Tuners for Sky Q LNB

Johnboy1951

I do not recall reading anything on Boards about retaining the Sky Q LNB when ceasing the Sky service, and using it with devices other than the Sky Q box.

All advice to date seems to be to ditch the Sky Q LNB (unless it is hybrid) and fit an alternative.

Would the likes of these tuners not be compatible with the Sky Q LNB?

https://www.kosmos24.com/http-//wwwkosmos24com/HDTV-Sat-Receiver/Gigablue/Gigablue-HD-800-UE-PLUS-mit-2x-DVB-S-S2-Tuner-178html

https://www.kosmos24.com/VU-DVB-S2-S2X-FBC-Twin-Tuner

They seem also to be able to operate in SCR (Unicable) mode.

Small size, reasonable heat produced, and priced competitively they seem to offer another option to those leaving Sky.
Admittedly the above examples are limited to specific ranges of STBs and are used here as examples only.

Anyone using one of these care to give some details of their experience?

Ten Pin

Don't think they'll work.

AIUI Sky Q LNB uses frequency from DAB band up to just below WiFi band so those channels above and below satellite band won't tune on a standard sat tuner.

Also the ports are V or H so even with both ports connected to STB, half the channels will be missing, and with only 1 port connected three quarters will be missing.

https://www.smartaerials.co.uk/blog/what-is-difference-between-a-sky-q-and-quad-universal-lnb

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

It's a 'wideband satellite tuner' that would be needed, if that even exists outside of SkyQ. Or else use some sort of Sky Q compatible multi switch.

Changing the LNB seems to be the simplest solution.

Johnboy1951

My understanding was that each of those tuners is Full Band and thus capable of tuning across the whole range of broadcasts.
If one is used for V and the other for H would that not cover everything and provide 4 tuners for each?

Another related ref I came across

https://www.parabola.cz/clanky/6248/dvb-s2-fbc-twin-tuner-a-dvb-s2x-multistream-dual-tuner-pro-prijimace-dreambox/

Near bottom of page ...

In this case, we have a double FBC satellite tuner. So you can record programs simultaneously from up to 8 different frequencies.

.... and yes I am aware that it is simple to change the LNB, but that was not the point

Ten Pin

AFAIK...

FBC satellite tuners capture the full band of satellite frequencies (950-2150MHz). So it's not capturing above or below satellite frequency. But Sky Q LNBs use those frequencies below 950, above 2150 and in between to give the 12 simultaneous channels at once.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/images3/bandchartq.gif

Johnboy1951

Ten Pin wrote: »

AFAIK...

FBC satellite tuners capture the full band of satellite frequencies (950-2150MHz). So it's not capturing above or below satellite frequency. But Sky Q LNBs use those frequencies below 950, above 2150 and in between to give the 12 simultaneous channels at once.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/images3/bandchartq.gif

I am not following you unfortunately.

As I understand it a standard twin LNB can supply the FBC tuners I linked which with the right STB can provide 8 separate streams.
Why would the Sky Q twin LNB not be capable of doing the same?

Ten Pin

From...
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/SkyQ.htm

The Full Spectrum of frequencies
The whole frequency spectrum covers FM radio,
DAB radio, TETRA emergency services radio, VHF TV, UHF TV (and satellite LNB signals, which are restricted to a cable connection - not transmitted).

Many homes use signal combiners to feed, for example, Radio, TV and Satellite LNB signals down the same cable.

HOWEVER, a SkyQ LNB feeds a wide signal range stretching from 230 MHz to 2359 MHz.

This "Q" signal uses the radio and TV bands as well as the old "LNB" frequency band. If you feed this signal into a Triplex wall plate, only the frequencies in the purple "LNB" range will be passed. The rest will be filtered out, resulting in loss of half the channels. There is NO workaround for this problem. The SkyQ signals MUST be kept separate from all other signals.
In addition, because the SkyQ signals use radio and TV frequencies, they must not be allowed to escape from the cable. Any SkyQ signals which are allowed to leak out have the potential to interfere with radio and TV reception.

FBC tuners tune the 950-2150MHz range (with 8 streams available within that range, making it ideal for use with Unicable LNBs).

SkyQ is wideband so the Sky Q box tunes the 230-2359MHz range coming from the SkyQ LNB

FBC tuners (as with any other satellite tuner) can therefore only tune a subset of the frequencies coming from a SkyQ LNB.

That's my understanding of it...

Apogee

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I am not following you unfortunately.

As I understand it a standard twin LNB can supply the FBC tuners I linked which with the right STB can provide 8 separate streams.

A twin Universal LNB cannot cannot supply the 4 frequency/polarisation combinations (Lo/V, Lo/H, Hi/V, Hi/H) simultaneously. At most, only 2 of those 4 combinations could be supplied to the FBC tuners at the same time, and even then the combined outputs would likely interfere with one another.

To make full use of an FBC tuner, you would normally use a Unicable/SCR LNBF.

Johnboy1951

Ten Pin wrote: »

From...
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/SkyQ.htm



FBC tuners tune the 950-2150MHz range (with 8 streams available within that range, making it ideal for use with Unicable LNBs).

SkyQ is wideband so the Sky Q box tunes the 230-2359MHz range coming from the SkyQ LNB

FBC tuners (as with any other satellite tuner) can therefore only tune a subset of the frequencies coming from a SkyQ LNB.

That's my understanding of it...

Are you saying that because the Sky Q LNB is capable of tuning a wider band, that the FBC tuners cannot tune the FBC band using the Sky Q LNB?

Confused

Ten Pin

Are you saying that because the Sky Q LNB is capable of tuning a wider band, that the FBC tuners cannot tune the FBC band using the Sky Q LNB?

Yes, I would word it slightly differently...

...the Sky Q LNB is capable of tuning down converts to a wider band, that the FBC tuners cannot fully tune the FBC band using the Sky Q LNB

Johnboy1951

Thanks ...... I finally copped on to what you meant.

I thought it would only be those frequencies, outside of the FBCs 'interest' that would down-convert to untunable frequencies, and thus could be ignored.

The Cush

Ten Pin wrote: »

FBC tuners tune the 950-2150MHz range (with 8 streams available within that range, making it ideal for use with Unicable LNBs).

SkyQ is wideband so the Sky Q box tunes the 230-2359MHz range coming from the SkyQ LNB

FBC tuners (as with any other satellite tuner) can therefore only tune a subset of the frequencies coming from a SkyQ LNB.

That's my understanding of it...

That would be my understanding also

FBC Twin Tuner seems like 8 tuners in the receiver! Two tuners are physical and six are virtual. The virtual tuner is connected by a loop with a physical tuner. You can record from 8 different frequencies, limited only by the polarity, band and position of the DiseqC switch for each FBC tuner.

Thus, if you record one program and want to record another program from another frequency, the receiver will use a virtual tuner, provided that the second program being recorded is the same polarity as the first program being recorded and is broadcast in the same frequency band. If not, the receiver will automatically select the second FBC tuner.

https://www.parabola.cz/clanky/6248/dvb-s2-fbc-twin-tuner-a-dvb-s2x-multistream-dual-tuner-pro-prijimace-dreambox/

https://wiki.openpli.org/Full_Band_Capture