DiSEqC tool

A tool for sending custom DiSEqC commands via DVB frontend to the connected devices and optionally to receive their replies.

Usage:

$ ./diseqc_tool.py --help
usage: diseqc_tool.py [-h] [--adapter ADAPTER] [--frontend FRONTEND]
                      [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--receive-timeout RECEIVE_TIMEOUT]
                      [--receive] [--verbose]
                      command

Send custom DiSEqC command.

positional arguments:
  command               hexadecimal representation of bytes to send as DiSEqC
                        command. Example: 0xe03160 to stop the positioner.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --adapter ADAPTER     DVB adapter to use (default: 0)
  --frontend FRONTEND   DVB frontend to use (default: 0)
  --timeout TIMEOUT     timeout in seconds to keep feeding voltage to LNBf
                        after sending the command (default: 5)
  --receive-timeout RECEIVE_TIMEOUT
                        timeout in milliseconds to wait for the DiSEqC reply
                        (default: 500)
  --receive             also receive DiSEqC reply
  --verbose             increase logging verbosity

For example, instructing a polar/azimuth positioner to stop its movement can be done by sending a DiSEqC command 0xe03160:

$ ./diseqc_tool.py 0xe03160
2023-01-08 08:59:36,858    INFO common Opening DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
2023-01-08 08:59:36,908    INFO common DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 opened
2023-01-08 08:59:37,973    INFO diseqc Sending DiSEqC command e0 31 60 00 00 00
2023-01-08 08:59:38,002    INFO diseqc DiSEqC command e0 31 60 00 00 00 sent
2023-01-08 08:59:38,003    INFO common Waiting 5 seconds with LNBf voltage enabled for the command to complete
2023-01-08 08:59:43,024    INFO common DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 closed

DiSEqC commands

The following table contains some potentially useful DiSEqC commands:

Command	Description
0xe00000	Reset microcontrollers of all devices.
0xe03100	Reset microcontroller of the polar/azimuth positioner.
0xe03160	Stop the movement of the polar/azimuth positioner.
0xe03163	Disable limits of the polar/azimuth positioner.
0xe03166	Set clockwise limit of the polar/azimuth positioner to the current position.
0xe03167	Set counter-clockwise limit of the polar/azimuth positioner to the current position.
0xe0316b01	Drive the polar/azimuth positioner to the stored position #1.
0xe0316ee0a0	Drive the polar/azimuth positioner to the angle 10 degrees clockwise from zero.
0xe0316ed0a0	Drive the polar/azimuth positioner to the angle 10 degrees counter-clockwise from zero.

A more complete reference to DiSEqC commands is available in the DiSEqC documentation by Eutelsat, specifically in the "DiSEqC Bus Specification" document that is included in the linked zip archive as the bus_spec.pdf file. It contains details of DiSEqC commands' structure and some of the values that can be used in its individual parts.

Driving polar/azimuth positioner to a specific angle

There is a convenience script called positioner_tool.py which can be used for driving a polar/azimuth positioner to a specific angle:

$ ./positioner_tool.py --help
usage: positioner_tool.py [-h] [--adapter ADAPTER] [--frontend FRONTEND]
                          [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--verbose]
                          angle

Send DiSEqC commands to polar/azimuth positioner.

positional arguments:
  angle                Angular position in degrees from zero to which the
                       positioner should be driven. Positive values represent
                       angles clockwise from zero and negative values
                       represent angles counter-clockwise from zero. Example:
                       12.3 for angle 12.3 degrees clockwise from zero.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  --adapter ADAPTER    DVB adapter to use (default: 0)
  --frontend FRONTEND  DVB frontend to use (default: 0)
  --timeout TIMEOUT    timeout in seconds to keep feeding voltage to LNBf
                       after sending the command (default: 15)
  --verbose            increase logging verbosity

For example, to drive the positioner to 12.3 degrees angle clockwise from zero, it is possible to use the following command:

$ ./positioner_tool.py 12.3
2023-01-08 09:03:23,385    INFO common Opening DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
2023-01-08 09:03:23,423    INFO common DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 opened
2023-01-08 09:03:23,423    INFO common Driving the positioner to 12.300 degrees clockwise from zero
2023-01-08 09:03:24,497    INFO diseqc Sending DiSEqC command e0 31 6e e0 c5 00
2023-01-08 09:03:24,526    INFO diseqc DiSEqC command e0 31 6e e0 c5 00 sent
2023-01-08 09:03:24,527    INFO common Waiting 15 seconds with LNBf voltage enabled for the command to complete
2023-01-08 09:03:39,549    INFO common DVB frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 closed