I though I needed a "circular" lnb?

[mchomicz]

I'm somewhat puzzled. I am right now watching GOL TV (on "DirecTV 6 & EchoStar 6/8" at 110.0°W - as best I can tell; my Coolsat 4000 Pro is showing identical channels for this sat as well as "Anik F2" at 111.1°W; I wonder if it's a bug in the factory software?) What I'm confused about is that all I have is a Universal LNB (Invacom SNH-031). I don't have a special DSS LNB I thought was needed for receiving free channels from Dish satellites - based on this thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=63889 . From what I read in that thread I though I'd need a second LNB made specifically for Dish Network or Direct TV (a.k.a. circular polarization LNB).

Don't get me wrong - I'm glad I have one extra channel I get to receive without having to buy a second LNB. But what am I missing here?

Thank you,
Michael

 

[PSB]

Its your lucky day!

I get NASA TV the same way, but I can't get GOL TV (swap ya!)

It depends on adjacent satellites/spot beams and where you are in the country, still worth getting a DBS LNB to get EVERYTHING DBS/FTA and ITC.

 

[mchomicz]

Believe me - with all the trees in my area - you don't want to be swapping with me Unless you happen to have a 100 foot pole sitting around. Hitting satellites with 80-90 signal but not enough quality to actually pick anything up... I guess I am kind of lucky though because I first noticed free Dish channels on Echostar 7 or 9 - but didn't think much of it then... (some fo them nothing more than as screen saying "congratulations" or "you need another dish") BTW - if I were to chose - I'd take NASA TV over a soccer-related program any day If remember correctly though - NASA TV is on a sat east from 97 degrees West. I doubt I'll be able to see much left of 97 deg W...

Michael

 

[rkrenicki]

When I find the 121 bird with my generic linear lnbf, I usually also pick up 119 at the same time.. of course, I get better "quality" on the 121 transponders, but it definately gets the 119 (which is circular)

Basically, a Linear LNB will pick up circular transponders, but at about half power, but a Circular LNB generally wont pick up Linear transponders, because they dont work in the same part of the Ku band.

 

[mchomicz]

Basically, a Linear LNB will pick up circular transponders, but at about half power

Thanks for the info. That would explain a lot - since the Invacom LNB is supposed to be a "low noise" - perhaps it really is? So given its low noise and given that Dish seems to broadcast with such high power that it burns though all the trees around here (and also makes it very hard to pick up satellites right next to those used by Dish) even at 50% I get better quality signal from Dish satellites than just about anything else!

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Mr Tony]

it might be what frequencies the LNB picks up...I know with my Coolsat I did get a couple other channels when I scanned G11. Since N1 (expressVu) is at the same spot, my LNB may go past 12.2 frequency which is where DBS picks up (12224 is the first TP)
I get the XPRS channels...the ExpressVu equivalent of Dish 101

It is strange