MIght be needing another SV360 dish....

[KenEhresman]

Mine has acted up from time to time with eratic issues, mostly lock verify issues... reset a couple times and I'm good, now however, it seems to not be able to get out of scan align... lots of noise from scanning ( not abnormal noise, just too much scanning) and this I think it is bad.. also hear a distinct clunk when I power it on, so I will be popping the dome off tomorrow to take a gander inside and look for anything obvious like belts.....

Anyone have one laying around from an upgrade you want to part with let me know....

Ken

[KenEhresman]

Thought I would find an old null modem cable and get my old terminal up and running and push the latest software if it wasn't on it... but it appears mostly all the links to it are dead and gone... anyone have an archive of any firmware for the SV360 before they abandoned it?

[Gil_J]

Good luck!

A null modem cable...I bet many have no idea what that is or what RS-232 is or was. How times change. Do you still have a terminal emulator too? I still have two different style pin crimp tools for D sub-miniature connectors. They haven't been used in years; maybe decades. Damn, why do I still have them?

After Cobham bought the company they realized there was very little money in the recreational terminals compared to the military stuff they build. I was told that when they killed TracStar, they killed it all, to include all code. I spoke to a respected service dealer and he bought a few hundred control cards at the end only to discover he couldn't load operating code on them. While you may be able to band-aid it for a while, you should put a new terminal on your wish list.

[KenEhresman]

OK, I'll take that as a challenge to locate at least the latest version I saw referenced which was 3.06G.zip.... if it floated the internet, it's still archived and I'll find it burried on an FTP somewhere.... Do you know of any newer versions that the 3.06G version? I saw a reference to a 3.17 Featherlite version that might have been made around

[KenEhresman]

14249

Here is the revision list

[Gil_J]

I searched for a few minutes and only found dead links. You might want to call this guy. He's highly rated and forthcoming with information.
Newsome Electronics
16847 SE 115 Avenue
Weirsdale, FL 32195
Phone: 352-288-6000

[KenEhresman]

I got it working, but it is only a temp fix i'm sure... according to multiple sources, there has been recent changes in Directv and Dish satellites and frequencies... basically the older firmware is confused when it locks onto a satellite it doesn't get a response it recognizes as a correct response... ALthough I'm reading in between the lines, it seems like it is a planned move by them (directv and dish) to move clients off existing hardware and onto new, that would allow them to charge even more for services like on-demand, etc....

Once it goes Verify Locked, you pretty much have to force it to scan the sky again and look... I found it I changed the region, it would force the re-calibrate and scan but would not lock onto the correct satellite again. I did find one behavior I actually could replicate, for the most part to get it to lock on and work... although still a hit and miss, I got this method to work 75% of the time...

Either force the 0-recalibrate or change the region to force it... once it comes on and you hear the dish start its search, let it run for about 2-3 passes then power the unit off just by selecting the button on the panel. Then power it back up after 10 seconds or so and repeat, once it starts scanning, interrupt it by powering it down... do this a total of 3-4 times then on the last power up see if it doesn't go into wide scan mode and lock on 101...

Tips, Switch it to ONLY 101, not 101-110 or 101-119 because once it starts to switch, it will go lock verify searching for the other satellite. I suspect what is happening is the abrupt stop of the scan 3-4 times is sending the firmware to look at the last know spot to find it and it is able to do so most the time... without having the code to look at, I'll never know, but there seems to be logic to this, as well as a definite pattern on the motion it is doing during these re-calibrates...

I know this is a temp fix, and a frustrating one, but it is a fix nonetheless, that I was actually able to replicate some level of success, again about 75% of the time it worked without me forcing it all the way down and repeating the process... Hope this helps someone to "get by" while we unfortunate ones not yet upgraded can decide to go back in motion, or Fixed High Def.... I'm thinking when Dough has my coach in a couple weeks of having him put the fixed high def dish up top and then I'll be able to use either, or at least until I give up on the dome.... and move to the fixed hD.

[Gil_J]

Wow, how did you come up with that creative work around?

I know DirecTV made some changes that only affected in-motion terminals. They apparently made this change without notifying their in-motion terminal manufacturers. Manufacturers discovered the change after their phones went crazy with upset customers.

The Web was even pretty silent on what AT&T actually did. I know there's a move to migrate their HD broadcast channels from Ku-band satellite transponders to Ka-band satellites transponders. This move is why RV in-motion satellite terminals can't receive HD channels.

I was poking around again this morning and found this document (click here (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.kvh.com/ViewAttachment.aspx%3FguidID%3D%257B3FC4BDB9-67A8-4A50-93E5-6BEDD4EB0F6E%257D&ved=0ahUKEwifvrLIr7_SAhXPZiYKHdy9ALAQFgh1MAs&usg=AFQjCNF7GnUKFOifVcgRu7zg1JkmYoq4xA&sig2=q7OCKhLRMYSh2Ww1O-mxOA)) from KVH that would explain the problem. I can't say if there is another reason, but changing the satellite's pilot frequency would certainly cause the problem.