Can I use LNBs from dish or dtv?

[chipoole]

I am sure this question is asked all of the time. I have decided to use an old primestar dish instead of buying a new 30". I don't want to take any chances with an old sunburnt primestar lnb but I do have a dual lnb setup from a dish 500. I was also just considering buying a new lnb. My main concern is a faulty lnb being the only thing stoping my reception at the time of installation.

Thanks
Charles Poole

 

[Shawn95GT]

That'll get you the circular polarized FTA stuff - pretty much the same as what Iceberg describes in his 'What can I get with an 18" Dish' thread:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=74114

Some of the Primestar LNBs have worked out pretty good for some people. I had strapped a regular 40mm necked universal Ku LNB on my Primestar and it worked out nice.

If I continue to use my Primestar, I'm going to utilize the feedhorn / C120 flange with a C120 flanged Invacom LNB.

 

[chipoole]

Heres another idea

Your comment makes me think;What happens when you strap a nice universal fta lnb on to an 18" dish?? I have read the 18" dish info from Iceberg and your comment leads me to believe that the lnb is responsible for the crapy dbs channels. Certianly some body has tried this, whats the story?

Thanks
Charles Poole

 

[Pepper]

no, the compression is (mostly) responsible for the crappy dbs channels. The providers compress the signal too much in order to squeeze as many channels as possible per transponder.

An FTA LNB is likely to get nothing with an 18" dish as it won't reflect enough of the weaker signal (the DBS satellites output higher power than the Ku)

 

[chipoole]

That explains it.

I see, thanks for explaining that in plain english. I've got alot to learn.

 

[bigOleB]

I have done it....

Linear LNB + 18" Dish = Nothing that i could find. You will need a 30" or 36" to reliably get FTA programming. The 36" will help with "rain fade" or weaker footprint areas. Then again, there always the 1.2m dish that Sadoun sells.

The LNB to buy is the Invacom 0.3db or the Extreme 0.3db.

 

[ken2400]

Nothing is too black and white. Very little would be a better way to put it. I have done it with an 18" dish and received both analog and digital signals. This dish is soo small that you can only get the real hi power transponders off some of the sats and only some of the sats. A signal meter is a MUST if you try this. Please do a search and my name for 18" and standard lnb.

I have done it....

Linear LNB + 18" Dish = Nothing that i could find. You will need a 30" or 36" to reliably get FTA programming. The 36" will help with "rain fade" or weaker footprint areas. Then again, there always the 1.2m dish that Sadoun sells.

The LNB to buy is the Invacom 0.3db or the Extreme 0.3db.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah it is possible to do a KU band on a 18" but all I could get was a couple of the real strong channels (CCTV, Doc Scott)

Also helps that in my area between 91-97 skew is pretty much 0

 

[Pepper]

that's why I qualified my response as "likely to get nothing" meaning a slight probability at best.