• Mengukur sinyal DVB-S/S2 dengan NIT dan alat analisa spektrum

LAPORAN UJI
Meter Satelit genggam
SATFINDER 5
HD Slim
•Mengukur sinyal DVB-S/S2 dengan NIT dan
alat analisa spektrum yang cepat
•Mendukung sistem USALS dan UNICABLE
•Pembaruan peranti lunak dan database
melalui memori USB
•Hingga delapan transponder dapat diterima
dan ditampilkan secara bersamaan
•Tampilan resolusi tinggi dengan kemudahan
pembacaan yang sangat baik
•Database transponder yang telah diprogram
dapat diubah langsung di meter
54 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 05-06/2015 — www.TELE-audiovision.com
www.TELE-audiovision.com — 05-06/2015 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志
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TEST REPORT
Hand-held Satellite Meter
Handy, Practical, Precise
The new SATFINDER 5 HD
Slim from Alpsat Elektronik is
transponder and channel lists.
The
integrated
battery
of this device, which is always
the preferred unit for signal
a good sign.
level measurements and video
a decidedly small and handy
comes with a capacity of 2400
Let’s have a look now at
satellite meter that only meas-
mAH and cannot be removed
what’s inside this neat little
An option we particularly
ures 18x10x4 cm and weighs
from the meter. It makes sure
device. Alpsat has opted for
appreciated was that the SAT-
no more than 0.8 kg – and
the SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
an 800 MHz processor that can
FINDER 5 HD Slim can be set to
that already includes the bat-
stays operational for up to
draw on 8 MB of cache and 512
increase its LNB power supply
tery. All this makes it a perfect
three hours before it needs to
MB of RAM. In total, the SAT-
by one Volt, something that is
companion for use even in the
be recharged. Once that be-
FINDER 5 HD Slim boasts 5000
greatly beneficial with extreme
trickiest of places.
comes necessary it does not
transponder entries, 8000 TV
coax cable lengths because it
Take it in your hand for the
take longer than two hours to
and radio channels and 250
makes sure enough voltage
first time and your eyes will
reach full capacity again for
satellite entries.
arrives at those remote LNBs.
probably stay glued to the 3.5-
mobile operation.
inch TFT high-resolution (960-
When you call up the main
output.
Another
solution
worthy
of
Alpsat Elektronik throws in
menu you’ll see that it con-
special mention are the three
right
a 12V DV power pack for use
sists of two entries for basic
available status menus that
away. It is one of those rare
with the mains or a car pow-
settings – one takes care of
can be accessed to find out
examples that provides excel-
er outlet, as well as a hugely
all
settings,
the current state of the RAM,
lent readability even in direct
practical protective cover with
while the other one deals with
the remaining battery capacity
sunlight. Below the display the
carrying strap and an F-type
all general settings. Those in-
and the voltage supply to all
manufacturer has placed a to-
angled plug that allows rotat-
clude the usual suspects, such
available components.
tal of 12 buttons for operating
ing the satellite IF input by 90
as OSD language. You can
Not only does the SATFIND-
and controlling the SATFINDER
degrees. Of course the meter
choose between a wide list of
ER 5 HD Slim offer an exten-
5 HD Slim. All of them come
is shipped with a user manual,
languages:
with easy to grasp labelling
and in this case it comes with
German,
and some have more than a
helpful pictures and a useful
French,
single function depending on
the menu that is accessed.
540px)
colour
display
The top side of the meter
satellite-related
English,
Turkish,
sive pre-programmed channel
Russian,
list, it also comes with excel-
Arabic,
lent satellite and transponder
overall layout. Working with
Dutch, Italian, Greek and last-
entries that reflect the high
this manual you won’t need to
ly Serbian. Further options are
effort put in by the manufac-
Spanish,
Portuguese,
be a pro for getting the knack
turer. A total of 159 European,
features a satellite IF socket
American and Asian satellites
for connecting the cable from
are available, complete with
the reception system, as well
as a TRS socket that becomes
a fully-fledged AV interface
with the help of an adapter
cable. On the bottom side you
will find the 12V DC socket for
connecting the external power
unit/charger and a USB socket
that can be used to update
either the meter’s firmware
or the pre-installed satellite,
05-06/2015
SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
Extremely responsive meter
for evaluating up to four transponders
simultaneously
www.TELE-audiovision.com/15/05/alpsat
56 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 05-06/2015 — www.TELE-audiovision.com
transponder
to manage the supply voltage
data. What’s more, all entries
to the LNBs according to your
can be edited and new entries
requirements. Either you leave
can easily be added directly on
it entirely to the meter – de-
the meter – a welcome change
pending on the currently se-
from many other meters that
lected frequency – or you can
require a PC to perform those
manually select 13V, 18V, 21V,
tasks.
13V+22kHz or 18V+22kHz.
corresponding
1
2
3
4
5
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58 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 05-06/2015 — www.TELE-audiovision.com
As far as LOF parameters
After a touch of the OK but-
are concerned, Alpsat went
ton the SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
the whole hog and offers pre-
will present the currently re-
set values for the Ku, Ka and
ceived signal spectrum right
C bands, as well as less fre-
away. The selected frequency
quently used LOFs and SCR
and the scale of the y-axis
frequencies. This adds up to
can easily be changed at any
almost
pre-programmed
time using the cross-shaped
settings, and in case the one
navigation button. Once you
you’re looking for is still not
have identified a signal peak
among them you’re more than
you simply press the OK but-
welcome to manually enter
ton again for the meter to ana-
any valid frequency you may
lyse that particular frequency.
require.
It only takes a few seconds for
30
Once all initial settings are
the SATFINDER 5 HD Slim to
completed we can now turn
find out the originating satel-
to aligning and optimising a
lite and the channel provider,
satellite antenna. For a first
as long as those data are be-
approximate
the
ing transmitted in the NIT via
SATFINDER 5 HD offers a sat-
satellite or are available in the
ellite search as well as spec-
internal memory of the meter.
trum mode. For both options
When you have found your tar-
it makes sense to first select
get satellite using this method
the desired satellite on the list
– which really worked like a
and then check whether all
treat in our test – you can then
pre-set parameters are indeed
conveniently analyse and eval-
correct. At this stage it is also
uate every single frequency
possible to change the LOF and
with a satellite search.
alignment
to activate DiSEqC commands.
When doing this, the SAT-
With the SATFINDER 5 HD sup-
FINDER 5 HD Slim does not
porting all DiSEqC protocols
only indicate signal quality and
from 1.0 to 1.3 you obviously
signal strength, but of course
have all options and possibili-
also C/N ratio, BER and MER.
ties at hand to make full use of
A thing we found very useful
that feature. It is even possible
is an option to change the de-
1. Main menu of the SATFINDER
5 HD Slim from Alpsat
2. Selecting the desired satellite from the comprehensive
pre-programmed database
3. Signal measurement
4. Signal measurement with all
relevant reception parameters
5. Pre-programmed channel list
of the SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
6. All DiSEqC protocols are
supported, including those for
motor-controlled antennas
7. Spectrum display
8. Various spectrum display
option
9. Selection menu in multitransponder view
10. Multi-transponder view
11. Constellation diagram
12. Cross-polarisation measurement
7
10
8
11
9
12
sired transponder, satellite or
even DiSEqC setting right here
and there, without needing to
go back to where we started.
What this means is that once
the antenna is roughly pointing in the right direction, users can move on to fine-tuning
the system. To that end, the
SATFINDER 5 HD Slim has a
number of tools available such
as cross-polarisation measurements, constellation diagram
and multi-transponder measurements.
What
a
cross-polarisation
measurement does is help you
receive signals from orbital
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13
18
positions that are relatively far
away from the southernmost
reception spot of the antenna.
The best possible reception
level for both the horizontal
and vertical polarisations can
be achieved by rotating the
LNB around its axis. While doing so, the SATFINDER 5 HD
Slim continually measures the
reception level of a frequency
with 13V and 18V LNB supply
14
19
voltage and indicates measured peaks for direct comparison. This way it is almost
child’s play to adjust crosspolarisation for optimum reception.
A
constellation
diagram
provides visual clues regarding the received signal: The
closer together individual image points are positioned and
the closer to the centre of the
15
20
diagram they are located, the
fewer errors the received signal has. Apart from the constellation diagram itself, the
SATFINDER 5 HD Slim also
shows the C/N, BER and MER
values, which is a great feature that supports the visual
clues with hard facts.
One thing the SATFINDER 5
HD Slim is particularly good at
is its satellite transponder con-
16
21
trol measurements, for which
it offers two different modes:
One looks at four transponders
at a time, the other one checks
out eight transponders. All reception parameters are presented both in a numeric and
a visual way, which helps tre-
17
22
60 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 05-06/2015 — www.TELE-audiovision.com
13. Automatic satellite and
transponder detection
14. Multi-transponder view of
two transponders on two different satellites
15. Both DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.1 are
supported for Auto DiSEqC
16. It only takes a few seconds
for Auto DiSEqC to correctly
identify all connected signal
leads
17. Channel list with live TV
18. Selecting the desired satellite for TV and radio reception
19. Editing the channel list
20. All satellite and transponder entries can easily be edited
and new entries can be added
at any time
21. Editing a transponder entry
22. System settings
mendously with aligning an an-
satellites simultaneously! This
noticed that some pre-stored
the individual ports, no matter
tenna using transponders with
can truly take the horror out of
transponder data were out-
which DiSEqC protocol is used.
varying signal strength. And
aligning a multi-focus antenna,
of-date so we strongly recom-
If you have to deal with large-
na alignment went just as
that’s not even the best part:
which is an awesome achieve-
mend you first check and – if
scale distribution setups and
smoothly. With the help of
This simultaneous presenta-
ment. Please note, however,
necessary – update all data
complex
multi-transponder
tion of different transponders’
that the meter takes some five
before
parameters is not restricted to
seconds until the reception
transponder measurement.
one satellite at a time, but can
parameters of all eight tran-
Another feature you may
be used with two satellites –
sponders are refreshed, so you
want to look at is Auto DiSEqC.
which is to say the SATFINDER
should make a point of moving
5 HD Slim can present up to
eight transponders from two
23
DiSEqC
configura-
Fine-tuning
the
anten-
ferent hardware components
alone account for some of the
deviation.
And we’re still not fully done
measure-
yet. The SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
tions on a regular basis, Auto
ments of two, four or eight
sports fully-fledged TV and ra-
DiSEqC will significantly re-
transponders at a time it was
dio reception functionality for
duce your workload.
child’s play to add an addi-
SD and HD channels coming
After we had looked at all
tional LNB to our Wavefrontier
in as DVB-S or DVB-S2 sig-
Using it the SATFINDER 5 HD
features and functions of the
antenna. But this feature also
nals. So if need be, the SAT-
the antenna slowly and only
Slim will detect all satellite po-
SATFINDER 5 HD Slim in the-
proved its worth when it came
FINDER 5 HD Slim can easily
one step at a time. We also
sitions whose signals are led to
ory and from the comfort of
to setting up a conventional
be used as a mobile satellite
our test center, it was time to
ASTRA 19.2° East/HOTBIRD
receiver whenever you’re out
wander outside to our antenna
13° East combination.
and about. You should bear in
performing
a
multi-
27
the
mind, however, that the built-
of offset antennas, some of
question remains whether the
in display of the meter can
them motor-controlled. Using
actual
results
present pictures from exter-
the new SATFINDER meter we
provided by the SATFINDER
nal sources, but not video and
wanted to find out how it per-
5 HD Slim are also accurate.
music.
forms in a real-world job. The
Well, we matched them to the
To sum up, the SATFINDER
first thing we noticed was that
results given out by one of our
5 HD Slim from Alpsat Elek-
the display remained perfectly
professional meters and could
tronik fully met out expecta-
readable even after rays of sun
not detect any significant de-
tion and then some. What we
had found their way through
viation. Obviously, the data
particularly loved was the tun-
the cloud cover. If truth were
are not 100% identical, but
er’s swift reaction to all signal
told, the contrast of the display
the difference always stayed
changes, as well as the multi-
is best when out of the sun,
within a tolerable margin. Dif-
transponder view.
farm. There we have a number
24
transponders we threw at it.
28
After
all
this
praise
measurement
EXPERT
OPINION
SATFINDER 5 HD Slim
Hand-held Satellite Meter
RECOMMENDED
PRODUCT BY
Thomas Haring
Test Center
Austria
+ ● Comprehensive pre-programmed transponder database
● Swift reaction of the tuner to changing reception parameters
● Multi-transponder display
● Accurate signal measurement
● Very light and handy
● Wide range of features, including and radio and TV reception for
HD and SD channels
● Preprogrammed transponder database is updated every 3
months at www.satfinder5.de
– ● Tools are required to exchange the built-in battery
but we were definitely able to
clearly read all content even
in direct sunlight. As could be
expected, antenna alignment
was an absolutely hassle-free
affair, with the spectrum display reacting very swiftly to all
signal changes. This meant we
were able to speed up antenna
25
29
movement along the Clark Belt
without risking missing a satellite position. And while we’re
at it: We did pause at regular
intervals so that the SATFINDER 5 HD Slim could take a moment to analyse the odd signal peak in the spectrum. As a
matter of fact, the meter correctly identified five of the six
26
30
62 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 05-06/2015 — www.TELE-audiovision.com
23. System settings
24. Three dedicated menu
items of the SATFINDER 5 HD
Slim provide details on internal
memory use, battery state and
voltage supply
25. Information on the internal
memory
26. Information on the battery
27. Information on the power
supply
28. DVB-S SDTV reception
29. DVB-S2 HDTV reception
30. The USB port can be used
to present pictures on the
meter’s display, to update and
save the pre-programmed
databases, and to perform an
update of the operating system
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