Yesterday I received the sensitive Invacom SNH 031 LNBF (http://www.adventistsat.com/itemdesc.asp?CartId=7741961MXIY-ACCWARE-L770&Cc=&ic=SAT-SNH+031&tpc=) that I won here in the dish farm photo contest. Here's my review.
I'm currently using DMS International ASC321 LNBFs on my Ku-band dishes. I've purchased three from three sources, all at very reasonable prices. It's a great starter LNBF and adequate for most uses. It's rated at 0.5 dB.
The SNH 031 is rated at 0.3 dB, so it should produce a higher-quality signal than the basic models I've been using. I had high hopes, especially since my reception of WVGN has been spotty at best.
The experiment: With my old LNBF still mounted, I pointed my wooden-sled-based dish to AMC4 and peaked its signal using KUIL. Then I disconnected the old LNBF and connected the SNH031. I adjusted my Satwork 3618 for the universal LNBF. For a while, checking signal strengths at lower frequencies, I saw very little improvement. Then as I continued to wiggle the equipment and recheck the signals, I found dramatic improvements on some higher frequencies. The big lesson was that this LNBF seems to be very sensitive to skew.
Here's a quick listing of channels checked with the Satwork quality percentages for the old LNBF (ASC321) and new LNBF (SNH031):
... Old New
KTEL 43 42
KUIL 38 39
Hope 63 75
WVGN 32 37
Viet 39 39
RTP 48 65
It's possible that some of those lower readings need frequency adjustments on my Satwork, which had more trouble Blind Scanning these channels than it ususally does. (Either it was because the channels were already listed on my receiver, or it's a Universal/Standard LNBF thing, or something else.)
The great news for me is WVGN. With the old LNBF, I got a barely perceptible reading and a black screen. With the new one, the channel looks good. I was going to swap my old LNBF back to double-check my readings, but I'm so happy to have WVGN that I'm leaving it alone.
The boost to already strong signals is dramatic, and ought to knock out any possibility of rain fade.
For folks getting started with a new system, an inexpensive upgrade to the SNH 301 might make a lot of sense. For most folks looking at this as a replacement, they'll need to decide whether this level of improvement is worth the cost. For free, it's definitely worth it!
Thanks again to Brian Gohl, the folks at AdventistSat.com, and everyone involved in this contest. I greatly appreciate receiving this fine piece of equipment.
I'll be happy to answer any followup questions, but I don't know when I'll be back on SatGuys. Just send me a PM, the system will ping my email, and I'll know to drop by to reply. Thanks for everything, everybody!
I'm currently using DMS International ASC321 LNBFs on my Ku-band dishes. I've purchased three from three sources, all at very reasonable prices. It's a great starter LNBF and adequate for most uses. It's rated at 0.5 dB.
The SNH 031 is rated at 0.3 dB, so it should produce a higher-quality signal than the basic models I've been using. I had high hopes, especially since my reception of WVGN has been spotty at best.
The experiment: With my old LNBF still mounted, I pointed my wooden-sled-based dish to AMC4 and peaked its signal using KUIL. Then I disconnected the old LNBF and connected the SNH031. I adjusted my Satwork 3618 for the universal LNBF. For a while, checking signal strengths at lower frequencies, I saw very little improvement. Then as I continued to wiggle the equipment and recheck the signals, I found dramatic improvements on some higher frequencies. The big lesson was that this LNBF seems to be very sensitive to skew.
Here's a quick listing of channels checked with the Satwork quality percentages for the old LNBF (ASC321) and new LNBF (SNH031):
... Old New
KTEL 43 42
KUIL 38 39
Hope 63 75
WVGN 32 37
Viet 39 39
RTP 48 65
It's possible that some of those lower readings need frequency adjustments on my Satwork, which had more trouble Blind Scanning these channels than it ususally does. (Either it was because the channels were already listed on my receiver, or it's a Universal/Standard LNBF thing, or something else.)
The great news for me is WVGN. With the old LNBF, I got a barely perceptible reading and a black screen. With the new one, the channel looks good. I was going to swap my old LNBF back to double-check my readings, but I'm so happy to have WVGN that I'm leaving it alone.
The boost to already strong signals is dramatic, and ought to knock out any possibility of rain fade.
For folks getting started with a new system, an inexpensive upgrade to the SNH 301 might make a lot of sense. For most folks looking at this as a replacement, they'll need to decide whether this level of improvement is worth the cost. For free, it's definitely worth it!
Thanks again to Brian Gohl, the folks at AdventistSat.com, and everyone involved in this contest. I greatly appreciate receiving this fine piece of equipment.
I'll be happy to answer any followup questions, but I don't know when I'll be back on SatGuys. Just send me a PM, the system will ping my email, and I'll know to drop by to reply. Thanks for everything, everybody!
