Replacing Quattro LNB to Unicable

[Archive7]

I am considering replacing my Quattro LNB pointing to Hotbird 13E to a Unicable one.
The dish has a multifeed support for three LNB's Hotbird 13E, Astra 1M 19.2E and Eutelsat 9E.
It is an old LNB over 20 years old, and although I can still get a good signal on all receivers except the VU+ Solo Se V2, I would like to experiment with the Unicable one.
There are four cables running down from the Quattro LNB on the roof top, to my sitting room.
They are connected to a Zinwell four outputs multiswitch.
My dish installer is a reliable professional, but he has no experience with unicable LNB, as it is not popular in Israel. So I am going to order all the necessary parts and hopefully the installation would go as smoothly as possible.
Found an Inverto Unicable Quad LNB with two legacy outputs IDLB-QUDL42-UNI2L-OPP.
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00GKPK4AK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF
Cost EUR 46.88.
Is 40mm the recommended size?
It will use up three cables which leaves me one spare that I can leave untouched or use it to connect to another satellite using a single LNB.
I shall need 3 two way splitters in order to connect 4 receivers to the Unicable cable and several short length ready made cables with F male connectors at both ends.
Also I need 4 female-female F-Type adapters (joiners) to enable connection to the four cables connected now to the Zinwell multiswitch.
Have I missed anything else on the parts list to order?
Thanks for all your comments.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Unicable LNBs did not have a good reputation a while ago, the satellite providers would upgrade their transponder listings and the product would become obsolete overnight.

 

[archive10]

I used to have Viasat (Nordic) as tv supplier; I ran two boxes of a Maximum unicable LNB.
Main thing was to preserve cable runs from the dish - running unicable freed up one cable to use for normal single-tuner operation of other LNBs on a T55 multi-focus.
The unicable-stuff ran fine with Viasat - it had to, as the boxes are locked to Viasat, and support unicable as a option.

I ran the incoming unicable through a 1-2 splitter, i see no reason why you could not use a 1-4 instead of 3x1-2 (unless you have some physical reason for splitting in three places).

Not sure why you would want to run bother unicable AND individual outputs from the same LNB at 13E, unless you have some non-unicable device you need to maintain in operation. For the fun of it, I rand the legacy out alongside the unicable to a DiSEqC switch, meaning I could scan all the non-Viasat channels on the same (4.8E) satellite position.

Also, the female-female F-connector couplers - can you explain why?
If you connect incoming unicable with splitter(s), then they do the same function, no?
Of course, for the legacy feeds, you may need extending the cables. For this you will probably need couplers as you propose.

Perhaps a small drawing would help?

All-in-all, my unicable installation ran without problems, as long as the STBs are all in agreement about which uses what frequency...

 

[Archive7]

Thanks st1.
I can use the 1-4 splitter and pay less thanks for the suggestion, but it has a longer delivery time while the 1-2 have shorter delivery time and there are more suppliers to choose from.
The legacy outputs serve the purpose of giving me an option in case the unicable doesn't work well or if a receiver doesn't support unicable. Using them will give me a total of using 6 receivers.
The Female-Female F connectors gives me the option to extend the cable lengths instead of them hanging in mid air.
It makes things look neater in the long run. It is useful thing to have and I may not use them all.
Any other parts you can think of to add to the list?

 

[Terryl]

One word of caution, the coax that has been out in the weather for 20 years may be a bit brittle, when handling it use caution not to bend it, this may cause the PVC jacket to crack, this could cause problems when it rains, once water gets inside the coax you may have to replace it.

If the coax is that old I would replace the parts that were outside with new stuff anyway, this may improve things signal wise quite a bit.

Here were we get some very nasty high temperatures (110F) I always put the outside coax feeds inside the grey PVC electrical conduit, then a paint job (same color as the house) on the conduit keeps things from rotting away.

For 4 or more runs of coax a 1 inch diameter conduit should be used, the nice thing about the PVC stuff is that you can get 90, 45 and 22 degree pre-made bends, and the conduit cuts real nice with a hand saw, a weather head and junction boxes are a nice touch.

What I do is put a weather head right at the dish, then a few feet down from it a junction box is used to allow the replacement of the coax that would be outside the weather head, a ground block can serve as a tie point, and also allow the system to be properly grounded.

 

[Archive7]

Thanks Terryl
All the coaxial cables run through plastic electric conduits and they weren't exposed to harsh weather conditions for 20 years, except about 1-2m on the roof top from the dishes. I prefer not to replace these parts with a new cable because it means cutting the cables and joining them to the ones inside the conduits. My dish installer would advise what is the best course of action to take.
What amazes me is how the LNB's survived all these years. The Quattro still gives me great signal on all channels, except one receiver that is not showing the channels on the high frequency end transponders (even though scanning adds them to the services list). But this issue is under investigation at the moment.
Our satellite company run the coaxial cables from their dishes to their subscribers in my building, on the roof surface, then over the walls and then into each subscriber apartment. No protection whatsoever.

 

[Lazarus]

Your Satellite company has much in common with Sky, it seems.

Cables trailing in an unsightly manner across roofs, with no means of securing to anything at all, cables laid in rainwater guttering, dishes affixed with insufficient wall-mount bolts ........ still, they have to keep the costs down somehow

 

[Archive7]

Your Satellite company has much in common with Sky, it seems.

Cables trailing in an unsightly manner across roofs, with no means of securing to anything at all, cables laid in rainwater guttering, dishes affixed with insufficient wall-mount bolts ........ still, they have to keep the costs down somehow

I think they graduated from the same schools.
Leaving cables exposed to harsh weather conditions causes problems over time and generates more work and income to the companies.

 

[a33]

As I understand Unicable, you always need a diode between every receiver and the unicable LNB.
So be sure you find the right splitter with diodes, or wall-connection boxes with diodes, or you're heading for trouble.

Greetz,
A33

 

[Archive7]

As I understand Unicable, you always need a diode between every receiver and the unicable LNB.
So be sure you find the right splitter with diodes, or wall-connection boxes with diodes, or you're heading for trouble.

Greetz,
A33

Thanks. The Technisat splitter I am thinking of ordering does have diodes
TechniSat 4-Wege Sat-Verteiler: Amazon.de: Elektronik
or
TechniSat 2-Wege Sat-Verteiler: Amazon.de: Elektronik

 

[davemurgtroyd]

Your Satellite company has much in common with Sky, it seems.

Cables trailing in an unsightly manner across roofs, with no means of securing to anything at all, cables laid in rainwater guttering, dishes affixed with insufficient wall-mount bolts ........ still, they have to keep the costs down somehow

That sounds more like their sub contractors. All installs by Sky logo'd van drivers I have seen have had dishes fully mounted and cables well secured (although not always very neatly routed). I have seen more Freesat installs apparently done by cowboys rhan Sky ones.

 

[Archive7]

I ran the incoming unicable through a 1-2 splitter, i see no reason why you could not use a 1-4 instead of 3x1-2 (unless you have some physical reason for splitting in three places).

Your suggestion st1 saved me about 20 euro today. I can live with the delivery time apparently.
What is your favorite beer? Heineken? Have a six pack on me.

 

[Archive7]

I ordered only the Unicable LNB urgently so it should arrive next week hopefully.
Can I connect the Unicable cable directly to one receiver without using a splitter, as this will take few more weeks to arrive?

 

[Archive7]

I finally received the Unicable LNB
My professional dish installer is very busy these days adjusting his customers receivers to new channels on Amos 7, but he said that he might be able to come next week. Didn't take this into account. Murphy's law strikes again!!
As I was looking at the new LNB, I dropped it to the floor from a height of about 70cm.
Is there any chance of it being damaged as a result of the mechanical shock?
How tough are these parts?
A unicable LNB has more electronics parts inside it than a standard one. This is the reason for my concern.

 

[PaulR]

If it doesn't work when installed it was delivered damaged.

Wasn't it...

 

[Archive7]

If it doesn't work when installed it was delivered damaged.

Wasn't it...

Come to think of it, yes you are right.
On the other hand, if it works, this means my drop brought it to life, using shock treatment.

 

[archive10]

Is there any chance of it being damaged as a result of the mechanical shock?
How tough are these parts?
A unicable LNB has more electronics parts inside it than a standard one. This is the reason for my concern.

Maybe... but there are still no moving parts. It's mostly a PCB with some electronics soldered onto it.
Unless the casing is cracked, or components have come off bad solderings, there's not much to break unless you really smash it up.

I'm sure it's fine. I've dropped LNBs from higher up.
(But I've also had LNBs die on me for no apparent reason. There's not easy answer.)

If you want to test that it at least still electrically works, you can just hook it up to a STB, and see what the strength and C/N ratio is on the input.
(Not sure how your equipment works, but set the receiver to "Unicable" and select one of the Unicable channels (1,2,3,...))
The result will be the output on that channel from the LNB.
A resulting good connection should at least show that the switch and downlink stuff works.
If you want to test the whole thing, you need to stick it on a dish.
From your previous posts this sounds like you need to wait for your installer...

 

[Channel Hopper]

LNBs use a cavity that is tuned to an exact frequency for the local oscillator, one for each band. These are probably the more fragile of components inside the unit, and can fracture on the PCB or go off tune when stressed.

 

[Archive7]

I finally had my dish installer have the time to come round to do the work.
I gave him the Inverto Unicable LNB and another Inverto standard LNB and asked him to add it to point to Astra 3A on 23.5E.
He said that he is not familiar with this satellite and that he would try to add a satellite that he knows well.
I was very disappointed naturally, but the main thing was to replace the Quattro with Unicable.
It didn't take him long came down and I checked that VU+ was showing a strong signal on all the missing ones.
He showed me the old Quattro. It is probably about 20 years old. I asked few years ago to replace the Quattro with a new one, he said that it is working well and there is no need to replace it.
I wish I had insisted then as it cost me dearly having to do the change now.
Then he said that he added Eutelsat 7E but it is so near to 9E that it was very difficult to make fine tuning.
The end result was that all the "good channels" I had from 9E have gone now and Eutelsat 7E is packed with encrypted Turkish channels and the subscription isn't cheap.
The poor man had to lift a heavy collapsible ladder in order to do the installation on the roof. It wasn't an easy task I must tell you.
The unicable works well. I only used one band out of four so far.
Few shots of the old Quattro LNB above.
I was amazed at the fact that there are no markings on the outputs to tell which is which. Perhaps 20 years ago this was a well known LNB but today, it would have been useful to leave the guess work out of the equation.
Does it look familiar to anyone? Who is the manufacturer and what is the model number please?