Help Setting Technomate 5400 CI+ USB Super+

[rdcpub]

Dear All,

I am dry of all this and got an installer to set me up with a motorised dish (I live in South London).

It was all going relatively smooth until I started playing with the settings of my receiver in the attempt of catching some channels from 40E Express AM1, which wasn't in the list of channels.

To cut a long story short, I decided to reset the box to factory settings so I would get in the list the 40E satellite carrying the Russian channels that I am looking for. Since this moment I have been in trouble and unfortunately reading the manual didn't help. The Technomate manual seems to give for granted that all users are experts as it explains what all the options in the menu do, but fails to explain what you should do. This is the reason why I am asking for help now.

I read the threads talking about setting up a motorised unit, but am now stuck. Here is a summary:

When I reset the box, I came to the realisation that the dish is misaligned. When I point a satellite, say Astra 28.2E or Hotbird 15E, the quality is about 60% but if I go to the Motorised Settings and (Diseqc Motor set to USALS) push the dish a little bit to the East by pressing the "Move Fine" buttons, the signal jumps to 97%. From what I know, since the USALS are a mathematical model, I need to centre one satellite and the others will all fall in the right place. Shame that there seems to be no way of memorising this position and if I either exit or press "go to", it goes back in the lower quality position.

So I read further and find that I should start from Thor 1.0W as this is the most aligned to my longitude. Done that, same thing. So I have experimented further and went back to Astra 28.2E, switched the Diseqc to 1.2, which allows saving the position. I moved the dish to get top notch signal and saved, then switched back to USALS. It worked at that moment but then I am now back to max 70% quality. This happened after I attempted to go to 40E and, having had no luck, I moved back to 28.2E.

If I go to the settings and press "Go to reference", which I believe is 0, and then go back to the menu and tune 28.2E, I have very poor signal but if I move to Hotbird 15E, I have top signal. It looks as if the USALS catch one satellite but not the other... and I would like more satellites.

In simple words, after many hours trying hard I have exhausted all my logical conclusions and need some expert advice but the guy who installed the dish just ignores my calls. I would be grateful if anyone could help me. I believe that my dish is installed ok-ish, and if I can successfully centre one satellite, then the rest will work.

These are my systems settings (the ones I think may be important):

- Software Version: 1.16 (24 Aug 2009)
- Hardware Version: 1.10
- Boot Version: 2.01
- CH Version: Feb 09

- Position Setting: 0.00W / 51.0N


Can anyone help me?

Thanks.

[AnyAirPlane]

When I set my system up, I used USALS to drive the dish to the position required, then changed from USALS to diseq 1.2 and fine moved the position until the best signal and quality was achieved. I then saved the settings. I did this for every sat position I could get and the receiver will then remember where to send the dish to.

AAP

[dick b]

go to either 1W or 28.2E if you prefer by usals then in the motorised settings menu,drop down to position setting>ok then you can alter your longtitude by say 0.2 at a time either E or W to get the highest signal but you need to exit back to full screen every time to see the effect.If you already know the direction the dish needs to go eg;eastward you need to to move your longitude setting the opposite way to west.do not adjust your latitude setting which should remain as set on the motor and be correct for your location.
I"v sent my own set up guide which may be of some help.

[rdcpub]

go to either 1W or 28.2E if you prefer by usals then in the motorised settings menu,drop down to position setting>ok then you can alter your longtitude by say 0.2 at a time either E or W to get the highest signal but you need to exit back to full screen every time to see the effect.If you already know the direction the dish needs to go eg;eastward you need to to move your longitude setting the opposite way to west.do not adjust your latitude setting which should remain as set on the motor and be correct for your location.
I"v sent my own set up guide which may be of some help.

Thanks a lot. This is the way I managed to make it work the last time I tried, then, for some reasons, it all fell back into low signal. From what I read I believe that the dish follows the arc quite nicely, as once I correct the positioning from the box the signal is good. It's just the "zero" that seems to be off the mark, if I had a way of setting that, then it would be perfect.

Do you know by any chances if the 40E can be tuned with an 80cm dish?

Cheers

R

[manxspud]

use this tool to work out dish size ect :

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

half way down on the left you will see a part that says :

All available satellites and estimated dish sizes for your location

[dick b]

Thanks a lot. This is the way I managed to make it work the last time I tried, then, for some reasons, it all fell back into low signal. From what I read I believe that the dish follows the arc quite nicely, as once I correct the positioning from the box the signal is good. It's just the "zero" that seems to be off the mark, if I had a way of setting that, then it would be perfect.

Do you know by any chances if the 40E can be tuned with an 80cm dish?

Cheers

R

I can get 42E and 39E with good strong signal but I can get nothing at all from 40E on a 1mt dish.

what "zero" do you mean I must admit I have never bothered with the go to 0 function you dont need it.If after altering your longitude setting you save it each time it will not go back. what long setting gives the best result? and when you go back to that menu after full screen is it still as you left it or returned to 00.0.it sounds like your dish is ok if you can get good readings you just need to configure the box correctly.

I have just had another read of your original post so try this as the signal improves when you nudge it east go into "position setting" and change the long from 00.0 to 01.0W and see if that improves it,you can then make any further adjustments 00.2 at a time.
if all else fails you can start from scratch following the guides you have.(you can either enter your location long or leave it at 00.0 to set the dish up BUT you will still have to fine tune the longtitude to get max signal I think "jackpot" has published a guide to fine tuning in the general satellite sticky section.I still think you just need the box setting up though.

[rdcpub]

I can get 42E and 39E with good strong signal but I can get nothing at all from 40E on a 1mt dish.

what "zero" do you mean I must admit I have never bothered with the go to 0 function you dont need it.If after altering your longitude setting you save it each time it will not go back. what long setting gives the best result? and when you go back to that menu after full screen is it still as you left it or returned to 00.0.it sounds like your dish is ok if you can get good readings you just need to configure the box correctly.

I have just had another read of your original post so try this as the signal improves when you nudge it east go into "position setting" and change the long from 00.0 to 01.0W and see if that improves it,you can then make any further adjustments 00.2 at a time.
if all else fails you can start from scratch following the guides you have.(you can either enter your location long or leave it at 00.0 to set the dish up BUT you will still have to fine tune the longtitude to get max signal I think "jackpot" has published a guide to fine tuning in the general satellite sticky section.I still think you just need the box setting up though.

Thanks everyone,

The links that you posted are indeed very useful. I hadn't had a chance of playing with the box in the last period but I am planning to make some progress this coming weekend. Both the ideas of using diseq 1.2 and shifting the longitude seem to be good, I will give it a go and let you know how it goes.

Thank you for now.

R

[Suedematt]

My dad bought a Technomate 5400 CI+ USB Super+, and we can't get it working (you'd think with him having used to install satellites, that he'd be capable of figuring this one out).. So I'm gonna have a read of these forums and see what I can find, if anyone can speed the process for me by showing me a guide it would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt.

[dick b]

a bit more info needed all the TM std boxes are easy to setup and use so whats not working.is it a fixed or motorised setup?if fixed what sat do you want.