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What Satellite issues do you see most often?

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:15 pm
by StevePoulsen
I am working to help write a troubleshooting giude for the Church Satellite Systems to be posted in the Wiki for the use of STS's, FM groups and anyone else who interfaces, and uses the satellite equipment. And so the question what issues to you most commonly run into?

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:08 pm
by lajackson
StevePoulsen wrote:I am working to help right a troubleshooting giude for the Church Satelite Systems to be posted inthe Wiki for the use of STS's, FM groups and anyone else who interfaces, adn uses the satelite equipment. And so the question what issuss to you most commonly run into?

Forgot to reboot before calling the satellite help desk.
Sound but no picture.
Someone removed the troubleshooting instructions from the cabinet.
Internet access is not available at the satellite cabinet.

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:22 pm
by russellhltn
Telephone not available at the satellite cabinet.
Sun outages.
Time shifting the programs.

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 4:34 pm
by shanebankhead
A reboot solves most of our problems. Aside from that, the only thing I've seen are the usual temporary signal losses, and an occasional satellite receiver misconfiguration that Salt Lake has to fix on their end.

However, if you're writing a guide, there are a lot of things that an operator can do to be better prepared beforehand, such as:

Know how to reboot, and make sure you can get into the cabinet quickly during a broadcast if needed.

Make sure you have quick way to look at the output of the receiver so you can verify if the problem is the receiver, or a problem with the building distribution system. I think most racks have a direct composite out available from the satellite. But I know that a lot of operators don't really understand that this is different than watching the modulated signal on a TV. In our building, I have a monitor wired directly to the monitor out on the receiver before it goes to any other equipment.

Make sure you have the SLC support number, and your receiver S/N & property number easily available. This info seems to have disappeared from some of the buildings I've worked on, and caused a little stress when it's needed.

Finally, since most signal loss problems are beyond our control (airplanes, solar flares, or whatever it is that knocks our signal), there's no reason to panic. If experiencing a signal loss, I usually wait a minute or so, and it will usually come back on its own, or sometimes with a reboot. There's really not much that an operator can realistically do on the receiving end, but it saves the operator a lot of stress if they know that...

Good luck with the guide.

Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:09 am
by pete_arnett-p40
Steve - thanks to you and others in your group for their hard work

Need a method to change meetinghouse audio (language)
Satellite interface to the meetinghouse audio equipment
Support not having a diagram, chart or image of a unit's installed equipment (vendor and model)

Training and Documentation:
Training for how a local unit can verify their environment
Provide a check list or diagram template (e.g.,Wiki document) that could be modified for training and documentation of each location
Stake Technology Specialist could be provided access to the web site that has a location information that the local FM group could help keep current (like the FHC Center Profile Database that provides center information and desktop inventories and a section for status)

Other issues:
Access to the cabinet, it appears someone changes cables and never returns them correctly
Telephone not working at the satellite cabinet
No troubleshooting instructions at the cabinet
No Internet access near the satellite cabinet

back of satellite box

Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:24 am
by allenjblodgett
This past conference, one of the receivers for our Hmong broadcast did not output the audio. Fortunately we had someone with a laptop that was able to stream the audio from LDS.org.

My dad (who is called as the AV person in my building) tried to open the back of the box to see if someone accidentally plugged the cords in wrong. But we we were unable to open the back up. Its fixed now, but how to do we do it in the future if its needed?

Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:57 am
by techgy
allen.blodgett wrote:This past conference, one of the receivers for our Hmong broadcast did not output the audio. Fortunately we had someone with a laptop that was able to stream the audio from LDS.org.

My dad (who is called as the AV person in my building) tried to open the back of the box to see if someone accidentally plugged the cords in wrong. But we we were unable to open the back up. Its fixed now, but how to do we do it in the future if its needed?
Generally speaking the FM (Facilities Maintenance) group controls access to the these cabinets for the very same reason that you've mentioned - people changing cables and adjusting controls. You might wish to check with your Stake AV person or Stake Technology Specialist to see if they have access.

If not, my best suggestion would be to arrive at the building a few days prior to a broadcast and test everything out. This is good advice to anyone. Problems can them be rectified by the responsible party in time.

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:12 pm
by jdlessley
The stake technology specialist (STS) is the primary contact for technology services and electronic devices in all Church meetinghouses in the stake, including satellite systems (see Stake Technology Specialist Roles and Responsibilities and the Church Handbook of Instructions: Book 1 [2006], 141-42, 150-51). In this regard it is his responsibility to test the satellite system before each broadcast that is going to be viewed, unless another individual has been called specifically for that task. Even then, it is the STS who is the primary point of contact for the stake when dealing with organizations outside the stake. Unless local arrangements have been made, the STS must communicate issues to the FM group through the high council representative for physical facilities.

As techgy stated the satellite cabinet generally is not accessed for maintenance (accessing the connections at the rear of the equipment or adjusting settings) by anyone other than the FM technicians. Again, local arrangements with the FM group may permit others access, but for limited purposes.

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:12 pm
by StevePoulsen
jdlessley wrote:The stake technology specialist (STS) is the primary contact for technology services and electronic devices in all Church meetinghouses in the stake, including satellite systems (see Stake Technology Specialist Roles and Responsibilities and the Church Handbook of Instructions: Book 1 [2006], 141-42, 150-51). In this regard it is his responsibility to test the satellite system before each broadcast that is going to be viewed, unless another individual has been called specifically for that task. Even then, it is the STS who is the primary point of contact for the stake when dealing with organizations outside the stake. Unless local arrangements have been made, the STS must communicate issues to the FM group through the high council representative for physical facilities.

While I agree completely, I am not sure how that relates to the question at hand. The point of the forth comming WIKI article will be to help the STS, FM group, it's mechanic, and anyone else who may (under the direction of local leadership) access the equipment; to trouble shoot those problems that they may encounter during or while setting up for local broadcast.

Most common satellite problems

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:59 am
by james_francisco
The most common problem that I have is hardware failure in either a satellite system component or the building audio system. At least one component has failed each year for the last three years.
StevePoulsen wrote:I am working to help write a troubleshooting giude for the Church Satellite Systems to be posted in the Wiki for the use of STS's, FM groups and anyone else who interfaces, and uses the satellite equipment. And so the question what issues to you most commonly run into?