Modify USALS Position in Enigma2 without Loosing Services

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iBoston

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 15, 2014
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North Central
I attempted to do this by modifying the Satellites.xml and lamedb, and it didn't work. How do i modify the USALS position of a particular satellite without loosing all the channels i had in the old USALS position???
 
In Engima2, the referencing is by orbital location and it cannot be changed without breaking transponders and services.

USALS is a calculated position. If you need to correct for installation variances for a single satellite, use DiSEqC 1.2 instead. If you need override the calculated position to shift all satellites, either correct the physical mount or change the longitude value.
 
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In Engima2, the referencing is by orbital location and it cannot be changed without breaking transponders and services.

USALS is a calculated position. If you need to correct for installation variances for a single satellite, use DiSEqC 1.2 instead. If you need override the calculated position to shift all satellites, either correct the physical mount or change the longitude value.


There has got to be a way if you know all the correct files to modify. I wish there was better documentation on the workings of Enigma2
 
Also, with my STAB usals 120, i have never been able to get the Diseqc 1.2 commands to work.
I'm not a fan of Ku motors and haven't used USALS since I quit using them. But I noticed when you first started mentioning having issues is when you were scanning Eutelsat 113W and Eutelsat 117W A & B. Eutelsat 117W A is at 116.8°W and B is at 117°W. Not sure if you were aware of that. You might want to make a separate sat list for the 116.8W position.
 
In Engima2, the referencing is by orbital location and it cannot be changed without breaking transponders and services.

USALS is a calculated position. If you need to correct for installation variances for a single satellite, use DiSEqC 1.2 instead. If you need override the calculated position to shift all satellites, either correct the physical mount or change the longitude value.


The problem lies in that when i set up the Cband motorized dishes, ofcourse i put in the correct Position, and then i have fixed dishes with the slightly offscewed positions, and then i added USALS, and now ofcourse, the correct position is taken by the Cband. So, im off by .2 on my USALS on this particular bird. So, my plan was to move my Cband to another position so that i could move the USALS to the correct satellite position.

EDIT - I admit I hadn't tried Diseqc 1.2 on my USALS since my last receiver. It appears to work on my DreamBox. I only have two satellite positions where i couldn't use the exact satellite position because it was previously taken. I just use Diseqc 1.2 for those two satellite positions. I set it up as LNB1=USALS Universal LNB2=USALS Circular LNB3=Diseqc 1.2 for the USALS
 
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I figured it out. I'm gonna do some testing. If it works out, ill write a program that will allow you to change the orbital position of any satellite for Enigma2.
 
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:yessign

I got it... I edited Satellite.xml , LameDb and ,Settings , and when the system came back up, it was properly switched with all my transponders/services and Tuner configurations properly re-associated.

Now that i know how to do it, ill write program that will do it all automatically.
 
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Okay, here is how you do it.

There are a few references i will identify.

Arc Position : 34.5w
XMLPosition: -345 (arc position * 10) (negative = west / positive = east)
TunerPosition : 3255 (western : 3600 - (xmlposition*-1) (eastern : XMLPosition)
RefPosition : 0cb7 (TunerPosition converted to lowercase 4 digit Hex with possible leading 0's)

Satellites.xml : change the position="-345" to the new calculated value.
Lamedb : Find/Replace all occurrences of RefPosition to New RefPosition where character before = LineFeed or (character before = : and 6 characters before = linefeed) - This prevents other possible random matches from being changed.
settings : Find/Replace all occurrences of .TunerPosition. to .(newPosition).

Before you make any modifications, you telnet in and issue init 4 once your done, issue init 3 to restart enigma2.

I wrote the function within my program to make the change. I'll test it tomorrow. The program asks what orbital position you wish to modify, and checks to make sure it exists. It then asks you what you want to change it too, and makes sure that new position doesn't already exist. You then okay the process, it telnets into your Enigma box, Issues the Init 4 command loads in the 3 files and makes all the necessary modifications, and saves them. (Using Samba File Networking) ... It then restarts Enigma... It appeared to work during my debugging, but i never actually had it write the replaced files. Ill save that for tomorrow...
 
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No... That could be done though. I just wanted it quickly done so that i could resolve my issues. I already wrote a E2tools program that has many functions, including telneting, and many other functions, so it made quick sense for me to add it to that program.

If there is need, i would be willing to make a windows program that would implement this feature.
 
I may have to experiment with that solution. I'm using mine with USALS, but there are a couple of satellites that don't seem to be registering well with the set position. But I must be doing something wrong. I tried the Advanced Mode, using DiSEqC 1.2 on those couple of satellites and USALS on the others. I also went in and set up LNB 1 for USALS and LNB 2 for memory positions using DiSEqc 1.2. USALS works fine to move the dish. DiSEqC 1.2 works OK with the positioning feature and saving to memory. What is odd is that when selecting a new satellite, the dish refuses to move in the Advanced setup, whether given a USALS command or a DiSEqc 1.2 command. If I switch back to Simple mode using USALS, then the dish will move. PBS on 125 W is one of those where I need DiSEqc 1.2, as an example. I'm on on 97W and want to go to 125W, I would have to be in Simple mode (USALS only) to move to where 125W should be, then reset up the tuner to Advanced mode, and go into the positioner feature to force it to move to the new location. To move to another satellite (say back to 97W), required going back into the tuner and changing the mode back to simple (USALS only). I must be missing a step or doing something incorrectly.
 
Give this a go. Select a channel that is on another USALS sat position close to where you want to go first, then select the channel on the USALS you actually want.. Does that make a difference?
 
Thanks for helping me troubleshoot. Hmm, I may have misunderstood, but here's what I attempted. In setup, I first selected simple (USALS for all) and moved to 123W. Then, I changed setup to Advanced and attempted to move to 121W with USALS selected in the Advanced menu. It wouldn't move. It also wouldn't move automatically to a non-USALS, DiSEqC 1.2 memory position for 125W, just for comparison. Is that what you requested I try?

Now, I had first used this STB on C-band where I had moved the positions by DiSEqC 1.2 and saved those into the memory of the STB (ASC1 is the mover). For some reason, it worked perfectly fine there (I hadn't scanned in any Ku-band satellites at that time). In setup, I tried putting those C-band satellites under LNB4. The current configuration is a Ku-band only setup direct to a USALS motor (not through the ASC1), and I used some unused position numbers to store the two or three satellites I needed for the Ku-band setting. Do the C-band satellites possibly need to be deleted or inactivated? Is it because I'm mixing which Ku-band satellites are USALS and which aren't? I assume that's not the case, but it has me a bit puzzled why the Advanced feature worked fine with the ASC1/C-band but not on Ku-band with a standalone USALS motor (unless in USALS Simple mode)...
 
I'm not sure. I use a secondary tuner card on my receiver for my USALS. I did run into oddities where it wouldn't always move the USALS. What i was suggesting, is that when your in advanced mode, and you select a USALS satellite, select one you don't want first, then the USALS you do want. I find sometimes when i first switch to usals, the first issued USALS commands sometimes get lost.
 
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DiSEqC commands (including USALS) are often not be issued if a STB logic "thinks" that it is already on the target satellite or the signal path still exists. For example: If the motorized dish is shared with multiple STBs and STB has issued a GoTo Satellite A, then STB 2 issues a GoTo command to move to Satellite B, STB 1 may "think" that the dish is still aimed at satellite A and a channel change for satellite A will not issue a repeat GoTo command. Likewise, if a DiSEqC switch command has been issued to change the signal path or the switch port "lock" has been cleared, the STB logic may "think' that the signal path still exists.

Hint: Using TNAP 3.2 in the satellite selection menu item, I prefer to use the PVR key on the RCU to bring up a satellite from the list then press OK to execute the GoTo move. This two step accept process saves wear and tear as the GoTo command is only issued when a satellite selection is accepted and not as a list is surfed.
 
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