Social Feed
As you may remember, Michael (KE4EST) and Casey (from HyperMegaSat) recently ran a giveaway contest, and the prize was an Edision LNBF. The contest came with a catch: the winner had to commit to writing a review of the LNBF. I was the lucky winner, so now is the time to uphold my end of the deal, and here is my review of the LNBF.
I think we are all familiar with Edision as a brand of great Enigma2 receivers, but it appears they also make LNBFs (and many other things, actually).
The Edision SL-2 is a universal, single-output LNBF. It has the usual 9750 and 10600 LO frequencies, selected by 22kHz tone. It promises a 0.1dB noise figure - which seems fairly standard these days, for what it's worth.
While the LNBF is overall quite short, the area that goes in the holder is a bit longer than on most, which allows for a bit more adjustment of the focal point, or leaves room for a multifeed retrofit bracket. Definitely a good thing. Talking of multifeed, the diameter of the scalar area is rather large, which could be a limiting factor in multifeed setups.
I figured that installing the LNBF and showing a screenshot of a random channel with signal quality would not make a very compelling review (as we all know that there are many other factors at play), so I went a bit further. I went through my boxes of satellite things and gathered a few LNBFs, and did a comparison test.
Setup:
- FortecStar 90cm dish, not motorized
- Edision OSMIO+ receiver running TNAP 4.2
- RTL-SDR dongle with SDRSharp
- power-blocking splitter (for use with the SDR dongle)
List of LNBFs being compared:
- Inverto Black Ultra
- Inverto Home Pro PLL
- Edision SL-2
- GeoSatPro UL1-PLL
- X2 IT-01 single
- Sharp BS1R8EL100A
- Maverick MK1-PLL
- Sadoun KUL1
(in that order in the picture from top left to bottom right)
All are universal except the Maverick and Sadoun. The Sharp and the Sadoun LNBFs are from salvaged dishes, I don't know how old they are.
I tested with some fairly common transponders/channels on some of the most popular FTA satellites available to North-American hobbyists.
Procedure: one satellite at a time, I ran one LNBF at a time, fine-tuning the elevation and azimuth each time, as well as focal position and skew.
I used the "signal finder" app in the receiver to select the transponder and measure the signal quality. Then I swapped the LNBF and fine tuned again and measured, and so on...
Note that while I did this to the best of my ability, we should keep in mind that this is not a highly scientific or rigorous test, and might have a few inaccuracies as I was aiming the dish manually (and we all know that's not so easy), and while the weather was nice, with mostly blue sky, there was occasional thin clouds that might have had a small attenuating effect on some measurements. Also I added the GeoSatPro LNBF after I had already tested on a few satellites, hence the missing numbers
Here are the results (signal quality in dB):
All LNBFs gave very acceptable results.
While the Inverto Black Ultra gave the best results on every single test, the Edision was a close second, tied with the Inverto Home Pro
One thing I noticed is that some of the older LNBFs (X2 and Sadoun, if I remember correctly) had quality reading that were a bit jumpy by a few decimal points, while the Edision, GSP and Invertos were more stable. Not sure that it matters though.
For the next step, I wanted to check the accuracy of the 10600 local oscillator of the Edision LNBF and compare it to a few others. So I aimed for 103W, which has a beacon on 11701 MHz Vertical. I inserted a splitter which has power-passing only on one branch, so that the receiver would power the LNBF and I would get the L-band RF signal without the DC voltage on the other output, and hooked up my RTL-SDR and my laptop. I used SDR# to visualize and measure the frequency of the beacon. The receiver was tuned to NHK World.
In theory, the beacon should be on 11701.0-10600=1101.0 MHz
Inverto Black Ultra: 1100.55 MHz (so LO=10600.45 MHz)
Inverto Home Pro: 1100.70 MHz (so LO=10600.30 MHz)
Edision SL-2: 1101.04 MHz (so LO=10599.96 MHz)
GeoSatPro UL1-PLL: 1101.12 (so LO=10599.88 MHz)
This might sound like it's rather unimportant, but it can have an impact in 2 cases:
- very low SR, narrow signals. If the signal uses barely 1 MHz of spectrum,, the accuracy of tuning to the right frequency is critical as any deviation could entirely miss the transponder. For a more common 20k or 30k symb/sec signal, it does not matter so much.
- identifying satellites using the beacon frequencies. Obviously if the reading is off, that makes it much more difficult.
Here the winner is clearly the Edision LNBF.
I have to mention however that some of the other LNBFs are a few years old, so that might have a small impact. But still, the accuracy of the LO of the Edision LNBF was really impressive.
So what's the big picture? Well I'd say that the Edision SL-2 is clearly a winner. While the Inverto Black Ultra gave slightly better signal quality, the LO accuracy of the Edision was a big plus.
Keep in mind also that – as far as I know – the Inverto LNBFs are not commercialized in North America, making them a rather impractical choice (I bought mines during visits to family in Europe).
So altogether, the Edision looks like a perfect choice, and is available at a very reasonable cost.
The Edision LNBF is also made in twin, quad, quatro and octo versions, although I have not seen those at Hypermegasat.com
Thank you Casey for offering this LNBF and giving me a chance to test it and use it!
I think we are all familiar with Edision as a brand of great Enigma2 receivers, but it appears they also make LNBFs (and many other things, actually).
The Edision SL-2 is a universal, single-output LNBF. It has the usual 9750 and 10600 LO frequencies, selected by 22kHz tone. It promises a 0.1dB noise figure - which seems fairly standard these days, for what it's worth.
While the LNBF is overall quite short, the area that goes in the holder is a bit longer than on most, which allows for a bit more adjustment of the focal point, or leaves room for a multifeed retrofit bracket. Definitely a good thing. Talking of multifeed, the diameter of the scalar area is rather large, which could be a limiting factor in multifeed setups.
I figured that installing the LNBF and showing a screenshot of a random channel with signal quality would not make a very compelling review (as we all know that there are many other factors at play), so I went a bit further. I went through my boxes of satellite things and gathered a few LNBFs, and did a comparison test.
Setup:
- FortecStar 90cm dish, not motorized
- Edision OSMIO+ receiver running TNAP 4.2
- RTL-SDR dongle with SDRSharp
- power-blocking splitter (for use with the SDR dongle)
List of LNBFs being compared:
- Inverto Black Ultra
- Inverto Home Pro PLL
- Edision SL-2
- GeoSatPro UL1-PLL
- X2 IT-01 single
- Sharp BS1R8EL100A
- Maverick MK1-PLL
- Sadoun KUL1
(in that order in the picture from top left to bottom right)
All are universal except the Maverick and Sadoun. The Sharp and the Sadoun LNBFs are from salvaged dishes, I don't know how old they are.
I tested with some fairly common transponders/channels on some of the most popular FTA satellites available to North-American hobbyists.
Procedure: one satellite at a time, I ran one LNBF at a time, fine-tuning the elevation and azimuth each time, as well as focal position and skew.
I used the "signal finder" app in the receiver to select the transponder and measure the signal quality. Then I swapped the LNBF and fine tuned again and measured, and so on...
Note that while I did this to the best of my ability, we should keep in mind that this is not a highly scientific or rigorous test, and might have a few inaccuracies as I was aiming the dish manually (and we all know that's not so easy), and while the weather was nice, with mostly blue sky, there was occasional thin clouds that might have had a small attenuating effect on some measurements. Also I added the GeoSatPro LNBF after I had already tested on a few satellites, hence the missing numbers
Here are the results (signal quality in dB):
Satellite | TP | Channel | Universal 9750/10600 | Universal 9750/10600 | Universal 9750/10600 | Universal 9750/10600 | Universal 9750/10600 | Universal 9750/10600 | Standard 10750 | Standard 10750 |
| | | Inverto Black Ultra | Inverto Home Pro PLL | Edision SL-2 | X-2 single IT-01 | GeoSatPro UL1-PLL | Sharp BS1R8EL100A | Maverick MK1-PLL | Sadoun KUL1 |
125W | 12180 V 30000 | PBS | 13.7 | 13.3 | 13.2 | 13.2 | | 12.9 | 12.9 | 12.0 |
123W | 12078 V 3680 | KBS America | 14.8 | 14.6 | 14.6 | 14.6 | | 14.3 | 14.6 | 14.0 |
103W | 12080 H 29970 | DW TV | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 11.8 | | 11.9 | 11.9 | 11.9 |
103W | 12145 V 20000 | NHK World | 15.1 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 14.3 | | 14.5 | 14.2 | 13.6 |
97W | 12053 V 22000 | 2M Monde | 13.6 | 13.6 | 13.2 | 13.0 | | 13.0 | 13.0 | 12.0 |
87W | 11811 H 11150 | LPB | 10.4 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 9.4 | 10.0 | 9.2 | 9.7 | 10.2 |
34.5W | 11595 H 30000 | Franceinfo: | 10.6 | 10.1 | 10.6 | 10.4 | 9.9 | 9.7 | N/A | N/A |
30W | 11884 V 27500 | Cubavision | 14.2 | 13.4 | 13.8 | 13.6 | 12.8 | 13.2 | 13.6 | 13.2 |
All LNBFs gave very acceptable results.
While the Inverto Black Ultra gave the best results on every single test, the Edision was a close second, tied with the Inverto Home Pro
One thing I noticed is that some of the older LNBFs (X2 and Sadoun, if I remember correctly) had quality reading that were a bit jumpy by a few decimal points, while the Edision, GSP and Invertos were more stable. Not sure that it matters though.
For the next step, I wanted to check the accuracy of the 10600 local oscillator of the Edision LNBF and compare it to a few others. So I aimed for 103W, which has a beacon on 11701 MHz Vertical. I inserted a splitter which has power-passing only on one branch, so that the receiver would power the LNBF and I would get the L-band RF signal without the DC voltage on the other output, and hooked up my RTL-SDR and my laptop. I used SDR# to visualize and measure the frequency of the beacon. The receiver was tuned to NHK World.
In theory, the beacon should be on 11701.0-10600=1101.0 MHz
Inverto Black Ultra: 1100.55 MHz (so LO=10600.45 MHz)
Inverto Home Pro: 1100.70 MHz (so LO=10600.30 MHz)
Edision SL-2: 1101.04 MHz (so LO=10599.96 MHz)
GeoSatPro UL1-PLL: 1101.12 (so LO=10599.88 MHz)
This might sound like it's rather unimportant, but it can have an impact in 2 cases:
- very low SR, narrow signals. If the signal uses barely 1 MHz of spectrum,, the accuracy of tuning to the right frequency is critical as any deviation could entirely miss the transponder. For a more common 20k or 30k symb/sec signal, it does not matter so much.
- identifying satellites using the beacon frequencies. Obviously if the reading is off, that makes it much more difficult.
Here the winner is clearly the Edision LNBF.
I have to mention however that some of the other LNBFs are a few years old, so that might have a small impact. But still, the accuracy of the LO of the Edision LNBF was really impressive.
So what's the big picture? Well I'd say that the Edision SL-2 is clearly a winner. While the Inverto Black Ultra gave slightly better signal quality, the LO accuracy of the Edision was a big plus.
Keep in mind also that – as far as I know – the Inverto LNBFs are not commercialized in North America, making them a rather impractical choice (I bought mines during visits to family in Europe).
So altogether, the Edision looks like a perfect choice, and is available at a very reasonable cost.
The Edision LNBF is also made in twin, quad, quatro and octo versions, although I have not seen those at Hypermegasat.com
Thank you Casey for offering this LNBF and giving me a chance to test it and use it!
30 Replies
·
6599 views
4/3/2025 - Edision is out of stock on the TL-2 0.1dB Twin Output PLL Universal 9750/10600 Ku Band LNBF, AND the SL-2 0.1dB Single Output PLL Universal 9750/10600 Ku Band LNBF.
We (HyperMegaSat) do still have the SL-2 Single Output Model in Stock, but only a few dozen.
Once these are gone, they are gone for good it appears.
We (HyperMegaSat) do still have the SL-2 Single Output Model in Stock, but only a few dozen.
Once these are gone, they are gone for good it appears.
Hmmm...looks like it's time to order a back up.4/3/2025 - Edision is out of stock on the TL-2 0.1dB Twin Output PLL Universal 9750/10600 Ku Band LNBF, AND the SL-2 0.1dB Single Output PLL Universal 9750/10600 Ku Band LNBF.
We (HyperMegaSat) do still have the SL-2 Single Output Model in Stock, but only a few dozen.
Once these are gone, they are gone for good it appears.
Just placed an order for my back up. Thanks Hyper Casey 
Thank you freddylq. It will be shipped immediately.Just placed an order for my back up. Thanks Hyper Casey
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87N42NxLPC0
Direct YouTube Link - 8 U.S. States Sue OpenAI Over Safety Concerns With Younger Users
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87N42NxLPC0
Direct YouTube Link - 8 U.S. States Sue OpenAI Over Safety Concerns With Younger Users
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
·
0 views
Supporting Founder
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
139 Replies
·
1319 views
Pub Member / Supporter
On Tuesday, I recorded the first episodes of the new season's NCIS shows on CBS (Dish provided, not OTA). The new New York series and Origins will both do Auto Skip, but the original, now season 24 does not. What's stranger, when I do a search for NCIS, Origins and New York show the current recording and the next episode it will record, but the original show only shows the current recording and some other channel showing the very first episode of season one. It makes no sense. When I set up the timers, I was able to use search for Origins and New York, but for the original, I had to scroll ahead in the guide until last Tuesday when the show was airing. Then set the timer from there. You can see its timer type is DVR where the other two are Seek. What am I missing?
Thanks!
Thanks!
20 Replies
·
364 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
I created this thread on the original Edgecutter Cutting Edge Forums site. It's simply a place for those to review the latest software available for those using Windows 10 and Windows 11. To date it has received 112,559 views. I have been asked by staff to continue this thread here.
520 Replies
·
47142 views
To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.
For niche use cases, yes I agree. Kali for ethical hacking and security testing, and running a Cacti server for network monitoring are the two things I have experience in. Plus thousands and thousands of other things, but for every day use I just can't see it. The owner of the GMRS repeater that I pay to access is changing the Tx DPL tones tomorrow, while Chirp is available on Linux, the software to program my MXT500 is not.To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.
I run Fedora and Ubuntu in VMWare, honestly I don't care much for the UI of either of them and I don't feel like spending days/weeks to customize the UI to make it look Windows-like when I could just use Windows. The cartoonish dock at the bottom of the screen reminds me of Apple products.
As I said above, and, FWIW, I run Win11 Pro and Arch on separate 250 GB NVME drives, using F8 to select which I boot to, with a 1TB SSD for storage, accessible to both OSs and a third formatted Nvme I want to use to learn Kali. It was much faster to setup Arch than it was to strip down Windows. Windows still takes much longer to boot.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Hard getting used to the new younger Gibbs, Mark Harmons son had the right look but I understand he didn't want the role.
Still I'm enjoying, pretty good job with Franks.
Still I'm enjoying, pretty good job with Franks.
66 Replies
·
4200 views
Pub Member / Supporter
0 Replies
·
7 views
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68494 Replies
·
2670330 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Wasn't exactly sure where to post this. Just had a customer come in inquiring about internet. He has HughesNet and had heard good things about mine. He asked if we provided email addresses and it kinda caught me off guard. I said he should be able to keep whatever email he had been using....my sister in law is still using a BellSouth email addy and they haven't been around here for many years. He said he had gotten a letter from HughesNet stating that they had until Nov 16th to save, move, forward, whatever, their Hughesnet emails because they would lose them after that date.
I have never heard of a company simply mass-deleting email accounts (the customer still has his HughesNet service). From what I understand, in the past, the company who was ditching their email service simply sold the customer base to a company like Google.
Anyone else getting this letter. He said he would show it to me tomorrow when I go out there and set up his internet.
I have never heard of a company simply mass-deleting email accounts (the customer still has his HughesNet service). From what I understand, in the past, the company who was ditching their email service simply sold the customer base to a company like Google.
Anyone else getting this letter. He said he would show it to me tomorrow when I go out there and set up his internet.
7 Replies
·
116 views
Still the same number of years, just more Sunsets…Wouldn't we then die of old age sooner?
Lifetime Supporter
Starting a thread klang !
After an amazing first 2 seasons and an 8 episode 3rd season still coming this year, season 4 has now been greenlit.
After an amazing first 2 seasons and an 8 episode 3rd season still coming this year, season 4 has now been greenlit.
9 Replies
·
929 views
One episode into season 4 that dropped today...
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
This thread is a place to discuss the 4K events that appear on channel 540. We are getting, at this point, one college football game a week. Let's hope there is more coming.
1930 Replies
·
298818 views
Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything like those events in our Hopper 3 guide for tonight or Saturday.
I went into the Tools menu and requested a Guide Update. I'll try looking at it after the update completes.
edit — I now have the 148-01 4KFox events for Saturday, but not anything for 148-02 or 148-03 which don't even show as available channels. I do have 148-04 4KUSA.
As I recall you have the Flex package. Do you sub to multisport? -02 is FS1 and -03 is ESPN. -01 is Fox so you would get that if you sub to locals.Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything like those events in our Hopper 3 guide for tonight or Saturday.
I went into the Tools menu and requested a Guide Update. I'll try looking at it after the update completes.
edit — I now have the 148-01 4KFox events for Saturday, but not anything for 148-02 or 148-03 which don't even show as available channels. I do have 148-04 4KUSA.