Blind search

[oldjiver]

Still cant get blind search to work (TM6900HD super combo. Have taken previous advice about reducing the number of channels, still no go.
Running patch 702.
Any advice welcome.

[eddieaok]

Hello

Have you tried also deleting none active transponders across your stored satellites to free up extra memory?

Ed

[oldjiver]

I just delete whole satellites I dont visit like hotbird. I only have 1w 5e 9e 19e 23e 28e on board.

[AndyX]

The firmware has a serious bug that causes blind searches to crash and can cause corruption of the channel database. Firmware 6.79p is stable for blind scanning if this facility is important to you.

[Giga]

Blind Scan is only used on NEW satellites, you don't have details of: no transponderlist, ...
Scanning existing satellites is done using auto navigation!
adding new transponders found at the KoS for sat positions you use can be done with the pid search.
- select the satellite
- add transponder
- scan the transponder
that is it!
look at the posting for the Clarke Tech Editor Studio (https://www.satpimps.co.uk/showthread.php?t=110802) (<= click here) how to make /maintain your channel list.

[Giga]

quick sample of the satellites positions you use.
download your satellite list on usb stick
put it on the computer, open this channellist with Clarke Tech Editor Studio
and use then the import web option
mark the satellite positions you need (keep [Ctrl] pressed down and select the sat postion
select what option to download
that is it

[Giga]

I just delete whole satellites I dont visit like hotbird. I only have 1w 5e 9e 19e 23e 28e on board.
just comes to my mind, if you delete the satellites in the satellite setup, the transponders are still in the receivers memory.
Removing transponders out of the receiver:
- Easy way to remove satellite positions is with Clarke Tech Editor Studio
- Delete selected transponder 1 by 1 in PID Search with the Yellow ●

[keith mawer]

to add my bit , i would never use the blind sat button ,, having read it takes ages ,, what i do is buy what sat mag!!! look at the freq page and take my pic.... not sure why one does not want hotbird!!!

[oldjiver]

Keith Mawer,
Hi, I have a dragon and a patched TM What would I want to watch on Hotbird? It just seems a load of religious of local Arab programmes plus scrambled channels?
When I could get blind search to work earlier it allways seened to get a lot more channels than auto searching.
I just like to play with the box sometimes out of curiosity.

[AndyX]

Some people enjoy the thrill of the hunt and finding that new tv, radio or feed signal , first, before everyone else rather than reading all about it later. I have always hunted for new signals since I loosed the bolts on my first dish in 1989 and moved it away from Astra 1 to discover my first new signals from a new satellite, in this case the RAI channels on Eutelsat.

There are Viewers and Hunters. Me, my partner complains that I never actually watch programs as I am always scanning, always trying to squeeze the weakest signals out of my dish. All respect the the Viewers but there can be so much more to the hobby with a reliable blind scan.

[Giga]

when you want to blindscan, upload an empty transponder channel list for the sat's you want to blindscan. There is a limit of sat positions you can blindscan: there only 10000 combined locations available for (TV & Radio) there is also a transponder limitation in memory. These are the boundaries you come across when blindscanning.
I think I can just blind scan these locations without crash:
28.2°E 28.5°E
23.5°E
19.2°E
13°E
10°E-9°E
4.8°E
1°W
8°W
for feedhunting I did split these locations in to a TV location and a Feed location like:
23.5°E (TV transponders)
23.5°E Feed (Feed transponders)
reducing scanning time over these sat positions with auto navigation selecting only the satellites with the feed transponders only: 28°E Feed, 23.5°E Feed, 13°E Feed, ...)

TV watching and Feed hunting is done with the same channellist
Blindscanning I load an channellist without transponders, just the sat setup.

[AndyX]

thanks Giga for all the excellent advice. It is important to have a good house keeping regime on a satellite receiver.

The problem is that this particular receiver blind scans perfectly with older firmware releases. With the same channel database, and even with a minimum channel database the newer firmwares (after the introduction of the spec trum analyzer) will crash during blind scans and corrupt the database. Going back to the older firmware does solve this problem.

[Giga]

as far as I'm aware these where the same issues on 6.79p, with blind scan on existing satellites you could crash the TM-6900 HD due to a lot of duplicate data and results. Blindscan is not intended to scan on an satellite with an existing transponder list. If you want to find new transponders, do it with an empty transponder list. Never had it crashed using it this way. But this is just my experience and my idea.

[mynameisEarl]

Of course, Blind Scan still has the bug of reading in slightly wrong Symbol Rates. I assume this will never be improved.

I emailed Technomate once or twice with queries regarding various bugs, but I was ignored.

Lee

[dxman]

they will do that because they don't know how to deal ,too many bugs with the receiver and always have been
Like Giga said ,before you blind search ,delete all the channels,then do from scratch ,unfortunately you can not do blind search for every satellite POS
if you got more then 10.000 channels the memory it is full and crasch the receiver
that's the way it is,you just have to understand how the software work
there is a reason why blind scan sometime don't work properly

regards dxman

[AndyX]

I have a sneaking suspicion that introducing the spec trum analyzer may have used up some of the channel/transponder capacity part of the receiver memory. This may explain why I don't get database crashes at all with the earlier firmware release, but I am only guessing.

[Giga]

if you are using a blind scan made channel list, this could explain not crashing (no duplicated transponders) and the used satellite positions.
What is your current total:
channels (radio+tv):
transponders:
current on my multifeed:
TV channels: 5196 (radio 0)
Transponders: 700

[AndyX]

Hi Giga
I currently have:
3316 TV & radio channels
1193 transponders
I tend to have mostly free to air channels and feeds. I frequently trim the feeds with no signal to keep the database trim. Unused satellites are not present after being deleted in the Clark Tech editor.

[Giga]

I'm still Blind Scanning my multi feed (8 LNB's E:28.5, 23.5, 19.2, 13, 10, 9, 4.8|W: 1, 8) and will report back on this.
Only crashes I ever had was when:
I had C-band transponder
scanned on a web build channel list.

[Giga]

after blindscanning:
6455 TV & radio channels: 5166 TV 1289 Radio
519 transponders
seem to have lost some transponders
could be due to the weather and not receiving weaker channels?

takes to long to enjoy.

[AndyX]

what firmware version are you using Giga?

[mynameisEarl]

I have a sneaking suspicion that introducing the spec trum analyzer may have used up some of the channel/transponder capacity part of the receiver memory. This may explain why I don't get database crashes at all with the earlier firmware release, but I am only guessing.
Off topic here, but I didn't find any use for the ******** analyzer. I took a look at it and, somewhat confused, I concluded I wouldn't gain anything from it. I saw it as a pointless gimmick, but maybe I don't understand its actual value.

Lee

[Giga]

Off topic here, but I didn't find any use for the ******** analyzer. I took a look at it and, somewhat confused, I concluded I wouldn't gain anything from it. I saw it as a pointless gimmick, but maybe I don't understand its actual value.

It is not as good as a professional sat meter prices starting at $599.00. But I find it has its uses.
Measuring

the LNB: you can see if it has a loss: curved signal drop
the cable:
put the lnb on the receiver with a short factory cable
aim the lnb at the ground (outside)
it should measure the background noise (signal increase, nearly level across the full lnb band)
when you now replace this short cable with the installed cable it should show nearly the same result, the closer it matches the previous result the better.
skew: Vertical versus Horizontal transponder: should show nearly the same level in the graph

[Giga]

7.02p (Nov 12 2009) both parts loaded.
did a blind search on existing channellist and this passed without a crash, some duplicate transponders as expected.
Did Include my first BlindSearch on these 8 LNB's
If you still have crashes doing blindsearch, check if this always happens at the same Satellite position? could be some incorrect data for that satellite?
Perhaps I can reproduce the same if your on a multifeed setup? If this happens on a motorized system, can't help with that.
Either here or by PM, can you explain what steps you take exactly for a blindsearch and perhaps the channellist you used when crashing?
Main Menu, ...

ps: I (down/up) load the channellist always with a permanently installed null modem cable with clark tech editor studio 3.10.

[AndyX]

Hi Giga
I am using a motorized system. The crashes on blind scan were at the point of finish of a scan and happened frequently, even using a skeleton channel list. Maybe because I have a lot more satellites in my database this makes a difference between our setups.
Incidentally, the spec trum analyzer is useful also in locating new satellites and getting the best lock on a satellite on a motorized system.

[keith mawer]

if ya feeling a bit low , there is a good channel on hotbird called EROTICA ,, ITS LIVE!! and come cute girlies on it!!

[Giga]

Hi Giga
I am using a motorized system. The crashes on blind scan were at the point of finish of a scan and happened frequently, even using a skeleton channel list. Maybe because I have a lot more satellites in my database this makes a difference between our setups.
the skeleton channel list check each sat position you use for LNB setup not matching your setup.
if this is not the case: reduce the amount of sat positions you blind scan, I could do 8 without crashing.


Incidentally, the spec trum analyzer is useful also in locating new satellites and getting the best lock on a satellite on a motorized system.
that would figure.