Which meter on a budget?

[aceb]

I appreciate everyone will have an opinion on this so lets see what's suggested. My antique Satfinder UK meter that I've had since the days of BSB has finally gone to meet its maker (who's probably already met his ) so I need another one.

All I need it for is the occasional alignment of my dishes when they get blown out by the wind so no real need for video display, I can probably do without S2 or spectrum analysers or fancy stuff like that as well.

Up till now I've just relied on a good old bleep to peak up Thor then sit the laptop down next to me running VNC back to the PC so I can peak weak signals at the ends of the arc. Lets assume a budget of £60 and used is OK too if I get more features for my money. What's out there?

 

[RimaNTSS]

Look for Sathero products.

 

[satelliteman]

Try ebay, there are at times some fairly good auction deals on older spec meters with a real time spectrum trace for alignment. Maybe an older satlook or you could look at a new Satlink for around your budget.

 

[gibertini]

personally i like rover meters and ive owned over 20 of different types/makes/models... granted you wont get one for under £150 second hand but they come up on e*** all the time, are usually the stc versions with dvb/dvbs2/dvbt/dvbc, spectrum analyser ect ect and for the features you get nothing comes close pricewise. you could also do alot worse than an old analogue type spectrum analyser like a satlook mk3. not really a fan of these cheapish meters that seem to be popular now like the sat-link,first strike ect ect but each to there own i guess and im sure many members will give their valued opinions/thoughts on what they feel are the best for price/features. i have 2 rover master stc-eu meters myself and wont be replacing them anytime soon

 

[Captain Jack]

Well I only use my FS1 occasionally but I swear by it. No fancy features, just SNR and strength on a given TP...but that's all I need

 

[lovelyperson]

Well I only use my FS1 occasionally but I swear by it. No fancy features, just SNR and strength on a given TP...but that's all I need

¿Does the FS1 show BER reading also....I know FS1-SE does?..........my FS1-SE arrives next month....looking forward to it........glad you are pleased with your FS.

Thanks CJ....sleep well.

 

[Captain Jack]

Er.... Do you know, I don't know! I never noticed it but I never looked so I assume not.

 

[lovelyperson]

Er.... Do you know, I don't know! I never noticed it but I never looked so I assume not.

Just found this .pdf of your FS1 and it certainly shows the on screen BER reading which I imagine def enhances the reading/tuning.

 

[aceb]

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm not in a hurry to buy anything so will put some searches into Ebay and watch the other selling sites. The FS1 looks good, maybe I can squirrel away the extra £40 over the next few months and get a used one.

At face value the ws 6906 seems like a good deal but no mentions so far, what's wrong with it?

 

[Captain Jack]

No personal experience with WS stuff. The general consensus is that they are decent meters for the money but have a tendency to fail with no support afterwards.

 

[parkiepie420]

to be honest I use the satlink ws 6906 its a good piece of kit I paid roughly £50 second hand for it about a year ago