Azimuth Elevation Calculator
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Remote Commands



REMOTE COMMAND | REMOTE MONITOR | STATUS WORD S0000 - Error 8 Decoding [.83] | N-Parameters | N0 Parameters | N6 Homeflag Offset or HFO | REMOTE PARAMETERS - Save Antenna Parameters | Reset Antenna ^0090 [.94] | REMOTE TILT | REMOTE BALANCE | REMOTE DISHSCAN ON | REMOTE SAT REF |
The Remote Command screen sends diagnostic and configuration commands to the Pedestal Control Unit (PCU) in the antenna. The incorrect commands can easily corrupt the programming and cause harm to the antenna, so they should be used only when necessary and with extreme caution. It is preferable to use the DacRemP diagnostics program which provides better insight into the system with less room for operator error. 

There are a few remote commands that can useful for troubleshooting.
The Remote Monitor screen is where you read the result of the Remote Command request. 

  Meaning Ref AZ EL CL
@ No Fault 0 0 0 0
A CL 0 0 0 1
B LV 0 0 1 0
C CL+LV 0 0 1 1
D AZ 0 1 0 0
E AZ+CL 0 1 0 1
F AZ+LV 0 1 1 0
G AZ+LV+CL 0 1 1 1
H Az Ref 1 0 0 0
I Az Ref+CL 1 0 0 1
J Az Ref+LV 1 0 1 0
K Ref+LV+CL 1 0 1 1
L Az Ref +Az 1 1 0 0
M Ref+Az+CL 1 1 0 1
N Ref+AZ+LV 1 1 1 0
O Ref+AZ+LV+CL 1 1 1 1
P Stability Limit 0 0 0 0
Q Stab Limit +CL 0 0 0 1
R Stab Limit +LV 0 0 1 0
S Stab + LV + CL 0 0 1 1
T Stab Limit + AZ 0 1 0 0
U Stab + AZ + CL 0 1 0 1
V Stab + AZ + LV 0 1 1 0
W Stab+AZ+LV+CL 0 1 1 1
X Stab + Ref 1 0 0 0
Y Stab+Ref+CL 1 0 0 1
Z Stab+Ref+LV 1 0 1 0
 [ Stab+Ref+LV+CL 1 0 1 1
 \ Stab+Ref+AZ 1 1 0 0
 ] Stab+Ref+AZ+CL 1 1 0 1
 ^ Stab+Ref+AZ+LV 1 1 1 0
    Stab+Ref+AZ+LV+CL 1 1 1 1
Error codes are most easily decoded using DacRemP.  If DacRemP is not available, it can be decoded in the Remote Command menu using the Status word S0000.

To decode an error 8 in the Status Screen without DacRemP, enter S0000 [.83 in the DAC03] in the Remote Command screen, and then press ENTER again to REMOTE MONITOR to read the status word or S word.

It is important to read the result from the REMOTE MONITOR window, (by pressing ENTER a second time) and not the immediate response that one gets in the REMOTECOMMAND window, which is sometimes not complete.

New Status Word Calculator

The third letter or symbol after the S indicates the pedestal error. The @ symbol in the word SIH@ indicates no error. The table shows the fault meanings where AZ, CL, and LV are motor drive limits and Ref indicates Azimuth reference fault or home flag.

The resultant status word can be decoded by the table. A status word of SIHD for instance would indicate that the azimuth drive limit had been exceeded, whereas a status word of SKHG would indicate a fault with all three axes. This will give some indication of what to look for when going to the antenna.

The Stab Limit or stability limit indicates that the antenna is not pointing to the intended position that the PCU has been commanded. This may be the result of imbalance, bearing friction, cable binding, wind loading or a failing motor. A pointing error of more than 0.5 degrees will activate the Stab Limit alarm condition.
Do not use N parameters unless you are sure of what you are doing. It is easy to enter the wrong settings, making the antenna unstable or unuseable.

To interogate the antenna for the current settings the remote command format is NX999 where X is the identifier.

N0999 = PCU system type. This also sets all teh gains for that particular system type.
N1999 = CL gain
N2999 = EL gain
N3999 = AZ gain
N6999 = Homeflag offset.
N7999 = Dishscan phase parameters.
Model N0 N1 N2 N3 N7
PCU Type CL Gain EL Gain AZ Gain Dishscan
6011QOR 001 051 051 035 085/106
4009 Gilat 002 020 016 016 026
6009 C 003 051 051 035 021
4009 004 040 020 020 026
3004 005 024 020 010 029
5009 005 050 040 020 021
4004 006 024 024 014 025
6009 Ku 006 051 051 035 022
5004 007 050 050 020 029
4009Mini BUC 007 030 016 016 026
4003a 008 030 030 020 009
5009 Mini BUC 009 030 016 030 022
9497S 010 050 050 030 149
3011Mini BUC 011 016 016 024 022
3011 015 016 016 016 042
4006 020 076 046 026 009
6006 Ku 022 065 059 025 093
ST60 022 051 051 035 021
6006 C 023 065 059 025 068
4006RZA 024 060 020 026 026
4009QOR 024 040 032 028 021
4010W 072 026 026 008 045
6003a 073 051 051 025 025
5010 Mini BUC 074 024 024 020 089
6004 076 051 051 025 025
4010 076 040 030 014 025
5010 077 050 050 026 025
4010KX 078 050 050 026 025/004
8897R 133 050 050 050 214
9497R 133 050 050 050 214
9797 135 050 050 050 193
14497 135 050 050 050 214
12097R 135 050 050 050 193
14497R 136 050 050 050 193
8797R 137 040 040 040 214
9697R 138 050 050 050 214
9797R 139 050 050 050 214
9997R 140 050 050 050 214
8897B 205 050 050 050 133
9497B 206 050 050 050 133
12097B 207 050 050 050 193
14400 208 071 071 071 193
14400B 208 071 071 071 214
8797B 209 050 050 050 133
9697B 210 050 050 050 133
9711QOR 210 051 051 035 149/149
9711 C 211 050 050 050 193
9797B 211 050 050 050 133
9711C 211 050 050 026 193
14600B 212 091 091 091 133
9597B 213 071 071 071 192
9711 Ku 215 050 050 050 193
If the antenna is not mounted exactly toward the bow of the vessel, small corrections can be made with azimuth trim, but large corrections should be made with the home flag offset.

If possible, the homeflag should be adjusted mechanically by moving the homeflag magnet in the antenna.  If not possible, then a homeflag can be set in the antenna to adjust the antenna offset from the bow.

When the antenna lands on the home flag sensor the HFO tells it where it is relative to the bow. It will then continue to count up or down from that point.

Home Flag Offset is the position of the home flag sensor relative to the bow of the vessel.

For example, if the antenna lands on the homeflag sensor 25 degrees to port of the bow, (or 335 degrees relative to the bow) then we tell the antenna that it is at 335 and not 360. Each time the antenna passes the home flag sensor it will then be reminded that it is now at 335 degrees relative.

To make things more complicated, the homeflag units are not divided in 360 degrees in a circle, but 255 units representing 360 degrees. So we need to convert degrees to homeflag units before entering it into the N6 parameter.


To convert to homeflag units, take the degrees relative to the bow, divide by 360 and then multiply by 255. So in this example, the antenna stops 25 degrees to port, or 335 degrees to the physical bow of the ship. So we divide this by 360 to get 0.93... and then multiply by 255  and round it off to whole numbers of 237 (N6237).

Likewise, if the antenna hits the homeflag 25 degres to the starboard of the bow, the homeflag would be 025 divided by 360 x 255 or HFO = 18 (N6018) .

To enter the homflag in the remote parameters, the command is N6XXX where XXX is the HFO value. You need to continue down the menu to Remote Parameters and save remote parameters, or the homeflag will be lost when the antenna resets.

It is necessary to reinitialize the antenna for the new home flag to take effect.
 
 After making changes to PCU parameters it is necessary to save the antenna parameters. This is done in the setup menu under Remote Parameters. Press the left arrow to edit mode and enter. The antenna will respond with SAVED.
The most reliable way to reset the antenna is to remove power or shut off the breaker for a few seconds, for a hard reboot. With a TV antenna, simply powering off the DAC will reset the antenna, but a VSAT needs the breaker reset.

If cycling the power is not an option, due to the antenna power source not accessible, or the radome access restricted, one can do a soft reset by entering the command ^0090 and ENTER. You should see an error alarm light on the DAC and the antenna will be initializing. (Note that a soft reboot will not reset power to the GPS)
Remote balance is used on the latest 4006 and 4009 antennas that have brakes on the motors that activate when the antenna is powered down. In order to balance the antenna the brakes need to be released (power on) but without drive to the motors. Turning on Remote Balance effectively turns off the motor drives by setting the gains to zero, keeping the brakes powered up and disengaged so that the antenna is free to move and checked for balance. This has the same effect as sending a N0000 command.

It is important not to save parameters while in balance mode  and while the gains are set to zero. To exit balance mode simply turn the antenna off and on.
Satellite Reference Mode is used when the gyro heading source is mostly the correct heading, but intermittent or unreliable.

It can also be used with no gyro input, entering the heading manually from time to time when the antenna loses track.

If the heading from the gyro signal does not match the heading of the ship, the heading cables must be physically disconnected so that the compass cannot override the manual heading input. 

Sat Reference OFF
With a good gyro heading source, Sat reference mode is turned off. 

When Satellite Reference mode is OFF, the antenna stability relies heavily on the gyro signal and responds immediately to changes in heading. If the changes in heading are incorrect or if the heading is not changing with the vessel,  the antenna will lose track very quickly, as the vessel turns. 

Sat Reference ON
With Sat Reference Mode turned on, the antenna will only look at the gyro signal after it has lost track and needs to find the satellite again. It does not use the heading signal for antenna stabilization. Instead, it uses only the tracking signal from the satellite and the azimuth rate sensors. 

In Sat Reference Mode, the antenna ignores the input from the Gyro while it is is tracking. It only looks for the gyro signal if it loses track of the satellite in order to find it again. After it has lost track you would need to enter the current heading manually in the SHIP MENU.  It should then continue to track, without the gyro, using only the satellite signal as a reference.

To turn on Sat Reference Mode
To turn Sat Reference mode on, you need to go to the setup menu by holding the LEFT and RIGHT arrows together for 6 seconds until you see AUTOTRIM. Then ENTER...ENTER...ENTER all the way through the menus until you see SAT REF   OFF (way down near the end of the menu). 

Then press RIGHT arrow, UP arrow and ENTER to turn Sat Reference mode ON.

Continue pressing ENTER to REMOTE PARAMETERS then left arrow and ENTER to SAVE PARAMETERS. The DAC will respond REMOTE PARAMETERS SAVED.

Wrong heading from Gyro
To check if the Gyro heading input, manually change the heading to something else, and if it changes back, the signal is coming from the gyro. 

If the gyro is putting out the wrong heading, you will not be able to manually enter the heading and the antenna will never be able to find the satellite.

If the heading from the gyro signal does not match the heading of the ship, the heading cables must be physically disconnected so that the compass cannot override the manual heading input. Sat Reference Mode only works if there is no gyro signal to the antenna and you have entered the correct heading manually, or if the gyro is putting out the correct heading but only intermittently.

If the gyro heading from the compass is wrong, you will need to physically disconnect the gyro cables from the TMS (Rx+ and Rx-) or disconnect the 9 pin ribbon cable from the DAC, to allow you to manually enter the correct heading of the vessel.