Geosat DSC-100c compared to Mercury II

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hello all:

Now that the C band setup is all aligned and working properly (for the first time), I decided to go ahead and get another receiver rather than try to run two dishes from one unit, which would have been confusing, to say the least. So, last Saturday it was another run up to Columbus to buy the current offering, the Geosat DSC-100. Here are some observations comparing it to the Mercury II.

One thing I’m picky about is blind search capability. The Merc has me spoiled- you can set three parameters (locking speed, MHz/step, FTA/scrambled or both), and watch as it scans to see where it is in the scan and what it’s picked up so far. I had a Sonicview which was terrible for blind scans- no parameters to set at all, and only a status bar for information. The Geosat is pretty good in this respect. You can get even finer steps than the Merc (down to 2 MHz/step, the Merc stops at 4), set symbol rates (as a range, or all), and polarities. In the menu leading to the search, you can do the various kinds of search (1 Tp, blind search, channel search from pre-stored Tps, etc). One thing that’s a lot different is that the Geosat starts at the highest frequency and goes down, the Merc starts at the bottom and goes up. One minus in the Geosat column is that after the scan is finished, it will save the info, and then after exiting the search menu automatically go to the last sat you were watching BEFORE the scan, not what you just scanned. That’s ridiculous and wastes a lot of time because you have to then corral the dish back to what you were just scanning. If they are far apart, it’s really irritating. The Merc stays where you just scanned, so you can exit and see your results immediately. The Geosat puts TV and radio channels in the same list, so if you go through your channels, there’s no need to go to a separate menu, which you do in the Merc, you’ll just keep going right into your radio channels and back again. I count this as a plus for the Geosat.

The signal level display is much more elaborate than the Merc, it takes up most of the screen and shows a bar graph history of the last sampling data. The beep sound, however, is atrocious- it’s incredibly loud and is not affected by the volume control on the remote. They must have thought this themselves because there’s a dedicated button on the remote to turn off the beep sound!

One big plus in the Geosat column is that it can definitely work with lower signal levels and still produce a good picture. This is especially good for C band where signal levels are generally lower to begin with. Scanning the same sat with the Merc and the Geosat produces several more watchable channels with the Geosat. Given the nature of Ku band use for news gathering and feeds which require the more agile blind scan, I use the Mercury II for that, and the Geosat is working great with the C band dish.

Overall, I give the Geosat a thumbs up, it’s a decent replacement for the Mercury.

CN

[Vitruvius]

GNOR, Thanks for the review of the Geosat. I was curious about it and your note was informative.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Thanks for reading...one thing I forgot to mention, which is a fairly large irritation using the Geosat is that it doesn't have a "sort by position" option! As you scan in channels, that's the order the sats appear in the menu, period. Now that I know this I'm going to clear the thing out and rescan everything from east to west, so they'll appear that way in the menu.

I like the unit overall but it appears they didn't think about the position business very much.

CN

[Sadoun]

Originally Posted by cnagorka@gmail.com

I like the unit overall but it appears they didn't think about the position business very much.

CN

Nice feedback and suggestions for improvement. The Geosat is used mostly with stationary systems in the USA. However, I am impressed by its motor capabilities.

[Jim-S]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Nice feedback and suggestions for improvement. The Geosat is used mostly with stationary systems in the USA. However, I am impressed by its motor capabilities.

Are you not going to offer the Mercury II or Fortech's systems anymore.

[Sadoun]

Originally Posted by Jim-S

Are you not going to offer the Mercury II or Fortech's systems anymore.

Fortec does not have any inventory right now. They are focusing on the European market. AS soon as they have a new receiver, we will list it on the site.

[Jim-S]

Thank you for the reply............I guess the economy problem is world wide.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Back to the Geosat...I've discovered that this thing seriously miscounts symbol rates, causing some missed channels during blind scans. I still think it can work with lower signal quality, but you've really got to watch out on the symbol rates- even the ones preprogrammed into the unit can be way off. For example, the tp on AMC3 which carries THiS tv was off by about 200, it was supposed to be 2900 something but it scanned in as 2700, and I couldn't get it to lock, editing the tp with the right number made it pop right up. Just be aware of it if you buy one.

CN

[Jim-S]

Originally Posted by cnagorka@gmail.com

Back to the Geosat...I've discovered that this thing seriously miscounts symbol rates, causing some missed channels during blind scans. I still think it can work with lower signal quality, but you've really got to watch out on the symbol rates- even the ones preprogrammed into the unit can be way off. For example, the tp on AMC3 which carries THiS tv was off by about 200, it was supposed to be 2900 something but it scanned in as 2700, and I couldn't get it to lock, editing the tp with the right number made it pop right up. Just be aware of it if you buy one.

CN

Is This TV on c-band or ku, what is tp and symbol rate. I don't see it on lyngsat's listings.
Thanks, jim

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

THiS TV is on C band, the correct tp info is 3834/H/2732. There's also a THiS TV station from Los Angeles on Galaxy 16, it's on with the Carribean Mux (3845/H/15030).

The place the Geosat made its biggest error was on a tp on AMC 3 (again)- there's a really good batch of programming on 4158/H/19530, it's a mux with INN news feeds, something called "@ sports", two channels of Estrella TV (good for "scenery", guys, "scenery" wink wink, watch "A Que No Puedes" for some laughs even if you don't understand spanish, it also offers lots of "scenery") etc. But when the Geosat scans it in, it shows the symbol rate being almost exactly half of what it's supposed to be! It shows 8858 or something. It'll drive you nuts because you can't figure out why it won't lock, it'll keep flickering back and forth. Then you edit the tp and it's all fine and dandy.

There are other software glitches- sometimes a blind scan will end early and the ending frequency will be something like "-33876", which would put it somewhere around infrared light! I've seen it cancel a scan, it'll show a blue screen with a few lines of code, then turn itself off, reboot and go back to normal operation, which is good. But I will say that a newer HD capable receiver will be going in around Christmas.

CN

[vze59zgb]

Originally Posted by cnagorka@gmail.com

THiS TV is on C band, the correct tp info is 3834/H/2732. There's also a THiS TV station from Los Angeles on Galaxy 16, it's on with the Carribean Mux (3845/H/15030).

The place the Geosat made its biggest error was on a tp on AMC 3 (again)- there's a really good batch of programming on 4158/H/19530, it's a mux with INN news feeds, something called "@ sports", two channels of Estrella TV (good for "scenery", guys, "scenery" wink wink, watch "A Que No Puedes" for some laughs even if you don't understand spanish, it also offers lots of "scenery") etc. But when the Geosat scans it in, it shows the symbol rate being almost exactly half of what it's supposed to be! It shows 8858 or something. It'll drive you nuts because you can't figure out why it won't lock, it'll keep flickering back and forth. Then you edit the tp and it's all fine and dandy.

There are other software glitches- sometimes a blind scan will end early and the ending frequency will be something like "-33876", which would put it somewhere around infrared light! I've seen it cancel a scan, it'll show a blue screen with a few lines of code, then turn itself off, reboot and go back to normal operation, which is good. But I will say that a newer HD capable receiver will be going in around Christmas.

CN

getting 99 west this tv and the rest of the channels c band

on a 1 meter dish mercury 2 quality 50 55 fantastic picture


regards vze59zgb