LNB for fringe area reception.

perry266

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I wish to receive ASTRA 2D in Menorca, Balearics. I have a 1.3M dish and a Technomate 1500 CI tuner. The LNB is unknown.

Although reception is OK during the day some channels vanish in the evening. As Menorca is very much a fringe area for ASTRA 2D I wonder if I improve the LNB whether I might improve matters.

What are the best LNB's for problem weak signal areas that I could try (I don't really want to increase the dish size).
 

rolfw

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What make is the dish and does it have a dedicated feed, or are you using a standard universal 40mm collar LNB?
 

iceman

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perry266 said:
What are the best LNB's for problem weak signal areas that I could try (I don't really want to increase the dish size).


Try a Sharp 0.3dB (white case) single output universal 40mm clamp LNB on your offset dish.
 

dxsat

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You have three issues here:
-if the Technomate 1500 has the same tuner as the Technomate 1000 model, it will be very poor for Astra 2D. Change it for a secondhand Pace 2600 CI.
-the dish will be 1.2 metres. In Spain dishes are measured vertically to give the impression you're getting more for your money. The convention everywhere else is to measure a dish on its horizontal dimension. 1.2 metres is probably too small to get 2D channels all evening in the Balearics.
-to get the best performance, upgrade to an Invacom C120 quad or twin with a separate feedhorn, or to a MTI BlueLine 0.6 single.
(The Sharp 0.3 mentioned above does not work at all well in Spain due its poor resistance to interference, though it's ok elsewhere.)
 

perry266

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Essex UK and Menorca, Balearics.
rolfw said:
What make is the dish and does it have a dedicated feed, or are you using a standard universal 40mm collar LNB?

The dish was supplied by a local installer and make unknown, but of the offset design.

I believe the LNB packaging read "3B elettronica. Paraver LNBU033B Single LNBF". Seems to have the standard universal 40mm collar.
 

perry266

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Technomate 6800 HD
90cm motorised dish (offset) in Essex
My Location
Essex UK and Menorca, Balearics.
snap said:
You have three issues here:
-if the Technomate 1500 has the same tuner as the Technomate 1000 model, it will be very poor for Astra 2D. Change it for a secondhand Pace 2600 CI.
-the dish will be 1.2 metres. In Spain dishes are measured vertically to give the impression you're getting more for your money. The convention everywhere else is to measure a dish on its horizontal dimension. 1.2 metres is probably too small to get 2D channels all evening in the Balearics.
-to get the best performance, upgrade to an Invacom C120 quad or twin with a separate feedhorn, or to a MTI BlueLine 0.6 single.
(The Sharp 0.3 mentioned above does not work at all well in Spain due its poor resistance to interference, though it's ok elsewhere.)


I purchased the Technomate 1500 because it is claimed (and supported by several speciallists - e.g. "What Satellite") to be a very sensitive tuner for weak/poor quality signals.

I am still a little unsure about the LNB. In respect to fringe/weak signal areas should there be an advantage in an LNB with a combination of above average "gain" and below average "noise". If so, is the MTI Blueline 0.6 single a leader in this respect? Why I ask is that 0.6 dB is not particularly "low"?
 

dxsat

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Someone may know if the Technomate 1500 has the same tuner as the 1000.
I bought a 1000 model and found it worse than any Sky Digibox.
LNB noise figures are very unreliable. Many manufacturers have taken to describing theirs as '0.2' which is an impossible figure. The laws of physics say 0.3 is the lowest possible.
For reasons unknown the MTI BlueLine 0.6 works extremely well receiving weak Astra 2D.
I have no data on the newer 0.3 model, but be careful to ask for a BlueLine as you may be offered a similar MTI LNB in a white casing, which is inferior. The single is better than the twin. All the MTI LNBs have better cross-polarisation performance than Sharp models ( means: rejection of interference from strong adjacent channels of opposite polarity)
 

perry266

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Technomate 6800 HD
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My Location
Essex UK and Menorca, Balearics.
Thanks for your imformative explanation, especially about cross-polarisation. Why is it so difficult to get these figures from LNB manufacturers?
Not sure I understand the science/maths of why 0.3dB is the lowest figure for "noise". If you could expand on that I'm sure other "fringe" users would be interested.
 

dxsat

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UK: Tonbridge, Kent. Spain: Madrid.
I was told that in a 0.3db LNB the noise inherent in the components used was as low as can be manufactured in a practical way. The engineer said that you would have to cool the LNB down to something approaching absolute zero in liquid nitrogen to get a lower figure. 'Beyond physics' is what he said. Less than honest manufacturers claim these crazy figures knowing that 99% of users have no way of testing their validity. It's all down to marketing. You can safely disregard any claim for any LNB to have a 0.2db noise figure. There are now 'HD Ready' LNBs coming from Sharp. I thought this was an April Fool's joke at first, but I saw it on a Spanish distributor's website, and the Spanish have their own jokes day in a different month.
 
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