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Bought a $90 Ku band LNB off eBay and got burned | DIY Satellite Dishes - Free To Speak

Bought a $90 Ku band LNB off eBay and got burned

Back in 2021 I picked up this fancy Invacom QPH-031 LNB from a seller in Florida. Figured a 25 year old dish with a brand new LNB would finally lock in those weak PBS feeds. Spent like five weekends messing with skew angles and focal distances before I realized the internal switch was shot. Did anyone else waste cash on a hyped up component that just plain didn't work?

3 comments

3 Comments

sanchez.mary2mo ago

I read somewhere that the Invacom QPH-031 has a known issue with the internal 22kHz switching circuit failing after a few months. Happened to a guy on a satellite forum I used to follow, he had to replace his after six months. The design just seems fragile, not built for real world heat and dust. You might have better luck with a simple single output LNB from a brand like Digiwave or even a generic one. Those cheap ones can be more reliable than the fancy stuff. It's a real bummer when you drop that kind of money and get a lemon.

blairc902mo ago

Ngl, I went through the same headache with the QPH-031 a couple years back. The 22kHz switching died on me after about four months, exactly like you're describing. What worked for me was just swapping it out for a basic single output LNB from a no-name brand off Amazon, paired with a simple diseqc switch for multi-sat setups. It's been running solid for over two years now, even through summer heat and a ton of dust. The Invacom just seems overengineered in a bad way, sometimes the cheap stuff really does hold up better. Saved myself a lot of grief by going that route.

emeryj662mo ago

You know, I used to be one of those guys who thought you had to spend the extra money to get quality. Had a QPH-031 myself, really wanted to believe the hype. But after reading stories like this, and seeing how many people have the same 22kHz switching fail, it's hard to argue with the results. My buddy just tossed his Invacom and put a $12 generic LNB on his dish, paired with a cheap DiSEqC switch, and he's pulling in 97W and 101W without a single hiccup for over a year now. Makes me wonder if those engineers overcomplicated a simple thing that just needs to sit outside and work. Your mileage may vary, but seeing the cheap stuff outlast the expensive stuff is a pretty good reality check.