ALPS lnb and old STRONG receiver

MarsBar

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I have this old ALPS LNB, is it equivalent to an modern universal LNB like by Black Inverto?

It looks like ALPS uses two LO frequencies, in other words divides it into two bands.

When I used the ALPS instead of the black one I got no signal on my setup... so confused here. The ALPS is 20 years old, used 1 year. I remember I used it on D2MAC signals, and had a tone inserter in the coax, run with a 5V switch... thus I could see MTV at the top of the band at Thor satellite.

The inverto universal,LNB, is that one oscillator and one wide band or is it divided in two bands using tones to switch?

Next question! Can I use my STRONG receiver from 2005 for anything useful. Tried a scan today but only BBC was discovered, not any music channels. Waste of time and obsolete receiver? I thought a new scan would do it, but it does not have an option for blind scan. Museum item?

Maybe the old LNB also is a museum item for MPEG2 and not HD compatible? It worked on my old strong receiver mpeg2.
 

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Last edited:

ozumo

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ALPS LNB is a universal, so any 40mm universal LNB like the Inverto will be a direct replacement. Universal = 2 LOs with tone switching, usually 9750 & 10600 as per the ALPS. It is the receiver which is not HD capable, rather than the LNB.

The Strong receiver will be DVB-S MPEG 2 only, have a look at Flysat to see which transponders you can receive:

There's still quite a few DVB-S transponders on there, but parameters may have changed over the years meaning the transponders will need to be manually updated on your receiver.
 

MarsBar

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You are right, I thought the 10Ghz single LO was the modern "universal" one. But that was 20 years ago.

I think the problem is that the ALPS is defect, it has been stored nearly 20 years so it may be coroded. My theory is that only the lower LO is working,
and it fails to activate the upper LO. Fair enough. I remember this one costed almost £150 or so. But a new LNB cost nothing today, 2 beers :)

My idea was to test this old school LNB to see if it performed better than todays LNB's since it was "made in japan"...
 

a33

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I think the problem is that the ALPS is defect, it has been stored nearly 20 years so it may be coroded.

That is too bad.
ALPS LNBs have the reputation that they last almost forever.
(Though the company is broke now, I believe ~ Not many people wanting replacement LNBs..??)

Greetz,
A33
 

MarsBar

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I could try some more next week. Case is, when I swapped LNBs I got no signal. Could it be that the LO frequency is slightly off so I may have to do a new blind scan? I remember there was lightning some years ago, I pulled out the tv but maybe some overvoltage damaged something following earth in the antenna system. All LED lamps in the house was damaged due to over voltage. I pulled out pc and tv from main socket. But overvoltage may jump from earth to the antenna system.
New LNBs uses PLL, but can old ones without vary slightly?
 

ozumo

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On the transponder with BBC you know works, try editing the frequency by 3mhz at a time, so if the frequency is 12300, you could try 12303, 12306, 12309, 12297, 12294 etc. If the LO has drifted you should eventually find BBC again, if the LNB works.

Does the receiver have blind scan? You said not in the first post but then mentioned doing a new blind scan in post #5. If you have blind scan then use it, if the LNB works at all it will find something.
 
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