Reddit mentions: The best satellite dishes

One more idea. Buy a directv or dish network reciever and dish then activate the box at a friends house. You can get that stuff on amazon. The extra reciever is usually 5 or 10 bucks a month on your friends account. Just pay them double that for the help. Get someone from crsigslist to install it all for you. You will get all the channels your friend pays for.

The dish provider won't know since the dish only receives data, it doesn't send anything back to them. Just don't plug that reciever into the Internet.

Another plus with that setup... if you live outside of Chicago and can't get the stations you want locally you can activate it on a friend's account that gets those stations and you will get them as well, no matter where you live.

Edit: I was thinking about it - you don't even have to activate it at your friends house. You can just get the dish set up at your house and give your friend the serial number of the box to activate to call DirecTV or Dish.


An example of what you need, for DirecTV:

http://www.amazon.com/DIRECTV-AU9-SL3-SWM-Three-Antenna-Combo/dp/B004J6AEVQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1372443850&sr=8-11&keywords=directv+kit

http://www.amazon.com/DIRECTV-H24-Definition-Enabled-Receiver/dp/B004IVHT4M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372443883&sr=1-1&keywords=directv+hd+receiver

Yes you can, I do it with my RV. You need a SWIM dish and box (links below). These will run you about $240 for both and then its an extra 7 bucks a month or the service. Dont bother with the automatic dish units because for DTV they are not HD compatible and the major buzz around is that in the near future they will be shutting down the standard satellites because they are coming to the end of their lifespans. Make sure you get enough cable to keep the dish out from under the trees. For dish pointing there are many satellite locator apps that are very useful, just find one you like.

Dish on amazon

This is the box I have... H24 Box

I just got a ZDA 1.7/2.1 antenna and it worked out fine. It doesn't have a secondary reflector, but I was able to get vit averages down to ~450, with it sitting on patio furniture. Hopefully I can get it lower with a proper mount next weekend. I may also attempt a DIY secondary reflector.

https://www.amazon.com/1710-2170-Grid-Parabolic-Dish-Antenna/dp/B07DQS39RZ

I had it out receiving for about 7 hours and didn't have too many dropped packets, but my elevation is 45 degrees and pretty forgiving I imagine.

Note that I had this particular seller cancel my order 2 times. I just kept placing the order until they finally gave in and shipped it to me.

Yes, the Himawari-8 data is part of the data that's relayed from GOES-16. This is also why I'm able to capture some GOES-15 data too (which my antenna wasn't pointed at). If you look at the "Readme" in the text directory, you can see the types of data being broadcast (the NWS/NHC stuff is pretty interesting, too)

As for my antenna, I'm using this 1.9ghz parabolic grid antenna.

Lmao, honestly garden shovel might work if your dirt is firm enough, but I used this tripod when I first got my dish. It's really sturdy, and realistically you could stake it into your yard and use it as a permanent solution if you didn't wanna mount it to your roof.

One thing I just remembered is that if the ground or mount isn't level, them you'll have to fiddle with the elevation some more. My elevation was supposed to be 33.4, but I ended up having to set the dish to be around 43 because my mount wasn't actually level on my roof.

Get a good directional antenna.

http://www.amazon.com/2-4GHz-24dBi-Outdoor-Antenna-Cable/dp/B001J1Y7IA

Get a 3w commercial amplifier. Something like

http://www.4netonline.com/on/index.php?product_id=424&target=products

I'd look for a cheaper used amp though. If you put this setup at both end points you might get away with 1w amplifiers. Point to point link is FCC legal I believe.

But fuck them either way as nobody is going to peep in on your power rating if you aren't a commercial entity. You can probably get there for under $400 bux.

we have one of these in my IT shop at work that we were going to use to build a wireless lan with to our other building across the SF bay. I may need to repurpose it for use as a wifi antenna.