Buying Fortec Star 2.4m petalised dish from Maplins

[RocketMBA]

This is a great setup! Fantastic work, Mike

[wod]

very nice, maybe not as big as your dish but i'm on with my channel master and 1224 motor which i shall have done soon

where abouts you located, scotland ? as it looks nice the background to your house

[Mike22]

very nice, maybe not as big as your dish but i'm on with my channel master and 1224 motor which i shall have done soon

where abouts you located, scotland ? as it looks nice the background to your house

Hi Guys

Thanks to all for the kind comments, my location is the extreem North of the hebrides. We are not finished with this Fortec yet, the next stage is to add adjustment ribbs to the flange of each petal, these ribs will extend out further than the dish face, which will not only strengthen the dish but also provide a means of adjustment to achieve the maximum gain. Unfortunately the weather has just been atrotious, so for the moment, wind and rain have stopped play.

Mike 22

[Mike22]

Hi Guys

Thanks to all for the kind comments, my location is the extreem North of the hebrides. We are not finished with this Fortec yet, the next stage is to add adjustment ribbs to the flange of each petal, these ribs will extend out further than the dish face, which will not only strengthen the dish but also provide a means of adjustment to achieve the maximum gain. Unfortunately the weather has just been atrotious, so for the moment, wind and rain have stopped play.

Mike 22

Hi Guys

I would like to hear you comments on the Skystar 2 usb, as I am thinking it could make a very good satfinder hung on my laptop, as we are having problems, with conventional broadband sat finders. It seems that the skystar 2 would pin point the desired tp and give signaL SNR and BER, how good would this be? only we got 7 tp's on 4W adjusted with a sat finder and lost it, as it looked at the stronger signal from 5W and peaked that. and 4W was gone. The arrangement I speak of would be quite portable and only require the mains to power it all. what say guys? Is this a good idea? and how resposive are these meters?

Mike 22

[BGonaSTICK]

The SkyStar isn't going to give you any more than any other STB with 'built-in' signal meters IMO. If you want something significantly more accurate, then you're going to have to buy a more professional meter.

You might want to look at the Lacuna Mk4, Satlook Micro+, Swires Digiscan 007 or the Maxpeak SAM. All good meters and all between £200 and £300.

If that's too much, look out for an older meter on eBay.

[Mike22]

The SkyStar isn't going to give you any more than any other STB with 'built-in' signal meters IMO. If you want something significantly more accurate, then you're going to have to buy a more professional meter.

You might want to look at the Lacuna Mk4, Satlook Micro+, Swires Digiscan 007 or the Maxpeak SAM. All good meters and all between £200 and £300.

If that's too much, look out for an older meter on eBay.

Thanks Stick, all I want is somthing better, than carting a sat reciever and tv and associated cables, out to the dish. The skystar could sit in the laptops case with only one thing to carry out there.My trust in sat finders now, is zero and going down fast.

[satelliteman]

I've heard good things about the Swires meters. Also in addition if you wanted a more advanced meter take a look at the Rover PSA-5 or S2 

SM

[Mike22]

I've heard good things about the Swires meters. Also in addition if you wanted a more advanced meter take a look at the Rover PSA-5 or S2 

SM

hi Mate

The problem with all these sat finders including the Swires, they all say view the spectrum in one hit, I dont want to do that, what I need to do is tightly focus on one tp and adjust for the max from it. This is what happened with my own sat finder a modified lc2e, we had a good signal from 4W on 10.722. I used my sat finder to peak it and it peaked on overspill from 5W.....4W was gone, and 10.722 with it, as that was a weak signal in a full spectrum.

[satelliteman]

hi Mate

The problem with all these sat finders including the Swires, they all say view the spectrum in one hit, I dont want to do that, what I need to do is tightly focus on one tp and adjust for the max from it. This is what happened with my own sat finder a modified lc2e, we had a good signal from 4W on 10.722. I used my sat finder to peak it and it peaked on overspill from 5W.....4W was gone, and 10.722 with it, as that was a weak signal in a full spectrum.

S2 for example can span to the one Tp if required 32Mhz. These are more advance meters

[Mike22]

S2 for example can span to the one Tp if required 32Mhz. These are more advance meters

Yes we will get The Stick to buy one, and loan it to me for my extensive review of the Fortec Star, which I still havn't finished yet

[wod]

have you not tried a satlook meter as you can enter tps and tweak the dish on them with it

a satlook micro would be a good buy or have a bid on a used horizon meter as these are good and can be got quite cheap on ebay

[BGonaSTICK]

An upgrade notified by Mike...

Hi Guys
 
After some winds of 80 to 90 mph, and the Fortec going a bit flappy, we realised this is right on the edge of Fortec's survival spec of 40m/s
 
Enclosed is a picture to add extra stability in the shape of a star, with centre and edge petal adjustment for each rib, drilling no extra holes in the support ring. The adjusters will be attached to the ribs in two places
 
Mike 22

Some nice welding going on there! 

[satpro]

Very good mike i was thinking of buying the 1.8m fortec star what a cool thread

[satpro]

So mike did you receive nilesat?