Doing a "blind search"

[dfecarter]

I'm new to FTA and have been from time to time following some of the topics on this forum and hear people use the phrase blind search. Now I have a fortec star 36" dish, mororized, powerd by the fortec mercury II receiver. The receiver has the option of searching for satellites, 3 or 4 different ways. Thus far I usually do an auto scan or occasionally a power scan and I believe you can also scan while in the antenna set up mode.
Am I missing soemthing or is a blind scan the same as a power scan when it comes to my fortec box?
I must say I have done ok with picking up trans and channels although alot of the channels I'm realy inerested in, such as the us networks on 123W and RTN on 83W (I think it is) I haven't had any luck with!
Can anyone tell me, in trying to scan for the most trans on any given satellite, would I be better of doing an auto or power scan. I believe the power scan gives you the capability of scanning multiple birds at once but does one doing a more thorough scan than the other? Or is a blind scan something different all together?
Also, the latest software is from june 07 I believe, does that mean the the pre loaded transponders are outdated and/or incomplete maybe? I've tried scanning by trans but come up empty every time.
Thanks!

 

[turbosat]

You can blindscan more than one satellite if you like. On that rec, Powerscan=blind scan.
Diff rec use different terms, but autoscan/channel scan usually just scans the tps that are already stored. Powerscan or blindscan looks for new transponders too, then searches them for
channels. Firmware should be fine, if you do powerscan it will find any new tp's. On 123, are you getting all the tp's listed on The List (top of page here). Your dish might not be getting a good signal on that end of the arc and missing some of the transponders.

 

[dfecarter]

Thanks, yeah I thought power scan was the same as blind scan.
Follow up question...when satellites get scanned, why is it that a scan might detect say 15 transponders but when they convert to channels, you might end up with say 40 radio stations but only a few tv channels?
Is this indicative of the transponder signal strength not being strong enough to result in viewable channels?
Or is this type of thing common? Or is it common for some transponders to not be transmitting video?
Thanks for your help!

 

[turbosat]

Yes, prob a lot of them are data transponders. Some receivers are better than others at discriminating which is which. I saw that a good bit with Merc2. More than often on some satellites..

 

[BarneyBean]

RTN usually does not come in on a blind scan on my reciever, once in a while it will pick it up. You probably might want to enter the TP and other info manually into your reciever then scan it, thats how I got it.

 

[Smith P.]

Also using BLSA PCI card will give much more info for scan certain frequencies. It's on sale now here.

 

[dfecarter]

A BLSA PCI Card??
Available from which retailer?

 

[dfecarter]

Well I did find one on Trimax site, hand held meter style, they aren't cheap(like $200) however, not sure I'm ready to invest that kind of $ yet although I can see how they would save a lot of time!
Is this the type you're referring to ?

 

[Smith P.]

Nope, check SG Classified forum. http://www.satelliteguys.us/satelli...hed-pci-spectrum-analyzer.html?highlight=blsa