Old timer needs system help please.

[william-1]

On tests I found no loss at all with the A/B switch

 

[Tony Daly]

On tests I found no loss at all with the A/B switch

What A-B switch are you using ?

Tony.

 

[william-1]

What A-B switch are you using ?

Tony.

HI Isolation Cable Switch manufacturer unknown probably China.

 

[a33]

The insertion loss with the auto switch seems to be about 4db while with the simple A-B switch its between 1/2db loss.
Could make the difference when trying to lock a weak signal ?

Likely that loss will be just in signal STRENGTH, not in the (much more important) signal QUALITY, if I'm not mistaken.
If your cable is good quality and less than 50 or 100 meter, I wouldn't bother much about signal strength losses.
Strength needs to be in a certain range, that your receiver expects. It is not a case of "the bigger the better".

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3 - OTOH, not absolutely sure what happens whereby the Master receiver is switched OFF (or in Standby) with the Slave receiver is switched ON and thus has control of the motor/LNB(s), but the Master is then switched ON?

Just checked out No 3 above - if the Slave receiver is already ON and has control of the SPS, and thus the motor/LNB, then switching the Master ON has no effect and the Slave continues to have control of the motor/LNB.

This amazes me. Normally with a priority switch I would expect that the MASTER has control when he gives out a LNB voltage.
But since you tested your switch, I assume it does as you say.

I have a IR-satellite switch that behaves a bit like you describe somewhere if I recall right. Never really used it, though.

Greetz,
A33

 

[Tony Daly]

My Octagon SX88+ has arrived.
I have also ordered an A-B switch which I will use with the two receivers.
At present I am using the Technomate 7102HD to track the arc to make sure there are no problems.
I started at 1' West & have done all the western satellites.
I am at present checking the eastern satellites & have got as far as 21.5 East. I will complete it tomorrow by which time hopefully the A-B switch will have arrived & I can install the Octagon SX88+.

 

[Tony Daly]

I did some more today & got as far as 39East. Had to do something else at that stage.
Hoping to get the rest of the Eastern part of the arc done tomorrow.
The A-B switch I ordered arrived today so I'm all set to install the new SX88+.

 

[Tony Daly]

I have completed the East arc now as far as 53' East.
Next I need to make up some patch leads to connect the A-B switch & the two receivers to the GBOX.

When I go to install the SX88+ what is the exact procedure to set things up in the SX88+ menus ?
I know it may be obvious when I go to set it up but it would be helpful to get step by step advice on the procedure from someone who has an SX88+.
I have searched online but all the videos all seem to be in German.

Tony.

 

[jeallen01]

"Bump" - if you can, then please help @Tony Daly as I may not have time to do that myself ATM, and likely thus for the next few days ("family issues", and so on) - and, TBH, I haven't set up an SX88 "from scratch" for over a year, and thus my knowledge of currently doing that is now very rusty

 

[Tony Daly]

Some quick questions guys?

I have connected up the SX88+ through the A-B switch & updated the software online.

All the satellite positions are already stored in the GBOX & I have a list of these positions.

Do I save these positions in the SX88+ in the same order that they are on my list ?

On my list & on the GBOX some positions are missed out so how do I miss these positions on the SX88+ ?

If I store the positions 1,2,3,4,5 etc on the SX88+ will my 7102HD recognise these positions or will it send the dish to the wrong positions ?

Sorry for what may be simple questions but some help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Tony.

 

[Mickha]

You have to set up your SX88+ satellite positions to match your G-Box. It's not as difficult as it sounds, as you don't need to send the dish, to that satellite, just set up each satellite.
For example, if Astra 1, 19.2E, is stored at position 1. in your G-Box, then go into the tuning menu, select the advanced option, or other, depending on your menu, select Astra 1, set to Diseqc 1.2, and store this at position 1, then select your next satellite. e.g. Hotbird, 13E, set to Diseqc 1.2, and store the same position as on your G-Box.
This also needs to be done on your other receiver.

 

[Tony Daly]

You have to set up your SX88+ satellite positions to match your G-Box. It's not as difficult as it sounds, as you don't need to send the dish, to that satellite, just set up each satellite.
For example, if Astra 1, 19.2E, is stored at position 1. in your G-Box, then go into the tuning menu, select the advanced option, or other, depending on your menu, select Astra 1, set to Diseqc 1.2, and store this at position 1, then select your next satellite. e.g. Hotbird, 13E, set to Diseqc 1.2, and store the same position as on your G-Box.
This also needs to be done on your other receiver.

Thanks for that.
I'm trying to understand.
In my GBOX some position numbers are not used ie 7. The SX88 wants to store the positions one after the other so if I store positions 1 to 6 on the SX88 the SX88 wants to store the next position at 7. How do i miss out 7 & store it at 8 or some other number instead ?

 

[Mickha]

Receivers allow you to store satellites at any position, not in any particular order.
If you can post an image of your receivers menu, especially the tuner settings menu, and advanced options, someone should be familiar with it.
I don't own an SX88+ so have no access to the menu.

 

[Tony Daly]

Hello Everyone.

Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly in my previous post ?

When I used my 7102HD with the GBOX it stored the satellite positions in the GBOX as certain position numbers.
I have a list of the GBOX positions as set up with the 7102HD written down on a sheet of paper.

Now I would like to save those positions in the same order in my SX88+.
In the picture below I am on Astra 19E which is position number 1 on the GBOX. If I press save in the SX88 menu it will save Astra 19E as position number 1 on the GBOX. I can do that one satellite after the other on the SX88+.

My problem is that some of the satellite positions on the GBOX were not used. As an example positions 1 to 6 are used on the GBOX but 7 & 8 were not used when I used the 7102HD.
Now if I save positions 1 to 6 on the SX88+ what do I do when I come to positions number 7 & 8 on the SX88+ ?
How do I skip positions number 7 & 8 on the SX88+ & store the next satellite at position number 9. The SX88+ seems to want to store the satellites one number after the other with no option that I can see to skip a number.

I need help here guys.

Tony.

 

[jeallen01]

IIRC, in the Installation Menu, the SX88 series stores the sats in the order in which you"set them up". OTOH, when you have Exited the installation menus and are on the main screen, then those sats appear in the order of their Longitudes when you click on the Sat button - but I think when you select a particular sat via that button then what you are actually doing is like clicking on a shortcut on the PC Desktop!

In your circumstances, I would be inclined to try deleting ALL the sats shown in the Installation menu, and then re-entering them in the same numerical order in the SX88+ as you have them in your TM receiver - and, where the latter has gaps, then creating sats with the same Longitudes setting as the previous lower-numbered one in the TM list and so the Geobox would not then move the dish motor until you selected a sat with a higher number than one of those "in the gap"

No idea if that might work - but may be worth a shot????

Also, you can rename all the sats in the Installation Menu - so you could rename those "Gap sats" as "Gap 1", "Gap 2", or whatever would make sense in the context on what you have on the TM.

 

[Mickha]

This doesn't look like the advanced tuner options, just the basic motor set up menu, but then again I have no experience with the SX88+ menu. Your signal quality is 0%. which is strange, as signal quality, on other receivers, is what you want.
Do you have any more tuner setup options?

 

[ozumo]

Tomorrow I'll dig out my VBOX (same as a GBOX) and try to replicate your setup. Have only ever used the VBOX as a standalone positioner so it'll all be new to me, so no promises

 

[Tony Daly]

This doesn't look like the advanced tuner options, just the basic motor set up menu, but then again I have no experience with the SX88+ menu. Your signal quality is 0%. which is strange, as signal quality, on other receivers, is what you want.
Do you have any more tuner setup options?

They are the only tuner options that I can see.
I'm new to this receiver so there could be more but I can't find them.
The dish is at Thor 1' West so that's the reason there's no signal quality because the photo was taken with the SX88+ on Astra 19' East..
If I select Thor 1' West in the installation menu the quality is up in the 80% range.
This is the previous menu to the one shown in the 1st photo.

 

[Tony Daly]

Tomorrow I'll dig out my VBOX (same as a GBOX) and try to replicate your setup. Have only ever used the VBOX as a standalone positioner so it'll all be new to me, so no promises

All help gratefully received.
Thanks.

 

[jeallen01]

Ignore this - can't delete from multi-quote!

They are the only tuner options that I can see.
I'm new to this receiver so there could be more but I can't find them.
The dish is at Thor 1' West so that's the reason there's no signal quality because the photo was taken with the SX88+ on Astra 19' East..
If I select Thor 1' West in the installation menu the quality is up in the 80% range.
This is the previous menu to the one shown in the 1st photo......

In the installation menu for each sat, on the righthand side of the screen, did you click on "motor settings" and then set your own longitude, and then how the motor should be controlled ("motor type" "sat longitude" and so on)??

 

[Mickha]

Which satellite is stored at position 1, on your G-Box?
It might be wise to move to that satellite, select it from your SX88+ satellites list, then play around with storing the position.