w_scan output

balanga · Jul 7, 2018

Can anyone tell me how I can find out how to interpret the output from multimedia/w_scan?

It seems to go through a list of frequencies which I guess it reads from the file providing the transmitter information as specified on the command line, ie something like

Code:

trying 'S2  f = 12713 kHz V SR = 29900  5/6 0,35 QPSK  (0,0,0)'

Sometimes there is additional output such as

Code:

trying 'S  f = 10815 kHz H SR = 27500  5/6 0,35  QPSK  (0:0:0)'
(time: 00:16.644)         signal ok:    S  f = 10815 kHz H SR = 27500  5/6 0,35  QPSK  (0:0:0)
        S  f = 10815 kHz H SR = 27500  5/6 0,35  QPSK  (0:0:0) : updating network_id -> (0:318:0)
        new transponder: (S  f = 10815 kHz H SR = 27500  5/6 0,35  QPSK  (318:318:11500)) 0x4043
        new transponder: (S  f = 12200 kHz V SR = 27500  5/6 0,35  QPSK  (318:318:13400)) 0x4043

Can find no explanation of what this is reporting.

Most recently w_scan does not find any signals at all although yesterday on Windows, my PCTV TV program found around 1500 channels so it seems that the device is not faulty... What to do?

Also noticed somewhere that w_scan is now obsolete, although I've been unable to get w_scan2 working.

balanga · Jul 7, 2018

balanga said:
Most recently w_scan does not find any signals at all although yesterday on Windows, my PCTV TV program found around 1500 channels so it seems that the device is not faulty... What to do?

Interesting known issue:

The LED indicator does not work as described in the manufacturer documentation. The LED will signal green, regardless of the power supply of the LNB. So even if your LNB or multi-switch needs a power feed to work and you don't have the external power supply connected, the PCTVs LED will signal green. No reception is possible in this situation.

At least in some cases the PCTV 461e will not supply the LNB with the feeding power. The forum post [2] describes the problem and gives a working solution: A fully connected (USB and external power source) PCTV 461e does not supply any operating power to the LNB/Multi-switch. So no reception is possible. The following workaround seems to work: Install the manufacturer supplied TV-reception program under windows and search for a channel. Watch it for a few seconds. Now you can disconnect it from Windows and connect it to your Linux installation. This worked for the forum poster and for me.