Prime focus - the LNB is located in the middle of the dish.
Offset - the LNB is set at an "offset" angle to the face of the dish.
Both can use "3 arms" to position the dish.

You should be able to replace the Smart directly with the inverto - a simple straight swap. Although some people I know have been OK with the Sharp Titainium LNB and its reception.

I dont think a feedhorn on the inverto will be required for the offset dish.

On a side note, sometimes changing the LNB may not magically cure lost channels, as this may be down to many other things, like dish alignment, dish bending, "interferance", cabling, etc.

You do not say where you are, but I know that in the south areas of Spain, some people are experiencing issues with some channels (the C4s for example) , due to another satellite being turned on that is using similar frequencies the the UK TV satellites...and winning the battle between the two!

Thanks again,
You are as always on the ball. As I do live in the Sth I have read about the "bleeding" from the other satellite causing probs. I miss the lost channels but
investing in new equipment is an expense especially when you are aware it may well not fix it, if indeed it is due to unfixable interference.
I am surprised that no one has come up with a definitive test as to whether this interference is the issue.
Once again, many thanks.

I live in Granada and for the past 3 weeks have had poor signal from Itv 1,2 4 and the E4 transponder. People say it`s because of this new BADR satellite that`s been fired at 26 E ,which is really close to our 28.2 E. Sources also say that those signals will get stronger as more new channels are brought in.

Not so good for us. Surely the same thing is happening with them. Well, on another forum someone suggested I change my invacom quad 0.3 to an Inverto quad black ultra 0.2. The source says it has better low band reception, which is where our signal losses are , i.e the itv channels. If you have a long cable run , say more than 20-25m , then this lnb also gives better results than the invacom.

I will order one on Monday.

Cheers and Happy New Year to you all !http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...lies/smile.gif

Hi people , why can` t I make a reply to this thread !!!!!

I have some info that might benefit you all . Come on moderator !!!!!!

Well, it seems that my message got through. Really am p---d off though. My first reply with quote was probably the wrong thing to do, as it said , "Moderator haas to see the post before letting it through ". Keep this cencorship out. The Spanish fought a civil war for that. We are not in the UK any more !! Although , I really miss blighty like my real friends back there !!

Anyway, I hope this gets through. Regarding the poor reception of the itv channels. I have been told an Inverto quad black ultra is the best lnb for southern Spain , for low band freq like itv and E4. Even more so with long cable runs of 25m or more. Better than the invacom , which I have now , until this new BADR 5 came up which is really close to our 28.2 E.

Will buy one on Monday !

Cheers and a Happy New Year to all !!

I would have though that changing an LNB would not make much difference, as you would still be getting "interference" from the neighbouring satellite. You may even find a "better performing" LNB actually ,makes the situation worse, by getting more of the "unwanted" signal. The only way, i can see, would to increase dish size to "focus" more on the UK TV satellites.

And although I have tested the Ultra Black single and twin (the single still outperforming the twin, I have not tested the quad, although I dont expect too much from it given the poor performance of the twin vs single.

I also live in the Granada province. It appeared that it was the horizontal signal that was more of a prob at first now it's affecting the vertical too. It seems more channels are going week by week which suggests that the BADR growth will only make things worse.
Can I just check, if I went for a SKY (spain) package would this problem be solved?

The channels affected have nothing to do with Sky!
The channels affected are the UK TV free to air channels.
These UK TV FTA channels are avalaible for free with no sky card, on Freesat, Sky and most ther generic digital satellite receivers.
YOu have not needed a sky card for those channel versions affected for a few years now, so changing to a sky package will not help in the reception of those FTA versions!

You MAY be able to, with a sky card (freesatfromsky or subscription) be able to get the Irish C4s on frequency 12480v.

You MAY be able to, with a sky card (subscription) be able to get the Irish E4 and M4s on frequency 12480v.

You MAY be able to, with a sky card (freesatfromsky or subscription) be able to get some other ITV1 versions on 12402v, and definately those on 11973v.

Unless you mean the Spanish satellite servecs.
There is Sky UK, Sky Italia, Sky Germany, but no Sky Spain!
It is Digital+ D+, which carries most of the UK PAY channels (discovery, nat get etc), but no ITV, BBC (apart from BBC World News), or C4

Hi there.

Judging the fact that a 1.6 H x 1.5 W iron dish costs around 250 euros and the aluminium 350 euros. I will try the Inverto quad black ultra at 41 euros . All prices eclude posting. I think this is the wise thing to do, as I 9 years ago, I had Televes, yellow 0.7 lnb. Needed more signal so I changed to the Echostar grey 0.6 lnb, alittle better, but still had channel breakup at night. A satellite shop , can`t remember gave me a sharp , grey in colour 0.4 , no change in signal. Another sat shop which I frequented many times lent me a Titanium 0.2 to try, signal lowered and it was noticeable !

I had tried a model call illusion, you probably know the make, they also make receivers, I think it was a 0.3 but wasn`t that good. The best lnb I had up until then was the Echostar 0.6, which pixelated at night on certain channels.

Around 4 years ago the same shop which lent me the Titanium 0.2 special edition with gold connector had a Quad Invacom , white 0.3. This was an expensive lnb at the time ,I don`t remember exactly because I had a 40 % discount for trade. Well, over time it turned out to be a good business contact. The guy was in the middle of a project building a projector, with all the video and audio.

Stay with me on this people, there is a point to this ! Well, these projectors need a special lightbulb. This he had but was producing so much heat that it was affecting the smoothness of the system. Solution, he fit 2 fans 8 x 8 cm , but they were plastic and they started to melt. Not good.

As it happens I know abit about electronics, so I suggested he fit some alumium fans. He didn`t have a clue where to find them , so I went on the net and located them. He was content and he ordered 2. He was very happy. The only thing he mentioned was that they make too much noise, but not that much. I said you could fit some oscillating resistors which have a variable control. You can turn the intensity up or down to nothing. He said great , Order me 8 I think he said. He had some friends that were building the same projector.

All in all he was chuffed, a working , cool projector. H e said what would you like from the shop within reason. Well, that Quad Invacom was at 140 euros , not sure. he said I`ll give 50 % off. I said come on I helped you solve your projection problem and you were stuck. I also solved other electronical issues, won`t go into that.

Finally, he said OK you can have for nothing, he said nobody at that time was interested in it anyway. So there I was chuffed to bits with the invacom, but would it make the difference to the signal. You bet your bottom dollar it did. Was like night and day compared to any other lnb and I had tested many. Fantastic, the picture on every channel held all day 24/7. That is until 3 weeks ago.

So coming back to my original point, By buying the Inverto black ultra 0.2, which is said to be good for long cable runs and low band frequencies , like the one`s we are having trouble with; might just see that extra bit of difference that will edge your signal quality up.

All this at a modest price. Personally , if there isn`t that much of a diff then I will use the workaround which is to use itv1+1, itv2+1,itv4+1 and more 4+1. These channels have really goog strength using the invacom.

One other point ,the quad invacom is better than the single or twin , in terms of seperating the very strong from the very weak signal, so less bleeding. The Inverto is better at the weaker signals, which like I said ,is perfect for us.

You still need a dish of 1.3 m H x 1.25 m W , like me which is the minimum.

Goodluck.

Like I said, changing hte LNB to a better performing one may help, but it may also help in increasing the other "unwanted" signals also. Simply changing the LNB wil not get rid of or filter out the unwanted signals. But you can always try...

I have not noticed any difference between the invacoms twins and quads.
But twins and quad are better than the singles without a doubt.

Ah yes., but the Inverto being abit newer could have better seperation between the strong and we signals like the invacom before it.

I very curious as to the Invertos performance and to see if the theory in practice is correct !

Thanks Guy,
No Sky spain! Never knew that, strange as you see so many adverts but then I guess they are all doing it the "back door way".
I'm such a dumb arse when it comes to these things and so thanks for enlightning me, obvious now BBC and ITV etc not on Sky derrrrrr.

robt23,
As we are in same area and you are going to give inverto ultra black a whirl I may well hang on to see how you get on with it.
If this thread has moved on by time you test it I would appreciate it if you could post new thread or PM me with the results.

Many thanks to you both

Yes report back asap so that we will all know if there is a solution. And if you can suggest places and prices that woul help as well.

Seen them on amazon.de for around 12e, a lot cheaper than amazon uk for some reason.
Also at antnetdigital.com (spain) but no price given online.

Beware: there are Inverto Blacks (cheap) and Inverto Black ULTRAS (more expensive!)