
Drake 1824
Orbitron SST-10
ADL Feed
CAL AMP C/KU LNB's
AJAK H/H Mount.
This is the best setup you can buy.
I would buy it from
Global Communications 608 546 2523
P.O.B. 747
Spring Green WI 53588
In fact I did that very thing after doing over a year of research. I talked
to engineers, users, TV station people.
I wanted the best picture, Most flexible receiver, full stereo sound on
EVERYTHING. I wanted international reception, KU news feeds, EVERYTHING.
This system delivers.
Global has the best price in the country if you are buying mail order. If
buying locally, don't let the dealer substitute something like GI or UNIDEN.
They usually do that to make more money.
Insist on the Drake.
--
/ Gary Bourgois, WB8EOH, The Birdwatcher: Marquette Michigan USA \
([-o Radio Omega T2/21 5.8 - FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE Weekly 10PM Eastern o-])
\ Now a snazzy new DOMAIN address! fl...@lopez.marquette.MI.US /
birdw...@genie.geis.com FAX: (906) 228-7477 BBS: (906) 228-4399
tno...@delphi.com
I want ANIK perfectly, first of all, as well as other KU (this
is why I am converting to TVRO -
for non cable stuff). I have heard on here the past couple of
months that I would need a
receiver that has adjustable bandwith to get ANIK sounding good
(ultra wide?). I also
think I need a H/H mount because I want to get KU dead on, and
hopefully if no buildings are
blocking, I may want the option of hunting for Intelsats or
something like that (I already have
a multisystem digital converter box - PAL, SECAM + multisystem
VCR). Although, International
is not important enough to me, to lets say invest extra in an
international feedhorn. I want
to cut corners too. I do think I want the best possible C/Ku
band feed I can get though, so
domestic looks studio quality (quality is another reason I'm
converting) and I can at least see
a little international, but this is just a bonus for me. For
all I know this house might have the
N.A. arc clear, but there will be a house nearby that will
block Intelsat. This is fine with me.
Tom
tno...@delphi.com
tno...@delphi.com
I got cut off. I DO want International reception if there are
no trees blocking though, you get my
point. Now, Receivers - Why is the Drake the best?? Is it
because it is more adjustable than
the GI and Uniden? I am like you when you got your first
system - quality is very important.
In fact when I move, I am bringing my 600 line TV and
stereo with me - more money to
spend on TVRO when I get to my new home. Oh yeah, I
definately want a 10' or over. I don't
want any sparklies, except for international of course. I
figure 12 is too big though. I was
considering an Orbitron 10 footer. I like your advice so far.
My only concern is installation. I know that I will
have have trouble tracking my dish +
positioning my feed etc. I guess I will have to get a local
Columbus dealer to install the thing,
but this will cost me $$$$$$, especially since I didn't buy the
stuff from him.
Why is AJAX so good? What is the difference between an
AJAX H/H and any other H/H
mount?
As this is my first system, I am loaded with questions
aren't I?
Tom
tno...@delphi.com
John Seaver
Welcome to town! I have owned my dish for a couple of years and have
found a few things. The dealers in this area do some good work and have
some good prices, but seem to have little loyalty to a product. It seems
that the shops around here are loyal to whatever is the easiest to
install. What worked for me is to get everyone's opinion (on a CompuServe
forum) and told the dealer what I wanted. I got it for a decent price
installed, but the dealer was a little confused on the dish install
and had to visit about 5 times before getting it correct. The people on
the CompuServe forum even gave me hints to help the sat "tech" correctly
tune my Winegard dish.
good luck!
John
<Paul Krueger>
CompuServe. I just logged on to CompuServe and haven't found thiss
forum yet.
Many thanks in advance.
Paul
Terry Maton
Hi Gary - interesting to read your message to the subject question.
I really appreciate your postings and all the info and help you provide.
However, I *do* have to say that my experience with my GI 550i IRD has
been just as good as your Drake experience - OK my unit has only been
up for one year, but it is also on 24hours and has only been off on the
three or four times we have had a power cut.
I know you have a personal dislike for GI, and I knew that before I bought
my system. I was faced with what I could obtain locally and with local
service, so that limited me. I also had to go on *all* the info I received
from members of the group and from my own personal observations. Drake was
not an option for me, Uniden video on any unit I tested *sucked* and the
other choices did not match the GI units.
I will include a few of your comments and add my views....
>Here is my *OPINION*:
>The Drake has the features I personally wanted. It has beautiful
>sharp video that cuts like a knife. On my MITSUBISHI, I can see individual
>whisps of hair, or the little freckles on NELIX.
To confirm, this is my *OPINION*:
This applies to my GI550i seen on a 20 year old Sony Trinitron!
>The Drake has 200 favorite channels (100 audio and 100 video) and it lets you
>put a NAME on channels, which is handy. I like the interface a lot. There
>is minimal fooling around to do things. I like the KU Seek, very handy for
>scanning for new KU channels. I like the ability to assign ANY name to any
>of the 99 satellites I can have in Memory. Panamsat-1 is P1 on my drake,
>Orion 1 is O1, Intelsat 601 is I-1.
The GI550i favorite channels is (from memory) 150 which can be assigned to
either video or audio - I haven't run out. You can name channels and if
stored as favorite audio it can have different name than the same channel
with video (or several different audios for one channel).
Likewise, you can can a satellite any name you wish with the GI550i.
>The Drake has SKIP tuning, which saves wear on your polarotor.
The GI550i also has this important feature.
>The Drake has THREE audio Bandwidths which have been selected very very
>well.
The GI550i only has two, but I have never found any audio that one or
other of the choices does not give clear audio.
>I get no sparklies to speak of. NETV on S3/02 is quite viewable, but not
>perfect. However, on other receivers I could not watch it.
NETV on S3/02 has only very minimal sparklies - you have to look very
closely to see them. (I'm up in Saskatchewan, Canada).
>I won't buy anything made by GI just on principle. I also think their
>interface looks junky.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, we all know this now Gary! ;)
I think it only fair to make sure that you ALWAYS make note of that fact!
Best wishes from the frozen north,
--
Terry Maton - University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
INTERNET: Terry...@usask.ca
WWW: http://www.usask.ca/~maton/
Gary Bourgois
>Thanks! According to the "Satellite Broadcasting Guide - 1995
>(WRTH) ", the footprint for
>ANIK KU, has a 50 signal in the Columbus area (meaning in this
>book that you only need a
>1.5 meter dish). Its the same signal strength that hits
>Toronto (same footprint). Remember,
>the state of Ohio is right on Lake Erie (spelling?). But I
>would take your word over the book.
Well I have never been to Columbus, so the book is probably right. Most
people I talk to can't get ANIK KU, except for Canadians and northerners like
me. However I am very far INTO the ANIK footprint. It comes in gangbusters.
> Don't worry about these messages going out to the whole
>group. These messages have
>swayed me to go TVRO (I had DBS but am selling it when I move).
AWRITE!
> In terms of VCRS subscription stuff, The dealer can keep
>that crap. Why PAY for empty-v (MTV) when I can get
>MuchMusic and Musique Plus on Anik? Why pay for CNN and CNNI
>when I can watch the feeds
>directly and the BBC nightly news. The only thing I am
>wondering about is movie channels.
Presently there is FXM, MOVIEPLUS and MOVIEMAX all uninterrupted movie
channels. I don't have time to watch movies. The Canadian ones will
eventually go DIGITAL, and I don't know about FXM.
> Isn't there a Latin American HBO that is ITC? Is this
>scrambled now? See.... No reason
There used to be a movie channel on one of the Mexican Birds. I don't know
if that is there any more. It ran the movies in English with Spanish
Subtitles. This was a couple years ago. It may be gone now.
>to subscribe to anything! Maybe if I went the scrounger's
>guide (I like this) way, which I am
>also considering, then I will have a little money to burn for
>crap programming like MTV.
I don't have a descrambler. I never run out of stuff to watch and listen to.
I am weird, though.
However, check the WILD FEEDS LIST and the Different Strokes List and the
stuff that RobertK posts for the Canadian channels. It is all great stuff.
Andrew Lyons
tv...@LOPEZ.MARQUETTE.MI.US says...
>
>>Gary,
>>Thanks! According to the "Satellite Broadcasting Guide - 1995
>>(WRTH) ", the footprint for
>>ANIK KU, has a 50 signal in the Columbus area (meaning in this
>>book that you only need a
>>1.5 meter dish). Its the same signal strength that hits
>>Toronto (same footprint). Remember,
>>the state of Ohio is right on Lake Erie (spelling?). But I
>>would take your word over the book.
>
>Well I have never been to Columbus, so the book is probably right. Most
>people I talk to can't get ANIK KU, except for Canadians and northerners
like
>me. However I am very far INTO the ANIK footprint. It comes in
gangbusters.
>
I live just west of Columbus and get Anik E2 Ku with excellent signal and
Anik E1 Ku with light sparklies.
Andy Lyons
ar...@cbmsg.att.com
