1020a Installation - NEWBIE

NonConformity · #1 (**permalink**) 09-15-2004, 06:51 AM

Hello peeps,

Just bought a Twinhan VisionPlus 1020A card and about to install it on my computer. Here is the deal, I am in the Northwest US and wish to tune into Echostar 1 bird. I have the following to work with:

Computer:
P4 2.7 GHz/512 MB/80GB HDD
Matrox MGA G100 AGP Video Card
Plenty of PCI slots available
Win2k SP4

Sat:
Well, the card: Twinhan VisionPlus 1020A - About to receive it.
DirectTv 18" Dish and cable
Have figured out direction of the Satellite

Now, am I ready to go? Or is there anything else I need before I get the card. I plan to receive the card and start putting all the items together right away and want to make sure I have it all. Don't usually like surprises...!

I am sure this has been asked many times on this board. If there is a post that answers this, please link it for me or just maybe help me out. Thanks in advance!

wejones · #2 (**permalink**) 09-15-2004, 09:57 AM

That should be all you need for that satellite, however I assume that you know that 99% of the channels on that sat are scrambled, and you can't view them?

NonConformity · #3 (**permalink**) 09-15-2004, 04:06 PM

^ Yep - That's a good assumption! Speaking of which, can you guide me to some good birds? This is the beginning of my new hobby and don't expect it to be a cake walk.

Any pointers to FTA Sats from my location and things of such matter will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

wejones · #4 (**permalink**) 09-15-2004, 04:25 PM

Most of the sats that have FTA signals can't be received with the hardware you have. They require a bigger dish and a linear lnbf.
Go to lyngsat, ie http://www.lyngsat.com/america.shtml
If you click on each sat, it will tell you via the color coding which signals are FTA or encrypted. The sats like most of the echostars (except 9) and Nimiq sats which have freqs in the 12200-12700 range and l/r polarization, are in the right freq range, but you can only view them if they are FTA. The direcTV signals can't even be locked. There are very few of these DBS signals that you can view. The signals that are in the 11700-12200 range with H/V polarity need a bigger dish, somewhere in the 28-40" range, and require a linear lnbf. There are more fta signals that you can view with this equipment. There are some sats which have signals with freqs below 11700. These require a universal lnbf.
Anyway, Lyngsat will give you a pretty good idea of what is FTA, although there are some signals that come and go periodically.