FTA stands for Free To Air and this is one of the most popular ways of enjoying satellite television channels. We can get high quality television signals through FTA. To view the FTA channels we need an FTA receiver. Normally the FTA signals are transmitted in scrambled format so that they are not trapped by other receivers. We need to use a set of FTA keys to receive the signals in the viewable format. The FTA receiver will take care of the conversions as long as we supply our FTA receivers with the right FTA keys.
FTA channels are sent in scrambled form to ensure that they are viewed only by subscribers. Once we use the right FTA keys we will not be limited in anyway; we will be able to view even the subscriptions channels without any problem.
The most essential component of FTA therefore is FTA receiver. The FTA receivers look much like our modern day DVD players that are compact. These FTA receivers will be capable of receiving the signals from the satellites. The FTA receiver will also have a dish that will pick up the signals. To receive the signals that are scrambled, you must get the right set of FTA keys. To explain it in simple words, all of us are used to passwords for websites and other subscription based services. FTA keys are something like those passwords. We will be able to access the subscription area only by using the correct login, similarly we will be able to view our favorite subscription based channels by having the right FTA keys. There are FTA signals all around us and we just need the right FTA receiver and the right FTA keys to view our favorite channels.
During these times of recession paying a hefty subscription for our favorite channels can be difficult for many of us. Using an FTA support site we will be able to enjoy our favorite channels in the cheapest way. Television has always been one of the favorite family entertainment and FTA keys will allow us to enjoy unlimited viewing of our favorite channels.
Due to the increasing popularity of FTA, there are hundreds of companies offering FTA keys. You must make sure to find a reliable company to get your FTA support so that you will be able to get the necessary support to input your FTA keys properly and enjoy your favorite channels without any problem. The rates for your FTA keys vary from company to company. N2news.com, offers you best solutions for all your needs on FTA keys. We will be with you at every step of the setup.
All that it takes to access your favorite channels is few minutes. We can save a great deal on making use of FTA keys month after month. FTA receiver setup will just be a breeze with the help of support sites like N2news.com. All the popular FTA receivers are supported here and helpful customer support is provided to setup your FTA channels.
Hundreds of thousands of people were happy Coolsat and Visionsat owners, until recently. Many of you may be wondering why your Coolsat 4000, 5000, and 6000 have been sitting idle while the rest of the FTA world zooms by. If you don’t own a Coolsat you should know what is going on between the FTA companies and the DBS providers. The most recent Coolsat bin files were uploaded in late March and the scene has been quiet ever since. The reason for this well supported FTA receivers sudden lack of support isn’t entirely clear but I’ll offer what I know.
It’s important to understand, if you do not already, that nothing these receiver companies do is illegal as it pertains to FTA hardware. The FTA hobby is perfectly legal in North America and most parts of the world. These quality receiver products fill and important gap for those people that are interested in watching television signals freely made available over the air. Modern FTA receivers also provide excellent support for ATSC over the air digital signals. Major cities have been increasing the number of free HDTV and DIGITAL signals that are compatible with many receivers. The grey area most people associate with FTA is the “BIN” releases that allow FTA receivers to decode signals that would otherwise be protected by some type of process. This is a very secretive process and it’s still unclear to most who actually writes these bin files and who pays for it (if anyone).
It’s a fairly well known fact that some bin files are produced for sport. For software developers there is a certain level of euphoria associated with defeating the latest ECM and doing it faster than the other guys. Amateur developers have their own tools and techniques to break the code but the process is basically the same for everyone. Using a real working card and subscription the developer will look at the signal going into the real card and the signal coming out. Using this they will adjust the bits and bytes in their code to produce the same results. The word Amateur is misleading, these guys are very good and they get their “props” from the underground world that supports them. On the other hand, there are rumors that some of the FTA receiver companies pay top dollar to coders that specialize in cryptography so that their brand can always have the latest bin files. Once you understand this murky back office relationship you can begin to understand the problem.
EchoStar has a duty to the content providers that zap their must see TV into our homes. That duty is to make sure each and every person that sees ‘Yet Another Cop Buddy Show’ each and every Monday night is paying the TV Tax. It’s understandable that millions of dollars have gone into the development of satellite technology and the DVB companies want to protect that investment through subscription services. As part of that protection, they will take legal action against FTA receiver companies if they find the slightest proof they are involved with something illicit. Remember, FTA receivers are perfectly legal as is their manufacturing but reverse engineering the signal to provide a way to bypass content protection methods is not legal. EchoStar (and the other big boys) have law suits against all the manufacturers at this point, some have been going for multiple years.
The latest legal action against Freetech is, in my opinion, what is behind the lack of updates for Coolsat receivers right now as well as other receivers supported by this team. EchoStar and other plaintiffs (such as NagraVision who makes the encryption system and is partly owned by EchoStar) are represented by Hagan Noll & Boyle LLC in Houston, Texas as well as other high profile legal groups in case CV-07-6124-JW-RW. Within this legal action they make the following points that I have summarized in my own words. I’m not a lawyer, keep that in mind.
They claim the Freetech, Inc, the makers of the Coolsat products, produce a product with limited commercial value other than to pirate satellite TV.
They claim that Coolsat is specifically marketed as a device to pirate DISH Network TV and that Coolsat’s official company support will assist customers in that process.
They claim that they are directly responsible for Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations.
While I agree that many people use FTA receivers to pirate TV, I would certainly argue that this not the only use and that it may not be the majority of users. I would also argue that cable TV is something you must bring into your home if you choose to pay for it and satellite signals zap through your body like a hotdog in the microwave entirely uninvited. This, however, isn’t the problem. The problem is item number 3. EchoStar wants to know what role the FTA Company has in getting the bin files published.
Subpoenas were sent to find this information and they have been ignored, as far as I can tell, by all parties so far. It would appear that the company may be moving development resources or doing something else internally to separate itself from the developers that code the bin files.
To me, this would imply that things are in flux for a while for this development team but they will get back on track. This is entirely speculation but I would guess that the developers responsible has been told by their lawyers to lay low for a while. Possibly there are payroll papers or other documents that directly link the developers to Freetech and this would not be good.
Here are some of the questions I keep reading:
Q: Does this mean that EchoStar will try to sue me directly because I purchased hardware from Freetech?
A: This is not very likely. Buying the hardware is not illegal. A representative from SonicView has told me very clearly that the majority of hardware they sell is used in True FTA. With Digital ATSC broadcasting ramping up, more and more FTA hardware is being used as the family entertainment center.
Q:I sent email their support team asking for help and they gave me an answer. Can I get in trouble for that?
A: I can’t tell you that it was a good idea to have contacted them directly. The best place to get any type of question answered is the n2news fta forum or support team. If Freetech or any other FTA receiver company does give you information on using your hardware in a method that violates the DMCA they would be up a digital creek without a digital paddle and that is not good for anyone.
Q: I don’t have a Coolsat but I have (fill in the blank). Will my receiver stop getting updates?
A: It’s unclear who programs what bin files in this industry. If I had to guess I would say that Sonicview, Pansat, Viewsonic, and CNX should have no problem. These companies are all solid and in a good position to defend themselves. It’s unclear on how Nfusion or other IKS providers will hold up in the long run. The best thing to do is get your bin files from a site like n2news that protects the privacy of its members.
There is another theory that is much simpler but not nearly as fun. Some say the Korean based coders were unhappy with the pay so they went to work for another company. The KBOX brand receivers are manufactured at the same plant as some Coolsat products and use similar technology (if not the exact technology). More sources report that Freetech had 30,000 units and sold them off at wholesale prices before going bankrupt but this is entirely unconfirmed. It’s a confirmed fact that Coolsat Canada is no long in business.
There are some things that you can try. If you have saved your old bin files you may be in luck. Some users are reporting success with the 202 bin but others are not. Sometimes older bin files are able to work well enough that watching TV is still entertaining so don’t delete them for a while.
Don’t fret, true FTA is still a great option! Point your dish to 123.0 W using Dishpointer.com. Tune into Transponder 11.720 V, SR 27.692, VPID 0053, APID 0054, PPID 0054 and you’ll fine WNGS. They are an affiliate of “THIS” network and they have great movies and show on all day and night. No bin is required. There are other great channels on 123.0 W so scan it and see what you find.
Great video for learning about how to setup your free to air satellite dish at home. This video tutorial serves as a very basic beginner’s guide to FTA satellite dishes.
The internet is a-buzz will rumors that the programmers at nFusion have managed to crack the encryption system called “N3”. Recently one of the large North American sat companies starting using N3 primarily and the other has begun the switch. Those of you following my other articles on the switchover to N3 know that this is nothing to panic about as there are many Free-To-Air signals you can tune into and the correct bin file allows a wide range of other signals to be accessed. Here are some interesting things to keep in mind:
It is not likely that anyone who has a solution to the N3 issue will say anything about it for another year or so. If a solution is presented too early, any provider that has not yet shipped a full N3 implementation will have the option to revise that plan and that would only hurt the FTA hobby.
There is no great demand for a solution to the N3 problem yet so there is no great brainpower fully behind a solution yet. Certainly smart people are looking at N3 right now, however, the incentive for them to “bust it wide open” is not there until further into the card deployments coming during 2009. These programmers are busy people, look for them to focus their effort right now in better support for HDTV, better EPGS, more accurate scanning, and better PVR support.
N3 has been under investigation in Europe for some time and there is no working solution across the Atlantic yet.
When N2 was cracked there was a brilliant programmer in Europe that played a key role. He isn’t actively working on N3, in fact, he was hired by the developers of the N3 system to help protect it against people just like himself. This one will, no doubt, be tougher to crack that anything before it. Even with this brilliant programmer, who was paid a rumored six-figure finders fee to help break the N2 code something was still missing. An unknown satellite company paid and employee for part of the internal N2 key needed to start writing bin files. Now, these codes are held much closer to the company.
The simplest answer is most often the right answer. In this case, it would seem that nfusion is using a type of card sharing system takes advantage of a valid working N3 card to handle the decoding.
The bottom line, it doesn’t matter how the did it or what cards they are holding back. It looks like the folks behind the nfusion want to be out in front of the pack and they are eager to prove their place in the market. Other companies are not far behind but haven’t released enough details to know what they have in store for us.
Here are some common problems that users run into while installing and using FTA equipment. The forums contain additional answers to common questions and I’ve written specific articles on some of these points.
I have no signal:
Adjust the location of your dish. The number one reason you have no signal is the way your dish is pointed. I’ve written many articles on dish pointing so double check your dish using the tools I’ve talked about before.
Check your wiring to make sure you have no kinks or bends or breaks along the way.
Your DISeQc may be dead so try connecting the dish lnb directly the receiver to see if that fixes the problem. If so, replace the switch.
An aging or weathered LNB may produce bad signals off and on and generally works great for a while and then suddenly the quality drops out. Different times of the day may yield better results. If your LNB is older you may want to consider upgrading and solving this problem.
Double check all connections. Make sure you tighten the connectors but only with your hands. Don’t use tools and never use a powertool.
If you clearly get some stations but not others you may be one satellite LNB connections working and not another. Check the connection to your different LNBs and then check to make sure you have blind-scanned both sats.
Channels that once worked don’t anymore because they frequently move from one transponder to another. Try to blind scan again. You may need to do this every few months. Some receivers are better at tracking changes automatically using “hints” within the EPG data and some receivers are “dumb” and require you to scan as often as monthly.
I have the message “Bad or scrambled channel” or “Waiting for Picture”, or another similar message.
Try re-scanning or checking an online guide to see if the specific station has been moved to another sat.
Bad weather can sometimes affect signal quality.
Check the forum for your receiver to make sure you are running with the correct bin.
The moderator for your receiver forum may have sent a message to enable or disable the “EMU” or Emulation function within your receiver. Not all receivers support emulation but those that do sometimes need the settings changed.
You may need to manually enter the latest N2 keys into the receiver. Check with the instructions or guides posted on this site on how you can enter the latest keys manually.
My EPG won’t display or displays empty information.
Make sure you have the date, time, and timezone set correct. Many receivers will fail to display or upgrade EPG information if the clock within the device is wrong.
The digital switchover is now a mere month away and one of the biggest questions I’ve received is “What will happen to my portable analog television?” We all watch Satellite TV but still millions of people and many of Sammy’s readers have a small portable TV that we use when camping or in case of emergency. In the mid-west, when the bad weather hits and everyone heads for the basement, will have a way to stay informed after February 17, 2009?
Battery-powered analog televisions are able to receive over-the-air free digital programming, but they must be connected to a digital-to-analog converter box and a separate broadcast antenna. The battery-powered analog television must have an “antenna in” port in order to connect it to a digital-to-analog converter box. Sounds simple enough but wait, it’s an emergency and the power is out. Now what?
Ultimately, you need to find another source to feed power to the digital-to-analog converter box. The TV runs on batteries, but the converter box needs electricity from the wall. Fortunately, you do have a few options. These include external power sources with rechargeable battery packs, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), car battery adapters, or small power generators. There are also a few manufacturers that offer a separate battery pack for their converter box. One of them, the Winegard Battery Pack, allows you to run your Winegard converter box using 6 D cell batteries and will run for about 18 hours.
The other option, the one that will probably cost you the most money, is to shell out for a battery-powered digital television. Look for models that are marked with words like “Integrated Digital Tuner,” “Digital Tuner Built-in,” “Digital Receiver,” “DTV,” “ATSC” or “HDTV.” Your local electronics store has probably received this question as often as I have so that would be a great place to start if you plan to toss the old analog and move up to a digital portable TV.
The last emergency you need during an emergency is to be out of the loop so don’t forget to keep a battery-powered radio with your emergency kit so you can pick up news and weather bulletins.
The term “J-Tag” or “J-Tagging” is frequently used in conjunction with the FTA hobby. This term refers to the Join Test Action Group (JTAG) which is a simpler name for the IEEE 1149.1 standard “Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture”. If you are more confused than before, allow me to explain. The term actually has nothing to due with FTA, however, it does play a vital role as you will see.
FTA receivers and other types of STB (Set Top Boxes) have complete computer systems inside of them, however, they use a different type of CPU than your desktop PC. Generally speaking your FTA receiver or STB is using a microprocessor from a company like ARM, Freescale, MIPS, Atmel, Infineon, OnCE, and so on. While your computer runs Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OSX or some other major operating system, the microcontroller in your STB also has an operating system. When you upload a new BIN file to your equipment you are basically updating the operating system. If you have made a mistake in that process you will no longer be able to boot your receiver.
If you have entered this state, your receiver is essentially dead. Those of us that have done this more than once call this “Bricked”. Microcontrollers have a back door just for this type of situation. That “Back Door” is a standard way to access the internal parts of the microcontroller through a special device attached to specific pins on the cpu. If you haven’t already guessed, this standard way to access the guts of the Microcontroller is the “J-Tag”. Some Set Top Boxes and Receivers actually provide a direct cable to allow accessing the JTAG pins and some require a connection to be soldered using a soldering iron and wires.
If your STB or Receiver has become as useless as a camel with a fishing pole, you may still be able to revive it. Once you have the J-Tag cable attached and the correct J-Tag software you should be able to directly upload a working firmware to the receiver and bring it back from the dead. For example, with a Pansat 3500 the steps are simple: Attach the JTag special cable with a cheap soldering iron while the receiver is unplugged. Start the freely available “jkeys” programs and turn on the receiver. The chip will be instantly detected and you can select the menu buttons. Select Erase to clear the chip. Next, select a factory boot loader such a B80 and click Program. Within about 4 minutes your Pansat 3500 is back to life. Locate the latest bin now that you have a bootloader and you’ll be back to Hogan’s Heroes in no time.
When you are getting started with FTA there is no doubt you will have questions and there are a great many people, as well as our staff that are willing to help you get your questions answered. Our FTA Forums provide the absolute best experience when it comes to support and troubleshooting for your FTA receiver. If you follow this guide you will have better luck getting your questions answered.FTA is much more than hardware, it’s an online community of friends sharing experiences and helping each other.
Please show all other members some respect.It is easy to say something in an online forum that you wouldn’t say face to face in a busy grocery store but that never helps anyone and it certainly never helps questions get answered.
Do not post links to other websites, especially to keys.
Do not post company names.The FTA community is all about Free-To-Air television so it’s best to keep information about specific satellite companies, channel names, hardware manufacturers, and other trademarked names out of the message.Post general questions and you’ll still get answers.
Be patient.FTA is a hobby for most people and you may not get an immediate answer.
Please search around first.You’re not the first newbie (a loving term used to refer to new hobbyists in the world of FTA) having problems.Over the last several years someone may have asked the same question so use the search feature and browse through past questions and answers.
If another user sends you a file, be cautious unless you know that user or have been talking with them.This is the same good judgment you would show in your normal email.Download files with caution and at your own risk.
If you are reading a thread (a group of messages on the same topic) don’t post an unrelated question.This is called “Thread Hijacking” and it leads to confusion for the kind folks already reading and responding and it also makes it much more difficult to get you the right answer.
Don’t post a short “Me Too” or “I’m Down” message.If your FTA isn’t working due to an ECM, wait for the files.I’ve posted articles in the past about ECMs and how the teams release new bin files.Wait for the files to be released.This site is the best available place to get new bin files as soon as they are available so just check back every few hours until the bin files area available.
As part of your FTA satellite installation you probably have a small metal or plated device that looks like a sea creature with COAX cables coming in and out of it.This device is called a DiSEqC which stands for “Digital Satellite Equipment Control” and is pronounced “Die-Seck”.
This is your average diseqc switch
In order for satellite systems to fit more channels in the same amount of space they broadcast channels using vertical and horizontal polarization.A DiSEqC is like a small phone operator for the satellite word that takes a look at all the signals coming in from the Dishes and tells them which stations to pass back to the receiver.
The receiver sends a signal in the form of a tone or by raising the voltage on line.The DiSEqC device understands these signals and tells the LNB what signal to pass to the receiver.
If you have One LNB going to One Receiver, you do not need a switch.
If you have One LNB going to Two Receivers, you most likely do not need a switch but you will need an LNB with dual outputs.
If you have Two LNBs going to One receiver you need one of the following:An A/B Switch, a 2×1 DiSEqC, a 4×1 DiSEqC, a 22KHz switch, or a 4×4 Multiswitch.An A/B switch is a very inexpensive manual switch and is not recommended.A 2×1 is not widely used any more but the 4×1 DiSEqC switch is the most popular around and often shipped free with your FTA receiver.A 4×1 DiSEqC switch has 4 coax inputs, generally 2 on each side.These are called “Ports” and go to each LNB in your satellite setup.A 5th plug labeled Out or Output will lead to your one receiver.Tip:Take notes when you install yourDiSEqC so you know which dish (110, 119, 129, etc) is on which port as you will need this to configure the receiver.
A 4×4 Multi-Switch is a higher end switch that has 4 inputs and 4 outputs.Generally they require the first port to provide power through a special injector that plugs in near the receiver.These flexible and powerful switches offer a lot of expansion as the can power up to 4 different receivers.
DiSeQC comes in many versions.The initial version (1.0) supports 2 to 4 different LNB sources.Version 1.1 supports up to 16 different LNB sources.Version 1.2 and 1.3 add support for motors and for other types of devices used to turn and point dishes.Newer devices, some still in the lab but other hitting the market use DiSEqC 2.x to automatically scan the sky and locate all the satellites and provide automatic access to all of them.
Tommy the Tech uses a simple DiSEqC 1.0 setup with a 4×4 powered switch.
There may be a lot of reasons that you’ve suddenly lost the picture on your satellite receiver.Here are some common questions and answer about the weather and its effect on your signal.
Can or snow cause the signal to be lost?Rain is generally not a problem for satellite signals but snow can be.A common problem in cold parts of the world is ice buildup on the satellite dish.Snow and ice can add a reasonable amount of weight to a dish as it builds up over a season.The most common problem Sammy finds is the very subtle movement of the dish over the winter season.Slowly the weight of the snow and ice pulls the dish out of alignment.If you live in a heavy snow or ice area you may have to make sure your dish is very well mounted and you may also install an optional year-round cover that prevents the buildup of ice and snow.Rain doesn’t generally stop satellite reception but you mind find that heavy storms bring thick dark clouds and these can cause a short interruption.A well tuned receiver with good line of sight should not experience many rain outages.
Very cold weather can also slow down the motor causing alignment issues.If you live in a very cold region you will want to check with the manufacturer of your equipment to make sure that it supports the normal conditions you live in.Some of the lower end units are not meant for extreme cold.
Twice a year the Sun comes into alignment and creates sun spots that interrupt satellite signals for a few minutes at a time.This will happen off and on through the day for a couple days and never at night.
It’s rare that the weather outside will affect your reception so fire up the Fireplace Channel, grab a cup of hot cocoa and relax.
Hundreds of thousands of people were happy Coolsat and Visionsat owners, until recently. Many of you may be wondering why your Coolsat 4000, 5000, and 6000 have been sitting idle while the rest of the FTA world zooms by. If you don’t own a Coolsat you should know what is going on between the FTA companies and the DBS providers. The most recent Coolsat bin files were uploaded in late March and the scene has been quiet ever since. The reason for this well supported FTA receivers sudden lack of support isn’t entirely clear but I’ll offer what I know.
1 Month Free to Air Receiver Files and
