TELE INTERNATIONAL - TELE-satellite International Magazine

This is not about a perfume from Chanel.
Instead, the Lorenzen SL No 5 is a small
analogue receiver with one powerful feature:
a superb low threshold extension. It will be
of use in areas where no high power satellites
are in use. And in even in the era of
digital transmissions, there is still a large
number of analogue signals.
SL No. 5
w/ Low Threshold
One of the major objectives for Lorenzen
was to make using this receiver easier than
ever before. Remember how to calculate
the input frequency? Just take the real
frequency, subtract the LOF and the input
frequency is what is left. And that’s what
the display shows. Don’t panic! The box is
pre-programmed with around 500 channels
from Astra, Eutelsat, some Intelsats,
Telecom and Türksat. 500 Channels is also
the maximum of channels the receiver can
store. Users in other regions can add other
channels manually. The manual is of great
help here.
The three emergency buttons are located
just aside the display. At the back, we
found two LNB inputs. You can connect
one Ku-band and one C-band LNB or just
two Ku-band LNBs when using a multi-feed
installation. But all kinds of combinations
can be made utilising the built-in DiSEqC
1.0 system.
There is one little mistake with this box:
C-band feeds use to have those polarisers.
No 5 does not have connections for that.
However, there are one or two manufacturers
offering LNBs for C-band reception
with 14/18 Volt polarisation control. Also
located at the back are three Scart connectors
and a stereo audio output in phono
connectors. Terrestrial signals are perfectly
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combined with the AV signal of the No 5.
Unfortunately, the modulator can only be
set to a channel using an adjusting screw.
The remote control is rather small and only
has twelve buttons and a numeric keypad.
It is easy to understand and makes operating
the receiver really easy.
In practice
The first installation of our No. 5 showed
the real advantages of a basic receiver.
We didn’t really need the manual, since
within three minutes Arabsat was received.
Although those channels were not pre-programmed,
we could easily add the channels
using the Satco-DX listings.
Somehow, we missed the volume control
on this receiver. Suddenly, the remote of
the television became important again. On
purpose, we used a smaller dish on this
Arabsat, just to test the low-threshold extension.
It can be adjusted in eight steps, which
proved to be sufficient in practice. Although
it cannot be compared to other systems,
it worked just fine. About the audio: no
Panda stereo system is built-in. Not even an
adaptive system. But still, the stereo sound
is crystal clear and sounds good. For video
goes the same as for audio: crystal clear
and of high quality even though there is no
control of the video level. A parental lock
can prevent your youngsters from watching
particular channels. Using a PIN-code
you can unlock those channels. The factory
code can be changed easily.
We tested a variety of external decoders,
which all performed well, such as the D2-
MAC decoder from Philips. The decoder
circuit can be programmed which makes it
possible to operate a wide range of decoders.
The power supply is heavy and doesn’t
generate too much heat. Looking at the
receiver part No. 5 would deserve a global
approval, but the limited operating voltage
of 230V/50Hz makes that impossible.
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