Fortec Star 2.4mtr Dish

[Keano]

Guys any of you got either 1.8mtr or 2.4mtr Fortec Star prime focus dish or used one in the past ?

Looking at the 2.4mtr one but have read a few bad reports about them, one guy does say they are OK if setup correctly.

Keano

[satwyn]

get yourself a nice precision 2.2M spun alloy or the andrews 2.4M the fortec are cheap petalised dishes would not use one personally I presume you are looking to lock the elusive H transponders on 7W the andrews 2.4 will give the strongest signal matched with andrews c120 feed if you are after the 7W H transponders you will probably need bigger than 2.4 has been reported that 2.2 will lock these channels down. south

[ouagadougou]

My neighbour here in Lagos has got one and it seems to work quite well with good reception of Nilesat and a few others. I havent had the chance to compare it with our 1.8m Andrew dish but I hope to have the chance in the near future.

The biggest problem I see with these Fortec Star petal dishes is the speed at which they rust here in Lagos. A coat of clear laquer will probably stop that though.

If you take care with the panel alignment then they should work well on ku and will give good performance on C band and they are very cheap.

Nilesat H-beams are a bit of a headache that I never fully solved when I was living in NW England. I used to find the H-beam signal varied considerably with some very large increases and decreases in level that seemed to be due to more than just normal diurnal variation.

Cheers.

[Keano]

Cheers guys.

I don't think the andrews (channels master) 2.4mtr is within my budget, cost over £2500.

I wouldn't mind the 1.8mtr but don't think that would be enough.

I can get one of the H transpoders in the evening its 12399H but that is on the wide beam and not the middle east beam.

I may try the fortec star soon because at the price it is I could always sell it on if its no good.

Regarding other dishes I have searched all over the net and can not find anyone who does them.
I have seen some big ones on the roof at NTL offices at Baguley and spoke to one of the techs there who told me they no longer use them.
Would be a nightmare though getting it of the roof on to back of tranny in the dark:D.

I'll keep looking.

[dishdad]

Check out the Famaval (FAMAVAL - Criações Metálicas Adauta, S.A.) located in Portugal, range of dishes, company running since the mid 60's.

Have seen some good results here in Spain from the notorious 'Astra 2D reception' long running to and fro quotes.

Website will reveal the details.

As always, accurate installation essential.

[satwyn]

Iv'e used the precision dishes with good results solid alloy dishes they make a 2.2M should be a lot cheaper than £2.500 for the anrews

[Keano]

Ive checked out the site which dishdad mentioned and they look good but its a shame they are not in UK.

Have found a UK site that sells dishes up to 4mtrs but again anything over 2.2mtr and its very expensive.

I'll give it a couple of weeks and I'll try the 2.4mtr fortec star and see how it goes, think its just a case of taking your time and double checking everything.

Cheers

[ouagadougou]

The price of dishes over 2 meters gets silly quickly and the quality of many of them is not that good.

I would decide what is the maximum size I can possibly fit in the space available and then build a dish to fit. Its not as hard as you might think if you take your time and understand the geometry. The sheet alloy is readily available and isnt that expensive.

Quite a few people have home made dishes with diameters of 6 meters and bigger that perform very well under G/T measurements upto ku-band. It all depends how practical you are and how much time you have on your hands.

[MarkG]

Using an Invacom lnb but be warned there is no mounting plate for the lnb with this dish. Cant seem to find one anywhere so had to cobble something together. At £179 its cheaper than a digitalb sub!

[Keano]

Mark I see you are NE England, where abouts and can you get 24/7 lock on 11996H ?

[MarkG]

Had no signal probs so far, reduced when really cloudy and/or raining heavily but haven't lost 11996H completely.....yet!

[wsm25]

Hi Keano,

Where abouts are you based ?

I tried both dishes you are talking about. I', in London. Using a c120 feed, 1.8m gets you the 7W Horizontal channels, solid, day & nights, but I guess you can compare them to the Vertical channels using say 1m dish, likely to be effected in rain. Vertical channels with 1.8 is fine.

2.4m gets you what you good signals.

You have to be careful when putting it all together & very patient in fine tuning the dish & various settings, but in the end it gets you a reasonable signal. In the north its a different story all together though.

I cannot comment about its durability. I still yet to see it perform in winter.

[Keano]

I'm in Manchester m8, I wished someone with a CM 1.8 was near me to test because like I said with my 1.5 gibertini I can get a weak signal from one H transponder and it would be interesting to know if the CM 1.8 pulled in more.

[Fil]

The price of dishes over 2 meters gets silly quickly and the quality of many of them is not that good.

I would decide what is the maximum size I can possibly fit in the space available and then build a dish to fit. Its not as hard as you might think if you take your time and understand the geometry. The sheet alloy is readily available and isnt that expensive.

Quite a few people have home made dishes with diameters of 6 meters and bigger that perform very well under G/T measurements upto ku-band. It all depends how practical you are and how much time you have on your hands.

any links to websites with home made dishes,i'd love to see them, tho not build one, my garden isn't even 6M big!

[ouagadougou]

any links to websites with home made dishes,i'd love to see them, tho not build one, my garden isn't even 6M big!

Hi,

I dont have any pics of homemade examples but if you search through the amatuer radio EME community you will find lots of examples. Just look for the ones designed for 10GHz EME.

Andrew is a very good source of info especially at:

_http://www.andrew.com/search/docviewer.aspx?docid=4665

_http://www.andrew.com/products/antennas/esa/manuals/default.aspx

The manual for the 7.3m antenna gives a good view of how Andrew designed a very simple and reproduceable design that is pre-qualified for most satellite networks due to its repeated performance when assembled. I have implemented a number of these 7.3m antennas and they go together very quickly and they use the same approach for antennas over 9m. They are a hell of a lot more simple than the bigger antennas upto 32m.

If I ever get the time to build a big dish for home use then I will use this Andrew approach as the basis unless I see something better in the meantime.

Cheers.

[pipino]

here is another famous maker for as i call them Beast dishes

_http://www.sepatriot.com/broadcast.htm

[Sat-Pro]

Hi when you say there is no lnb bracket with the dish are you talking about the braket that also holds the three arms in place and do you know if the 1.8m fortec has a lnb holder,



Using an Invacom lnb but be warned there is no mounting plate for the lnb with this dish. Cant seem to find one anywhere so had to cobble something together. At £179 its cheaper than a digitalb sub!

[wsm25]

Hi when you say there is no lnb bracket with the dish are you talking about the braket that also holds the three arms in place and do you know if the 1.8m fortec has a lnb holder,

You get a triangular plate that holds the 3 arms & a clamp for a 40mm LNB, but the clamp is not good to anyone since you are likely to use a feedhorn of 23mm.

I had to put something together too (which may be degrading my signal), I think all I need is a 23mm to 40mm adaptor (rubber) , but I cannot find it on any UK sites.

[ekon]

>wsm.. google "CPC"..based up in Preston. You may have to open an account. They are very good. 23-40 feedhorn ring adaptor. part number SE00424..price £2.87 + VAT = £3.37. P&P on any order under £40(pre vat)..but they have loads of good stuff of all sorts...so easy to make up a £40 plus order with stuff you need.

Dont think our sponsors sell these hence referring you to another company.

[icum]

do a search for ( futurevisionsat ) in googles then go to the export bar on the side of the page......

2.4m Antenna by Channelmaster
See full size photo Price: $1,989.99
Availability: in stock
Prod. Code: CM24

and the us dollor is worth nothing at the moment...... good luck....
thease guys ship lots of big dishs world wide..........

[wsm25]

>wsm.. google "CPC"..based up in Preston. You may have to open an account. They are very good. 23-40 feedhorn ring adaptor. part number SE00424..price £2.87 + VAT = £3.37. P&P on any order under £40(pre vat)..but they have loads of good stuff of all sorts...so easy to make up a £40 plus order with stuff you need.

Dont think our sponsors sell these hence referring you to another company.

Great. Thank you

[rigsby]

Hi Keano,

I am only a couple of miles from Baguley.

Hmmm...NTL . I know the dishes you mean.

They do look tempting. Bit of a bugger carrying one of those.

Would probably never see the sun again i if got one of those in my back
garden.

cheers

[Keano]

Hi Keano,

I am only a couple of miles from Baguley.

Hmmm...NTL . I know the dishes you mean.

They do look tempting. Bit of a bugger carrying one of those.

Would probably never see the sun again i if got one of those in my back
garden.


cheers

Yep m8, they are good dishes and the best of it they are no longer in use.

Just don't how to get them off the roof.


If anyone as google earth, type in Baguley and go left a bit and just North of the railway line you will see a building with big white dishes on its roof.
Sizes range from about 100cm up to about 4mtr.