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— 1 -12/2014 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志
Spaun, Germany - Accessories TELE-satellite-0811/spaun.pdf
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66 TELE-satellite&Broadband — 10-1/2008 —
Everymultiswitch is tested onmultiple functions.
Themultiswitch is inserted into this test station and
bymovingasingle leverallof the“F”connectorsare
insertedand the testprocess canbestarted.
After the completion of the testing process, the
PC prints a serial number which is then attached
to the device. The test results are archived so that
Spaun can recall the test results for any individual
multiswitch.
Finished:
Friedrich Spaun with a
completed multiswitch:
“We have been adding
serial numbers to our
products since 2005”, he
explains about their qual-
ityassurance.
Using the serial number
for Internet inquiries is
thought about. In thisway
it would be very easy to
identify plagiarized prod-
ucts.
Even if aSpaunmultiswitch passes all of its elec-
tronic testsperfectly, it still isn’t clear if it is techni-
cally sound.
This part is checked here: every multiswitch is
placedwith itspowersupply in thishighvoltage test
chamber. In thisway Spaun can guarantee that the
completedmultiswitch is 100%perfect.
They are so sure that they provide a 5-year guar-
antee. “In reality”, explains Friedrich Spaun, “we
repairproducts that areolder thanfiveyears.”
It’s very simple, there are so few of them that the
warranty period could be extended, “but for legal
reasonswe keep it at fiveyears”,explainsFriedrich
Spaun.
Founder
Friedrich
Spaun
■
68 TELE-satellite— GlobalDigital TVMagazine — 10-1/2010 —
Every multi-switch and every amplifier com
with one, and of course every receiver has one,
too: a power supply unit which is required to
connect the device to the mains. It has become
such an everyday component of virtually any
electronic device that we have stopped thinking
about how it actuallyworks.SPAUN, on the other
hand, has given it a great deal of thought and
has arrived at a remarkable conclusion. Kevin
Spaun is the managing director of SPAUN, one
of the most renowned quality manufactures of
multi-switches and other accessories for satellite
signal distribution. He tells us what it‘s all about.
KevinSpaun,managing
directorofSPAUNPOWERGmbH
MD
Kevin
Spaun
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60 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 10-1 /2008 —
explained how Spaun ended up with
their company colors: “Those are the colors
of the building walls, blue and silver, and we
decided to incorporate these colors into our
corporate identity.”
Spaun has only existed as a stand-alone
brand name since 1991. That was after the
fall of the Berlin Wall. Up to that point Spaun
ered their products to West Ger-
re was no real thought of export-
ing products. The new market in eastern
Germany brought with it so many new
opportunities that Friedrich Spaun finally
decided: “We are now going to distribute
products under our own brand name!”
In 1993 his first successful product was
a multiswitch for two satellites and one
terrestrial TV input followed soon after by
four and eight satellite input models. These
products were quickly exported to neighbor-
ing countries. Today 50 % of their products
are exported of which 30 % are shipped to
EU countries with 20 % ending up outside of
Europe. Total sales for Spaun range between
12 and 15 million Euros each year.
This is where Kevin Spaun comes into
the picture. He took over company opera-
tions from his father Friedrich Spaun in early
2008. “But we run the company as a team”,
confirmed both of them at the same time.
Kevin Spaun wants to expand the export
business: “At the moment we are in the
process of locking in the North American
market; we are looking for local distributors
and also want to open our own distribution
office in the USA”, reveals Kevin Spaun, “we
also want a stronger presence in the Middle
East.“
Spaun offers nearly 200 different prod-
ucts of which the best-selling products are,
and always have been, multiswitches avail-
Acustomerhasaproblem.SteffenKuck isTechnicalSupport
Manageran
and from 1P
with its worl
An important communica-
tions medium is of course the
Internet. Web designer Patrick
Keil is seen here looking over
tors every month”, explains
Patrick Keil. On the monitor
he shows us the current web-
site visitors. Thanks to Geo-
mapping, he knows exactly
where these visitors come
from and can communicate
with each one of them with a
pop up window. The surprise:
this program was developed
together by Kevin Spaun and
Patrick Keil and the best part
– it is freeware and can be
used by anyone who wants to
get more detailed information
on who is visiting their web
site, how long they have been
there, what they are looking at
andwhere theycome from,and
all of this live! Here is the link:
Spaun general Manager Kevin Spaun also likes to get his hands
dirty sometimes by testing multiswitches.
The antenna signals from the roof land here and can be connected
to the multiswitches in any arrangement. Customer problems can
also be replicated and then checked out here.
Technical
Manager
Steffen
Kuck
COMPANYREPORT
■
58 TELE-satellite&Broadband—10-1/2008—
Moving into thenewdecade
withmanynewproducts
AlexanderWiese
HighQualityAccessoryManufacturer
Spaun at 40 years
Almost every TELE-satellite readerwill asso- ciate thenameSpaunwithhigh-quality satellite
distribution components. “Qualitymade inGer-many” is theirmotto; Spaun’smission in life is
tomake sure that the quality of their productsis always kept at the highest level.
Butmoreon that later.Let’s takeacloser look
atSpaun itself: they are a company that canbefound in extreme southwestern Germany. The
founder of the company, that today has nearly100employees, isFriedrichSpaun.Heexplained
to us how it all started: “It all began forme onmy kitchen table in 1969.” Back then FM radio
in Germany was just starting to transmit in
stereo. It quickly became clear that many ofthe radios inusewerenot getting enough of an
antenna signal - an amplifierwasneededthatwould raise the signal-to-noise ratio. “I con-
structedanamplifierboardthatwasinsalledinthe indoor antennas supplied by a largemanu-
facturer”, remembers Friedrich Spaun. It wasthe start of his one-man company.
In 1972 his little companywas so successful
that hewas able to hire his firstemployees.“In1974 real production ofmulti-range amplifiers
and passive distributors was started”, Fried-rich Spaun recalls. Of course back then these
were components for terrestrial television andSpaunwas only anOEMmanufacturer for other
Germanfirms.In1980supplylineamplifiersforcable TVwere added to themix.
Thus far production took place in a rented
house, but that all changed in 1988: “That’s
whenwe built our production facility in Singenthatwe stillwork out of today andwere also at
the same time a pioneer”, comments FriedrichSpaun as he shows us the outside wallsmade
of aluminum: “Formany yearswewere a refer-encepoint for themanufacturerof thesewalls.”
Well,actually, the title isn’tquitecorrect; thecompanySpaundoesn’tcelebrate its40thanniversaryuntil2009.ButSpaun is so full of energy and isgetting ready to introduce
awide range ofnew products in their anniversary year thatwe simply couldn’twait tofindoutaboutthiscompany’slonghistory.
A look at the officebuildingofcompanySpauninSingen
in southwestern Germany. Behind the building to the rightcan be found the production facilities for Spaun’s multi-
switches.
TELE-satelliteWorld
Arabic ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ Indonesian Indonesia f
Bulgarian Български f Czech Česky German Deutsch
English English f Spanish Español Farsi ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ
French Français Greek Ελληνικά f Croatian Hrvatski
Italian
Italiano
Hungarian Magyar Mandarin 中文
Dutch
Nederlands
Polish Polski f Portuguese Português
Romanian
Românesc
Russian Русский Swedish Svenska
Turkish
Türkçe
Availableonlinestarting from26September 2008
Download this report inother languages from the Internet:
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59 — 10-1/2008 —TELE-satellite&Broadband
KevinSpaun (left),GeneralManager,and Friedrich Spaun, Founder, on theroof of their officebuilding.Bothof
themoperateSpaun as a team.
Stab, Italy - Motors TELE-satellite-0809/stab.pdf
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COMPANYREPORT
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Happy
Birthday10 Years
58 TELE-satellite&Broadband — 08-09/2008 —
MotorControl
Thebirthday
is the founderof theUSALSprogram that is
celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2008.
Founder
Giorgio
Bergamini
COMPANYREPORT
▲
Happy
Birthday10 Years
58 TELE-satellite&Broadband—08-09/2008—
MotorControl
Thebirthdayis the founderof theUSALSprogram that is
celebrating its 10th anniversary in2008.
▲
60TELE-satellite&Broadband— 08-09/2008—
SandroGnani is a STAB technicianwho checks each sample receiver tomake sure thatUSALS
has been correctly implemented. Themanufacturer can only print theUSALS logo on the receiverand itspackagingwhen the receiverhaspassed every test.
USALS
Celebrates
10Years
AlexanderWiese
Every TELE-satellite readeris famil-
iar with the term USALS. In the TechnicalData table of every receiver test report
there is a line that identifieswhetherornotthe receiver is USALS compatible. Today,
almost every receiver on themarket comeswith USALS. But USALS is not just a group
of letters; there’s actually a human behindthis term!
USALS stands for “Universal Satellite
AutomaticLocationSystem”and issoftwarethat was developed exactly ten years ago
byGiorgioBergamini.But itwould bemuchbetter to hear the story from the birthday
boy himself so off to Italy we go near Fer-rara located about equidistant from Bolo-
gna and Venice. STAB’s headquarters andproduction facility can be found there and
GiorgioBergamini is the founder and ownerof STAB, a company that has been in exis-
tence since 1970.
STAB started early on building antennamotors. In the beginning it was rotors for
VHF/UHF TV antennas and when satellitereception became popular in the 1990’s,
they expanded to offering an assortmentof satellite antennamotors. “It was 1995”,
remembers Giorgio Bergamini,when a fewof the early satellite receiver manufactur-
ers got togetherwith EUTELSAT and devel-oped the DiSEqC protocol. In 1997 it was
officiallyintroducedandincludedDiSEqC1.0 for individual LNBs, DiSEqC 1.1 for two
LNBs and,DiSEqC 1.2 for antennamotors.
But it was quickly discovered that the1.2 protocol could only be used on a lim-
ited basis: it required the storing of satel-lite positions in themotor and this turned
out tobeuselesswhen themotorwasusedanywhere in the southern hemisphere.
The dishes there are pointed to the northand not to the south.As a result, the order
of satelliteswas no longer correct – itwasnow backwards compared to the northern
hemisphere.
“In 1998 I had an idea: the positionsshould no longer be stored in the motor
but instead in the receiver”, remembersGiorgio. This was the birth of USALS. He
wrote a small, but effective software pro-gram that with the help of
only the local geographical position on theEarth and a reference satellitewas able to
calculate all the other satellite positionsdirectly in the receiver, and itdidn’tmatter
if you were in the northern or southernhemisphere.
Finally, in January 2000, EUTELSAT offi-
cially recognized USALS and introducedit as DiSEqC 1.3. It is identical to DiSEqC
1.2 but includes an additional line of code:“DriveMotor to Angular Position”.
Subur Semesta, Indonesia - Dishes TELE-satellite-0805/subursemesta.pdf
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te&Broadband — 04-05/2008 —
Ten Fook was not
nder; his partner
n and still is now
g An. “We origi-
as a telephone
ctory. Later on we
gency lights, that
h built in batter-
used everywhere
ere is a power
embers Liong Ten
Semesta entered
arena in 1989
began to offer
llite receivers. In
st digital receiver
d in 2002 it all
serious when the
f satellite dishes
he meantime the
panded its man-
a Tek Ijoe climbed
partner. Today PT
ta is run by these
rs.
mount of money
in 2004 explains
: “We acquired a
s so that we could
thedishsegments
Heavy investment
ny occurred again
er: “We bought a
nting system to
he segments.”
still not enough.
e revealed to us
yet another large
“We invested
600,000 for the
f mesh antennas.
produce 20,000
month.”
InwesternJakarta,not too far
from the international airport,
canbe foundPTSuburSemesta,
brandnameVenus.
Theof cesareatthefrontof
thebuildingwith thewindows,and
towards thebackare the factory
buildings thathouse themachines
tomanufacture thedish antennas.
The companyemploys a totalof200
peopleofwhich 60are involvedwith
themanufactureofdishes.They
work from 8AM to 5PMMonday thru
FridayandonSaturdays to 2PM.
PTSuburSemesta’s three
the left,
LiongTenFook,Finance
Director,TjiaTek Ijoe,Managing
Director, andThiangTiongAn,
TechnicalDirector
Those are large numbers; we
wanted to know how many solid
antennas are being manufac-
tured today: “At the moment,
our production capacity is at
about 15,000 antennas per
month of which the majority are
sold domestically”, explained
Thiang Tiong An, “Our company
supplies approximately 15% of
the Indonesian market.”
Of their total production,
80% is delivered domestically,
the rest is exported. According
to Thiang Tiong An, “40% of our
dish production goes to Thai-
land and Vietnam, the remain-
der goes to Brunei with a small
percentage going to Australia.”
“Naturally we want to expand
our exports”, explains Tjia Tek
Ijoe, “We are investing heavily
in quality.” PT Subur Semesta
MD
Tjia
Tek Ijoe
▲
▲
56 TELE-satellite&Broadband — 04-05/2008 —
But Liong Ten Fook was not
the only founder; his partner
was back then and still is now
Thiang Tiong An. “We origi-
nally started as a telephone
accessory factory. Later on we
added emergency lights, that
is, lights with built in batter-
ies that are used everywhere
whenever there is a power
outage”, remembers Liong Ten
Fook.
PT Subur Semesta entered
the satellite arena in 1989
when they began to offer
analog satellite receivers. In
2000 the first digital receiver
appeared and in 2002 it all
turned really serious when the
production of satellite dishes
began. In the meantime the
company expanded its man-
agement: Tjia Tek Ijoe climbed
aboard as a partner. Today PT
Subur Semesta is run by these
three partners.
A large amount of money
was invested in 2004 explains
Tjia Tek Ijoe: “We acquired a
machine press so that we could
manufacture thedishsegments
ourselves.” H t
in the company occurred again
one year later: “We bought a
powder painting system to
spray paint the segments.”
But it was still not enough.
Tjia Tek Ijoe revealed to us
at there’s yet another large
investment: “We invested
another USD 600,000 for the
fabrication of mesh antennas.
This lets us produce 20,000
dishes every month.”
Inwestern Jakarta,not too far
from the international airport,
canbe foundPTSuburSemesta,
brandnameVenus.
Theof cesareatthefrontof
thebuildingwith thewindows, and
towards theback are the factory
buildings thathouse themachines
tomanufacture thedishantennas.
The companyemploys a totalof 200
peopleofwhich60 are involvedwith
themanufactureofdishe .They
work from 8AM to 5PMMonday thru
Friday andonSaturdays to 2PM.
Semesta’s three
the left,
LiongTenFook,Finance
Director,TjiaTek Ijoe,Managing
Director, andThiangTiongAn,
TechnicalDirector
Those are large numbers; we
want d to k ow how many solid
antennas are being manufac-
tured today: “At the moment,
our production capacity is at
about 15,000 antennas per
month of which the majority are
sold domestically”, explained
Thiang Tiong An, “Our company
s imately 15% of
the Indonesian market.”
Of their total production,
80% is delivered domestically,
the rest is exported. According
to Thiang Tiong An, “40% of our
dish production goes to Thai-
land and Vietnam, the remain-
der goes to Brunei with small
percentage going to Australia.”
“Naturally we want to expand
our exports”, explains Tjia Tek
Ijoe, “We are investing heavily
in quality.” PT Subur Semesta
Finance
Liong
Ten Fook
▲
▲
56 TELE-satellite&Broadband — 04-05/2008 —
But Liong Ten Fook was not
the only founder; his partner
was back then and still is now
Thiang Tiong An. “We origi-
nally started as a telephone
accessory factory. Later on we
added em rgency lights, that
is, lights with built in batter-
ies that are used everywhere
whenever ere is a pow
outage”, remembers Liong Ten
Fook.
PT Subur Semesta entered
the satellite arena in 1989
when they b gan to offer
analog satellite receivers. In
2000 the first digital rec iver
appeared and in 2002 i all
turned really s rious when the
production of satellit dishes
began. In the meantime th
company expanded its man-
agement: Tji Tek Ijoe climbed
aboard as a partner. oday PT
Subur Semesta i run by these
three partne s.
A large amount of money
was invested in 2004 explains
Tjia Tek Ijoe: “W acquired a
machine press so that we could
manufacture thedishsegments
ourselves.” Heavy inv stment
in the c mpany occurred again
one year later: “We bought a
powder painting system to
spray paint the segme ts.”
But it was still not enough.
Tjia Tek Ijoe revealed to us
that there’s y t another large
t: “We invested
another USD 600,000 for the
fabrication of mesh antennas.
This lets us produce 20,000
dishes every month.”
Inwestern Jakarta,not too far
from the international airport,
canbe foundPTSuburSemesta,
brandnameVenus.
Theof cesareatthefrontof
thebuildingwith thewindows, and
towards theback are the factory
buildings thathouse themachines
tomanufacture thedish antennas.
The company employsa totalof200
peopleofwhich 60 are involvedwith
th man factureof ishes.They
work from8AM t 5PMMonday thru
Friday andonSaturdays to2PM.
PTSuburSemesta’s three
the left,
LiongTen
Director,TjiaTek Ijoe,Managing
Director, andThiangTiongAn,
TechnicalDirector
Those are large numbers; we
wanted to know how many solid
antennas ar being manufac-
tured today: “At the moment,
our production capacity i at
about 15,000 antennas per
month of which the majority are
sold domestically”, explained
Thiang Tiong An, “Our company
supplies approximately 15% of
the Indon .”
Of their total production,
80% is delivered domestically,
the rest is exported. According
to Thiang Tiong An, “40% of our
dish production goes to Thai-
land and Vietnam, the remain-
der goes to Brunei with a small
percentage going to Australia.”
“Naturally we want to expand
our exports”, exp ains Tjia Tek
Ijoe, “We are inve ting heavily
in quality.” PT Subur Semesta
Technical
Thiang
Tiong An
COMPANYREPORT
▲
▲
56 TELE-satellite&Broadband—04-05/2008—
Jakarta’s
VenusStar
DishManufacturerPTSuburSemesta, Indonesia
The company PT Subur Semestawas founded in 1978 in
Jakarta on Java, one of the 17,000 islands thatmake up Indone-sia. 60% of the 220million inhabitants can be found on Java of
which 15million live in the capital city Jakarta – it could even bea few million more. To be noticed here you need an extremely
bright star and it is for that reason that PT Subur Semesta usesthe planet Venus as their trademark. The wonderful ambiguity
with the God of Love Venus can only make you smile. One ofthe founders of the company, Liong Ten Fook, came up with the
name – an ingenious idea!
But Liong Ten Fook was not the only founder; his partner
was back then and still is nowThiang Tiong An. “We origi-
nally started as a telephoneaccessory factory. Later on we
added emergency lights, thatis, lights with built in batter-
ies that are used everywhere
whenever there is a poweroutage”, remembers Liong Ten
Fook.
PT Subur Semesta entered the satellite arena in 1989
when they began to offeranalog satellite receivers. In
2000 the firstdigitalreceiver
appeared and in 2002 it allturned really serious when the
production of satellite dishesbegan. In the meantime the
company expanded its man-agement: Tjia Tek Ijoe climbed
aboard as a partner. Today PTSubur Semesta is run by these
three partners.
A large amount of money
was invested in 2004 explainsTjia Tek Ijoe: “We acquired a
machine press so thatwe couldmanufacture thedishsegments
ourselves.” Heavy investmentin the company occurred again
one year later: “We bought a
powder painting system tospray paint the segments.”
But it was still not enough.
Tjia Tek Ijoe revealed to usthat there’s yet another large
investment: “We investedanother USD 600,000 for the
fabrication of mesh antennas.
This lets us produce 20,000dishes everymonth.”
InwesternJakarta,not too farfrom the internationalairport,
canbe foundPTSuburSemesta,brandnameVenus. Theofcesareatthefrontof
thebuildingwith thewindows,andtowards thebackare the factory
buildings thathouse themachinestomanufacture thedishantennas.
The company employsa totalof 200peopleofwhich 60are involvedwith
themanufactureofdishes.They work from8AM to5PMMonday thru
FridayandonSaturdays to2PM.
PTSuburSemesta’s threethe left,
LiongTenFook,Finance Director,TjiaTek Ijoe,Managing
Director,andThiangTiongAn,TechnicalDirector
Those are large numbers;wewanted to know howmany solid
antennas are being manufac-tured today: “At the moment,
our production capacity is at
about 15,000 antennas permonthofwhich themajorityare
sold domestically”, explainedThiang Tiong An, “Our company
supplies approximately 15% ofthe Indonesianmarket.”
Of their total production,
80% is delivered domestically,
the rest is exported. Accordingto Thiang TiongAn, “40% of our
dish production goes to Thai-land and Vietnam, the remain-
der goes to Brunei with a smallpercentage going to Australia.”
“Naturallywewant to expand
our exports”, explains Tjia Tek
Ijoe, “We are investing heavilyin quality.” PT Subur Semesta
▲
▲
▲
▲
TELE-satelliteWorld
Arabic ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ
Indonesian
Indonesia
Bulgarian Български Czech Česky German Deutsch f
English English f Spanish Español Farsi ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ
French Français Greek Ελληνικά Croatian Hrvatski
Italian Italiano Hungarian Magyar Mandarin 中文
Dutch Nederlands f Polish Polski Portuguese Português
Romanian Românesc Russian Русский Swedish Svenska
Turkish Türkçe
57 — 04-05/2008—TELE-satellite&Broadband
Adeviousdiscovery fromVenus:
this small toolmakes itvery easy topreciselyalign adish.
Protecting the environment atPTSu Ijoe
showsus thewastewater treatmentsystem the company invested
in so that theycomplywith ISOenvironmental standards.
PTSuburSemestaorganizesseminars for installers eight times
a year.Distributorssend theirtechnicalpeople to learnhow to
quicklyand efcientlysetupapackaged1.8-meter antennawith
dual-feedLNB.Tomake theseseminarsevenmore attractive,
time limits are set andwinnersare announced.Foodanddrink is
also takencareof as canbeseenby the accommodation tent in the
background.A large loudspeaker isalsosetup there to keep the young
installershappywith loudmusic.Each seminarhandles 60 installers
where they are taught to install adish such that thedual-feed can
successfully receivePALAPAC2 at113° eastandTELKOM at 108°east.
The installers takegreat care to
remainwithin thepreset time limits.Thatwouldbe45minutes from the
box tosuccessful receptionusingadual-feedLNB and 75minutes for
the successful setupof amotorizedsystem.SinceJakarta is located so
close to theEquator, thedeclinationanglesarevery small.
we use, for example, lead-free
paints from Akzo Nobel and
even the dish is made of thequality material Galvalume, a
product of the manufacturer
Bluescope in Australia. Thematerial consists of 55% alu-
minum and 45% Zinc and istherefore especially resistant
and durable.”
Finance Manager Liong Ten
Fook is proud of PT Subur
Semesta’ssalesfigures. “Everyyear there’s an increase”, he
comments. “The year before it
was 10% lesswhile in 2008weexpect 10%more.”
50% of their sales are attrib-
uted to TVRO products such as
dishes and the installation ofsatellite receivers as well as
the sale of imported actuators
and LNBs. Then there’s alsothe sale of their “homemade”
2in1 and 4in1 products: that
would be Combi-feeds for C-band LNBs with offsets of 5°
with the 2in1 and 5° -2.5° -5°with the 4in1. Unfortunately,
PT Subur Semesta can’t really
hope for any large businesswith this product since it’s so
easy to copy it.
Tjia Tak Ijoe gave us a look
at their production: “40% of
our dishes are made of steel,40% are galvanized and 20%
aremade from Galvalume, thebest dishmaterial.”
The Venus Star from Jakarta iswell on theway to establish-
ing itself in the international
league, and could very wellcome out on top of the interna-
tional market share with their
quality dishes that happen tobe “Made in Indonesia”!
is working on getting ISO cer-tified.“Weareexpectingthe
test results in April 2008”,
reports Tjia Tek Ijoe proudly,“We applied for ISO 9001 and
14001.” This means that PTSubur Semesta also follows
the most stringent environ-mental guidelines. “In order to
have international success, we
have to have quality in everyrespect”,confirmsTjiaTekIjoe,
“For the coating of our dishes
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Dishpointer, UK - Software TELE-satellite-0803/dishpointer.pdf
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02-03/2008
TELE-satellite World
Arabic ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ
Indonesian Indonesia
Bulgarian Български
German Deutsch
English English
Spanish Español
Farsi ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ
French Français
Greek Ελληνικά
Croatian Hrvatski
Italian Italiano
Hungarian Magyar
Mandarin 中文
Dutch Nederlands
Polish Polski
Portuguese Português
Russian Русский
Swedish Svenska
Turkish Türkçe
te & Broadband — 02-03/2008 —
hpointer
Dish Alignment
DISHPOINTER
SoftwareSolution that,with thehelpof
GoogleMaps and its real images aswell
asSatcoDX and its up-to-date channel
data,provides highly accurate satellite
reception information.
Alan at home in front of his reception system. He uses the smaller dish
to receive the Sky package and the larger dish for scanning the skies. He
programmed Dishpointer; a tool that combines azimuth and elevation with
GoogleMaps forpositioningon theEarthandSatcoDXwith itsglobalsatel-
lite databank.
ives in England, has
lite DXer since the
is first antenna was
odel with a rotor.
used an Echostar
itioner to turn the
ins Alan.
nt in aereodynam-
is thesis, he’s com-
e working with PC
. “I got my first PC
16. It was a C64”,
lan about his early
gramming days. “It
een in 2004 when
s Multimaps; it’s a
geographic maps.”
p with the idea to
he display of satel-
on these maps as
with the set up of
s. But how was this
? These were fixed
ring display sizes.
have programmed
ut it would have
of time and effort.
d the idea; it would
o much work.
started a web site
llitehelp.co.uk) in
ovided helpful tips
operly set up a sat-
ea of how success-
te was, he enlisted
oogle Analytics, a
that analyzes in
he traffic of a web-
tellite also uses this
lytics also contains
raphically displays
hical location of a
itors by displaying
variously sized dots (the larger
the dot, the more visitors) on a
world map. And, wouldn’t you
know it, that is exactly the tech-
nology that Alan was looking for
with his idea to display satellite
positions.
He extracted his old idea from
the back of his mind and began
with a new sense of purpose
to find a solution – and then
promptly stumbled onto Google
Maps.
Suddenly, everything clicked:
in August 2007 he programmed
the first version of his Dish-
pointer. Click on a desired posi-
tion on the map and the azimuth
and elevation of a selected satel-
lite is displayed. “Now it was only
a question of programming in
order to integrate additional fea-
tures”, explains Alan about his
work the last several months.
The first step was: why should
a user first have to click on a
map or enter an address when
the IP number alone identifies
the position? There are profes-
sional companies that provide
exactly this data. Online stores
use this information to deter-
mine if a buyer really lives where
he says he does.
That was the first step. Now
Dishpointer “knows” exactly
where a user is and automati-
cally sets the reception location
to this point. This may not always
be very precise; it depends on
the accuracy of the virtual IP
addresses compared to the real
addresses.
Next, Alan analyzed the
popularity of satellites so that
ost critical questions that come up before the erec-
llite antenna is how to properly position the antenna so
red satellite can be received. In which direction should
ointed? To the east? To th uld be its azi-
en how far up into the sky should the dish look? This
elevation. Actually, it’s really not that hard to figure this
ut; there are plenty of calculation aides and prepared
ive you all the data you need. But if you do a little extra
did with his Dishpointer software, you’ll discover com-
esults.
Download this report in other languages from the Internet:
Owner
Alan
SATELLITESOFTWARE
▲
02-03/2008
TELE-satelliteWorld
Arabic ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ IndonesianIndonesia f BulgarianБългарски f
GermanDeutsch English English SpanishEspañol
Farsi ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ French Français Greek Ελληνικά f
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PortuguesePortuguês RussianРусский SwedishSvenska
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36 TELE-satellite&Broadband—02-03/2008—
Dis pointer
DishAlignment
DISHPOINTER SoftwareSolution that,with the help of
GoogleMapsand its real imagesaswellasSatcoDXand itsup-to-date channeldata,provideshighlyaccurate satellite
reception information.
Alan at home in front of his reception system.He uses the smaller dish
to receive the Sky package and the larger dish for scanning the skies.HeprogrammedDishpointer; a tool that combines azimuth and elevationwith
GoogleMaps forpositioningon theEarthandSatcoDXwith itsglobalsatel-litedatabank.
Alan,who lives inEngland,has
been a satellite DXer since theyear 2000.His firstantennawas
a 120 cm model with a rotor.“Back then I used an Echostar
box with positioner to turn themotor”, explainsAlan.
As a student in aereodynam-
ics,writing his thesis, he’s com-pletely at homeworkingwith PC
programming. “I gotmy firstPCwhen I was 16. It was a C64”,
remembers Alan about his earlysoftware programming days. “Itmust have been in 2004 when
I came across Multimaps; it’s acollection of geographicmaps.”
He came up with the idea to
incorporate the display of satel-lite positions on these maps as
away to helpwith the set up ofsatellitedishes.Buthowwas this
going towork? Thesewere fixedmaps in differing display sizes.
Alan could have programmedsomething but it would have
required a lot of time and effort.Sohedropped the idea; itwould
have been toomuchwork.
In 2005 he started aweb sitein
which he provided helpful tipson how to properly set up a sat-
ellite dish.
Togetan ideaofhow success- ful his website was, he enlistedthe aid of Google Analytics, a
free service that analyzes ingreat detail the trafficofaweb-
site.TELE-satellitealsouses thisservice.
GoogleAnalyticsalso contains
a tool that graphically displaysthe geographical location of a
website’s visitors by displaying
variously sized dots (the larger
the dot, themore visitors) on aworld map. And, wouldn’t you
know it, that is exactly the tech-nology that Alanwas looking for
with his idea to display satellitepositions.
He extractedhis old idea from
the back of hismind and beganwith a new sense of purpose
to findasolution–andthenpromptly stumbled onto Google
Maps.Suddenly, everything clicked:
in August 2007 he programmedthe firstversionofhisDish-
pointer. Click on a desired posi-tion on themap and the azimuth
andelevationofaselectedsatel-lite isdisplayed. “Now itwasonly
a question of programming inorder to integrateadditional fea-
tures”, explains Alan about hiswork the last severalmonths.
Thefi
a user firsthavetoclickonamap or enter an address when
the IP number alone identifiesthe position? There are profes-
sional companies that provideexactly this data. Online stores
use this information to deter-mine ifabuyer really liveswhere
he says he does.
That was the firststep.NowDishpointer “knows” exactlywhere a user is and automati-
cally sets the reception locationto thispoint.Thismaynotalways
be very precise; it depends onthe accuracy of the virtual IP
addresses compared to the realaddresses.
Next, Alan analyzed the
popularity of satellites so that
Oneof themost criticalquestionsthat comeup before the erec- tion of a satellite antenna is how to properly position the antenna so
that the desired satellite can be received. Inwhich direction shouldthe dish be pointed? To the east? To thewest? Thiswould be its azi-
muth. And then how far up into the sky should the dish look? Thiswouldbe its elevation.Actually, it’s reallynot thathard tofigurethis
information out; there are plenty of calculation aides and preparedtables that give you all the data you need.But if you do a little extra
work, asAlan didwithhisDishpointer software, you’ll discover com-pletely new results.
Download this report inother languages from the Internet:
▲
37 — 02-03/2008— TELE-satellite&Broadband
DishpointerApplication
Examples
Dishpointer is used to determine ahead of time what satellites are actually receivable, how the antennaneeds tobealignedandwhat channels canbeexpectedon these satellites.SinceGoogleMaps
delivers very precise information, an actual site surveymay inmany cases not even be necessary.
This iswhat it looks like in theAl-GhurairShoppingMall parking lot.Al
Rigga Street is to the far left, aMosque is to the right around which theshoppingmallwas built.What satellites can be received from here?Were
theapartmentsabove theshoppingmallbuilt toohigh toallowadirect line-of-sightview to thesatellites?
Let’s take for example a satellite dealer in Dubai who wants toattract new customers and has the opportunity to erect satellite
dishes in the parking lot of the Al-Ghurair Shopping Center.Whatsatellites can he receive from that spot?
Scenario 1: he transports his three-meter antenna to the park-ing lot and checks to seewhat he can receive. Scenario 2: he sits
in front of his PC and goes t
Dishpointer, when started, canimmediately display those satel-
lites thatwould likely be ofmostinterest. Lastly, Alan expanded
Dishpointer so that a clickwoulddisplayany remaining receivable
satellites as well as the receiv-able channels.
“I get the satellite data from
SatcoDX”, explains Alan. In acooperative venture, Alan haslinked his Dishpointer live to
SatcoDX. “In this way the Dish-pointer data is always up to
date; changes are immediatelyincorporated.”
With Dishpointer, Alan man-
aged to link two worldwideservices that are constantly
concerned with being up to.
He thereby created somethingnew!
What does the future look like
for Dishpointer? “Customer-ori-ented solutions are my busi-
ness goals”, revealedAlan, “Oneof my customers is a program
provider: he wants to show hisusers (privateviewers)assimply
as possible how to erect a satel-lite antenna and what they can
receivewith it.” TheDishpointerversion for these customers isreduced to display only the data
from that programming pro-vider.
“Another customer operates
cruise ships and wants to knowwhat channels he can receive
in any port.” For this customerAlan developed a Dishpointer
version that displays only those
satellites and channels that arereceivable with the available
satellite system.
“Another customer is an aid organization that wants to set
up satellite systems for theiremployees.” Since their opera-
tional areas can often be inout-of-the-way places, Dish-pointer can tell them in advance
what dish sizewould be neededand what channels could be
received.
“This”, comments Alan, “might be an interesting tool for
satellite receiver manufactur-
ers to integrate in their receiv-ers.” This would not only be a
helpful tool for the end user,Dishpointer could also be used
to preprogram the transponderlist into a receiver. “Dishpointer
could preprogram the receiverautomatically with up-to-date
data and at the same time filterthis data for a specifictargetmarketarea”,explainedAlanhis
business idea. So far nomanu-facturers have signed on to this
idea.
For the individual satelliteinstaller that doesn’t need a
specificDishpointerversion,
Alan added a small additionalfeature to Dishpointer: the
installer can use it to deter-mine ahead of time if buildings
or other obstacles might inter-ferewith reception. “A potential
satellite system canbe tested inadvance and without any cost.”
Alan is quite proud of his Dish-pointer program.
Dishpointer isasoftwaresolu-tion that very simply and pre-
cisely can answer all questionsregarding the planned erection
of a satellite antenna system ata particular location.
Well done,Alan!