The device used for connecting multiple Low Noise Blocks to a single satellite receiver is the Digital Satellite Equipment Control Switch, or DiSEqC switch. This device utilizes Digital Satellite Equipment Control technology as a special communication control between the satellite receiver and the switch. This protocol is also used for transferring data and information to antenna rotors for small dishes. The Digital Satellite Equipment Control protocol was developed by Eutelsat, a European satellite provider which acts as the current standards agency for all DiSEqC protocols.

Digital Satellite Equipment Control transmits bidirectional signals, data and power by using a coaxial cable. The DiSEqC protocol is utilized to control all switches and motors which are connected to satellite receivers or dishes. The DiSEqC protocol has a voltage flexibility of 13 to 18 volts, and it has a frequency of 22 kHz tone. It achieves these statistics by using techniques such as ToneBurst and MiniDiSEqC. The DiSEqC protocol is also confirmed to be compatible with actuators used in rotating large C band dishes. The protocol is only compatible in this case if the positioner of the satellite dish also operates under the DiSEqC protocol.

There are different variations of DiSEqC protocol available. The first version and its subsequent upgrades (Versions 1.0 to 1.2) allows for switching between 4 satellite sources for version 1.0 to 16 satellite sources for version 1.1 and 1.2. Versions 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 add bi-directional communication pathways to their corresponding versions i.e. DiSEqC 2.0 adds bi-directional communication to DiSEqC 1.0, etc. Note that the new versions have backward compatibility while the old versions do not have forward compatibility. Both 1.0 and 2.0 DiSEqC switches are compatible with all versions of DiSEqC receivers. This means that the DiSEqC switches can be controlled by any DiSEqC receiver without worries of malfunctions.

The Digital Satellite Equipment Control switch specializes in combining up to 4 satelite feeds into a single, combined output on the Digital Video Broadcast card. Note that all Digital Video Broadcast cards are incorporated with the standard DiSEqC protocol. This means that the software, along with the card understands every single feed connected to each input port of the DiSEqC switch. This allows users to switch satellite feeds by using their remote control. The Dish Network multiswitch works similarly with DiSEqC switches, but they do not have the same compatibility. The satellite feed should be received directly from the Low Noise Block of the satellite dish’s antenna. The software must be properly configured after the hardware has been set up.