Fortec 120cm fine adjustment on the cheap and easy

[pacificrim]

After looking at what some people have done to add fine tuning to their Fortec 1.2m dish and a few others that lack this feature, I spent 4 dollars and did my own take on the concept. I did have to drill one hole into the the top of the dish mount, but no biggie. It was awesome to adjust the turn buckle, sweeping the dish up and down, watching the meter move in and out of peak signal.

It only took a few minutes to do and added 3db of signal Q to my true south test transponder. All other sats I checked are showing improvements too. YES!

Now that I have installed the new StabHH120, GeoSatProPLL LNB, MicroHD, and with the dish perfectly fine tuned...it's all done.
"Project No More Junk" - Mission Accomplished - hang up the banner!

I just checked a few more sats and things are truly awesome now. NBC East on AMC1 is almost 80% quality with regular 0 degree skew. Wow, maybe the Fortec 1.2 is a decent dish after all...just the lack of fine adjustment makes it really hard to nail and lockdown the signal. Louisiana PBS HD is 75%, FSTV is 72%, Montana PBS is 73%. I am ready for the rain now.

 

[Wescopc]

Simple but effective!
Bob

 

[gpflepsen]

Great Idea! I was thinking of making a jack screw and a clamping colar, but this is soooo much easier. And in this case, easier is better!

 

[Anole]

I like it !

Those Fortec 1.2's are a bear.
You've done your homework.

 

[madmadworld]

coming clean

thought this was just me. got this dish from sadoun a few years back was told it was a fortec but it had no stamp.
spent more time on this dish than any other ever. could have put up 4 10' out of the box faster lol
note the nut under lnb and a wire from top of dish to arm.
thanks for posting would have never came clean on this project lol

 

[Bongu]

Crude but effective use of pipe strapping material. It should hold up for many many years.

 

[pacificrim]

I needed to be able to tighten the bolts without them having a load. For me, manhandling to tweak in micro adjustments and tightening the dish would always end in average results. With this, it doesn't bear any particular weight once the dish's elevation nuts are tightened (I made sure to use washers) so it should last as good as anything else in 8 months of rain per year. Looking at it now it couldn't have been easier and I am seeing signal levels that I've never had. I peaked the elevation with the turn buckle, then tightened the elevation bolts - the signal levels were unchanged. Once the nuts were tight, the adjuster doesn't have any real load on it but would be able to take a load if needed (wind?).

 

[WTguy]

Mad, it looks like the arm for your lnb is upside down. If it were flipped over then you could move the lnb back to the end of the arm and not have to use the block. I have a 90cm dish but the arm has that same bend as your dish and the directions showed it opposite as the way you have yours attached to the dish.
Anyway, just a suggestion.

 

[madmadworld]

Mad, it looks like the arm for your lnb is upside down. If it were flipped over then you could move the lnb back to the end of the arm and not have to use the block. I have a 90cm dish but the arm has that same bend as your dish and the directions showed it opposite as the way you have yours attached to the dish.
Anyway, just a suggestion.

tried that. thanks for the thought. even drilled holes to bring the support rods higher. shes parked at 125 and happy it does something.
and i did not take the sledge hammer to it like i wanted too a few timeS. was told they sent me the wrong lnb holder twice none of the 3 worked right from the back hole(flipped). # 2 is on it. :haha

 

[SatelliteAV]

tried that. thanks for the thought. even drilled holes to bring the support rods higher. shes parked at 125 and happy it does something.
and i did not take the sledge hammer to it like i wanted too a few timeS. was told they sent me the wrong lnb holder twice none of the 3 worked right from the back hole(flipped). # 2 is on it. :haha

The LNBF is not aimed into the correct area of the dish. The face of the LNBF shouls be aimed at the bottom third of the reflector. You are lucky if you are collecting half of the reflected signals.

 

[pacificrim]

Fortec 120cm 1.2m dish assembly instructions

Yes, good eye Brian - Mad's lnb support rods are Left / Right reversed and upsidedown. I've attached the assembly instructions for the fortec 1.2m dish.

As Brian pointed out, the lnb is at the wrong spot for the focal point. If you have the lnb holder that came with the dish - it looks exactly like the one in the assembly instructions attached - it does work better than others I have tried on the dish.

 

[madmadworld]

thanks guys
hoping you guys are right but may never touch that dish again unless become bored near death.:dead:
still don't have that lnb holder. but did try all that were sent and moved that arm both ways for each.
did not get any assembly instructions. would have helped at least would know Still have the wrong lnb holder. yet not sure it's a fortec no stamp on it all my others have one.
kinda wrote it off as 1 bad saduon buy(unmarked Chinese junk) and everything else i got there was very good so...
when ordered it was a white dish with the stamp well when opened it was that and things near never got better.
will look around for That lnb holder. got other projects now. that sucker has been so frustrating my stomach churns now.
my first big cband dish took less time out of the box.
that said it gets all the pbs stuff really good for over a year now. yippee

 

[migold]

I wonder if the

[h=1]WS International WS40MM-P LNBF Bracket[/h]

sold by Galaxy Marketing will fit your dish. The photos on the website look similar to your dish.
Good Luck.

 

[madmadworld]

found this thread..... got this holder first too.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/133452-Lnb-adaptor-for-fortec-120cm
note how sadoun said the link is not OEM.
lucky guy got the white one

see it here never got one like it (lnb holder)
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Dishes/Fortec-120cm-LNBF-DG380.jpg
note the cut out in the Bottom of the arm..... mine is like that. no cut out in top.
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Fortec-Star/Dishes/Fortec-120cm-LNBF.jpg

 

[madmadworld]

Yes, good eye Brian - Mad's lnb support rods are Left / Right reversed and upsidedown. I've attached the assembly instructions for the fortec 1.2m dish.

As Brian pointed out, the lnb is at the wrong spot for the focal point. If you have the lnb holder that came with the dish - it looks exactly like the one in the assembly instructions attached - it does work better than others I have tried on the dish.

BIG THANKS for assembly instructions

 

[Cham]

That dish has a really strange LNB holder for some reason. I was looking at mine today trying to figure out how to adapt a multi-feed bracket so I can set it up as a stationary with 4 lnbs if possible. I have some regular LNB holders so will have to do some fabricating. Wonder if anyone builds a multi-bracket for this dish?

 

[madmadworld]

well found the Right lnb holder for this dish,after all these years.
wonder if it will work better.
more work to do now lol

 

[madmadworld]

near 7 months later put the new lnb holder on it fit like it was made for it............guess it was.
guy on ebay still has them if anyone wants a spare