Getting started: Fortec Beta and Sky Minidish

[argonaught]

Right. My box arrived today - got a Fortex Lifetime Ultra plus. Connected it up to this Minidish, all is well, I scanned and picked up many channels from what is assume Astra 2 (BBC, Sky etc channcels). However, a few frustrating hours later, I have been unable to locate any other satellites. I point this dish in the right direction and use my signal meter to line up what I think is a good enough signal - but the box just reports a low singnal strength/quality on whatever satellite I choose. Managed to get it back it to Astra 2 in the end - it's the only one I can seem to get a reasonable signal quality.

Please help, am I doing something really obvious wrong?

[BGonaSTICK]

Use a permanent marker to mark the relative positions on the scale/mount for Astra 2, so you can just put it back when you get bored or lost - that takes any pressure off.

Now tip the dish up a fraction (half a degree to 1 degree maybe) and swing it to the right (if you were viewing from behind the dish) nine degrees and have a waggle about there. You should find Astra1 (19.2E) fairly easily.

Don't forget to tune the receiver into an FTA channel on Astra 1 and turn the volume on your TV right up

[argonaught]

Thanks for the info.
I've finally managed to get Astra1 - lots of German and Spanish channels. It's so difficult - the angle the dish is pointing at is no where close to 19 degrees east! It's such a fine line between astra 1 and 2 aswell - a degree or so the wrong way and the box finds all the Sky channels etc. - even when you set it to search for Astra1 it still picks up all the Astra2 channels even when you are p0ointing at Astra 1.

Found a few hundred channels, but nearly all of them have a Dollar symbol next to them - and are scrambled. Is there any hope of being able to patch the Fortec Lifetime Ultra Plus to open some up? No just premium, but some of the more basic ones: Ned1, Ned2, Eurosport etc?
Thanks again

[argonaught]

Ok. I've got the Downloading Tool from

[EDIT by BGonaSTICK - link removed - please read the rules... we don't want to end up in trouble with the law here!]

Do I now connect my box to the serial port on my PC and use the 'Load' command to upload the newest 'Softwares' in the list (newlifetimeultra_plus_2k61117_tps_till_24_nov)?

Thanks for the help....this is extremely overwhelming and confusing for a beginner!

[BGonaSTICK]

Those fixes are from way back in 2006, and will be no use whatsoever now. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, along with several encryption updates by the provider.

If you wanted a cheap patchable receiver, then you've bought the wrong one. Sell it and buy a Technomate TM1000D.

[argonaught]

Hmm....the more I read, the more I'm beginning to agree that I've bought the wrong thing
I haven't given up totally though - read about this over at Digitalspy - what do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORTEC-STAR-51...QQcmdZViewItem

Is it easy to get hold of patches for the Technomate? Is the only difference between the 1000 and the 1500 the CAM slot, and how important is that?

[Mickha]

A cam slot might be useful at some point in the future, at the moment you only require a Cam if you want the Premiere package, but this could change soon, equally, in the future, other packages might only become available using one of the new super cams.
Most Technomate receivers have a lot of support, especially the more popular models, which include the 1000 and 1500 models.

[argonaught]

From what I've read, the 2007 Technomate 1000D models are upgradeable to add a CAM slot in the future...?
If I should sell my Fortec and get a 1000D, do you know where I can find a really straightforward guide to patching (for someone who has no experience). Sorry for the really dumb questions!

[BGonaSTICK]

The Fortec kit on eBay doesn't appear to give you anything interesting. In fact it says that it can be used to 'Patch your Fortec with Al7Bar emulator software'... which is where we started.

There are guides for patching the Techno 1xxx series boxes here, and many of the folks on the forum have them - I'm sure they would be happy to help you get the job done.

Have a search and a read in the Technomate section.

STICK