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Related Manuals for Inovonics 531N
Summary of Contents for Inovonics 531N
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Page 5: Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS Section I – INTRODUCTION 531N PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ............Features 531N TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ..........Off-Air Receiver Performance FM Demodulator Stereo Decoder Panel Controls and Indicators Web Interface (Only) Features Rear-Panel Connector Block Network Port Miscellaneous BLOCK DIAGRAM ................ - Page 6 Peak Flasher Alarm Indicators Network Settings MEASUREMENT PITFALLS AND LIMITATIONS ......Signal Strength Multipath Distortion Composite Clipping Adjacent Carriers A GUIDED TOUR OF 531N OPERATION ........Items Required Getting Ready Tuning In Signal Quality Evaluation Carrier Modulation Display — 4 —...
- Page 7 EMAIL PREFERENCES ..............Mail Server Setup Saving and Testing TIMEKEEPING ................. ADMINISTRATIVE SETTINGS ............Password Lost Password Hard Reset The Hardware Profile Errata Section V – 531N EXTENDED FEATURES THE WEB SCREEN HEADER ............Remote Listening Signal Quality Alarms — 5 —...
- Page 8 Low Signal and Multipath EMAIL AND TEXT MESSAGE NOTIFICATIONS ......THE ALARM LOG ................Alarm Log Capacity Downloading and Clearing the Alarm Log Section VI – UPDATING THE 531N THE FIRMWARE UPDATER ............Warning Firmware Update Files Running the Firmware Updater...
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Page 9: Section I - Introduction
FM monitoring products, with thousands in service worldwide. The 531N is an updated version of the product, retaining the dependability and accuracy of its predecessor, but now includ- ing IP networking capabilities that have increasingly become es- sential in today’s radio broadcast environment. -
Page 10: 531N Technical Specifications
531N TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Distortion: OFF-AIR RECEIVER PERFORMANCE <0.075% THD at 400Hz with 100% modula- Receiver Topology: tion and no de-emphasis Double-conversion superheterodyne; Stereo Separation: 10.7MHz first IF, 700kHz second IF Refer to Figure 3. Tuning Range: 76.0MHz–108.1MHz in Crosstalk Measurement: 100kHz steps;... -
Page 11: Network Port
NETWORK PORT MISCELLANEOUS Connector: AC Mains Requirements: RJ45 jack for remote setup and operation 105–130VAC or 210–260VAC, 50/60Hz; via TCP/IP Settings: Size: DHCP or Static IP with local or remote se- H: 3½in/89mm, W: 19in/483mm lection D: 12in/305mm SMTP: Weight: Full SMTP support with downloadable MIB 14lbs/6.35kg (shipping weight) file... -
Page 12: Block Diagram
Figure 3 - Typical Stereo Separation Figure 4 - Typical Crosstalk Measurement Limits BLOCK DIAGRAM Figure 5, a simplified Block Diagram of the Model 531N Modulation Ana- lyzer, appears on the following page. — 10 —... - Page 13 — 11 —...
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Page 14: Section Ii - Installation
Section III that describes 531N setup and use. Do please refer back to this section, how- ever, to confirm proper physical installation and interconnec- tion with other station equipment. -
Page 15: Ac (Mains) Power
FM transmission equipment, do practice care and common sense in locating the unit away from abnormally high RF fields. Because the inputs and the outputs of the Model 531N are ref- Ground Loops erenced to chassis ground, a mains frequency or RF ground loop could be formed between cable shield grounds and the AC power cord ground. -
Page 16: Composite/Multiplex Connections
High-level RF samples (from the transmitter’s directional cou- “Direct” pler, for example) may be fed to the 531N through a dedicated RF Input rear-panel BNC connector. However, this HI LEVEL RF IN con- nection does not bypass the tuner, the signal is simply padded- down and applied to the tunable front-end. -
Page 17: Am Noise Output
STATION PRESETS buttons, plus the up/down AD- JUST buttons and even Web interface tuning will be disabled, and the 531N will remain tuned to the frequency associated with that preset. This ‘override’ feature may be used when it is imperative that the 531N be fixed-tuned to only one frequency. -
Page 18: Panel Lockout
Remove the top cover of the 531N. With the front panel facing Changing you, locate the long row of integrated circuits just behind the De-Emphasis rear-panel AM NOISE connector. -
Page 19: Total-Mod Display Integration Selection
This is a condition that is usually noticed and complained about before the station is flagged for scrutiny. The Inovonics 531N allows the user to select among four inte- As Delivered gration times: 100µs, 200µs, 500µs, and 1.0ms. As delivered, the 531N is set for the fastest (100µs) integration period. -
Page 20: A Word About Loudness
With the uncovered 531N facing you, locate the ribbon cable Changing that connects the main board with the front panel assembly. - Page 21 personalities, station owners and Program Directors grasped at technical gimmicks to attract listeners. At some point, “perceived loudness” emerged as a buzzword and a benchmark for broadcasting success. As if, “...who cares about programming, play it louder and it’ll grab the listeners. If the ratings slip, it’s the Chief Engineer’s fault!”...
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Page 22: Section Iii - Basic Setup And Operation
Web interface. Moreover, many additional features and measurement options are afford- ed by networking the 531N. But as tempted as the user may be put the 531N on his network right away, we stress the im- portance of first becoming familiar with the unit ‘manually,’... -
Page 23: The Readout Section (Left Side)
DEMOD METERING (7) is switched to LEFT / RIGHT (8) or L+R / L–R (9). Alternatively, when the 531N is switched to show AM NOISE (10) the head- phones then monitor the incidental synchronous AM noise component of the FM carrier. -
Page 24: Demod Metering
The SELECT button (11) associated with DEMOD DEMOD METERING cycles the two lower bargraph displays METERING (7) among their various readout options, each iden- tified with an associated LED indicator (8), (9), (10). (10) (11) The default selection displays left- and right- channel program audio (8). -
Page 25: Freq
STATION to be programmed into non-volatile memory for PRESETS 1 – 6 instant recall. Once the 531N has been tuned to a desired frequency with the up/down ADJUST but- tons (13), simply press and hold down one of the six memory buttons (16). -
Page 26: De-Emphasis
The DE-EMP button (21) turns program audio de- (21) DE-EMPHASIS emphasis on and off. ‘On’ is indicated by the green LED next to the button. De-emphasis is generally left on, but it may be defeated for stereo separa- tion and other measurements using test tones. De- emphasis applies to the metered values (7) as well as to the program audio available at the PHONES jack and at the rear-panel PROGRAM LINE OUTPUT... -
Page 27: Alarm Indicators
It is important for the user to recognize various inherent limita- tions of making transmission performance measurements ‘off- air.’ Although the Model 531N has a high level, ‘direct’ RF in- put, the signal still passes through tuned RF and IF stages. -
Page 28: Composite Clipping
19kHz. These can add to and subtract from the legitimate pilot tone, essentially manifesting as ‘pilot modula- tion.’ Because the Model 531N translates a measurement of pilot am- plitude modulation to an equivalent degree of multipath distor- tion, excessive composite clipping may show up on the MULTI- PATH display, even when no secondary signal path is present. -
Page 29: Adjacent Carriers
(If the transmitter is close by, a 3-foot length of insulated hookup wire ought to suffice for this ‘guid- ed tour.’) Attach the power cord to the Model 531N and plug the free end Getting Ready into the wall socket. Plug the headphones into the front-panel PHONES jack (1). -
Page 30: Tuning In
Find a strong, local station. Use the up/down ADJUST buttons Tuning In (13) to tune the 531N to a good signal at your location. If you cannot pick up your own signal easily, choose a station that does come in well. - Page 31 Also, refer back to TOTAL-MOD DISPLAY INTEGRATION SELEC- TION on Page 17 for the discussion of jumper options that will effect this reading. The 531N includes the usual ‘Peak Flasher,’ an alarm for carrier Peak Flasher deviations beyond an acceptable maximum value. There is a...
- Page 32 RDS/RBDS and SCA injections are read on the CARRIER MODU- LATION display (2) using the scale below the readout.. Typical- ly, RDS/RBDS will be in the 4% to 5% range, and SCAs up around 10%. Stereo-FM broadcasting encodes the L–R ‘stereo-difference’ in- 38kHz formation as a double-sideband, suppressed-carrier signal that “Residual”...
- Page 33 Actually, a perfect monaural signal should have no L–R component, but circuit and component tolerances within the Model 531N make something in the –50dB range about the best L–R cancellation. Keep this in mind because this repre- sents the best sub/main, main/sub crosstalk reading obtainable from the 531N, even though actual system crosstalk may be lower.
- Page 34 The Model 531N is not a perfect receiver in this regard, but it does yield useful comparative readings. When switched to read AM noise, the upper DEMOD METERING bargraph (7) gives a relative indication of the demodulated AM component. This metered value does not have linear-dB scaling.
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Page 35: Section Iv - Network Setup
Connect with your network. Connect the RJ45 NETWORK PORT jack on the 531N the back of the 531N to a LAN port of your server or router. Press the NETWORK SETTINGS button (27) once. The digital DHCP LED frequency readout will switch from display of your fre-... -
Page 36: Hooking-Up
With both the 531N and a computer connected to a common network, bring up a browser window and enter the Hostname (under Windows) or the IP address of the 531N (any OS). The Windows OS permits typing the default Hostname into the... - Page 37 MAC Address, could be entered or overwritten very easily right here on the screen. The MAC Address is unique to the particular hardware of your 531N and cannot be changed. You are free to change the Hostname from the factory assign- ment to whatever you wish.
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Page 38: Accessing The 531N Remotely
DHCP range. This should be an easy matter with the aid of the router’s Help utility (let your IT department help here). You also need to open a specific port for the 531N on the net- work router. Within the router’s Port Forwarding utility you will be able to enter your static IP address for the unit (Internal IP), followed by a colon and a port number. -
Page 39: Snmp Operation
When you register, the provider will issue you a Hostname, Username and Password. Click on the provider you choose, and then type the information right onto the screen and click Save. This will allow you to access your 531N with a dynamic IP ad- dress. SNMP OPERATION... - Page 40 On the 531N Menu tree, click SNMP to bring up this active win- dow. The default mode for SNMP is Disabled, which inhibits communicaton between the 531N and the SNMP Manager. Click the arrow to the right of Disabled to view operating choices.
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Page 41: Snmp Security
MIB file to help unravel mysteries in this regard as well. EMAIL PREFERENCES Set up the 531N for outgoing mail on the Email preferences Web page. The email server settings and email addresses for the various... -
Page 42: Timekeeping
“friendly” name: Model 531N – 95.9 (or whatever frequency the 531N is tuned to when the message is sent). Recipient 1: and Recipient 2: in this example are the SMS/text message and email addresses, respectively, for the station’s Chief Engineer. -
Page 43: Administrative Settings
Use MS Notepad or another text editor to change the one to a zero. This turns password protection off. Re-save the ed- ited file. You can now do a hard reset of the 531N and then up- load the edited Hardware Profile. This will restore your previ- ous settings, and even let you see the old password, which you may use or replace. -
Page 44: The Hardware Profile
At the bottom of the Admin Web screen, you will find the serial Errata number of your 531N, total ‘up time’ of the unit, and versions of the firmware and Web pages files. Click: Check for Updates to see if new versions are available. Updates to firmware and the interactive Web screens is covered in Section VI, beginning on Page 53. -
Page 45: Section V - 531N Extended Features
Instead, the new, extended features of the 531N will be de- tailed. At this point you should be running the Web interface, setup of which was covered in the previous Section. -
Page 46: Signal Quality
front-panel MULTIPATH Signal Quality and SIGNAL LEVEL readouts are duplicated in the header as shown here. The header also echoes the Alarms four front-panel alarms. NOW PLAYING In addition to the incoming frequency, this section of the Now Basic Station Playing Web screen also presents the more basic RDS RadioData Information information: the PI code, or ‘digital address’... -
Page 47: Graphs And Metering
Station Station Presets memories. Presets With the 531N tuned to a desired frequency, simply click the little pencil icon on the right. The currently-tuned frequency will be transferred into that memory, whether the slot is shown as (Empty) or already has an entry. The Web screen directly re- flects the six STATION PRESETS buttons on the front panel. -
Page 48: Xy Plot
transmits HD Radio® digital carriers along with the primary FM signal. The MPX FFT plot may be saved as an image file using the com- puter’s Prt Scr utility or any common ‘screen snipping’ tool. In the XY Plot, left and right program audio channels are plot- XY Plot ted against one another in an XY ‘scope’... -
Page 49: Meter History
The 531N Meter History utility is able to graph the values of Meter History modulation components over a given period of time. Total car- rier modulation, left and right stereo audio, the stereo pilot and the selected subcarrier may be plotted simultaneously or inde- pendently. -
Page 50: Rds Information
RDS INFORMATION The 531N decodes and presents a wealth of information about the RDS subcarrier being received. Here is an example of the RDS utility put to good use by a station: About the only thing that this station does not transmit is the local Time. -
Page 51: Signal Alarms
Page 40. The front-panel Peak Flasher is duplicated in the header at the Peak top of all 531N Web screens. The Peak Flasher is the basis for Overmodulation overmodulation alarm dispatches and the Alarm Log. The trigger point of the Peak Flasher may be set with the Peak Set slider. -
Page 52: Audio Loss
Grab and drag the slider knob, or highlight it and use the com- puter’s cursor keys. The value should be set to a point just at, or a bit above, your normal modulation peak excursion value. Time On (Sec) is programmed in like manner. This is the time in seconds that an indicated peak must remain above the trigger point to dispatch a notification or appear in the Alarm Log. -
Page 53: Email And Text Message Notifications
with gross overmodulation, which can cause multipath-like ef- fects, the chances are that a Low Signal or Peak alarm will be the first hint of a transmitter problem. EMAIL AND TEXT MESSAGE NOTIFICATIONS There must be at least one Recipient listed under the Email Preferences menu heading for the message dispatch utility to work;... -
Page 54: The Alarm Log
THE ALARM LOG The 531N logs all alarms. Pull-up the Alarm Log by clicking the + next to Alarm Log at the bottom of the screen. This log shows three concurrent alarms, doubtless due to some momentary transmitter glitch. - Page 55 Click: Download Downloading This Alarm Log. and Clearing opens a browser the Alarm Log dialog box where the log may be opened immedi- ately with a de- fault text reader, or the .csv file download for ar- chiving or for fur- ther analysis with a spreadsheet program.
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Page 56: Section Vi - Updating The 531N
IV for specifics on assuring a connection between the 531N and your computer. This must be a wired, LAN connection for both the PC and for the 531N. Attempting to use a Wi-Fi link will almost guarantee failure. A firmware update will restore the 531N to factory defaults. - Page 57 The bootloader window outlines firmware update process in three easy steps. The first step advises that the 531N must, it- self, be in the ‘boot- loader’ (firmware update) mode. Simply hold down the two SELECT buttons (6) and (11) on the left...
- Page 58 The Confirm box is a ‘watchdog’ feature included in the third- party bootloader utility, but it is not relevant to the 531N up- date procedure. Click: No in the Con- firm box to close it, and then click: Pro- gram at the top of the window, and fi- nally click: Program, the first item in the drop-down list.
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- Page 60 INOVONICS WARRANTY TERMS OF SALE: Inovonics products are sold with an understand- ing of “full satisfaction”; that is, full credit or refund will be issued for products sold as new if returned to the point of purchase within 30 days following their receipt, provided that they are returned complete and in an “as received”...
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