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HISTORY
TELE-satellite Archives
Edited by
Alexander Wiese
Vortec VS-9700
Combining digital and analogue technology into
one box still seems to be very difficult for most
manufacturers. That is why we still haven’t seen
many of these receivers around. And from the
ones available, the analogue part mostly seems to
be a part that the manufacturer thought of at the
very last moment. Most of the time, the analogue
specifications we would like to see are not there.
Now, a Samsung company called Vortec has
developed the VS-9700 with two things in mind:
analogue and digital. The complete concept of
the receiver is based on that. Other requirements
Vortec defined were universal appliance and high
specifications. And so it has. The VS-9700 can
be plugged into the wall socket almost anywhere
in the world. And besides that, is has absolutely
no problem with SCPC or any MCPC bouquet.
X-SAT CDTV 350
It was in the late summer of 1996, when we
tested the XCOM 200 digital receiver, made in
France. It was the first digital receiver capable
of processing SCPC signals--with a little trick
that is, but still. A lot of things have happened in
110 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2009 — www.TELE-satellite.com
10
Years
Ago
Travel into the Past
TELE-satellite Magazine
Issue 12/1998
the meantime and a lot of other manufacturers
have come with SCPC capable digital set-top
boxes, operating at faster processing speeds.
But as always, the one who brings new technologies
and new features first doesn’t fall asleep. And
while other brands were focusing on SCPC and
other goodies, XSAT was developing its combined
analogue/digital receiver, which was introduced
in March 1998. This XSAT CDTV350 was not
right away tested by TSI, since we just wanted
to wait for the first problems to be resolved.
SRDA 5101
After having introduced several analogue boxes in
the last few months, it was now time for Amstrad to
jump on the digital bandwagon—after thoroughly
having examined what is going on in the market
and making sure to come up with a competitive
product. So, this autumn will see the birth of
the latest Amstrad digital box: the SRDA 5101, a
combined receiver for both analogue and digital
reception according to the DVB standard.
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AUSL 40 & AUSS 40
In most cases, the universal LNB you’ve bought will
fit onto the arm of your dish without any problem.
But in some cases the L-shape won’t fit because
of the fact that the arm is shaped somewhat differently
and you simply cannot mount it. Other
smaller dishes also require smaller LNBs. Multi-feed
installations do not leave much space for large
LNBs. New are a smaller LNB and a straight LNB
instead of the L-shape. First, there’s the AUSL40,
a normal 65mm wide LNB. But there’s also the
AUSS40 which is smaller (50mm) and shaped
straight. On the inside however, both LNBs are
exactly the same. The diameter of the feedhorn is
40mm which shows in the part number AUSL40.
Both are wideband LNBs, covering the complete
frequency range from 10.700 to 12.750. The switching
point between low and high is 11.700. LOFs
are the usual 9.75/10.6 making them both very
universal. For switching between low and high band,
a 22kHz signal is needed. Most of today’s satellite
receivers supply this signal. The necessary power
for changing the polarisation may be a little more
inaccurate on receivers. Some offer 12.7V where
others put 13.8V on the wire. Fortunately, these
LNBs can handle this all. They will do their job on
vertical polarisation with anything between 12 and
14 Volts. Horizontally, this should be somewhere
between 15 and 20 Volts. In fact, this should work
with almost any satellite receiver available.
Most analogue receivers do not expect very stable
signals from your LNB. They offer a very good
Automatic Frequency Control (AFC) which keeps
track of the signal even when it is going up and
down like the Dow Jones. For digital reception
however, the situation is a little different. Digital
set-top boxes expect a much more stable signal.
Since digital signals are much more vulnerable to
instabilities than analogue signals, a receiver cannot
cope with, say, a 5MHz shift in frequency. Where
an analogue box would keep track of the signal
perfectly, your digital receiver would lose the signal
completely. Cubist art accompanied by annoying
noises in the sound appear on your screen whenever
the frequency shift exceeds the AFC range.