Anyone know about satellite cable etc?
 

I want to change the LNB on my French installation to a 4-way one, it fits via a circular clamp around the body of the LNB. I've been quoted €30 in France, but they SEEM to be on ebay for under £10?

Any advice please?

Also, which type of cable should I buy and where from? I'll be putting satellite TV into at least two more rooms, so will prob be buying 100m.

And what fittings do I need for the dish/LNB and the box, please?

Hi mate,

I've replaced mine before with an 8-way LNB off eBay, around £15 at the time. It came with a new clamp to attach it to the dish arm. I think most are universal now. My dish arm is rectangular.

The connectors are Type F connectors.

The cable is RG6, also search for shotgun cable for dual tuner boxes.

Probably as handy ordering everything off eBay from the one seller unless there's somewhere local to you there that has it all.

Thanks, wasn't sure about RG6 or R100(??) which was dearer.
Screwfix do the RG6 at £24.41 per 100m reel. That will do me.

Pretty good really, as they want £32 for a 100m reel of single core 2.5 sq mm cable!!!!

I've now bought a 4-way head, thanks, will get the cable and connectors before I go out, then I just need a couple of decoder boxes, and some DECENT wall cable fixings. the UK ones seem crap.
Currys have Manhattan boxes at £44 each at the mo, a saving against €90 in France, I have one already and they are fine, not interested in recording stuff...nowt on TV's worth that! I need three more though, plus three new TV's........:(

Ct 100 cable is better quality for signal loss, but has become prohibitive in cost to buy

This: http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-pf...0m-black/37838 ??

Ct 100 costs £144+vat from farnell

WF100/CT100/PF100/CB10R is the cable...and I'd advise it meets CAI standards for long cable runs.

Our installation in Spain uses C0125R (like WF125) which I purchased in the UK, due to it being a long cable run and at the time signals from the Astra 2D transponder are very weak which is the satellite that many of the main freeview channels were broadcast on. So I needed the best signal/noise ratio I could get (doesn't matter as much nowadays as the transponder/channels have shifted). The locals tend to use/supply RG6 which varied in quality massively depending on brand. So I had to ensure what I used was of a proper brand and not some nasty Chinese tat that's so often offered (in my case its made by Cables-Britain which is local to me)

LNBs will vary depending on your dish and you pay for what you get, cheap tat only works in strong signal areas and may not last either; There are also lots of counterfeits on ebay so you have been warned.

If its not a sky minidish (which is wider than it is tall) There are two other types; An offset dish (taller than it is wide, LNB located lower down), or Prime focus (perfectly circular, LNB centrally mounted).

If its a prime focus, its likely to need a C120 type LNB, some very large offset dishes are also C120. The way to tell is the feedhorn (front bit) bolts to the LNB which in turn is clamped to the dish.

Smaller offset dishes tend to use a combined LNB and feedhorn as a complete unit (it doesn't come apart).


For weak signal, I can only recommend either Invacom or Inverto, they are both highly regarded brands. I have a Invacom quad C120 LNB which instantly gave better reception on all output compared to the old LNB

I also use a protective cap off a Ribena Fruit Shoot bottle on the end of the feed horn to stop spiders nesting in there; Works a treat and makes no difference to the signal (and the spiders getting in there do affect signal)