Twinhan Starbox no reception

somersfun · #1 (**permalink**) 07-02-2005, 12:41 AM

I purchased the Twinhan Starbox USB, Fortec 80, and Fortec Star FSKU-V universal LNBF. After hours and hours of aiming, reaiming and amining again, I get nothing when I select scan the satellite. Do I have to enter a frequency or should the scan take care of that automatically? I am running the program on a new Hp laptop. I have read this site and others on aiming and I think I have it right. I have a clear sky at the Jersey shore near Atlantic City. Signal strength and qualitly always the same even when pointed at the ground. I knew there would be a learning curve with this, but right now, I don't know if it is equipment failure or operator failure. Any help would be appreciated.

wejones · #2 (**permalink**) 07-02-2005, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somersfun

I purchased the Twinhan Starbox USB, Fortec 80, and Fortec Star FSKU-V universal LNBF. After hours and hours of aiming, reaiming and amining again, I get nothing when I select scan the satellite. Do I have to enter a frequency or should the scan take care of that automatically? I am running the program on a new Hp laptop. I have read this site and others on aiming and I think I have it right. I have a clear sky at the Jersey shore near Atlantic City. Signal strength and qualitly always the same even when pointed at the ground. I knew there would be a learning curve with this, but right now, I don't know if it is equipment failure or operator failure. Any help would be appreciated.

First, I don't have the Starbox, so my response in generic.
Re do you have to enter a freq, the answer is yes. Even if you had a blind search receiver, that looks for frequencies, it still takes several minutes to scan, so if you are making a tiny change in aim, then scan, it can take forever to find a sat. Since I'm pretty sure that the Starbox is not a blind search, it means that it doesn't search for freqencies, but instead has to rely on the accuracy of a list of frequencies in the software, and these lists are notoriously innaccurate. Ie the receiver might be trying to tun in frequencies that aren't active.
It is much better to go to Lyngsat and find a known frequency that is active, then make your tiny adjustments to the dish aim, and watch for the nearly immediate changes in level/quality. You should never waste your time doing a satellite scan unless you have verified that you are on the satellite by locating a known signal.
Secondly, people can't help with your aiming problem, unless you tell them what you have tried. Ie what satellite / frequency/ sample rate you are trying to find, whether you have an az/el mount or a motorized mount, what LO freq(freqs) you have entered into the program, and what angles you have used as a starting point, etc.

somersfun · #3 (**permalink**) 07-02-2005, 09:12 AM

Thanks for the reply. Bear with me, I still need some clarification. Your imformation was helpful in understanding a few things. Further, is sample rate and symbol rate the same thing? The program asks for symbol rate. Is it automatic or where can I find it? It is not on Lyngsat. Also, you mention LO freq. I seached all satellite terminology sites and could not come up with that definition. On my LNB box is 9.75 next to LO. Is that what you are referring to?

wejones · #4 (**permalink**) 07-02-2005, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somersfun

Thanks for the reply. Bear with me, I still need some clarification. Your imformation was helpful in understanding a few things. Further, is sample rate and symbol rate the same thing? The program asks for symbol rate. Is it automatic or where can I find it? It is not on Lyngsat. Also, you mention LO freq. I seached all satellite terminology sites and could not come up with that definition. On my LNB box is 9.75 next to LO. Is that what you are referring to?

Re sample rate vs symbol rate, I don't know which term is correct, but to me they are the same. And it is on Lyngsat. For example, if you look at the PBS-X signal at 12110 on AMC-3, there is a "SR - FEC SID - VPID" column, and the first entry for that transponder is 14025, which is what we're talking about here.
Re the LO freq, your LNBF is a universal, which should use 9.75 and 10.6, and should automatically switch between the two dependent on what freq you are tuning. It sounds like you have that set right, provided you are on universal.
I'm not sure if the program for the Starbox is similar to one for the 1020a so hopefully someone else with a Starbox can give more specific advise re use of the program. But you need to select a known active transponder, and if the known one isn't one on the built in list, you need to edit one with the proper data. In the 1020a program, you need to hit an "apply" button to get it to start functioning to where you can see the signal/quality meters reading. Don't bother telling to to do either a satellite scan or transponder scan unless you have a non-zero quality reading.

somersfun · #5 (**permalink**) 07-05-2005, 02:27 PM

Your information has been very helpful to understand all of the terminology and settings needed to get started. Only problem is I still can't get a signal. The signal and quality bars remain at 40/30. They will vary a little, but not much. I really thought that the information and settings that you provided would do the trick. Any other ideas? Could I be way out of line on my azm and elva that prevents reception? I am trying to start with Galaxy 10R or Telstar 5. I have used the Lynsat site for information and the Sadoun site for other settings. Any suggestions would again be appreciated.

wejones · #6 (**permalink**) 07-05-2005, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somersfun

Your information has been very helpful to understand all of the terminology and settings needed to get started. Only problem is I still can't get a signal. The signal and quality bars remain at 40/30. They will vary a little, but not much. I really thought that the information and settings that you provided would do the trick. Any other ideas? Could I be way out of line on my azm and elva that prevents reception? I am trying to start with Galaxy 10R or Telstar 5. I have used the Lynsat site for information and the Sadoun site for other settings. Any suggestions would again be appreciated.

Most common problem people have is not being aimed right re azim/elev.
However, the thing that confuses me about what you are saying above, is that you say signal/quality =40/30 .
In general, with most receivers, if you have ANY number other than zero for quality, then it means you have a lock, and, and should get reception unless the signal you are tuning is scrambled or in some format that the receiver can't handle it, like 4.2.2 or something. If you say that the quality is staying at 30, then I am confused. Ie, it is not unusual for you to get signal readings of 40 that don't change much, but it is very unusual for you to also have a non-zero reading in the quality unless you are locked on the sat.
In what window of the program are you seeing the 40/30 reading, and is there a green indicator bar there? Is there an "apply" button in that window?
I wish that TSREADER would work with this new receiver, but I don't think that it does... yet. But if it did, it would help troubleshoot your problems.

somersfun · #7 (**permalink**) 07-05-2005, 05:26 PM

There is a signal and quality meter represented by a bar for each. So far the bar has remained red. If I do a scan of the satellite, there is an indication that it is "locking" but no list comes up. I have used everyone of your suggestions without a positive result. I guess I am glad to see that you are confused by the quality reading. What is TSREADER and where can I find it?

wejones · #8 (**permalink**) 07-05-2005, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somersfun

There is a signal and quality meter represented by a bar for each. So far the bar has remained red. If I do a scan of the satellite, there is an indication that it is "locking" but no list comes up. I have used everyone of your suggestions without a positive result. I guess I am glad to see that you are confused by the quality reading. What is TSREADER and where can I find it?

Strange, re quality. Perhaps you should get one of those little hand held signal meters to help find a sat.
Re TSREADER, it is at http://www.coolstf.com/tsreader/
He doesn't list your specific receiver as being supported, but it's possible that the regular Twinhan source will work. You might contact the author and ask. TSREADER is much more easy to use than the Twinhan programs, and can help diagnose your problems. It isn't used to display moving video itself, but can feed video to other programs, or over a network for display. I use it for 90% of my dvb viewing. The way it helps, is if you can get a lock, it will display the streams, and show you if there are errors, and/or if the video is scrambled, and will show you the proper PIDs that can be used with other programs, if scanning doesn't work, etc.
Anyway, I'm still confused about the quality reading, but I really think that aiming is your problem, so you might indicate what angles you are using to aim at whatever sat you are trying to receive.
Also, I don't think you ever indicated whether you are using a fixed Az/El mount or if you have a motorized mount. If you have a motorized mount, you pretty much have to start by looking for your due south sat, which would probably be SBS6 for you, and the ONN 11741/6616 would probably be a good signal to look for. If you have (which I've been assuming) a fixed mount, then in addition to aiming, you also have to make sure you set the polarity correctly for each sat. The Sadoun installation page has good info on this. Also re aiming, don't forget about the magnetic deviation if you are using a compass. I think where you are, the deviation is somewhere around 10 deg.
Good luck. I'm running out of ideas. I was hoping someone else who has your receiver might add something.

somersfun · #9 (**permalink**) 07-05-2005, 10:41 PM

Yes, I am using a fixed mount. May try a motorized mount next. I do add 12* to the az based on the Sadoun site information. I will keep plugging away. It will be a few days before I can get back to experimenting. Thanks for the help. I will let you know if I make progress.