Fortec 6' dish reviews?

[sikma]

I'm thinking about getting a 6' solid Fortec Star dish, but would like to read some reviews from you folks that already have one. I'll be using a bsc621 for both c/ku reception.........any help would be appreciated!

 

[Das Hammer]

Try a search for Iceberg's thread "Got a C band dish....". He's got one and I believe he mentions a lot about it in that thread.

 

[mikekohl]

You would be advised to consider the 2.4 meter (8 foot) model instead, for more consistent reception of a much larger number of channels. 6 feet is OK for stronger signals, but you will find reception of some channels intermittent or worse because of the 2 degree spacing issues that a six foot antenna simply is not large enough to overcome.

 

[Mr Tony]

thread in question
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=58683

I love mine. I have a ASC421 (C-Band LNBF) and it works good. I normally leave mine on G4 and the nets but move it across the arc (IA6 is my TS) for analog

 

[Stefan]

I agree with Mike. Even though they sell this as a "C band dish" it shouldn't be considered as such. It should really be consider more as a Ku dish that might be able to work on some C band singals in portions of the arc where the spacing between C band satellites is more than 2 degrees. For a real C band dish you need at least an 8.5' as that's the minimum size that's 2 degree compliant. Having said that I own 2 of these dishes and one of them I do use to receive a few C band signals on one particular satellite. This particular satellite is located in a portion of the arc where the spacing between C band satellites is greater than 2 degrees. Because of that it works okay for that particular signal. The other one I use fo Ku on another satellite. It's not too bad (but not really great) as a Ku dish. It seems to do a bit better than a 1 meter primestar it replaced but probably would do even better if it wasn't so cheaply constructed and the surface accuracy was better. Bottom line you get what you pay for. So to sum it all up the advantages of this dish are it's cheap, lite weight (thus cheaper to ship), and comes in section (also making it cheaper to ship) and the disadvantages are it's cheap, light weight, comes in sections, and really too small to be considered a real C band dish.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

It's a good starter dish if you plan to "ghetto move". I am using mine just like Iceberg-keep it parked on G4 for the nets and analog feeds and move it to nearby birds for analog when the mood strikes. For a motorized system it would be better to go bigger to take full advantage. Like Mike and Ice, I can get some analog TPs off IA5 without moving the dish and a couple digital channels too which is a bonus. For $200 bucks it was well worth it!

 

[MikeI]

My 6' fortec dish is cool. It doesn't have the motor like my old 10 footer used to have, but I only use it for a few satellites. I use it from IA6 to the Anik birds and a few times on IA13. I use it for sports feeds mostly. I can see IA 6 and G3 analog in one location and IA 5 and G4 analog in one location. That's perfect for college football. Most of the digital feeds I want I can get.

 

[sikma]

I'll have mine on a polar moutn with a Von Weise actuator (it's currently hooked up to a P* dish for ku only). I've already read Ice's review of great results he gets on c-band with his 6' Fortec, what I really need to know is if the ku results will be better than I'm currently getting with my 36" P* dish. For example, on CBS newswatch on IA6 I'm only getting a 25 signal with some breakup with a .4 Fortec lnbf. Can anyone help?

 

[Mr Tony]

something's whacked then

I have a 30" dish and get 60-65 normally on my Pansat 1500 on CBS Newsfeed