HELP! Mercury II Editor does not work!

bill190 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-15-2007, 11:42 AM

I finally found time to get the satellite list on my receiver straightened out, so I will have two listings for each satellite which are both C and Ku.

But I have found that the channel editor for the Mercury II does not work properly!

If I go to full screen, I can't see the things at the bottom like Network, CAS, TV Favorates, or Radio Favorates. (Favorates is misspelled and should be "Favorites".)

Additional problems are with adding satellites...

Try deleting all satellites in the list and adding a new satellite. Can't do it!

Then leave one satellite at the top of the list, and add satellites below that. Each time I add a satellite, I will enter the position of the satellite, but it will add .1 to whatever I entered.

Example I add satellite INTEL_9_K at 58.0 W

This comes up on the list as INTEL_9_K [58.1]

Then I need to edit it to be 58.0.

Then when I download this satellite list to my receiver, it lists the name and position of the first satellite (which I edited and did not delete), but does not list any other satellite names.

Example the channel list on my PC says...

INTEL_9_C [58.0W] (I edited this listing)
INTEL_9_K [58.0W] (I added this listing)
AMAZ_C [61.0W] (I added this listing)
AMAZ_K [61.0W] (I added this listing)

But after I download it to my receiver, it says this...

INTEL_9_C [58.0W]
[58.0W]
[61.0W]
[61.0W]

(My Mercury II receiver only lists the name of the satellite listing I edited, but for the satellite listings I added, it only lists the position!)

Software versions I am using...

PC CHEditor Version 1.0
Mercury II receiver Version V0151

Note: The SoftWare Downloader for the channel editor says V0.95, but my receiver (in Product Information) says Loader Version 1.00.

And why do I need to add satellites? Because I am using a BSC621-2 C/Ku LNBF on my big 12 ft dish and need separate listings for each satellite for C and Ku. I live on the west coast of the US and can see from INTEL 9 (58.0W) to ECHO 1/2 (148.0W).

The satellite list which comes with my receiver has 58 satellite listings, but I need 67 satellite listings to list every satellite twice which has both C and Ku.

If I lived on the east coast of the U.S., I would be able to see many more satellites and would need to add more listings than 67.

Following is my satelite list.
C = C-band, K = Ku-band, CC = C Circular, KC = Ku Circular
The names are shortened so they will display on the receiver.
I have used names of satellites which will be moving into position shortly.

INTEL_1R_C (45.0W)
INTEL_1R_K (45.0W)
INTEL_705_CC (50.0W)
INTEL_707_CC (53.0W)
INTEL_707_K (53.0W)
INTEL_805_C (55.5W)
INTEL_9_C (58.0W)
INTEL_9_K (58.0W)
AMAZ_C (61.0W)
AMAZ_K (61.0W)
E_3_RN_1_KC (61.5W)
NAH_1/A_6_C (72.0W)
NAH_1/A_6_K (72.0W)
DIREC_1_KC (72.5W)
GAL_11_C (74.0W) (Was SBS_6)
GAL_11_K (74.0W) (Was SBS_6)
AMC_5_K (79.0W)
NIMIQ_2_KC (82.0W)
AMC_9_KC (83.0W)
AMC_16_C (85.0W) (Was AMC 2)
AMC_16_K (85.0W) (Was AMC 2)
AMC_3_C (87.0W)
AMC_3_K (87.0W)
GAL_28_C (89.0W)
GAL_28_K (89.0W)
GAL_11/N1_C (91.0W)
GAL_11/N1_K (91.0W)
GAL_26_C (93.0W)
GAL_26_K (93.0W)
GAL_3C_C (95.0W)
GAL_3C_K (95.0W)
GAL_25_C (97.0W)
GAL_25_K (97.0W)
GAL_16_C (99.0W)
GAL_16_K (99.0W)
AMC_4/D48_C (101.0W)
AMC_4/D48_K (101.0W)
SPACE_1_KC (102.8W)
AMC_1_C (103.0W)
AMC_1_K (103.0W)
AMC_15_K (105.0W)
ANIK_F1/R_C (107.3W)
ANIK_F1/R_K (107.3W)
DTV_5/E810_KC (110.0W)
ANIK_F2_C (111.1W)
ANIK_F2_K (111.1W)
SATMEX_6_C (113.0W)
SATMEX_6_K (113.0W)
SATMEX_5_C (116.8W)
SATMEX_5_K (116.8W)
Anik_F3_KC (118.8W)
E_7/D_7S_KC (119.0W)
E_9/GAL23_C (121.0W)
E_9/GAL23_K (121.0W)
GAL_10R_C (123.0W)
GAL_10R_K (123.0W)
GAL_14_C (125.0W)
GAL_13/H1_C (127.0W)
GAL_13/H1_K (127.0W)
GAL_27/E5_C (129.0W)
GAL_27/E5_K (129.0W)
AMC_11_C (131.0W)
GAL_15_C (133.0W)
AMC_10_C (135.0W)
AMC_7_C (137.0W)
AMC_8_C (139.0W)
ECHO_1/2_KC (148.0W)

wejones · #2 (**permalink**) 06-15-2007, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

I finally found time to get the satellite list on my receiver straightened out, so I will have two listings for each satellite which are both C and Ku.

But I have found that the channel editor for the Mercury II does not work properly!

If I go to full screen, I can't see the things at the bottom like Network, CAS, TV Favorates, or Radio Favorates. (Favorates is misspelled and should be "Favorites".)

Yeah, same thing happens for me too. You can see those items using the scroll bars though, if you don't go full screen. They probably wrote the program using some unusual video card resolution, and never considered that other people don't use that resolution. I'll bet that if we tried several different screen resolutions that one of them would work, but it's not worth the effort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

Additional problems are with adding satellites...

Try deleting all satellites in the list and adding a new satellite. Can't do it!

Then leave one satellite at the top of the list, and add satellites below that. Each time I add a satellite, I will enter the position of the satellite, but it will add .1 to whatever I entered.

Yeah, this happened to me not with the computer editor, but with the receiver itself. Ie when I tried entering two satellites (C and Ku) at the same longitude, it entered 0.1 to the 2nd satellite. 0.1 is pretty negligible, but it's still an annoying bug in the firmware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

Example I add satellite INTEL_9_K at 58.0 W

This comes up on the list as INTEL_9_K [58.1]

Then I need to edit it to be 58.0.

Then when I download this satellite list to my receiver, it lists the name and position of the first satellite (which I edited and did not delete), but does not list any other satellite names.
...

I get the impression that the Mercury just does not allow you to have two satellites at the same longitude, and even if you create such sats in the editor, it messes up when you download to the receiver.
I think this is related to the dumbed down Diseqc 1.2 function on this receiver, which doesn't let you enter, or even know what actual satellite number it is using for each sat. It seems to just assign sat numbers 1 at a time, and each one has a new DiseqC 1.2 number. Well, I think they just didn't want you to be able to assign the same DiseqC sat position to 2 different sats, or have 2 different positions the same. It's like they never considered the possibility of someone having C and Ku or something. Weird.

Anyway, although I've used this channel editor to upload data to my computer, I haven't bothered using it yet for actual editing, because it seems like a worthless program. I keep hoping that they will come out with new firmware for the Mercury, and a new editor, but I'm betting that they will probably abandon this receiver and go on to new receivers, leaving Mercury owners out of luck.

So far, the only nice thing I can say about the Mercury is the component output. I've basically deligated this receiver for just a single satellite. However my Ultra seems to be giving signs of dying, so I may be forced to use the Mercury for other sats soon.