GEONETCaster,
If your GNC-A Station stopped receiving data, you should check your station equipment in the following order: Antenna / LNB -> DVB-S Receiver -> FAZZT Client
Please find below a step by step guide:
============ CHECKING THE ANTENNA / LNB ============
Check the “Signal Strenght” and “Signal Quality” in the LNB output using a Satellite Signal Meter (e.g: Birdog, SATLINK, Gigasat).
– If you get a low Signal Quality (below 70%), or if you do not have any Signal Quality at all (0%): Repoint your antenna and make a fine adjustment until you get a good Signal Quality (over 70%) in the Satellite Meter. 70% is just an average reference obteined by the community, try to get the maximum quality possible. Some stations reached 90 ~ 95%.
These are the parameters you should configure in the satellite meter (the GNC-A downlink parameters):
- Frequency: 3840 MHz
- Symbol Rate: 27.690 Msps
- Polarity: Vertical
To check your antenna pointing parameters, access the Dishpointer web page, choose the “58W INTELSAT 21 (IS-21)” satellite and your location. You should get three values, the Magnetic Azimuth, Elevation and LNB Skew (scroll down to see the LNB skew).
Steps to point your antenna:
a-) Adjust the LNB skew (according to Dishpointer) using a clinometer. It might be approximate.
b-) Adjust the dish elevation (according to Dishpointer) using a clinometer. It might be approximate.
c-) Adjust the dish azimuth (according to Dishpointer) using a compass. It might be approximate.
After the third step, you should use your satellite meter:
d-) Adjust the dish azimuth (according to Dishpointer) until you get the highest signal strength possible. You will notice that when turning the antenna, the signal strenght will reach a peak and then if you keep turning it will go down again. Keep it on the peak.
e-) This is the most important step. After you get the maximum signal strength adjusting the azimuth, fine adjust the elevation until you see that the signal quality is increasing. Adjust it until you get the maximum signal quality as possible.
f-) After getting the maximum signal quality adjusting the elevation, fine adjust the LNB skew, until you get the maximum signal quality as possible.
– If you can’t get a good Signal Quality even when the antenna is properly pointed. Make a test with another LNB, to make sure the current LNB is not broken.
If you get a good signal quality in your Satellite Meter, time to check the DVB-S Receiver.
============ CHECKING THE DVB-S / S2 RECEIVER ============
Independent of the model you are using (NOVRA S75+, NOVRA S300D, AYECKA SR1, Techisat SjyStar and others), this is the configuration you should have in your receiver:
- Frequency / Tuner Frequency: 1310 MHz (which is the C Band LNB local oscilator frequency [5150 MHz] minus the GNC-A Downlink Frequency [3840 MHz])
- Symbol Rate: 27.690 Msps
To be sure the receiver is locking the GNC-A signal, you should see the status below (the parameters in blue are not mandatory, but are a good reference):
NOVRA S75+:
- Signal Lock: ON
- Data Lock: ON
- Uncorrectable Rate: 0/Second
- Viterbi Bit Error Rate: 0
- Carrier to Noise C/N: over 10 dB
- Signal Strenght: over 90 %
Please find how to configure the S75+ receiver here (Linux) and here (Windows), pages 59 to 65 on the ppt.
NOVRA S300D:
- Signal Lock: ON
- Data Lock: ON
- Uncorrectable Rate: 0/Second
- Viterbi Bit Error Rate: 0
- Carrier to Noise C/N: over 10 dB
- Signal Strenght: over – 35 dBm
Please find how to configure the S300D receiver here.
AYECKA SR1:
- Tuner Status: Locked
- Demodulator Status: Locked
- Transport Status: Locked
- Demodulator BER: 0
- Demodulator Es/N0: over 10 dB
- Signal Input Level: over – 35 dBm
Please find how to configure the AYECKA SR1 receiver here.
Technisat SkyStar:
- Network: Intelsat-Ellenwood
- Orbital Position: 0.58 West
- Signal Quality: over 70%, green
- Signal Strenght: over 90%, green
- SNR (dB): over 10 dB
- BER: 0.000000E+000
Please find how to configure the Technsat SkyStar PCI receivers here (Linux), here (Windows) and here (Windows), page 66 on the ppt.
If you can’t get a Signal Lock in your receiver even if your Satellite Meter gets a good Signal Quality, check your coaxial cable continuity with a multimeter, and check if your receiver is configured appropriatelly.
If everything is fine with your receiver, time to check the FAZZT PROFESSIONAL CLIENT.
============ CHECKING FAZZT PROFESSIONAL CLIENT ============
The first thing to check is if the FAZZT CLIENT has received files on the log, accessing:
“Logs” -> “Received Files”. You may find an example screenshoot on page 79 of this ppt.
If you’re not receiving anything, please configure your FAZZT CLIENT according to the steps below (The configuration is the same for the FAZZT versions 8.X or 9.X.):
At the menu on the left, choose “Configuration” -> “Channels” and then, at the “Channels” window, choose “Channels Defaults”. At “Interface”, choose the IP address of the Network Card where you have your DVB-S receiver connected (of the IP of your PCI receiver). Click on “Save”.
– Select the ingestion folder at “Configurations” – “Storage Settings” – “Virtual Paths: View/Edit”
– Click at the backslash “\” as shown on the image below and choose the folder where the received files will be stored.
– Back to the “Channels” interface, click at the “1.Main” channel:
– And at “Interface”, choose “default”:
– After a while (a couple of minutes), you should see the GNC-A Broadcast channels being listed at the “Configuration” – “Channels” interface.
Check the “Logs” -> “Received Files” again.
If you did everything correctly, and still do not receive any data, please check if your network card is in the same IP family of your receiver, for example:
- Network Card: 192.168.0.12
- DVB-S Receiver: 192.168.0.11
Also, be sure that the Main channel is enabled!
========= A COUPLE OF DOCUMENTS WORTH TAKING A LOOK =========
Last Update: June 21, 2018, 17:00 UTC
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