Comparison of 2.4m dishes

[EgyptDUDE]

thanks for the reply

please forgive me, but it really needs a hard work to get this dish back up, will take it down ,then to the shop where the iron is melted to fix the broken aluminum that holds the mesh together , then up again, and i cant even remember how the polar was fixed in the mount (it is different than the solid ones as u know) i took it down 8 month ago,and no enginers works on mesh here in Egypt at all , so its a "Hard times" that i am letting myself into again.

but i dont know the mesure of the holes ,whether it is 2.54 or more !!! do u have any idea about the KTI models? its site ?
and more important, do u think that the 10 years would not effect the aluminum the mesh made of and effect the reciption of the signals? i cant see the color (black)or the mesh clearly on some parts , doesnt it matter ?

sorry

and thank u .

ANY ANSWER PLEASE ?

 

[Likvid]

Ok, here is the info for you, it is a 2.3 meter dish probably, check the specs for what you are looking for, i don't have any more info than this.

It says 0.040 mesh hole.

ANY ANSWER PLEASE ?

 

[weagle]

you could get a solid 2.4m dish (prime focus) fortec is one maker for around $265u.s. it comes in triangle pieces you assemble together, is this enough for astra 2d though to receive it pretty decent and a good sensitive tuner like the pace 2600? You can also get a mesh dish 3.6meter for around $1100cdn (KTI)around 700euro but don't know how they perform, but only way to get a cheap dish is to order from states ship it to greece and install it yourself just ask the sat guy to come by and adjust it thats all.

i have pani dsb-30 and 1.25meter dish i can only get 2a/2b some breakup on 2a/2b i'm planning to upgrade to 2600 pace but wonder what dish size you need for athens,greece for astra 2d if anyone is using it.

 

[deepbluesky]

Thanks a lot for the information weagle. I never heard of anybody in Greece importing Fortec dishes but are they as good as DH which can be found easily ?

I had a look before on the KTI's, for C-Band they seem really good but how much do they lose in the KU-Band ? Does anybody know if the 3.6m KTI will work like a 2.4m DH ?

Well my aim is to get as much as possible in the KU's and not to spend a fortune but the real fun starts in the C's. It ain't sure how soon i'll move and where exactly find a flat/house to rent but in any case i will only stay for longer if the landlord allows big dishes, ADSL is available and the horizon isn't blocked with buildings and hills.

Seems that you are in Athens, right ? If so don't expect to get 2D unless you will install a 5m solid PFA. This is the information i got from http://www.msg-shop.gr/ . They have done many installations on big dishes and thus i trust them. There was somebody with a 3.7m solid PFA outside of Athens last summer and he only got some H transponders for some hours. The next difficult ones are those of the NW Europe beam on the Eurobird 1. In Athens you'll need around 1.50m Offset you have permanent reception. The rest (also the 2A/B North beams) is receivable on 1.20m Offset with any sensitive receiver. But be aware that if the SES moves the Astra 2C to 28.2E things will get harder. I am not sure if a 2.40m gets all of its frequencies now on 19.2E but a 1.20m sure does not, neither in Thessaloniki.

Well Greece seems to belong somewhere between Europe and the Middle East, not only in satellite reception but in many things. A 2.40m can collect many interesting frequencies from many satellites but if somebody expects to get 100% of the Western-/Northern-European aimed ones then a motorised 4.5-6m is absolutely necessary. Often only some few frequencies are weak and the rest fairly strong. Well one must differentiate if he needs it for (hardcore) DXing or just for watching certain channels

 

[Likvid]

Fortec is crap, don't buy it, it's for people who can't find anything else.

You can't get a better dish than DH, i installed those 15 years ago, only two dishes and they perform very well.

It's solid aluminium in one piece, they got a excellent surface.

 

[weagle]

actually its a PRIME FOCUS SOLID dish many have said its a great dish, it just has the fortec logo on it thats all. really to go the cheap route would be a mesh dish but you don't know the quality of it and the feedhorns used on it. Some have said 2.4m in cyprus they get some of the horizontal channels on 2d with the pace 2600 (not the pani dbs30) i'm wondering what extra channels can one gain getting say the prime focus 2.4m dish in athens greece which is more closer west and north from cyprus. I noticed some channels ie the free to air music channels were breaking up on panidbs30 i think pace 2600 may correct the problems 1.25m dish so i'm assuming that must be from the eurobird sat like you mentioned.

just wondering why cyprus people who are more south/east can get bbc/itv on 2.4m dish with pace 2600 receiover and athens greece which is more west/northern than cyprus cannot?

Fortec is crap, don't buy it, it's for people who can't find anything else.

You can't get a better dish than DH, i installed those 15 years ago, only two dishes and they perform very well.

It's solid aluminium in one piece, they got a excellent surface.

 

[EgyptDUDE]

guyz, just to be clear, how much less the mesh dish loose in quality and signal ?
lets say that a certian sat and transponder is recived with a 240 cm solid dish here in Egypt with a signal 60% , how less the channel's quality will drop with a 240 mesh dish? (all in digital transmition)

those sets are f..... expensive here, and WAS , now u cant find any new ones , used are in bad conditions, my (11 years old) KTI looks like shit, couldnt stand the winter and humidity and salt from the sea

 

[Likvid]

My epxerience is that my 3 meter mesh dish was like a solid 2.4m aluminium dish.

The 3 meter dish i had was the best mesh dish on the market at the time, ku-band mesh.

 

[deepbluesky]

Thanks for the replies guys. Under that circumstances i'll keep the opinion that 2 separate systems would be ideal. A mesh for the C's and a solid for the KU's. If there is a lack in space and money choose a solid one for both bands as big as you need and can afford.

@weagle:
You're right Greece is further west than Cyprus but isn't southern Italy also much more west than Greece ? These are the common surprises under typical Out-Of-Footprint reception. You might get 1km further away and have better reception with exactly the same equipment. For over 10 years now I hear about that concerning the former and still lasting difficult 19.2E reception in different places inside Greece. So Athens and also Rhodos had much stronger signal on Astra 1C Hor. than Kastoria in the NW. Seems that you are only interested for 28.2/28.5E. I don't know if you would be happy with a 2.40m but Astra 2D with this small one, no my friend, there have been many others trying to get it, forget it. Also in Skopje which is far north a 3m solid is needed to get all the time H+V, the same size in Larisa (Channel Master) half way to Athens did get as far as i remember only some H's and just above the pixelization limit. In Kastoria a 2.4m DH does also get only H's, in Cavos/Corfu i heard the same and in Zakynthos a Prodelin 4.5m is installed to get everything. These few just to show you that a 2.40m wouldn't change much on the 2D. But if you would be interested also in other KU-positions the step from your 1.25 to 2.40m would bring you some more from 19.2E (not all, in this case you'll need 4.5m), some Superbeam frequencies from 13E, maybe some Sirius 2 North beam but no Sirius 3, full Thor 2 and as i lately read people getting some of the iranian channels on 62E with 1.40m on Syros and 1.60m in Kalamata, so a 2.40m in Athens could get them also.

 

[Likvid]

Actually in your case i would buy a 12ft Orbitron dish, eg 3,65m.

Then it would work like 3 meter in Ku-band and excellent in C-band.

Set it up with a Chaparral Corotor+ or even better the Seavey part.

Could also try ADL, i don't have any experience with ADL.

Orbitron closed down for many years ago but if you are interested i can get you in contact with one distributor that have some Orbitrons left in warehouse for immediate delivery.

Thanks for the replies guys. Under that circumstances i'll keep the opinion that 2 separate systems would be ideal. A mesh for the C's and a solid for the KU's. If there is a lack in space and money choose a solid one for both bands as big as you need and can afford.

@weagle:
You're right Greece is further west than Cyprus but isn't southern Italy also much more west than Greece ? These are the common surprises under typical Out-Of-Footprint reception. You might get 1km further away and have better reception with exactly the same equipment. For over 10 years now I hear about that concerning the former and still lasting difficult 19.2E reception in different places inside Greece. So Athens and also Rhodos had much stronger signal on Astra 1C Hor. than Kastoria in the NW. Seems that you are only interested for 28.2/28.5E. I don't know if you would be happy with a 2.40m but Astra 2D with this small one, no my friend, there have been many others trying to get it, forget it. Also in Skopje which is far north a 3m solid is needed to get all the time H+V, the same size in Larisa (Channel Master) half way to Athens did get as far as i remember only some H's and just above the pixelization limit. In Kastoria a 2.4m DH does also get only H's, in Cavos/Corfu i heard the same and in Zakynthos a Prodelin 4.5m is installed to get everything. These few just to show you that a 2.40m wouldn't change much on the 2D. But if you would be interested also in other KU-positions the step from your 1.25 to 2.40m would bring you some more from 19.2E (not all, in this case you'll need 4.5m), some Superbeam frequencies from 13E, maybe some Sirius 2 North beam but no Sirius 3, full Thor 2 and as i lately read people getting some of the iranian channels on 62E with 1.40m on Syros and 1.60m in Kalamata, so a 2.40m in Athens could get them also.

 

[weagle]

once you go over 2.4m you're looking at mega dough buying a big dish and more custom (not sold as much), i've seen mesh dishes the cheapest is kti's 3.6m but don't know how well it performs and if its enough for astra 2d, I even like the 19.2 and the hotbird one since if you get programming in other countries they're also likely to show u.s/american/english programming on it as well which is my main reason for having the 1.2m dish and panidsb-30 the only thing i may upgrade probably is the pani to a pace2600 which they say is more sensitive than the pani since there were some channels that would pixelize/break pace may fix the problem if they're on the borderline and/or try the mti blueline lnb's i'm using invacom 0.3 single to get a little better reception. dying to try the pace2600 everyone says its an excellent tuner and I only consider those who own both pani dsb30 and pace2600 or even guys who tried all pace models and all pani models and still said pace2600 was the best of them all head and shoulders, they say the sky+ recorder (2nd version) has similar tuner to pace2600 but no info yet people comparing it to pace2600 yet to see if its better or worse or exactly the same.

 

[EgyptDUDE]

but orbitron is the one with one arm holding the feed,right? if yes, it wouldnt do good in Greece and countries by the sea, we have an experiance with it here ,very bad

 

[Likvid]

No, four arms.

http://www.orbitroninc.com/C-Band%20Manuals/sti-12.pdf

 

[deepbluesky]

Well i think i'll go for an DH. The most important thing is that you can get it not too expensive and the transportation is not a big problem. But as i mentioned, it can take a while til i'll move and it depends really on the house. If the landlord is strange i'll have to live in the beginning with a smaller one. If i wouldn't have any limits (money & space) i would go for a 4.5m solid but since this is a very far dream any >1.2m is fine to start in the KU's and 2.4m in the C's. I am in contact with 2 people that have exactly those DH 2.4m and both are quite confident. Ok they don't get everything but isn't DXing worth also with a "small" 2.4m ? Compared to my residency here where i am forbidden to install any dish and to drill a hole in the wall any system would be more than an improvement

Anyway Likvid thanks so much for trying to help. I really appreciate it a lot you must know.

Greetings from Stuttgart downtown, Christos

 

[deepbluesky]

By the way: Would you recommend the Jaeger 1224EL for dishes of 2.4m size ? They mention that this is the upper limit that they can carry but i am not sure..

And would they reach the whole visible Clarke Belt so far south ?

 

[Likvid]

I know people with 1.2meter dishes where the 1224 Jaeger has broken down or cracked in the metal.

I would go with the original polarmount and a actuator, plain and simple, or if you can afford the EGIS.

 

[Likvid]

You are going to move to a new apartment or a house?

Rent or buy?

Well i think i'll go for an DH. The most important thing is that you can get it not too expensive and the transportation is not a big problem. But as i mentioned, it can take a while til i'll move and it depends really on the house. If the landlord is strange i'll have to live in the beginning with a smaller one. If i wouldn't have any limits (money & space) i would go for a 4.5m solid but since this is a very far dream any >1.2m is fine to start in the KU's and 2.4m in the C's. I am in contact with 2 people that have exactly those DH 2.4m and both are quite confident. Ok they don't get everything but isn't DXing worth also with a "small" 2.4m ? Compared to my residency here where i am forbidden to install any dish and to drill a hole in the wall any system would be more than an improvement

Anyway Likvid thanks so much for trying to help. I really appreciate it a lot you must know.

Greetings from Stuttgart downtown, Christos

 

[Likvid]

Here you can follow a guys installation of a Orbitron 12ft dish.

http://mrvideo.vidiot.com/satinstall.html

 

[deepbluesky]

You are going to move to a new apartment or a house?

Rent or buy?

Will be an apartment for rent Likvid.

So you wouldn't recommend anybody the Jaeger 1224, neither for smaller dishes, hm and i saw people writing that they are confident with it. I'll keep that in mind.

The link you posted for the Orbitron installation unfortunately doesn't open. Never mind.

Greetings

 

[Likvid]

The URL works, the site is a bit slow....

I am just saying what other people says about the 1224, i have no personal experience with it.

Most complains comes from the adaptor plate that it's too weak.

Will be an apartment for rent Likvid.

So you wouldn't recommend anybody the Jaeger 1224, neither for smaller dishes, hm and i saw people writing that they are confident with it. I'll keep that in mind.

The link you posted for the Orbitron installation unfortunately doesn't open. Never mind.

Greetings