Best C-Band conical scalar rings for Channel Master offset dish?

[paulvr]

Again such a presumptious response by someone who wants to fight a battle without any real knowledgeor cause.

As you may see at the end of your third link parallel to what happened on the satelliteguys.us site a private email conversation has taken place of which you can't even have any knowledge. You may wanna play wisenose # 1 but even I can't remember if the things Brian said took place via this email conversation or via this website. In fact I even forgot that there was an email conversation parallel and should thank you perhaps for accidentally bringing this up.

The first two links for whatever reason aren't available to me. See illustrations.

Brian has a good right to discuss this matter with me but you, hank123 and others may want to play the white knight but that's rather silly when you don't have the slightest knowledge about what happened. Brian knows very well that the AJAK H2H mount gave (at least at the time) unresolvable problems in combination with the ASC1 box (I haven't kept track so I hope for hiom but don't know that this was resolved).The fact that Hank123 has seen no problems is very nice for him but to claim that therefore no one could have had problems is absurd. People. Let's stop the bull. If I had been at Brian's plant or I would have phoned him and there would have been an unpleasant conversation then should I have recorded it for it to be true? Come on, cut the crap. This is not a medieval inquisition but simply my experience of having been treated in an unpleasant way and his statement that he didn't. More there isn't to it. Feel free to believe either of us but don't try for sainthood, please. It just isn't worth it. My question about the Chinese product was never answered and probably won't so I ordered a couple of them hoping that they'll be OK. What else could I do? ;-)

 

[Titanium]

Paul,

Your question regarding the Conical Scalar was answered in post #4.

I will have time later today to post all of our email exchanges from 2013-2014 as per your permission. Located them on our server automatic archive folder and it will take a few minutes to remove headers and signatures.

I appreciate those of you who have taken time to share your experiences with Titanium Satellite products and me. I continue my commitment to provide quality products and operate my business and personal interactions with integrity and honesty.

 

[paulvr]

Thanks for your response Brian. The thing about using the conical rings in combination with a C/Ku-Band LNBF was only something I added at the end, the main question was if the Chinese products were up to par with other available products, especially those from the US.

Seeing you mention our conversation as dating as early as 2013 perhaps you and others may understand that now, 4 years later, that most certainly can't be something that I still have freshly on my memory. It also wasn't a big deal to me to be honest. Your attack on my supposed lack of professionality closed the door for me, I'm fairly sure that watever exchange of emails might have taken place is long deleted by me on my email archive.

As far as your products are concerned, Initially it all sounded like a great idea:

At first the idea of a very stable PLL driven LNB sounded great but as I later found out with Octagon it wasn't by any means decisive (and please remember that the Octago was put to task in situtions where signals come in with an SR rate as low as 256) where still a non-PLL based LNB performed better. So the conclusions of others that PLL technique didn't make a decisive difference on C-Band sounds believable in that light, not to mention the fact that I can't remember any SR rate lower than 1000 on C-Band. at least not in our part of the world.

Same for the ASC-1 box. It sounded great after having struggled for years with analog-based C-Band equipment within the limitations that digital receivers offer, but well, in spite of the fact that AJAK is long gone since those days their H2H mounts still seem to live on forever among serious satellite hobbyists, at least in our part fo the world. So the idea as such sounded great but reality caught up with it for many including myself.

Are there no topics left to be interested in? Sure there are. In terms of LNB's I am still hoping on a universal C-Band LNB that picks up the signals between 4200 and 4800 MHz as well as the area between 3400-4200 MHz, and for Ka Band something similar for some much broader band ranges. And where LNB stability isn't much of an issue, receiver precision is. So a receiver that would be tunable with one or two digits after the MHz figure including great sensitivity and stability plus the ability to precisely adjust the exact MF frequencies of your LNB would also be a blessing. But I very much doubt if such developments would reach satelliteguys any earlier than it would reach the rest of the world. One of the few good things about globalization I guess.

And so, yes, I very rarely come to satelliteguys.us Not because of any negative feelings but you must understand that in the days I first came here it was of course mainly, perhaps I should even say only, for C-Band information. For in North America it was a main thing for many while here in Europe it's existence was marginal. Nowadays things seem to have reversed, in the US C-Band is no longer mainstream because most folks prefer the smaller Ku and Ka dishes while over here there is a lot of exotica to be seen from African countries to Jamaica, Chile, Greenland, Siberia and even North Korea. Subsequently there isn't that much extra information for me to be found on satelliteguys like there used to be. If it hadn't been for the question about possible quality differences between Asian and other conical feedhorns I wouldn't even have checked in at this time. Not because of bad feeling but simply because of a lack of need on my part. Most things that are discussed on satelliteguys simply don't apply to our part of the world.

 

[Titanium]

The following is a copy of all emails exchanged between Paul Van Rossum and Brian Gohl posted with the permission of Paul Van Rossum. The only editing was to remove any personal contact information. Outside of these emails and the posts on Satelilteguys forum, I have no knowledge of any other communication with Paul Van Rossum.


Date: 26 Nov 2013



Dear Sirs,



With great interest we've noted the introduction of your new product, the

ASC 1 controller. Of course here too the introduction of dedicated digital

satellite reception gear purely based on DiSEqC/USALS actuator control has

left all C-Band users in a particularly uncomfortable position. Especially

since the older analog receivers that can turn 10 ft. dishes slowly develop

defects leaving their owners to use even more complex solutions like using

separate antenna control and polarizer control units.




If you are prepared to accept foreign customers we'd love to evaluate your

product and introduce it to the European markets. From communications with

our readers we know that there would be a keen interest in the type of

controller you describe, presuming it's a reliable product.



If you are capable of direct action, we might even be able to get the

reviews out before Christmas. Too late for Christmas shopping but for most

it's a holiday period in which our publications are better read than in

other times of the year.



With kindest greetings,

Paul R. van Rossum

sat specialist/reviewer.





PS: The description of your C1-PLL C-Band LNBF sounds very promising. Too

bad that it starts at 3700 MHz, for the European markets that wouldn't do

as we receive TV signals beginning in the 3500 MHz range. The claim that

regular DRO type LNBF's would only last on average 7 years I have never

heard of until now. But perhaps that's in part while ever decreasing noise

figures motivate most dedicated users to replace their LNBF's within that

time span. It would be interesting to hear about actual differences in

reception compared to for instance a similar Norsat LNB attached to a good

quality dedicated C-Band feedhorn?


--

*Satmedia Consult*
P.R.A. van Rossum

media journalist - digitale media - media advies


- - - - - - - - -


Date: 28 Nov 2013

Hello Mr. van Rossum,

Thank you for your email and interest in the ASC1 controller. We would be very interested in your evaluation and review. Please provide more information about your publications, distribution and readers. Please provide links for past reviews and publications. We have a shipment of units scheduled to arrive at our facility next week and will be offering samples to reviewers and our resellers.

The ASC1 has been developed and licensed under CE and ETL for international distribution. We are prepared to ship internationally starting about December 15th, 2013 and actively seeking qualified resellers worldwide.

Concerning the C1-PLL: We could provide wideband 3.4 - 4.3Ghz on a C1-PLL version. I will get back to you on the availability. It is true that LNBFs do not have an expiration date. In my experience, I have noted that most consumer type DRO LNBFs usually start having frequency drift issues as they age. Seems to be around age 5 -7 that we observed a spike in replacement LNBF orders from DTH customers. Most LNBFs that were sent in for testing had simply drifted beyond the STB's AFT limits, but were still functional.

We have several independent reviews in progress comparing the C1-PLL with multiple quality feedhorn/LNB configurations. These should be available in a two or three weeks. Though I do love the C1-PLL, I do believe that LNBFs will always be a sort of compromise. The optimization of the skew is so fundamental to peaking a desired signal or reducing unwanted interfering RF.

Thank you for your interest in the Titanium Satellite products. I look forward to your reply!

Best Regards!
Titanium Satellite Sales - Brian Gohl



- - - - - - -


Date: 29 Jul 2014


Dear Brian,


Thank you for your reaction to my thread at satelliteguys.us. Indeed I am a

technology editor and reviewer, specialized in the area of satellite

television since the early eighties. As far as American products are

concerned, I was advisor to the Drake-Winegard-Seavy attempt to conquer the

European market some 25+ years ago and among other things I was one of the

main collaborators for many years for Echostar Europe who had a plant in

Almelo, the Netherlands and I also evaluated all European models of

Chapparal, beginning with their famous Cehyenne receiver until their very

last product, the MC 115 before they stopped their production of studio

quality satellite receivers. Other companies which whom I had long standing

relationships were a.o. Gardiner (LNB's) and Hero (large size dishes). For

the latter I also played a role as intermediar in setting up sales in

Africa and the Gulf States.


Perhaps I must apologize for my cinicism, but I am extremely tired of being

confronted with products that are being sold to customers without having

been developed completely. I have wasted enormous amounts of time at the

request of the European representative of AZbox. He wanted my advice for

the development of a firmware that would make the AZ Box Premium HD+ which

I did very conscienciously and in great detail, only to find out that the

Korean manufacturer had no intention to ever improve on their shotty

firmware for this as such great but hardly useful receiver. The same

happened with two other major companies whose name I prefer to not mention

as they claim that they are working at the implementation of the advice

they asked for,



When last year I read about the development of your ASC-1 unit I was quite

enthousiastic because it sure would end a lot of hassle with old analog

receivers to control larger dishes and polarity/skew, but then I read about

all problems, in fact I think you even had to take back or exchange units

for malfunctioning, and based on the experiences with other brands I

decided I wasn't going to touch this. Not only because trying to test

equipment with faults is very time consuming but also it can be costly. I

have alswys been a fair reviewer to the industry, which means that when I

find faults or inexplainable behaviour of a product I don't start writing

negative articles but I contact the firm involved. Because even the best

quality control can't always guarantee that what we call a "monday sample"

doesn't leave the factory. It's always possible that a freak anomality

remains undetected or that some damage occurs due to undue rough treatment

in transportation. I much recommand great products to my readers than

having to warn for faulty stuff. Therefore I rarely do the latter.


I hope that your reaction is based on the idea that all initial problems

with the ASC-1 have been completely resolved? If this is indeed zo I'll be

happy to test and review a sample. but please, if there are still problems,

be honest, don't let me discover them but discuss them openly with me

before sending anything. It saves you shipment costs and me importation

fees. Of course, when it's a matter of verification if things like firmware

modifications are needed for the ASC-1 to function optimally in our part of

the world I'd me more than happy to be of help where I can.


Looking at the other issue, I am happily surprised to see on your site that

you meanwhile offer a new product named C2PLL. Even though at this moment

the segment of 4200-4400 isn't yet in use as far as I know I have seen

announcement to that effect that it will be. Also the possibility of a dual

output is of course very advantageous for reviewing reception gear. By the

way, when I read the description of this LNBF I think you might have made a

typo on your site by saying (in the second phrase of the description) that

it's a single output LNBF.



Well, that's about it. Perhaps one last request: when you send these two

parts please indicate that it concerns a free sample of merchandise and

indicate a minimal value figure to avoid unnecessarily high import taxation.





With kind regards,
Paul R. van Rossum.

editor/journalist.

- - - - - - - -

Date: 29 Jul 2014

Hello Mr Van Rossum,

I had originally replied to you in the email back in November and have cut and pasted our exchange below. I had received no reply to my questions and had written this request off as one from an equipment beggar! I am not interested in parking gear at a hobbyist home, but more than happy to provide samples for legitimate reviewers and publications. Please understand that I am approached several times a week by someone who wishes to review in exchange for a free product. Would you be so inclined to link to a few of your past product reviews?

You are correct that there was a problem within the first batch of ASC1 positioners shipped, but we took extraordinary steps to make it right with the early adopters. Seems that our initiatives went unnoticed in your circles!

We had received production line assembly units of the ASC1 for approval and tested them to be of correctly manufactured, operational and within specifications. A few weeks later, a small expedited air shipment arrived we selected a few units from non-sequential cartons for verification. all units were identical in design and function to the original samples and we approved for shipment. Within a few weeks we discovered though additional testing that the manufacturer had modified the design after our final build approval. A line engineer had changed the PCB layout and components during manufacturing and we had received a mixture of assemblies. We immediately halted shipment all orders to sort and isolate the bad stock. We discovered that the modification prevented 22KHz/DiSEqC pass-through when the output was set to 13Vdc and could not be corrected without major rework or a PCB replacement. We decided against the inconvenience to our customers of requiring an exchange. All original release customers affected by the PCB modification (over 150) were shipped a free replacement ASC1 including free shipping! These customers were allowed to keep the original ASC1 units, provided with the modification steps / parts list and encouraged to either perform the mod or gift to another hobbyist who would modify for their personal use. No customer was ever asked to return the original unit.

Two issues with the ASC1 that I am working on at this time are isolated and do not affect most customers: 1. Loader /Editor software compatibility with customer's legacy USB/Serial convertors. 2. Ajak branded HH motors (company no longer in business) generating excessive noise that interferes with the reed sensor.

1. Loader Editor - Software works fine with WIN XP and WIN 7 PCs with on-board or PCI based serial ports. We recently released Loader 1.7 based on the latest Microsoft libraries hoping to support more USB/Serial converters and introduce more features such as 200+ DiSEqC 1.2 and 1.0 command support. We are finding that many of the customer's USB/Serial converters have compatibility driver issues with latest MS library and we are now working backwards in an attempt to find a library selection that is more inclusive to a wider selection of owned serial converters.

2. Sensor - Most customers with actuator noise problems simply use the age-old fix of installing a capacitor across the motor's terminals at the dish. The AJAK puts out excessive noise and the capacitor cannot filter. Mr Rainier Schulz (of Satshop24.de) has developed an optical sensor adapter for the ACS1, which was discovered to isolate the AJAK noise issues with the reed sensor circuit. As the reed sensor circuit is a common cause of problems with any controller, we are looking at incorporating his circuit, adding the optical sensor support to the base model and also provide reed switch isolation with the same design.

In regards to the new LNBF model C2WPLL - The factory lost our original ocean shipment to another customer and the replacement production did not meet our specifications. The original stock has been retrieved from the European customer and is in transit to our facility are this time. We hope to have stock and ready to ship within three weeks. Due to hardware and PCB considerations, the C1PLLand C1WPLL have the best performance and the C2WPLL has slightly lower performance. I would rate the C2WPLL performance at par with other DRO LNBFs, but with the benefits of a PLL circuitry.

You did not mention the origin of the negative C1WPLL reviews from the UK. If you were referencing the thread on www.satellites.co.uk , I find this to be a string of posts with poorly executed observations and questionable assertions. The posters made no differentiation of the transponders and signals that benefit from PLL circuitry. As you know, DRO units have a lower noise level, but they perform rather poorly on narrow signals and low signal margins. Realistically, on fat transponders, the DRO and PLL units will provide similar results. When attempting to receive narrow, SCPC, high FEC or marginal SNR, the PLL performance is exceptional and will outperform similar type DRO LNBFs. The member of the forum simply stated, that they saw a slight improvement wut he C1WPLL, but preferred the other unit due to cost difference. Not very scientific...

Now that the C1WPLL is available via a UK Amazon Logistics Warehouse, we are able to sell on Ebay at a very competitive price to the EU countries without excessive shipping (free to the UK) or VAT/brokerage/duty. We will be distributing the C2WPLL and the ASC1 via the UK Amazon Logistics warehouse as well.

Thank you for your time and for sharing information about your past projects. I look forward to your reply and links.

Best Regards!
Titanium Satellite Support - Brian Gohl


- - - - -

Date: 30 Jul 2014


Dear Mr. Gohl, dear Brian,


Thank you for your informative email.

Indeed, I did receive your request and I was about to pile up some stuff

when I read the first things about the malfunctioning of the ASC-1. That

was the reason why I decided not to persue the matter any further.


Reading your information it seems that again I must conclude that I am

unable to carry out any tests. As it happens both of our reference dishes

are using AJAK H/H mounts. One (a large Ku-BBand dish) has been converted

to function as a regular USALS dish by implanting a Moteck print into a

V-Box interface, the other is still in it's original state carrying a 3

metre Unimesh dish for C-Band so it might have been used to test your

ASC-1.


So reading that it's exactly that type of dish where the ASC-1 isn't

capable of operating as intended that again destroys any possibilities to

do a sensible test. For the rest we use stuff like two EGIS (formerly

Hamco, known in the USA as Nitec) Robothead dual motor positioners and two

different types of Gregorian (fibo) dishes, one (120 cm) modified for

USALS, the other (90 cm) original but using an external Moteck rotor.





You might understand that it's not really feasable to order another brand

of H/H mount and the completely redo our C-Band system just to test your

positioner. If there were less work involved I'd have done it but the cost

and the amount of work is just to voluminous. That particular dish is not

located on the ground but mounted fairly high upon our multi-storey

building in the centre of town to allow for a complete and unobstructed

view from extreme West to extreme East.





From your words I get the impression that this is a final stage, in other

words that the issue around the AJAK mount can't be resolved. In case I am

wrong and you do find a solution for this problem please feel free to

contact me. However I must be frank, the modification in the other AJAK

mount is working so very well that I was planning to have the same thing

done to the AJAK mount carrying the C-BBand dish. Once that is done there

of course is nothing left to do any tests of this kind. One can't have

everything...





In about half an hour I am leaving for busness to Northern Germany. Upon

return I could send you some information about my publishing work. However,

perhaps this makes more sense do do so once your C2W-PLL feed is available

again. Do you have any prognosis as to when that might be?



With kindest regards,

Paul R. van Rossum.


- - - - - - -


Date: 30 Jul 2014


PS:

Just to be sure: I'm sure you understand that modifying the AJAK mount

involves making a major alteration to the motor itself as well which makes

it impossible to control it with any reed positioning device after that has

been done.

- - - - - -

2014-07-30

Hello Mr. Van Rossum,

I believe that you misunderstood the AJAK motor situation. The ASC1 works well with a stock AJAK motor with the optical/reed adapter available for 30Euro. This adapter isolates the motor circuit and works 100%. Certainly never suggested that any motor modification was necessary in order to use the ASC1. The optical/reed adapter mounts to the ASC1 terminal strip with no motor modification. We like the addition of optical sensor support with the added benefit of complete sensor circuit isolation in this third party device. We anticipate incorporating native optical sensor support to a future model.

Sounds as if you, like most other hobbyists found the original AJAK sensor components to be often unsuitable and upgraded. I understand that your custom modified AJAK cannot be controlled by standard 36Vdc control devices. I also understand that are not interested in testing the device on your stock AJAK. It was not my intention to pursue you to use or test the ASC1 if you already have a good solution.

Please understand that I also am responding to your sharing of "hearsay so it must be true" comments made in a public forum. I find this type of post most unprofessional, as you have never tested or touched the products. Unfortunately, forum interaction promotes this type of irresponsible dialog and I often challenge members to be educated before publicly sharing information as fact.

Good luck with your circular feedhorn project. Keep us informed of the developments.

Best Regards!
Brian Gohl


- - - - - -

Date: 31 Jul 2014



Dear Mr. Gohl,



I'm afraid you didn't understand what I wrote to you in my email. I don't

know if this is due to the fact that even though I used to be a Californian

resident English isn't my mother tongue, but I fear it's more a matter of

trying to read my mail to rapidly and thus misinterpreting most of it's

content. Even though it's lengthy please read this email carefully:





1. I tried to tell you that I have TWO Ajak mounts in use of which ONE is

modified to work via a V-Box with any regular digital receiver. THE OTHER

ONE IS NOT!!! The other one is used for C-band and functions via a regular

analog high quality Echostar receiver. So on my part there is NO PROBLEM

but from your words I gathered that your product has a problem with AJAK

mounts. At least that's how I interpreted your specific mentioning of AJAK

in your mail to me. If I in turn misinterpreted your words I apologize, But

after my complete equipment description available here I really don't

understand that you didn't even pick up on the fact that there are TWO Ajak

mounts in use here.



I will discuss the matter with our technician because to be frank I'm not

aware of any optical reed adapter and more importantly if this is something

that we already use or if it must be purchased.




2. The modification made to the first AJAK mount was simply carried out

because normally we are expected to do tests directed at Ku-Band because in

Europe 95% or more normal satellite viewers use only Ku-Band equipment. Of

course we have a range of dishes at our disposal but we wanted to simplify

the stuff at our testing bench and this meant that controlling a dish via

another analog receiver is an unwanted complication we wanted to get rid

of. Perhaps I shouldn't even have mentioned that we use two AJAK mounts of

which one is unmodified, if that created an unwanted confusion I'm sorry.



3. I read the irritation at the end of your letter. An irritation that to

my humble opinion is totally misplaced. Thusfar I have never even mentioned

my professional reviewing work in the satelliteguys,us site. Simply because

it wasn't needed, because I don't write for the American market and

therefore I'm hardly known in North America other than my past reviewing

work for the WRTH (World Radio and Television Handbook) and because C-Band

reception technology is in North America in many ways different than in

Europe.


When I don't write in my capacity of authority but as an ordinary user I am

under no obligation whatsoever to present evidence of every word I write.

Like most people one reads lots of different opinions and experiences, but

if one doesn't expect to use them in any article there's no need to be a

meticulous administrator who keeps track of everything word or opinion he

ever read to justefy oneself. If you check the thread I started on

satelluteguys you'll see that it wasn't me who started writing about the

ASC-1 but you. And even then I don't recall that you mentioned right away

the fact that you weren't a hobbyist but a representative of the firm who

produces this product.


Let's be short about this. Perhaps it's my age (I started this work in 1983

when my first handbook on satellite television was published) but I'm not

willing or able to get into any kind of arguing situation. I took the

trouble to explain to you in detail why I think your grudge is misplaced

(and perhaps I should mention that I'm not only a reviewer but also a

jurist, in other words I have a law degree). I take people who write to me

seriously so that's why I reply to your criticism seriously. The fact that

I am a professional writer writing primarily for a European audience

doesn't mean that I may not like anyone else mention the fact that I read

something somewhere. And about this specific matter, it wasn't me but one

of my technicians who told me what I told you about that British forum. I

could ask him to point out to me where exactly he read the specific

information but it would make much more sense if you asked for me if I were

willing to send in a contribution to that forum once I had concluded that

the person uttering his misgivings about your products was wrong. If a

member of a forum claims that he has tested a product and concluded that

it's not worth the money members of that forum aren't likely to believe the

words of a producer's representative more than those of of someone who

tells of his experiences, simply because a producer has a financial

interest while a user/hobbyist/reviewer normally has no reason for any

partiality. That's by the way the main reason why we never ever have been

involved in any business activities involving the sale of equipment even

though we were asked more than once.



In general the rather nonchelant way in which companies nowadays deal with

their customers tends to irritate me. You explained why the C2PLL cannot be

delivered to anyone at this moment. It made sense. But by not mentioning

this on your site anyone who reads your information assumes that a product

that has available since April 9th would certainly be available now. I

think that the moment you get a hitch like you did you should mention at

your site that it's unavailable at this moment, and that you expect for it

te be available again by such and such date.


And in terms of the ACS-1, wouldn't it make sense that if there are issues

in relation to the AJAK mount that such information too should be available

somewhere under the header "more detailed technical information"?


Look, we've not gotten of at a very good start. Let's either start this all

over with a clean slate or otherwise stop any further communications. No

use wasting your and my time. If you want me to review the ASC-1 I'll check

with my technician if we already have the adapter involved, perhaps it

would be a good idea if meanwhile you let me know where it can be ordered.


And of course, if the dual port C2PLL isn't available for quite a while I

could review the 1 port variety instead. For our testing work the 2 port

would of course come in handy assuming that both ports give equal results

in terms of sensitivity and stability because it would make comparison

testing of receivers easier but it's not a must. Your and our prime

interest is (hopefully) the conclusion that your product is worth

purchasing.



With kindest regards,

Paul R. van Rossum.



- - - - -



Date: 13 Aug 2014



Dear Mr. Gohl,


I sent you a reply to your last email, but apparently you were either too

busy or too angry to respond. I can't know which.


Most of what I wanted to say I already said in my last mail to you. But let

me set the record straight: When living in the South Bay area of Los

Angeles i worked for Sears, Roebuck & co in a position of middle

management. If anyone at Sears, regardless of his sales record, would have

said "Pdiddy, Thank you for talking crap about a great product without even

the courtesy of contacting me or providing an opportunity to assist.... [image:

]" I can assure you that he or she could have had to clear out his desk

that very same day. Even if he had said it in private to a customer, You or

your collegue managed to say it in a public forum. Talking of a lack of

professionalism!


Yes I did mention the fact that opinions were ambivalent in a British forum

where people discussed reception results with your C-band PLL LNBF. You

accused me of a lack of professionalism. To be honest I believe that you're

lucky that I merely mentioned it. And in answer to your writing to me in

that same forum, you could also have PM'ed me. There is no such thing as

unprofessionality when it comes to mentioning that you heard or read

something. If so, CNN better close it's business because 90% of what

journalists state is what they heard of others. nevertheless, I'll attach a

notepad text in which i copied some of the statements on the site I

referred to so you may read them for yourself. They are not all bad and

there is a general overtone that it's a reasonable feed that brings in

certain stations better and others worse whereby I have the impression that

the better occurs slightly more than the worse.


Thirdly, I told you that I'd send you some evidence of my work as an editor

once we'd agree that I'd do a test with any of your products. I attach a

few photographs of some random stuff I gathered this afternoon. Please

realize that I am a writer for a living. This means even though i do

participate in all kinds of fora (like even satelliteguys so once in a long

while), they don't end up paying the bills. That's why I keep my written

articles totally separate from any internet activities. Once readers have

the idea that they could get what I write for free on the internet it would

hurt the sales of the publications i write for. In several cases this is

also a condition of publishers. That's why you won't find anything on

Satmedia Consult or under my full name in the internet.



Last but not least: America used to have a very good reputation when it

came to things like quality control. Unfortunately over the past ten years

this has gone further and further down. I won't mention any names but I had

to deal with a very reputable company in Miamisburg Ohio which I visited

several times when I lived in the USA who turned out a product that was

tuned so miserably that they were forced to invite everyone who purchased

it to return it to the factory for a complete tune up and replacement of

certain parts. Or another company in Florida that put out a C-Ku band feed

that didn't only have scalar rings that seemed to be made out of tunafish

cans but that appeared unable to switch polarities. When I told them that I

got a load of sh*t over me as if I weren't capable of judgeing. Even after

seeing a lot of complaints by American users it was still said that there

was nothing wrong with it. Until eventually our technician went to work and

found out that there was something wrong with the switching which could be

resolved by if I remember correctly introducing a capacitor to the system.


Now to your products: on the 26th of November 2013 I indeed wrote you about

the ASC-1. And after that I started reading about the fact that you were

pretty much forced to take the stuff back for either a refund or a

replacement. Somehow this gets presented as a "good service" but you know

as well as I do that consumer protection laws in your country as well as

mine require a producer to do this when a product appears to not do what

it's supposed to do. And where as the AJAK mount is concerned, I understand

that resolving this issue is NOT YET completed but expected to be so, but

if I were to have gone ahead and had you send a copy of it for a review, it

would have been NINE MONTHS here in which it would have had to go back and

forth between me and you at least once and up to this very day it would not

have been functional! Not to mention the hassles and high costs shipping

such a piece of equipment back to the US and then the complications of

having to avoid a new import taxation when the same product or a

replacement were to be resent. You simply shouldn't put a product on the

market without it having been so completely tested that these quality

control issues wouldn't have taken place. Not to mention the "thank you for

talking crap" bit.


And last but not least, to leave on your site the announcement "04.09.2014

New Product: C2PLL Wideband C-Band PLL LNBF" ending with the words "NOW

SHIPPING" while in fact you know that this is not true is not very smart

and not very honest to say the least. If you were smart you might have said

something like "temproarily sold out" or something like that. That is,

believe me, what a professional person would do.


Like I said, this is NOT an application in order to get any testing

materials, far from that. I really don't want to burn my hands, seeing how

lightly you put out accusations while in fact you are the folks with

shortcomings. Normally I wouldn't take things so hard, after all many great

technicians are also a bit of a nerd whom one cannot expect to deal in a

professional way with sales and PR issues. But the combination of

malfuctioning and unavailable yet advertised equipment at the one hand and

words like "talking crap" to others and "unprofessional" to me scare me

off. It's as simple as that. Besides, it's rather curious how at the one

hand you approach me, then be angry for the fact that I told about other's

experiences without having tested anything myself, and then act like I'm

trying to steal the crown jewels when it comes to sending anything. As if

sending a sample of merchadise would be far more costly than paying for an

ad somewhere. And apparently you don't seem to understand that opinions

written by people who sell equipment, and therefore have a financial

interest in speaking positively about certain products, are by the general

public not percieved as people with objective opinions. If you were to buy

a new car, would you only rely on the information the car maker or sales

people put out or would you rather look for any independent consumer tests

on the subject? Whenever you're really done putting a product on the market

that is fail-free and that is indeed really available you may contact me

again. This is not a promise for anything but I don't want to be completely

unreasonable, people do sometimes make mistakes. I do too.



With kind regards,

Paul.

- - - - - -

Date: 13 Aug 2014

Hello Mr. Van Rossum,

You are right that we may have started off wrong. I apologize that I offended you with my frank statements. It was not my intention. I was taken off guard by some of your statements and believed them to be incorrect.

You raise many points that we could discuss for hours. Bottom line, I attempt to offer top notch customer service and quality products to my customers. I may make mistakes, but they are only that. If a product is defective, I do my best to minimize the impact on the customer.

- - - - - - - -

Date: 13 Aug 2014

Dear Mr. Van Rossum,

Sorry! I accidently sent that last email while composing.

I have been out of the office since your last email for my daughter's out of state wedding and short vacation. I should have responded sooner, but I knew that it wouldn't be a short email, so I was planning on getting caught up and responding before the weekend.

Upon reading this additional email, I really have no interest in participating in an exchange such as this. I respect your opinions and wish you well with your projects and graciously withdraw.

Best Wishes and Regards!
Titanium Satellite Support - Brian Gohl

- - - - - - -


Date: 14 Aug 2014



Yep, that's how life goes. You start throwing mud by calling me

unprofessional, I am foolish enough to respond to you seriously and then

you complain about "an exchange like this".

Guess I should have ignored your anger rather than respond to it. My fault.



As in reality I haven't only stated that in no way my last letter was a

request for any evaluation material, but in addition it's clear until now

that you haven't got anything to offer. One product still needs developing

when it comes to AJAK mounts and the other isn't available at all. So

what's the point of it all?


Best wishes,

Paul.

- - - - - -

2014-08-14

Hello Mr. Van Rossum,

Thank you for your reply, the views, opinions and information that you shared.

I appreciate that you alerted me to the discrepancy in the C2WPLL news release and have updated the text to indicate that it is currently out of stock.

Best Regards!
Brian Gohl

- - - - - -

Date: 14 Aug 2014



You're welcome. btw, my apologies for not having congratulated you with the

wedding of your daughter. Caused in part by being pissed off, but also in

part perhaps out of jealousy. Our twin daughters, born in Hollywood of all

places, are already in their fourties. Great long standing relationships

with partners, both couples with beautiful kids, but never ever even

considered such a thing as a wedding. My sincerest congrats, better late

than never.


Paul.

 

[paulvr]

Dear Brian,

Thanks for putting this whole conversation truthfully online. I fail to understand exactly what goal it exactly has, but I do confirm that what you posted is entirely correct and most likely complete.

But what is to be learned from this exactly? I told you that I felt very frustrated by the fact that so many products that have been issued since the change of the century appeared to be faulty, and that for me as a professional journalist this has cost me loads of time. No, I'm not referring to you or your products when I say this. I could list quite a lot of products both American as well as South Korean but who knows what misery that would cause again. The biggest time-consuming issue for me is the fact that manufaturers keep insisting that I've got it wrong and as I don't consider myself as being infallable I then first spend a lot of time verifying if I might have done something wrong, anything wrong while testing. Much, much later I then get confronted by users's complaints who experience exactly the same issues that I did, In other cases I do eventually get an admission that things aren't what they should have been and then I get sent either new software or in some cases even a new receiver. As such no big deal except quite often the importation taxes on product, shipment and taxation handling charges makes such a product almost as expensive as a new one bought from the store. And if after that it appears that even that new product has all kinds of faults things get really frustrating. For some brands like AzBox and Dr. HD I have eventualle served as an advisor to report further faults in their products, but then I had to find out that all of this (unpaid) work still didn't lead to the intended results and that the whole product was then abandoned by the manufacturers.

From this I have learnt a lot. When I see that a manufacturer puts a product on the market that is not fully developed I am most hesitant to spend any time at all to it. Simply because in many, many situations the issues that developed seemed unresolvable. And not because they are by definition unresolvable, the Dr. HD Grand Triple receiver for instance does work OK with Usals 1.0 but never ever functioned properly on Usals 1.1 and never was able to work faulless on Usals (DiSEqC 1.2 = rotor) installations. I have spent more than 2 years corresponsing back and forth between the makers in Ireland and in Hong Kong about this without them really admitting the faults of the receiver but keeping issuing new software hoping that it would finally resolve the issue. But it never did.

This all to say that I am particularly touchy about products of which I hear from all kinds of people that they have problems in one way or another while the manufacturer himself tends to play the problems down trying to build confidence while in reality that confidence is not based upon facts. To take the example of the ASC1: When I see that more than 2 years after our discussion I read on satelliteguys.us a statement from our late friend Rainer saying

Titanium ASC1 Latest Update
July 30, 2016 • 36 posts • 2876 views
C-BAND Satellite Discussion
#29 - Ponny
Mit freundlichen Grüßen Rainer Schulz (Ponny) Hello Gohl, the latest software version is the worst of all versions. When Ajay only counting error. SMR 1224 on reduction of the motor voltage to 12V by an auxiliary power supply is one ...



It's to me very obvious that I was right to be reluctant (to put it mildly) when it came to reviewing this ASC1 box. If even two years later the issues weren't resolved (and I have of coursde no idea if they meanwhile are) it should have stated bluntly on your site that "this product is not (yet) suitable for owners of (some types) of AJAK H2H mounts" to be credible in my eyes.

Same for the thing about the C-Band PLL LNB's. Sure, I feel sorry for you when you're confronted with the problems you mentioned but of this means that it can't be delivered for a substantial amount of time I expect that to be reflected on your website. It should have said "Sorry, this product is not available at the present time, we expect it to become available again at xx-xx-20xx".

I don't blaim you for thinking at a given moment that I may be "one of those guys who try to get free stuff from you". You can't know our market nor our reviewers. But that's not the issue in this case as you confirmed. My problem is that I take a certain responsibility when I recommand a certain product. I don't want to then be gutted by complaints by my readers. I've always been very, very careful not to get into that position because it destroys one's credibility. I am not involved in any commercial enterprise like some of my collegues who write favorable reports not based upon products but based upon what amount of advertising space is sold to the manufacturer or wholesale dealer of a product.

At the other hand, I also have NEVER EVER bad mouthed any product in public. Products that are sent to me which I find to be faulty are never discussed by me in any publication. Instead I write a letter to the sender telling them of my negative findings asking if this is typical for the product. Sometimes it leads to silence, other times to discussions or the reception of a second sample when they are convinced that they sent a "monday sample" the first time. And for this I think I also have a pretty fair reputation among manufacturers and supplyers, I feel that if someone takes the trouble to send something for an evaluation he shouldn't be at a disadvantage compared to companies who don't bother to get their stuff evaluated. So bad news is no news and doesn't get published, at least not by me. I never ever wrote a negative review.

Like I said, quickly reading the conversation between is I see nothing that I wouldn't still say today. Except perhaps I expressed myself too strongly using words like "cussed". In the above email exchange I saw nothing of this back so based on that I offer my apologies. I did feel rather insulted by your claim of unprofessionalism - I am very proud of my profession - and I think my memory was also influenced by some ways I saw a few complaining people on this forum treated. But of course I have absolutely no way of either remembering exactly whom it involved nor how I could find that back on this site so much time later on so please leave this as being a subjective memory.

I have no idea how you percieve my words and explanations but this is the honest truth about how I felt and still feel. Honesty about possible negative aspects is of importance to you in terms of your reputation, but also for me as a reviewer. I cannot possibly know everyone who either seeks my advice or lodges a complaint so I must be absolutely sure that the source from whom they purchased their products is 100% truthful when it comes to possible drawbacks of their products.

Later on I saw that Rainer did sell your ASC 1 box as a way to control the EGIS Robothead, a product of which I have been a part of developing, in the early NITEC days when it got in the hands of mr. Hamacher-Schwieren under the name HAMCO SAT and later with Ing. Dieter Meixner (who over the many years became a very good personal friend of mine) under the name EGIS. Of course I have a couple of these dual motor rotators on our testing ground as well but I never contacted you again because of this whole AJAK controversy. As a journalist I get paid very little and therefore I must limit my reviews to products of which I expect to be able to write a nice and therefore favorable article, preferably in several different publications. If not I have only spent a lot of time and importation costs without earning a penny back for the review I then can't write when it is not recommendable. And please believe me when I tell you that I really am not searching for any more equipment than I already have. I do update of course when it's necessary to stay up to date but in general terms there's no need whatsoever to do so just for the fun of it.

Best wishes, and thanks for this discussion,

Paul.

 

[danristheman]

Paul here in the states people want to point and shoot they don't want to work on a dish. C band is weaker here than over in Europe. Plus people like streaming than paytv.

 

[paulvr]

About signal strength I can't judge of course, I never was in the States since the Satellite hobby started. I do know that equipment wise things are very standardised in the US. This causes many receivers to be almost totally unusable here. I remember being asked to evaluate a receiver for the World Radio & Television Handbook (WRTH) for whom I revised their Satellite TV section. The receiver was most impressive and luxurious, made by General Instrument, it's still in my shack somewhere. But tuning was done in 20 MHz increments in a standard H/V rhytm so most here available C-Band stations couldn't be tuned in with it at all. And the strongest frequency at that time, 3675 MHz used by the Gorizont satellites was totaslly out of range for it.

Another huge difference is the fact that in the US most anything is encrypted, even nationwide chains like ABC, CBS and NBC (as I knew them when I lived in the States) which of course could be freely received whan traveling around were for some reason encrypted via satellite. I have the impression that mainly advertising and religion were available without having to pay. Here in Europe some countries, unfortunately also mine, do so, but just look at the wealth of FTA stations that Germany put on 19.2 East, free for all to watch. The quality of their programs is the highest in the world! But that's of course off-topic while not C-Band.

When you mention streaming, do you mean paid cable tv via closed IPTV? That of course exists here too. For us C-Band satellite TV is for two groups, first the die-hard hobbyist who enjoys getting images from foreign lands like South America, Africa and so on for the fun of being able to watch the unusual, and otherwise fro those who have a purpose, for instance to be able to watch programs from the land or continent they came from or to be able to watch tv from the countries they specifically are interested in. Personally I like the exotica. C-Band in the earliest stages allowed me to watch tv from countries I only heard from by often very negative propagada while now being able to see what real life looked like from their point of view, but also the challenge of making something out of weak signals like Madagascar TV via Gorizont in the early years. And the fun of succeeding to see for instance the Russian TV via the non-geostationary orbits of the Molnya system far north of Canada and Siberia and Saoudi Arabia via S-Band to just give some examples. Fun to have done but without any permanent viewing value.

For people without such hobby interests sat tv is rather superfluous. I'm always amazed about the huge number of people over here that are interested in Card Sharing. They are fond of their choice of channels but when you look at content most European subscription channels offer just about the same choice of mainly American movies, series and documentaries in the same period of time. At least here in Europe. So subscribe to one and you get most of what there is to be seen on all of them. Somehow it seems that the interests of people have become most superficial, or perhaps I should say that programs have become increasingly superficial. I am absolutely fond of history but when I see something called "the History Channel" spending hour after hour showing how guys are trying to buy ancient rusty cars to fix up that really has little or nothing to do with my conception of what history is all about. And where films are concerned, there's so much more in the world to see besides just what the American film industry produces. And it's so often even FTA, available for all to see.

Anyhow, be it C-Band or Ku, my fun is to see the exotics, from Tadjikistan to Benin and from Greenland to former British Guyana. Stuff that one rarely gets to see other than on C-Band (although I must admit I did find Greenland on my IPTV tablet recently). The only thing that may limit this hobby is the ever increasing price and lack of availability of C-Band dishes. My about 25 yr old 10 ft Unimesh came as a reviewing sample like it's 12 ft. Hero predecessor but if it were ever to be destroyed by a storm I don't think that I'd have the money to replace with another 10 footer it since such dishes have become rare and much more expensive than before. So I keep enjoying it while it lasts but i know very well that one day the end may come for me too where C-Band is concerned.

 

[danristheman]

People over here are using tv over the internet to watch netflix and other services like dsl and cable modem. There is not to many of us over here that work on FTA satellite. The strongest C band signal here is on 99w, 97w than 91w. At the strongest signal on 99w 42.6 db at full power I am only using a 1.2 meter minibud.

 

[Titanium]

I am unable to say what issue Rainier had with the firmware, which he had extensively tested and approved prior to its release a year earlier. As he never replied to our follow-up inquiry to this post, I suppose we will never know.

There is no reason to post any statement on our site as the ASC1 has no known systemic incompatibilities with the AJAK HH or any linear actuator motor. There are many AJAK HH owners (now including myself) using the ASC1 in stock AJAK HH units without error or issue.

Since you fail to understand why I asked your permission to share our email conversation, let me simply explain. Members can decide for themselves if you accurately portrayed our conversations and attacks against my character or if you lied.

 

[primestar31]

For a journalist, he certainly misunderstands a lot and seems to have had a major chip on his shoulder during that whole exchange.

Email and forum threads can be the absolute worst way for contact between people, as the medium itself doesn't easily lend itself well to properly understanding motivation and intent behind word choices.

 

[a33]

I am unable to say what issue Rainier had with the firmware, which he had extensively tested and approved prior to its release a year earlier. As he never replied to our follow-up inquiry to this post, I suppose we will never know.

This was also my conclusion, after participating in a thread of Ponny's about the ASC1 on the german forum forum.dxtv.de
Alas.
Reporting issues and complaining is one thing, adding to solutions is another.
Though I realize that that (adding to solutions) is sometimes hard, and maybe one doesn't always feel like that.
Don't we see a lot of this in politics, also?

Sometimes it is hard, to be human.....

Greetz,
A33

 

[paulvr]

Yeah, you're so very right. That's why you call yourself A33 while I call myself merely Paul. A very non humanoid name, I know....

 

[primestar31]

This was also my conclusion, after participating in a thread of Ponny's about the ASC1 on the german forum forum.dxtv.de
Alas.
Reporting issues and complaining is one thing, adding to solutions is another.
Though I realize that that (adding to solutions) is sometimes hard, and maybe one doesn't always feel like that.
Don't we see a lot of this in politics, also?

Sometimes it is hard, to be human.....

Greetz,
A33

Yeah, you're so very right. That's why you call yourself A33 while I call myself merely Paul. A very non humanoid name, I know....

...and once again, an innocent post from somebody goes right over paulvr's head WHOOSH, and he takes it as a personal attack and he insults the poster straight away.

 

[paulvr]

Yeah, and so this infantile conversation continues. "Sometimes it's hard to be human" is not insulting but pointing out that I use a human name and the author doesn't is an insult. Sure....

Look folks, I am a decent person who replied to all that was hurled at me. But this forum is not my main core of buisness and I only have kept replying because I considered it to be impolite not to do so. But I'm not going on forever on this, if you like to bash just go ahead and bash all you like. No matter how childish the arguments. Have fun!

 

[a33]

Yeah, and so this infantile conversation continues. "Sometimes it's hard to be human" is not insulting but pointing out that I use a human name and the author doesn't is an insult. Sure....

I'm not sure what you mean?

My sentence "Sometimes it's hard to be human" was never meant to be an insult to anybody, and most certainly not referring to you; as I was merely reflecting on the fact that the problem Ponny was having with his setup was never investigated further by Titanium, or reported on further by Ponny.

So, as can be seen from my post, I reacted to the cited phrase "As he never replied to our follow-up inquiry to this post, I suppose we will never know" (what the problem is/was with his (Ponnys) system, and if there still really were development issues with the ASC1?).


I'm also not sure if you mean my sentence would be an insult to Ponny?
As I wrote: Sometimes people don't feel like it, to add to a solution; and they would rather just report and 'complain'. Thát, I guess, is very human; I sometimes have the same feeling. With the result, however, that the matter then stays unresolved, and the frustration is also very unfinished.
To that state of mind I wrote: "Sometimes it's hard to be human".


Sorry if it in any way was felt by you as an insult.

Greetz,
A33

 

[paulvr]

I'm sorry, I told in the beginning that english is not my native language. I speak five languages fairly fluently and english is merely one of those five. So please understand that when you use more figurative ways of speech this can be easily misunderstood by someone whose mother tongue is not english.

As far as "Ponny" is concerned, I sadly cannot ask him for any details as he recently passed away. I had a number of conversations with him but they obviously didn't center on Titanium products as I had no particular interest in them. But he was Titaniums main reseller in Central Europe so I feel fairly sure that his contacts with Brian (of whom he didn't speak negatively in any way, shape or form) were in direct contact with him and not via satelliteguys.

He did tell me earlier of a board he was making, as far as I recall by request of Brian in order to solve the problems with the AJAK H2H mounts. And later on that this hadn't worked out because the problem of incorrect numbers of pulses when turning from one sat to another kept existing. But like I said, this was said on the sideline. I probably could have tested it with my EGIS setup assuming that in that combination there were no problems but precisely because the problems with the AJAK mounts were never frankly reported on the Titanium website as far as I remember I haven't dared to touch it. It's only by coincidence that I found out about the AJAK problems, first on satelliteguys, and I feel that this should have been openly told and warned for. I don't know of any other incompatibilities, I hope for Brian that this was the only one, but I always feel that openness and honesty is your best reputation-enhancer.

Shall we terminate this topic? Unless Brian has something relevant to tell, like about his contacts with Rainer and if his words that I found here and quoted led ever to a final solution? Like I said, and I repeat again, I never have had any product of Titanium in my hands and of course any product knows it's fans and it's disappointees, but in the cases mentioned above I feel that there was more to it than some incompetent grudges being uttered. And I say it for the last time: most certainly with regards to the ASC1 - AJAK discussion my main source of information was not Rainer (that came much later) but a number of people who discussed their problems openly on this site without there being a solution. Anyone who doubts my words, feel free to go into the search mode on this topic and you'll find plenty. If not, fine, but don't play "murdered innocense" when I openly and honestly state my reasons for feeling the way I do. I can fully understand that you feel a desire to be faithful to someone who apparenty plays a big role in supporting this forum and I compliment Brian for this, but that doesn't mean that there also is an obligation to attack anyone who refers to things that apparently have their drawbacks. A simple warning for AJAK users would have done to never see this thing to be an issue at the first place. Rainer (not Rainier by the way, that was the head of state of Monaco who married American actress Grace Kelly) was an extremely capable person who in GDR-times actually built his own satellite gear by hand because at the time he couldn't get any factory made products. He knew oceans more than most of us all put together so for me there is zero doubt about his conclusions that there was something seriously wrong. If it has been resolved over the last year I of course don't know, perhaps it has.

 

[Titanium]

Paul, Stop your foolishness. Let's all remember why this thread continues. You are a liar and obviously thrive on drama! I can deal with your unprofessional behavior and lies about my products, but your continued personal attacks on forum members and myself are pathetic.

Unsure what Ponny told you, but Rainer was never a major reseller of our products in Europe and had only purchased several cases back in 2014. I hadn't had any communication with him in the past few years, but a few months before his passing he requested a quote for a few cases of ASC1s. He never finalized the order. This was the extent of his business with us and certainly is not consistent with your statement.

Once again... The ASC1 has no known incompatibilities with the AJAK HH or other linear actuators.

Yes, this thread can be terminated... unless you want to spread more lies or attack someone else...

 

[KE4EST]

I'm closing this thread. It is going nowhere but straight to the water closet.
Paul your constant drama and attempt at spreading lies is not welcome at this forum. Even after Brian posted up your email exchange, you could not even produce one apology.
You continue to troll and throw out personal attacks, seemingly to get your kicks. Take it somewhere else. The internet has many, many places to bicker with others and spread hate.
This site is not one of them!