Core skills required by all fixed VSAT installers for accurate antenna alignment and prevention of major sources of uplink interference.

Certification: Students who pass this course and the GVF Basic Hands On Skills Test will receive the GVF Basic VSAT Installer Certification. This course is also required for the GVF Advanced VSAT Installer and all other GVF certifications.

Contents:
1. Learning system orientation.
2. Course introduction, including review of GVF Certification requirements.
3. VSAT Hardware, with a review of the key components found in all satellite terminals.
4. Cables and connectors, including animated instruction on cable preparation and crimp and compression connector attachment.
5. Selecting a site, including 3-D interactive animations of latitude, longitude, and satellite orbits.
6. Polarization theory, with 3-D animation of polarization angles and interactive exercises in pre-setting feed rotation.
7. Finding the satellite, with tutorials and practice on a full 3-D interactive VSAT antenna simulator with working signal meter. 8. Accurate peaking, including tutorial and 3-D simulator practice of the beam balance method for preventing adjacent satellite interference. 9. Cross-pol alignment, with tutorials covering three different methods and real-time simulated NOC co- and cross-pol transponder spectrums. 10. Decommissioning and equipment faults, including the key steps for preventing accidental interference from a deactivated terminal.

Audience: All installers, field technicians, and engineers who may be responsibile for activating any type of VSAT terminal.

Prerequisites:High school level mathematics and science.

Duration: Approx 200 pages, requiring 5-15 hours study.

Delivery: Animated & interactive HTML/Flash, self-paced, on-line format. Requires Internet access while studying the course material. High speed access is preferred but is NOT required. Student's computer must be capabable of running the Adobe Flash player, version 10.

Learning Objectives: a) Understand why improper VSAT installation can cause interference in the satellite. b) Assemble a basic VSAT c) Correctly attach a compression F connector on an RG-6 cable d) Understand latitude, longitude, satellite position, azimuth, elevation, pol angle. e) Aim the antenna towards the approximate satellite position based on local lat, long, and satellite long. f) Preset feed pol angle g) Find the correct satellite using a typical meter h) Point a small antenna accurately enough to minimize adjacent satellite interference i) Adjust feed pol angle for best cross pol using uplink test, receive null balance, and inclinometer methods. j) Correctly decommission a VSAT to prevent it from making interference.

Tests: 10 quizzes, 1 final Exam, 3 simulator-based skills assessments.