Advice
Question - professional satellite meters - what type of meter will work with a quatro lnb and which lnb output
would I need to connect it to?
Answer - Using any
professional meter with a quatro LNB poses a few problems. In the end it is not an issue as long as you
understand the technical reasons and choose an approach which works best for you. First it is important to understand how a quatro
LNB works compared to a normal LNB like a quad. A quad LNB is simply 4 single LNBs in one package. Putting it another way, all
outputs carry all 4 components of the total signal. The total signal consists of 4 components due to there being 2 frequency bands
and 2 polarities. They are - high band vertical, high band horizontal, low band vertical and low band horizontal. Every component
carries 25% of the frequencies or channels. Every output of a quad (or a single or a twin) LNB carries every component or every
frequency and every channel. A quatro LNB does not. Here every output carries a different component - HV, HH, LV, LH This is what
is needed to make multiswitches work. (Some multiswitches will work with a quad LNB but their input circuitry converts the quad
signal to a quatro type signal). The next thing to understand is how a professional meter works and how it identifies a satellite.
The manufacturers look for a unique frequency on every satellite so that any satellite can be identified. Therefore, when looking
for a particular satellite like Astra 2, the meter might be looking for a frequency which happens to be (often it is 10,714GHz H
which is low band horizontal) "LH" (meters often have more than one (tag ID or tag frequency) frequency programmed into them
for each satellite, sometimes they have all 4 components available for selection in the menus but since finding unique frequencies
is difficult without a "cross identification conflict" (cross ID) there may be only one choice. At any rate without going into
the menu of the meter, the meter defaults to a particular frequency / component. Therefore, if a dish is being set up on a
particular satellite and the default frequency component to find that satellite is LH, if you connect to the LH output of the
quatro LNB, no problem. If you connect to any of the other outputs VH, HV, HL, it will not find anything. If you have not checked
the menus in the meter to see what the "tag" frequency and polarity is for the particular satellite you are looking for, then you
don't know which output on the quatro LNB to connect to (all outputs on a quatro LNB are marked LH, LV, HV, HL) In that situation
you have a 1 in 4 chance of connecting to the correct output and so by trial and error 1 output will find the satellite and 3
will not. This is a bit tedious although if it is mainly Astra 2 you are looking for, you would remember to connect to LH if you
had previously checked the tag frequency component in the meter was LH. A simple solution is to always carry a single LNB.
When we think back 20 years to when we used to install satellite TV, we would not go anywhere in the vans without spare LNBs.
There is no point it trying to fix a customers satellite system without parts which can be substituted in to assist the fault
finding process. Also a single LNB is cheap and so you are not tying up much money. Another alternative is to connect the quatro
LNB to the multiswitch with 4 short cables and keeping the multiswitch near the dish, connect the meter to any output of the
multiswitch. Every output carries all 4 components and is equivalent to a single LNB. Taking a multiswitch up a ladder and finding
somewhere to put it while you do all this might not be easy. To conclude, carrying a single LNB, finding the satellite, then
later fitting a quatro LNB is probably the easiest method.
This also partly explains why it is better to sell
multiswitches which work with quad LNBs as well as quatro LNBs. By fitting a
quad LNB, it makes it easier to find the satellite with a professional meter as it does not matter which output you connect to.
They will all work. In addition, it should be noted, most dishes in the UK are "Sky mini dishes" and not "standard dishes".
Sky mini dishes can only be fitted with a Sky quad LNB (or Sky Q LNB) but not a quatro LNB. This type of dish is particular
to the UK and Sky TV. Standard dishes can be fitted with either type of LNB. Therefore using mutiswitches which work with
quatro
and quad LNBs, means the LNB on a Sky mini dish will work with the multiswitch and the dish does not need to be
changed for a standard dish (with 40mm clamp) and quatro LNB (which fits a 40mm clamp). In addition, and as stated
above, it makes it easier to set up any dish on a satellite with a professional meter is a quad LNB is fitted.
Further info. - low band is 10,700GHz to 11,700GHz and high band is 11,700GHz to 12,750GHz The bands are switched
with a 22KHz tone and so tone off gives you low band and tone on gives you high band. A satellite meter (or a satellite
receiver) will insert the tone automatically depending on the (tag) frequency selected.
