Questions about Dual-LNB's?

dvmedia

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Hi...a few questions about dual LNB's for all the lovely people here :)

As you know I have my 60cm ex-Sky analogue dish, which is very comfortably receiving 19.2e digital. I sometimes move the dish round to get 13e.

I have considered getting a second dish, possibly a minidish (although is that enough for Hotbird?).

But I also thought about a dual LNB system. How easy are they to fit to an existing dish and getting them aligned and everything? How much do they cost?

Any other thoughts and ideas?

Thanks guys :)
 

Analoguesat

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A zone 1 minidish is a bit under sized for some of the weaker HB transmissions, although a zone 2 should be ok in most situations

If you want to play with multiple lnb's on one dish get an 80cm dish. (28 /19 / 13 easily possible) Or if you want to keep it simple a monobloc with the prime focus set on 13E and the offset on 19E.
 

dvmedia

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Can it be done with a 60cm dish ok? After the days work it took to fit my 60cm dish I'm not exactly tempted at the prospect of replacing it...
 

Analoguesat

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Yes it will work but

1) you will probably still find that the offset doesnt point at anything useful!
2) the offset is likely to suffer from a weak signal due to the relative lack of collection area because of the offset and the 60cm dish.

What sort of dish do you have, if its a Sky oval 60cm you will almost certainly need to replace it anyway.
 

closetosoton

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dual LNB, do you mean a monoblock?

i see from your previous posts you're a bit of a DIY man.

i would advise you to copy my efforts.

buy a second LNB and a diseqc switch (4-way say) (assuming you have a diseqc capable receiver - most modern ones are, discounting sky/digiboxes of course).

point your dish a 13E.

strap on 2nd LNB to the left of the first one as you look at it, and presto, your own dish with 2 lnb's. i've done this with a 60cm dish.

the advantage of going for this is if you want to add another dish, say 30W, 1W or whatever, you just plug him into the diseqc and you're away.

for pics of such a set up, go here:

bodge: http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/showthread.php?t=33163

final solution:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/showthread.php?t=35396

-cts
 

dvmedia

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What kind of tape was it? Was it waterproof?

I can't believe something like that actually works! Lol
 

closetosoton

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dvmedia said:
What kind of tape was it? Was it waterproof?

no its electrical tape, no its not waterproof, no it didn't rain much for the period of my experiments.

dvmedia said:
I can't believe something like that actually works! Lol

why not? infact it works very well, you can line things up quite easily, just nudging the lnb into place and when you've got the best results, you add more tape/tie wraps.

look at the final solution for the more permanent one i chose. that was done with things like metal bolts.

go for DIY solutions - they are fun and give you a sense of satisfaction - and the chance to save money too...

-cts
 
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