Fortec 180cm dish mounting ideas

[Corrado]

I have a Fortec Star FS6D dish. So far,was bolted to a wooden pallet and weighted down with concrete blocks previously.Which was fine for testing it out. I was thinking about reassembling it and leaving it pointed at G3 since some of my services recently moved there.However, I hate the mount this thing has.I have seen photos of others converted to a polar mount with a motor,but I do not need a motor. I have thought about retrofitting with parts from other BUDs for a polar mount. This might be easiest.

My question is...Does anyone have one mounted permanently using the ring base? How did you landscape it to make it look nicely? I plan to mount this one a little closer to the house in sight of others and I am thinking of ideas to make it more attractive. I have thought about perhaps a concrete pad or some form of pressure treated wood base.If anyone has a photo to post I would appreciate it.

 

[PopcornNMore]

This is the pressure treated wood base I made for my Fortec 1.8m dish. I need to make it a little larger as the ring base is 25.5" in dia. and the table is 24" X 27". I will be securing it to the deck using lag bolts.

It's a beautiful dish, so I want everyone to see it. If I wasn't married it would be in the front yard.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Mounting 1.8m Fortec Dish

I have since added a 2X4 onto each side to make the stand 27" X 27", so that the bottom ring mount can be secured onto the top. I have also added two horizontal 2X4's at the bottom for additional support and so it can be attached to the deck floor as well as the side using lag bolts.

The ring mount will be secured using the brackets supplied with the dish as well as 5-16 (1.5") bolts, washers and nuts going through the 3/4" plywood.

 

[Corrado]

Good idea to raise the dish. LOS is a little different with these prime focus dishes. Nice pics too, in the other thread. When on the ground it's too low,maybe OK if sitting on a roof. I went as far as G3C with mine. I assembled it with extra washers and it took 2 boxes. The bolts didn't seem to have enough surface contact for my taste.

One bit of advice to to be sure it's really secured well, I needed help just trying to mount it. Aiming on a known analog transponder if possible for C band helps.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I worked on this "Sit N Spin" dish yesterday. The wooden stand I made is still holding up, but it was rough moving the dish since it wasn't moved in over a year. I had to pry it off the stand before it could be turned. I also discovered a huge bee's nest in the feedhorn that I took care of. This explains why I haven't gotten a signal in so long.

The Fortec 180cm is a good dish, but my Channel Master 120cm comes very close to performing just as well. This makes me wonder if my Channel Master 180cm dish would possibly perform just as well as a 8' Fortec dish. I bet it would.