1. TEST REPORT Digital TV & SAT Level Meter
Advanced Digital TV & Sat Level
Meter Prolink-4C Premium
Extremely versatile
portable instrument
Surprise is the first impression when you to pack so many functions and features into such
encounter this meter for the first time. It seems small and lightweight case. It measures only 294 x
simply unbelievable that its designers managed 106 x 274 mm and weights 5 kg.
Few years ago, much simpler analog or digital TV receiver. the meter. Information is cross Premium will be very helpful in a
instruments were significantly Of course, the meter has also referenced, so it is really easy dish align process. If your dishes
bigger, heavier and more expen- a loudspeaker to output audio to find the explanation you need are perfectly aligned but you still
sive. They could measure only when in TV mode. at the moment. The appendix have a reception problem, this
satellite TV signals and were Prolink-4C Premium can output provides TV channel frequency meter will allow you to determine
equipped with monochromatic the received transport stream in charts for different standards if it is caused by the poor LNB
displays. Prolink-4C Premium of parallel format (SPI), so if you as well as the short form satel- performance, excessive losses
Promax Electronica can measure have the appropriate MPEG-2 PC lite charts for Astra, Astra 2 and or interference introduced into
satellite, cable and terrestrial sig- card, you can save the data for Hotbird satellites. the signal distribution network
nals - both analog and digital. It further analysis. It is also pos- The basic functions are avail- (cables, switches, amplifiers,
is suitable not only for the analy- sible to input MPEG-2 transport able directly from a front panel attenuators).
sis of every possible SDTV signal stream to the meter through keyboard. After pressing the It is easy to measure the sen-
but also for DAB and FM radio. It another 25-pin connector. RS- tuning knob, you get access to the sitivity of a receiver. You can also
can process WiFi signals, NICAM 232 interface can be used to con- rest of them. The knob is used to evaluate UHF signal output in
audio, RDS as well as Teletext. trol the instrument from a PC, move the marker (when in spec- your set-top-box. If you distrib-
It has LCD color display of good transfer measurement results trum analyzer view), scroll the ute such signal throughout your
resolution that can show not only to PC or making printouts on the list of functions and accept the family house, Prolinik-4C Pre-
the measurements results and external serial port printer. selection (by pressing it). There mium can also be used to exam-
frequency spectrum but also the As you can see on the pho- are 2 keys in the keyboard that ine what is coming to TV-sets
video of a TV channel. tographs, the meter’s case is can be programmed for functions inputs in different rooms.
Older meters could only show robust as you should expect for you need most often – quite con- We started our tests with a
you the analog TV video, this a portable instrument, but at the venient feature. check how fast the meter reacts
one can additionally show video same time it is elegant. Its carry- When compared with the other during dish alignment. To tell you
of digital channels. This is true ing bag is very practical. similar instruments, user inter- the truth, we think that even in a
not only for the FTA channels but Except for the carrying bag, face is easier to remember and high resolution mode the instru-
also for the scrambled channels - you get a mains power supply and more intuitive. One small annoy- ment could be used for the pur-
if only a proper CAM module with a car lighter charger to charge ing thing is that you are returned pose.
a valid smart card is inserted in meter’s internal accumulator, as from the menu to the measure- However, there are 2 more
the Prolink’s Common Interface well as several adapters for dif- ment mode each time you accept suitable modes: Fast and
slot. ferent connector types. a single setting. For example, Antenna Alignment. They are
Except for the built-in display, User manual is written in when you want to change a band, less precise but faster. Antenna
video is available on a Scart con- Spanish, English and French. a frequency span and a reference Alignment mode does not dis-
nector. Nothing prevents con- It is well designed and very level before taking actual meas- play the numerical values and is
necting a regular TV-set to the extensive (120 pages). Included urements, you have to enter the even faster than the Fast mode.
instrument to see video in full screenshots help the reader to menu 3 times. If you cannot watch the display
resolution. In this way, you can understand a large number of But how can you use this meter when directing your dish, you
use Prolink-4C Premium as an functions and features offered by in satellite TV setups? Prolink-4C can switch on the Prolink’s audi-
ble level indicator and judge
the signal level by the pitch of
sound.
Another feature - DVB channel
identifier - is very helpful during
initial stages of dish alignment.
It displays a network provider
for a digital transponder. Thanks
to this, it is easy to identify to
what particular satellite you have
pointed your dish.
When in spectral analyzer
view, you can move the marker
line with dial knob and read the
frequency and level values at
the bottom of the screen. When
you switch Prolink to the double
marker mode, you will addition-
TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com

2. ally see the frequency difference We found that in all modes, the
and level difference expressed in results are updated quite fre-
dB. After entering the menu (by quently. For example, we could
pressing the dial knob) you can immediately see the impact of
change meter settings. Signal LNB’s tilt adjustment on the C/N
level can be expressed in dBm, ratio. When measuring the sat-
dBµV or dBmV depending on your ellite signal, Prolink-4C Premium
preferences. Meter’s frequency generates the supply voltage
span for the satellite band can (13, 15 or 18 V) and the switch-
be switched in the following ing frequency 22 KHz in accord-
sequence: Full-500-200-100-50- ance with your settings. Current
32-16-8-4 MHz. You can change consumed by your antenna setup
the scale maximum value from (LNB, switches etc.) is measured meters functionality. You can report, you can see how the
10 dBµV to 130 dBµV as well as and displayed. And that’s not all. use it for terrestrial or cable TV passband ripple or the rolloff of
scale resolution per division (10- It can generate DiSEqC com- measurements. Except for the a filter can be measured. Pro-
5-2 dB/div). mands, so you can test the com- satellite dish, almost always, you link-4C Premium is an invalu-
Meter’s own noise floor is about plete setup. have the terrestrial TV antenna. able test instrument not only
15 dBµV. This is pretty good Manufacturer specifies that the Sometimes, when you have to for the installer of various TV
parameter because the regular meter is DiSEqC 1.2 compatible. receive TV signals from various equipment, it is also very useful
satellite TV signals are normally As we checked it has no problem directions with many antennae, for an equipment distributor. If
in the 50-60 dBµV range. In other to control the DiSEqC 1.0 and the terrestrial antenna system is you have it, you can objectively
words, meter’s own noise will not even so called ”simple DiSEqC” or more complicated than the sat- compare similar products from
affect the C/N measurements. “tone burst” switches. The meter ellite one. We successfully used different manufacturers or deal
Level measurement accuracy is can detect a short-circuit. In such Prolink-4C Premium to measure with customer complaints.
1.5 dB for the satellite band (950 state, it displays appropriate mes- the performance of antenna fil- RS-232 interface can be used
– 2150 MHz) what is also a very sage until you remove the fault. ters and amplifiers. The meter either to connect the meter to a
good result. However this works when you are also did very well in analog cable PC or to a serial printer. With a
What parameters can Prolink- in TV mode or in the menu. We TV measurements. PC, you can control the instru-
4C Premium actually measure? did not see the message when the When you complement the ment and transfer the meas-
You name it, you have it. Practi- meter was in spectrum analyzer meter with a noise generator, urements. Promax Electronica
cally everything you can think of. mode. for example the NG-281 from offers optional software for this
Signal level, channel power, car- Although the spectrum ana- Promax, you will get a fantastic purpose. A serial printer may be
rier to noise ratio (C/N) in auto- lyzer is not designed for that measurement setup for testing used to print spectral views or
matic and manual mode (when purpose, the feed hunter can frequency response of filters, numerical values. The manufac-
a user determines the reference easily use Prolink-4C Premium amplifiers or other devices. On turer also offers a suitable model
noise level), bit error rate (BER) to quickly detect the presence or the figures accompanying this of such printer.
before and after MPEG-2 error absence of the feed transmissions
correction, modulation error rate on a given satellite. At first look
(MER) and a number of wrong you can tell if there is something TECHNIC
packets received in a period of live or not. After identifying the DATA
time. frequency in spectrum analyzer, Manufacturer Promax Electronica, S.A., Barcelona, Spain,
Prolink can display even such you can initiate a channel search http://www.promax.es
“exotic” things like digital video for the single transponder in your E-mail promax@promax.es
resolution or current video bit regular receiver. Nothing can be Phone +034 93 260 20 02
rate. By the way, we were sur- faster - blind scan receivers can
Fax +034 93 338 11 26
prised when we saw how many not match spectrum analyzer.
digital channels are broadcast Watching TV is not the most Model Prolink-4C Premium
from Hotbird satellites with intended meter’s application Description Advanced Digital TV & SAT Level Meter
decreased resolution. No wonder, but it is possible. We checked Frequency Band 1: 5 – 862 MHz
that you can find more than 1000 that for analog and digital chan- Band 2: 950 – 2150 MHz
channels on that satellite posi- nels. We also confirmed that a
Measurement range Terr.: + FM Band: 20 – 120 dBµV
tion. CAM module inserted in CI slot
Sat.: 30 – 120 dBµV
Some parameters like: signal makes PayTV reception possible.
level, channel power, chan- It can be very important for the Accuracy 1.5 dB
nel number or frequency can be installer that he can demonstrate Monitor 5” TFT color
measured directly in the spec- to the customer that everything Color system PAL, SECAM, NTSC
trum analyzer view. The others is working – including the scram-
TV Standard M, N, B, G, I, D, K and L
- after setting a marker on the bled channels reception.
signal of interest and switch- Satellite TV measurements Synchronization 50/60 Hz Automatic selection according to system
ing to the measurement mode. make up for, maybe, 30% of QPSK Symbol Rate 2 – 45 Msps
Accumulator Li-Ion 7.2 V, 13 Ah
Expert conclusion 2 hours of autonomy operation
4 hours charging time
+ Operating temperature 5 – 40 °C
Prolink-4C Premium is an extremely versatile meter
– like a whole laboratory. It is really portable - small
and light. It can measure satellite, cable or terrestrial
TV signals of any standard used all over the world. Its
good accuracy and low noise level allows you to take
Peter Miller
credible measurements. TELE-satellite
Test Center
- Poland
During our tests we observed that there was no short-circuit error
message when the meter was in spectrum analyzer view and we inten-
tionally shorted the input cable.
Measuring filter rolloff Measuring pass band ripple
www.TELE-satellite.com — TELE-satellite International