truesouth sbs

[never enough]

i have a quality of 98-99 and 72% signal the the name sbs wount come up as the other sats do.so will this make diff with usals.
quad
1m dish
motor
diseqc
vs ex............hopeing this will end

[rainman]

Originally Posted by never enough

i have a quality of 98-99 and 72% signal the the name sbs wount come up as the other sats do.so will this make diff with usals.
quad
1m dish
motor
diseqc
vs ex............hopeing this will end

are you saying sbs 6 is not in your sat menu my fortec ultra you can add a new sat in the menu don't know about the veiwsat.

[elgemcdlf]

The receiver has no idea what it is looking at. It does not identify the sat you are pointed at only reads active tp's. The sat names are there mainly for your use. As Rainman states if SBS6 is not in your list of available sats you should have an area where you can add it in. Perhaps it is under a different name. Can you see the location of the sat in your receiver settings. Look for one with the same location but a different name. If nothing then add it to your lineup.

[never enough]

true soth is sbs strong hit.when i go to echo 3 it shows on my tv as echo3 with low sig hit when i go to sbs much stronger hit it wount show the 74 w on the tv.............

[radiobob]

What you're experiencing is normal. I've noticed that some sat names pop up in the upper right corner of the Antenna Setup screen and others don't. SBS 6 doesn't.

For example, I can go to G10R and the satellite name will show up, but when I go to AMC 4, nothing shows.

The proof is in signal strength and quality (and getting pictures). If you can get Ohio News on SBS 6 11741 H with the sort of signal strength and quality you describe, it really doesn't matter that the satellite name doesn't pop up.

Good luck!

[wejones]

Originally Posted by radiobob

What you're experiencing is normal. I've noticed that some sat names pop up in the upper right corner of the Antenna Setup screen and others don't. SBS 6 doesn't.

For example, I can go to G10R and it the satellite name will show up, but when I go to AMC 4, nothing shows.

The proof is in signal strength and quality (and getting pictures). If you can get Ohio News on SBS 6 11741 H with the sort of signal strength and quality you describe, it really doesn't matter that the satellite name doesn't pop up.

Good luck!

I must admit that I didn't have a clue re what he was saying, but you seem to be familiar with it.
Are you saying that the Viewsat somehow recognizes what satellite that it is on??? If so, any ideas re how it does that? I wonder if it somehow gets the info from the NIT or something, if so, I'd think it might depend on what transponder you lock on to. Ie some transponders have satellite/transponder info as part of the stream, and others don't, and still other transponders have incorrect info. It would be interesting to lock onto different transponders and see what your receiver pops up there.

[radiobob]

Bill:

I don't really know how the Viewsat does what it does (if anybody can figure such things out, my money would be on you), but the receiver seems to read data from somewhere. In the case where two satellites are parked in the same position, you can sometimes be watching a channel on one satellite while the display will show the other bird.

I've experimented by manually changing the name of a satellite, but when that satellite is properly tuned in, its real name pops up in the display. Also, when the "Black Belt" mux was active on Amazonas, it would show up as...Intelsat Americas 5! I don't know if some embedded data was just passing through or what.

When I get a moment, I'll play around with monitoring different transponders on different satellites and see what happens.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by radiobob

Bill:

I don't really know how the Viewsat does what it does (if anybody can figure such things out, my money would be on you), but the receiver seems to read data from somewhere. In the case where two satellites are parked in the same position, you can sometimes be watching a channel on one satellite while the display will show the other bird.

I've experimented by manually changing the name of a satellite, but when that satellite is properly tuned in, its real name pops up in the display. Also, when the "Black Belt" mux was active on Amazonas, it would show up as...Intelsat Americas 5! I don't know if some embedded data was just passing through or what.

When I get a moment, I'll play around with monitoring different transponders on different satellites and see what happens.

Neat. Are the sats named the way YOU named them (if you have entered any of your own in there).

Anyway, there seems to be three possibilities that I can think of:
(1) That it just "thinks" it knows where it is based on where you've told it to go (ie if you change the name of the sat, this would pop up instead of what is popping up there now).
(2) It's figuring it out from the sat beacons (I don't think this is likely at all).
(3) It's figuring it out from the stream you're locked onto somehow. If so, the only PID that I've seen satellite info in is the NIT, but that info is only the longitude of the sat slot, not the name, so if it's coming up with names, it must have a table in memory of what sat is at what location, and new sats would probably come up wrong, like G16 might come up as G4 or something.
Not sure if you can receive AMC1, but I'd be curious what it says on the NBC 11840 channel. This is 4.2.2 so you probably can't view it, but you can lock it, if the polarity isn't too far off. Just curious, because this channel seems to have incorrect info in the NIT. Ie it says that it is the sat at 23.0W. The Pentagon channel on that sat says that it is at 0.0W.
The Globesat muxes on IA5 all have correct info, but the muxes at 12115 and 12012 both say 0.0W. On AMC3, I couldn't find any signal that had correct NIT info, all either didn't have an NIT or said 0.0W.

Interestingly, I tuned in AMC15, which was mentioned in another thread, the NITs on that sat had correct info. However the interesting thing is that it listed the polarities as either "L" or "V" , which I found interesting. Ie I can see L/R or H/V, but L/V seems strange. That's one of the sats that's supposed to be capable of either linear or circular. Makes me wonder if it's half and half, or if they just have incorrect data.

Anyway, it's interesting that this receiver pops up the sat names. I've always assumed that the receiver cannot tell what sat it is on, so I'd be interested in seeing the results of your tests. Only thing that seems possible is that it uses the NIT info, and has a table that converts longitudes to names somehow. Either that or it just accepts what sat name you gave it, except that you guys are saying that sometimes it tells you that you are on a different sat, which makes me think it's the NIT thing.

interesting

[radiobob]

Bill...

Sorry for the long delay. Work, family, etc. have kept me from playing satellite!

I still don't know how this works, but the Viewsat doesn't always seem to discriminate too well, except on the high-powered subscription sats like the EchoStars. In fact, signal strength/quality may play a part in whether or not the receiver displays the satellite.

For example, I tuned in AMC15 and the box showed the right ID, then motored to AMC 4 where it showed AMC 15 for awhile until I got a hot transponder and it reverted to AMC 4. Likewise, shift to AMC 6 showed AMC 4. Go figure.

On the other hand, you can go tune a transponder frequency that is common to several sats and it will only display the actual satellite you're pointing to once it "locks in". For example, using the EchoStars (even though I can't watch 'em), the receiver will show EchoStar 7 when it's pointed that way, then EchoStar 5 when the dish is pointed that way, even with the same TP freq. Is this a function of the receiver comparing USALS info with something? I don't know.

But, as I mentioned originally...several sats show nothing at all, even when tuned in with good signal and quality (such as SBS 6).

Interesting stuff.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by radiobob

Bill...

Sorry for the long delay. Work, family, etc. have kept me from playing satellite!

I still don't know how this works, but the Viewsat doesn't always seem to discriminate too well, except on the high-powered subscription sats like the EchoStars. In fact, signal strength/quality may play a part in whether or not the receiver displays the satellite.

For example, I tuned in AMC15 and the box showed the right ID, then motored to AMC 4 where it showed AMC 15 for awhile until I got a hot transponder and it reverted to AMC 4. Likewise, shift to AMC 6 showed AMC 4. Go figure.

On the other hand, you can go tune a transponder frequency that is common to several sats and it will only display the actual satellite you're pointing to once it "locks in". For example, using the EchoStars (even though I can't watch 'em), the receiver will show EchoStar 7 when it's pointed that way, then EchoStar 5 when the dish is pointed that way, even with the same TP freq. Is this a function of the receiver comparing USALS info with something? I don't know.

But, as I mentioned originally...several sats show nothing at all, even when tuned in with good signal and quality (such as SBS 6).

Interesting stuff.

Thanks. Neat. That almost sounds like if it doesn't pick up the necessary info, that it keeps the last info it had or something. I just looked at AMC4, and I see that the 12120 and 11984 transponders have correct NIT info, but the 12060 transponder has incorrect info (it says 1.0E ). A couple other transponders have 0.0 entered.
All those dishnet sats usually have extensive NIT info.
I just tuned to SBS6, and interestingly, the ONN transponder, and another (tribune) transponder have NIT info that says that it is a sat at 19.2W (I don't think there is one there). But nothing with correct NIT info.
So it still seems possible that it's getting it from the NIT.
Thanks for the info.

[reho33]

I am a Fortec Star believer. There may be better boxes out there but my Lifetime classic NA does the trick. I can tell what sat I am on by the channel content and refrences to Lyngsat, etc. My receiver cannot "tell" what it is pointed at and cannot download names from the sat. Once I have ID'ed the sat I modify the name myself in the edit program on screen. There was only one time that my receiver "downloaded" a satellite name. When I first got my receiver there was no setup for IA-8 (89w). So I blind scanned on one of the open positions (0.0) and after a scan it popped up as IA-8 (89W)! I just don't trust what it thinks it is ,better for me to edit the names myself, especially if I know where I am at in the sky. I also tend to rename the channels too as (Service 1) seems to be the most popular ID for channels. If you have 50 services 1's you go crazy.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by reho33

I am a Fortec Star believer. There may be better boxes out there but my Lifetime classic NA does the trick. I can tell what sat I am on by the channel content and refrences to Lyngsat, etc. My receiver cannot "tell" what it is pointed at and cannot download names from the sat. Once I have ID'ed the sat I modify the name myself in the edit program on screen. There was only one time that my receiver "downloaded" a satellite name. When I first got my receiver there was no setup for IA-8 (89w). So I blind scanned on one of the open positions (0.0) and after a scan it popped up as IA-8 (89W)! I just don't trust what it thinks it is ,better for me to edit the names myself, especially if I know where I am at in the sky. I also tend to rename the channels too as (Service 1) seems to be the most popular ID for channels. If you have 50 services 1's you go crazy.

Well, you got me confused with that one time your "receiver "downloaded" a satellite name". I don't have the Classic, but have a lifetime and lifetime ultra, and I've never seen the receiver try to figure out what sat it is on, and I used to use those unused positions and sats I can't reach all the time, and never saw it try to re-name one.
I'm curious how you moved to IA8? Ie were you using DiseqC1.2 Nudge e/w commands, or did you enter the sat longitude into USALS, or did you move the dish externally, like via an analog receiver, etc. Ie perhaps if you entered in the longitude via USALS, that it might have a table relating sat names to longitude in memory or something. I downloaded the .bin file for your receiver, hoping that I might be able to see such a list, however there was no readable text in the .bin file, so I guess that the file must be compressed or slightly encrypted or something that hides the text from a binary editor. (I did unzip it.) Or, perhaps the sat list is on ROM or something, but that doesn't make sense. When you reset these things to factory defaults, they always go back to their original sat list, so I just assumed that the sat list was part of the .BIN firmware, but maybe not.

BUT.... If it is actually getting the info from the satellite, then I don't know how it is getting it. As I mentioned, the NIT PID has the orbital location in degrees, ie some transponder you tuned to might have had the 089.0W information, however I don't know where it would come up with the IA8 name, unless it had a list in the .BIN file or otherwise in memory, and if it had IA8 in memory, why wouldn't it have that sat in it's sat list in the first place???? Anyway, this is strange to me. I'm really curious how these receivers do this, if in fact they do.

[reho33]

Bill, I am also a USALS believer. I tried DISQeC and it really didn't work out well for me. USALS tends to be more accurate and almost never screws up.
I really don't know how 89W popped in but like you said it probably was in a BIN file and then after I entered it into USALS and told it to "go sat" that's where it got it from. But I usually can figure out where i am "in the sky" so to speak by the channel lists and descriptions. I just like editing my own channel lists and identifying them to my needs. Like for example, when you scan ONN on SBS 6 11741 at 6616 s/r it comes up as "Service 1" I renamed it to ONN. I also like the reaction when a person tells someone that a little $70 motor can do all that, they are "blown away" thinking that a motor that can find it's position for the satellite must cost much, much, more than that.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by reho33

..... I also like the reaction when a person tells someone that a little $70 motor can do all that, they are "blown away" thinking that a motor that can find it's position for the satellite must cost much, much, more than that.

Well, with USALS, it is actually the receiver that figures out where the motor should go, not the motor. The receiver calculates the angle then tells the motor to move say 10.6 degrees west of true south, and the motor complies. The motor has no idea of what sat it is going to. With DiseqC 1.2 the motor has positions stored in there for each sat, but you pretty much have to program each sat position yourself. Once programmed though, you tell the motor to go to sat5 and it goes there. As far as the motor is concerned, the diseqC1.2 is more sophistocated, but less user friendly.