Emitor Satlook Micro+G2 NIT - Demo

[excollier]

Can anyone explain to me how to read the BER bars and numbers and what they mean please.
I have been using this meter for a while now but all I do is use the spectrum to search for specific transponders and then get them as high as possible, and that is generally good enough to get a well aligned dish.
I just can't seem to get a layman's explanation of the BER and MER readouts.
Also is ther a way of inputting a custom LO frequency so that it can convert the high Ka frequencies to IF. I have asked about this before but no one seems to know. For Ka it will need an update so that it can set an LO Frequncy of 18800MHz, otherwise it will be Blind to these, and useless for the new KA-Sat ready to start soon here in Ireland.
Sorry for all the questions, but I don't want to buy another meter.

 

[satelliteman]

Can anyone explain to me how to read the BER bars and numbers and what they mean please.
I have been using this meter for a while now but all I do is use the spectrum to search for specific transponders and then get them as high as possible, and that is generally good enough to get a well aligned dish.
I just can't seem to get a layman's explanation of the BER and MER readouts.

MER, Modulation error ratio is the relation between the average signal power and the average power of noise present in the constellation.
MER for QPSK MPEG2 minimum 9dB for 2/3 FEC, minimum 13dB for 5/6 FEC.



BER, Bit error rate. Measured on most meters pre and post – Viterbi, also labeled as CBER and VBER or bBER and aBER. A reading of 2e-4 is the absolute minimum post – Viterbi measurement you should be achieving. Any worse will exceed the ability of the Reed Solomon error correction.

The Satlook G2 only shows one BER measurement, which is pre– Viterbi / bBER.

 

[excollier]

Thanks, but I can't understand what 2e-4 means. Is that better than 1e-3 or 8e-5 or 3e-2. It might as well be Martian, I don't know what the the numbers mean.
Can you explain in terms of value please.
What is a low value, what is high? Good or bad.
Should the thermometer bar show anything, or should the bar be above half full to be a good reading?

 

[vma]

2e-4 means 2x10^(-4)

Which means in case of BER (Bit Error Rate), that you have 0.0002 errors per bit (which does not make much sense). You need to divide this value 1/0.0002 and then you get 1 error every 5000 bits.

Of course you would like to get less errors, so a SMALLER BER would be nice: 8e-5 would give you on error in every 12500 bits.

Because digital receivers have error correction algorithms incorporated, you can live with 1e-4. In order to have bad weather reserves, you should aim at 1e-5 or 1e-6.

These numbers are indicated in SCIENTIFIC NOTATION, with the "e" meaning to the power of 10 (10^x). This is nice because the number will have more or less the same digits on the screen, while they would vary from few to many digits in normal notation.

MER, on the other hand measures modulation error ratio: here you want to achieve a number as big as possible. It will tell you the difference between the signal and the noise. The bigger the difference, the easier it is to tell the signal from the noise.

Cheers,
vma

 

[satelliteman]

Don't forget the Micro gives you pre BER so Xe-4 should give you a post BER of Xe-6 or better.

 

[excollier]

Thank you both, the mud is slowly clearing.

 

[localchap]

How fast a spectrum refresh time for Micro series???Just emailed Horizon they replied for HD-S2 series its about 2sec which I find a bit slow.

 

[satelliteman]

The sweep on the Micro isn't fast but workable.

 

[localchap]

more or less than 2sec???

 

[satelliteman]

It's about 2 secs I would say. If your wanting real time or as close to, then look at another meter... but be prepared to pay a premium for it ;)

 

[chelsea_baz]

is it possible to put in a manual frequency to tweek weaker transponders?

 

[satelliteman]

You can save a frequency to memory and recall it at any time.

 

[excollier]

What's new in the new firmware update 125 I wonder?

 

[satelliteman]

Where's that version available excollier ?

 

[excollier]

On the Emitor website.
_http://www.emitor.se/extra/pod/?id=104&module_instance=1&action=pod_show&navid=104

Thought they were out of business, my meter is on v.124 at the moment

 

[satelliteman]

Mine is an earlier version than that. Thanks for the link.

 

[excollier]

No problem. I check the website every few weeks. Can't see what's different about this update though.

Sent from my HTC Tattoo using Tapatalk

 

[satelliteman]

Well, hopefully any bug fixes; mine periodically locked up.

 

[excollier]

Have to say mine is giving faultless performance, excellent meter, but no DVB-S2.
Still I guess that doesn't matter too much, I used it to align for Ka Sat using a Ka lnb recently, and that's DVB-S2, just can't measure ber and mer etc. with it, just a spectrum trace.
Can anyone confirm the status of Emitor? Whether they are still manufacturing, or just providing support?
Lacuna followed a similar path , and now there are no TP updates available for that one.

 

[satelliteman]

Not too worried as I have my H45 for S2 ;)

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