Problem with satellite broadband

alay

Ive got this ongoing problem trying to connect my satellite broadband set-up which is driving me nuts, looking for some technical insights here in tracing the problem.
Motorised dish with twin output lnb
one output to humax receiver and other output dedicated to my computer where i have it connected to a usb skystar .
Im trying to connect to the open sky system on 7 degrees east.

Now i get 80% signal on this satellite and i can pick up the fta channels easily on the humax. I have also changed cables to check that the other output of lnb is good and it is.

Now when i connect my skystar, and configure it to the correct transponders with all the relevant settings, i get an 80% signal on the signal status on both transponers using the setup4pc facility. With this signal quality, i also get an SNR(db) reading off 8 dbs and a BER of 0.0000000

Now when i launch the opensky software and try and connect, or if i move my dish then move it back again, the signal quality remains at 80%, but my opensky software says to check the satellite adapter signal as in not good signal. When i check the SNR(dbs) it has gone to 1.0 with a BER of 1.3, ive heard that these readings are the problem but i dont know why they are happening while i apparently still have a high signal quality.

I have already had a replacement skystar and software but still get the same proble of this SNr(db) and ber rate being wrong ?

Can anyone shed some light on this problem ? What are the significance of these SNR and ber rates and what is causing the changes in them ?

Is it something to do with my equipment etc etc ?

rolfw

What settings are you using for the OpenSky software? Are you sure that you are entering the correct FEC and Symbol rate, you may also need to enter the PIDs.

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alay

Rolf, yes my fecs, symbol rate and pids are all as required.

This problem has evaded me and my italian friends at opensky for many many hours and is so frustrating.

rolfw

Is their software readily available alay? I could perhaps have a tinker if i get some time during the week.

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alay

Rolf , yes it is available here
http://www.broadsat.com/en/opensky/support/download/

It is openskclient 1.7, i had tried 1.7 and have now gone back to 1.6 but getting same problem.
There is also a start-up guide which i have followed and checked.

alay

I have solved my problem.

I tried another computer, and i was able to cxonnect ok.
Therefore the problem was a hardware computer related and the only thing i can think of is that my ram was not large enough.
The opensky package asks foe a p5 and 128k ram minimum, however the technisat skystar asks for a p7 and 250k ram minimum.
I was using a p7 with 192k ram, and although i was showing an initial perfect signal on the technisat skystar usb , as soon as i tried to download some heavy bytes, then the snr ratio dropped from 8 to 1 and thereafter the system would not operate.

i have now tried a computer with 250k ram , and the system is operating perfectly using the same technisat skystar usb device and opensky software.

Can anyone confirm if they think it was a ram problem also ?

rolfw

You're probably going overboard with your Ps and understating your RAM alay, I guess that you are talking of Megabytes of Ram, not Ks and as far as I know there is not a P7.,

You may well be right though, it sounds like a hardware problem.

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alay

Yes i have not explained my situation so clearly or in fact accurately.

My first computer was an IBM T22 with pentium 111 700Mhz and 192MB ram
On this computer when first starting, i had a perfect signal on the skystar . But as soon as i tried to operate any downloading, the snr would go from 8db to 1db and there i could not receive broadband or streams etc.
I should add that this ibm functions correctly in every manner to date apart from the above puzzle.

My current computer has AMD Athlon tm XP2000 + 1.67Mhz and 224MB ram
and the satellite broadband is working perfectly using same skystar and opensky software. The snr dbs are always around 8.

I would love to identify what the exact problem may have been regarding this snr ratio if you have any ideas rolf ?