Here´s a strange one for all to contemplate

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Had a call about lunchtime today from a guy who had got my number via a friend down the pub. OK, any publicity is good publicity. Apparently he tried to install an " Openbox " he brought from the UK, but it would not work. Having played with that, and failed, he re-connected his Sky+ HD box which told him no signal is being received.
Standard kind of fault I get, or so I thought!
Went round when finished with previous tasks and took a peek at the problem. First thing I did was check the Sky+ HD box signal strength ( not that I believe a single thing any Sky box tells me ) and it stated signal on tuner 1 was ok, but displayed " no signal being received " on all channels. Checked F type on cable and no outer connection left, remade the connection, all OK?
Yes, on the Sky box, with the exception on 10714 missing ( Community installation by a company known to me and not the first time I´ve had that! )
Now to the " Openbox "
OK, most of us know what they do and I´m not going to comment on that here, other to say it did not do the job as all encrypted channels were just that, encrypted!
But, also, many of the free to air channels were showing no signal or channel not valid ( something like that anyway, was getting interested now so took little notice of the error message )
Hmm!
Got the tester out, I can see ITV 3, ITV2 etc etc, Openbox states no signal on 10906 V ( ITV 3 ) and not valid on 10758 V ( ITV 2 ), but could see 10818 V ( BBC1 South etc ).
Could not see 10906 V on the box from first to last. Found 10758 V in the transponder list and scanned it! Did I get ITV2 etc, no chance! It scanned 11597 V rather than 10758 V. Tried three times, same result.
OK, Channel 4 +1 was missing, so scanned 10729 V and got something completely different again from the upper band.
I gave up! Told the guy to take the box back to the UK and get it replaced or his money back.
Never had anything so weird as that before.

Strange thing is, while trying to assist a new member find the stations he wanted today, 11597 V was the transponder!
 

Lazarus

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Misbehaving Openboxes are a common issue. Especially in relation to V polarity.

Maybe one of these might help? IIRC it's just a Zener Diode applied in such a way as to overcome LNB voltage problems with some Openbox variants.

(That's just one example of a palliative. There are many other sources of similar "fixes")
 

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PS: If you think the above could be consistent with what you've seen, I propose to move the Thread to the Openbox section.
 
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Thanks Lazarus, I´ve been sat here thinking about the problem for some time. Then I had a stupid idea, that maybe either the box, or the community system was injecting a 22KHz signal into my required path.
So, been out to the van to get the Emitor tester and guess what I found. 10729 V +22KHz translates to 11579 V ( nearest I can find 11568 V which is what I scanned ) 10758 V +22KHz translates to 11608 V ( nearest I can find 11597 V which is what I scanned )
Cannot be a coincidence to be that close, can it?
Calling the guy in the morning to get hold of that openbox so I can play some more with it.

OK by me to move it!
 
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Lazarus

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No, just recall the LNB voltage issue.

Can't think that false 22KHz has been an Openbox problem.

But you might be putting 2 and 2 together to make Pi and as all the TPs you mentioned were V, it could still be rooted in the known Voltage issue, but just yet another hard to analyse effect.

Sometimes it's better not to think too hard and just try simple known fixes in an empirical approach. That said, I'd be like a dog with a bone too, wanting to get to the bottom of it.
 
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OK, I get what you are saying about trying tried and tested methods. I can understand how the voltage issue could cause a problem, even if in this case I could see 10818 V OK, but not 10906 V. But how could a voltage issue cause a 22KHz switch?
I certainly don´t know, and am " open " to all possible theories, if you´ll pardon the pun!
 

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Never heard of this problem before, but just googled it and found the videos.
 

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I don't quite understand that when 'reconnecting' the Sky box, that the same problem existed, unless there is a fault that takes time to revert/reset.

Is it one of those el-cheapo distribution devices where there is no earthing/no money back/no guarantee type, reliant on the number of receivers connected to provide the 'right' level of power to drive the gates inside ?
It might also be down to supply of 'brown box seconds' imported to deliver the goods with all manner of dicky cards before now, in temperatures that require a siesta for five months of the year for most organisms, where the sudden shock of inserting quality kit (such as the Openbox) into the circuit might have put the willies up it.
 
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I don´t get the question, Skybox +HD did not work due to poor F connector contact and the fact that Sky+ HD boxes are temperamental and lock up often on poor signals. Re making the F connector and power reset on Sky box cured the problem ( on all but 10714 )
Problem is with Openbox I think, and probably with community system I am not prepared to look at without permission.
Re " Openbox quality kit " , what quality kit needs a diode fix inserted on the dish input to rectify what is obviously a design error?
 

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I don´t get the question, Skybox +HD did not work due to poor F connector contact and the fact that Sky+ HD boxes are temperamental and lock up often on poor signals. Re making the F connector and power reset on Sky box cured the problem ( on all but 10714 )
Problem is with Openbox I think, and probably with community system I am not prepared to look at without permission.
Re " Openbox quality kit " , what quality kit needs a diode fix inserted on the dish input to rectify what is obviously a design error?

None of that makes sense

Take both boxes back to your home/office and see what the issue is. Take your own receiver to leave your friend (of a friend) with something to play with in the meantime.
Post results
 
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Bad news I´m afraid, the chap is going back to the UK tomorrow :(
Good news, I have the openbox until he comes back just after Christmas :) and I have the email address of where it came from, so can hopefully get it up and running for a while before I give it back!
Will set it up later and do some tests.
 

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Other than the problem under debate, the Openbox range are pretty good overall - and cheap.

I have two Skybox F3 boxes and they are easy to use, give good picture quality and are more or less glitch free.

Apart from the time I bricked (and successfully recovered) one of them after trying to use the ubiquitous Clarke-Tech Channel Editor.
 

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Ah, that was the first of the variants that displayed the LNB Voltage issue ........ <_<
 
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Right , have connected the Openbox to my 1.8m dish and checked the various frequencies I was having problems on at the owners location. All working OK at my destination. OK, I have quite a long cable run, some 45 to 50 metres of cable which could be reducing the voltage received at the LNB, but I suspect the main problem is contention with the multiswitches being used on the community system to which it was connected.
Viewed the channels on 10758 V that I scanned at his place, which mirrored 11068 V according to the channel list. Most did not work, but a couple did and showed channels that are indeed on 10758 V ( including ITV2 ). For example, according to the list it was studio 66 but was in fact ITV 2 at my house, but studio 66 at his!
Not sure if I´m more confused or not!

Anyway, " other side " of box does not work, so tried to find the MAC Address of the box, and failed. Where is it? Anyone know how to access the MAC address on this type of box, it is not in the normal network or info sections?
 
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Archive-8

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Right , have connected the Openbox to my 1.8m dish and checked the various frequencies I was having problems on at the owners location. All working OK at my destination. OK, I have quite a long cable run, some 45 to 50 metres of cable which could be reducing the voltage received at the LNB, but I suspect the main problem is contention with the multiswitches being used on the community system to which it was connected.
Viewed the channels on 10758 V that I scanned at his place, which mirrored 11068 V according to the channel list. Most did not work, but a couple did and showed channels that are indeed on 10758 V ( including ITV2 ). For example, according to the list it was studio 66 but was in fact ITV 2 at my house, but studio 66 at his!
Not sure if I´m more confused or not!

Anyway, " other side " of box does not work, so tried to find the MAC Address of the box, and failed. Where is it? Anyone know how to access the MAC address on this type of box, it is not in the normal network or info sections?

If you know the IP address of the box can't you use something like fring, to give you the MAC address?
 
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Archive-8

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I use an app called net master on iPhone to scan my network.

Example is my avr2200w

IMG_1227.PNG
 
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Is there a PC tool to do that? Or I guess I could access my router if I can remember how and guess the password!
 

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There will be a sticker inside with the detail, it might even be in the 'receiver information' within the installation menu
 
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