Magic Bracket 4 & 100 cm Fortec Star Dish Compatability?

[jsattv]

Since hurting my knee (coming down the ladder), 2 weeks ago, I have been considering options about what to do with my 100 cm Fortec Star Dish and HH-120 Stab Motor on my Roof.

I have thought about installing a 10 Foot Steel Pole in my back yard, getting a new 120 cm Fortec Star Dish, and moving my Invacom LNB and Stab HH - 120 Motor off the Roof to run the 120 cm Dish on the Pole on the ground.

Magic Bracket 4 - Multiple LNB Holder:
Yesterday I found a web site: CuteFTA - For all you free to air needs showing an adjustable LNB Holder that looks like it will hold 4 LNB's. Price is S19.99 Canadian Funds plus shipping charges.

My question is: does anyone know if this Magic Bracket 4 will attach to a 100 cm Fortec Star Dish? And could it be fine tuned / adjusted with 4 Linear LNB's to bring in good picture quality on say Satellites: 72.0W, 74.0W, 79.0W, and 87.0W,? Or alternately would it work for 89.0W, 93.0W, 95.0W, and 97.0W? Is that Bracket 4 wind and storm survivable?

Any replies would be appreciated.

 

[voomvoom]

???? It looks like it would........ From the picture it;s hard to tell. I clicked on the "Larger Picture" and it was the same size? But, it looks like the hole at the bottom of the main holder is for a bracket like Fortec uses?

Al

Ooops..... about to forget the other questions. Because of 2 degree spacing issues, I think it would be difficult to get 93, 95, and 97, because they are 3 in a row. You could probably get any 2 of them? As far as whether it will survive Wind and Storm issues, well it would probably be as safe as your dish. Will your dish survive the same question?

 

[jerryt]

2 degree spacing on a 100cm dish requires LNB's 1.6 inches wide. I have done it by building narrow LNB's, but it is too much trouble.

Suggest you try T90 with the Eagle Aspen 870 LNB's, for 2 degree spacing.

 

[jsattv]

Thanks voomvoom and jerryt, so if 2 degree spacing is too tight, than what spacing is do - able? That is, do you need 4 or 9 degree spacing between Satellites? And I guess to set this all up would a good Sat Meter (ie. Trimax 1100) be better or faster than dragging up my Sat Rx and small TV? Do you set up / adjust each LNB for each Sat individually?

 

[colbec]

I purchased a similar model of bracket and had quite a bit of trouble:

1. the middle mounting bracket has flanges at the sides which means that it can fit over specific lnb arms but may be too narrow for some. The arm on my Fortec 90 is much wider than that on the digiwave dishes. The bracket won't fit the Fortec but fits the digiwave - sloppily. So I left it off.

2. Look closely at how high the centre lnb mount is. If you were to try to mount this to a regular lnb arm the lnb would be too high by about two inches. So I left the middle bracket off completely and just mounted the cross arm behind the regular lnb mount.

3. I have successfully mounted a second lnb on the crossarm. Works well. It takes some juggling and you have to get the side mounts the right way around. All in all I have used about one third of the pieces in the kit. The dish is pointed at AMC 6 and amc 5, I tried to get amc 3 as well but the latter needs a highly tuned dish for good reception; the bracket implies too many compromises.

All in all I found that the designer of the magic bracket must have been concentrating on something else. There must be better ways of achieving the goal of multiple lnbs on a single dish.

 

[jsattv]

I purchased a similar model of bracket and had quite a bit of trouble:

1. the middle mounting bracket has flanges at the sides which means that it can fit over specific lnb arms but may be too narrow for some. The arm on my Fortec 90 is much wider than that on the digiwave dishes. The bracket won't fit the Fortec but fits the digiwave - sloppily. So I left it off.

2. Look closely at how high the centre lnb mount is. If you were to try to mount this to a regular lnb arm the lnb would be too high by about two inches. So I left the middle bracket off completely and just mounted the cross arm behind the regular lnb mount.

3. I have successfully mounted a second lnb on the crossarm. Works well. It takes some juggling and you have to get the side mounts the right way around. All in all I have used about one third of the pieces in the kit. The dish is pointed at AMC 6 and amc 5, I tried to get amc 3 as well but the latter needs a highly tuned dish for good reception; the bracket implies too many compromises.

All in all I found that the designer of the magic bracket must have been concentrating on something else. There must be better ways of achieving the goal of multiple lnbs on a single dish.

Thanks a lot colbec. Thats a bummer - so it doesn't look like the "Magic Bracket 4" is the answer. Other than purchasing a whole new Toroidal Dish, are there any Multiple LNB brackets out there that would actually work with a 100 cm Fortec Star Dish? I see the manufacturer (cute FTA) also sell a 5 LNB X5 Bracket and Elliptical Dish that supports 5 LNBs (with 9 degree spacing) on their web site. But from the Sats they list for it: ie 82, 91, etc. - looks like they are for "C" Band Satellites which require a Subscription. Does anyone know if this Bracket could actually work for Linear Sats with 9 degree spacing on my Fortec Dish?

 

[jerryt]

4 degrees spacing is not hard to do on a 100cm dish.

You can build your own multifeed bracket from steel EMT tubing, try google for a website with pictures.

If you want ease of setting and adjusting LNB's, 2 degree spacing, and better over all performance, then we are back to the T90. At 196.00 including shipping for a T90, it is hard go the home built route.

 

[colbec]

FWIW I came across the following page which shows one way of dealing with a magic bracket. It may be of help in some circumstances depending on what dish you are trying to attach it to, and you are prepared to start drilling new holes in your support arm.

http://transatelectronics.com/store/images/dishes/ALL-IN-ONE_BRACKET.jpg

 

[Keith Brannen]

FWIW I came across the following page which shows one way of dealing with a magic bracket. It may be of help in some circumstances depending on what dish you are trying to attach it to, and you are prepared to start drilling new holes in your support arm.

http://transatelectronics.com/store/images/dishes/ALL-IN-ONE_BRACKET.jpg

No need to drill a hole in the support arm, just use the hole that is already there for the LNB holder and use a longer screw. That is what I did, and instead of bending the bracket that holds the pipe, I just sawed off the piece that is for the LNB holder. Gives a nice flat surface to fit against the support arm.

 

[colbec]

Hi Keith, yes I tried that on a couple of dishes, however no matter what way I arranged the crossbar from that position I could not arrange the lnbs on the arm so that they could catch a signal at the focal point. They were either too close or too far back with no happy medium. I can see where a drilled hole correctly placed would put the crossbar in a much better position, at least on the dishes I have in mind (fortec and digiwave).

 

[Keith Brannen]

Hi Keith, yes I tried that on a couple of dishes, however no matter what way I arranged the crossbar from that position I could not arrange the lnbs on the arm so that they could catch a signal at the focal point. They were either too close or too far back with no happy medium. I can see where a drilled hole correctly placed would put the crossbar in a much better position, at least on the dishes I have in mind (fortec and digiwave).

Yes, I see what you mean, especially if you are trying to use it for both sides from the centre. On my setup, I only use it for one LNB so the main pipe is angled for maximum focal point for that LNB (and the things are a pain to aim). It would also probably work for other satellites on that one side only. There is also a piece of pipe that came with mine that would also allow a LNB on the other side to be placed either forward or back from the main pipe. But it would require a lot of patience to get it to work. I also drilled a hole through the base of the second piece of pipe I mentioned and attached that to the centre screw and used it to aim a LNB on another dish.

I have bought three of them (only three LNB holders per package), but mainly for the LNB holders which I mount to an angled flat piece metal that is then mounted to another flat piece of metal that is attached to the arm!

I think the magic bracket was probably designed more for circular satellites where the aiming isn't quite so critical as it is for the weaker linear satellites.

 

[aegrotatio]

Hi, I have several of these brackets. They're lots of fun!

You will have trouble with the bore sight LNBF, so I do this intead:
Since the options on the Magic Brackets are so versatile you can leave the original LNBF at the bore sight and put the Magic Bracket underneath it or further down the LNBF arm. That way you can get that hard-to-catch satellite at the optimum location (focal point, bore sight, whatever you like to call it). The other LNBFs are on the Magic Bracket for fun.
There are many (many) ways to mount LNBFs on the Magic Bracket.
Just don't bother with the bore sight LNBF on a Magic Bracket (unless it's a high-power DBS bird, but why waste the bore sight on that anyway?).