LNB replacement for freesat - are "Sky LNBs" compatible?

Mr_D

Hi there,

My set up is a 80cm dish pointing to 19.2e with 2 twin LNBs (19.2e and 28.2e off centre) with 4-port DiseqC and shotgun cable to box (OpenVix on vu+ Solo2).

Channels on 28.2e stopped working (well quality dropped from c. 82% down to 0), came back for a couple of days, then died once again. Sometimes completely, sometimes just with messed up "blocks" - interestingly, Sky News does not appear to be affected??? The most likely culprit is the LNB (either water ingress, faulty LNB or loose connections). Because my local satellite shop normally only looks after Sky installation / repairs), they offered to replace the faulty LNB (which is an Inverto Black twin) with a "standard" (quad) Sky LNB. Is it going to be compatible with my setup? Two questions:

1. the necks / fittings seem different (40mm neck for Inverto). Sky seems to have an adapter for backwards compatibility with their older install, would that also work for me?

2. my 80cm dish is (roughly) circular, whereas the Sky dish is "elongated"/like an elliptoid. The Sky LNB also has the same elongated shape. Is this going to be a problem (different shapes for the dish and the LNB)? I assume having different LNBs (the Inverto on 19.2 and new Sky on 28.2) connected through the DiseqC won't be a problem?

Many thanks,
Mr_D

The Cush

Odd that the local sat shop doesn't stock standard universal LNBs. Sky Mk.4 LNBs have 37mm diameter necks, non-Sky LNBs have standard 40mm diameter necks.

Go online and purchase one there, examples here
http://www.freetv.ie/universal-twin-lnb.html
http://www.satworld.ie/evo-twin-universal-lnb.html

Mr_D wrote: »

1. the necks / fittings seem different (40mm neck for Inverto). Sky seems to have an adapter for backwards compatibility with their older install, would that also work for me?

The legacy backwards adapter is only for older Sky Mk. 2/3 dishes (pre 2009)
http://www.satworld.ie/sky-legacy-adapter.html
http://www.freetv.ie/sky-mk4-to-mk3-lnb-legacy-adaptor.html

Johnboy1951

The most likely culprit is the LNB (either water ingress, faulty LNB or loose connections).

Why not determine th cause before changing anything?
Maybe it is a cable problem ..... water ingress/loose connection ..... and if so why change the LNB?

winston_1

Sky LNBs are not compatible with normal dishes.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm

snaps

winston_1 wrote: »

Sky LNBs are not compatible with normal dishes.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm

They work fine on non sky dishes, even though they are not 100% compatible.

Mr_D

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Why not determine th cause before changing anything?
Maybe it is a cable problem ..... water ingress/loose connection ..... and if so why change the LNB?

Hi Johnboy1951,
I did as much as I could (e.g., testing the STB) without getting on the roof... But you're correct, it *could* be something else like the DiseqC. Just not sure how to test this remotely. What could be a hint is that Sky News (on 28.2e) continues to work at the usual quality (c.90%) but no other channels on 28.2e do. It's almost as if the LNB only managed to tune correctly on this frequency.

Mr_D

Many thanks to all for your help. I will buy a regular LNB tomorrow and make sure that the engineer fits it instead of a Sky one (just in case). And hopefully it'll be the LNB and not something else.

steveon

Mr_D wrote: »

Many thanks to all for your help. I will buy a regular LNB tomorrow and make sure that the engineer fits it instead of a Sky one (just in case). And hopefully it'll be the LNB and not something else.

If buying an lnb for a round 80 cm dish an Inverto branded lnb is one of the best.

Sky lnbs should not be used for a round dish, head on most are oval in shape and are therefore not designed to work properly...they will work but can suffer in poor weather in some areas as a result.