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Thread: Help setting up new satellite receiver

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    Default Help setting up new satellite receiver

    My parents used to have a Strong SRT 4620, which was set up by a Satellite TV installer. They were able to receive channels from Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc). They have a motorised dish controlled by a Diseqc 1.2 controller/positioner.

    Recently, their VCR broke down. So, I decided to get them an OpenBox S9 satellite receiver/pvr to allow them to record stuff from satellite channels. As an initial test, I enabled ChinaSat 6B and AsiaSat 3S from the initial list of Satellites that came with the box. I assumed they have already been set up correctly. Anyway, I initiated a single satellite scan on ChinaSat 6B and AsiaSat. When the scan finished, the only channels it found were Indian channels. I would have thought that the receiver would pick up some Chinese channels, especially on ChinaSat 6B?

    Also, I've noticed that in the Satellite Setup menu, you can select the position (1 to 63 I think). How do I know what position to set it to? Changing from one position to another would result in the antenna being moved, but i have no idea what positions are required for each Satellite. I know there is a wealth of information on Satellites at the lyngsat website, but as a newbie, it seems a bit overwhelming. Can somebody point me to a guide that may explain how I can set up and add new Satellites. I don't even know what LNB to enter for each new Satellite.

    I know there's a lot of information out there, but it's hard to know where to start. Any help would be appreciated.
    Last edited by kazzer; 29-05-11 at 03:37 PM.



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    Hi kazzer,

    I'm not familiar with that box, but I'm sure others here will be able to help more.

    Perhaps the dceoder only scanned one transponder?
    If it has blindscan, do that when aligned on a particular satellite with details of that sat entered into the decoder.

    I wouldn't assume just becuase the box has presets for some sats, that they are accurate.... things change.

    The box will need to be configured to communicate with the positioner, which should be covered in the manual.

    I'm sure others will add to this.

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    Talking Chinese and Indian channels.

    Quote Originally Posted by kazzer View Post
    My parents used to have a Strong SRT 4620, which was set up by their a Satellite TV installer. They were able to receive channels from Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc). They have a motorised dish controlled by a Diseqc 1.2 controller/positioner.

    Recently, their VCR broker down. So, I decided to get them an OpenBox S9 satellite receiver/pvr to allow them to record stuff from satellite channels. As an initial test, I enabled ChinaSat 6B and (4) AsiaSat 3S from the initial list of Satellites that came with the box. I assumed they have already been set up correctly. (3) Anyway, I initiated a single satellite scan on ChinaSat 6B and AsiaSat. When the scan finished, the only channels it found were Indian channels. (5) I would have thought that the receiver would pick up some Chinese channels, especially on ChinaSat 6B?

    (1)Also, I've noticed that in the Satellite Setup menu, you can select the position (1 to 63 I think). How do I know what position to set it to? Changing from one position to another would result in the antenna being moved, but i have no idea what positions are required for each Satellite. I know there is a wealth of information on Satellites at the lyngsat website, but as a newbie, it seems a bit overwhelming. Can somebody point me to a guide that may explain how I can set up and add new Satellites. (2) I don't even know what LNB to enter for each new Satellite.

    I know there's a lot of information out there, but it's hard to know where to start. Any help would be appreciated.
    G'Day Cobber,
    I'll do what I can to help.
    (1) The numbers are the memory location where the different motor positions are stored. You need to make a list and change it for each Satellite. When you exit that menu it will save the current motor position at that memory location.
    (2) Check what is written on the LNB and enter that for all Satellites. The normal possibilities are :- 11300, 10700 and Universal (09750, 10600, 11700) for the Ku band, and 4 numeral ones for the C Band.
    You also need to set LNB voltage to ON.
    (3) ChinaSat 6B is C Band only. On Lyngesat charts, the Bold Channel are TV and the others are Radio. The bold red F denote FTA.

    (4) AsiaSat 3S has both C Band and Ku not sure of footprints (coverage),
    but you can view those by clicking on the symbol in the last column.
    (5) You may need to do a network scan treating this Satellite as 2 separate Satellites for C Band and Ku band.
    That will depend on whether you have a dual Band LNB.
    Sorry, that is unlikely, as no Australian Ku Band coverage shown on Lyngesat.

    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

    Last edited by beer4life; 29-05-11 at 02:49 PM.

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    Greetings Kazzer,

    I have an Openbox S9 HD PVR receiver, which I am extremely happy with. It is very good value for money and performs exceedingly well.

    The User Manual supplied with the receiver leaves much to be desired, but this applies to many such manuals I have read.

    I have not attempted to set up this particular receiver for use with a Diseqc 1.2 positioner, but non-the-less l shall attempt to help you where I can.

    Looking at the appropriate menu, it seems that the diseqc positioner setup is similar to that used with other satellite receivers I have seen with this capability.

    To save me time in describing the process, I have discovered what appears to be a suitable guide in a blog, located at .

    The relevant section begins about 1/3 of the way down the page at the paragraph beginning "Setting up a multi satellite system ... "

    Read the whole article as it contains much information, which will help you to get the most from your new receiver.

    Incidentally, the 63 positions you refer to, are not predetermined satellite positions, but rather a means of "addressing" the various satellites, which you wish to include in your setup. By this, I mean that you should allocate position 1 to say, Asiasat 3S, and position 2 to Chinasat 6B and so on as required, up to a total of 63 satellites.

    Heed MTV's, advice and yes, the receiver does have a blind scan function, which appears to work quite well. It is also possible to add additional satellites not already appearing in the list, as well as edit satellite names etc.

    The blog I referred to earlier has most if not all the information you require.

    If you have any further questions, I or others will attempt to answer them for you.

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    Guys, thanks so much for taking time to reply to my post. I will read through what you have written and the links you have provided, and see if I can make any progress.

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    Ok, I've made some progress. This first thing I did this morning was reloaded the factory defaults. When I kicked off the blindscan on ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S, I was able to get some Chinese channels that I wasn't able to get before. For the rest of the day, I experimented with adding new Satellites and seeing what channels the blindscan would pick up. The channels that were picked up don't seem to be consistent with Lyngsat. I did try a multi satellite scan once on about 14 satellites. It locked up half way through and I had to reboot the box by powering it of and on again.

    The biggest issue I have is that I can't seem to get the blindscan to produce the same results. When I tried doing the blindscan on ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S at night time (a couple of hours ago), I didn't get any Chinese channels. This is consistent with the behaviour I was seeing last night when I tried it the first time. Is there a particular period during the day when the blindscan will work on particular channels? Also, during my last attempt, I noticed that the channel list produced by the blindscan was practically the same between ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S. How can this be? I've allocated different positions to both - ChinaSat 6B was allocated position 1 and AsiaSat 3S was allocated position 2.

    Also, if I a Satellite transmits on both bands, do I need to set up 2 Satellites, with one having an LNB of 5150 (for the C band) and the other having an LNB of 11300 (for the Ku band)? Or will the blindscan pick up channels on both bands regardless of what LNB I give it?

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    Signals vary all the time.

    If you have marginal levels, variations may produce the effect of what you are experiencing... sometimes found, other times not.

    This may be a case of dish alignment and/or LNB skew adjustment.... or if the dish gain is insufficient for that particular satellite beam at your location.

    Yes, if you have both C and Ku bands on a particular satellite, you need to set up separate LNB/transponder info for them.

    Do you have a single combination C/Ku LNB, or separate C & Ku LNB's with a diseqc switch?

    You will only receive C or Ku transmissions if you have the appropriate LNB for the band and the band transponder details programmed before you do the scan.

    Obviously, you must also ensure the LO frequency of the LNB's matches the figures you've entered for each sat. eg: 11300 for an 11300 LNB, etc.

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    Is the dish moving ok? You must set up East and West limits of the actuator then the positions of each sat along the belt.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kazzer View Post
    Ok, I've made some progress. This first thing I did this morning was reloaded the factory defaults. When I kicked off the blindscan on ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S, I was able to get some Chinese channels that I wasn't able to get before. For the rest of the day, I experimented with adding new Satellites and seeing what channels the blindscan would pick up. The channels that were picked up don't seem to be consistent with Lyngsat. I did try a multi satellite scan once on about 14 satellites. It locked up half way through and I had to reboot the box by powering it of and on again.

    The biggest issue I have is that I can't seem to get the blindscan to produce the same results. When I tried doing the blindscan on ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S at night time (a couple of hours ago), I didn't get any Chinese channels. This is consistent with the behaviour I was seeing last night when I tried it the first time. Is there a particular period during the day when the blindscan will work on particular channels? Also, during my last attempt, I noticed that the channel list produced by the blindscan was practically the same between ChinaSat 6B and Asiasat 3S. How can this be? I've allocated different positions to both - ChinaSat 6B was allocated position 1 and AsiaSat 3S was allocated position 2.

    Also, if I a Satellite transmits on both bands, do I need to set up 2 Satellites, with one having an LNB of 5150 (for the C band) and the other having an LNB of 11300 (for the Ku band)? Or will the blindscan pick up channels on both bands regardless of what LNB I give it?
    Sorry, that is unlikely, as no Australian Ku Band coverage shown on Lyngesat for either of those Satellites.

    If the Channel list is the same, it simply means that the dish has not moved to the other Satellite.

    Unless you have enabled Usals and input your location, the motor will not move to the other position.

    Can you identify which Satellite's channels you do have?
    You will then have to move the dish with the Box/Positioner until you find the other Satellite, and then save it with the next position.

    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".


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    I think you guys might be right about the antenna not moving correctly. Sometimes I noticed that the position box doesn't show the numbers changing when I am changing satellite.

    I believe the positioner is a Phoenix V Box II Satellite Dish Positioner. Do I need to configure it in any way? If so, will it affect the signals (and channels that were stored) if I was to use the old satellite receiver (the Strong SRT 4620) again. I always thought everything was controlled by the satellite receiver and nothing is stored on the positioner box.

    Is there a guide that will explain how to find/locate the satellite and set up the East/West Limits as alluded to by Kavakid? Can this all be done via the Openbox S9 receiver?

    Apologies if these questions have been asked before and covered somewhere in the forums.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kazzer View Post
    I think you guys might be right about the antenna not moving correctly. Sometimes I noticed that the position box doesn't show the numbers changing when I am changing satellite.

    I believe the positioner is a Phoenix V Box II Satellite Dish Positioner. Do I need to configure it in any way? If so, will it affect the signals (and channels that were stored) if I was to use the old satellite receiver (the Strong SRT 4620) again. I always thought everything was controlled by the satellite receiver and nothing is stored on the positioner box.

    Is there a guide that will explain how to find/locate the satellite and set up the East/West Limits as alluded to by Kavakid? Can this all be done via the Openbox S9 receiver?

    Apologies if these questions have been asked before and covered somewhere in the forums.
    Your best bet at this stage would be to disable the motor control on the Strong, connect it up and determine which Satellite you are on.
    Change over to Openbox, select the correct Satellite and save with Motor control ON.
    Go back to Strong and with motor control ON, move to the Other Satellite.
    Reconnect Openbox with Motor Control OFF. Then you can scan that Satellite. Then turn Motor Control ON, change the Location to the other one, exit and save.

    It is absolutely essential to have the Boxes OFF when changing cables.

    If that doesn't work, You will have to use the move button and an active transponder for the other Satellite.


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    V Box 11 discussion and user manual download thread on "the other side"


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    Quote Originally Posted by beer4life View Post
    [COLOR=Blue]Your best bet at this stage would be to disable the motor control on the Strong, connect it up and determine which Satellite you are on.
    Excuse my ignorance, but I am not too sure what you mean when you say "disable the motor control". Is there an actual option in the menu of the Strong receiver that will allow me to do that?

    Also, what do you mean by determine which Satellite I am on?

    Are you saying that by disabling the motor control, the dish will be pointing to the last satellite that the Openbox was using?


    Quote Originally Posted by beer4life View Post
    [COLOR=Blue]
    Change over to Openbox, select the correct Satellite and save with Motor control ON.
    When you say select the correct Satellite, I assume you mean select the same satellite that the Strong is pointing to (with the motor control off) and if it doesn't exist, add it.

    When you say save with motor control on, do you mean allocate the selected satellite to a position? Again, I am not sure what you mean by "with motor control on". I assume there is a setting on the Openbox somewhere to turn motor control on/off.

    Quote Originally Posted by beer4life View Post

    Go back to Strong and with motor control ON, move to the Other Satellite.
    Reconnect Openbox with Motor Control OFF. Then you can scan that Satellite. Then turn Motor Control ON, change the Location to the other one, exit and save.

    It is absolutely essential to have the Boxes OFF when changing cables.

    If that doesn't work, You will have to use the move button and an active transponder for the other Satellite.

    Having read this a couple of times, I am still confused about what we're trying to achieve here. If you don't mind, can you explain what we're trying to achieve conceptually?

    What's actually involved in positioning a Satellite? With DiSEqC1.2, I thought all that was required was the Longitude, e.g. 105.5°E for the AsiaSat 3S.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    Obviously, you must also ensure the LO frequency of the LNB's matches the figures you've entered for each sat. eg: 11300 for an 11300 LNB, etc.
    Where do I get the required LNB information from? I know that 4 digits is for C band and 5 digits is for Ku band. Other than that, I have no idea which one to choose. When I inspect the LNB configuration on the Strong box, I see that all Satellites in use have the following settings:

    LNB Type: C-band
    High L.O.: 5,150 GHz
    Low L.O.: 0 GHz
    Power: ON
    0/22KHz: 0 KHz
    DiSEqC: ---

    Regarding the DiSEqC option, according to the Strong manual: If you do not use the switch box, set as “---”.

    Does that mean when I am adding Satellites on the OpenBox receiver, I should always select 5150 as the LNB frequency for C-band?

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    From the that Tristen provided, there is a section about pointing the dish to the satellite you want:

    and if you dish is not pointing at the satellite you wish to scan, simply press either the west or east button to move your dish to the correct co-ordinates, keeping an eye on the signal and quality bar indicators, once you start to see the signal increase, start making small movements untill you get the best possable signal, then click Save
    So, I guess it's just a matter of pressing the East or West buttons until the signal strength picks up. As mentioned by Kavakid, the East and West limits for the actuator needs to be set up first. I have found the menu option to do that on the OpenBox S9, however, how do I know when I have hit the limit? Do i just keep pressing East until it won't go any further? This is the soft limit right? I assume the installer would have set the hard limit on the actuator when he installed. If he hasn't, I assume I have to go outside and look at the satellite on the roof to make sure it hasn't hit anything after each button press and then when I think it can't go any further?
    Last edited by kazzer; 04-06-11 at 01:31 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kazzer View Post
    Excuse my ignorance, but I am not too sure what you mean when you say "disable the motor control". Is there an actual option in the menu of the Strong receiver that will allow me to do that?

    Also, what do you mean by determine which Satellite I am on?

    (1)Are you saying that by disabling the motor control, the dish will be pointing to the last satellite that the Openbox was using?




    When you say select the correct Satellite, I assume you mean select the same satellite that the Strong is pointing to (with the motor control off) and if it doesn't exist, add it.

    (2)When you say save with motor control on, do you mean allocate the selected satellite to a position? Again, I am not sure what you mean by "with motor control on". I assume there is a setting on the Openbox somewhere to turn motor control on/off.



    Having read this a couple of times, I am still confused about what we're trying to achieve here. If you don't mind, can you explain what we're trying to achieve conceptually?

    (3)What's actually involved in positioning a Satellite? With DiSEqC1.2, I thought all that was required was the Longitude, e.g. 105.5°E for the AsiaSat 3S.
    G'Day Cobber,
    On the Strongs,
    (1)
    Installation
    Motorised Setting
    DiSEqC Motor......OFF.

    (2)
    Different boxes have various ways of doing this. On the Strong, you get a Box saying "settings have changed, do you wish to save NO/YES".
    You will only get that if you have been using motor control ON.

    (3)
    Unless you have the Box set up for USALS, you need to move the Dish to where the next Satellite is relative to your Location.
    Obtained from :-

    If set up for USALS you need to input your Location as well as that of the Satellite.
    Elevation and Azimuth are variable with respect to your location in the World as well as Australia.
    C1/D3 is 36000 kms above the Equator at 156 Degrees East of Greenwich.

    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

    Last edited by beer4life; 04-06-11 at 01:45 AM.

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    Thanks for your reply beer4life. I will give it a go when I am at my parent's place tomorrow.

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    A little update. I wasn't able to do what beer4life suggested, but I was able to point the dish to the correct Satellites by moving it East/West until the signal strength/quality picked up. It's all good now. The only Satellite I wasn't able to pick up was Apstar 6 on C-band.

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