Geosatpro C2 LNBF faulty often?

[skysurfer]

I purchased two of the LNBFs in the group buy and I got around to putting the first one on a 4.5' dish today to make it a permanent NASA dish.

After installing it, I found lots of spikes across the spectrum, like there was a local oscillator issue or something. Spikes at 917, 994, 1071, 1147, 1223, 1299, 1376, 1452 and 1528 and then some spaced about the same going towards zero on the analyzer and going up towards 1800 where my analyzer cuts off.

Valid signals were there as well once I found AMC-6, but the spikes wipe out any chance of locking something where the spikes are.

Spikes are about 2-3x stronger than the actual valid signals like NASA TV. NASA TV isn't affected by the spikes but if they moved transponders, they could get affected if they are on top of a frequency where a spike is.

I haven't put my second LNBF on it to see if it's an isolated bad LNBF or if quality control is non-existant on such a cheap LNBF. I haven't put the coax on the other LNBF line just in case it's one connector of the two that is bad.

I did put a commecial LNB on that spectrum analyzer to see if it was my analyzer and got no spikes, so it's definitely coming somewhere from the coax to the actual Geosatpro c2 lnbf itself.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Approximately 5000 C2's have been distributed and have RMA'd or replaced less than 15 units. The common issue has been related to a faulty polarity switch. 15 defects out of 5000 units over three years is a respectable figure for off the shelf electronics.

We spot checked several dozen C2's of the SatelliteGuys special order with no documented performance issues. All units are factory QC'd and we have been very happy with their selection process. We did not place the current batch on a scope, but if you experience performance issues, please drop us an email.

 

[Mr Tony]

all 5 of mine are working great with no spikes....the only one that shows a "spike" on the Pansat 1500 meter is the one on the 4 foot dish...for obvious reasons
and thats a spike from 60 to 70-75 quality

The 6 footer on 121W (same sat as the 4 footer is on) shows stable numbers

 

[ikki]

Ive had no problems in fact it out performs my B1Sat Stack.

 

[eurosport]

I've only put 1 of my 2 on so far. On the 7.5 footer that I have all my DCII equipment tied into, quality went up several points on everything, compared to the BSC-421 it replaced. Can't wait to get the other one on the 10 footer for DVB feeds! It seems like a real good product.

 

[Pismire]

I am one of those that did have an issue with mine. Worked great at first then the vertical side went out. Brian was excellent on the warranty and so far the second one is working as expected and then some. Very good service from SatteliteAV and a great LNBF in my book.

 

[skysurfer]

I tried the second port on the LNBF I think is faulty. It worked fine for me to put a signal meter on it and peak the dish.

I then hooked up my FTA receiver and it went bad. Instead of multiple spikes throughout the spectrum, it had one spike with lots of trash stuff next to that one spike.

Does the Geosatpro C2 LNBF have an issue if the receiver LO is not set to 5150? I use a LO of 0 so I can punch in the direct frequency into my receiver that I see on my spectrum analyzer (the 950-1450 block freq). No other LNB/LNBF - from commercial-grade to the cheap chinese ones I've purchased in the past - have ever had an issue with my LO set to 0 and I don't see how this one would have a potential issue, but who knows.

My next step is to try the second and last LNBF I purchased and see if it works properly or has the exact same issue as the first one. At some point I'll be emailing Brian since he invited that in an earlier post in this thread, but I want to check out a few things first before I go emailing him.

 

[Lak7]

Does the Geosatpro C2 LNBF have an issue if the receiver LO is not set to 5150?

Can you try with the proper LO set?

 

[skysurfer]

Can you try with the proper LO set?

that's the last thing I tried before switchout - no go.

I put the second LNBF on and it seems to work fine (albeit off frequency by about 2 mhz - NASA at 1110 V has to be tuned using 1112 V to get lock). The second LNBF has successfully passed my signal meter and my FTA receiver without going TU like the first one. I locked the signal later in the day and it also locked fine so I think the second one may end up fine. I"ll give it another few days or weeks to see how it behaves over time, just in case yesterday was a lucky day when I put it up.

It's also interesting I got 1.5 db better s/n, but it could be from a variety of factors, not necessarily that the second LNBF is better than the first one. It could be I got the crosspol perfect instead of close, I got the f/d set slightly different than the first one, I had it aimed better into the dish than the first one, etc.

8.4 db s/n on a 4.5' dish for NASA on AMC-6 is great considering my 8.5 foot dish that now has partial blockage from a neighbor's tree for AMC-6 only gets 3.7 db s/n.