Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra Newb help needed

[adam699]

Hello Guys,

I've been wanting to learn about satellite programing and the technicalities for sometime now.

I recently came across a freebie satelite receiver from a friend. A Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra. I also have 3 different satelite dishes from Direct TV and some Dish that I collected over the years.

Question is.

1. Where do I start with this?

2. Is this a decent receiver? What can I do with it?

I'll post more questions down the line, but like I said I'm a newb to this so please bear with me and point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Adam

 

[turbosat]

Hello Adam, welcome to Satelliteguys! There's a lot of great information available to you here, I would suggest you start by reading the FAQ section. There doesn't seem to be a review of that Fortec model any more, its an older box, but I'm sure we have members who used them before. We also have a section containing links to the manuals , and one is still listed for the lifetime ultra. If you don't have it, download a copy and check it out.
Pay-TV dishes are generally not much use for free to air signals, as the pay services use much higher power levels to send their signals out (so you can get them with tiny dishes!). A good free to air dish starts at about 30" and bigger, I'd go for a 1meter dish to get best signal stability. Sponsors at top of the pages here will have several models of dishes for sale, or you can check the local ads for a used dish-many of us use the old Primestar TV dishes that can still be found in people's yards. Those you can get just for removing it, usually. The lnbf on those is already the right type for ku=band signals, though they can be replaced with newer models if desired. You'll need good clear line of sight to the southern sky and the more of it you can see, the more satellites you'll be able to view.
It's a fun hobby, and quite addictive. As you progress, keep posting your questions and we'll help you along.

 

[adam699]

Hello Adam, welcome to Satelliteguys! There's a lot of great information available to you here, I would suggest you start by reading the FAQ section. There doesn't seem to be a review of that Fortec model any more, its an older box, but I'm sure we have members who used them before. We also have a section containing links to the manuals , and one is still listed for the lifetime ultra. If you don't have it, download a copy and check it out.
Pay-TV dishes are generally not much use for free to air signals, as the pay services use much higher power levels to send their signals out (so you can get them with tiny dishes!). A good free to air dish starts at about 30" and bigger, I'd go for a 1meter dish to get best signal stability. Sponsors at top of the pages here will have several models of dishes for sale, or you can check the local ads for a used dish-many of us use the old Primestar TV dishes that can still be found in people's yards. Those you can get just for removing it, usually. The lnbf on those is already the right type for ku=band signals, though they can be replaced with newer models if desired. You'll need good clear line of sight to the southern sky and the more of it you can see, the more satellites you'll be able to view.
It's a fun hobby, and quite addictive. As you progress, keep posting your questions and we'll help you along.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and a fast answer. Faster than I expected. I'm definatelly going to be on a lookout for a larger dish.

Since you mentioned KU band, I see that one of the ones I already have says it works with Ku band.

Here's what the LNBF says:

Rev 1 DTVSDLNB Eagle Aspen
DIRECTV Multi-Satellite Ka/Ku LNB
99 / 101 / 103 / 110 / 119 W Reception
Built-in Multi-Switch with 4 Outputs

Can I use this for anything?

Right now I see that the receiver is working but I haven't attempted to hook anything up to it.

 

[Tron]

That's a DirecTV Slimline LNBF stack, and its useless for FTA. It uses circular polarity, and you need a linear Ku-Band LNBF for FTA. While the dish itself may be large enough to pick up some stronger FTA transponders (provided you installed a proper linear LNBF on it), I would suggest a larger dish.

 

[ogorek]

Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra is an excellent receiver. I have it and Fortec Lifetime Classic. I am using Classic but keep Ultra as a backup. You do not need more for FTA, however you do need a bigger dish. 36" can be purchased for a good price, above that would be nice but the price goes up. If you want to catch feeds and few channels here and there than you need a motor. If you want just few extra channels than set it to 101w for history and bio. You can add second lnb for 97w. Like Tron said if money is an issue and you want to have some fun you could play with direct tv dish provided you change the lnb, you might be lucky and lock on to something but the picture will come and go. Have fun.