Cam module, I think?!

L

LameDuck

Member
My Satellite Setup
Fortec Receiver, 1 meter dish.
My Location
Essex, UK
Hi, I'm new, so please be almost gentle with me. I have a 65 cm Dish woking fine, pointing at Astra 2 and feeding a Fortec Star receiver. This all works fine.

Today I got a 1 meter dish fitted to the wall and cable run back into the flat, planning to get Slovak Sat working for my girlfriend. Snagette 1, the viewing card we bought in Slovakia, doesn't fit, there's something that looks like a PCMCIA slot in the front, so way to big to take the sim card we have. I believe we need something called a CAM module to get it working? If so, where can I order one online?

My plan was to get a second receiver and swap the other sat lead onto that one, then we can flick between channels. Am I doing this right? SHould I be looking to get some other kit, or will some nice person send me a link to a site selling me some wonder fix!

I do have the option of getting a sat box shipped over from SLovakia, if that's my only option. Would rather not though, as it's not the quickest solution :-(

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Jim
 
Hi,

You need to do your homework a little, and find out what encryption the package uses and what CAM module is needed for it. Also whether the card will actually work in any box/CAM, as some packages are paired with a particular receiver.
 
Some of the Subscription cards, Skylink from Slovakia being one, are the size of a normal smart card but have a sim sized card in the middle of it which is almost cut out but remains attached by a couple of remaining tags, as is the way with a new sim from the mobile phone compaines.
The whole card usuall goes into a card reader or a cam and then a ci slot, you do not pop out the sim section, you leave it intact.
If yours is just the size of a sim card then I wold say you need to get another one.
 
Yes, that's dexactly what the card looks like, a mobile sim card, inside a credit cxard like thing. Exactly how sim cards are delivered.

This sounds like it'll be easier to order a receiver from Slovakia then and have it shipped over :-( Was hoping somebody would say "Buy this receiver, this module, plug everything into it and watch it fly". Clearly it's not that simple.

Ok, thanks for the responces, I'll get my woman on the phone to her mother and have one shiped over this week.

J
 
As I've no doubt is often the case here, I said one thing and did another! The problem with getting the box shipped over, is it's going to take a while. So I thought I'd have a go at it. I looked at the website and it said the encryption was IRDETO, so I ordered one online. Shoved it with the card into the Fortec Passion Plus and tuned it in. It found shed loads of channels. The guide worked fine, everything looked good. The odd thing is, despite that, there's no sound or picture. You select a channel and it's just a black screen, even on the FTA ones. The fitter said the signal was probably going to be a bit strong and I might need an attenuator, probably 6dBs. Does this sound right, should I get one of those? I don't mind, they look cheap enough, it's just a pain as even maplins seem to no longer be stocking them :-(

Thoughts please, are the symptoms indicative of needing an attenuator? I'd have expected to see snow or something in that case, not a blank screen. The fact that it's getting the guide (there is not internet connection to it) is worrying, like I need to get that specific rfeceiver after all. Or maybe I'm not setting it up right? I tried messing with trasponder settings etc, in between going back to factory defaults. But nada. Afterwards I plugged the Astra 2 lead back in and tuned it in easily, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the receiver.

Thanks in advance for any further advice, you may be able to give...

J
 
Is the cam initialising? Should show on-screen when the cam is plugged in.
 
No you won't need an attenuator with a 1m dish on that satellite, can you receive any channels on 11914 H?
L1 TV
TV Rijnmond
TV Noord-Holland
Omrop Fryslân TV
TV Noord
TV Drenthe
TV Oost
TV Gelderland
Omroep Zeeland TV
Omroep Brabant TV
 
No, every channel is just black. I made my missus go through all of them, they're all the same. Having said that, please forgive the magnitude of my ignorance, but I don't have a clue what 11914 H is! If you're talking about transponder settings, I tried a few, but none of them seemed to make any difference :-(

BTW - Did I mention that I'm pointing at 23.5?

Thanks for the prompt response :-)

J
 
@Llew - Yes, the cam does initialise, but even if not, it should still show the FTA channels, shouldn't it?
 
The receiver doesn't need the CAM module to get the FTA channels, so take it out for now, initially you should concentrate your efforts to ensure that your dish is actually pointing and gettiing a good signal at 23.5E. Check transponders like the one Rolf mentions, they are listed on a site called lyngsat.com. 12168V is another one to try. Try rescanning one of them and see what channels you can watch.

Saying that you need an attenuator is complete cods.
 
LameDuck said:
@Llew - Yes, the cam does initialise, but even if not, it should still show the FTA channels, shouldn't it?
Click to expand...

OK, it's just that I used to have a problem with a Passion box where a cam didn't initialise until the receiver had warmed up, and I couldn't access any channels, FTA or not. Probably only specific to my Passion (not the plus model).
 
This sounds like solid advice, I'll pull the cam and try it again tonight. Hopefully I'll be popping on here tomorrow to tell you it's all sorted :-)

Thanks for the help, it's nice to have a forum that prepared to help out newbies :-)
 
If you haven't used a CAM before do you know that the chip goes in facing upwards, unlike in receivers where it faces down?
 
I'd like to that you all for your generous donations, during national sponsor an idiot week ;-) It's still bugga'd though. First bit of solid advice, was take the cam out and tyry the true FTA channels. I can get them. So, I played around with the CAM, trying the cam upside down doesn't work, the system doesn't find it. I've tried the card various ways round too.

So, where I'm now at, is that I can see FTA channels, but I'm getting a bit more familiar with the kit and it's menus. Basically, it doesn't matter which way up the card is, I get a clear E06 Card Error error message. Pulling the card out and it asks me to insert one, then gives me that error message.

Any suggestions what I do now. The scramble information for the channel matched the CAM (Cryptoworks Irdeto) and the card we bought in Slovakia is SkyLink, which matches what the EPG says about the channels too. Is it possible that just the card is shot? Do I need firmware or something? Is there maybe an inexpensive card I can get from somewhere to work with some of the other channels, just to prove the cam can actually read any card.

Any suggestions greatly received. I think at this point there's no point in getting a receiver shipped over, the problem seems more smartcard related :-(
 
The CAM won't read any card, just Irdeto. I think some of the mature content packages may be encrypted in that, they are usually cheap, LOL.

I have a Conax CAM and an expired Conax card in my receiver, and despite not decoding anymore, I can still read the subscription info off the card using the CAM menu in my rceiver. I imagine, that if your card and cam were working together, you would be able to do the same.

The only thing I can suggest is that if you knew someone who had the package, you could try your card in their box.


By the way, the CAM will physically only fit in one way round, the card itself will go in any way, but only work when correct. Not sure if its possible though to damage pins inside the cam slot if the cam is inserted incorrectly. Worth a peek in there with a torch to check you've not bent any.
 
You say you bought an Irdeto cam . Skylink is dual encrypted - Cryptoworks & Irdeto. What does it say on the card?
 
If you do a search on ebay.co.uk for 200337324667, that's the CAM I bought. Must admit, it doesn't actually mention the words cryptoworks anywhere in the listing. Is that my problem?
 
Same seller has 200448349067 also, which is the same, but specifically mentions Cryptoworks. I've been a bit stupid here. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, clearly no knowledge is a lot worse!
 
Irdeto and Cryptoworks are different encryptions. If you have a Crypto card and stick it in an Irdeto cam its not going to work. I suspect this is your problem, although you would need to see exactly what (if anything) is on the actual card.
 
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