Fwd: [BC] Starguide Compendium

[Mark Humphrey]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tom Taggart <tpt at eurekanet.com>
Date: Mar 31, 2007 9:00 PM
Subject: [BC] Starguide Compendium
To: broadcast at radiolists.net


The last few weeks I have been going around in circles with a certain
network I won't name, (lest their big round ears burn) trying to
resolve a problem with a failing Starguide satellite receiver.  Took a
week to get a loaner shipped out, took another week to get an RMA for
repair. Which would then have me ship the unit back to DGS & pay a
nice price for repair.  On top of all that, only half the relays on
the relay card in the loaner worked.

Luckily I had purchased some spare audio cards so I could keep
programing going from a second Starguide in another studio until the
loaner came in.  Also had an extra relay card, which fixed the problem
with the loaner.  Then I found a used receiver for sale, when that
comes in I will have a complete spare.

And this list saved me big $$$.  Turns out that the original receiver
has a bad power supply, a problem that I could have  easily diagnosed
and fixed earlier if I had known what the normal voltages were
supposed to be. Another member of this list gave me a tip on where to
find the exact replacement supply.

This all occurred after we finally cured another problem we  with
receiving Premiere. Seems our look angle is only a few degrees off the
incoming path from an MCI microwave tower.  Premier's downlink is at
4127 MHZ, MCI was transmitting at 4130 MHZ. We tried a variety of
filters, this problem was finally resolved when we got MCI to turn off
their microwave carrier. Of course, first we had to educate the MCI
techs on why there was even a problem in the first place.

So, after these problems, I thought I would pool together everything
I've learned, with the idea that it may save someone else a lot of
grief and some time.

Now that I have all this info, plus a spare receiver, Murphy's law
will mean that the network will send their new, entirely different
receiver next week.  And I will encounter  a whole new set of
problems.

Starguide repair:

SVTronics/DG FastChannel Technical Center
3465 Technology Drive
Plano, Tx 75704
Phone: 214-440-1234
Fax: 214-440-1222

You could also try "Dave Wilcox" <DWilcox at dgfastchannel.com>

Their rates are somewhat steep: repair of a Starguide III is $545;
evaluation is $125 and includes two cards, or $50 per card; the EDAS
cards are particularly expensive to repair.  While it appears that you
need an RMA and are instructed to ship to Texas, they say that Reno,
Nevada sales taxes apply on services??

Charlie Wooten in Panama City, Fla., can repair common problems with
the audio cards. (charliewooten at clearchannel.com)

Here's some do-it-yourself info:

Power Supply: Astec LPT63 Newark Part No. 62K3455   ($60.00)

This is a triple voltage supply.  Depending on cooling, it will
produce around 7~8 amps at +5 volts; 2.8~3.3 amps at +15 volts, and
around an amp at -15 volts.  If the voltages are off by more than a
volt, the supply is probably bad.

In my unit, this caused the receiver to go into "acquiring" mode but
it would never lock.

This supply is mounted on the right hand side of the unit on standoffs
using 4 Phillips head screws.  In order to remove the bottom two
screws from the power supply, you need to remove the receiver card
from the motherboard. You will need a short-handled screwdriver.  Be
careful?the receiver is connected to the motherboard by a multi-pin
header type of connector, mounted on the side of that card near the
power supply.  You don't want to bend the pins.

Fan: Sunon KD0506PHB3.  This is a 5 volt DC square fan, 60 mm x 60 mm
x 15 mm.  It is a ball bearing fan, low speed, with about 15 CFM.  The
depth is not critical.

Used to be Allied part number 997-0073, but this number no longer
stocked.  997-0532 looks similar; it would appear that any similar
sized fan would work. The Sunon fan plugs into the motherboard, but
you could just cut the wires and splice if you get one with leads
only.

Satellite band plans: The C-band downlink is from 3720 MHZ to 4180
MHZ, every 20 MHz.  An LNB has a local oscillator at 5150 MHZ., so
your incoming L-band frequency is the transponder frequency subtracted
from the LO frequency. Most services we use are on AMC 8, go to
www.ses-americom.com  Then to frequencies/ C-band for their band
plans.  For ABC, at transponder 23, (4160 MHz) the L-band frequency
the Starguide is tuned to is 990 MHZ.  Lots of independent networks on
the ABC transponder, including MRN/PRN NASCAR races.  Premier uses a
split channel at 4127, they carry a number of baseball and other pro
sports broadcasts.

Terrestrial interference: Telephone/data carriers: These still exist,
the terrestrial microwave frequencies are every twenty MHZ between the
transponder frequencies. You can go to FCC.GOV, then search, then the
wireless bureau database to find microwave frequencies in your area.

We have an MCI tower 1500 feet east of us, we've used a screen behind
our dish to eliminate much of the incidental TI.  This was built with
three 12" triangular tower sections (the kind used for home TV
antennas), and metal hardware cloth (like window screen material, only
stiffer).

"AWACs" or military radar, is supposedly above the C band, but don't
count on it. This will be periodic pops in the signal and will seem to
fade in then out as the plane passes by.  Coastal and marine
navigational radar frequencies (2.9-3.65) GHz, just below the C-band,
frequently wipe-out transponders 1-5 on satellite dishes installed
near harbors. There are also airport altimeter signals (4.25-4.40) GHz
that will affect transponders 22-24 at receive sites located near
airports.

Filters: http://www.microwavefilter.com/ Makes an "AWACS" filter that
mounts on the feedhorn ahead of the LNB. Works well, about $300. Look
at the 7893D series, a call to them can be very helpful. They also
make fixed and tunable L-band bandpass filters that can be used to
cure specific problems. We had some success with their tunable filter
trying to eliminate TI on Premier, but that transponder was only 3 MHz
away from the microwave carrier.

Hope this is helpful to other folks.

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