Invacom TWH-031 Universal LNB?

[Ironsides]

I thought I would ask for opinions on the Invacom TWH-031 Universal Dual Output LNB, just located one on Ebay and thought about purchasing it. I thought and did! I hope its a better LNB than my Fortec Star Universal LNB! I guess its to late to worry over it now!

At any rate, what are your opinions on this LNB?

All the info you guys care to share would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[voomvoom]

I'm not into Universal lnbf's, but I think (that is me as in myself thinks) that Invacom has better lnbf's than Fortec. I actually have 3 Fortec Universal lnbf's (and another one still in the box, which would make 4) that came from 3 @ 90cm used Fortec dishes I got from a fellow SatGuys member. But I haven't ever tried any of them, as I'm not into the Universal lnbf's, the standards work great for me. I also have a couple of Fortec Standard lnbf's and I have a couple of Invacom QPH031 C/L Quad lnbf's and they will blow away the Fortec Standards that I have used. I'm sure that Invacom Universal will be a great Dual lnbf.

 

[Ironsides]

Hmmm

I went to Invacoms website, now I am really confused because I read that all Invacoms are Universal and that's not the only site that suggests such. That being said, I read here that is not the case entirely.... I also read that only the circular/linear combo lnbs are the only ones made by Invacom that will with with either Dish or Direct Tv. Thats not confusing but the Universal VS Standard is. Maybe I am just reading this information incorrectly or they have stated the information incorrectly. Or I'm just numb with confusion! Now that could be!

Something else, I was discussing the New LNB with a friend who also refered to the lnb as standard. Not the case here but you can see why one would be confused!

 

[voomvoom]

The only Standrad lnbf that Invacom makes is the Quad C/L/C/L. So you are right about that. And they have 2 versions of it, one like I have (QPH031) that has the feedhorn made onto it, and the other (QPF031) that doesn't have a feedhorn so you can attach it to other feedhorns, or you can get the Invacom feedhorn (something or other 120 flange). But I don't just have Invacom lnb's and I don't have any Invacom Universal lnb's, I have lnb's and lnbf's from several different makers. I didn't mean to imply I use only Invacom lnb's or Invacom Standard lnb's. I was saying I use only Standard lnb's and I don't use Universal lnb's. Don't get me wrong, I just don't use the Universals, there's nothing wrong with them, I just don't use them. I use a lot of 4x4 multi-switches and they need 22khz to work both sides and if I used Universal lnb's, they would take away from that and couldn't be used in my mix, or I would wind up with less lnb's. So, I don't fool with them. I'm sorry if I confused you, that was not my intent.
The bottom line here, is the Invacom lnbf you're looking at is an excellent lnbf. And I think that was your main question? And I'm sure it's better than any Fortec lnb!

 

[Ironsides]

Cool Beans

Cool beans! Naw, you didn't imply anything and I didn't take it as you were. You didn't confuse me, what confused me was on the site, I read They didn't make a standard LNB and all the LNBs are Universals made by Invacom. But here, I have read several threads stating otherwise and I have read on other sites otherwise, that's what confused me! Checking deeper, I found clearly that was a mis-spoken statement as they do and have made as you pointed out Standard LNB's!

You are correct about my original question, I just wanted opinions on Invacom. I went ahead and purchased it and now can't wait to get it. One thing, I didn't realize they weighed in so much but that isn't an issue for the dish I'm going to use it on.

Random thought,

On a Sad note, naturally I got one of those Sellers who is slow to respond to Email. I really just hate to buy from people who either take 4 days to communicate or never hear a word from them. Oh, and the ones who take 3 weeks to ship and never tell you any information. Just a peeve of mine!

It should be a rule, Communicate with your buyer promptly! IMHO, a few sellers out there never consider that some buyers may have physical limitations. Which would cause said buyer to have to make arrangement to have mail picked up. In that case, a little heads up on shipping would be a great help to those buyers. Sadly even when that's explained some sellers ignore that fact...Peeve!

Getting back to the dish and lnb thing,

I think just playing around with it, I can manage to grab signals from both G18 and AMC21. I did manage to get it just playing around with 2 LNBs I had, but I didn't complete the mount as of yet. I decided I wanted a better LNB before proceeding to plan F. Reason being if I am going to Play I'm going to Play to win. LOL!

I really appreciate you posting and giving your opinion, that helped me really decide to go the extra mile. I just wished more people would have spoken up and shared how they felt about Invacom products. I have only read a couple of bad reports but that was user error, mainly bad dish placement or some other overlooked issue and not the fault of the LNB. Most people feel they really made a huge difference in "q"!

After all isn't that what's all about! The fun of FTA!

Thanks again for your thoughts if you think of anything else let me know!

 

[Anole]

good choice

I didn't bother to speak up, because VoomVoom pretty well covered the subject.
There wasn't really anything to add.

Several years ago, when I ordered up my first LNB, I consulted the Review Department here, and read glowing reports of the Invacom SNH-031.
Likewise, a review of a 36" Fortec Star versus smaller dishes showed promise.
I bought both, and have had no regrets.

The Invacom twin LNB has never been well promoted by sellers in North America, to my knowledge.
It was always way overpriced, compared to the more common SNH-031 (single output, Universal).
With a recent flood of the twins on the eBay market at low prices, I would not hesitate to snap one up.

Over the years, I've studied how to connect LNBs and switches in many arrangements.
Depending on how many receivers you want to feed, the choice of LNBs is somewhat restricted.
I've come to appreciate that there are many excellent configurations, and not necessarily one -best- choice.
Same goes for LNBs.

 

[Ironsides]

Yep I read the

Yep, I read the reviews here but wasn't satisfied because I only found a couple. I figured with Invacoms rep many more people would have shouted loud. I guess what I was looking for, more so than a review, is information on installing and adjustment of Skew. Best settings for FP, things like that, How well it worked during Hot and Cold Weather. Problems encountered, just information. Of course I realize not all dishes are the same, even if they are the same exact type so I guess it would be hard to discuss. However, it would give a user and idea of how to, if you get my meaning.

For example, with the Fortec Star FSKUVN LNB, I liked its design because it puts less shadow on the dish. I also liked its weight and size! However, I didn't care for the Skew Adjustments, difficult to get a lock and then something I can't explain is transponders that should be vertical show up as horizontal. At first I figured I had the skew incorrect or settings in the receiver or something else. That would have made sense but after setting it every which way on skew and settings I decided to research and found others had the problem also over in the UK.

I also thought perhaps the Settings I had in the receiver wasn't correct, I tried resetting everything and still same problems. I'm using a Neusat 6000 Premium and normally all that is needed is pick Universal 1 and the receiver automatically picks 22hz to auto. No way to turn that off or on as I can find.

So, I moved it to my Pansat and set the LNB up according to information I found and sure enough showed up the exact same way. The Vertical TP's showed up as Horizontal. Hmmm! I thought that maybe it was some how related to the FP on the dish so I played with that for hours. I moved it to another dish and the same thing happened. That made me think its just the LNB. On a brighter note, I get great "q" on a hard to hit satellite so not all is lost or that bad really. (Edit) I have gone back over the LNB over and over and skew'ed it every ways to sundown and it will only pick up one way and one way only and it shows the verticals as horizontal. That makes me think its messed up some how. I know proof positve that bad skew would do this but this is the only way I can get a signal on a meter and q on the receiver...Hmmm Tweak dish time? Dish is skew'ed to Exact 0 or 90 degrees...I don't know whats a going on...

Cold weather seems to have no bad effects on the little LNB but it doesn't care for hard rains. I have thought maybe this is a voltage issue and perhaps a coax problem. Tried a better coax and again that made no changes. I guess when it warms up, I will try to make some voltage measurments to make sure the voltages aren't down.

Could be I have no idea what I'm doing and it is a simple case of user error and no fault of the LNB itself. But, that doesn't explain why others have the same troubles? Or does it?

Could be I'm just making a mountain out of a ant hill and would be better off being happy I have good "q" and some Great FTA for now! Some times trying to improve things just makes them worse! LOL!

Thanks guys for your thoughts!

 

[gillham]

I didn't say anything earlier as I don't have any Universal LNBFs. I do love my Invacom Quad QPH-031 on my motorized Fortec Star 90. I would assume the Universal is just as well made.

 

[Anole]

One more thought...
If we can get ACradio and SatelliteAV to comment, they might have something to add.
ACradio appears to have one of the twins on one of his dishes.
SatelliteAV may have some experience and inside info about the product line.

 

[ACRadio]

One more thought...
If we can get ACradio and SatelliteAV to comment, they might have something to add.
ACradio appears to have one of the twins on one of his dishes.
SatelliteAV may have some experience and inside info about the product line.

I have an Invacom TWF-031 on a C120 KU prime focus feed, and I also have a couple of PLL KU LNB's on a Bullseye II feed...both are on 8 foot Channel Master SMC's. Honestly the Invacom will give the PLL's a run for their money quality-wise, but of course it isn't even in the ball park with the PLL's as far as stability goes. The Invacom is on a dish that is set up for eastern satellites so I need it to be a universal. I would love for the stability to be better but it fits the bill nicely for what I need.

 

[Ironsides]

Got the LNB today!

Cold fingers and wet from raining but I managed to install the new Invacom TWH-031. This LNB is huge and wow it's pretty heavy, this is a real dishes LNB! Going to have to upgrade that LNB Bracket now for sure!

So far very happy that I decided to purchase this LNB and I can't believe how fast I received it. I would love to write a review but hey this will do. :up

On average I saw signal gains of about 5 to 7 over and above the Fortec Star Universal LNB. 11750 on the Fortec Star LNB was around 48 to 52 depending...Now with the Invacom I am getting strong solid 62 to 64...67 to 70 on some transponders.

In the Fortec Stars defense, today I re-adjusted it and was pulling in much better signals even with the rain and clouds. I also solved the problems with Channels showing up Horizontal when they should have been vertical.
When I originally installed the Fortec, I couldn't get a signal at all but only in one spot. Today I saw why, something I had overlooked which I thought would not cause a problem. It did clearly because when I removed it, I was getting a good signal improvment. Interference, I would suppose maybe, and I didn't put that bracket back on when I installed the Invacom...

I forgot to mention, the Fortec Star after I got the bugs worked out picked up from 48 to 52 to 52 to 56 so it did improve but not as well as the Invacom. Maybe with more tweaking...I really didn't tweak the Invacom very much because of the bad and cold weather here...

Over all I would recommend this LNB to anyone, I would also say the FortecStar Universal is not a bad choice either...Being as fair as possible!:up

 

[Anole]

valuable info

I think you were very fair.
And, those results were about what I'd expected.
Small, but good.

If you want to really be helpful, take the measurements for this contest, and post for both the Fortec and your Invacom.
Then, we can all see the detailed comparison.
Now that you've retuned both LNBs a bit, and gotten more practice, I'm sure your numbers will be very valid, and I look forward to 'em. - :up