TEST REPORT LNB

Diamond line LNB’s of

GT-SAT International
Powerful LNB’s
08-09/2008
GT-SAT INTERNATIONAL
DIAMOND LINE LNB’S
High output and low distortion make
these LNBs ideal solutions for any
satellite installation

A few years ago, we were observing the improvement in

noise performance of LNB’s. The older LNBs that had the
noise figure of 0.8 dB or even larger than 1 dB have been
replaced by LNBs with noise figures specified as 0.6, 0.3 or
even 0.2 dB (typically). If you read regularly TELE-satellite,
you know that not always the measurements do prove that
0.2 dB marked devices are better than 0.6 dB devices for
every frequency or polarization. Our recent tests showed
that there is a rather low difference in noise performance of
today’s good quality products. So, how can a manufacturer
make a difference and offer a customer a better product?

Another parameter that is SAT International are just

quite important for systems such products, which we took TELE-satellite World [Link]/...
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with long coax cables is the from the market: single, twin, Arabic ‫ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ‬ [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/ara/[Link]
output power provided by quad and quattro LNB’s (GT- Indonesian Indonesia [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/bid/[Link]
Bulgarian Български [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/bul/[Link]
the LNB. Since a coax cable LST40D, GT-T40D, GT-QD40D Czech Česky [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/ces/[Link]
attenuates the signal, if we and GT-QT40D). These prod- German Deutsch [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/deu/[Link]
English English [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/eng/[Link]
need to feed a receiver that ucts have high conversion Spanish Español [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/esp/[Link]
Farsi ‫ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ‬ [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/far/[Link]
is far away from an LNB, we gain, so when compared with French Français [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/fra/[Link]
need to insert an amplifier at a regular LNB they should Greek Ελληνικά [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/hel/[Link]
Croatian Hrvatski [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/hrv/[Link]
the LNB output. Such ampli- create visible stronger signal Italian Italiano [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/ita/[Link]
fier means additional cost. It at the output. Hungarian Magyar [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/mag/[Link]
Mandarin 中文 [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/man/[Link]
can also spoil the noise per- To check this, we quickly Dutch Nederlands [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/ned/[Link]
Polish Polski [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/pol/[Link]
formance of the system. build the measurement Portuguese Português [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/por/[Link]
The alternative is to use an system: 60 cm dish aimed at Romanian Românesc [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/rom/[Link]
Russian Русский [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/rus/[Link]
LNB that already provides a HOTBIRD 13° East, 0.3dB ref- Swedish Svenska [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/sve/[Link]
stronger signal. And the Dia- erence LNB, satellite signal Turkish Türkçe [Link]/TELE-satellite-0807/tur/[Link]

mond high gain line of GT- analyzer, 10dB signal attenu- Available online starting from 25 July 2008

48 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 08-09/2008 — [Link]

 Table 1. Transponders selected as
signal sources.

ator, a piece of coax cable

and a few 75 ohm termina-
tions (to terminate not con- Fig. 1. Outputs of the single and twin LNB’s of GT-SAT compared to the reference LNB.
nected outputs of a quad and
quattro LNB’s). We selected
transponders situated at the
beginning, at the end and
in the middle of the low and
high subband of Ku-Band. Six
transponders for vertical and Reference
six for horizontal polarization
Quad Out 1
– see Table 1.
Graphs in Figure 1 and 2 Quad Out 2
show the results. The yellow Quad Out 3
bar represents the reference Quad Out 4
LNB. The specification was
Quattro
not overoptimistic. Every-
body can see that the whole
family provide much stronger
signal than the regular LNB
by 7 to 12 dB. Please mind
that a coax cable introduces
20~30 dB attenuation per
100 m. Based on our results,
we can say that the dia-
mond line LNB’s compensate Fig. 2. Outputs of the quad and quattro LNB’s of GT-SAT compared to the reference LNB.
the attenuation introduced
by 30~50 meters of a coax
cable. That is 10~15 stories
of a building!
We knew already before
the measurements that these
LNB’s should have bigger
output power than normally.
So it was not a big sur-
prise. But there are no free
lunches. If you improve one
parameter, you usually have
to agree for a degradation of
something else. In this case,
we were afraid that the noise
performance had suffered.
We measured the modula-
tion error ratio (MER). This
is the very practical method
to check noise performance
when real life signals like
transponders are used.
Fig. 3. Noise performance of the single and twin LNB’s of GT-SAT compared to the reference LNB.
In Figure 3 and 4 you can
see that our fears were base-
less. The single and twin
LNB’s proved to be very com-
parable with our reference.
Table 2. DC current consumption [mA]

50 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 08-09/2008 — [Link]

 we would say it was slightly
worse. The quattro LNB was
Reference again better than our refer-
Quad Out 1 ence.
Generally, when compared
Quad Out 2
with today’s regular low
Quad Out 3 noise LNBs, the Diamond Line
Quad Out 4 family is significantly better
in output power and more or
Quattro
less equal in noise perform-
ance.
Finally, we also measured
the current consumed by the
devices – see table 2. The
single model consumed less
than 100 mA, the twin and
quad models less than 200
mA and the quattro a little
Fig. 4. Noise performance of the quad and quattro LNB’s of GT-SAT compared to the reference LNB.
bit more than 200 mA. That’s
Although for some trans- slightly more than the regular
ponders they were slightly LNB’s but it is something one
worse but for the other should expect from a high
– they were better! All in all, power output devices.
we think GT-SAT Diamond These LNBs are the perfect
line single and twin models choice for difficult reception
were even better than our areas and allow for plenty
reference. If we compared of bad weather signal reduc-
the quad model in Figure 4, tion.

Outputs located in Expert Opinion

zig-zag pattern for
easy connecting
+
Increased output power allows you to extend
the coax cable by 30-50 meters or introduce lossy
distribution devices. Very good noise perform-
ance – the same as the good regular devices have.
Connectors located not too close each other. Jacek Pawlowski
TELE-satellite
Weather protection of F-connectors in all models. Test Center
Good workmanship. Poland

-
none

F connector
protector TECHNIC
DATA
Manufacturer/Distributor GT Sat International s.a.r.l 16, Rue Millewee,
L-7257 Helmsange-Walferdange, Luxembourg

E-mail info@[Link]
Telephone +352-26432203

Fax +352-26432204

Models GT-LST40D (single)

GT-T40D (twin)
GT-QD40D (quad)
GT-QT40D (quattro)

Description Universal Ku-Band LNBF’s for Offset Dishes

Noise Figure 0.2 dB (typical)

LOF 9.750 and 10.600 GHz

L.O. Frequency Stability +/-1 MHz (Max) @ Room Temp.

Conversion Gain 63 ~ 67 dB

Gain Flatness 26 MHz Bandwidth +/-0.5dB (Typ.)

Internal rain cover which Cross-Pol. Isolation 27 dB (Typ.)

gives perfect rain protection Image Rejection 45 dB (Min.)
to the F connectors
Operating Temperature Range -40°C ~ +65°C

[Link] — 08-09/2008 — TELE-satellite & Broadband 51