Hi, I am a programmer and DSP/audio engineer looking to get my foot in the door with the integrated services industry, particulary digital cable. I'm actually back after about a year and a half of music school and military, over which time I did no engineering whatsoever. I'm trying to fill this gap by learning my stuff as good as possible. 2 questions: 1. What is a more appropriate newsgroup for this kind of interest? 2. The following are typical questions for applicants to a local company, for headend engineer technician. I figure these are the topics I'm going to be focusing on as I begin. I knew about 3 answers off the top of my head. I was hoping some of you could evaluate what I wrote. Of course I want the other answers too, but I need context as well, so I'm really looking also for good sources to learn this kind of stuff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Please explain the purpose of modulators. Explain how carrier to noise is best managed at the modulator. A. Digital signals are like square waves in that they have a wide spectrum. This is undesirable for transmission lines because attenuation and delay distortion are frequency dependent effects. So baseband signalling is unsuitable except for slow speeds and short distances. A modulator turns each DC level into a sine wave that retains its shape better across the transmission. Change in DC level of the original signal is converted into a change in amplitude, frequency or phase (or a combination) in the modulated signal. Not sure about the C/N ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. How are RF signals combined in the headend? A. The cable TV signals are received by microwave or (I'm guessing more likely) satellite at the head end. Each signal is multiplied by a carrier frequency to shift it to its designated place in the channel lineup. This is FDM, frequency Division Multiplexing. Broadcast TV signals are about 5 MHz in bandwidth but the carrier frequencies are spaced closer to 6MHz apart, to give some spacing between signals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. What are digital receivers used for in a state of the art headend? How is encyption to the receiver maintained? What does a digital signal delivered to a digital set-to-box look like (modulation and bandwidth)? Describe two ways a digital signal can be routed to the STB. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Identify the key tests within a Proof of Performance. Explain how these test are done. identify the FCC expectations on performance for each of these test. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Which wires are crossed when making a crossover ethernet data cable? Describe the difference in a router and a switcher. A. Not sure about the Ethernet question. A router and a switcher perform several of the same functions, and the difference is in the level of intelligence. A switcher is smarter than a hub in that it can selectively retransmit information based on network or machine addresses, unlike a hub which just retransmits any incoming signal back out on every other port. A router generally implies a user interface or a programming language that can be used to program the machine to take advantage of more sophisticated routing algorithms or provide other services, like firewalls. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for any help. --Bowen
looking for broadband engineering info.
Started by ●February 24, 2005
Reply by ●February 24, 20052005-02-24
"Bowen T" <chromatic_dragon@operamail.com> wrote in message news:1109292683.c6f225c966a3973ef28163d13f123b0f@teranews...> Q. Which wires are crossed when making a crossover ethernet data cable?http://www.cabletron.com/support/techtips/tk0231-9.html
Reply by ●February 25, 20052005-02-25
