1 motor + 3 DiSEqC 1.2/USALS receivers

[palmosaddict]

Hello, guys!

I have three DiSEqC 1.2/USALS receivers (rather do not ask me why: one of them is due to a provider that bounds its smart card to its own STB, so the "clever" investment in STBs with CIs does not looks so clever at the end). But the problem exists even if you have only two DiSEqC 1.2/USALS receivers (i.e. more than one, to be short).

The dish with single LNB is rotated by STAB-USALS HH100 motor.
From the beginning I use USALS mode.

After some time experimenting (!%&$#) I found (harder way, see "!%&$#") solution where only one receiver can drive the motor, others are set to think they have business with a fixed dish.

But I do not like this solution as I have extra steps each time I want to change satellite while watching over the "fixed" boxes, i.e. I have to do it via the "master" box.

Is out there a really elegant solution, the one that completely solves the problem? (no jokes, please, it hurts )

I am relatively a newbie in matters of DiSEqC: I have a thin idea but it's maybe founded on my wrong (learn, learn) assumptions:

1) Assume all receivers are set to DiSEqC 1.2 mode (not USALS!);

2) if I find and store (Store Position nn) several sat positions with the "master" box
AND
if the positions are physically stored at the motor side
AND
the other boxes has an identical list and order of the stored satellites
THEN
it' shouldn't matter which box will send "Drive motor to Position nn", right? (probably not, I feel it...)
For example, selecting program "XYZ" at any box will result in looking up to its own stored satellite list and resulting in sending the very same "Restore Position nn" to the motor.

Basically, I do not understand (see under: wrong assumptions) why it has not already worked in 3xUSALS mode if each box was sending absolute angle position (reduced somewhere to my LONG/LAT), i.e. with "Goto x.x deg" command.

Please help!

 

[Tron]

In a motorized system, only one receiver will be able to move the dish. The others will only see the satellite the "master" receiver (the one hooked to the LNB through the motor) is aimed to.

Connections should be in the following order:

Master receiver -> motor -> multiswitch -> LNB
Receiver 2 -> multiswitch -> LNB
Receiver 3 -> multiswitch -> LNB

Switches (regardless of type) always go between the motor and LNB.

 

[Anole]

no joke:

Here are some workable solutions -

- three motors, and three dishes
- a bank of fixed dishes
- a T-90 dish pointing at most all your satellites

You did not specify which satellites were required on which receivers, so the above may well be elegant solutions.
For instance, maybe the subscribed receiver doesn't need to point to more than one satellite?

How many actual birds do you want to watch from any receiver?

 

[palmosaddict]

Hi!

Thanks for your attention!
One receiver must receive (first provider) from Intelsat 10-02 (1.0W), the second receiver (another provider) from Hotbird 6 (13.0E). With my original (bought first) box I sweep from 28.5E to 12.5W.

I do not have place for three dishes (living in a flat, hardly found position for the current one - happy to have clear view to the above range).

Yesterday I came across to a thread that seems resolve my problem exactly, although I am not quite sure will I be able to implement the solution (e.g. fearing of possible constraints of boxes' GUI software, ability of editing software over a PC - on one provider's box RS232 is intentionally disabled).

The bottom line is that a guy succeeded at the end to match satellite position indices (those integer parameters sent by DiSEqC 1.2 "Goto Position nn") both in Motor's and each receiver's memory.

See at:
One Motor For Two Boxes - Sadoun Tech Forums

I guess now I have to dig in this area to understand better (in principle very simple ) DiSEqC 1.2 protocol of saving, changing, re-calculating satellite positions on both motor and receivers side).

The first question is: when I select a satellite from a receiver's list and say "Go to satellite", it really goes to it (tried for four of interest). I understand that there is a pre-defined standard satellite/index list, but it's rather a recommendation than written in stone, I guess. The lists in receivers are of different lengths/contents, new satellites appear,... So, how the motor/receiver indices are actually matched in this simple "LNB-motor-one receiver" configuration?

 

[palmosaddict]

I forgot to mention, my three receivers are looped-through at a single site, all of them feeding a single TV.

 

[Lak7]

I have not thoroughly read the entire post, but I think I got the idea.....
TV-------3 receivers via Loop Out-------Motor----------Dish

You could set all 3 for USALS and just Power Off the 2 unused receivers.

To use DiSEqC 1.2 you would first set up all Sat Positions on 1 "Master" receiver. Then save all 3 Channels Lists to PC. Open the Master Channel List and copy the Sat Position numbers to the other 2 Channels List, and upload back to receivers.

 

[palmosaddict]

Hi,

I think I finally traced down the real problem here (thanks for your comments that redirected my thinking). I was doing some experiments over the weekend, so here are the latest conclusions.

Once the motorized system is setup by USALS with one receiver, it works automatically with any other (assuming you enter the same Longitude/Latitude coordinates, of course).

What actually brought confusion into my early reasoning is the following (this time I think I am reasoning ok):

(Some?) receivers when powered on do not send "goto angle pos" command for the current channel (the latest viewed before powering off) .

So, what happens is the following, I guess:

1) power off Receiver#1 pointing at Sat/Pos#1 (it remembers the
sat/position);

2) power on Receiver#2:

2A) if it had been powered off previously at Pos#1 you see the current
channel immediately (OK);

2B) if it had been powered off at other position (Pos#2) you see nothing:

- if you wait or select again the current channel or any channel on the
same sat/position, motor does not move, as the Receiver#2 thinks it is
already on that position and that there is no sense to send the "goto
angle pos" command again (NOT OK);

- if you select any channel at sat/position other than Pos#2, Receiver#2
issues the command and motor moves to that position (OK).

Due to "symmetry", the situation is equivalent when you power off Receiver#2 and power on Receiver#1.

Is there any solution/trick how to force a receiver to issue "goto" command for the last viewed channel upon powering on?

 

[Anole]

not great ideas . . .

I understand your conclusion.
You've been giving it a lot of thought.

Here are a couple of ideas that just came to me:

1). set each receiver to a given satellite before turning it off with the remote.
... or ...
2). power off each receiver with the power switch on the rear - that should make it want to seek the motor when powered up.

 

[palmosaddict]

Hi, Anole!

You are right, this seems closest one can do in this situation.

I prefer solution 1) as one can do it with remote .

In my case 2) is little bit cumbersome, as both Humax receivers do not have
on/off switch, so you have to plug them in/out or, better, introduce extra power switches.

In case the previous theory holds, introducing an unconditional "go to latest viewed sat position" command at powering a receiver on would solve my problem.

I might try with Humax and Arion support.