Connection to free satellite TV was made possible thanks to the presence of open channels. But to connect to them, you need to not only purchase special equipment, but also be able to install and configure it. How much more profitable is installing a satellite system than a simple antenna for receiving an analog signal?
Equipment selection
In order to connect to open channels on satellites, you must first purchase equipment and install it. The kit includes: plate, receiver head (converter), cable, receiver. The advantage of connecting open channels is that it does not need to purchase equipment from one specific supplier.
For example, to receive Tricolor TV channels, even free ones, you need to buy a set of equipment from one company. At the same time, it costs much more, and the number of channels is much less.
When choosing, you should pay attention to the availability of a guarantee, the serviceability of the equipment, its power and size, as well as compatibility with the TV installed in the house. You also need to find out which cables are suitable for connecting to it.
For stable reception, a plate with a diameter of 0.8-0.9 m or more is suitable. The larger the plate, the larger the signal reception area, and hence the power of the received signal. To increase the number of received open channels, you can install two plates by connecting them to one receiver using a tee.
Plate installation
Installing a plate is one of the most important stages of work. On how correctly the dish will be installed, what open channels the receiver will receive, the strength and purity of the signal. Improper installation will result in no reception.
The plate must be installed in an open space. It’s best to put it on the roof. In the absence of such an opportunity, it is placed on the most open side of the house. Neither trees nor buildings should be closer than 3-4 meters from it. How to attach the device to the wall of the house using a special bracket? The plate is attached to it at a special angle, both in vertical and horizontal position.
The angle depends on which satellite the signals will be received from. And the ability to connect to it depends in turn on the location of the building and the presence or absence of sources of interference near it. Typically, when the plate is placed vertically, the angle is between 18 and 27 degrees. With horizontal - the angle of rotation depends on which side the antenna is installed: east, west, south or north, and the position of the satellite.
Receiver Head Installation
The head of the receiver - converter is also attached to the bracket. It is placed in front of the plate towards it. When installing the converter, it is important to observe the polarity, that is, the angle of rotation of the head. For reception from satellites of paid providers, such as Tricolor TV or NTV +, this parameter does not matter. However, for signals from a satellite providing access to open channels, polarity is very important.
Receiver selection
To receive open channels from a satellite, any, even the cheapest receiver is suitable. The main thing is that it supports the format of the transmitted video - at least MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. It is undesirable to take “nameless” models from China, as they do not always have the support of Russian satellites and menus in Russian. Setting the parameters is quite complicated, especially if you connect two antennas to different satellites at once. You will have to configure many values ​​before you configure the list of open channels.
How to choose a satellite?
First of all, you need to choose the right satellite. You can do this on the mapsat.ru website. This resource has a drop-down list with the names of satellites. Not all of the options presented may be suitable, since from some the signal source is at an unattainable transmission angle.
If the satellite is not suitable for the selected area, the application built into the site automatically displays a message about it. It is better to rewrite the names of the satellites separately in the list in order to be able to choose the most suitable when configuring the receiver.
When choosing, it should be borne in mind that foreign television transmitters broadcast each in their own language. Therefore, so that they do not speak an incomprehensible dialect on television, one must choose Russian satellite models.
Satellite setup on the receiver
One of the most difficult steps is to set up the receiver. Each receiver has its own characteristics, but the tunable parameters on almost all models look something like this:
- First you need to go to the settings menu and indicate which satellite the signal will be received from. A list of supported devices is already registered on the device in the software. It remains only to choose the most suitable.
- After the satellite is selected, it is necessary to adjust the coordinates, degree of longitude (see mapsat.ru on the website) and the hemisphere (east), the KU range.
- Set the frequency of signal reception. The frequency depends on the satellite model. For example, for the Ku_ABC2 satellite, the receiving frequency is 11559, the polarity is vertical. There can be several reception frequencies, but only one needs to be selected.
After entering the above parameters, the receiver should show information that the satellite was found. For more information about which menu items to perform this or that setting, see the instructions that came with it. The menus in different models of the receiver are different from each other, but the settings for the settings in almost all the same. You will have to configure the satellite, coordinates, polarity and frequencies of open channels.
Channel Search Settings
After setting up the reception of signals from the satellite, you need to download the list of open channels. Next, configure the search. To begin with, the following parameters are indicated in the search settings:
- search mode - “Blind” or “Auto”;
- connection type - “Free channels”;
- type of service - Central Television.
And click on the "Search" button. The receiver must scan all the frequencies of the TV channels transmitted from the satellite. The time it takes the search process depends on the signal strength and the number of channels. The search lasts from a few seconds to five minutes. In cloudy cloudy weather, the signal level drops, and the number of channels found may be less than it could be on a clear good day. When setting up, this factor must be taken into account.
How many channels are available?
Naturally, after connecting and tuning, the question arises of how many open channels are available? The number of available TV channels depends on the diameter of the dish and their number, as well as the selected satellite. Most often, these are 10-15 television channels plus 5-6 radio stations, but there are more.
If we consider that not only all-Russian, but also regional television channels broadcast from satellites . Also, during the search, duplicate TV channels can be downloaded, since the signal can be intended for residents from other regions located in adjacent time zones.
And here another question arises. If there are so few channels, why spend money on buying a receiver, a plate and a converter, albeit inexpensive, when it is cheaper and easier to use an analog signal rather than a digital one? The digital signal, i.e. satellite, is much more stable and stronger. Image quality is higher. The plate is firmly attached to the bracket and it is not afraid of either wind or thunder.
And you can install it at any height, the main thing is that other objects do not cover it, creating interference. In addition, the number of digital TV channels received is much larger and their number and variety can be expanded if you connect other satellites or install a larger dish.