OFFICIAL TITANIUM C1-PLL REVIEW

[denibd]

New PLL

Did you try with satellites that have lower output signal? I think many in the community agree that 99W has a very strong signal. I had good signal on 99w three four years ago on a 120m offste dish and a regunar precision 20degree lnbf C band was great.

 

[Cham]

Was +40F yesterday.. replaced C2 and WSI 241 with two C1PLLs on an 8' dish. Took readings on the Sathero before changing the LNBFs around. C2 was focused on G17 at 91W. 3927 was 48-50dBuV when peaked, 58 with the C2PLL. That's quite a difference..

The WSI LNBF was focused on 99W G16. 3720 was 55-60, C1PLL was steady at 75 after changing.

This was using a Sathero SH200.

The AzBox receiver sees a 2-5 %Q increase almost across the board with the new LNBFs. Also I noted the C1PLLs seem to focus a bit farther out than the other LNBFs, by maybe 1/2 an inch. I did not move or change the scaler rings as they seemed to be in the right place, but I would rather use the C1PLL scaler rings, so later in the spring I might change them out too. Another variable, the C2 feed cover was missing and presumably buried in the deep snow around the dish, which would make the signal stronger using that LNBF. Also the C2 had been "repaired" about a year ago when moisture had entered the LNB circuit area and was subsequently dis-assembled and dried out to get it working again.

I'll set up the WSI LNBF on 107W as son as I find another 22KHz switch (died last fall) so the dish will be back up to fully operational again soon!

-C.

 

[NCsat]

I live in the North Carolina, and ordered 1 of these lnbf's to give a try. I'm using it to get the satellite Starone C1, 65W, and had an improvement of the signal quality of 5% in most of the transponders after installed the new pll lnbf, there were some 8psk transponders I was unable to lock, now the receiver locks easily to them. I'm using a 10 ft antenna.

 

[AceB]

Great service from Titanium, ordered the new C1W last Friday on the first day they were in stock and was surprised to find it sitting on the doormat when I got home this morning, six days via the regular postal service is pretty good! I'm going to make some time in the next few days to compare it against my ESX241 in both linear and circular polarisation using my home made dielectric plate. Before I start I've one question, are C band scalar rings matched to an LNB, matched to the dish or not really matched to either? My 1.8m came already set up for C band with the scalar bolted to the support arms. If I compare it against the Titanium I can see the new one is slightly smaller diameter and shallower by about 5mm. I know I'll end up trying both LNBs on each scalar ring but experience tells me there'll be no definitive answer.

 

[KE4EST]

I don't think you will see any difference in the different scalar rings.

 

[Titanium]

ke4est is correct that there may be no difference. BUT....

If your scalar is a manufacturer specific item and matched to the dish, then it would likely provide better performance over the included flat scalar that is manufactured to be a generic match for a range of focal distances.

 

[. Raine]

A Chap scalar works much better with my C1wPLL on my dish [I assume that the W model and regular C1 are the same physically, I could be wrong] than the one that shipped with it.

Both fit very loosely on the feedhorn itself, especially the one that shipped with the C1, which makes it a real pain to adjust with any precision when you're standing on a ladder, holding your meter and trying to turn the LNBF, etc. Myself, I'd like a much tighter fit around the feedhorn itself and smaller adjust screws, I'm planning to make a brass shim for the original scalar and then try that one again. There's also a small lip on the end of the C1's horn that I had to file down a bit to get the C1 to even go into my Chap scalar, though once beyond that lip, the fit is sloppy and loose.

Besides the scalars fitting so loosely, the C1 does work really great, it just was a real PITA for me to adjust it precisely.

 

[AceB]

I've been testing two C1Ws for the last week, nothing scientific but comparing them to my existing ESX241. My set up is a Precision Antennas 1.8m diameter spun aluminium Prime Focus and Prof Tuners 8000 PCIe card. The figures are obtained using a mix of DVB Dream and Crazyscan software, the Dream SQ reading is included for simple comparison. Some variations are due to differing times of the afternoon and varying amounts of cloud cover but I've tried to minimise these. The Scalar is the original Precision model.

As you can see there's no clear winner but the new C1W does just about come out on top with regard to SNR on many signals. In addition to the listed results there are a couple of very weak transponders that I've gained albeit TOD dependent on 38°E using the C1W. Further tests are to be done as soon as I have time comparing results on a 1.2m offset Gibertini, I've heard they perform particularly well on small offset dishes with a suitable scalar. I also need to find some low frequency, low SR 8PSK signals to compare it against the 241.

In addition to testing the LNBs I also compared #1s performance using different dielectric plates, I have three to choose from. The first is the regular one shipped with nearly all C band LNBs, the second is a homebrew plate affectionately known as the chopping board plate, it's 10mm thick nylon and large enough that it slides into the LNB throat but also locates into the scalar. The third design is based on a Doktorofsat design made from the case of a DVD with tuned sections of adhesive copper strip, this is slid into the LNB throat. One surprise was on initial installation, the plate needs to be orientated 90° from the way it fits into the ESX241. My everyday plate is the DoktorofSat, apart from a couple of narrow frequency bands it outperforms either of the other two by upto 1.5dB SNR. the chopping board plate is usually to hand if I'm trying to obtain a weak transponder as it can occasionally produce results the DoS plate can't.

In addition to simply swapping plates I also rotated the LNB 90°, rotated the plate to match and switched polarity to compare the performance, the same was done using linear transponders. In each test the horizontal/LHC element of the LNB was superior by about 0.4dB SNR

So in conclusion I'm happy with my purchase, gains over the ESX241 are marginal for me but they are there and with the C1W being so competitively priced I'm more than happy to recommend them as the LNB to chose. Having spoken to other users that were using the BSX421 prior to the C1W they've seen more dramatic improvements in performance and report numerous new locking transponders, both linear and circular. Once I've finished comparing results I intend to mount the C1W onto my 1.2M offset alongside the Ku LNB to obtain some birds to my extreme East beyond the reach of the 1.8m.

I'd also like to add my thanks to Brian from Titanium, he really knows what good customer service means and it's been a pleasure dealing with him, another reason to recommend his products.

SATELLITE...................ESX241.......................C1W-PLL #1..........................C1W-PLL #2

		SQ	SNR	RF		SQ	SNR	RF		SQ	SNR	RF
20E	3798L	85/46	6.4	-32		87/34	5.9	-30		87/14	4.8	-31
1W	4084L	85/22	5.2	-32		No sig				83/20	5.3	-34
1W	4175R	85/50	6.8	-28			6.5	-29		83/58	7.1	-30
5W	3633R	87/49	8.5	-31		94/34	7.8	-25		95/39	8.1
5W	3723L	89/55	8.4	-29		93/31	8.7	-25		No sig
22W	3695R	86/100	6.9	-32		92/100	9.5	-25		93/100	9.6	-28
22W	3943L	88/81	8.2	-30		87/86	8.6	-30		87/85	8.5	-31
37.5W	3749H	90/77	9.8	-28		93/96	10.8	-26		94/85	10.3	-25
40.5W	3627L	86/55	10.2	-31		91/56	8	-28		92/58	10.2	-27
40.5W	3673R	88/39	9.2	-30		92/100	8.3	-23		96/40	9.2	-22
43.1W	3877V	84/87	7.4	-33		87/74	6.7	-30			4.2	-32
53W	3715V	84/43	5.5	-32		90/45	5.6	-28		90/55	6.2	-29
55W	3711V	86/26	8.5	-31		93/24	8.6	-25		93/43	9.4	-25
55W	4147h	91/42	6.2	-27		88/44	6.5	-29		87/43	6.4	-30
58W	4174v	85/40	6.1	-32		85/26	5.5	-31		82/37	7.1	-34
58W	4138h	85/37	6.7	-31		84/40	7.3	-33		83/45	6.3	-33

Two scans to show the different response curves of the ESX241 and then the C1W-PLL, both pointing at empty parts of the sky.

 

[ken2400]

Still working well.

 

[*PYRO*]

I was originally looking to see if I could lock anything new using a PLL LNBF on a 1M dish for C-band compared to the DMS- BSC421 that I was using. At the time I had not heard of the GeoSat version and had only known of the Titanium version but with no local retailers in my area carrying this LNBF I was at first hesitant to order one online and was just going to stick with what I had. Then my local retailer updated there website with GeoSat version, so me getting excited before doing any real investigating on the GeoSat version( I had heard/read only good things about the Titanium version ) and my local retailer telling me they were virtually the same I went ahead and bought it. After a couple of days of playing around with it I came to the concussion that only 1 of the polarity was actually working so I took it back and got it exchanged for another one. At first I did notice better stability and a slight increase in signal on the strong Tps compared to the BSC421 ( I'm using an OPENBOX S9) but the Tps/channels that were on the edge of staying locked on the BSC421 were not locking when I put on the GeoSat C1 so after a few weeks the BSC421 went back on. Then I noticed a thread in the C-band section( and then this thread ) on this forum asking about how the 2 versions compare, this is where I realized that these 2 products were not the same. I then spoke to Brian @ Titanium and a few days later I got the Titanium C1-PLL LNBF, now just waiting for the snow to melt off my garage roof so I can get it installed and get some testing underway. I have included some pics of each LNBF, so far they only similarities that I can see with my naked eye is that both use the same Blue Cap and there similar names.

 

[*PYRO*]

I finally got the Titanium C1 PLL on a few weeks ago and have been very happy with its performance, it’s the best out of all 3 lnbfs I own. Better signal strength /stability across the arc, anywhere from 1-10% increase and it still locked the weaker transponders that the DMS got but the Geosat would miss. Great example is 3720 H 8700 @ 99W, DMS would get it at night only, Geosat would never scan it and the Titanium gets it every day/all day. Below is list of most transponders I can scan and what each LNBF was getting on my Openbox S9 /1M dish (105x95CM )

 

[Babadem]

*PYRO* Nice review. What's the your dish size?

 

[Cham]

Replaced a Chaparral corotor and DRO lnbs with a C2W-PLL today on the 10 footer. Used the Chaparral scaler, seemed too much effort required to replace it too and the new LNBF fit just fine. Took a while to get the skew and F/D set and max the signals using 97W, but I think I found the sweet spot and signals are just a bit better with this new LNBF compared to the Corotor/Norsat 5150 pretty much across the board. Very consistent I must say. Only TP that isn't quite full scale was 4080V which shows about 95Q on the AzBox... quite acceptable.
Thought it would be a good idea to change it out today as winter is coming and I had some trouble with the polar motor late last winter on a couple of colder days, and I don't have a spare anymore.
Using the ASC1 to supply power and polarity signals (voltage controlled now). Nice being able to have two receivers on C-band too!.