If you currently have a satellite dish but are limited to a single or twin feed from your current LNB then it is probably time to upgrade to a Quad LNB. An LNB Quad will give you the ability to expand your home entertainment systems around the house and will no longer limit you to having only one useful television.
So how do I upgrade?
If you have a Sky mini dish there are Quad output LNB’s available for your dish but be warned these can vary from mini dish to mini dish and are also not the same as the satellite dish Quad LNB’s available for larger dishes used by satellite enthusiasts and those on the fringe of the broadcast signal. Be sure, especially if you plan to do the Quad LNB installation on your own, that you buy the Quad low noise block converter that fits your current dish. Now would also be a good time to upgrade your dish and so bear this in mind when upgrading your LNB. If you do change your dish I would wholeheartedly recommend you employ the services of a professional as aligning the dish is far harder than solely changing the LNB.
Another factor to consider is the weight of your proposed purchase – will your Quad LNB bracket be strong enough? Ensure that your dish arm is able to bear the extra weight as some Quad LNB’s can be heavy enough to move the arm down thereby reducing the quality of signal that you receive. Before you rush out to do the Quad LNB setup yourself make sure that you have the right one for your dish, you have a decent set of ladders and all of the right tools.
The process itself is fairly obvious but it is always a good idea to familiarise yourself with how your existing LNB is attached before you dismantle it and forget how it was positioned. As with anything involving a signal, gentle manipulation is the order of the day. If you do not have a signal meter (and let’s face it who does?) it is imperative that someone indoors can see the signal screen of your receiver (via the TV) so that you know when maximum signal is found.
With the smaller dishes, especially Sky mini dishes, there is little room for manoeuvre and so you can have little to no impact on the signal with fine adjustments. On the larger dishes however there can be more room for slight changes in angle of the Quad LNB (often referred to as skew) which means more manual adjustment may be required. If you are fitting the Quad LNB to a larger dish then it is even more important to note the exact position of the original LNB as it is likely that you will achieve the best results by mimicking this postion with your replacement.
Installing Quad LNBs