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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 02-03/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
To do this we improvised using a
properly sized box on top of which
the web cam was placed. We certainly
won‘t win any prizes with this design,
but it works!
In this way we used a signal analyz-
er - that provided a spectrum in high-
resolution as well as in real time - for
a waterfall diagram. The available soft-
ware that we highlighted in a report in
the 12-01/2012 issue of TELE-satellite
had to be somewhat adapted so that it
would work with the web cam and the
high resolution and yet still would be
able to generate a waterfall diagram
quick enough.
The procedure for the installer is ac-
tually quite simple: the antenna sys-
tem is aimed after which it‘s driven
mine which parameter needed to be
adjusted. This was essentially a „Trial
an Error“ method in that if you adjust
one parameter, in all likelihood one of
the other parameters would need to be
readjusted. If you‘ve ever installed a
motorized antenna, you‘re well aware
that this process could take hours.
But this is where the waterfall dia-
gram comes to the rescue. It‘s a per-
fect tool exactly for this situation. The
installer can see at a single glance
which satellite positions can be re-
ceived. If, for example, the positions to
the left have a higher signal level than
those positions to the right, then the
entire antenna assembly would need
to be moved to the right. The installer
can see at one glance what parameters
would need to be adjusted.
To create an especially powerful wa-
terfall diagram, you‘d naturally need an
exceptional signal analyzer. In order to
film the display screen of the SPAUN SP-
AROS 609, you have to make sure that
you eliminate any reflection. You would
also need to mount the web camera
exactly perpendicular to the surface of
the screen to prevent any distortion in
the picture.
Even if an installer correctly calcu-
lates the necessary settings and sets
up the antenna using these parameters,
it‘s still not unusual for these effects to
appear since a motorized system can-
not be perfectly aligned in the „blind“.
A fine adjustment will always be need-
ed and a waterfall diagram would help
to not only make it easier to receive
weaker satellite transponders, but it
would also provide some bad weather
reserves. The more you want to move
your antenna to the east or to the west,
the more noticeable even the slightest
error in alignment will be.
Up until now the installer had only
one method at his disposal: after the
initial alignment it was acceptable to
move the antenna to a far eastern posi-
tion and a far western position as well
as to a position in the middle to deter-