Astra Duoblock 19.2 + 23.5

[full_bars]

New to FTA still so much to learn about this fascinating hobby. Have a few questions.

1) Can these duoblock LNBF be used outside of Europe, like in Northern California? I'm not sure if these are used for FTA in Europe or whether it's mostly paid content on these satellites but I was wondering if I can use this LNBF for FTA purposes in North America.

2) Are there any other pairs of satellites I can point the duoblock at that it might work with other than 19.2 and 23.5?

I'm still very new... I have a few dishes and a HH-90 motor that should be delivered tomorrow, probably going to mount my 90cm GeoSatPro or Winegard DS-2076 on the motor. The only receiver I have right now is one I don't like very much, so I'm probably going to return the GT Media / GTC STB but all the good receivers are out of my budget range right now.

3) What are some good receivers that cost less than $100?

Love this forum so far it's definitely one of the better ones, if not the best resource for information on my new hobby, y'all are great.

Thanks in advance. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place as my question is more about the LNB than the STB but I wasn't sure where else to post this.

 

[FTA4PA]

New to FTA still so much to learn about this fascinating hobby. Have a few questions.

1) Can these duoblock LNBF be used outside of Europe, like in Northern California? I'm not sure if these are used for FTA in Europe or whether it's mostly paid content on these satellites but I was wondering if I can use this LNBF for FTA purposes in North America.

2) Are there any other pairs of satellites I can point the duoblock at that it might work with other than 19.2 and 23.5?

I'm still very new... I have a few dishes and a HH-90 motor that should be delivered tomorrow, probably going to mount my 90cm GeoSatPro or Winegard DS-2076 on the motor. The only receiver I have right now is one I don't like very much, so I'm probably going to return the GT Media / GTC STB but all the good receivers are out of my budget range right now.

3) What are some good receivers that cost less than $100?

Love this forum so far it's definitely one of the better ones, if not the best resource for information on my new hobby, y'all are great.

Thanks in advance. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place as my question is more about the LNB than the STB but I wasn't sure where else to post this.

Welcome to Satellite Guys full_bars! The lnbf could be used here but in my opinion would not be the best choice. Why? Two reasons. 1. Here in the U.S. we generally use standard, not universal, lnbfs although a universal will still work. 2. If you have a stationary dish and are fine tuning for two different satellites you want to be able to aim and skew the lnbfs individually.

I can highly recommend this lnbf.

MAVERICK KU BAND PLL LNBF Free-To-Air Standard Linear FTA LNBF 737534698778 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for MAVERICK KU BAND PLL LNBF Free-To-Air Standard Linear FTA LNBF at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

As far as your motor I would definitely mount the 90cm dish on it. You will get much better results. For a receiver I would suggest the Amiko Mini HD265.

Amiko Mini HD265 Wi-Fi FTA Receiver DVB-S2 H.265 HEVC With NTP and Wi-Fi 5999883026946 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Amiko Mini HD265 Wi-Fi FTA Receiver DVB-S2 H.265 HEVC With NTP and Wi-Fi at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Both are sold by a member here, KE4EST. You will get a great receiver and lnbf with great service and support afterwards.

 

[FTA4PA]

Here are two examples of multi-lnbf holders for a stationary dish.

MULTI SATELLITE LNBF BRACKET/MOUNT/HOLDER FOR FTA DISHES | eBay

Each individual LNBF Rotation (SKEW) is initially rotated to a positive, Counter Clock-wise (left turn), while standing in front of the dish looking into the reflector, to match the approximate LNBF rotation (SKEW) settings.

www.ebay.com

MULTI SATELLITE DISH LNB BRACKET/MOUNT/HOLDER 33 39 36 FTA LNBF 118 118.8 | eBay

MULTI-BRACKET LNB HOLDER. SIMPLY ADD IT TO YOUR EXISTING DISH AND CATCH MULTIPLE SIGNALS. WORKS ON ANY SIZE AND SHAPE DISH. CAN BE USED IN MULTIPE QUANTITIES TO ADD UP TO 8 LNBs. CAN BE USED FOR.

www.ebay.com

 

[Magic Static]

The only situation I can think of to use that mono-block would be for Spanish language programming from 113W and 117W. I heard reports of low band ku from those sats at times.

 

[full_bars]

Thanks for the feedback so far, I should have mentioned its not the only LNB I have I haven't used the duoblock LNB yet at all, I just thought it was cool looking it was super cheap so I just bought it and figured I'd eventually do something with it.

So far I've had the best luck with my GEOSATpro SL1PLL, and some luck with the Invacom QPH-031 which I had thought would pull in the most channels since its compatible with linear and circular, but so far in my tinkering with it I found it is extremely sensitive and it has to be in EXACTLY correct orientation/configuration or it won't pick up anything at all, whereas the SL1PLL has been way more forgiving and tolerates being a few degrees off and suffer signal strength loss only yet it can still find the transponders.

I'm having issues finding the free channels though, I can find thousands of channels the STB shows as Scrambled, I have yet to pull in a single viewable channel so far. I should probably make a new thread for a separate issue I'm guessing.

 

[full_bars]

For a receiver I would suggest the Amiko Mini HD265.

Amiko Mini HD265 Wi-Fi FTA Receiver DVB-S2 H.265 HEVC With NTP and Wi-Fi 5999883026946 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Amiko Mini HD265 Wi-Fi FTA Receiver DVB-S2 H.265 HEVC With NTP and Wi-Fi at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Both are sold by a member here, KE4EST. You will get a great receiver and lnbf with great service and support afterwards.

Thank you very much for the recommendations, that receiver costs only a few dollars more than I paid for the GTC so I'm going to swap it for the Amiko, and I'll order that LNBF too.

 

[FTA4PA]

Thanks for the feedback so far, I should have mentioned its not the only LNB I have I haven't used the duoblock LNB yet at all, I just thought it was cool looking it was super cheap so I just bought it and figured I'd eventually do something with it.

So far I've had the best luck with my GEOSATpro SL1PLL, and some luck with the Invacom QPH-031 which I had thought would pull in the most channels since its compatible with linear and circular, but so far in my tinkering with it I found it is extremely sensitive and it has to be in EXACTLY correct orientation/configuration or it won't pick up anything at all, whereas the SL1PLL has been way more forgiving and tolerates being a few degrees off and suffer signal strength loss only yet it can still find the transponders.

I'm having issues finding the free channels though, I can find thousands of channels the STB shows as Scrambled, I have yet to pull in a single viewable channel so far. I should probably make a new thread for a separate issue I'm guessing.

Good to hear that you have other lnbf options. That should make things a bit easier. Yes, probably better to start a separate thread for dish aiming issues but I will say that it is much easier to lock the scrambled pay channels as they are broadcast with a much stronger signal. FTA channels are considerably weaker so the dish must be spot on or you will get nothing.

 

[full_bars]

I have a slimline dish as well I want to try with 97W I was going to get LINEAR DUAL LNB FSS SATELLITE LNBF FOR VIEWSAT PANSAT | eBay since its designed for the slimline dish but maybe I'll just get the Maverick instead

 

[full_bars]

Can the KaKu SWM5 directv lnbs work for anything other than directv? I understand its designed to tune the specific directv satellites but if you pointed it at other satellites could it receive a non-directv signal? I doubt it but figured I'd ask.

 

[FTA4PA]

I have a slimline dish as well I want to try with 97W I was going to get LINEAR DUAL LNB FSS SATELLITE LNBF FOR VIEWSAT PANSAT | eBay since its designed for the slimline dish but maybe I'll just get the Maverick instead

When I modded my old Slimline to use as an Orby dish I used a universal lnbf mount.

UNIVERSAL SINGLE LNB BRACKET HOLDER MOUNT for 40 or 30mm LNB FTA Satellite Dish | eBay

Use this LNB Bracket to add a LNB to any Directv dish, Dishnetwork Dish, ORBY Dish, Super Dish, and 33", 36", or 39" FTA Dishes. 30 mm & 40 mm LNB holder to fit just about any Ku LNB. Fits Standard/Universal FTA LNBs, most Dishnetwork and Directv.

www.ebay.com

The lnbf you mentioned may work fine as well. I have one myself here at the house but have never tried it.

Needs painted!

 

[FTA4PA]

Can the KaKu SWM5 directv lnbs work for anything other than directv? I understand its designed to tune the specific directv satellites but if you pointed it at other satellites could it receive a non-directv signal? I doubt it but figured I'd ask.

GEOSATpro - Ka band

I noticed the description for this receiver stated: LNB support for LO frequencies 0 through KA-band 18050MHz, Universal and Stacked in any combination or mix. Anyone know which Ka-band LNBs are compatible, and if I need any special DiSEqC switches or adapters to connect along with the KU and...

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[full_bars]

Thanks very interesting read. What's a good LNB that does Ku and C together?

 

[FTA4PA]

Thanks very interesting read. What's a good LNB that does Ku and C together?

Last one I had got taken out by lightening. There used to be a few c/ku combo units on the market a few years back but other than Chinese imports I don't know of any for sale now. There is generally a trade-off in quality so most members just do ku and c band on separate dishes.

 

[swyman18]

Another vote here for the Amiko Mini H265 sold by KE4EST. I just received mine and it works better than some of the more expensive STB’s I’ve tried ( for me anyway). Very full featured for the price.

 

[full_bars]

There is generally a trade-off in quality so most members just do ku and c band on separate dishes.

I'll probably end up doing the same thing if the only option is a cheap import, I hear C band is hard enough as it is and that you need a huge dish and unfortunately I can't install a large dish where I live now, the owners of the house are trying to sell the place and they think the dishes have a negative impact on the resale value of the house so I'm pretty limited in what I'm allowed to install here, which blows. I'm going to have to get at least a 15 foot dish or larger at the next place I live just to get all the repressed and pent up dish energy out of me

 

[FTA4PA]

I'll probably end up doing the same thing if the only option is a cheap import, I hear C band is hard enough as it is and that you need a huge dish and unfortunately I can't install a large dish where I live now, the owners of the house are trying to sell the place and they think the dishes have a negative impact on the resale value of the house so I'm pretty limited in what I'm allowed to install here, which blows. I'm going to have to get at least a 15 foot dish or larger at the next place I live just to get all the repressed and pent up dish energy out of me

Yes, too bad that you are limited in what you can install. People call our BUDs big ugly dishes. Many refer to them here as beautiful useful dishes.

Depending on location you can get the strongest c band on smaller dishes (1.2 meter mini-buds, 6 ft, etc) and many enjoy the challenge of seeing what they are able to get. That said, you really do need a big dish to get the best results. Eight foot is the minimum I would recommend for starting a setup but ten foot or bigger is best.

 

[a33]

Can these duoblock LNBF be used outside of Europe, like in Northern California?

The great advantage of such monoblock LNBs is, that they can be used for small LNB multifeed distances, and that they still have mostly 'normally' formed feedhorns. That means, that they have still good reception with raindrops on them ~ the great disadvantage of very narrow LNBs in multifeed setups is that reception is worse in rainy conditions.

However, the distance between feedhorns has to match the angular distance between the satellites at the location where you are, and the (effective) focal distance of your (offset) dish; as was mentioned above.
The actual distance between the feedhorns isn't often publicised ~ though in this case it might be the 42 mm that is mentioned in your link?

Another thing is, that monoblocks sometimes have a pre-skew of the internal antennas, due to the fact that the European Astra satellites have a preskew of 7.5 degree, and the Eutelsat satellites a preskew of 3.535 degree. So the skew of the antennas might not fit your wanted satellites. This is of lesser importance that the feedhorn distance, though.

At the dutch forum sat4all.com a guy calculates the needed multifeed distances rather precisely, and he has a database with monoblock specs that he came across. Very handy for choosing a specific monoblock....

greetz,
A33

 

[full_bars]

Interesting thanks A33. Yes this monoblock says 4.3 degree on it. GT-MDS43 for 23.5E and 19.2E, you mount the 23.5 and have the 19.2 sticking out to the right, to hit the Astra 1E and Astra 1F 'lites respectively

Unfortunately where I live the online calculators have me setting a negative elevation on my dish to reach those birds so that ain't happening.

 

[a33]

Unfortunately where I live the online calculators have me setting a negative elevation on my dish to reach those birds so that ain't happening.

That it was probably designed for 19E and 23E on the european market, does not matter.
In the basis it is a monoblock LNB with (probably?) 42 mm distance between the feedhorns (see the text; it might well be that the distance is in fact greater?); if that fits your purpose it is pretty fine (though the internal antenna skew might be 7.5 degrees off, as I wrote).

The 4.3 degrees difference is usually mentioned to fit a about 80cm dish somewhere central/west europe (like Germany); but such indications are pretty useless as the feedhorn difference is the important one. And various "4.3 degree monoblocks" might have different feedhorn distances....

greetz, A33

 

[full_bars]

Another vote here for the Amiko Mini H265 sold by KE4EST. I just received mine and it works better than some of the more expensive STB’s I’ve tried ( for me anyway). Very full featured for the price.

just ordered it