Confused About Octo LNBs

eirman

At the moment I've got a quad with sky+ & two standard digiboxes. I want to add one more standard digibox and leave room for a twin input freesat receiver when they become available.

This piece of advice where octos are not recommended in my circumstances has me really confused .....
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm (Halfway down the page)

It there a difference between a quad-output LNB and a quad universal LNB ?
ditto for octo-output LNB and a octo universal LNB ?

Would two quads on the one dish do the job ?

eirman

This looks like what I need .....

http://www.pulsat.com/satellite/site/details.php?product_id=279&catID=9

However, I'm still confused about Satcures advice.

Tony

eirman wrote:

Would two quads on the one dish do the job ?

No as you can only focus one on the astra 2 satellite. Why does it not recommend an octo? As for the pulsat product i'm not certain their claims about perfect reception on a 60cm are true. In my experience a good quality octo needs an 80cm dish to give good reception even in rain.

conax

The Octo Universal LNB will do your job fine. All LNB sold here are universal LNB’s, the item in satcure refers to the common names they are called.
Two quads on one dish looking at the same satellite is not going to work. A Quad each on two separate dishes will work fine.
I assume the bit half way down the satcure page refers to the “scalar” rings, these rings channel the diffused signal at the mouth of the LNB into the feedhorn. They also help prevent unwanted background noise entering the LNB.
The LNB on the Pulsat site only mentions a 60cm Sky dish as an example, check with them and see does it match, if you are ordering make sure it comes with an adaptor for the Sky dish.
Using an LNB that is scalar optimised and one which is not, really only becomes an issue in fringe signal areas, however the drop in signal strength and quality is noticeable (measurement wise).
Never really liked the Octo LNB’s, if you can get away with discreetly installing a 2nd dish it may be a better option. Wouldn’t like to be spending that money again on an Octo if it went faulty, Quads are easy to pick up.

steveon

I have used Zinwell branded Octo LNBS on 60 cm dishes and as Tony stated had a couple of problems on wet days so I would recommend using a minimum of an 80cm dish.

Sam Radford

eirman wrote:

This piece of advice where octos are not recommended in my circumstances has me really confused .....
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm (Halfway down the page)

I must be going blind. It barely mentions OCTO LNBs apart from a picture and "As above but with eight independent outputs." What makes you think OCTOs are not recommended?