DiSEqC Monitor

In search of knowledge regarding the DiSEqC protocol, I came across the "DiSEqC Monitor" article in the Elektor magazine, edition 2006/09: Click here to open the Elektor article from their website

Since I don't have an easy access to SMD components and the PCB seemed a bit expensive, especially considering shipping, I decided to build the device using regular sized components on an experimental PCB. Naturally the finished product looks chaotic and so does my shack:

In the end, everything worked, but it took me about 1 hour to figure out that the flags/fuses for the PIC were wrongly set (LVL needs to be turned off and the external oscillator needs to be activated).

Here is a video showing the device in action:

At this moment it still picks up some garbage, probably because I had to do without the low pass filter, which uses two coils. I can't get hold of them in local stores. Shouldn't make a big difference anyway.

[Update]

Just noticed this update from the Elektor website:

This could explain why I get clean DiSEqC commands from my KWS AMA 210S, but lots of garbage from a low cost satellite receiver! Definitly worth a try...

[/Update]

For further information regarding the DiSEqC protcol, I recomend this website: http://www.diseqc.org/

Cheers,

vma