Disabling TV Search

On power-up, every Winegard dish variant attempts to calibrate and then search for DirecTV or DISH Network satellites. For amateur radio use, this search must be killed — it fights your tracking commands and wastes time scanning the sky for TV signals you don’t need.

Each firmware variant has a different method for stopping the search. Some are temporary (per-boot), others are permanent (written to non-volatile storage).

Per-variant instructions

HAL 0.0.00

Trav’ler (HAL 0.0.00)

The original Trav’ler uses the os (operating system) submenu to kill the search task.

> os
OS> kill Search

This terminates the Search task for the current session. You need to repeat this on every power cycle.

Sequence:

1. Wait for the boot prompt (> or NoGPS message)
2. Enter os to open the OS submenu
3. Send kill Search to stop the satellite search task
4. Send q to return to the root menu
5. Enter mot to access motor control

HAL 2.05

Trav’ler (HAL 2.05.003)

HAL 2.05 uses a different path through the ngsearch submenu.

> ngsearch
NGSEARCH> s
NGSEARCH> q

Sequence:

1. Wait for boot (look for NoGPS or No LNB Voltage)
2. Enter ngsearch to open the search submenu
3. Send s to stop the current search
4. Send q to exit back to root
5. Enter mot (or motor on some HAL 2.05 builds) to access motor control

This is a per-boot operation — the search restarts on every power cycle.

Trav'ler Pro

Trav’ler Pro

The Pro uses the same os / kill Search method as HAL 0.0.00, but you may need to tunnel to the outdoor unit first since the Pro’s IDU has its own MCU.

> os
OS> kill Search

If the kill doesn’t stop dish movement, try tunneling to the ODU first:

> odu
ODU> os
OS> kill Search

This is a per-boot operation.

Carryout

Carryout (2003)

The original Carryout doesn’t have a firmware command to kill the search. Instead, it uses physical DIP switches on the unit.

Setting all DIP switches to off (up) may disable search mode, but behavior varies by unit. There is no guaranteed software method.

Inconsistent behavior

DIP switch behavior is not consistent across Carryout units. Some units ignore the switches entirely. If the dish continues searching after flipping all switches off, you may need to wait for the search to complete before taking motor control.

Carryout G2

Carryout G2

The G2 provides a permanent disable via non-volatile storage index 20. Once set, the tracker process is disabled across reboots.

TRK> nvs
NVS> e 20 1
NVS> s
NVS> q

Breakdown:

1. nvs — enter the NVS submenu
2. e 20 1 — set index 20 (“Disable Tracker Proc?”) to TRUE (1)
3. s — save the change to flash (required — without this, the change is lost on reboot)
4. q — return to root menu

To re-enable the tracker later:

TRK> nvs
NVS> e 20 0
NVS> s
NVS> q

Homing is skipped when tracker is disabled

When NVS 20 = TRUE, the firmware skips the homing sequence entirely on boot. The motors stay uncalibrated and the AZ position reads as 2147483647 (INT_MAX sentinel). You must manually home the motors with mot then h 0 (AZ) and h 1 (EL) before issuing any move commands. See the Calibration & Homing guide.

What happens after disabling search

Once the search is killed, the dish stops moving on its own and waits for your commands. At this point you can:

• Enter the motor submenu (mot on most variants, motor on HAL 2.05, target on the original Carryout)
• Query the current position with a
• Issue move commands with a <motor_id> <degrees>
• Start the rotctld server for Gpredict integration

The birdcage init command automates this entire sequence — it waits for boot, kills the search, enters the motor submenu, and leaves the dish ready for tracking. See the satellite tracking guide for the full workflow.