aquired a echostar box

[addyb]

as some will be aware, i am new to the satelite scene, having previously been into the cable side, i got into sats when i moved house and had an sky dish and box...

i have now been given a echostar ad-3600 viaccess and am looking into my options and what i can do with it?

i'm not in a rush to start buying dishes and have a big set up, but seeing as it was free, then its worth looking at...

i have downloaded the instructions from the echostar website i kind of get the jist of it...

firstly, is this a good geniric box for picking up most things? i know it was used for french tv before, but i'm assuming it is a generic box, rather than a box for a perticular service...?

at the min, i only have the standard sky mini dish, with a quad lnb. am i gonna be able to do much with this? and if so, what are my limits?

and what cards will work in this? will a sky freesat/ftv card work? and are there any services out there (i know sky cant) that can be hacked and use a funcard for example? i'm not perticularly looking for anything inperticular, i'm just looking at options, and if it comes down to it, fta channels wil be fine. its just that i see posts where folk are asking about premiership games and stuff, so i'm assuming that u'd need a ''hacked card'' for these?

i read though some of the basic guides, so i understand what things i need so i spose to sum in up, my main questions are, will the box work, what can i get with a standard sky dish and what is the situation with encripted things, as the box has 2 cam and 1 card slot...

cheers

[Mickha]

To use a S*y card you will need a cam, either a Dragon or a Diablo, but you will only get what you pay for so if you get a FTV card you will only open FTV channels.
Also neither of these cams can interpret the S*y stay alive signal, so a subscription card will need to be returned to the S*y box every few weeks.
The Echostar 3600 is quite an old receiver but still good quality, and the silver box version works well with both the Diablo and Dragon Cam and is capable of driving a 36v motor.
If you can get hold of an 80cm - 1m dish and LNB, which isn't that expensive, and a Diablo 2.3 cam and cas programmer you will find quite a few channels open on 1 West.
It depends how much time, and money, you want to invest in the satellite hobby.
The Echostar will open most of the FTA channels on 28.2E, but isn't capable of any HD content.

[Analoguesat]

The 3600 is the updated version of the classic 3000 series. I have a IP3000VA and would never get rid of it even though its been relegated to standby use by my Dreambox 7020. The 3000 a lovely receiver.

[abr]

as already stated the echostar was a very good receiver
i still have a ad3000
the only trouble i had was the remote
although i tried a few times to repair it
, it was still a pain

used to drive a 90cms dish with actuator no problem
not using mine now got dreambox 7000