FTA Signal Quality

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Which LNB is better, Standard or Universal?
neither are better than the other. Standard LNB covers 11,700 MHz to 12,200 MHZ, which is enough for most satellites that cover North America.
Universal LNB cover 10,700 MHz to 12,750 MHz, in 2 bands, using a 22kHz signal to switch between the 2 bands. There are a few satellites that we can receive in North America that use the lower band (10,700 to 11,700):
Express AM8 (14W) (supposedly RT Español)
Telstar 12V (15W) (some Spanish-language channels are in the clear)
Hispasat (30W) (soccer bettings)
Intelsat 35e (34.5W) (French TV and radio)
Intelsat 14 (45W) (China Radio International)
(all above are limited to various Eastern parts of the US)
Eutelsat 65W (65W) (Guyanese TV- Eastern half of the US)
Eutelsat 117WB (65W) (a fe Mexican channels, southern US only)
Intelsat 18 (180W) (French TV and radio from Tahiti- West coast only)

so as you can see, it's a bit of limited use. Some (like me) like to be able to receive as much as possible, or have a specific interest in some of the channels listed above and use Universal LNBs. Other like to use Standard LNBs to keep things simple. Also noteworthy, the blind scanning with a standard LNB will usually be faster as it has a lot less to scan.

Beyond the type of LNB, remember there are good LNBFs and cheap ones. You can't go wrong with GeoSatPro or Maverick. Also good are Inverto and Avenger. I would stay away from no-brand stuff on Ebay or Amazon, they might lack stability or have a lot of RF noise.

As for your dish setup efforts, I agree with advice given by others, remove the motor for now, get that dish manually aligned with 97W, then with a few others (103W, 87W, 125W, 30W, etc.). Get yourself familiar with the intricacies of dish alignment, and note down what signal quality levels you're able to get after fine tuning. Once you feel comfortable with it, then tacle the motor setup. Going directly from nothing to a motor setup is setting yourself up for failure, or at least for a frustrating experience. Getting a motor like this properly aligned takes a lot of patience.

Measuring angles is a good start but ultimately, you need to be able to visualise the signal quality in real time as you fine tune the angles. So having the TV and receiver next to the diush or having a proper meter is essential. Some receivers allow you to use an app on your phone to view signal stats in real time (Enigma2 receivers for example).

But again, I can't stress it enough, start simple with a fixed dish, and play with it until you are able to get a few satellites , and then move on to the motor setup. It will be a much better experience.
 
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neither are better than the other. Standard LNB covers 11,700 MHz to 12,200 MHZ, which is enough for most satellites that cover North America.
Universal LNB cover 10,700 MHz to 12,750 MHz, in 2 bands, using a 22kHz signal to switch between the 2 bands. There are a few satellites that we can receive in North America that use the lower band (10,700 to 11,700):
Express AM8 (14W) (supposedly RT Español)
Telstar 12V (15W) (some Spanish-language channels are in the clear)
Hispasat (30W) (soccer bettings)
Intelsat 35e (34.5W) (French TV and radio)
Intelsat 14 (45W) (China Radio International)
(all above are limited to various Eastern parts of the US)
Eutelsat 65W (65W) (Guyanese TV- Eastern half of the US)
Eutelsat 117WB (65W) (a fe Mexican channels, southern US only)
Intelsat 18 (180W) (French TV and radio from Tahiti- West coast only)

so as you can see, it's a bit of limited use. Some (like me) like to be able to receive as much as possible, or have a specific interest in some of the channels listed above and use Universal LNBs. Other like to use Standard LNBs to keep things simple. Also noteworthy, the blind scanning with a standard LNB will usually be faster as it has a lot less to scan.

Beyond the type of LNB, remember there are good LNBFs and cheap ones. You can't go wrong with GeoSatPro or Maverick. Also good are Inverto and Avenger. I would stay away from no-brand stuff on Ebay or Amazon, they might lack stability or have a lot of RF noise.

As for your dish setup efforts, I agree with advice given by others, remove the motor for now, get that dish manually aligned with 97W, then with a few others (103W, 87W, 125W, 30W, etc.). Get yourself familiar with the intricacies of dish alignment, and note down what signal quality levels you're able to get after fine tuning. Once you feel comfortable with it, then tacle the motor setup. Going directly from nothing to a motor setup is setting yourself up for failure, or at least for a frustrating experience. Getting a motor like this properly aligned takes a lot of patience.

Measuring angles is a good start but ultimately, you need to be able to visualise the signal quality in real time as you fine tune the angles. So having the TV and receiver next to the diush or having a proper meter is essential. Some receivers allow you to use an app on your phone to view signal stats in real time (Enigma2 receivers for example).

But again, I can't stress it enough, start simple with a fixed dish, and play with it until you are able to get a few satellites , and then move on to the motor setup. It will be a much better experience.
I am picking up more channels now. I set the dish true south/north and tweet declination. I may need to move the dish. I am getting a lot more channels now. I will consider removing the motor but if set the motor to zero without removing it would be the same as fix?
 
I am picking up more channels now. I set the dish true south/north and tweet declination. I may need to move the dish. I am getting a lot more channels now. I will consider removing the motor but if set the motor to zero without removing it would be the same as fix?
It could be these cheap LNB's. I ordered an avenger and may consider a GeoSat.
 
A "Standard" LNB deals with one band of satellite frequencies, and has one Local Oscillator frequency (LO) of 10750 Mhz.
So, no additional switching is built into the LNB.
This is the most common LNB for N. America.

The "Universal" LNB deals with two bands of satellite frequencies, and has two Local Oscillator frequencies (LO). Typically 10600 and 9750 Mhz.
To select the higher band (the one used in North America), you must apply the 22khz tone to the LNB and select LO=10600.
If you don't, the LNB defaults to the lower 9750 frequencey (which is useful for Europe and Eastern satellites).

Using the universal LNB will tie up the 22 khz tone in the STB.

Performance wise there is no difference.
 

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