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Thanks to the holiday delay/slowdown our SkyBox S12 stock just arrived. This is as cheap as you can get in a DVB-S2/HD STB at $88 with FREE USA Priority Mail shipping.

These begin shipping to customers Wednesday, December 28. There is already a backlog of S10’s and S12’s going out so if you want a S12 ASAP get your order in quick.

Note: Initial shipment is black.

Store page: http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=1505

Review: http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthr…3#pid63453

I don’t recall this being nearly as bad last year. My apologies ahead of time as I never anticipated this much of a slowdown.

USA/PR
Many customer shipments from last week have yet to be delivered. Stuff that I have received delivery confirmation back on that normally takes 2-3 days has been took 4-7. To make it worse, USPS is closed Monday, Dec. 26. I expect them to also be slow this week, and to top it off next Monday Jan. 2, is another postal/Federal holiday!

Puerto Rico almost always takes longer than the 2-3 days for Priority. I’d expect further delays for PR as well.

This has also impacted delivery of bulk goods to FridgeFTA. We are still waiting on several shipments from last week. If we’re lucky they will get here sometime Tuesday, probably late due to several carriers not operating over the weekend or today. 2 shipments of S10’s and our initial S12 shipment are in the “waiting” category. Only good news I see is amazingly, US Customs appears to be moving smooth, everything from overseas has cleared and is just waiting for the carriers to get moving.

In short I would expect delays with shipping thru the end of the year.

Canada
Hard to say with Canada Post. During normal times we can ship 2 packages the same day to the same person in Canada. CA Post delivers one in 5 days, the other in 14. Probably safe to assume that CA Post is also backlogged this time of year. CA Customs can be similarly unpredictable.

For those that chose the cheaper First Class Insured, this normally takes 6-14 business days not including possible customs delays or holiday slowdown. There is no real end user “tracking” so these always will show “notice received” or departed/arrived at a US sort facility until they show up in your mailbox. Don’t worry, even when they are slow CA Post has never lost one, knock on wood.

Again my apologies for the mess but with shippers and the holidays it is beyond our control.

Outside NA & Forwarders
Speed and holiday delays vary greatly by country and customs department. If sent from here directly you at least have tracking. If you chose to use a forwarder it is completely beyond our control, some of them are notoriously slow in the best of circumstances which is why we do not contract with forwarders. You will need to contact your forwarder yourself, we can only confirm delivery to the forwarder and are not responsible beyond that.

Normally when I review and test something new I start out talking about the product, how I tested it, what makes it different and things like that. With the Avenger PLL321-S2 it is only fair to start out talking about other products.

FridgeFTA did introductory pricing on the PLL321-S2 before testing to reward those with faith in DMS International and FridgeFTA. You made the right move and will NOT be disappointed.

Avenger PLL321-S2 surrounded by obsolete LNBFs.

Now that the other LNBFs are out of the way we can talk about the new Avenger PLL321-S2. Three things make the PLL321-S2 stand out.

1. High Stability PLL (Phase Locked Loop) Local Oscillator. Simply put, this is an expensive, higher tech way to generate the reference frequency for the LNB. The higher the stability, the easier you can lock weak, narrow and/or high FEC signals. Avenger PLL321-S2 has a stability of 300kHz, compared to other Ku LNBFs that are 1MHz if lucky to 3MHz or worse. PLLs are used in $200+ commercial grade LNBs and LNBFs.

2. Low noise figure. PLL321-S2 is a 0.1dB N.F. LNBF. Many commercial high stability LNB/LNBF generate more noise, partially offsetting the stability advantage. Not so with the PLL321-S2.

3. Price. The Avenger PLL321-S2 is priced at a hair fraction of commercial grade LNBs/LNBFs.

First Impressions
As usual, MrTim and DMSI introduce and deliver a product to me during a rainstorm, blizzard, tornado or other natural disaster. Today only started at 1F with constant high winds blowing across the field. A little less than ideal conditions to work outside in and test products.

First thing I did was to unbox a PLL and check it out. Smaller than Spitfire. Black. Then something fell out of the box: a black matching rubberized weatherboot. Cool!

Feed throat opening appears a bit bigger than other Ku LNBFs but not by much. The “neck” where the LNBF clamp attaches is also a bit longer than Spitfire, allowing more in/out adjustment to fine tune your focal point for maximum signal.

Testing
Testing was rather straightforward. An Avenger 322 has spend most of its time on the new version Hotdish90 out here. I picked out some of the low symbol rate, low data rate Ku DVB-S2 signals that I know are pesky, along with some others. I then used a SkyBox S12 to move to each, and read the SNR off the loopthru using a DC blocked SatHero with latest firmware/Nov standard update.

After doing so I went out in the freezing cold and quickly swapped in the PLL321-S2. I did not fine tune its position or tweek it on the meter, just slapped it in as fast as I could in the cold.

Next I flashed the universal november file to SH to match the PLL and switched the settings in S12 to match…..

First test transponder read almost +5dB SNR higher!!!!

Here are the test transponders and results.

72W AMC6
12048H (no channels) +4.65dB

83W AMC9
11735H (RTV/TUFF TV) +3.90dB

87W SES-2
11808H (LPBS) +1.95dB
12010H (KTEL) +0.30dB
12044V (FL CH) +3.6dB

105W AMC15
12136V (no channels) +0.45dB

121W EchoStar9
12089H (no channels) +0.0dB

123W G18
11772V (UWTV) +1.8dB
11838V (FSTV) +3.3dB
11965V (Peace TV) +0.0dB

125W AMC21
12106V (Montana PBS) +2.10dB
12114V (OKLA/OETA) +1.20dB

I had ASSumed before testing that a PLL LNBF wouldn’t do much good on “fat” DVB-S signals. The RTV results of +3.90dB SNR proved that conclusion dead wrong. I wish I had tested more DVB-S with the 322 before switching to the PLL.

I also didn’t think that there would be much difference on decent strength DVB-S2. Wrong again. Just about all the DVB-S2 I tested here was fairly strong. The weakest was 12048H on 72W which went from 7.35dB to 12.00dB, the highest gain observed in testing.

Average across all testing was +1.94dB SNR.

Aside from regular use and stabilizing pesky signals, I see a ton of applications for the PLL: Back of the 621 for C/Ku, multiple Ku LNBFs per dish and possibly excellent results with scalar sidecar come to mind.

Only disadvantages I observed is the well known DiseqC 1.2 fine tuning cutout on vertical transponders with ALi based STBs. Not the PLL’s fault at all, it is the way 22kHz reacts in the ALi boxes. Not much of a concern compared to the gains with the PLL321-S2.

The other thing was that SatHero was jumping around alot. This could be the increased sensitivity of the new firmware or the high winds that were buffeting my dish, or a combination of the two. I will investigate this further, but SH works fine with the PLL otherwise.

Conclusions
I started this article with them. Only other conclusion I have is the guys that got the introductory pricing got a heck of a steal. This is the “MUST HAVE” Ku LNBF. Get them now before FridgeFTA or DMS realizes we priced them too low!!!

Get the Avenger PLL321-S2 at http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=1490

I had thought the only real change to the new version S10 was the addition of the component Y/Pb/Pr video outputs. I was wrong. Almost everything is new and the build quality inside and out is much higher than previous S10’s and I think better than any of the S9’s. This is a really solid looking and feeling unit. I am VERY impressed.

Here are pictures and my notes on the improvements and changes.

1. Component Y/Pb/Pr video outputs.
2. Different layout for HDMI, USB, Ethernet.
3. Power switch now horizontal and relocated.
4. Tuner is now on the mainboard and is secured with nuts on the connectors.
5. Casing tolerances are much more tight.

6. LCD display is offset to the left a bit more. Panel is tinted darker like original version S10 so the LCD isn’t glaring bright.
7. Standby light is much bigger/brighter and can be seen from better angles.
8. Side screws added to the cover similar to S9.

9. Cover has different vent layout and less vents, probably better for dust. Bottom casing has many more vent holes for airflow.

10. New power supply.
11. New cleaner looking mainboard
12. New card reader board
13. I didn’t pull the front panel board but I assume it is also slightly different.

More inside pics:

DMS has provided us with new operating firmware today. This firmware allows you to set the LCD brightness when you load it. See the attached PDF for instructions, it is very easy.

Tested here today works great!

Firmware is available for download on the private support page at http://www.SatHero.us for our customers only.

Some notes for our customers:

1. Since we were the first in North America to offer SatHero, all of our units including ones from DMSI have been using our custom firmware. Since we now purchase all SatHero’s from DMSI we’ll run their firmware or custom versions of it. This release is a “stock” version.

2. Boot screen is different than our previous firmwares.

3. Meter is back to reading “C/N” instead of “SNR”. For discussion/readings purposes they are the same thing.

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DMS/Satherometers.com release
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Here is some good news for those of you who ask me about adjusting the LCD. The operating software for the SH-200 has been improved and is available to registered owners for download. It now includes the ability to adjust the brightness of your LCD.

If you want to learn more about adjusting your LCD brightness you can download the instructions here. (attached to this post)

If you don’t have a Sathero SH-200 yet, contact your favorite DMS International dealer. They are in stock and on special through the holidays. Get this great meter now.

Happy metering!
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Note from T: SatHero is on the Cyber Monday specials page at a great price http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=1458

FridgeFTA / OpenBoxS10.info is now offering the LATEST and GREATEST in OpenBox. The latest version of S10 has 2 big changes.

1. Component video out (Y/Pb/Pr). This is the red/green/blue colored RCA’s on your TV. Component supports up to 1080iHD. If you do not have HDMI on your TV or you are short on HDMI ports, this is what you want.

HDMI and the composite (analog) are still included.

2. Tuner is now on the mainboard rather than a module. This was necessary in order to fit the component video outputs.

The latest version OpenBox will begin shipping to our customers Monday and Tuesday (Nov 28-29). First come, first served. I expect stock of the new version to sell fast.

http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=1102

The main reason that most of our Canadian prices are a bit higher is that shipping to Canada typically costs us more. With Priority Mail, a S10 to Canada costs us about 3x what it costs to ship the same exact thing here.

Starting Friday November 25 we will be introducing a new shipping option for OpenBox S10 and SatHero: First Class International Insured. This is a much lower cost option for shipping S10’s and SatHero. Priority Mail will still be available.

I figured that I better explain Canadian shipping options to avoid some confusion. These will be selectable from the “add to cart” dropdown when shipping options are available.

First Class International Insured
First Class International is only available on items up to 4 pounds, meaning S10 & SatHero fit in this class. First Class is inexpensive compared to Priority. It is normally slow. Typical shipping times are 6-14 business days. I’ve seen First Class to Canada get there in 3, and on rare occasion a few days longer than 14. End user tracking is typically not available with First Class. Possible delays with the Xmas season. Other than being slower this has been a very reliable service.

Priority Mail
This is how all S10’s and SatHero’s were being shipped. Everything over 4 pounds must go Priority Mail too. It is quite expensive and they advertise 6-10 days shipping time. Since the strike it seems Priority has been moving very fast in Canada, I’ve seen 2 days, with 3-5 being more typical. Shipping times are not guaranteed. Priority Mail is end user trackable.

We’ve made some changes to our Fortec 1.8m and 2.4m BUD offerings. The main change is for the 1.8m. We now have better shipping rates to most locations in the continental USA.

With the better shipping for the 1.8m we can now offer it for $230 total INCLUDING SHIPPING!

It is an excellent value on a name brand dish from an established True FTA dealer.

Check it out at http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=752