[ldm-users] Important: new NOAAport SBN link budget parameters

Hey everyone,

Here's what we needed to know about the new NOAAport
signal and its characteristics, for the new feed
starting next month. Note carefully, and I have a
few opinions/comments at the end.

NOXX01 KWBC 031346
WHAT - SBN/NOAAPORT EXPANSION AND HARDWARE UPGRADE
DATE - MARCH 03 2011
NOTICE - 003

--------------------------------------------
UPDATE OF NOTICE 002 TO IDENTIFY NEW NOAAPORT
SBN LINK BUDGET PARAMETERS AND CHARACTERISTICS
--------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------
PLANNING DATES
1. PLANNED IMPLEMENTATION DATE - APRIL 18
2. DUAL ILLUMINATION DATES - APR 18 TO MAY 17
3. DECOMMISSION OLD DVB-S DOWNLINK - MAY 17
--------------------------------------------

THE AWIPS PROGRAM OFFICE IS CONTINUING WITH
ITS PLANS TO EXPAND THE BANDWIDTH OF THE AWIPS
SATELLITE BROADCAST NETWORK SBN/NOAAPORT FEED
FROM 10.24 MBPS TO ABOUT 30 MBPS IN MAY 2011.

AS PART OF THIS EXPANSION, THE SBN/NOAAPORT
SIGNAL WILL BE TRANSITIONED FROM THE CURRENT
DVB-S STANDARD TO A MORE EFFICIENT DVB-S2
STANDARD.

TODAY, THE NWS AWIPS PROGRAM IS RELEASING
THE NEW NOAAPORT SBN LINK BUDGET PARAMETERS
AND CHARACTERISTICS DATA FOR ALL CUSTOMERS IN
SUPPORT OF THIS TRANSITION.

------------------------------------------
NEW NOAAPORT SBN LINK BUDGET PARAMETERS
AND CHARACTERISTICS
------------------------------------------
DATA RATE.................................30240 KBPS
MODULATION PHASES.........................8
CODING RATE...............................2/3
SATELLITE.................................SES-1
TRANSPONDER INPUT BACKOFF.................7.0 DB
TRANSPONDER OUTPUT BACKOFF................4.0 DB
ATTENUATOR SETTING........................14 DB
CARRIER TO INTERFERENCE RATIO.............16.0 DB
TRANSPONDER USABLE BANDWIDTH..............36 MHZ
FADED SYSTEM MARGIN.......................1.0 DB
UPLINK SITE-MASTER GROUND STATION.........HAUPPAUGE, NY
TRANSPONDER CENTER FREQUENCY..............6225 MHZ
TRANSMIT EIRP.............................68.8 DBW
FREE SPACE PATH LOSS......................199.9 DB
UPLINK RAIN MARGIN........................1.0 DB
SATURATED SATELLITE FLUX DENSITY..........-98.2 DBW/M2
EFFECTIVE SATELLITE FLUX DENSITY..........-84.2 DBW/M2
UPLINK FREQUENCY..........................6233 MHZ
DOWNLINK FREQUENCY........................4008 MHZ
DOWNLINK POLARIZATION.....................VERTICAL
NWS WFO DISH - CONUS EXCLUDING FRINGE.....TWO SIZES
..........................................3.7 METER
..........................................3.8 METER
NWS WFO DISH - CONUS FRINGE...............4.5 METER
NWS WFO DISH - AK, HI, AND PR.............7.3 METER
UPLINKS DISH - MGS - GLOBECOMM............9.3 METER
UPLINKS DISH - BMGS - FAIRMONT, WV........7.3 METER
------------------------------------------
NOTE 1 - CONUS FRINGE INCLUDES GULF COAST REGION,
PARTS OF FLORIDA AND MAINE
------------------------------------------
NOTE 2 - DATA CAN ALSO BE FOUND AT THE URL BELOW
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NOAAPORT/HTML/NOAAPORT.SHTML
------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
OK, Gilbert again. First of all, the current NOAAport feed has a power
of 59.2 dbW from SES-1; the new one has 68.8 dbW. That's a significant
power increase of 10 dbW. And I think that is where NOAAport is right now
(68.8 dbW). That is currently allowing even those with 3 meter dishes to
get a clean feed of NOAAport in northeastern Illinois.

Secondly, Jose Nieves and I have MEASURED a roughly 2-3 dB increase
(closer to 3 dB) in sensitivity for the Novra S-200 receiver over the S75
and S75+. The gain is at least 1 dB higher with the older S75 model, as a
firmware upgrade increased the receive margin of the S75+ by about 1 dB
two years ago with a firmware upgrade.

Furthermore, DVB-S2 in this modulation scheme offers forward error
correction for the first time that improves the quality by roughly 1-2 dB.

I say all of that to say this. It may be worth the time if you have a
spare 3 meter dish lying around in the central and eastern U.S. to
see if you can get the signal adequately. With that "much" power coming
from the bird, a sensitive receiver, and forward error correction...
a 3 meter dish from Colorado to Illinois to Virginia to Florida to Texas
to Colorado may be adequate enough to get NOAAport nearly all of the time
(the southern U.S. will have more rain fade, obviously, especially in
spring/summer). The Novra S-300 is a souped-up S-200 with additional
circuitry, with no changes to the receiver itself (just the decoding
portion of it is changed).

Anyway, that's interesting stuff. The next two months are going to be very interesting with the big NOAAport change/upgrade.

*******************************************************************************
Gilbert Sebenste                                                     ********
(My opinions only!)                                                  ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University                      ****
E-mail: sebenste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                  ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu                                      **
*******************************************************************************



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