1.8M dish, less than £100. 2.4M £180

[digidude]

saw this today on my travels, some may be interested

theres 2 in the swansea branch

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=47165&doy=6m3

also a 2.4M for less than £180

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=48743&doy=6m3

 

[pinkhelmets]

Dude I have lots of experience with these Fortec Star dishes and I wouldnt recommend whatsoever. I can guarantee you will get more Ku band signal from a cheap offset 1.2m than the 1.8m will give, and the 2.4m works similar to a 1.5m offset. No joke they are the worst made dishes of all time EVER. Its not just the poor signal its the flimsyness and terrible design of bracketry that makes it impossible to use for the average user. Getting the segments correctly aligned will be almost impossible for anyone without professional experience in the larger dish industry, and just fixing the thing to the ground requires more than DIY skills so Building Trade qualifications recommended.

If anyone is unlucky enough to get stuck with 1 of these I will help you to get the best from it but I totally do not recommend getting one. Dude if you get one I have some tips but honestly you will be very disappointed after weeks of hard work.

 

[digidude]

cheers pinky m8

i was tempted for a 1.8, and being the daft sod of an impulse buyer that i am nearly ended up with one, and the only thing that stopped me was the thought of it having to go in the front garden due to trees, and i know itd get nicked, so thought id post it here lol

thanks for the top tip though, avoid them peeps lol

 

[pinkhelmets]

No probs. By the way if you use these for c-band the poor signal isnt as noticeable because the lower frequency range is more forgiving. But there's nothing of interest on c-band that i know of and its still hassle to build and fix without wasps & bees being able to knock it over or dent it lol.

 

[witchy]

Looks inpressive though, I'm sure my neighbours would really LOVE me if i fitted something that size (they have already passed comments on my 1.2m)

 

[fezzy]

Hi Guys

I used to have a 1.6 with no problems from the neighbours, just
the comments of - Which planesare you landing now. ( it was good fun )
Now i have a new neighbour who hates my 1m dish. Can,t win.
I,ve told her ,its stopping whatever she says or does and she
can knickers. If it was not for her, i think i,d be looking at buying
one of them 1.8m dishes. It would stand proud in the back garden
with the washing line tied to it.

Fezzy

 

[logic_187]

Looks inpressive though, I'm sure my neighbours would really LOVE me if i fitted something that size (they have already passed comments on my 1.2m)

whats the saying its not the size that counts but what you do with it lol

 

[hawkish]

Pah! look what I did to my lighthouse just so I can get dave+1

 

[kinesis]

LOL @ hawkish

On a more serious note, can somone please explain what is the the purpose of these 1.8m, 2.5m dishes over say more conventional 80cm and 100cm dishes, I mean what do they do that normal dishes don't do?

 

[convert]

Kinesis, bigger dishes pull in more signal (that's not always true design plays a part) and allow you to view satellites that would normally be outside your normal viewing area (IE the foot print of a satellite is usually tuned to a particular market/region so as not to infringe copyright, outside the normal footprint configured the signal is weak and unusable with smaller dishes, but increase the dish size and you can pick up enough signal to receive pictures normally outside the footprint you live in.

For a better understanding of footprints and how larger dishes extend the footprint check out this website from Astra

http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/uk/how-to-receive-astra/footprints/index.php

Convert