Can only pick up Horizontal TP

[lt1camaro]

I cannot pick up any channels from vertical transponders. I seem to be able to pick up channels on horizontal transponders with no problems. My setup is:

1 gig P3
512 MB ram
Windows MCE
Twinhan 1020A card
DTV 18" dish
DTV LNB and/or DishNetwork legacy LNB
With and without Diseqc 4x1 switch
MyTheatre 3.12
2.43 Twinhan drivers

I've tried with both DTV and dishnetwork transponders and can only get horizontal TPs. I tried with and without a switch in-line with no luck.

I know I need to get a bigger dish for all the satellites, but I'm using this small dish to test the card first.

I read where the switching voltage for LNB polarization happens above/below 14.5V. I placed a splitter in line so I could read the voltage on the line (with respect to the shield/ground) while the LNB was connected to the card. When I did a transponder scan, the voltage was 18.5V for horizontals and 17.4 for vertical TPs. This is obviously above the 14.5v threshold which would agree with being stuck reading only horizontal TPs.

Did I measure the voltage correctly? Is this a bad card or is there a way to adjust the switching voltage?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by lt1camaro

I cannot pick up any channels from vertical transponders. I seem to be able to pick up channels on horizontal transponders with no problems. My setup is:

.......
Twinhan 1020A card
DTV 18" dish
DTV LNB and/or DishNetwork legacy LNB
With and without Diseqc 4x1 switch
MyTheatre 3.12
2.43 Twinhan drivers

I've tried with both DTV and dishnetwork transponders and can only get horizontal TPs. I tried with and without a switch in-line with no luck.
........
..... I placed a splitter in line so I could read the voltage on the line (with respect to the shield/ground) while the LNB was connected to the card. When I did a transponder scan, the voltage was 18.5V for horizontals and 17.4 for vertical TPs. This is obviously above the 14.5v threshold which would agree with being stuck reading only horizontal TPs.

Did I measure the voltage correctly? Is this a bad card or is there a way to adjust the switching voltage?

Measurement sounds OK, but result doesn't sound right. I just did the same measurement on my card, and got approx 13.7V and 18.8V for the 2 polarities.
However, I'm not familiar with MyTheater, and am not sure what settings might possibly be interfering. Did you try using the VisionDTV pgm that comes with the card first? Or perhaps TSREADER, which is much simpler, and fewer things to go wrong? I did my tests using DVBAPPS.
What LNB TYPE did you define? Standard, with 11250 LO?

[lt1camaro]

I also tried the VisionDTV and Visiondata software that came with the card with the same results. I have the LNBs setup as normal. I have not tried the software you mentioned, but I'll give it a shot.

I tried reinstalling everything last night and switching PCI slots and had the same results. The card has it's own IRQ.

My friend has the same setup and his works fine. He measured his voltage last night and got the same result as you. I think my card is bad.

Now my problem is how to have it fixed. Twinhan does not answer the e-mails I have sent and there is no number listed on their site for customer support.

If I can't get it fixed/replaced, is there a switch that I can put inline that can be triggered by the card that will change voltage levels to my LNB? Maybe a frequency based switch that is powered?

[wejones]

Just to make sure, I assume that the 2 lnbfs you mention are old single satellite lnbfs, not the newer multi-satellite ones, some of which have complicated switching?

Originally Posted by lt1camaro

I also tried the VisionDTV and Visiondata software that came with the card with the same results. I have the LNBs setup as normal. I have not tried the software you mentioned, but I'll give it a shot.

I tried reinstalling everything last night and switching PCI slots and had the same results.

Well, that was going to be my next suggestion. Did you completely uninstall the drivers? Mine stopped working once until I uninstalled the drivers, and re-installed them.

Originally Posted by lt1camaro

My friend has the same setup and his works fine. He measured his voltage last night and got the same result as you. I think my card is bad.

You are probably right, but:
Is he using the same version of the drivers? I think I'm using an older version, although I'm not positive. You might try putting in an older version of the drivers. Although I'm not sure if the actual drivers have changed with the new VisionDTV software.
Also, are you and your friend both using the same OS / SP? I've heard a lot of bad things from people who just put in SP2 on their XP machine. I'm using Win2k myself, so I can't confirm.

Originally Posted by lt1camaro

If I can't get it fixed/replaced, is there a switch that I can put inline that can be triggered by the card that will change voltage levels to my LNB? Maybe a frequency based switch that is powered?

You could probably rig up a manual switch of some sort with an external power supply, or another option would be to get another card/receiver, and have that receiver do the polarity switching. I normally don't have my Twinhan controlling either polarity or band. Ie I usually have an analog receiver controlling polarity, and another DVB receiver controlling my Diseq switch. However occasionally, when I connect to a DTV dish like you are trying to do, I let the Twinhan control the polarity, and it works OK.

[lt1camaro]

Originally Posted by wejones

Just to make sure, I assume that the 2 lnbfs you mention are old single satellite lnbfs, not the newer multi-satellite ones, some of which have complicated switching?

Yes, they are both old, single LNBs. They do not have built in switches.

Originally Posted by wejones

Well, that was going to be my next suggestion. Did you completely uninstall the drivers? Mine stopped working once until I uninstalled the drivers, and re-installed them.

I completely uninstalled the drivers and apps and then re-installed them. I believe the version of the drivers themselves was 2.4.1. They were included in the VisionDTV 2.4.3 release which is the latest.

Originally Posted by wejones

You are probably right, but:
Is he using the same version of the drivers? I think I'm using an older version, although I'm not positive. You might try putting in an older version of the drivers. Although I'm not sure if the actual drivers have changed with the new VisionDTV software.
Also, are you and your friend both using the same OS / SP? I've heard a lot of bad things from people who just put in SP2 on their XP machine. I'm using Win2k myself, so I can't confirm.

We are running the same drivers and software revs. The only difference is he is running XP pro and I'm running XP MCE.

Originally Posted by wejones

You could probably rig up a manual switch of some sort with an external power supply, or another option would be to get another card/receiver, and have that receiver do the polarity switching. I normally don't have my Twinhan controlling either polarity or band. Ie I usually have an analog receiver controlling polarity, and another DVB receiver controlling my Diseq switch. However occasionally, when I connect to a DTV dish like you are trying to do, I let the Twinhan control the polarity, and it works OK.

I still have an old DTV receiver laying around somewhere. Maybe I can get that to set the voltage. I found out how to disable the LNB power on the card in VisionDTV. I'll see if I can get it to work in MYTheatre as well. Hopefully, Twinhan will step up and replace the faulty card. It's not looking good right now as I cannot even get a hold of anybody at the company.

Thanks for all of your help. This whole project started trying to pull in PBS for my kids since I can't get a good signal with my antenna. Hope I can get it working soon...

[vj9999]

You said that you use "Normal" setting. Try changing to "Custom" and enter LO to be 11250.

[lt1camaro]

Originally Posted by vj9999

You said that you use "Normal" setting. Try changing to "Custom" and enter LO to be 11250.

I was mistaken - I've tried just about every setting in the software. I currently have it set up as custom with LO at 11250. VisionDTV detects stations only on horizontal TPs. The stations come in at a 78% quality and 66% strength, but visionDTV says the signals are too weak. MyTheatre works fine and I can watch NASA. NASA does not even show up under VisionDTV.

Since I'm not getting anywhere from the manufacturer, I'm going to diagnose the card and see if I can fix it. I'm guessing a bad trace or cold solder joint. I just need to get the info sheets on the ICs their using for their LNB voltage reg.

[vj9999]

It is not really Horizontal polarization. It uses circular polarization so it is either R or L. But that shouldn't metter as those translate into H or V. Nasa TV is on 12297 L / 20000SR. Try 12399 R/20000SR that should have some FTA audio only stations.

Can MyTheather pick up both polarizations?

[lt1camaro]

Originally Posted by vj9999

It is not really Horizontal polarization. It uses circular polarization so it is either R or L. But that shouldn't metter as those translate into H or V. Nasa TV is on 12297 L / 20000SR. Try 12399 R/20000SR that should have some FTA audio only stations.

Can MyTheather pick up both polarizations?

Yes, both LNBs that I have tried are circular. I'm just using the H and V terms as all of the software I've used is written around linear LNBs and specify H or V. I'm having the same problem with every piece of software I have tried - I only receive channels from Horizontal (Left ?) transponders. When I measure the LNB voltage, it nevers goes below 17.5V so it never switches the polarity on my LNBs.

I'm at work now and do not have the card in front of me. Anyone know what IC is used on the 1020A to control LNB voltage?