AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread

[Titanium]

while I'm doing blind scans it just freezes and becomes inoperable it's happened 3 times and must be unplugged to rebooted.

Specifically, what satellite or satellites are being scanned?

Was there any thing in common between these scans? Did this start happening after an upgrade or editing a list? Recently add a drive or USB stick? Turn on Time-shift? Scan a certain transponder?

I have experienced lock-ups during scans at one time or another on most every satellite receiver or PCI/USB tuner that I have owned. Most often a reset of the user data remedied the problem.

Let's figure out what is causing this to happen. Maybe a corrupted list or problematic transponder? Should be easy enough to troubleshoot if you really want to!

 

[Dee_Ann]

I've had a few random lock ups on mine but to be honest I don't remember what was going on when they happened.
I just pulled the power cord, counted to five and went on with my business.

 

[mc6809e]

I've also had a few lockups that required a hard reset but I don't think I've experienced one while scanning and I've blind scanned most of the FTA sats from 30W to 127W.

I've had far fewer problems with the A3 than any other receiver I've ever used.

Ernie

 

[Michael Nixon]

Specifically, what satellite or satellites are being scanned?

Was there any thing in common between these scans? Did this start happening after an upgrade or editing a list? Recently add a drive or USB stick? Turn on Time-shift? Scan a certain transponder?

I have experienced lock-ups during scans at one time or another on most every satellite receiver or PCI/USB tuner that I have owned. Most often a reset of the user data remedied the problem.

Let's figure out what is causing this to happen. Maybe a corrupted list or problematic transponder? Should be easy enough to troubleshoot if you really want to!

Blind scan

75w KU Star One C3 (75.0W)

Current scan frequency 950 MHz

Polarization V

 

[Titanium]

There is nothing KU on the 75W satellite for North America as it has a footprint only into South America. It would be the same as aiming the dish into an empty sky and is should not find any transponders, but eventually time out. I will try scanning an empty slot with no satellite signals and see what happens if no carriers are present.

Is this the only satellite in the list that causes a lock-up on a blind scan? What LNB type and LO frequency has been selected for this scan?

 

[mc6809e]

Since Embratel StarOne's web site shows Star One C3 has a pretty tight footprint over Brazil and I live in North Carolina, I removed it from my satellite list and never tried to blind scan it.

I have scanned in some channels on Star One C1 C-band though. TV-Taroba is coming in now with a quality of 63 on my 2.4m dish.

Ernie

 

[Michael Nixon]

There is nothing KU on the 75W satellite for North America as it has a footprint only into South America. It would be the same as aiming the dish into an empty sky and is should not find any transponders, but eventually time out. I will try scanning an empty slot with no satellite signals and see what happens if no carriers are present.

Is this the only satellite in the list that causes a lock-up on a blind scan? What LNB type and LO frequency has been selected for this scan?

Hey what do you want from me that's in the list of available North American satellites from Amiko? As far as the LNB, Ku-Band Single LNBF Model GT111S L.O.: 10.75 GHz

 

[Titanium]

If you are saying something is broken, let's be sure that the testing is valid. Trying to educate, but not put you down or insinuate anything...

There are probably a few areas of North America (down South) which are near the edge of the footprint that could receive a signal from 75w. Some North Amerca users may receive the KU band, while others like you and I do not. Footprint maps are not perfect, they are a great tool for a hobbyist to know if they are in the footprint of a satellite.

I just scanned 75w KU using the same setting of a Standard 10750 LO. After about 4 minutes, no transponders were found and it exited back to the menu. The spectrum display showed some signals throughout the band during the scan.

Does your failed blind scan show the spectrum display? [GALLERY=media, 18]Amiko A3 Spectrum Display by Titanium posted Nov 15, 2014 at 11:15 AM[/GALLERY]

 

[Michael Nixon]

Yes, but it doesn't get past 0% so it's flat

 

[Jim S.]

Locking up has nothing to do with scanning an empty position. I've had it lock up scanning a perfectly good satellite. The thing is, it's not repeatable, so I don't know how anybody is going to figure out what's going on.

Mine hasn't done it for quite a while, but then this morning it did it.

By the way, I think the American satellite list that you can download contains everything that beams to North or South America. (I was going to say everything that's above the horizon from North or South America, but it only goes down to 8W and there are satellites down to 4W. On the other hand, I've personally verified that 8W can beam to North America. [The maps show that 5W and 4W can also, but I've never seen or heard of them doing it.])

 

[Michael Nixon]

Locking up has nothing to do with scanning an empty position. I've had it lock up scanning a perfectly good satellite. The thing is, it's not repeatable, so I don't know how anybody is going to figure out what's going on.

Mine hasn't done it for quite a while, but then this morning it did it.

By the way, I think the American satellite list that you can download contains everything that beams to North or South America. (I was going to say everything that's above the horizon from North or South America, but it only goes down to 8W and there are satellites down to 4W. On the other hand, I've personally verified that 8W can beam to North America. [The maps show that 5W and 4W can also, but I've never seen or heard of them doing it.])

So you'll excuse this newbie question I hope, what satellites do you think I should be able to see from 01104?

 

[Jim S.]

Yes, but it doesn't get past 0% so it's flat

When I've had mine hang on 0% a few times (this morning was NOT one of those, it hung in the middle of a scan), it's been because it's suddenly decided to turn off the LNB power. (No, I don't know why it's occasionally done that. It hasn't done it in a week or so, since I re-loaded the system from a clean backup to fix an undiagnosed problem with it refusing incoming network connections overnight.)

 

[Michael Nixon]

When I've had mine hang on 0% a few times (this morning was NOT one of those, it hung in the middle of a scan), it's been because it's suddenly decided to turn off the LNB power. (No, I don't know why it's occasionally done that. It hasn't done it in a week or so, since I re-loaded the system from a clean backup to fix an undiagnosed problem with it refusing incoming network connections overnight.)

So do you think its turning the power off to the LNB when it hangs?

 

[Jim S.]

So you'll excuse this newbie question I hope, what satellites do you think I should be able to see from 01104?

Off the top of my head, and leaving off ones that need a universal LNB, I think it would be 12W, 15W, 20W, 22W, 30W, 37W, 61W, 63W, 72W, 83W, 85W, 87W, 89W, 91W, 93W, 95W, 97W, 99W, 101W, 103W, 105W, 107W, 111W, 113W, 115W, 117W, 121W, 123W, 125W, 127W. (You may never find anything full-time on some of those.)

 

[Jim S.]

So do you think its turning the power off to the LNB when it hangs?

I don't know. The few times mine has done it, I've noticed it first as no signal showing up when I know it should be getting one. The blind scan was just an afterthought to see if it wasn't getting a signal because, for example, my motor was screwed up (since I had a bout with that lately -- nothing to do with the A3 though.)

 

[Michael Nixon]

Off the top of my head, and leaving off ones that need a universal LNB, I think it would be 12W, 15W, 20W, 22W, 30W, 37W, 61W, 63W, 72W, 83W, 85W, 87W, 89W, 91W, 93W, 95W, 97W, 99W, 101W, 103W, 105W, 107W, 111W, 113W, 115W, 117W, 121W, 123W, 125W, 127W. (You may never find anything full-time on some of those.)

Is it better to have a" universal" LNB?

 

[Michael Nixon]

I don't know. The few times mine has done it, I've noticed it first as no signal showing up when I know it should be getting one. The blind scan was just an afterthought to see if it wasn't getting a signal because, for example, my motor was screwed up (since I had a bout with that lately -- nothing to do with the A3 though.)

I'll have to keep my eyes open and see if that's the case Thanks

 

[Jim S.]

Is it better to have a" universal" LNB?

Not really. I can only think of three full-time channels visible this far north that would require one: TBN Spanish on 50W, Republic of Western Sahara TV on 45W, and China Radio International on 45W.

 

[Titanium]

For the units reporting shutting down the LNB power during a scan, do these systems happen to have multiple LNBFs, long coax runs and or motors that would be moving between sats during a scan?

If an over-current draw occurs, I have noted this to cause the scan to lock and require a power cycle to reset. If I short circuit the LNB during a scan I can replicate.

Did this start happening after a ROM update?

What ROM is this happening on?

 

[Jim S.]

I have a motor, but the A3 doesn't seem to be having any trouble with it. The few times I've had it drop LNB power, it's been while changing channels -- the lock-up when attempting a scan came after I had ALREADY got no signal, I was attempting to scan to see if I was still on the satellite and it was just having uplink issues, or if my motor had lost its position, or what. On the other hand, the lock-up today during a scan happened in the MIDDLE of a scan, not when initiating it, so it's some other bug (that is, it DIDN'T drop LNB power today.)

BTW, I upgraded to the 2.0.61 dev ROM almost immediately after getting my A3, due to reports of deinterlacing issues with previous ROMs (in fact, I waited til that one was fixed to buy the A3, because sometimes either my monitor or my AV receiver, I don't know which, has glitches with 1080P, but works fine with 1080I.)