Newbie saying Hello and seeking advice

[gcompc]

Hello all,
Great forums, I've decided to take the FTA jump and start enjoying some free viewing. The problem: I've been reading through the forums for quite a while and reading reviews on FTA equipment forever before I decide. The problem is the more I read the harder it is to decide because I may be missing something new.

I've narrowed my choice to a couple of complete sytems. One has a Fortec Mercury II reciever and the other had a Traxis DBS-3500 reciver. I've read both user's manuals and still can't decide between the two, everything else in the packages are equal. Any suggestions on which one may edge out the other and why, or does it come down to deciding on features and giong for it. This will be my first system picked by someone new to the hobby, any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[USDownlink]

I'm privileged to welcome you. Your time spent investigating-FTA-background is much like many here.

And if your future experience is anything like my own, you might even kick yourself for not deciding on a receiver sooner. It seemed like I needed to know the basics of operation before figuring what features I wanted or where I want to expand.

Any receiver will get you as far as understanding the basics. Likewise, any receiver will receive the basic signals, once it is set up properly. So right now, there is little ground to distinguish between the receivers themselves. Since you are looking at 'complete systems', may I suggest you go with the package with the larger dish?

Perhaps the the dish sizes are the same. In that case, go with the Merc. I've no experience with Traxis receivers, but am convinced Fortec blind scan is tops.

 

[Woofle]

Welcome!

Hello all,
Great forums, I've decided to take the FTA jump and start enjoying some free viewing. The problem: I've been reading through the forums for quite a while and reading reviews on FTA equipment forever before I decide. The problem is the more I read the harder it is to decide because I may be missing something new.

I've narrowed my choice to a couple of complete sytems. One has a Fortec Mercury II reciever and the other had a Traxis DBS-3500 reciver. I've read both user's manuals and still can't decide between the two, everything else in the packages are equal. Any suggestions on which one may edge out the other and why, or does it come down to deciding on features and giong for it. This will be my first system picked by someone new to the hobby, any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Welcome. I hope you'll find, as I did, that this community is nearly always willing to fall all over itself to be helpful to new FTA initiates.

I would echo USDownlink's sentiments on dish size.

For my first system, I paid for the upgrade from 31" to a 36" dish (from Sadoun). Mostly because of what I had read on this forum. And I have *never once) regretted the small extra expense of the larger dish.

There were weak transponders I wanted to watch, that were just strong enough with the 36" dish, that would have been an ugly pixellated mess on a smaller dish. Until Galaxy 10R was replaced with Galaxy 18 recently, the 11720 transponder really needed the full dish size to deliver a decent picture without lots of pixellating, freezes, and other ugly artifacts.

And who knows what transponder will start going weak next?

So if I'd add anything, it would be, go for that little extra dish if you can swing a little bit more expense. It might be all you ever need.

As for the receiver, I had a Traxis 3500. Its signal meter is exceptional, and overall it looks OK to me, but mine had no sound output and I had to send it back.

My Mercury II was a first set-top box. I like it a lot, mostly because it has excellent "blind scan" capabilities. So good that, even if you upgrade to a newer receiver, you'll probably want to keep the Merc II just for discovering new stations and "feeds".

That's just my experience. Anyways, whatever you do I predict you'll have fun and some learning experiences along the way

 

[brentb636]

Well, you certainly picked a couple good ones to choose from. Both are top notch receivers. I have 2 of the Mercury II boxes, and their behavior seems to be predictably flawless. They don't have any quirks at all. That being said, no box is perfect, but either of these would be an excellent start.

 

[SatPhreak]

A 36" dish is definetly worth a few extra bucks. I started with a 30" and upgraded to a 36" in the spring. Some channels that were weak and pixalating all the time are now coming in fine. I've never tried either of those recievers but I have read good things about both of them.

Are you getting a motorized system or a fixed dish system?

 

[gcompc]

Thanks to all from newbie

Thanks a bunch for responses. I'm going for the Mercury II. I did my site survey with a compass and a program that gave me the azimuth for satellite locations, and ground distance for height clearance for obstacles which was quite fun in itself. I'm a tinkerer as well, we know that with just one more adjustment it"ll be perfect. I did have some trees that shouldn't be a problem but I'm choosing the 36" dish anyway, thought about 39" but this is my first system and I think shipping would have been a lot more. So the Mercury II it is with the 36" dish.

Next thought, I'm looking at the Galaxy 25 programming but noticed the 10R as well. I may be greedy but I want both (plus being able to move the dish remotely is just too cool). I put a $400.00 limit on the system so I thought about motorizing, if I do I hope that SG2100 can handle the 36" dish upgrade. I read up on it, it seems to mention plastic gears. Is this acceptable for what I want to do? Damn, this money is burning a hole in my pocket. Thanks again for the help.

 

[phlatwound]

There's lots of people using the SG2100 motors on 36" dishes, should work well.

 

[Woofle]

Good deal!

"Dish pointing" is a skill you'll develop with practice. It can be frustrating at first, but I'd venture to say becomes almost fun once you get the hang of it.

My advice is to temporarily leave a motor out of your setup, and just mount the dish without the motor, point it at G25 or G18 (ne G10R), and learn about the fine art of dish pointing and the way your receiver works for a few days first.

Then, when you know your settings are all correct and working, the extra complications of USALS settings and absolutely level motor mounting come after you're familiar with the box and the art of aiming at satellites. Just my 0.02.

I did NOT follow my own advice, having bought a Merc II + 36" dish + SG2100 motor system. I spent a very long weekend, some of it with a flashlight, getting it to work. What's funny is, after practicing the dish pointing and learning about the necessity of a motorized system's post being absolutely level, now it's no big deal to install a motor.

Practice makes perfect I guess

 

[gcompc]

Thanks again

I never would of thought about that. I'll order the motorized system. Learn the ins and outs aiming and tuning. Then I'll add the motor later, your're right, with my luck I would probably never get it right. Sounds like I'll save a ton of frustration. Maybe I'll keep a journal of my first installation, quite sure it will be entertaining. Thanks again.

 

[drhydro]

I have a mercury II that I love, awesome box with some really nice features ;-)

 

[rv1pop]

I am going to have to update my signature but I have the Mercury II, as well as 2 - Fortec 5400NA, and the new Glorystar DVR. I have been given and tested a couple of others - which I do not care for, but will not name as "bad", just personal opinion. I have Primestar 75E dishes as well as the 39" tin dish. The tin dish would be excellent if I did not have the wind. The Primestars hold up to the wind better. I did not go with a motor as I have room for a lot of dishes and the wind here would eat the motors. I will be using "Jacks" or actuators on C-Band as they do hold up to the wind.
One "micro-burst" or vortec took a dish, mount and all and blew it about 45 feet across the yard. I am now using 3" long lag bolts and Bolts, washers and nutswith backing boards to mount the dishes on the wall.

To answer the question -- the Mercury II (temporarily renamed - Dynamic, I think -see another thread) and I would consider the 39" dish if the shipping does not get too high! PBS does not break up here with the 39" dish, very little break up on the P*75E.

 

[Woofle]

Fortec Firmware - old but stable

Well, you certainly picked a couple good ones to choose from. Both are top notch receivers. I have 2 of the Mercury II boxes, and their behavior seems to be predictably flawless. They don't have any quirks at all. That being said, no box is perfect, but either of these would be an excellent start.

Damn shame Fortec can't graft the rock-solid firmware to a sexy Conaxsat-like box. I concur that the best feature of the Merc II is everything always works as expected. If there are glitches, check your switches and other external hardware.

On a whim, I recently picked up a Conaxsat Mini. What a great looking receiver, and the picture quality is excellent. But, the firmware is definitely glitchy by comparison. I may hafta post a review.

In the meantime, I'd hold off on that model. The PVR functonality seems a little flakey. Need to figure out whether it's my disk or something in the firmware.

 

[Woofle]

I never would of thought about that. I'll order the motorized system. Learn the ins and outs aiming and tuning. Then I'll add the motor later, your're right, with my luck I would probably never get it right. Sounds like I'll save a ton of frustration. Maybe I'll keep a journal of my first installation, quite sure it will be entertaining. Thanks again.

If my experience is any indication, that first high-pitched beep-beep-beep when you FINALLY locate your satellite is pretty neat stuff. Don't be discouraged if it takes an hour or two. Tiny movements only when you fnd it It's amazing how a hair up, down, left, or right once you've grabbed on the signal, can make all the difference.

Don't forget to "skew" (twist) the LNBF for maximum signal strength. With a motor, this is not necessary as the dish itself rotates as it goes across the arc.

A good site for looking up your pointing data is: Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

One really cool feature is you can zoom in and try different locations for your dish and point at local obstructions to see if the satellite you are looking at receiving will be high enough in the sky to clear the obstructions.

 

[turbosat]

woofle, looking for that review on the Conaxsat, been looking at the ads for them. SAtinkzo had a review on the Trio model last year, seemed to really like it as a blind-scanner and pvr/divx functions. Check out how sensitive the tuner is on AMC6KU>see if it hits that shopping channel with the low SR and let us all know how well it works...