DMX741 vs DMX741U

[Dishman Dan]

What is the main difference between the standard and universal versions of the 741 lnbfs???

A standard works only on North American satellites and has 22khz switching. A seller on Ebay has both and says that the DMX741U with a diseqc switch will work on all North American and foreign satellites. Why should a standard be better than a universal and a lot of people say to not buy the U???

 

[Mr Tony]

A Universal LNB is only needed for a couple sats across the Atlantic. Universal has a low band (10700-11700 frequencies) and hi band (11700-12200). Yes it goes to 12900 but 12200-12900 is hog tied by DBS. Other parts fo the world they use it for KU.

A standard has more flexibility when hooking up to switches. You cant use a 22k switch with a Universal LNB due to the LNB having a 22k tone built in. Also when blind scanning, Universal will scan 10700-11700 and bring up nothing when scanning sats 61-125W. Yes the workaround is to set the LNB LO frequency to 10600 (instead of 9750/10600) and turn the 22K switch on but you have to do that for each satellite.

The only KU sats that need it are 58W & 53W..both have one channel on them

 

[Dishman Dan]

Thanks!

It sounds like "standard" for me!

 

[Mr Tony]

a clarification too

There are 2 ways to switch between LNB's
-Diseqc switch (they come 2x1, 4x1, 8x1 etc)
-22K switch

a 22k switch can be used in place of a diseqc switch. Some of these 22k switches are very stable. Also if you have more than one receiver going to say 2 LNB's, a multiswitch would work too. Those have a 22k switch built in. Its basically a toggle switch.

Now a Universal LNB to switch between the low (10700-11700) and the high (11700-12900) band, the LNB has a 22k switch built in. When you select a channel that is in the "high" band the 22k gets turned "on". The issue is you cannot run 22k switches in series. So to hook up 2 Universal LNB's you would need a diseqc switch.

A standard on the other hand, doesnt have any switches in it so you could use either a diseqc or a 22K.

When it all comes down to it, in most cases a Universal is not needed in North America. Also on the "combo" LNB's (C/KU) I've seen the diseqc switch inside go bad. Then you need an external one (on a side note, if you have multiple LNB's that you want to hook up you can't as you can't hook up diseqc switches in series in most cases. There are some circumstances where you could but it involves special diseqc switches and receiver options)