Anyone buy the tek2000 dish?

[iBoston]

Okay, wish me luck.. It would sure be nice if they made a laser that you could put in the scaler to see it hit the center of the dish..

I just want a confirmation on my math (Both measurements in inches):

 

[migold]

This will help if you can use an Excel spreadsheet.

LNBF Arm Length Calculation.xls

Enter the measurements in the green cells, get the answer in the grey cell.

 

[primestar31]

Okay, wish me luck.. It would sure be nice if they made a laser that you could put in the scaler to see it hit the center of the dish..

I use one of these, strapped to a piece of angle-iron that's long enough to straddle the scalar hole. The laser shoots through a hole in the angle iron. I center it on the scalar without the lnb's on it. I get it centered, and then see where the laser hits on the dish. That way you can make sure it's all level AND centered.

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=gpl3t

 

[beavs2112]

It would sure be nice if they made a laser that you could put in the scaler to see it hit the center of the dish..

I just want a confirmation on my math (Both measurements in inches):

View attachment 107769

Yes your formula is correct. About the laser. You'll have to DIY. Brian Titanium tried to make one but was too expensive http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/thr...-band-feedhorn-alignment-tool-project.328427/

 

[iBoston]

I had to do so much drilling and moving of pre-drilled holes it was un-nerving. NOTHING fit together. Frankly I'm surprised I was able to track the arc at all.

I spent all day working on the dish, including getting the lnb support rod correctly installed and aligned, and by end of day, i got it tracking. I am going to hold off from commenting on the performance of this dish until i get it fine tuned.

I had to walk away from the project for a month because i have other things (less frustrating) that needed to be done.

I have to SAY i am extremely disappointed with the SILENCE of tek2000. He admitted he sent me the wrong polar mount. His excuse was that he didn't know i lived so far north, yet, he had my shipping address?!!?!? I then sent follow up email about how the mounts don't fit together, and he basically replied with, re-drill holes as needed. After that, he IGNORED me.

The craftsman ship on this dish is JUNK.

 

[truckracer]

I almost bought one for my other house...glad I didnt. Will find a used one.

 

[Titanium]

Scott Greczkowski - Did you ever follow through on taking up Tek2000's offer to test a dish as was promised many months ago?

Be great if a distribution representative would participate in the forum, so we could have better updates and support on the dishes. Participation in the forums is a great way to find the bugs and work out the wrinkles.

As I distribute the controllers and C-band LNBFs, I am asked many times each week where a customer could buy a new dish. Most of the time when this product is brought up in conversation, the potential buyer has already made up their minds based on the reviews on the forums.

Hope that they have plans to continue to improve the design and customer support. It would be a shame to have the only reasonably priced dish fail over simple to address QC and support issues!

 

[Lone Gunman]

About the laser. You'll have to DIY. Brian Titanium tried to make one but was too expensive

I did one about the same time that Brian was working on his. Here's the link: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/lnbf-alignment-off.336500/#post-3454786

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nope he said he was going to contact me in May then i haven't heard from him.

And honestly I have been to busy to put one up.

 

[FTA4PA]

I had to do so much drilling and moving of pre-drilled holes it was un-nerving. NOTHING fit together. Frankly I'm surprised I was able to track the arc at all.

I spent all day working on the dish, including getting the lnb support rod correctly installed and aligned, and by end of day, i got it tracking. I am going to hold off from commenting on the performance of this dish until i get it fine tuned.

I had to walk away from the project for a month because i have other things (less frustrating) that needed to be done.

I have to SAY i am extremely disappointed with the SILENCE of tek2000. He admitted he sent me the wrong polar mount. His excuse was that he didn't know i lived so far north, yet, he had my shipping address?!!?!? I then sent follow up email about how the mounts don't fit together, and he basically replied with, re-drill holes as needed. After that, he IGNORED me.

The craftsman ship on this dish is JUNK.

Glad to hear that you got it together and tracking the arc but not that it was such a hassle. Considering that this is such a niche market, one would figure that they would respond quickly and offer solutions to problems their customers experience. Not good letting you hang like that.

 

[primestar31]

This is probably a guy working from his house as a side-hustle collecting order money, and having the dishes drop-shipped directly to his customers.

His prices are so low, he probably doesn't have any power to get the "factory" to change anything.

 

[pacificrim]

Too bad this is the situation with Tek2000. Being a Canadian, I was excited to see a dealer selling Cband dishes from Canada, but with this being the situation I am instead going the adoption route.

 

[iBoston]

Yea, i am still tweaking with this dish. Ill post if/when i get this fully tuned up.

 

[iBoston]

Okay, everything is FINE tuned and as good as it is going to get.

The major problem with this dish is the amount of play it has. I upgraded the mover to the ASC1, which was my plan all along. That right away improved the tracking, but i was having odd behavior. I finally figured out the problem is when i cross the top of arc there is so much play, it then slides down pulled down by gravity. When i roll back, it throws off all the satellites around the top of arc, but then re-corrects when i keep tracking and gravity then swings it back into original place, and then it tracks the satellites lower in the arc.

The fix is i have to slide down to the west side of the arc to get it to drop into position, and then roll back to the satellite at the top of arc. Mind you, this will only be an issue if i slide East of 87, which is basically 55 and 58. I don't plan on watching those birds on this dish, so, it will probably turn out to be okay.

The mount is just not beefy enough to keep it from flexing about 1-2 degrees.

The other problem i had was with centering the LNBF. I bought a Laser and rigged up something to check the alignment. It was off by quite a bit. I aligned the LNBF to the center of the dish, and the signals are now stronger and are less prone to lock loss when not tracked right on. (More room for error so to speak)

Okay, so discounting the horrible play in the mount of the dish (which, i will see if i can do anything about), the dish seems to perform better than my 10 foot.

I am able to lock Bloomberg and Encore Westerns on 116. I was NEVER able to lock Bloomberg, and with Encore i could never maintain a lock. I also know people local to me that have also never been able to lock Bloomberg.

Boy, I spent a lot of time assembling, tweaking, and banging. There were many times i never thought i would reach this point... We shall see how it works through the Winter.

 

[scarecrovv]

We shall see how it works through the Winter.

Keep us informed

 

[pacificrim]

Thanks iBoston. That might be the only review out there for these dishes. I almost bought one a few times but have decided to stay clear of these, not just because of what you posted here but it certainly had a big influence in the end. Now I am going the adoption route.
"They don't make 'em like they used to.."
Too bad.

Congrats on getting it to work as well as you did.

 

[Jason S]

Okay, everything is FINE tuned and as good as it is going to get.

Good to read that you got it going! Did you take any photos of the new 12-footer?

 

[iBoston]

My 12 footer, and my Dish Farm.

 

[FTA4PA]

Glad to see you got it all tuned up and working iBoston. Yep, probably is the only review for a 12 footer of their's (apologies if there are others). There are several reviews for the 8' foot version (including mine). The weak mount has been a common problem with these as I mentioned it myself over a year back when I first installed mine. Assumed by now they would have beefed it up but guess not. Let us know how it holds up.

 

[iBoston]

Oh, i forgot to mention, it is horrible when the winds kick up.. It does a LOT more shaking than my 10'. The extra size and the flex of the mount is a double whammy.