It's Spring!

For many folks spring means different things, for some it’s the start of baseball season, for others its spring cleaning but for many other geeks such as myself spring is the start of satellite fever.

Satellite fever is not something you normally get if you get a subscription satellite service such as Dish Network or DirecTV.  Satellite fever is something that you get if you’re a true satellite hobbyist, one who designs and builds their own “free to air” satellite systems.  These system use a dish is the sizes of anywhere from a small 24 inches to giant 12 foot monsters.

The folks who build these systems are normally folks who enjoy catching “wild feeds.”  These wild feeds can consist of anything from unedited live news feeds to unscrambled baseball games.  For those who love to scan the skies there is no end to what these folks might find while searching for new signals.

While there is a great deal of programming such as foreign and religious programming for many hobbyist the thrill of the hobby is getting to see things that almost no one else will get to see.  These folks don’t sit down to watch a regularly scheduled program instead they spend their time trying to find the treasures that pop up in the sky.

When major news breaks the sky is lit up with all kind of live news feeds, which gives these home satellite viewers a look at what’s really going on.  There are no 15-second sound bytes here or any directors telling you what he thinks is interesting.  In the free to air satellite world when these events happy you are the director.  It is hard to explain the feeling you get when you can see what’s going on with your own eyes and ears. 

To learn more about true free to air satellite television do a Google search for “FTA Satellite” but watch out for sites that try using legitimate free to air satellite equipment to steal signals from other satellite services such as Dish Network or DirectTV.Legitimate Free to Air Satellite television is an amazing hobby and besides the technical aspect of satellite television that you will learn it will open your eyes to whats really going on in the world today.

This year I am excited that I will soon be able to tinker with my free to air satellite system.  I wanted to replace my 4 foot dish with a new 6 foot dish which can pick up both C Band and KU Band signals, but unfortunately my wife is saying no… but there is always next year!