Prime Focus from Maplins, any good?

[antenna1]

Jonsa make the dishes for fortec star there are tones of these dishes all over the middle east and asia the dishes are ok for c-band but need a lot of setting up for ku-band i used to have one and as you know the dish needs a prime focus feedhorn i used to use a invacom adjustable feedhorn with mine so you could set the focal point right but the dish was not as good as a prodelin or andrews 1.8m on ku-band

Well, it would be rather difficult since the 1.8 is twice the area. I would be surprised if you got anywhere near double the gain of any SMC dish, but nevertheless, congratulations for sticking up for something you like.

A Channel Master of either size however is going to last ten years without any real maintenance. The Fortecstar (or is it a Jonsa ?) would be unlikely to survive much more than three without a good shakedown and maybe new bolts.

Why not take a couple of pictures and post them here ?

 

[scooter123]

I have the 2.4 & can recieve nilesat horizontals in Derbyshire. The dish is in a set up in a corner lolcation that is very shielded from wind. The dish actualy touches two walls so cant realy move even in strong winds.
They are very flimsy so no good when exposed to the weather.
I use an Invacom feedhorn & Inverto Quad. I also have the Invacom quad but had better results with the inverto.
The dish is about 30m from the reciever.
It took a lot of setting up & I spent a lot of time tweaking it.
I use a Horizon sat meter to set up my dishes. Without a decent meter I think it would be near imposible to get good results. In short crap build quality but can be made to perform.

 

[ttime]

sorry guys if these dishes are set up properly they work fine...i also have a 1.8 fortec which gets the horizontals 10pm onwards...for the record i work for avc..and have been an enthusiast for 25 years..and have the ability to set em up properly.....a guy near me has a 1.2m cm and he cant get as strong a signal as i can on my 1.8m fortec period...how many of you can get showtime in northern uk???? answer,none of you..yet you slag a dish off which some of us can get to work....any of you are welcome to drop by and see the results for yourself....i

Spot on m8

I've had my 2.4m maplin fortecstar for 3 years now.

Showtime Sports 24/7 , great buy, if you know how to fit it its the beezneez

Just because members had problems with it, does not mean the product is faulty

 

[Channel Hopper]

Spot on m8

I've had my 2.4m maplin fortecstar for 3 years now.

Showtime Sports 24/7 , great buy, if you know how to fit it its the beezneez

Just because members had problems with it, does not mean the product is faulty

Showtime Sports can be received in London on a 1.8m dish.

 

[Analoguesat]

great buy, if you know how to fit it its the beezneez

Just because members had problems with it, does not mean the product is faulty

You can polish a turd if you know what you are doing (Mythbusters!) but that doesnt mean its a good idea.

Problem is most of these dishes are bought by folks who dont know how to set them up and then they wonder why they arent performing. One of our installer members wrote that it too him days to get his dish set up correctly - ok for your own dish but not viable if you are doing an install for someone else.

 

[PaulR]

Problem is most of these dishes are bought by folks who dont know how to set them up and then they wonder why they arent performing. One of our installer members wrote that it too him days to get his dish set up correctly - ok for your own dish but not viable if you are doing an install for someone else.

Exactly what I said.

As a hobbyist you're prepared to put the hours in; a professional can't afford this sort of time commitment. Time is money and a customer is not going to look favourably on a thousand pound bill for installation of a £180 dish!

 

[Rick]

Exactly what I said.

And me ! I still think they are rubbish though.

 

[joddle]

I might as well throw in my two pennyworth here. I live in Valencia which is a notorious area for Sky reception from Astra. Just 20 miles to the north people are able to get sky with no problem on 1.5m dishes but here and to the south of here reception drops off like a stone.

When I first arrived several years ago I set up a Tagra 1.2 solid dish with Invacom lnb and connected it all to my Pace 2600 skybox. Although the signal did not lock I did get a fair few channels in the daytime but at night only the very strongest channels came in and none of those was what I really wanted to watch.

I saw an ad for the Fortecstat 2,4 dish and decided as it was not really that expensive it would be worth a go – so I bought one and lugged it up on to my roof to assemble it. And so the first problems came to light. The dish is not what I would call a precision made object. Many of the holes to bolt the petals together simply did not line up. Much swapping of petals to get the best fit do not help much and I ended up having to ream out several holes to get the petals to clamp together. Then I noticed the shape of some petals did not follow exactly the shape of the next due to the poor way the petals were folded at the edges so I ended up truing the rims by carefully clamping them together along the whole side of the petals then bolting them up using larger washers on both sides to make sure they did not further distort the petals.

Eventually the dish was complete and was checked with cross wires to ensure it was true – it was not and so much re-clamping and re-bolting resulted to get it true. I was starting to regret this purchase.

Once it was on its stand and in position (and that takes three people to do) it was checked again for alignment and then the LNB stays and holder were attached. Finally I adjusted the focus and skew for max signal and went down to see if there was any improvement over the Tagra – and there was. At last the signal locked and I could tune into almost all the sky channels – great – at last I was feeling something was going right but later that night the channels all started to drop off one by one until all I could get is the main sky news, a few shopping channels and ITV TTS – I was gutted.

Over the next few day I very carefully adjusted the dish using cross wires again and with very careful nighttime adjusting using the weakest signals to tune the focus and skew by was able to get most channels to hold until about 7pm. However this was far less than my nearby friends were getting on 1.9m and 1.8m and even in one case 1.6m dishes.

No matter what I did I could not improve on the reception and decided it was better than what I had before and so could live with it – that was at least until the first gale of the winter which resulted in zero reception. On inspection the dish was badly warped and so I was faced with re-bolting and adjusting again. The next storm did exactly the same and after a third my patience was at an end – I was really hacked of with the dish.

On ebay I saw a posting for an Andrews 2.4 dish and decided I would wait a day or so then bid for it – it was a fair distance away but the dishes have a good reputation and if the price was right I would go for it. However events were to overtake me – that evening there was another storm and gales and in the morning as usual no signal. This time when I went onto the roof it was clear why. The top petals were bent almost in half, the lnb stays twisted and forced to the ground, the stand twisted and bent. In all I was looking at a pile of scrap metal.

Lucky my insurance company was sympathetic and agreed to help fund a new dish. This time I had a “proper” dish installed again 2.4m and ever since then have enjoyed 24/7 reception of virtually all channels, including the infamous BBC2 which my friends still tend to lose after about 9pm. I get 80-90% signal and between 60% and 100% quality depending on the channel. This compares with about 40-60% signal and 30-50% quality on the Fortecstar – all other components being identical.

SO – what about Fortecstar dishes – well they are cheap – there’s no doubt about that but they simply can’t outperform a good solid dish or even a good segmented one. However, if you are in an area not so fringe as my own then they might be suitable for your particular use – and as I have found myself, they can be better than a 1.2 solid dish and possibly better than a 1.4. It’s a case of the old adage – you pays your money and takes your pick – BUT if you do opt for one, make sure you are prepared to take a lot of time assembling and adjusting it and then protect it from the weather as these dishes simply cannot cope with gale force winds.

 

[terriers]

no one has said they are the best performers...we all know that an andrews dish will outperform most others...but the point i originally made is with a bit of time put in they can perform..ie 24/7 reception of 7w h/v 5miles off sheffield...it really annoys me when people compare them to a 1m dish in regards of reception..total bollocks and misinforming other enthusiasts that might benefit from a dish that is 5 times cheaper than an andrews......i.ll keep on enjoying showtime on my fortec,while the rest of you dont,on your better performing dishes....

 

[Robbo]

it really annoys me when people compare them to a 1m dish in regards of reception..total bollocks and misinforming other enthusiasts that

Perhaps you need to do do some breathing exercises or something then.

Like a 1m, rather optimistic.

 

[joddle]

no one has said they are the best performers...we all know that an andrews dish will outperform most others...but the point i originally made is with a bit of time put in they can perform..ie 24/7 reception of 7w h/v 5miles off sheffield...it really annoys me when people compare them to a 1m dish in regards of reception..total bollocks and misinforming other enthusiasts that might benefit from a dish that is 5 times cheaper than an andrews......i.ll keep on enjoying showtime on my fortec,while the rest of you dont,on your better performing dishes....

And yes I do agree with some of what you say - I did so in my post. But the original question is are they worth buying? - and so the answer has therefore to be put into some form of context. Some people have simply said avoid - I don't necessarily agree with that view but warn if you do buy one be prepared for some long hours getting it to perform to its best capability. In the end they are great value for money - at 1/5 the cost of any other dish of its size and with their large reflecting area they do have the potential to collect far more signal than many smaller dishes. Your point about direct comparison with a 1m dish is of course very valid - that is not realistic - but to compare with another 2.4 dish certainly is valid and as you yourself say no one is claiming they are the best performers anyway. It simply comes down to "Are they good enough for you where you are?" If the answer is "yes" as in your own particular area and requirement they hey you have a bargain! - if however in any doubt be advised you may need to look at another option. As in all things what's good for the goose is not always good for the gander.

 

[Channel Hopper]

At the end of the day though the general consensus is

...there is no way i would put 1 in for a customer,cos of set up time ,and would love a 2.4 cm if funds would allow...but until then my fortec is doing a good job....
i will take some pics over the weekend and upload them so you can have a butcher,s .

Still awaiting the pictures (or has it blown away ? ;)