Satelite Service

[Iver]

 I have 2 satelite dishes(installed by previous owner) on the roof of my bus.  One is the crank up kind and the other is a dome type TracVision.    I also have the Hughes receiver.
My lack of knowledge of satelite tv prompts me to ask this question.   Can you receive anything from a satelite dish and receiver without having a service provider? 
I am assuming not but......
Thanks,  Iver.

[oldmansax]

Can't answer your question but have one of my own 

What is a crank up dish & what did it receive?

TOM

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Iver,

Your dome unit is for recieving sat signal automaticly, your crank-up unit is for finding signal manually.

You do need a programming package from a sat provider such as Direct TV or Dish Network. To find out

which provider your dome unit is set-up for, ask your previous owner which service they had.

Chances are, having a Hughes reciever they had Direct TV programming.
www.directtv.com

Good Luck
Nick-

[WEC4104]

Iver:

The answer to your question is "Yes, but extremely limited."  

In general, DISH and DirectTV will include at least one non-scrambled channel for each of their satellites. These are primarily for diagnostic purposes or to help the new user with set-up.  They typically broadcast something simple like a "Welcome to DISH satellite services" banner, or sometimes they repeatedly show an infomercial about their satellite system features. These are not something you are going to be interested in watching for more than 30 seconds, but if all you want to do is confirm that your hardware is functioning, it will work.

Beyond that, you will find a handful of non-scrambled channels that just show a list of the Pay-Per-View (PPV) movies that are available to order.  

One non-scrambled channel that can be worth watching is the NASA channel. (DISH's Echostar 7 satellite at 119W).  When they are not covering shuttle launches and landings, they do live broadcasts from the ISS or other science shows.

If you need more specific info, let us know.

[Iver]

Thanks for the information.
    I kind of thought you couldn't get service without paying a service provider.   I'll have to read the instructions on how to find satelites. 
    The previous owner did use Direct Tv.  The reason he still had the old crank up dish is that he had an artist paint a desert scene on the dish and he hated to part with it.  The Dome seems to be the only one hooked up at the moment.
     I would like to try to find the one non-scrambled channel if it's not too hard to do just to check to see if everything works.....
             Thanks   Iver.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Iver,

If the reciever is DTV "look at the card inside", then it should be able to find the 101 sat. on its own.

If not,
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm

Good Luck
Nick-