Best lnb for sky mini dish

Icemen786

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Hello
I got a old mini sky dish which i attached a inverto LJ black quad lnb to over 10 years ago as it had good reviews. Now i get some asian channels like star plus glitching. Could this be due to a bad or weathered lnb? Can you advise what is the best quad lnb for sky uk? Would it be genuine sky one or a different make? Shall i just get another inverto. Or are there any better ones now.
I see one on screwfix on £15, any good? I have small sky mini dish over 10 years old also.
Thanks
 

jeallen01

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With a dish that old, I suspect that the cable(s) from it to your receiver might be damaged/deteriorated and that might be the cause of the glitching - could be a good idea to replace it completely and that might solve that problem.

As for the LNB, the nowadays-standard SKY Visionware quad isn't bad (I use one on a bigger SKY Zone 2 dish for another satellite and it works very well) - OTOH, I don't think that would fit your old SKY dish very easily.

Therefore, if you are up to fitting it, it might be worthwhile replacing the old dish with a new one, complete with a new quad, and new cables to totally "freshen things up"?
 
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Icemen786

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Yes ive read the sky mesh oval dishes are not very good. I am going to buy a new round dish, any suggestions on which one to get? Also what size? Would 60cm be enough in the south uk or shall i go for 70 or even 80cm one? What make and site to purchase from? Totally new dish lnb and wiring in next couple of months. Just need to find a good installer. Going to get a inverto ultra black quad lnb again.
 

ozumo

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Nothing wrong with a Zone 2 Sky dish & Sky quad LNB, from Amazon or eBay.
 

Icemen786

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Zone 2 is that 60cm dish?
 

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sky mini dish is more than sufficient 60cm or even smaller you can use any lnb as signal from this satellite is so strong.
If you get 80 cm round dish you can easily add 2 more lnbs for different satellites now or latter on.
eBay and Amazon are the cheapest.
for round dish inverto lnb is the best.
 

Icemen786

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So any 60cm solid round dish for uk sky or a sky mini mesh oval dish and inverto lnb should do the trick. What about a dish from world of satellite?
 

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Since your profile suggests a location of the Midlands, why would think of installing a zone 2 dish ?
 

Icemen786

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Just for peace of mind and solid signal even in bad weather conditions. Why not when there isnt much difference in the price?
 

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So any 60cm solid round dish for uk sky or a sky mini mesh oval dish and inverto lnb should do the trick. What about a dish from world of satellite?
As others have said (quite clearly!) a standard solid SKY Zone 2 and Visionware quad LNB will be more than adequate almost anywhere in the UK (and certainly in the Midlands) - there's absolutely no need to get a more expensive "round" 60cm dish & an Inverto LNB, AND it will probably be slightly more difficult/expensive to find an installer who will install the latter than a standard SKY dish.
Since your profile suggests a location of the Midlands, why would think of installing a zone 2 dish ?
OTOH, a Zone 2 dish will gather more signal than a Zone 1 one, and, as such will provide rather more protection against signal dropout in very heavy rain (AKA "rain fade"), and the UK is getting more and more of that nowadays! That's why I fitted a Zone 2 dish for SKY here in London many years ago, and so we've only had a couple of instances of momentary "rain fade" (and those were in absolutely torrential rain!) since then.
 

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Just for peace of mind and solid signal even in bad weather conditions. Why not when there isnt much difference in the price?
How many occasions in the past ten years have you experienced a loss of signal, that could be attributed to bad weather ?

Whst a larger dish does have more resilience against rain fade, it comes with a higher wind loading that will affect station keeping in an exposed location, such as a chimney or on a tall, flexible pole
 

jeallen01

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How many occasions in the past ten years have you experienced a loss of signal, that could be attributed to bad weather ?

Whst a larger dish does have more resilience against rain fade, it comes with a higher wind loading that will affect station keeping in an exposed location, such as a chimney or on a tall, flexible pole.
Agreed, but, in most cases, SKY (Astra 2) dishes are, or can be, installed in "reasonable conditions" such as on a South or South East wall of a house etc., where (unless very poor installed!) high winds are not likely to be too much of a real issue - I have seen a very few that were "not fit for purpose" but it was clear that they hadn't been used for years (and I have seen far more conventional terrestrial aerials in far worse states of "disrepair" - including one that's "almost" on a mast on a chimney a couple of doors down the road from here!).
 

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Got an ancient rusty Zone 1 here in North Yorkshire.

Full bore strength and quality across the board.

On the very rare occasions weather has caused issues, they were

a. Short lived
b. Caused by Uplink disturbance as often as local heavy rain disturbance
c. Unlikely to be prevented by a bigger dish
 

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Agreed, but, in most cases, SKY (Astra 2) dishes are, or can be, installed in "reasonable conditions" such as on a South or South East wall of a house etc., where (unless very poor installed!) high winds are not likely to be too much of a real issue - I have seen a very few that were "not fit for purpose" but it was clear that they hadn't been used for years (and I have seen far more conventional terrestrial aerials in far worse states of "disrepair" - including one that's "almost" on a mast on a chimney a couple of doors down the road from here!).
Until the o/p confirms where the dish is on the property, the above is speculative at best
 

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Sky zone 2 dish is the oval mesh 60cm correct?
 

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The Raven Zone 2 used to be a 70x 60 design, but I have bought others before, one of which was considerably larger.

It seems whatever is not a mesh zone 1 is now a Zone 2 regardless of the origin.
 

Icemen786

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Whats more difficult to fit on round dish than a standard zone 2 dish? The wall mount has 4 bolts into the wall and clip on dish? Then just need correct adaptor for the lnb.
Just say in the south a zone 2 sky dish is sufficient, if a installer cant fit a dish pointless being a installer haha
 

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If you can take a picture of what s already there somebody can advise, if it is an original zone 1 on a wall mount a Zone 2 should fit straight on without drilling other holes (though it is adviseable to check on the security of the existing bolts before replacing.

I removed an extension mast yesterday, supposedly with eight bolt fitted, but only three had any bite in the masonry
 

ozumo

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The Raven Zone 2 used to be a 70x 60 design, but I have bought others before, one of which was considerably larger.

It seems whatever is not a mesh zone 1 is now a Zone 2 regardless of the origin.

My Raven mk2 zone 2 dishes measure 75cm x 56cm.
 

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From personal experience, some Ravens are of 80cm width

Ala

 
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