Error code when uploading sat/transponder list

[sweetrihard]

Hi guys,

I was trying to create a blank list of feed only transponders (no channels) for most satellites from 45E to30E using NDFEdit 1.67 and upload from web option (from Lyngsat) and then manually delete all the non feed transponders.

After a very time consuming effort, I saved the file but it appears that it got corrupted somehow.

I can open and save the file in NDFEdit without any problems, although if I click on the 'Ch List' tab I get the following error: "Encountered an improper argument'.

If I try to open the file with Clarke Tech Editor Studio, I get the following message "Run-Time Error 9 - Subscript Out of Range", and it shuts down (I have no idea what it means).

I attempted to upload the list to my TM5402, but it says that it failed to write.

Can someone PLEASE help me to debug the file (attached), otherwise I'll have to start all over again. I will be very grateful.

 

[sweetrihard]

..."I meant to type 45E to 30W" sorry.

 

[Zorch]

Hi sweetrihard,

Was this cndf file originally generated by YOUR receiver...?

Best Wishes,
Zorch

 

[sweetrihard]

Hi Zorch,

Yes, it was. I used one of the back ups so that I did not have to re-type the sat names, positions, etc.

I deleted all the channels and the transponders, then used the update from web (via Lyngsat), deleted all the non feed transponders and saved... And it went wrong :-(

 

[Zorch]

Hi again sweetrihard,

Try the original unedited cndf file in the Clarke Tech Editor Studio... and see if that comes up with the run-time error... the reason why you get 'Encountered an improper argument' when clicking on 'Channel List' in NDFEdit is because there are no actual channels/feeds stored in the cndf file...

I hope this helps...

Best Wishes,
Zorch

 

[sweetrihard]

Thank you Zorch for your prompt reply.

The unedited back-up is fine, and it opens without any errors in tech editor or ndfedit, but it's not good as it is for what I would like to achieve (without doing the work all over again). Something must have happened when I used the 'update from web' to get the transponders from Lyngsat.

Is there a way to extrapolate all the info from the edited file, without having to start from scratch.

The annoying thing is that I was planning to keep that list up to date (also using the info from Satelliweb) and share with the forum. The aim: feed transponders separate from the 'normal' channel lists, for quick auto navigation scan.

 

[Zorch]

Hi again sweetrihard,

Leave it with me and I'll see if I can sort it out somehow...

Best Wishes,
Zorch

 

[jetsetw]

Hi sweetrihard,

Removing all the non-feed TPs manually... :FRIGHT: That must have taken you forever...

I've adapted my "TP Updater" spreadsheet to only grab TPs which are feeds. All you have to do is select which satellites you want and click "Go".

The new spreadsheet is attached here. In case you don't have Excel, I have also run the macro on my own PC and attached the resulting ndf file for you. The feeds were taken from Lyngsat, using all satellites from 30W to 45E. If you want full details on how the spreadsheet works, see this thread (post 15 in particular):

https://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/index.php?threads/272963/

Hope this works for you,
Jetset

 

[sweetrihard]

Thank you Zorch. Much appreciated it. If not, I'll try all over again next weekend or one evening during the week.

 

[sweetrihard]

Hi sweetrihard,

Removing all the non-feed TPs manually... :FRIGHT: That must have taken you forever...

It did!!! That's why the idea of starting all over again was very discouraging.

Many thanks for the file. I'll download it now, but I won't try it tonight as I'm knackered.

 

[Zorch]

Hi jetsetw,

...I've adapted my "TP Updater" spreadsheet to only grab TPs which are feeds. All you have to do is select which satellites you want and click "Go".

Excellent work mate... sweetrihard's feed-only cndf file seems to have been (mysteriously) corrupted in some way... and all of my attempts to correct it have proved unsuccessful...

@sweetrihard
I have always found that the most up-to-date feed transponder listings are posted on Flysat

Best Wishes,
Zorch

 

[sweetrihard]

@Zorch and @jetsetw

Here is what I've done:

- Ran the very useful 'Feed TPs' macro created by @jetsetw (thank you once again) to get the info from Lyngsat, KingOfSat, FlySat, and pasted the Excel outputs into a separate worksheet.

- Downloaded the .ini files from Satelliweb's Feed Tables section, and added these to the above Excel output.

- With my (limited) knowledge of Excel I created a concatenation of all of the values in columns a-d and then done a conditional format to identify duplications. I then copied these into a separate sheet and removed the exact duplicates from the list. Then copied the ones that weren't duplicates and added them to the others. The result should be a list of feed transponders from all the sources mentioned above, minus the exact duplicates.

- Kept the 'dummy TP' for each satellite, as advised by jetsetw, for a more accurate auto navigation.

I've attached the .ndf file in case you find it useful. If you want to test this, please back up your channel list before you try it.

@Zorch: Thank you for the tip about Flysat. I'm pretty sure that there are transponders that are no longer in use, but I've kept them to be faithful to the source.

My learning points:
- For some reason, KingOfSat shows several transponders with decimal points (e.g. 7E 11189.83 H 6666), which may have caused duplications that weren't picked up by Excel.
- KingOfSat and Satelliweb's feeds table section seem to be the least up to date (or at least for some satellites), whilst Satellitweb's Live Feed section appears to be the most up to date.
- FlySat shows some transponders that look a bit odd to me e.g. 33E 1 V 2222.
- There are instances when the sites show a transponder with multiple symbol rates, but it appears that the Feed TPs macro only picks up the first symbol rate for each transponder.

It would be great if it was possible to run these updates from all those sites simultaneously and automate the process further, but I'm afraid I don't know how.

I hope it helps.

Cheers,

 

[jamsb]

Thanks for this sweetrihard been a great thread has this. jamsb.

 

[jetsetw]

@Zorch and @jetsetw

Here is what I've done:

- Ran the very useful 'Feed TPs' macro created by @jetsetw (thank you once again) to get the info from Lyngsat, KingOfSat, FlySat, and pasted the Excel outputs into a separate worksheet.

- Downloaded the .ini files from Satelliweb's Feed Tables section, and added these to the above Excel output.

- With my (limited) knowledge of Excel I created a concatenation of all of the values in columns a-d and then done a conditional format to identify duplications. I then copied these into a separate sheet and removed the exact duplicates from the list. Then copied the ones that weren't duplicates and added them to the others. The result should be a list of feed transponders from all the sources mentioned above, minus the exact duplicates.

- Kept the 'dummy TP' for each satellite, as advised by jetsetw, for a more accurate auto navigation.

I've attached the .ndf file in case you find it useful. If you want to test this, please back up your channel list before you try it.

I don't quite follow what you've done here. When running the macro, the ndf file is produced automatically. Adding these extra "ini" files from another website afterwards and/or altering the spreadsheet won't change the ndf file... Even rerunning the macro won't help you incorporate the extra information, since the VBA code will erase all the data on the screen and start again from scratch. (The macro wipes the slate clean each time, so to speak.) I may have got the wrong end of the stick, so do correct me if I have misunderstood you!

@Zorch: Thank you for the tip about Flysat. I'm pretty sure that there are transponders that are no longer in use, but I've kept them to be faithful to the source.

My learning points:
- For some reason, KingOfSat shows several transponders with decimal points (e.g. 7E 11189.83 H 6666), which may have caused duplications that weren't picked up by Excel.
- KingOfSat and Satelliweb's feeds table section seem to be the least up to date (or at least for some satellites), whilst Satellitweb's Live Feed section appears to be the most up to date.
- FlySat shows some transponders that look a bit odd to me e.g. 33E 1 V 2222.
- There are instances when the sites show a transponder with multiple symbol rates, but it appears that the Feed TPs macro only picks up the first symbol rate for each transponder.

My macro doesn't examine the TP frequencies for repeats - it just pulls out whatever it finds from your chosen website. If only the first instance of multiple TPs is visible on your Technomate, then it is the receiver which is hiding all the others.

It would be great if it was possible to run these updates from all those sites simultaneously and automate the process further, but I'm afraid I don't know how.

I hope it helps.

Cheers,

I haven't seen the "Satelliweb" website before. Does it really have many more useful feeds than KoS/Lyngsat/Flysat? Sadly, adding another website to the macro probably isn't a quick or easy fix, and may not be possible for me depending on how the information is stored. I had to give up on "Satbeams", for example.

Jetset

 

[sweetrihard]

Hi jetsetw,

Yes, your macro generates the .ndf file automatically, and it's great. However, my understanding is that the macro would not incorporate all the info from Flysat, Lyngsat, and KingOfSat into one single .ndf file (unless I got this wrong?), hence I ran your macro three times (once for each source), and copied the data that appeared in the 'data' tab into a separate work sheet. Subsequently, I added the info from Satelliweb; removed all the exact duplicates in Excel, and created a new single .ndf file that contains all of the above.



>>My macro doesn't examine the TP frequencies for repeats - it just pulls out whatever it finds from your chosen website.

Apologies. I got the impression that the macro only pulled the first frequency. If you look at the example in the screenshot from Flysat, there are three frequencies (2000 3/4; 2200 3/4
2960 3/4) for 11536 H, but when I examined the .ndf file with TechEditor I thought I could only see the first frequency for that transponder.

>>I haven't seen the "Satelliweb" website before. Does it really have many more useful feeds than KoS/Lyngsat/Flysat?

The 'Live Feeds' section of the site certainly does, as it's constantly updated by users. The 'Table Feeds' section doesn't appear to be updated very regularly.

>>Sadly, adding another website to the macro probably isn't a quick or easy fix, and may not be possible for me depending on how the information is stored.

You have done a great job with the updater. THANK YOU! Having done this exercise I do not think that adding the info from Satelliweb's Table Feeds section would make much difference. In fact, I'd say that for feeds KingofSat does not add much either. Do you have any advice on how I could automate the process of getting the info from both Flysat and Lyngsat simultaneously, de-duplicate and create one single .ndf file? Many thanks in advance.

FYI - I ran the 'auto navigation' with the .ndf file I posted earlier. It took several hours, and in the end I got about 20 live feeds. Nothing special, but I guess the excitement is in the surprise of what one might find.

 

[jetsetw]

Hi Sweetrihard,

I opened up the file you attached in post 12 using Clarke Tech Editor Studio, and found many instances TPs with the same freqency. Perhaps the other editor you mention doesn't show duplicates?

I am still puzzled by how you are making your own ndf file from the new worksheet you have made. I understand that you are running the macro three times (once for each website), copying the data to your own Excel worksheet each time, and then manually adding the extra info from Satelliweb. But what are you doing afterwards to actually make the ndf file that incorporates all the data on your finished worksheet?

After 4 years of owning a motorised set up, I still haven't bothered to mess about with feeds... With 1000s of FTA channels, I guess I've never really understood the attraction of feeds!

Jetset

 

[sweetrihard]

But what are you doing afterwards to actually make the ndf file that incorporates all the data on your finished worksheet?

After 4 years of owning a motorised set up, I still haven't bothered to mess about with feeds... With 1000s of FTA channels, I guess I've never really understood the attraction of feeds!

Jetset

Hi again,

You'll probably think I'm insane, but I manually typed all the extra info using the editor and saved it onto one of the ndf files, which were were created when I ran the macro, and then saved it. I worked on it a bit at the time in the evenings. I did not know any other way.

I really love finding and watching feeds. It is a fascinating and sometimes funny window on the art of TV production.