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TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 05-06/2013
—
1. The B-Band Converter (BBC). It is used to convert frequencies from 250 MHz – 750
MHz up to 1660 MHz – 2150 MHz. This is a good example on how prices drop, when mass
production occurs, this BBC is now the cheapest available converter of its type. The BBC
is to be attached on the HF connector of the satellite receiver.
2. Fortunately it is fairly easy to open the B-Band Converter (BBC). Just slide a sharp tool
on the side and open it carefully. There are two brackets holding the plastic together and
you don’t even need to remove the sticker on the other side.
3. The modification is fairly simple. Just cut pins 17 and 18 of the main IC or try to melt
the solder and lift the pins. Then solder two wires according to the picture to permanently
activate the Ka/Low-Band.
have when testing complex and/or
exotic DiSEqC installations. Unfortu-
nately, though, modern devices don‘t
include this feature anymore. Some
homemade solutions to build your own
DiSEqC test equipment can be found
on the Internet but it‘s not always easy
to find the necessary components in
electronics stores.
For this reason I first used my Kath-
rein MSK 33 to activate the Ka low band
on the SL3 and once again scanned
every satellite position.
And once again there were difficul-
ties. It didn‘t take long to realize that
commands are not directly supported.
To put together a DiSEqC string eve-
ry time I want to move the antenna
is just too complicated for me. That‘s
why I used a different signal analyzer
to move the antenna, the KWS VAROS
109, that I tested in the 01-02/2013
issue of TELE-audiovision. This ana-
lyzer sports a very fast spectrum that
greatly simplifies finding satellites and
transponders especially since you can
drive the motor to the east and west at
the same time.
And to be able to analyze the Ka
low band with the KWS VAROS 109, I
used the TP204 DiSEqC monitor from
Spaun. It‘s installed in between the
receiver and the LNB and comes with
- 750 MHz to the needed 1660 - 2150
MHz range can be found for a mere
US$10. What a steal!
There are two different modifica-
tions that would place the BBC in con-
tinuous operation. Keep in mind that
the radio amateur is not interested in
passing through the LNB supply volt-
age and thus deactivates this as a first
step. Obviously, when working with
LNBs, you don‘t want to do this; you
don‘t want to interrupt the power sup-
ply to the LNB.
Of the two different methods, we
suggest the easier of the two for the
connection of the SL3. Here two pins
on the IC would have to be disconnect-
ed (with luck you can simply unsolder
them and then bend them up) and two
wires would have to be soldered. The
two wires would jump out the on/off
switching and force the converter into
continuous operation.
the SL3 uses much more power than
a standard universal LNB. And then
there‘s its much heftier weight of 650g.
Because of this the motor could not
properly turn the way it‘s supposed to.
The solution here was to manually
disconnect the cable from the motor to
the LNB. A better solution would be to
use a DiSEqC switch and, just before
moving the antenna, switch to an un-
occupied DiSEqC 1.0 position thereby
interrupting the power going to the
SL3. You could also attach a counter-
weight to the antenna.
At the same time, it‘s not exactly
that easy to drive a motor with the
Kathrein MKS 33 since DiSEqC 1.2
an extra output for an analyzer. I used
the Kathrein MKS 33 as the receiver in
order to be able to generate the nec-
essary DiSEqC control commands and
for analysis I used the KWS VAROS
109.
As a side effect I was able to verify
with the TP204 that DiSEqC commands
were actually sent.
Since it‘s still rather uncomfortable
to use two different signal analyzers,
I searched the Internet for instruc-
tions on how to modify the BBC and
found what I was looking for. This BBC
has created quite a bit of interest with
radio amateurs. An inexpensive fre-
quency converter that can convert 250
But then, just as I was ready to do
this modification, I found out about a
new Windows program: Easy Blind-
scan Pro (EBS). This program uses the
same STREAMREADER.DLL as the be-
loved CrazyScan and its functionality
is similar to CrazyScan. In addition to
the comfortable, user-friendly inter-
face, this software can also send RAW
DiSEqC commands.
The DiSEqC implementation in this
software is exemplary in that complex
command sequences are also sup-
ported so that unusual systems, like
my two SG2100A motorized antennas
(see TELE-audiovision 11-12/2012)
can be handled automatically without
any tricks. For this reason I haven‘t
yet modified my BBC so that I could
continue to switch between the SL3‘s
Ka low band and Ka high band.
And the result of all of this work? On
all of the satellites that I can receive
from my location in Europe there was
