Fortec star 1.8m dish Ain't that bad after all / c-band

[CROSSBONES]

Now thats a turn out for the books! Just goes too show If its set up correctly then it is a good dish!

make one like i am going to do from a channel master mount

Oh dont waste it m8! sell it to me!O-Ha

 

[rolfw]

I don't believe it could ever be a good dish, as it is too flimsy in construction and will not in my opinion stand up to extreme weather conditions.

Obviously with enough care and attention when assembling it can produce results, but would love to know how long it takes to set it up properly. ;)

 

[Lancelot]

Can't see one surviving over here 25ft up on a wall (need to clear the trees) but nice to see with a little attention they're an option in certain circumstances.


L.

 

[Likvid]

How is IRTEs 1.8m dish compared to the Jonsa/Fortec?

Is it better quality?

 

[Prophessor]

Great thread.
There were a few things I had no idea on how it works and it seems technology has greatly improoved for the last 10 years making it easier to get both C and Ku band in one single block, this is one of the things I had problems to understand.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but now it is possible to have a C band LNB without a corrotor sort of like the universal LNBs we use for Ku band. And even better, one can have the two together. Did I get it right?

 

[celspid]

RD100,,, I bought one of these dishes off Maplin, quite cheap, so no big loss if it doesn't turn out as I hope. Will probably try playing about this coming weekend. I have a spare Invacom Quad 0.3, so will use this with an Invacom feedhorn, I'll let you know how I get on over the coming week or so.
Any chance to check cband yet or you still waiting LNB?

cheers,
celspid

 

[Rd100]

It will never be a good qulity made dish and a bet within 2-3 years it will rust like hell,

I live on the side of a mountain with winter on it's way lets see how long a it it take before i get up in the morning and it will be ripped apart by the wind

I only give £99 gbp for it because i wanted to find out how crap the dish really was

But the results where good and i wanted to play about with c-band on it,

I was about 30min putting it together and setting it up

But i would still rather buy a prodelin or andrew 1.8m

I don't believe it could ever be a good dish, as it is too flimsy in construction and will not in my opinion stand up to extreme weather conditions.

Obviously with enough care and attention when assembling it can produce results, but would love to know how long it takes to set it up properly. ;)

 

[Rd100]

I have the lnb but need to lay a new cable underground to the dish, Did you order online or pick it up, Let us know how you get on

RD100,,, I bought one of these dishes off Maplin, quite cheap, so no big loss if it doesn't turn out as I hope. Will probably try playing about this coming weekend. I have a spare Invacom Quad 0.3, so will use this with an Invacom feedhorn, I'll let you know how I get on over the coming week or so.
Any chance to check cband yet or you still waiting LNB?

cheers,
celspid

 

[celspid]

RD100, I ordered it online a couple of weeks back on Maplin site, it's only to play with though, as it is pretty cheap. Hopefully (one day) want to get a 1.8 metre ChannelMaster, but that's in the future.

I have the lnb but need to lay a new cable underground to the dish, Did you order online or pick it up, Let us know how you get on

 

[2cvbloke]

Looking on Maplin's site, they don't specify whether or not you can use a standard 40mm LNB or not (the FAQ only lists a question about a sky minidish LNB, the answer being "Yes but the dish will only perform like a small offset dish. (LNB only looking at a small portion of the dish)
", erm, no it won't!!! ), so is the feedhorn an option or can a cheapskate like me just use a bog-standard 40mm LNB?

I'm not planning on getting one of these by the way, I have nowhere to put it up!!!

 

[ouagadougou]

Looking on Maplin's site, they don't specify whether or not you can use a standard 40mm LNB or not (the FAQ only lists a question about a sky minidish LNB, the answer being "Yes but the dish will only perform like a small offset dish. (LNB only looking at a small portion of the dish)
", erm, no it won't!!! ), so is the feedhorn an option or can a cheapskate like me just use a bog-standard 40mm LNB?

I'm not planning on getting one of these by the way, I have nowhere to put it up!!!

If you use a standard LNBF with a feedhorn for an f/d of around 0.6 then you will under illuminate the dish and end up with performance similar to something just a bit bigger than half the diameter. I was in a hurry once to try my 2m dish so I used an LNBF temporarily and the performance was rubbish and very similar to my 1m so it was nice to prove the theory.

Cheers.

 

[Likvid]

Here is the Jonsa with Polarmount

 

[2cvbloke]

Just out of curiosity, is that plate that fits in the middle to fill the hole a cover for a prime focus cassegrain type setup? As in where the LNB would be is a small reflector then on a mount of some sort is the LNB poking out of the centre of the dish...

 

[2cvbloke]

Oh, this is what I meant (took a screenshot of the DVB Shop24 ad)...

 

[kitschcamp]

The dish has a very bad reputation. I believe this is so for 2 reasons:

1. People don't know how to set it up and most likely use a normal LNB.

Yes, I think that could well be an issue.

We moved to Sweden recently. We planned the move, and I realised I needed a large dish to have a chance of getting BBC in Sweden. We ordered the 2.4m version. It came, complete with a bracket and a standard LNB. The instructions that come with it show a standard LNB. I knew no different, and as it turned out, neither did the muppet who installed it for us! It's a credit to the dish and the receiver we get anything at all.

Now we know different, and I have a suitable LNB and feedhorn on order.

There are a lot for sale, or were, and sold with a standard LNB, and even come with a Fortec Star LNB that isn't suitable for the dish.

 

[reload]

I have now ordered a C-band LNB-F so i can playabout with c-band here is the lnbf i have ordered

_http://www.dmsiusa.com/images/bsc421a.jpg

Can I ask where you ordered this lnbf from? Also how much did it cost?

I'm thinking of _http://www.dmsiusa.com/bsc621-2.htm combined c/ku to go with the fortec 1.8

 

[Rd100]

If you want ku-band and c-band you will have a big drop in ku-band signal with the combined c/ku lnb-f

I got he LNB-F from ebay usa

Can I ask where you ordered this lnbf from? Also how much did it cost?

I'm thinking of _http://www.dmsiusa.com/bsc621-2.htm combined c/ku to go with the fortec 1.8

 

[reload]

I'll just go for seperate lnbs & feedhorns then, I just thought I could save a few £ and the bother of having to swap everytime I wanted to experiment

 

[satellites08]

hey, am new here
I have a question about the 1.8 m fortec star dish
I live in london so would it be able to get most of the nilesat 7 w channels 24/7
I found it for sale with an invacom c120 lnb plus a feedhorn for £135

would the dish survive if there isn't a lot of winds where its fixed up?

 

[wod]

not really as the op of this thread had his buckle and bend in strong winds so they don't seem to be made of thick material

if you want nilesat 7west that bad you would be better spending money on a decent dish like andrews/ channel master 1.8m offset