Voltage selection for bandstacking/single polarity LNBs

[pendragon]

There was a request made a couple of years ago to provide control of LNB voltage for bandstacking LNB purposes; this feature was implemented with the 18/13V selection in the preferences pane. The limitation with this is that it applies to all switches and LNBs. It would be very nice if voltage selection could instead/also be made independently in the satellite configuration pane (under diseqc), similar to how the 22 kHz selection is currently implemented. This has two benefits:

A. Cuts the cabling and number of switches in half for certain multidish/multireceiver setups.

B. Allows selection of proper voltage for LNBs that supply a single polarity.

For example, the voltage control options for each satellite could be:

1. 18/13V selected by polarity or bandstacking preference (default)
2. Constant 18V
3. Constant 13V

Note this is independent of whether a bandstacking LNB is used, as I will describe later. To provide compatibility for current bandstacking users who select their voltage in the preference pane, option 1 would provide the preference voltage setting for bandstacking LNBs, while options 2 & 3 would override it. I also suggest adding another option to the existing 22 kHz selections:

1. Determined by LOF
2. Determined by polarity (new)
3. 22 kHz on
4. 22 kHz off

Regarding benefit A:

I have four dishes and 22 (will increase) LNBs feeding six (will increase) receivers. While the most common bandstacking LNBs in NA are probably Dish Network DSS (12.2-12.7), my bandstacking LNBs are all FSS (11.7-12.2). Because any receiver can select any satellite/band/polarity, the bandstacking LNBs provide H&V and my remaining LNBs are of by necessity single polarity and single band.

Each 'block' of four LNBs goes through a 4x8 switch controlled by 18/13V and 22 kHz on/off selections. Following those, there is a 8x1 diseqc switch for each receiver allowing it to select the appropriate LNB block. Bandstacking LNBs make this a lot simpler by cutting the number of cables and switches in half. If DVB Dream could choose a constant 18/13V option by satellite for the bandstacking LNBs, I can use blocks of four LNBs. If the bandstacking voltage is forced to a single value for all satellites as it currently is, I have to use at least twice as many switches because I can only make a 22 kHz on/off selection.

Regarding Benefit B:

My non-bandstacking LNBs are all single polarity/single band to support the ability for any receiver to select any dish/band/polarity regardless of what any other receiver is doing. These are high-grade LNBs that require 18V. Because DVB Dream selects polarity only with voltage, power inserters are required for each vertical polarity LNB following a voltage switch. For this case it might be better to control polarity with 22 KHz on/off and lock the voltage to 18V. It seems to me that anyone who employs high-grade, single polarity/single band LNBs could benefit from this.

These features would expand the flexibility of DVB Dream, and I believe would not break existing setups. Thanks for considering this feature; DVB Dream in its current form is already more capable than anything else I have tried.