Last weekend, I took advantage of relatively good weather to try out a new LNB that someone sent me. I tested three low-noise LNBs to see whether it was worth changing what I already had.

My dedicated Galaxy 10R dish sported a large 2-year-old Invacom LNB rated at 0.4dB. (Remember that for noise, lower numbers are better.) I took my receiver out to the dish and hooked it up directly, bypassing the switch and the long cable runs. Pointing at the 11720 transponder, it was showing signal quality in the mid to upper 50s. So far so good.

Next, I swapped in another 0.4dB 2-year-old LNB, the small FSKU-v from Fortec Star. When I first got it a couple of years ago, I tried it out but couldn’t get a decent signal out of it. Just for fun, I tried it, and this time, its signal quality numbers were just as good as the Invacom. What did I do wrong two years ago?

The third contestant was the newest entry, the Tracker II+ from WS International. It’s rated at 0.2 dB, and it is tiny! Although it’s a standard (non-universal) LNB, that’s not an issue with most North American satellites. The cable connector is recessed, making me glad that I had my 7/16-inch wrench handy. I made the connections, adjusted the skew, and got quality in the lower 60s! Neither of the other LNBs had ever broken 60. The Tracker II+ stays.

Thanks to Robby Dosetareh of WS International for sending this out. All three LNBs are good, but the Tracker II+ is the best today.