This LNB has a built-in switch and a single output.
I can't seem to find any menu item on the sat receiver which indicates a selection of primary or secondary LNB.
The primary works, but without a clear indication that the secondary has been selected there's no point in trying to orientate the secondary so that it picks up Hotbird instead of Astra.
Can anyone tell me what I should be doing? The receiver is DiSEqC 1.1, maybe 1.2 and the double LNB is 2.0, which according to Wikipedia should work.
Is it something to do with the (bizarre-looking) set of port numbers etc. etc.?
I have a double LNB, the outputs are somehow combined. Apparently the heads are physically set to pick upon satellites 5deg apart, ie Hotbird and Astra. So I don't have to switch anything over. I get all the freesat channels anda few scrambled ones.
The OP, what are you trying to do and what have you got and what do you want to receive?.
For instance. We have here Two dishes one with Three blocks thereon and One with just a single. tHey each go into a Four way diseq switch at the dish end and in the receiver theirs a diseq setup menu which we allocate Diseq 1 to one LNB, Two to another and so on. Each allocation has the details of the satellite we want to receive such as ASTRA 19 east, ASTRA
One dish with a double LNB (the terminology seems a bit confusing; a 'dual LNB' is something else). The double LNB has a built-in switch so it has only one output.
Therefore the receiver has to select one or the other LNB (they're offset by the appropriate amount so that when the primary is pointed at the Astra group, the secondary is effectively pointed at Hotbird).
The document for the FS4000V2 (I refuse to call it a manual) seems to assume that no explanations are necessary. Looking online I read that quite elaborate topologies are possible with networks of switches and positioning motors cascaded one behind the other (presumably so that one can select one of three dozen dishes!) and that might explain some of the rather confusing menu items within the FS4000V2's Antenna Setup screen. But all I want to do is to select Astra or Hotbird, and I can't seem to do that. All I get is Astra. Knowing what a typical receiver's menu might list would help me to know if I'm even tinkering with the appropriate setting (assuming there is some standardisation of the terminology).
I expected to see something like that but don't.
There are some bugs in the receiver software though.
For example if I select GMT I can't set the time, and if I select something else and set the time, when I switch back to GMT the time reverts to somewhere in year 2005. No idea why it cares about time anyway. Worse, if I reset to Factory Defaults the DiSEqC options become greyed out, and stay that way until some unknown random? event happens. I've spent hours trying to get them to reappear but nothing seems consistent. And those DiSEqC options are pretty much meaningless anyway. To me at least.
One oddity: with a single LNB there were about 300 channels, but with the double LNB a scan finds about 600. It can't have been automatically combining both Astra and Hotbird, I don't think, even though I selected 'multi satellite search', because the double LNB has been only roughly positioned rotation wise so would be unlikely to see Hotbird (the first LNB just replaces the old single LNB and the second LNB of the double unit can be rotated around the axis of the first to reach the correct position IYSWIM).
I'm hoping for a response from the manufacturer, but not very optimistic about that. Answers might have to come from China which can take weeks (as was once the case with a DSL320T modem which didn't quite do what it said on the box).
It seems to claim that it can do that *and* Diseqc 1.1, and if I select 'Motor driven' instead of 'Fixed' a mention of Diseqc 1.2 appears (but is inappropriate with a fixed dish, I think).
I only see port 1... port 4 in one case, or in another case some fairly incomprehensible stuff about 16 ports and more. Maybe I need to find a way to force it to offer only ports 1 and 2, if I can.
With this receiver some of the setting is in an Antenna Setup menu. Maybe there's some interaction with satellite settings but if so nothing in the leaflet says so. Transponder selection seems to only happen as part of an automatic scan.
This claims to do that, and probably more. Might be non-standard.
Yes there are multi output LNB's but what you have is known as a Monoblock like this/these one's...
formatting link
The document for the FS4000V2 (I refuse to call it a manual) seems to
Yes you can do that and people do;!!..
OK somewhere in the setup there should /must be an enable Diseq option. That can give Two or more options for LNB switching sometimes referred to as A and B rather than 1 and 2 this is the option you want. Set one of them up for ASTRA 19 deg and the other for Hotbird 13 deg. You do realise that this is ASTRA 19 east and Hotbird 13 east don't you?.
It will not be of any use if you need or want ASTRA 28.2 i.e. where Freesat is and Sky etc.
The idea is that when you want an ASTRA channel then the receiver sends the commands to the Monoblock to switch to that LNB, and when a Hotbird channel is selected the Diseq switching then switches the other LNB in so thats used.
Sometimes in more grand systems the full Four switching options are used.
Don't despair its in there somewhere!. Over time we've had a collection of receivers and cards and they have all had that option!....
You normally need to set this manually its sometimes under LNB settings..
I just had a look on their website for the manual but its not there;(..
I'm sure what you need is in there You don't need to select anything with motorised dishes you just need the simplest Two switching Diseq you can find!". As said elsewhere its often referred to as A and B !...
If all else fails there is an NG around called alt.tv.satellite.europe try a post there...
Well.. So what do you want to do and receive ASTRA on 28.2 and ASTRA on
19.2 or Hotbird on 13 East?..
Let us know. Yes you can put more than the one LNB in front of a decent sized dish. ASTRA 19 and 28.2 is doable. It looks something like this.
formatting link
general leave the LNB settings to Universal and the 22 kHz switching to AUTO as well as the tone burst. What you do not need is any motorised stuff adding to the confusion. The Diseq is or shroud be OK with a Monoblock set to 1 and 2 tho there is generally a A and B option for Two port switching tho this isn't always the case..
But first, what satellites Do you "wan"t to receive;?...
At least 28.2 and 13. (All three might get too costly).
Actually, none. I'm just trying to be a good landlord with a 'desirable' flat, all without spending out of proportion to the small rents one gets in Edinburgh for two room flats.
If I'm to be honest, there is also the technical challenge. I've seldom been able to resist that, so a bit of rationalisation doesn't go amiss.
And later, armed I hope with new knowledge, I plan to fix up a steerable dish for myself. Though I regard most TV as the work of a lowerarchy of devils, as C.S. Lewis put it. (Especially religious programs. But Rikki Fulton as the Reverend I.M. Jolly was hilarious. Shame he's long gone; he was not far off the mark. Maybe some religious zealot hastened his departure as punishment for much-too-clever blasphemy?)
Say 900 mm dish and LNB arm, One Monoblock LNB for ASTRA 19.3 and Hotbird 13 east and a separate LNB for 28.2 tho you might be better off with Three separate single LNB's..
So why are you going to all this bother then?. ASTRA 19.2 and 13 east aren't exactly full of programming for English tenants unless you have other nationals there and ASTRA 19 is really full of German channels wit a few Italian ones..
Or is what you want to do have Two satellite receivers run of the same dish in with case you need a dual output LNB not a Monoblock one!..
Well thats OK then just one LNB and the steerable motor. But is what you get really of any real interest to you as very few of the other sats have any English speaking content...
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.