Unless the ASC-1 is commanded to move the dish. Aka: apply relay coil voltage on the h-bridge.
You can put your own power on the motor and the counter won't increment/decrement at all.
And. Again. You can spin the encoder magnet by hand all-the-live-longed-day if the unit is not commanded to actuate the relays.The counter will not move a single digit.
Motor/relays off. Counter deactivated. It's in the firmware.
Maybe a vbox works differently. But not this critter.