TNAP blind scan often ignores horizontal transponders

[MrJames]

I've been having this problem since the day I got my Mio with whatever version was current in May of this year, but only with TNAP for some reason. OpenATV works fine, PurE2 works fine, SatDreamGr works fine. The problem is that the blind scan will frequently not find ANY horizontal transponders. It seems to most often happen on satellites that have exclusively S2 transponders. It has no problem with 97W Ku which is all DVB-S. I can immediately reboot into any other image and the blind scan will work properly on the same satellite, and then immediately reboot back into TNAP and it won't. So I don't think it's differences in transponder power output, weather conditions, loose cabling, or anything of that nature. I'm really at a loss to explain it.

EDIT: Forgot to say, there is no problem manually scanning any transponder, or viewing programs on them. It is only the blind scan which doesn't locate them.

Here's what's showing as the installed component versions on a fresh installation of the final TNAP 4.1 image:

Hardware osmio4k (0-20210831)
Image Tnap 4.1 - Based on OpenPLi
Build date 2021-09-06
Last update 2021-09-06
Enigma version 2021-09-05 (develop)
Kernel version 5.14.0
DVB driver version 2021-08-31 -- [No-T2MI]

 

[bwe]

Lately, my Edision OS Mio with 4.0 and 4.1 TNAP has been missing DW English/NTA mux on 103w/SES 3 KU 12080 H 29970 quite frequently on the blind scan. Not all of the time. If I had to put a number on it, I would say 1/3 of the time. For me, I haven't noticed all H transponders, just this particular TP. I have to manually scan. I have a good strong signal on this TP.

In contrast, it scans in the low powered NBC Mux 11912 H 4600 all of the time.

I noticed the TP 12080 H isn't in the "Pre-defined" list. Not that it has anything to do with the issue. I really don't know why. I just wanted to point it out to you guys.
How would I go about adding it to the pre-defined list? Where is the folder containing the list? I was thinking it's a simple matter of finding the list, and adding the TP.

The STB is hooked to a 1 meter Sky Global fixed on 103w/SES 3 Ku. Open PLI, Open ATV 6.4 I'm not having this issue. Thanks.

 

[el bandido]

Edision provides the needed files to make blindscan possible, and all images share those files.
TNAP does have an extra driver that has been provided by Edision. This driver existed before T2MI was introduced into the receiver. So TNAP does have an extra driver that is available as compared to other images.

The TNAP blindscan plugin has been modified when compared to other images. These modifications include the ability to generate a detailed scan report, plus an additional scan filter.

The two drivers that are available in TNAP will perform slightly different in blindscan. I do not know what the "Pre-defined" list is, but blindscan in the MIO does not depend on a list of transponders by default in TNAP. Most likely, if you change drivers, DW English/NTA mux on 103w/SES 3 KU 12080 H 29970 will be scanned in TNAP the same as in other images on the blind scan, but other problems may exist.

As for missing ALL horizontal DVB-S2 transponders in TNAP, no one else has reported this problem. I blindscan quite a bit and would notice something like this. You will need to post detailed information if you want to find out why this is happening, or simply use another image if that is too much trouble. Detailed information that may or may not help is: A screenshot of the blindscan plugin menu, your settings file (without any facebook or other logins), and precisely what transponders are being missed including the satellite they are on.

 

[MrJames]

As for missing ALL horizontal DVB-S2 transponders in TNAP, no one else has reported this problem. I blindscan quite a bit and would notice something like this. You will need to post detailed information if you want to find out why this is happening, or simply use another image if that is too much trouble. Detailed information that may or may not help is: A screenshot of the blindscan plugin menu, your settings file (without any facebook or other logins), and precisely what transponders are being missed including the satellite they are on.

I think I've solved the problem while looking at my settings file. I noticed that my latitude was wrong! So it just happens that the satellites that were getting transponders reliably were close to the center of the arc and the ones that weren't were further away. That would explain why it was only afflicting S2 transponders since they require a more precise aim, but I don't know why it was always the horizontal that would be missed and not the vertical.

However, there are a couple of things that I'm still confused on! First, I've had this problem with every version of TNAP I've tried, and I've set it up from scratch rather than just upgrading several times. So I don't know how I've entered the wrong latitude each time. Second, and possibly having some bearing on the first, I've found that the latitude and longitude are recorded TWICE in the settings file:

config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.diseqcMode=1_2
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.increased_voltage=true
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.latitude=41.133
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.longitude=76.828
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.longitudeOrientation=west
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.powerMeasurement=false
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.rotorPositions=49
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.tuningstepsize=0.100
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.turningspeedH=2.4
config.Nims.0.advanced.lnb.1.turningspeedV=1.5

and then further down below the satellite list:

config.Nims.0.configMode=advanced
config.Nims.0.diseqcMode=positioner
config.Nims.0.lastsatrotorposition=2650
config.Nims.0.latitude=41.130
config.Nims.0.longitude=76.830
config.Nims.0.longitudeOrientation=west
config.Nims.0.powerMeasurement=false
config.Nims.1.configMode=advanced

When I noticed the erroneous longitude, it was incorrect in the first stanza, and correct in the second one. Is it meant to have duplicate entries like this, or did I maybe somehow restore settings from a different version of Enigma at some point?

The third oddity is that after I corrected it (in the tuner setup menu, NOT by editing the file), it didn't take effect until I rebooted. Is this normal behavior for Enigma? If so, it's not intuitive or user-friendly.

 

[el bandido]

What is in between the further down....????
The easiest thing to do is to post the settings file. Simply zip it and attach it to a post. Doing that will allow your settings file to be put into a receiver and see how it performs. What you have does not look correct.

 

[MrJames]

Alright, here's the complete /etc/enigma2/settings file, I assume that's the one you want. Ignore the fact that the weather city doesn't match the lat/lon, I never bothered to set up the weather.

 

[el bandido]

Your settings file runs ok. So you should not have any problems with and do not need to edit or change anything unless you want or need to.
Your settings file is old. I say this because there are some entries that have been deleted in TNAP 4.1, so it was not setup from scratch when TNAP 4.1 was installed. None of this matters because your settings file runs ok.

To comment about this: "The third oddity is that after I corrected it (in the tuner setup menu, NOT by editing the file), it didn't take effect until I rebooted":

How often do antenna settings need to be changed or altered? Not often, correct?
Some entries may require a restart of enigma2 or sometimes a reboot of the receiver before the changes will be seen in the enigma2 operating system. Enigma2 receivers are designed to run on a budget of sorts where enigma2 loads whatever is in the settings file or defaults, and will ignore changes or adjustments of some settings or items until enigma2 is restarted or rebooted. You are welcome to change this and tailor it to your personal liking, but the resources that are needed to make changes while enigma2 is running so it will immediately use them and not require a restart will have to come from somewhere. Resources in fta receivers are not infinite.

 

[MrJames]

Blind scan was working fine after I corrected my coordinates setting, but I was having one more nagging issue. It was blowing up 4:3 channels to fill my 16:9 screen even though I had selected pillarbox format. So since el bandido said I had old entries in my settings file, I decided to do a complete re-install with the latest image and NOT load any backed-up data. Now it obeys my video settings, but blind scanning is once again missing many transponders on many satellites. I've checked my location settings multiple times both in the on-screen menu and in the settings file. It seems to be that if it's not locked on to a transponder before I begin the blind scan, it misses mostly horizontal transponders, again being worse the further away I go from the center of the arc. If I watch the blind scan screen after selecting a satellite but before beginning the scan, the "locked" icon will sometimes blink on briefly and then go back off. It's as if the motor is moving right past the satellite! (Again, this does NOT happen when selecting a channel on a different satellite, nor when doing a transponder scan instead of a blind scan.) Any time I've had this happen in the past (with other boxes), it's been because my motor actually wasn't aligned precisely enough. But this cannot be the case right now because it works in other images. So I'm totally clueless. As much as I'd love to have this issue fixed because TNAP otherwise seems to be the image whose control setup most closely matches what I'd like it to be, I'd rather be using my box than troubleshooting it, so I guess I'm going to have to give up TNAP at this point.