BirDog Meter Guidelines v1.6

8/10/2019 BirDog Meter Guidelines v1.6

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BirDog Signal Meter

Operation Guidelines

Version 1.6

March 2009


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Copyright 2009 DIRECTV. Unpublished work. All rightsreserved. All materials are proprietary and confidential.

Technology information released after January 2009 may not beincluded in the material.

Table of Contents

BirDog Satellite Meter .............................................................................................................................1Introduction............................................................................................................................................1

Front Panel .............................................................................................................................................2Back End Menu, Standard.....................................................................................................................3 dB What is it........................................................................................................................................4Back End Menu, continued....................................................................................................................5 Back End Menu, USB/USB Plus ............................................................................................................6 Sub Menu, USB/USB Plus .....................................................................................................................9

Software Download ................................................................................................................................11Software Download..............................................................................................................................11Meter Updating ....................................................................................................................................12

BirDog Meter ODU Peaking .................................................................................................................1418 (101).............................................................................................................................................14

KaKu SL5 & SL3.................................................................................................................................15KaKu SL5s & SL3s..............................................................................................................................16SWiM Specific .....................................................................................................................................17


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Notes Detail

DIRECTV Home Services Field Operations Training Page 1 Version 1.6BirDog Guidelines

BirDog Satelli te Meter

Introduction

The following BirDog topic areas will be discussed during this

training:

BirDog Meter setup

Back End Menu

Peaking Specifics

S Bar vs Q Bar

Software Updates

ODU Specific peaking

Below is the BirDog screen layout.

1. Satellite Signal Input2. Signal Sensitivity Bar3. Orbital Location4. Key Pad5. Battery Charge6. Peaking Scale7. Back End Menu

o Accessed by pressing andholding the OFF key

7


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Back End Menu,Standard

Standard Back End Menu

To access the back end menu press the OFF button on the key

pad.

EXIT Powers the BirDog meter off.

Backlight

The light of the screen is controlled by ON/OFF.

Clicking Turns the audible signal finder ON/OFF.

Sleep

Inactivity of the meter will cause the meter to automatically shutdown, 1-19 minutes / Always On.

Defaults Resets the meter back to factory settings.

English Sets the language display, English / Spanish.

RF Shows RF power in a linear or dBuV scale

o Linearshows the RF power in a Digital Scale format.

o dBuV

(61dBuV = -47.8dBm)

Note:

Discussion surrounding dB is continued on the next page.

Continued on next page


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dB What is it Man made communications are amplified at various stagesduring their voyages through space and or coaxial cable in order

to keep the information they carry intact.

Alexander Graham Bell created the dB scale to describe the

enormous changes in power that occurs at these various stages

of the signal chain by relatively small numbers.

This was necessary since items such as reflectors, LNBs,

amplifiers etc increase power levels many hundreds or

thousands of times: constantly calculating such numbers could

become challenging.

Path Loss: Path loss is the loss of power of an RF signal

traveling through space or a cable run. It is expressed in dB.dB is an abbreviation for decibels. It is a mathematical

expression showing the relationship between two values.

The most useful fact to understand is that small changes in

decibels reflect much larger changes in power levels. For

example, an increase of 3dB means the power has doubled, a

change of 30dB means the power has increased by a factor of

1000 times.

RF power levels from the Satellite are expressed in Watts. this

can also be expressed in dBm, dBm is much easier to

understand.

1 Watt = 1000 mW

1000mW = 30dBm

100mW = 20dBm

0dBm = 1mW (milliwatt)

dBmis relative to a milliwatt. While dBuVis relative to a

micro-volt.Instead of referencing a power measurement (watts), dBuV

references against the actual voltage level generated in the

system measured in micro-volts (0.000001Vac).

You will see that dBuV values are always positive.

Watt mW dBm dbuV

1 1000 -30 78.8

0.1 100 -20 127


The dBm calculations

PdBm = 10 x Log Pmw.

For example: 1 Watt = 1000mW;

1000 mW ; PdBm = 10 x Log

1000 = 30 dBm

To convert dB (dBuV)

microvolts to dBm values

dBuV = dBm + 108.8dB

Example: -65dBm = 43.8dBuV-32dBm = 76.8dBuV

61dBuV = -47.8dBm

Handy Calculator

http://www.soontai.com.tw/cal_exu

nit.html

Here is a very useful dB

calculator

http://www.aubraux.com/design/milli-watts-to-dbm-

calculator.php


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Back End Menu,continued

Standard Back End Menu

Found / BER

Found- Confirms correct satellite is located

BER - Bit Error Rate, A measure of transmission quality ofthe signal received. Generally the higher the E number is

the better the transmission, examples provided below show

the E-5 numbers are better than E-3 numbers.

Good Example:

.0000897= 897 bits of data out of 10,000,000 are bad

Bad Example:

.00293 = 293 bits of data out of 100,000 are bad

BER Log / Linear

Selecting Log will add attenuation or in other words alower level of signal will be seen on the Q line, this is

required when peaking of the KaKu ODU is performed,it is difficult to peak a signal when the Q shows 99%

Before attenuation

After attenuation



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Back End Menu,USB/USB Plus

USB / USB Plus Back End MenuFound

Found - Confirms correct satellite is located

BER - Bit Error Rate, A measure of transmission quality ofthe signal received. Generally the higher the E number is

the better the transmission; examples provided below show

the E-5 numbers are better than E-3 numbers.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

BER Log / Linear Selecting Log will add attenuation or in other words a

lower level of signal will be seen on the Q line, this is

useful when peaking of the KaKu ODU is performed, it

is difficult to peak a signal when the Q shows 99%Before

After

MER MER (Modulation Error Ratio) is a measure used to

quantify the performance of a digital signals, various

imperfections in the signal path such as noise can cause

low images and distortion. The higher the MER reading

in dB, the better.


Example of good MER

Example of bad MER


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Back End Menu,USB/USB Plus

USB / USB Plus Back End Menu

C/N - C/N (carrier-to-noise ratio), is often written as CNR or

C/N, it is a measure of the received carrier strength

relative to the strength of the received noise. High C/N

ratios provide better quality of reception, and generally

higher communications accuracy and reliability, than

low C/N ratios.

Low C/N example

LNB LNB voltage, this feature allows to switch between no LNB

voltage (0) and 13/18vdc

Defaults Resets the meter back to factory settings


Note:

Without voltage supplied from the

BirDog there will be no signal

strength displayed, this is unless the

meter is connected to a powered

s stem such as a SWiM LNB


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Sub Menu, USB/USBPlus

USB Plus Sub Menu

ExitDiSEqC

SpectrumSpectrum

ConstellationCustom CarrierRecall CustomLog as 00000

LNB/Cable Test

USB / USB Plus Sub MenuTo access the Sub Menu press the OFF button on the key pad,

while the BirDog meter is powered on.

DiSEqC Not specific to DIRECTV equipment

Spectrum This is a graphic representation of the transponders at

the specified frequencies. The frequency is changed by

using the Left / Rightarrow keys.

The greater the distances between peaks and valleys, the

better the C/N.

SpectrumSpan defines the measured range of frequencies. It is

referred to as Spectrum Boost when the low amplitude

signals need to be raised.



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Notes Detail



Sub Menu, USB/USBPlus

USB Plus Sub Menu

ExitDiSEqC

SpectrumSpectrum

ConstellationCustom CarrierRecall CustomLog as 00000

LNB/Cable Test

USB / USB Plus Sub MenuConstellation

This provides a visual of the QPSK (Quadrature PhaseShift Keying)signal.

QPSK - is a digital modulation scheme that conveys

data by changing, or modulating, the phase of a

reference signal (the carrier wave). In essence it allows

more channels per transponder.

Good Example Bad Example

The more concentrated the cluster the better the signal

quality, dots straying outside of the cluster indicates

noise on the signal carrier.

Custom Carrier Custom Carrier is not needed for the DIRECTV signals,

these are predefined within the associated softwaredownloads.

Log as Data Logging, allows storing of signal levels, C/N,

MER, and dBuV values after the ODU is peaked.

LNB/Cable Test Tests for an open or short circuit within a coaxial cable

run and or connected LNB.

Note: may show fault if dB levels greater than 10dB areencountered within the cable run.

Note:

Test all ports of the LNB to verify

that the LNB Passes or Fails


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Software Download

Software Download Web SiteGo to the following web site http://www.birdog.tv

Choose the Preconfigured Tab

Scroll Down to the DIRECTV preconfigured File

Note:The options below will only load onto the USB/USB plus

version 4 meter.

DTV SWM Histogram

DTV 101 & 119 dual display

You can select the DirecTV.exefile by clicking on it to beginthe software update process.

or

You can download the file to your computer desktop to enable

an update multiple BirDog meters.


Note: both the *.exe file and *.zip

contain the same data, some

computer networks will only work

for a *.zip file download.


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Software Download

Meter Updating Note: Ensure the BirDog meter is fully charged beforeproceedingBirDog meters prior to the new USB version use a Serial Cable

to allow software updates, you must use a computer with a serial

port or a USB to Serial port converter must be used.

Choose the correct Serial COM port if the serial port is used or

choose the USB if the USB cable is used


A dialog box will open

Click on the recently downloaded file


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Notes Detail


Software Download

Meter Updating Choose Transfer to load the software, at completion of thedownload a complete message is given

Meter Setup End


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BirDog Meter ODU Peaking

Note:Use these steps to peak an 18 (101) ODU.

Step Action

1. Using the Key Pad, press the OFFkey

2. Scroll down using the key pads downarrow key, set

RFto Linear and set BERto LOG by pressing the

rightarrow key on each

3. Using the key pad press the Uparrow key to Exit,press

the Rightarrow key to turn the meter off

4. Using the key pad press the On key

5. Using the key pad press the Right arrow key until the

DTV Ka/Ku&3G 101 is selected

18 (101)

6. Using the Qscale peak the ODU to the maximum

level possible using Elevation & Azimuth.

Ensure all bolts are tightenedon the ODU.

Mast Clamp, Elevation, and LNB screws


1 2 3 4 5 6


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Note:Use these steps to peak a KaKu SL5 & SL3 ODUs.

Step Action





3. Using the key pad press the Uparrow key to Exit,press

the Rightarrow key to turn the meter off



DTV Ka/Ku&3G 101 is selected

KaKu SL5 & SL3


coarse level possible using Elevation & Azimuth, then

tighten all mast clamp bolts.

7. Peak tilt for 119, using the key pad press the rightarrow key until the DTV Ka/Ku&3G 119 is selected,

peak to the highest level and then tighten tilt bolts.

Follow the KaKudithering process

8. Using the key pad press the right arrow key until the

DTV Ka/Ku&3G 101 is selected, continue with the

KaKu dithering process.


1 2 3 4 5 6

7

Note: SL3 does not have 119

for peaking of tilt, preset tilt

settings as noted for your

specific area

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Notes Detail



Note:Use these steps to peak a KaKu SL5 ODU.

Step Action





3. Using the key pad press the Uparrow key to Exit,

press the Rightarrow key to turn the meter off



DirecTV SWM 101 is selected

KaKu SL5s & SL3s


coarse level possible using Elevation & Azimuth, then

tighten all mast clamp bolts.

7. Peak tilt for 119, using the key pad press the rightarrow key until the DirecTV SWM 119 is selected,

peak to the highest level and then tighten tilt bolts.

Follow the KaKudithering process

8. Using the key pad press the right arrow key until the

DirecTV SWM 101 is selected, continue with the

KaKu dithering process.


1 2 3 4 5 6

7

Note: SL3s does not have 119

for peaking of tilt, preset tilt

settings as noted for your

specific area

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Notes Detail


SWiM Specific 101 & 119 Dual Display (SL5s LNB)

8 ChannelSWiM

Frequency

Channel 1 1076MHz

Channel 2 1178MHz

Channel 3 1280MHz

Channel 4 1382MHz

Channel 5 1484MHz

Channel 6 1586MHz

Channel 7 1688MHz

Channel 8 1790MHz

The 101&119 Dual display allows for both the 101 and 119signals to be seen. This function can be accessed by pressing

the right key pad arrow key

Histogram DTVSWMThe histogram function shows the SWiM frequencies in a bar

graph visual aid, these levels should be fairly level across all 8

channels as shown.

Possible SWiM Channel interference issues example:

End ODU Peaking

Note: This option is only

available on the USB/USB plus

version 4 meters.

This option only works on a SL5sLNB as well.

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