Feel free to add comments and suggestions.

Would like to test, but have only Coolsat 6000.
Perhaps you could compile for both?

Also, I don't see other guestbook entries.

I currently don't have a Coolsat 6000 FTA satellite receiver to test, but I will see what I can figure out and maybe upload a test file for some feedback.

I thought there was just a compile option for that source...?
Am sure I could find you a few beta testers. :)

Oh, and congrats on the fine work!
You've attacked some of the few bugs in an otherwise pretty good FTA receiver!

I have the test Coolsat 6000 firmware. Please reply if you try it, and let me know how it works.
Download

Thanks so much for this!

I've tried this on a 6000 and it seems to work as expected. Thanks!

Can I make some feature requests? :) For example many receivers will vary the volume over the S/PDIF with the normal volume controls but on the 6000 at least it is just on or off. Also picking left/right separately doesn't work on S/PDIF so combined audio channels are well, combined.

Thanks for the report on the 6000 firmware. I'll take a look at the code and see if this is possible. I agree it would be nice to adjust the volume over S/PDIF, but I'm not sure if the chipset will allow for this.

In the 0.03 firmware for both 5000 and 6000 Coolsat models, the blind scan TP frequency for DBS satellites defaults to 12.200 lower and 12.200 upper. A person has to manually adjust the upper limit to 12.700 to be correct.

I will be releasing .04 soon. It should fix the DBS scanning frequency.

With the newer firmware I don't see any satellite or TP ID banners. This is an important feature for sat hunters. If I am not doing something wrong (and I don't believe so) then this feature is not working. Can you put it back in? It was available with other versions previously and I rely upon it when seeking channels or aligning dishes and motors.

AcWxRADAR

Could you add signal tone for locating and adjusting signals during Dish setup? Also, missing is the Satellite/Transponder ID Banner already mentioned by RADAR. Thanks in advance!!

I will look into it.

I have released 005.
On a side note, thanks for the donations I have received. It helps to pay for some of my time and keeps me encouraged to continue adding features.

Your efforts are VERY much appreciated. I notice that donations are possible, but I don't see any obvious way to do so. I'll check the pages again.

Admin, Thanks for the firmware update. :)You have added new lease on life to a strong old work horse. I will surely donate. Keep up the good work.

Many thanks to you for everything you have done so far. The Coolsat 5000 is my "little buddy"
and I am so happy that someone took the initiative to keep going with the support for this make and model. I appreciate your time and efforts and I will continue to donate to your efforts. I am also trying my best to get other's interested in your site, so please keep up the excellent work!

AcWxRADAR

"I agree it would be nice to adjust the volume over S/PDIF, but I'm not sure if the chipset will allow for this." Any update on this? Also, is there any possibility of increasing the linearity of the signal and quality meters, presently the effective range is somewhere between 60%-85%? Thank you.

It doesn't look like I'll be able to adjust the volume of S/PDIF. That would involve major coding and we would likely lose AC3.
I will take a look at the signal meter to see if I can make it a larger range.

And thanks for the donation guys!

Ahiem! ...........Oliver Twist here! I would like to have the option to turn the audio signal Tone "OFF" or ON when needed. It's always on the moment you go into Installation > Dish Setting, Motorized Setting or Manual Scan. Could you add the option to ON/OFF the Signal Audio Tone? Thanks.

There has always existed a slight glitch with the time clock setup for a Coolsat 5K. I believe it was intended to be updated via a TP signal clock, but this doesn't seem to work well with FTA signals. Can the time clock be modified to include an option to set the offset for GMT option? And can the GMT setting be selected to be set manually as well as auto - as I mentioned previously, it seems to be designed for auto-update via TP only. Many thanks.

Any support for Diamond 9000HD possible?

I added a switch for the beep tone. It is now only available in the manual scan page, but that should be all that is needed.
The Coolsat 5000/6000 is the only receiver I will make firmware updates for in the foreseeable future.
I took a look at how the firmware works in regards to the clock. It looks like if you turn GMT off, it shouldn't update from the satellite. I think I'll leave the ability to turn GMT on and have it update via TP, even though for most of us it is pretty useless.
I have been playing with the signal quality meter a bit, but haven't found a nice way to increase the resolution.

Thank you for the tone ON/OFF option and for investigating the GMT clock option. I wasn't sure if you could do anything with that or not. It has been that way since the beginning and without a TP that will provide the update, it is as you say, generally useless. But, thanks again for that and all the other improvements!

I personally do not yet understand the problem with the meter scaling, but many folks have commented on this. Perhaps I don't have anything to compare it to that will show me first hand what they are referring to. If you desire to investigate this further, please contact me at my registered email address and I can assist with the equipment that I have available.

I hate to ask you for too many minor changes with the firmware, but... When you have time to do so, could you add the alignment tone to the PID SCAN menu, MOTORIZED SETTING and the DISH SETTING menus, too? The MANUAL SCAN mode and the MOTORIZED SETTING menus are the most important to have the tone equipped, but it would even be nice to have it implemented in all these menus as well - if possible. AUTO and BLIND SCAN menus don't require it, but any place where you would be making adjustments or changes to parameters would be beneficial.

Thank you Admin, and my apologies for the additional requests.

RADAR

Thanks, Admin! You're the best!

The idea behind increasing the resolution is as follows:
The Coolsat will show a locked channel with a signal quality of ~ 60-85. On a low strength channel, every % of signal quality makes a difference. So because the range is only 25 Q points (85-60=25) I can only see every 4% gain or loss on the quality bar. If the quality bar was 0-100, I would notice every 1% gain and I could peak the dish that much more precisely! Make sense now?
As far as the beep tone goes, I did add it for all the pages in 005.
I removed it in 006 from all the pages except Manual Scan because that was the only page that had room for a button to turn off the beep tone.
And practically, I don't think we need it in the other pages for the following reasons:
In Dish Setup you cannot select the transponder, so you won't be sure you are on an active transponder.
In Motorized Setup you will generally be adjusting the motor settings while you are watching the meter, so a beep tone won't help a whole lot.
PID Scan would be the only one left so I figure if it works in Manual Scan that will probably be easy enough to find when you want to peak a dish by listening to the beep tone (especially considering there is no room for a button in the PID Scan menu).
Let me know if you see a practical reason to add the beep tone to the other pages. To me having it in Manual Scan will do everything I want.

I do agree with you regarding the alignment tone. Manual scan has the BEST use and requirement for it. The other menus are just novelties. However, the MOTORIZED setting menu has a need for this, too. For the normal user this may not be important. However, I do some unique testing with the MOTORIZED menu and many people do like to use this menu instead of the MANUAL SCAN menu. I am not sure why this is. I do utilize all the menus for specific purposes. Other's may utilize them in somewhat different manners.

RADAR

QUOTE: "The idea behind increasing the resolution is as follows:
The Coolsat will show a locked channel with a signal quality of ~ 60-85. On a low strength channel, every % of signal quality makes a difference. So because the range is only 25 Q points (85-60=25) I can only see every 4% gain or loss on the quality bar. If the quality bar was 0-100, I would notice every 1% gain and I could peak the dish that much more precisely! Make sense now?"

Yes, that makes sense to me - that is merely expanding the usable scale between 60 something and up towards 90% of quality to a scale that is drawn out from 0 - 100%. So, basically shifting the curve so that what you detect as a "usable signal" would be more greatly enhanced.

Interestingly, that was what I thought the others were trying to say, but they weren't explaining it with the same words. I was given the impression that others perceived the Coolsat's meter scale to be "inaccurate". They just want the valid signal area to be expanded for better fine tuning - primarily for the lower power signals. I do see where they were going with this.

Personally, I utilize the whole scale from ~5% to ~98%, even if the signal is in the RED zone. I can detect and abstract meaningful data from signals in the RED zone. For me, even these signal levels mean something.

I guess it is a matter of perspective and reference.

If I had my way, all receivers would read out a scale in true dBm, then no one would have to question an arbitrary scale. It would be the same for every receiver and for every person.

RADAR

[QUOTE]
Name:AcWxRADAR
Posted:Dec 23, 2009, 7:48 am
Location:Nickerson, United States
I hate to ask you for too many minor changes with the firmware, but... When you have time to do so, could you add the alignment tone to the PID SCAN menu, MOTORIZED SETTING and the DISH SETTING menus, too? The MANUAL SCAN mode and the MOTORIZED SETTING menus are the most important to have the tone equipped, but it would even be nice to have it implemented in all these menus as well - if possible. AUTO and BLIND SCAN menus don't require it, but any place where you would be making adjustments or changes to parameters would be beneficial.

Thank you Admin, and my apologies for the additional requests.

RADAR [/QUOTE]
To second RADAR, I would also like you to add a tone, and ON/OFF in the MOTORIZED SETTING section of the menu. It is a life saver during Dish alignment. Thanks.

could a random screen saver be put in the radio mode so we dont get screen burn while using radio? thanks

That would be nice - Next time I look at the code I'll see how easy it is.

Thanks for your latest CS5000 Update. I look forward to more.

Any similar firmware for the 8000 HD? That would be great!

Sorry, no firmwares are available for the 8000. If only the source code for that receiver was readily available.

We haven't see any update since 2009 for the 5000/6000?? Any plans to make a new release ith osme bvug fixes?? Regards

Also, will be great to fix the problem of low quality channels that are scanned and the stb doesn't open then or can't be seeying