Inverto Multiconnect - Guidance requested

P

peapod1

Member
My Satellite Setup
Edision Mio 4k UHD, Fracarro Penta 85 with Inverto Black Ultra LNB. Technomate 2600 motor. Technomate 6902hd and 1m Gibertini in France.
My Location
Wiltshire UK and Bandol, France
I picked up an Inverto Multiconnect kit to receive 13-19-28 on my 80cm fixed dish set-up on the Med coast in the south of France near Marseille. Aligning the dish on Astra1, I have good 80/80 signal strength on Astra 1 and usable strength on Hotbird. I am unable however to get so much as a squeak out of Astra 2. Am I asking too much to capture Astra 2 at a 9 deg offset on an 80cm dish? Should I be using 28E as the prime focus of the dish?

I also have a slight confusion between inputs A/B/C/D on the disecq switch supplied and Ports 1,2 and 3 on my Echostar 2200, which don't align with each other, but that is a lesser problem at the moment.

Grateful for any guidance here guys if only to keep the boss happy :-)
 
Set up Astra 2 as your main focus, should then be fine.
 
Many thanks Rolf, will try and report back, assuming it ever stops raining down here.
 
daro2096 said:
Won't he then lose 13?
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I doubt it; that satellite is 53dBW in the south of France. Astra 2D on the other hand requires every bit of efficiency that can be wrung out of that 80cm dish so having the LNB in the breech for 28ºE is sound advice.
 
Huevos said:
I doubt it; that satellite is 53dBW in the south of France. Astra 2D on the other hand requires every bit of efficiency that can be wrung out of that 80cm dish so having the LNB in the breech for 28ºE is sound advice.
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Isn't it a bit academic anyway since he will need a bigger dish than 80cm?

But aren't you supposed to mount the inverto multiconnect bracket with the prime focus LNB in the middle of the bracket?
 
daro2096 said:
But aren't you supposed to mount the inverto multiconnect bracket with the prime focus LNB in the middle of the bracket?
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Yes, you then place the other offset LNb's either side of the focal.
 
daro2096 said:
Isn't it a bit academic anyway since he will need a bigger dish than 80cm?
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80cm will be big enough for most of the time near Marseille. Only the heaviest storms will see off the 2D signal.
 
I just wanted to point out that I have no problem picking up Astra 2A/2B on an 80cm dish with Astra 1 as the main focus LNB, however the dish is too small for me to pick up many other channels from that position reliably (in Helsinki) even if the dish was looking directly at Astra 2. Thread: http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...stems/159638-inverto-multiconnect-system.html

Having said that, as already pointed out, the original poster may find it beneficial to focus in on Astra 2 28E but I don't think you can get 13E then without modifications. In this post I have pictures of two multiconnect brackets stuck together so I can see 5E from a dish looking at 19E.
 
PaulR said:
80cm will be big enough for most of the time near Marseille. Only the heaviest storms will see off the 2D signal.
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Thanks guys, will try again tomorrow and reprt back - today's attempt failed, but that is mostly due to confusion between aligning inputs ABCD in the diseqc switch with Ports 123 on the echostar set-up. I think I'll have to do a full system reset on the receiver and start again.
So I have reinstated the old monoblock, aimede directly at Astra 2 and getting 60/60 signal strength and all main UK channels pulled in, so I know the dish is correctly aligned.

Paul - are you anywhere near Mont Ventoux? I cycled the last bit last year following the TdF. I'm near Bandol.
 
Yup. From my garden there I have a direct view of Mont Ventoux and it's just less than an hour to drive to the top.

If you cycled up Mont Ventoux (the east side as per the TdF or the west side?) you have my admiration. My opposite neighbour has taken cycling as part of his new job area and has told me there a man in Avignon who has cycled up MV 5 timers in one day!
 
peapod1 said:
Thanks guys, will try again tomorrow and reprt back - today's attempt failed, but that is mostly due to confusion between aligning inputs ABCD in the diseqc switch with Ports 123 on the echostar set-up. I think I'll have to do a full system reset on the receiver and start again.
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Any luck? The diseqc labelling had confused me too today, port D on the diseqc switch seems to be 2 on my receiver and port B is actually 4. Not sure on the other two as I can't remember which way they where wired, I just changed settings in my receiver until they worked. I had wrongly assumed A = 1, B = 2, etc.
 
timo_w2s said:
Any luck? The diseqc labelling had confused me too today, port D on the diseqc switch seems to be 2 on my receiver and port B is actually 4. Not sure on the other two as I can't remember which way they where wired, I just changed settings in my receiver until they worked. I had wrongly assumed A = 1, B = 2, etc.
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Ok, time for an update :

It finally stopped raining, so after mopping up and watching Bradley Wiggins win the opening timetrial stage of the Giro in Amsterdam, I refitted the multiconnect with Astra 2 in the breech, and thanks to Rolf and Huevos for reassuring me this was the way to go. I'm now pulling in Astra 2 at circa 60/60, Astra 1 at 50/50 and HB at watchable 30/30.

Timo - I was having the same problem aligning the outputs ABCD with ports 1,2,3 on my echostar - it appears to be completely random with no logic. In my case, A=port 3, C=port 1, D= port 2 and B doesn't want to play.

Daro and Satelliteman - you are both correct to state that the system (and the bracket) assumes the prime focus will be on the central lnb. It would only work for me though by putting the left lnb as the prime with the other two hanging off to one side. The bracket securing is less robust in this arrangement, and I found to my cost that even a slight overtightening will crack the plastic bracket which holds the nut on the back of the lnb - a design weakness in my view.

Paul - I hope your place in the Vaucluse didn't get washed away. Did you see the pics of the beach cafes being washed away between Menton and Cannes?
 
Washed away? I hope not, I haven't heard anything.

We're quite lucky with our house. Even though the lane outside turns into a river when it rains the water usually turns away from our property. Our adjoining neighbour is not so lucky, he's slightly lower and further down the lane with his entrance and has once (to my knowledge) been flooded in the house. Ours was unaffected at the time. Actually it was the previous occupants who were flooded - I do hope that they told him!

We'll see when we go down again in three weeks time.
 
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