Another Fortec 1.2 mod

[pacificrim]

I noticed that the weight of the LNB arm on my Fortec 1.2 was pulling down on the side arms, which pulled out the sides on the dish resulting in the LNB being slightly lower and the dish parabola changing shape. If I gently pushed in the sides of the dish where the side arms are attached, the problem was corrected - the LNB lifted up and the dish kept its shape, so I used 2 small turn buckles and 4 small pieces of galvanized strapping to pull the sides in and the results are great. On each side I attached a short metal strap to the bolt where the side arm meets the dish- then a turn buckle - then another strap to the dish back mount. No drilling and cost was about $5. My quality on my SuperBuddy was 90 on the transponder before I did anything and 96 when I finished.

This was an easy fix.

 

[pro96]

Nicely done :

Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[KE4EST]

Looks good, using a turnbuckle was a great idea!

 

[Anole]

Someone recently showed pictures on an ASC (Andrew/ChannelMaster) 1.2m dish with a BUC/ODU (transmitter) on it.
It had side support arms for the heavy hardware.
On the back side of the dish was what looked like a stiffening rod tying the mount to the edges of the dish where the side suppports were fitted.
Served the same function as your mod.
Wasnt sure why at the time, but had a suspicion.
Thanks for your excellent post, making it all clear. :up

edit: link to pictures...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/309160-Ku-Satellite-Dish-Question
.

 

[pacificrim]

I'm really glad this worked out as well as it did - my signal quality has both increased and completely stabilized. I have a couple of Winegard 3101's in the dish pile that have a much cleaner and stronger design, in that the LNB arm and mount are independent of the dish parabola. I was considering replacing my Fortec 1.2 with a Winegard 1m if I couldn't correct the problem, thinking that a more accurate signal reception on a smaller dish could prove to be better. Anyway, I don't have to do that now.

 

[Cham]

I have been using a nylon rope to take some of the weight off the LNB arm tied through a hole at the top rim down to the mounting bracket. This likely distorts the top part of the parabola a bit while correcting the issue at the bottom. It does improve the signal (focal point) somewhat.
Your idea is cleaner and might perform the same function without affecting the top of the reflector. Desiging a bracket out of tube (1/2" conduit) bent at the right points should work fairly well and also might help the dish stability in high winds etc. These fortec star dishes are very flimsy!

 

[pacificrim]

The turnbuckles work great because there is so little room for error. I could see from my sat meter just how minor tightening or loosening would swing the signal in or out of peak. This is the same as when I made the elevation adjustment for this dish with a turnbuckle, a couple of eye hooks and the galvanized strapping. The fortec 1.2 before I made my elevation fine adjustment was impossible to tighten the nuts and keep it peaked.