Programming
and Maintenance Help for ARNG
Warrior Satellite
Site Coordinators
POST
A NOTICE:
First,
we recommend that you post a notice on or near the equipment roll-about cart
that this satellite dish and monitor CANNOT receive ANY OTHER PROGRAMMING other
than CNN or other programs it receives an authorization for.
Personnel attempting to find other sports or “other” non-authorized
satellite programming by running up and down the TV monitor’s channels or
changing the VCR programming settings will only disrupt its preprogrammed
settings/channels and make life much harder when you do need to see a scheduled
program.
LEAVE
THE POWER ON: Next,
we recommend that you leave your equipment powered up during normal duty hours.
If your equipment is operating normally you should see CNN on the home
channel all the time unless you are receiving an authorized program.
You may leave your TV monitor off until just before the test pattern
commences for a scheduled program. However,
if the Scientific Atlanta IRDs/UAs are not powered up when the electronic
program illumination authorization is sent, they will miss the authentication
and you will have to call for assistance. In
most cases, the authorization codes are sent just before the test pattern for
any scheduled program, but in some cases they are sent several hours ahead
before the test pattern.
PERFORM
DAILY EQUIPMENT CHECK: If you are scheduled to receive a broadcast on any given day,
we recommend that you do an equipment check as soon as you arrive for duty.
Again, if things are operating normally, you should see CNN on your
television monitor. If you received
a program the day before and you were taping it and you arrive at work to find a
black screen on your television monitor, the first thing to check is to see if
the VCR IS
TURNED ON.
If the VCR recording runs out of tape, it will shut itself off.
Remember, the satellite signal runs to the surge protector, then to the
power divider/splitter, to each IRD/UA, through the VCR, and on to the television monitor. The VCR must be turned on for the television to receive CNN
or its otherwise scheduled program.
PROGRAM
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Except in cases of “global illumination” network wide
systems tests or for very important programming or NGB-wide command and control
broadcasts, your site must REGISTER to receive each program.
You can register your site on-line by going to this website: http://www.dlnets.com/telereg.htm.
Before
completing the form the first time, be sure you know your Site ID Number… like
AN.001 (Arlington Hall, VA). If you
are unsure about your site ID, you can identify it from this on-line list seen
here: http://www.dlnets.com/arngwn.htm.
You
will also need to know the IRD or UA number(s) you want illuminated for the
requested program.
The
standard, “Package A” ARNG Warrior equipment set comes with two Scientific
Atlanta IRDs/UAs (Intergrated
Receiver Decoders…ie a cable box.) In
the standard configuration, your “A” IRD unit, on the left on the lower
shelf of the roll about cart when viewed frontally,
is an SA Model 9234, the upgraded and more advanced model of IRD.
This unit is capable of closed captioned reception as well as data
reception (for a future use). The
IRD unit on the right, your “B” IRD, is
an SA Model 9235, an older model IRD, but well suited for general purpose
program delivery. In the standard
configuration your equipment set is “slaved” to the “A” IRD unit.
Your
site received two IRDs for several reasons:
A. -For redundancy.
Although the mean-time-between-failure rates for SA IRDs is very high,
failure does sometimes occur. Having
two IRDs means that you won’t miss that important program while awaiting
your replacement.
B.
-So you can receive two programs simultaneously.
At some point, it was anticipated that demands on the ARNG Warrior
Network might require receiving two programs at once or programs with
overlapping times. Your dish can
accomplish this by sending each program to a different IRD.
C.
-Some sites expressed a desire to run CNN on their intranets or cable TV
stations base wide. Having two
IRDs allows one IRD for this purpose and the other for a target program.
Please do not attempt to reconfigure
this system for this purpose without consulting your A/V and/or Information
Management Office.
You
can locate your IRD/UA number by looking on the back on each IRD box.
It should be a standard code consisting of 8 numbers like this: 2544489-9.
Please
note that you will need your Site ID (AN.014) and IRD/UA numbers (as above)
whenever you register for a program AND whenever you call for assistance.
It might be a good idea to post them on your roll-about cart for
reference in case you are not around when some other operator needs help.
You
can always see what programming is currently available to be received by your
equipment set by visiting this web site:
http://www.dlnets.com/itv.htm#current.
Please
remember to “refresh” your browser at each visit for the most up to date
programming as the schedule is often updated weekly.
If you keep your email up to date, you and others you designate will
receive individual program announcements once your site is operational.
Normally, all the programs available on this
equipment are FREE. Please note
however, that in most cases, you must register at least 72 hours prior to the
scheduled program date in order to receive the program.
Otherwise, the vendor may assess a “late
registration fee” of up to $250. And
as the DTTP office has to pay this fee, it’s probably not going to happen
for you. Nearly all of the
program announcements are sent out with several weeks lead time, at least one
program reminder is sent and a final program confirmation is sent about 24 hours
prior to the broadcast. So there is
really no excuse not to plan ahead.
CALLING
FOR ASSISTANCE: If, on the day of a broadcast or if you have other
problems, your first call should be to the DTTP ARNG Warrior Satellite
Operations Office toll free at either: 1-877-820-0305
or 1-888-820-4898.
There
are only two of us to answer your questions and provide assistance so if you are
calling about a “failure to illuminate” during a 30 minute test pattern you
previously registered for, DO NOT WAIT UNTIL FIVE MINUTES
prior to program start to call as you will likely get voicemail.
DO NOT LEAVE VOICEMAIL at this point. Simply hang up and
redial until you break through. Have
your Site ID and IRD/UA numbers at the ready.
We
are usually able to resolve “illumination issues” with a simple conference
call to the vendor’s operations center while you wait on the phone.
(If at all possible, call us from a location where you can see
your television monitor screen using either a portable phone or a phone in your
classroom.).
If
we are unable to assist you with a technical issue we will refer you to the
Convergent Help Desk. The toll-free
help desk number for ARNG Warrior Satellite sites is: 1-866-238-8899
Have your Site ID and IRD/UA numbers ready when you call…
The
Convergent Help Desk is designed to help you with technical problems NOT
illumination problems. As our
office prepared the conditional access list, they are likely going to refer you
back to us anyhow for authorization. They
CAN help you when you see a black or blue screen instead of CNN or have other
technical issues. If they cannot
help you over the phone, they will open a trouble ticket and arrange for a
technician to visit your site.
Checking
your equipment early on those days when you have a scheduled program, well prior
to the test pattern start time, will gain some valuable time in solving your
problem and prevent you from falling into “The Voicemail Graveyard” with the
other last minute callers.
Following
are links for other documentation, which should help you understand your system
better. It might be helpful to
print these documents and place them in a folder near or on your equipment
roll-about cart.
Ed Kronholm
ARNG DTTP Warrior Satellite Programs Coordination Office
Training
Checklist For Site Coordinators/Replacement Coordinators
Project
Overview & Equipment List
Indoor
Completion Guidelines
Technical
Specifications
Video
Connectivity Diagram Example[You
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