i can't believe the signal quality with this 1.2 and k band lnb.

[chaskuchar]

i am used to using the dmx741 on my 6' and 8'. now this 1.2 is much more signal quality than the bigger dish. suppose i change to two lnb's, c and k, and use the 22k switch at the dish and improve my reception? or is the dmx741 good on the c band and just add a better k band lnb? thanks, charlie

 

[FaT Air]

Think your best performance will be with a single C band LNBF on your 6 and 8 ft prime focus dishes, and a Ku LNBF on the 1.2 offset dish. Think I read somewhere that a Dual band LNBF and a 6 ft dish gives the performance of a 80cm offset dish at best.
Think you can use the 741 peaked for C band on the prime focus without much loss of signal. Use an outboard 22 Khz switch to go to a Ku lnbf on the 1.2 and have"the best of both worlds". Think the 'dual band' LNBF's compromise 'too much' to do 'too much'. I love my 1.2's. Went the outboard 22khz sw route a while ago, and am NOT looking back.

 

[Anole]

The rule of thumb (mine may be bigger than yours) is that a 1meter Ku dish out-performs a "regular" BUD with most of those two-band LNBFs.

Better C takes a better C-only LNBF, or a C-only ortho feed (best).
Better Ku takes some magic.
Pendragon has explored some of the limits.
A dual band ortho can do well on Ku, and nearly as good on C as a C-only ortho.
Is your head spinning, yet?

A really high accuracy BUD is probably a necessary component of good Ku.
And "most" BUDs don't qualify.

As you've discovered, a 1.2m dish is a really good solution!

 

[Cham]

Charley, The 741 works good on a larger dish if you want to get reasonable signals on both bands. I am using a (repaired) C2 LNBF on my 10' dish now because I get an improvment on C-band over the 741 I was using. Not much of a difference, maybe 2-4%Q average across the board, maybe a dB or so better s/n. I use a 36" Ku dish on a seperate motor and find it much more consistant (maybe the signals are a bit less but sufficient). Your 1.2m should give really good signals on Ku with a Ku standard or universal LNBF.

Ku was always a real pain to line up on the big dish... any breeze or if the satellite landed between two "clicks" on the positioner, I would get a poor signal. I suspect the issue is the apature of such a large antenna is so narrow on Ku frequencies that it's difficult to get the aim good enough to maximize the signal. If I got it peaked on one satellite, moved to another, then back again the alignment was off again. Likely a little play in the polar mount and/or positioner messes it up. It would work but not great.

The 741 is a good LNBF though and works well on C and Ku. I find it's performance about the same as a corotor II with good DRO LNBFs (my sig), and a whole lot cheaper. Note that I am referring to the standard 741, not the universal Ku model. To get functional improvment you would likey have to spend some real money!

 

[Blindowl1234]

I tried C/KU lnb last year on my 8 footer and wasn't impressed. I stayed with KU dish for KU, and big dish for Cband.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Satellite AV was the first North American distributor to import a C/KU LNBF, the GEOSATpro CK1. At the time that we introduced the product, we advertised that it was not an optimal solution, but provided a solution for users who wanted voltage controlled polarity with C and KU band coverage. After distributing the CK1 for several years, the chipset was discontinued and we had to make a decision to move to the solution that our competitors were distributing or discontinue the product. We chose to discontinue rather than sell a product that had even lower performance.

The best solution continues to be a feedhorn with polarization controller and separate C and KU LNBs. If you want the convenience of an voltage control polarity (LNBF), chose a C-band only unit.

Read the reviews. Not all are created equal!