Best way to setup multi-LNB satellite dish ?

J

jonfr

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
80 cm - 4 arm LNB holder. 0.8W, 9E, 13E, 19.2E.
My Location
Padborg, Denmark
I am soon (in few months time) to move back to Denmark (thankfully). When I am back in Denmark I want to setup satellite dish so I can get the Icelandic television station on 1W. But I also want to watch what is happening on this satellites, 1W, 4.8E,19.2E, 23.5E, 13E, 28.2E. I do own an 85cm dish that I am going to take with me to Denmark (saves me buying an new one). I do not want to setup motor, as it might make an nose and that might not be allowed where I am going to live.

So far I have only found 4-holder LNB. I also do just own an 4 LNB switcher. I was wondering if this can be done with dual head LNBs, or do I just have to expand my system an little bit to get all this satellites into one cable from the dish.

Thanks for the help. :)
 
Might be worth having a look at the Toroidal T90.

Code: 
http://www.wavefrontier.us/Toroidal.htm
 
You have more than 4 satellites so your switch isn't going to be enough. You could either add to your switch with a 4 way diseqc1.1 uncommitted, or get an 8 way diseqc 1.1 switch, such as the Atevio/EMPDiSEqCswitch 8 / 1.

I don't think that your dish is going to be capable of that spread of satellites, up to 20 degrees is normally possible if the sats near the ends are very strong. The Wavefrontier would be more suitable.
 
Thanks for the answers. I am thinking about how to get this solved. If I want to get this many satellites. This is more of an technical issue I think rather then if I can do it, or at least I hope so.
 
There is a calculator for these to help for setup / installation.

Code: 
http://www.satlex.de/en/wavefrontier_calc.html
 
WaveFrontier T90 is not going to be big enough in Denmark for 28E. Should be more like a 1.8m dish but you'd need to check. That leaves you 19E - 1W, which is a spread of 20º so should be possible on a regular dish although the T90 is still preferable.
 
I am considering just to focus on 28.2E, 19.2E, 13E, 1W. Then I would setup two 85cm and one 40 cm dish that I already own. Then I would just have to buy one 65 cm dish. The signal on Denmark for 28.2E is good, expect for Astra 2D and Astra 1N. But where I am going to live is just outside the 120cm signal area from those two satellites from what I can tell. It might be possible for me to get 23.5E if I find the correct LNB for it (dual head one).
 
After a lot of fiddling I have found the best solution to be 28.2E on one (large dish) and everything else (19.2 -> 5W) on a T55 (small Wavefrontier).

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...-master-180-permanent-installation-28-2e.html

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...ontier-t-55-setup-european-mainstream-tv.html

the 28.2 goes on 4 separate cables to receivers. The WF has single LNBs except for 4.8E which serves Viasat aournd the house. Three feeds from there goes straight to receivers, the fourth is combined on a 4-way switch with the other LNBs so that the fourth receiver is the multisat receiver.

For 28.2 you might get away with a 100cm in Søndeborg, but it depends on many things.
but you do want it to be dead-centre on your (normal offset) dish. No good at the edges.
It is worth getting an Inverto Black Ultra LNB, they are good for H/V separation in DK.

For the rest: If you have reasonable dish (say 80-100 cm) you should be able to use up to 4 LNBs as the sats you indicate are fairly strong here in DK.
Beyond 4 LNBs (and also if some of them are close together), the WF are much preferred (and better than the oval multifocus dishes).
They are well priced on mail order in germany from e.g. hm-sat-shop (I bought mine there, low freight and good service).
Just a but tricky to set up, especially if you don't have a meter.
 
I am going to be living in 2 room apartment balconies (I hope anyway). So I am not sure how I am going to work that out for sure when I move back to Denmark and Sønderborg.
 
st1 said:
After a lot of fiddling I have found the best solution to be 28.2E on one (large dish) and everything else (19.2 -> 5W) on a T55 (small Wavefrontier).

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...-master-180-permanent-installation-28-2e.html

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...ontier-t-55-setup-european-mainstream-tv.html

the 28.2 goes on 4 separate cables to receivers. The WF has single LNBs except for 4.8E which serves Viasat aournd the house. Three feeds from there goes straight to receivers, the fourth is combined on a 4-way switch with the other LNBs so that the fourth receiver is the multisat receiver.

For 28.2 you might get away with a 100cm in Søndeborg, but it depends on many things.
but you do want it to be dead-centre on your (normal offset) dish. No good at the edges.
It is worth getting an Inverto Black Ultra LNB, they are good for H/V separation in DK.

For the rest: If you have reasonable dish (say 80-100 cm) you should be able to use up to 4 LNBs as the sats you indicate are fairly strong here in DK.
Beyond 4 LNBs (and also if some of them are close together), the WF are much preferred (and better than the oval multifocus dishes).
They are well priced on mail order in germany from e.g. hm-sat-shop (I bought mine there, low freight and good service).
Just a but tricky to set up, especially if you don't have a meter.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. But I do not need as complex installation as you have setup. I am going to be fine with something less complex in terms of setup. As for Astra 2 (Sky). I think that 85 cm might just work for me. As I have lived in Iceland, getting limited signal is one of the things I have had to deal with since I first setup satellite dish.
 
Is it any good to use "monoblock" LNB ? That has a two heads 6 degrees apart, it is possible to get other degrees I think, at least one has 4.3 degrees apart from them. With that I can get both 19.2E and 13E on one dish. I also think that I can get 4.8E and 1W on one dish with this also. I am wondering if I can use this to get 28.2E and 23.5E on one dish or not. But that is just less then 6 degrees from what I can tell.
 
A 6 degree Monoblock will work fine for 28E and the stronger beams of 23.5E as long as the dish is around 80cm or so.

Trouble is, I suspect you might need a bigger dish for 28E which would mean narrower beamwidth hence less chance of achieving the desired compromise.
 
jonfr said:
Thanks for this. But I do not need as complex installation as you have setup. I am going to be fine with something less complex in terms of setup. As for Astra 2 (Sky). I think that 85 cm might just work for me. As I have lived in Iceland, getting limited signal is one of the things I have had to deal with since I first setup satellite dish.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not really that complicated, but I do understand your approach.
If you can live without the Freesat / 2D channels (BBC, ITV, CH4/5 etc) and generally just go for Sky subscription channels, you can probably use an 85 cm dish
But remember the Sky boxes required don't really do other sats very well, so you will probably still be simplest off using a separate LNB and cabling for 28.2E.
 
jonfr said:
Is it any good to use "monoblock" LNB ? That has a two heads 6 degrees apart, it is possible to get other degrees I think, at least one has 4.3 degrees apart from them. With that I can get both 19.2E and 13E on one dish. I also think that I can get 4.8E and 1W on one dish with this also. I am wondering if I can use this to get 28.2E and 23.5E on one dish or not. But that is just less then 6 degrees from what I can tell.
Click to expand...

You could use monoblocks for 6 degrees. And for most of your sats it will probably work fine.
But you can't adjust skew separately, and if you consider 28.2E then you will find that the skew of Eurobird 1 is significantly different from the 23.5E.
It all depends on what channels you prioritize.
And as you are experienced with getting weak satellite reception, you will find it also irritating that you cannot adjust the two positions independently in focus point.
 
jonfr said:
As I have lived in Iceland, getting limited signal is one of the things I have had to deal with since I first setup satellite dish.
Click to expand...
Iceland is a lot closer to 2D intended target than Denmark.
 
It looks like that I won't be able to setup this many dishes as I wanted. So I am going to settle for two dishes (at most three, two 85cm and one 40 cm) and four satellites. That is 1W, 4.8E, 13E and 19.2E. Where I am going to live is not going to have any balconies. So I need to attach the dishes on the window somehow. Does anyone know with what that is done ? I cannot drill into the outside wall.
 
Adjustable monoblocks (4 to 12 degrees) here - _http://www.wsidigital.com/ESX-LINEAR-LNB-LNBF/Ku-Band-LNBF/ESX521U-AM-Adjustable-4-12-degree-Monoblock-Ku-Universal-LNBF.htm
 
I think all those monoblocks, including 4-12* adjustable, is simple waste of money. They are more expensive upon buying and after one LNB starts having technical problems, than all mono-block should be changed. So, my personal opinion is that 2 separate LNBs on multifeed are always better than any monoblock.
 
I can't imagine any reason for an unacceptable failure rate.

My own Monoblock (Fixed, not variable - though that shouldn't matter) has been in service for many years and I've never read a single Post from anyone concerned about failure.
 
You are right about LNB failure. I also have lots of LNBs and never experienced any failure. Nevertheless 2 separate LNBs vs monoblock will always win. I have also heard that there are diseqc inside of majority monoblocks, that means - no cascading.
 
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