Standard or Universal Ku Lnb. What the different?

[t_n]

Like to replace with a dual outputs to my existing set up. Don’t know which lnb to buy?

Here’s my set up:
36” dish, single standard ku lnb, diseqc, nexus card.
Will add fta receiver (Pansat 3500 is my first choice) for second room.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Mr Tony]

The difference between a Universal and a standard is what frequencies it picks up

Standard picks up 11.7-12.2 MHz…normal KU band
Universal picks up 10.7-12.2Mhz…the 10.7-11.69999 is the “extended band”. Its real big in Europe, but not here in the US. The only satellite that utilizes the extended band (that we can get in MN) in PAS9 (58W) for Cubavision.

Seems like the better quality LNB’s are Universals. The Invacom quad is a standard LNB : )

 

[Sadoun]

Just a slight correction to ICE's good response:

The UNIVERSAL LNBF has a frequency range of 10.7-12.75 GHz

 

[Mr Tony]

ahhh...thats why the universal gets some of the DBS stuff

 

[t_n]

So, either one will get the signal for the Nexus card and fta receiver at the same time right?

Just like to be 100% sure before I place a order.

Thanks so much guys.

 

[Mr Tony]

yep. A dual would work just fine

 

[t_n]

Thank you, sir

 

[TiminMb]

Is the 22k tone the switch for the two LO frequencies? If so, which one requires the 22k tone? I ask this because my receiver doesn't appear to have the 22K tone configured for any of the TP's programmed in (as far I have noticed).

 

[Tek465m]

Just my opinion, but I've used both and I found the universal to be a little less sensitive compared to my linear. Even though they both were supposed to be good down to .5 dB, I would get between 10-15 points less reception on the universal.

Although, it might have been the brand too. It came with my system and the packaging had numerous spelling and gramatical errors. Which didn't inspire much hope in the engineering of it.

I went with a linear because of the reduced frequencies. You would hope that with the narrower band they could improve the front-end filtering. But with some of the imports you can never tell.

 

[Tek465m]

Is the 22k tone the switch for the two LO frequencies? If so, which one requires the 22k tone? I ask this because my receiver doesn't appear to have the 22K tone configured for any of the TP's programmed in (as far I have noticed).

Yes, the universal uses the 22k tone to switch between the two ranges. Which will also limit you from using a tone switch if you ever want to use multiple LNB's.

 

[DeepDishPie]

Hey all, I am a brand newbie to all of the FTA stuff but I learn quickly so please be patient with me if I ask a few stupid questions.

Now, pertaining to this thread--

What does the 22k tone switch exactly do when you use multiple LNB's? I thought that if you had 2 or more LNB's all you had to do was feed them to a DiSEqC switch and then let the reciever know how it is hooked up. Does the DiSEqC switch use this tone as well?

And could we make this point very clear - You guys are saying that we would want a universal LNB not because of the greater frequency range but because they are generally of better quality, but because of the 22k tone switch it would mean that mounting more than one LNB is not possible?

This can't be right...

Cheers All :up

 

[Anole]

Welcome, DeepDish.

The 22khz tone required for the LNB would prevent you from using a 22khz tone-only switch.
That's not the same as a DiSEqC switch.

For instance, DirecTV used a 22khz tone to their switch, to change between their 101 and 119 LNBs.
Tone-on for one, tone-off for the other.

From the technical specs I've read on DiSEqC switches, they can co-exist with a tone-only LNB.

 

[PSB]

A DiSEqC switch does not use a 22KHz tone, there is no real need for a Universal LNBF here in the USA. So a standard LNBF will work just as well. The only real benefit to a Universal LNBF was it could be used to pick up 'Cubavision', but even that channel can now be picked up with a Standard LNBF as it recently moved satellite.

Since a Universal LNBF has two bands (switched by the 22KHz tone) it takes longer to Blind Scan a satellite, but there is a work around for that by entering a different L.O. value resulting in just scanning the band of your choice.

When shopping for an LNBF consider the noise value, and the quality.