Starchoice 1m dish

[pacificrim]

I was recently given a 1m Starchoice dish by one of my customers. In searching about them on here, I have seen them described as made by ChannelMaster and also by Winegard. From the Winegard manual - it looks exactly like it. Both of these companies are known for good quality equipment and I'm wondering if I should consider pulling my 1.2m fortec star and trying out the Starchoice dish. The lack of fine adjustment doesn't make it any better than the Fortec and in this hobby size generally matters but is trumped by metal gauge and manufacturing/engineering quality. Fortec dishes aren't the best reviewed but I have had good sucess with mine.

So, if you had a choice... which would you pick - the Fortec 1.2 or the Winegard 1m?

 

[Anole]

The commercial dish, any time.

It's stamped metal, not the molded style with ribs on the back?
(both are good)
And round, I assume? (so no trouble matching an lnbf to it)?
Is it going to be much heavier? (wondering about your motor)

The commercial dish, every time.

 

[pacificrim]

Yes, it is round and about the same weight as the Fortec. The brochure for the Winegard DS-3100 is here: http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/X3e_21DF3126.pdf

My next motor is likely the Sadoun DG380 (55mm). I currently have the SG9120 and a S10 which will be replaced soon.

Has anyone made a fine adjustment mechanism for a Winegard DS-3100?

 

[Anole]

Over the years, there have been many clever fine-adjust conversions.
If you can find some, I'm sure they can be modified for your dish.

At one time, I think I posted links to a number of them.

 

[Sadie]

When PBS converted to S2 I had to replace my 1M ex Starchoice dish with a 1.2M Fortec Star dish in order to continue receiving PBS the was a significant improvement with the Fortec dish. The Starchoice dish had, had a hard life a few dents in the edge of the rim but the the dish surface appeared true as far as I could tell, so your mileage may vary.

 

[pacificrim]

As far as I can tell the shape is still true. I am taking my fortec down to replace the sg9120 with a dg380 and that'll be my opportunity to see if it is better. I know people think more highly of winegard than fortec, so it'll be a bit of a test.

 

[Larry1]

This will help in getting the LNBF to the exact focal point as you will findout thet the arm may not be correctly positioned. The tightness of the bolts holding the arm affects the position of the arm even though there are the side braces. You will also notice on the dish specs that their 1m dish is 1m effective aperture. It is actually 1.05m x 1.14m (unlike a lot of 1m dishes)

 

[Larry1]

oooops forgot to attach the dish specs pdf

 

[Anole]

You will also notice on the dish specs that their 1m dish is 1m effective aperture.
It is actually 1.05m x 1.14m

Or in other words, an honest 1m commercial dish.

In years gone by, a lot of "FTA" dishes were measured by their height.
That is NOT the aperture!
So quite often, same advertised size commercial dishes did better 'cause they were actually bigger.

All the 1m and 1.2m FTA dishes are honest, as far as I've noticed.

 

[Anole]

Oops!

Somehow I missed that it was 1.2m Fortec vs 1.0m Winegard.

The bigger dish is where I'd put my money.

Sorry