True Turbo, many of the boxes out there work well with a fixed dish, but are terrible with motors. I've tried a couple of cheaper receivers on my motorized setup and almost threw them off the roof 
Using diseqc 1.2
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The only problem here is that you still have to locate and lock onto one satellite first. Preferably your nearest true south satellite. You need one sat for a reference marker so you still have to do some phyiscal alignment work. Once you do this, then USALS can take care of the rest. Fine tune to the arc after that as required.
Radar
He's tracking the arc from 72 to 129 with his Traxis, there is no need to re-align his dish for each receiver. The directions he's reading are assuming he doesn't have his dish aligned...but he does.
Turbosat,Originally Posted by turbosat
Starman, researching this, it seems that USALS is just an enhanced version of Diseqc 1.2.
Now, I have hooked the Icon back up for tests, and I find it works much better if you have
the latitude and longitude set properly. Inadvertently, I had my longitude as "E" instead of "W",
dumb and dumber, eh? Once I figured out how to changed that, motor's going places in the right direction.
Blind scan is still *up, still won't BS , it will autoscan, if I select a diff sat from the list, it will move to THAT sat and scan, but only existing TP's.. I won't be using this one for moving a motor if that's the best it can do. Luckily I still have the Merc2.
You are almost correct with that assumption. The exact answer is a little more than that.
DiSEqC 1.2 is a communication language that is used between the receiver and the motor. USALS is a math program stored within the receiver. USALS must have (use) DiSEqC 1.2 to communicate what it calculated to tell the motor which direction and how far to drive.
Radar
I know that this is just a matter of perception but actually, I agree with Turbosat. In MY opinion, USALS *IS* just "an enhanced version of Diseqc 1.2"
I know that STAB claims that the heart of USALS is their program, but in actuality you don't need the USALS program. ANY program that calculates the required angular rotation will work fine. However the USALS "program" will NOT function with a completely DiseqC-1.2 compatable motor, unless it has the GOTO-X command that is part of the DiseqC-1.3 enhancement to DiseqC-1.2. The heart of what we call USALS is the GOTO-X command. USALS is basically a fancy copywrit'd term for their "SYSTEM".
Even STAB says "the "USALS: program is an advanced option of the "DiSEqC1.2" protocol". And they say that they collaborated with Eutelsat to define the "drive motor to angular position" command, ie the GOTO-X command.
Basically, there is little difference between USALS and DiseqC-1.3 or GOTO-X systems, it's just that STAB, being the apparent originator of the "system" claims that unless you use their program and have your hardware certified by them, that it isn't USALS, but there is nothing fancy about their program. The basis of the whole system is the GOTO-X command, not the program.
Anyway, while I agree that STAB would probably agree that USALS" is the "program", in my opinion it is really the GOTO-X enhancement to DiseqC-1.2 .
Just an alternative way of looking at it.
Starman,
I do agree with you completely, I was merely stating the obvious. I am sure Turbo already understood this and he has his motor/dish fairly well aligned since he is getting sats from 72 to 129. Which sounds like a pretty good portion of the arc to me. Maybe some fine tuning will allow him to get in a few more satellites.
I mentioned that you still had to start with one satellite as a reference point when using USALS, not for Turbo's benefit, but for that of other readers.
Because we often take a few things for granted, we may leave out a small, but important item that we just assume to be understood.
I just tossed this mention into the conversation so that anyone new to setting up a motor, if they were reading this thread, would understand that USALS still requires that one preliminary step. Turbo already knew this and doesn't have to backtrack in any way. Therefore, I was just trying to expound upon what you had already stated.
RADAR
B.J.
I can and do agree with you entirely. I think we are both trying to say the same thing, but just in different words or from a slightly different angle, but both correct.
RADAR
never had that problem with a Satopia, have you tried to master clear it, an then pull a blind scan, also you may want try to have its 1st transponder in its list as a active transponder so it will see signal. an if this don't work may want to try some 3rd party software.
now had a problem with the 1st software for a Satopia 8a, it would attenuate a freq range of 4,000 to 4,100, an the 4040 on G-3 would not lock at all. an thought had a bad receiver till talking to a tech at Satopia web site. an they recomended to load 10a, an it cured it. now 1 thing the tech told me is after loading software then to do a master reset.
Turbo,
Does your receiver have a manual scan mode? A way to scan just one TP? This might be a route to follow for now.
I am quite surprised that your blind scan does what it does. You seem to have been plenty patient with that and it still did not work. I find this rather odd.
RADAR
AC- ODD aint the word for it, haha!! Good News guys>I have the sob working on USALS, with almost 100% tracking. Yesterday, I was just tired and being lazy when I asked if there was an easier way to "USALS" this Icon box, but from all instructions I could find, one STILL has to go loosen the bracket and aim dish and motor to that first location (And pick up a signal). I didn't wanna screw up 2days of aiming and adjusting elevations and angles since I was getting AMC6 over to WhiteSprings TV. But I did anway, took the Icon outside, almost dark, found AMC16 with just a minor EAST turn of the motor/dish. Tighten up and then old ICON went crazy, going to next sat west, 2degrees away it was going about 2steps at a time, click,click,click....etc. Bad firmware or something. Anyway, tried another box, ran the arc using the motor buttons and had to adjust elevation again to get 129 back. Came inside, factory defaulted the Icon, and the Merc2 also. Found an old hackerfile on the web for the icon, and today it seems to be working right. Go figure.
*BUT>I can no longer get 72 or 129 dammit. I think that requires a minor declination adjustment, but I'm not going to touch it for a few days. I'll use my other system on the polar mount for those until I decide whether to risk messing all my adjustments up on the new motor setup. I'm getting 90+ on every sat right now, which is amazing to me (its an 84E dish).
1CAptain: the Icon is scanning again now, don't know if its was the way I was trying it, or the box just needed factory defaulting, or the 3rd party stuff fixed it. If I wait 30-40seconds it will scan the satelite Im watching currently, but finds NOTHING. If I pick a different satellite from where Im parked, it will go to that one, and scan perfectly! Weird devices I have here lol.
MANY THANKS FOR EVERYBODY"S HELP, I"ll let you all rest awhile.
HAPPY EASTER !!!
*BUT>I can no longer get 72 or 129 dammit. I think that requires a minor declination adjustment, but I'm not going to touch it for a few days. I'll use my other system on the polar mount for those until I decide whether to risk messing all my adjustments up on the new motor setup. I'm getting 90+ on every sat right now, which is amazing to me (its an 84E dish).
1CAptain: the Icon is scanning again now, don't know if its was the way I was trying it, or the box just needed factory defaulting, or the 3rd party stuff fixed it. If I wait 30-40seconds it will scan the satelite Im watching currently, but finds NOTHING. If I pick a different satellite from where Im parked, it will go to that one, and scan perfectly! Weird devices I have here lol.
MANY THANKS FOR EVERYBODY"S HELP, I"ll let you all rest awhile.
HAPPY EASTER !!!
great you got it scanning, I bet the master clear is what did, but if you are like me it if works leave it alone.
I have always liked the Satopia, for its scanning, an what makes it nice is when you are looking for some feeds, an you tell it to scan Galaxy 14, 23, 16,19, 3, 17, 28 an come back 30 to 40 minutes later an its done an you can see what you found on all those sats.
I have always liked the Satopia, for its scanning, an what makes it nice is when you are looking for some feeds, an you tell it to scan Galaxy 14, 23, 16,19, 3, 17, 28 an come back 30 to 40 minutes later an its done an you can see what you found on all those sats.
Turbo,
Sounds like some very positive progress! Maybe just a little off on azimuth or a little too high or low on elevation. With most of the sats coming in at 90%+ quality, you surely cannot be off too much. Just a little bit of tweaking can probably fix 72 and 129.
Maybe the image attached will help you in some way.
Gordy
Good luck
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Thanks, I have that pic also, just a matter of getting back on it. More storms and rain coming tonite and Mon so I will wait a day or two. Discovered my 'shimming' of the motor's shaft to the pstar mount is not secure enough either, I found I could actually twist the dish/mount on the shaft using both hands and not much effort, but I already came up with a better way of doing that too. Right now, I'm resting, and happy that OUR Navy has rescued the merchant marine captain from the pirates!!!
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