# Advice on Receiver



## Mister B (Feb 19, 2007)

Now that Spring is on the way I am thinking of getting back in to FTA. Last year my practically new Fortec receiver went dead and I just gave up. Now I am looking at receivers again and would appreciate any input on a moderate cost unit. At this time I am mainly interested in picking up White Springs TV.
Obviously I would not want to get a Fortec again and am leaning toward a Captain 7100 as gosatellite.net recommends it and states it is not made in China. I would like to consider some others but the brand names are completely unfamiliar in this field so again any input will be appreciated.


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

As I say elsewhere, most folks only have real experience with one or two receiver models. My Fortec is doing fine, the Traxis I was using before was also good, and the Pansat I used before that was good as well.

I'm agnostic about receivers. If it has the connections and features that you want, then just about any modern FTA receiver should work for you.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

The fortec mercury II that I got from Gosatellite for $85 works good. I am using a 24" dish in Arkansas to get White Springs with it. The component connections it has seem to make the picture much better on a big lcd screen. White Springs video quality sucks, so every little bit helps . 
One thing about gosatellite tho, even if the receiver is defective upon arrival, they won't exchange it, saying they can't prove you didn't try to hack it. They will make you send it to the manufacturer. I think in the future I'm going to use another dealer, and pay attention to their exchange policy closely.

The Pansat seemed really nice, except mine only ran for 2-5 minutes before locking up. I managed, over the course of three hours, to get amc3 scanned in, and once that was done, could turn it on pbs hd and watch it as long as I didn't do anything else with menus or channel changing.

Sent it off to Panarex today. Hope it gets fixed. It had an awesome picture.


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## concord704 (Feb 19, 2006)

Merc II is a good receiver, visionsat PVR, etc. I'm holding off for a while, some are going DVB-S2...not sure when though... I've read good things about 9200HD, which has the capability in furture for DVB-S2.


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## Mister B (Feb 19, 2007)

I finally ordered my FTA equipment. I decided on the Captain 7000 receiver, a pole mount Fortec Star FC80 dish and the Techsat Tracker II LNB. I am now a little concerned after reading an old post by "MarkA" where the F/D ratio of his dish did not match his LNB. I see the F/D for the FC80 is .65 but can not find any specification for a F/D on the Techsat Tracker II. It seems that reviewers of the LNB tried it out on several different dishes so hopefully it is not a problem. 
I guess I am just looking for a little reassurance that this system will work together.


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

You'll be able to adjust the position of the LNB on the arm of the dish. Some work better all the way in, some all the way out, and probably some in between.


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## Mister B (Feb 19, 2007)

Thanks, that is what I imagined, the leeway on the LNB neck can be used to set the LNB closer or further from the dish. On my old system I never found it to make any difference. I will post my results when I all arrives from the three different vendors.


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## PTown (Aug 18, 2007)

Eek, good luck. Haven't heard many positives about the Captain line of receivers.


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## Mister B (Feb 19, 2007)

I finally received all of the equipment for this project. It turns out that when I ordered the 80P dish from Sadoun they were actually out of stock and it took three weeks to get more in. I wish they had posted on their web site "out of stock" and I could have made a decision on whether I wanted to wait on that particular model or not. The pole mount is nice as it is easier to put together than the universal mount and I did not get as much leeway while trying to aim the dish.
The Captain receiver is adequate. I would not recommend it for anyone who has never done FTA before as the owner's manual is very brief and in poorly written English. The Techsat Tracker II LNB is the most pleasant surprise and as reviewed by others gives a few points higher on the Quality Meter than other LNB's as well as a steadier signal.
I changed my mind on getting White Springs for now and settled on Montana PBS. I am a big fan of PBS and now can get my local El Paso affiliate, a digital channel from 60 miles away in New Mexico with a large Winegard UHF antenna and now Montana PBS by FTA. The picture from Montana is actually better than the terrestrial digital sub-channels. I may just set up a second dish for White Springs at a later time.
Thanks to those who gave advice. Now I just have to deal with the neighbors who will be asking "what is that"?


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

Congrats on getting set up! If the Captain can export AC3 audio _and_ you've got an audio receiver than can process/translate the Dolby Digital feed, then you ought to hook that up. Montana PBS is great, and getting another half-dozen national PBS feeds would be a nice bonus.

Instead of a second dish for White Springs, have you thought about a motor?


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## Mister B (Feb 19, 2007)

After a couple of hours I lost the transponder for Montana PBS. I am not sure what happened as I could see the other PBS stations but no, I do not have a Dolby stereo. I decided to go ahead and try for White Springs and it certainly took a while to find the signal. I think I will leave the dish here as I may enjoy these old movies more than a third PBS station.
I understand that dealing with a motor is very difficult and I have a hard time getting just one satellite aimed. Besides, I can only see the eastern side of the arc from one side of the house and the western from the other. 
Right now I am just very tired, and thanks again for the encouragement.


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