TEST REPORT

Vantage Multifeed

TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com

Four Satelliteswith OneAntennaIf you’ve ever thought about expanding your satellite system

to receive more than one orbital position, you really only

have two possibilities: either you install a DiSEqC

motor or you utilize a multifeed construction.

the +/- 10° range of the antenna focal point,

this for the most part works without any

problems. But the further east or west you

go, the worse the reception becomes. The

receivable satellites are not positioned along

a straight line, as you might expect, instead

it is more of a curve as viewed from the sat-

ellite antenna. The southern-most satellite

from your position is at the highest eleva-

tion point and all the other satellites are on

a curve that runs from east to west. Thus,

Vantage manufactured their multifeed hold-

ers in such a way that they can be adjusted

vertically, horizontally and across. This lets

you adjust the position of each LNB for opti-

mal reception.

The workmanship of the individual pieces

is quite good and the assembly is easy. We

also liked the fact that it only weighed 343

gm (~3/4 pound). This multifeed solution

was ideally designed for use with Vantage

antennas although we had no trouble install-

ing this holder on other antennas (such as

Gibertini).

Multifeed Adaptor 

Your unfriendly neighbors might not like the

idea of a DiSEqC motor since the noise from

one of these small motors could be somewhat

disturbing especially at night. This leaves

only the second choice available: multifeed.

Various manufacturers offer special anten-

nas with double-reflectors providing a recep-

tion range of roughly 60°. Vantage, based in

Germany, thought that it didn’t always have

to be this way and worked on a solution that

allowed multifeed reception using a stand-

ard antenna. The result was a multifeed rail

that at first glance looked rather simplistic

but after assembling the individual pieces

it became apparent that the manufacturer

spent quite a lot of time in its design.

Typical multifeed mounts are usually

installed on a rigid rail and the LNB holders

can only be moved to the east or the west. In

Mount

 

Thomas HaringTELE-satellite

Test Center Austria

TECHNICALDATA

Manufacturer  Vantage Digital, Amalienbadstr. 36, 76227 Karlsruhe

Tel.: +49 (0) 721 / 96 14 17-0

Fax: +49 (0) 721 / 96 14 17-9

E-Mail: info@vantage-digital.com

Function: Multifeed Adaptor for up to 4 LNBs

TEST REPORT

TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com

In addition to the four holders for the

LNBs, the package also included the actual

multifeed rail as well as all the necessary

assembly hardware. Unfortunately, assem-

bly instructions were not included. Begin-

ners might therefore have some difficulties

putting this all together.

Everyday UseTwo screws are used to mount the multi-

feed rail in the spot on the antenna where

the LNB mount would have gone. Because

of the design of this rail, it is not possible to

install an LNB in the exact focal point of the

dish since the mount for the rail is in the way.

Before you start to install the LNBs and align

them, you must first decide what satellites

you want to receive since this will determine

which satellite will be roughly located in the

focal point and how the rail is to be installed

on the antenna.

For our tests we played around with a

number of different satellite combinations.

We started with Astra 19.2° east, Astra3A

23.5° east, Astra2 28.2° east and Turksat

42° east. In this case the Astra2 satellite

was aligned with the focal point of the dish

after which one LNB after the other was set

up and aligned. While reception of the three

Astra satellites was excellent (and this natu-

rally has to do with their high power output),

Turksat was receivable although there was

not all that much bad weather reserve.

Additional satellite combinations tested

were Astra 19.2° east, Hotbird 13° east,

Astra2 and Sirius 5° east as well as Hotbird

13° east, Sirus 5° east, Thor 1° west and

Amos1 4° west. We also went even further

west with Hispasat at 30° west, as well as

PAS 3R 43° west and PAS1R 45° west. The

design of the LNB holder permits reception of 

satellites spaced only 3° apart allowing com-

binations such as Astra

19.2° east, EutelsatW2 16° east and also

Hotbird 13° east to be received without any

problems. In cases like this, make sure

that the LNBs used are narrow enough and

designed for reception of satellites only 3°

apart. As excited as we were with all of the

LNB holder alignment possibilities, it turned

out that the actual setup was rather tiresome.

Each LNB holder uses three screws, one to

secure the LNB and the other two for setting

the elevation and azimuth. And this is where

the problem is: once the LNB is mounted in

its holder, it becomes somewhat difficult to

loosen or tighten the two other screws. And

if two or more of the LNBs are to be mounted

with only 3° of separation, the entire affair

will be a test of patience.

While aligning the four LNBs, we unfor-

tunately could see how there are fewer

and fewer analog TV channels available; in

the range between 42° east and 30° west

it turned out to be just a mere 17 chan-

nels (not including Astra and Hotbird). This

makes it especially difficult for beginners

to properly align this multifeed rail with its

multiple adjustment settings without the

use of a spectrum analyzer. Even for more

experienced users it would help to have the

spectrum of the more critical satellites mem-

orized in order to speed things up.

And let’s not forget to mention that with

multifeed reception the LNB has to be

installed on the rail on the opposite side

compared to the position of the satelli te. In

other words, if the satellites are positioned

on the east side of the antennas focal point,

the LNBs would need to be installed on the

rail on the west side of the focal point. And

vice versa, the LNBs for western satellites

would be mounted on the east side of the

rail.

Expert conclusion+The Vantage Multifeed Mount is solidly manufactured and offers

the first real multiple adjustment system allowing an expanded recep-

tion range. The universal mount allows the rail to be installed not

only on Vantage-manufactured antennas, but also on antennas from

other makers.

-Unfortunately, the instruction manual was missing. It also needs to be pointed out

that the adjustment screws were very difficult to reach.

Multifeed Adaptor