opticum octo lnb? anything better?

spongerobinson

Hi folks,

I'm in the market for a new dish (gonna go with a Triax 60cm) but I also need an Octo LNB to go with this, as I need 6 feeds for the house.

I've come across an Octo from Opticum on eBay for a decent price, and alot cheaper compared to a Smart Titanium one. Anybody got any experience with them? Or does anybody recommend a particular brand, or know of a good supplier in Ireland that stocks Octo LNBs at a reasonable price?

Thanks

swoofer

have a look at octos that sky use, here is one but collar may need an adaptor. and those opticums are far two expensive. but if you want an lnb that rocks get this one an inverto , I have it since 2006 and not missed a beat.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INVERTO-Octo-Switch-LNB-40mm-0-2dB-FIVE-YEAR-WARRANTY-/150672043465?

pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_LNBs&hash=item2314c0edc9#shId

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-OCTO-LNB-8-connectors-BRAND-NEW-/140838892659?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_LNBs&hash=item20caa6f473#shId

gbc

Skull Murphy

If you go for the Sky octo, use a Sky dish too, as the lnb feed is shaped to match the eliptical dish & is liable to underperform with anything else.

snaps

i used a sky octo LNB on a normal 65cm solid dish for many many years with no problem whats so ever. Never had any issue with rain fade etc. Only mod i had to do if i remember was use some insulating tape around the lnb collar so it held tight in the standard 40mm lnb holder.

You'll get them for around 20£ delivered from the UK if you look around on ebay.

My octo had the round lnb cover and not the oval shaped one.

Skull Murphy

Nothing to do with the cover, it's the feedhorn inside that matters. Problems can be caused if the lnb sees past the dish edge & picks up interference. The type of surface behind the dish can play a part in this. Either that or it won't be able to see as much of the dish as the "right" lnb & will lose out gain wise.

I'd be very much tempted by the price of these too, but I'd get a zone 2 Sky dish to go with it.

spongerobinson

thanks for all the replies folks. I'm buying a new dish anyways as the sky one i have has seen better days, and would rather a nice new Triax one as I've had good experiences with them in the past.

So i think I'm going to avoid a "sky lnb" and go with a generic one to ensure its compatible with the Triax.

The Opticum LNB i've found is this one: Ebay link

It's actually roughly the same price as the Inverto mentioned by GBCULLEN, so which brand would be better in theory? The Opticum is 0.1db as opposed to 0.2db on the Inverto, but I'm not sure if this really makes any difference?

Thanks again

Skull Murphy

Yes, if you're spending extra on the dish, don't be tempted to skimp on the lnb. If you want cheap, just go the whole hog & get the Sky dish too.

Johnboy1951

This thread made me wonder if a quad/quattro LNB fed to a combiner would have any technical negatives when compared to the octo LNB?

I will need to do something similar soon, and intended to combine the DTT aerial feed with the SAT from a quad LNB ro multiple rooms ...... some getting two feeds for recording.

Is one method technically better than another?

Apologies if this question is seen as O/T .... but I thought it might also be relevant for the OP.

spongerobinson

Johnboy are you talking about a quattro LNB and a multiswitch, or are you referring to combining sat and dtt signal down one cable, and then splitting it again in each room?

Apogee

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

This thread made me wonder if a quad/quattro LNB fed to a combiner would have any technical negatives when compared to the octo LNB?

By a 'combiner' do you mean a multiswitch?

An advantage of a multiswitch over an octo LNB is that you only have four cables coming into attic (smaller hole etc). Secondly, for distribution of DTT/SAT you need just the one feed from aerial fed into the multiswitch for diplexing/combining. The multiswitch should also amplify the DTT signal for the 8 outputs as required.

For the octo, you'll need potentially an additional 8 diplexers to combine DTT/Sat, and you'll probably need a separate amplifier to supply the 8 separate DTT feeds before diplexing/combining.

The multiswitch approach is generally neater as DTT amplification and diplexing are all done in the one unit.

Johnboy1951

Apologies for the incorrect description of what I meant ......... yes a multiswitch something like

http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/multiswitch.htm

with a splitter at each end point.

Besides neatness, cost, convenience or other such factors, I wondered if there were technical reasons for using one method over the other.

Thanks for replies .....

Peter Rhea

I wouldn't think there's any technical reason to choose one over the other. Really the only difference is the location of each function, with the multiswitch carrying out the band & polarisation switching, instead of the lnb, as well as diplexing the terrestrial signal & maybe providing amplification, rather than using separate combiners & amps.

There are 4-way sat./terr. combiners available & quad lnbs with integrated combiner for terrestrial signal.

Johnboy1951

Peter Rhea wrote: »

I wouldn't think there's any technical reason to choose one over the other. Really the only difference is the location of each function, with the multiswitch carrying out the band & polarisation switching, instead of the lnb, as well as diplexing the terrestrial signal & maybe providing amplification, rather than using separate combiners & amps.

There are 4-way sat./terr. combiners available & quad lnbs with integrated combiner for terrestrial signal.

Thanks, I have some changes to make here and have in mind using the Quad LNB with a suitable multiswitch.
I just wanted to check if there was any technical reason to go octo ...... seems not.

Thanks again.

spongerobinson

i went for the octo lnb as I've already got cables ran outside the house. The internal cabling is old and used for Saorview, but it wouldn't really be suitable for satellite anyway as it's split in various places throughout the house.

I quite like the idea of the multiswitch if I had internal cabling for satellite to every room i need it in though.

If the cabling is outdoors, I personally think an octo lnb is probably a better option...unless there are outdoor multiswitches available i suppose.