240cm Fortec prime focus dish

[lumpkin666]

It's been about a week since I posted an inquiry to Sadoun for information/advice & a shipping quote for this unit, and no response yet. So, I thought I'd repeat the general question here:

Is this dish sufficient to obtain decent quality c-band reception from 97W @ my location (Southern Iowa) under normal Iowa weather conditions?

I'm considering obtaining one of these for my workplace to place on our roof in order to receive and retransmit a specific religious channel over our public cable system, but I'm not sure it will hold up to the weather conditions/etc that we receive here. There are not many "affordable" dishes out there for me to provide for this experiment. I'll have to use all new equipment, but since this channel will provide no financial gain for the company, it would have to be cheap (possibly free to the company - via my pocketbook). thus the reasoning behind considering the fortec.

I've been steered towards a more professional solid dish system, but we're talking 3000-9000 dollars for that equipment. And at that cost, it's not gonna happen. For the cost of the 240cm dish, I could afford to toss in a dish, lnbf, rackmount receiver, some RG6/RG11, and some labor to get this off the ground. And if it works well, then we might get some buy-in to get some better equipment. However, if we go with the fortec and don't have the funds for a couple years to expand, I need to be sure the fortec is going to work for us for awhile (so that our customers don't freak out if they start watching the channel and then it turns to crud).

Any thoughts/advice?

[Iceberg]

BYU TV?? by chance

The thing to realize is C-Band is less susceptible to weather conditions...better yet, you need a hurricane/tornado to knock out the signal.

I have the 6 footer here in MN and have had
pouring rain-no signal loss
heavy dark clouds-minimal signal loss
9 inches of heavy wet snow on the dish-little bit of loss but still a picture
This was on G4 & G3. G25 I know KCSG (St George, UT) is at a 99 on the Pansat and BYU TV is around a 75. Again this is with a 6 footer

That is why stations are still on C-Band...the signal gets through

You should be fine with the 8 footer

Here is something I had posted New Years Eve last year about snow fade

Now I havent had C-Band until this spring so I got to see how rain fade affects (or should I say, doesn't affect) the signal this summer. I noticed it would drop a little bit but stay going the whole time

Well today I really got to see the signal power of C-Band. Put the C-Band dish out around noon and aimed it at G3 and then G4. It was raining at the time. Then it turned to heavy wet snow

and it snowed
and snowed
and snowed

I went out around 3:00 and there was 3+ inches on the dish reflector itself. Signal stayed the same (77-79)

Just went out after the football games got over to bring it in and there was 6+ inches on the dish. The signal went "down" to 70. This is with the dish at 38 degrees.

KU band went down drastically (had to wipe the T90 off) to bring the signal back up.

I am VERY impressed. I thought once snow was on the dish the signal would go kaput. This is not the case

[lumpkin666]

Thanks Iceberg, that's the sorta feedback that is helpful. I guess I'll put some numbers together and make the pitch and see where it lands.

BTW - yes, BYUTV. Of course, even if you hadn't seen my past posts asking about BYUTV (especially when the non-international feed was on satmex5), you had a pretty good chance of guessing right considering the ratio of BYU c-band feeds on that sat

thx!

[Iceberg]

The main feed is the 4025 V 3936. The rest are sporatic feeds

But the 8 footer should work just fine. The signal is strong and steady. Once in a while I even get it on the fixed dish that is at G16

[Vitruvius]

Dear Mr. Iceberg,
I see a real tempting package at Sadoun for a 6 footer with a motor. I see you have a 6 footer. How does that 6 footer compare to an 8 footer in geting the C-band waves? Is a solid 6 footer about comparable to an 8 1/2 foot mesh dish? I know I can swing more from the 8 1/2 foot dish, but is worth the extra money. Are there stations you cannot get on the 6 foot dish?

Dear Mr. Lumpkin, If you are part of some religious group, why do you have 666 in your name?

Thanks...

[lumpkin666]

Dear Mr. Lumpkin, If you are part of some religious group, why do you have 666 in your name?

I am not part of some "religious group", but if I was, the number 666 in my userid has no meaning other than one of irony. To make a long story short, I was picking a hotmail account name and LumpKin was already taken (not even sure why I was trying for LumpKin). hotmail suggested something like lumpkin667.. so I just chuckled and took lumpkin666 instead (btw, I've ran into another lumpkin666 on the net, weird stuff!)

[rainman]

hey lumpkin if you look arround you might be able to find a good C band dish for free or very cheap. thats how i got my birdview HH mount look arround and knocked on some doors got it for $75.

[lumpkin666]

hey lumpkin if you look arround you might be able to find a good C band dish for free or very cheap. thats how i got my birdview HH mount look arround and knocked on some doors got it for $75.

rainman, I'm sure I could bring back several dishes - including something in the 12-14 foot range - for free. But I am certain that I won't be allowed to install any "used" equipment. It'll be a requirement that it's new, with warranty (even if the warranty is lame/short/probably not going to be honored), and commercial grade, if possible. That's just something I have to deal with.

It's funny that I'll be spending about a grand to get this setup off the ground, but I have all of the minimum required parts laying around my place (spare 7.5 mesh dish with lnb, couple of spare consumer grade receivers - one has never been removed from the box, & few hundred feet of RG6)

[William Eng]

You might consider Sadoun's eBay. I bid on a big dish which I didn't get, but it sold for half of the retail price. The other idea is drive down to Sadoun's warehouse sale.

[Sadoun]

We will have a few new in box 240CM dishes on sale that day. So, come and pick what you want .