Double LNB

[tdc]

Hi
I am thinking of buying a Homecast HS 9000 to receive Canal Digital NL
This unit has 2 tuners, so I could watch a TV program and record at the same time.
Am I right in thinking that I would need two cables from the sat dish (double LN
which would conect to the receiver.
Also, there are a lot of LNBs out there cheap, moderate and expensive.
What would be the best buy.

 

[Captain Jack]

You are correct. You won't go wrong with a twin output Black Ultra.

 

[Lazarus]

+1

 

[tdc]

You are correct. You won't go wrong with a twin output Black Ultra.

Thanks for that.
I have been looking at LNBs from Canal Digital in Holland as thats where the receiver is coming from.
Is it the case that basicaly any make of twin LNB will do the job.

 

[Captain Jack]

Pretty much.

I assume by twin you mean the LNB with two outputs from a single satellite (23.5E) and not a monoblock type thing to get signals from 19.2E and 23.5E as that's where CD NL transmit from?

 

[tdc]

Pretty much.

I assume by twin you mean the LNB with two outputs from a single satellite (23.5E) and not a monoblock type thing to get signals from 19.2E and 23.5E as that's where CD NL transmit from?

Yes I do mean LNB with 2 outputs.
You mention a Monoblock. I have Googled this and seems interesting.
I may have mentioned we work in Northern Germany. My wife is Dutch (Canal digital NL receiver) I am from UK (Freesat receiver).
We have 2 sat dishes one for each receiver.
We are in a thatched house so the sat dishes are at ground level in the garden. Not the pretiest of sites!
Could a monoblock reduce the sat dishes to 1?

 

[Captain Jack]

Freesat is on 28.2 east, while CD NL is on 23.5e - a difference of 5 degrees. Most, if not all, monoblocks are designed for a 6 degree separation and I believe all also have a single LNB output. You CD NL receiver would need to be able to control a DiSEqC switch inside the monoblock.

A much better solution would be to get a multi-LNB bracket and attach two LNBs to that, each with their own output for each receiver. A 5 degree separation between satellites means that you may need to get one of those LNBs with a slim neck, otherwise they might be too close together.

What dish do you have?

 

[Lazarus]

CJ, I tested this a while ago on my own 80cm dish and it works very well indeed with a 6 degree Monoblock, despite the theoretical mismatch.

In any event, you can get Adjustable Monoblocks nowadays, for up to 12 degrees separation.

Monoblocks can be obtained with twin outputs. Not sure about quad - will take a look.

Edit: Yep. Quads too.

 

[Captain Jack]

Shows how far I am behind times....

 

[tdc]

CJ, I tested this a while ago on my own 80cm dish and it works very well indeed with a 6 degree Monoblock, despite the theoretical mismatch.

In any event, you can get Adjustable Monoblocks nowadays, for up to 12 degrees separation.

Monoblocks can be obtained with twin outputs. Not sure about quad - will take a look.

Edit: Yep. Quads too.

Thanks for the info.
I am in Northern Germany and have been reading that the UK signal is not as strong here as in the past. We have been here last 4 years and always had a good signal. I am now finding that the BBC ! and 2
channels start to break up from around 1800hrs.
I have an 80cm dish do you know if a larger dish would be good idea.
Thanks

 

[Lazarus]

BBC and the bulk of the rest of the UK PSBs are now on Astra 2E.

Whether you need a bigger dish or not depends upon how well your current dish is aligned , and how lossless it is.

But, probably, yes, a bigger one would be needed to recover stable 28E reception.

Which has knock on effects for using a fixed 6 degree Monoblock as that compromise is less likely to be achievable with a larger dish having narrower beamwidth, so you'd need to go for a multi-LNB bracket and two separate LNB (as per CJ's advice) or an adjustable Monoblock. And the dish alignment would be to 28E, with 23.5E on the offset.