The main interface consists of three sections. The first section is where the stations you wish to add to the study are defined. Station parameters for stations not contained in the FCC database can be entered manually or loaded from a files saved by Probe. These transmitters should be added in the section of the window labeled "User Transmitters". The "checked" transmitter in this section represents which transmitter is used as the reference station. You may also tell the program to use a different station that is already in the FCC's database as the reference station.
Below the user transmitter section is where the user can tell the program to remove stations that currently exist in the FCC database. Use the "Find" button in this section to search for the file numbers of stations that might conflict with the transmitters that are being added to the study.
The "Server Settings" section is where the server-oriented information is entered. The "Internet Server" input field contains the I.P. address of the SunDTV server used to process the jobs. A user name and password are required. The email address that is specified as 'Notify Email' is the email address where notification of job completion is sent.
The final section is where you specify the options for the current job:
Processing Program - There are several different versions of the application processing server that are used in different situations.
Pre-Transition Full Service Program - This version analyzes the impact of proposed full service stations using the CDBS database and the original (1990's) DTV allotment table.
Pre-Transition LPTV Program - This version analyzes the impact of proposed LPTV stations using the CDBS database and the original (1990's) DTV allotment table. If your reference station is an LPTV station, translator, or Class A translator, use this option to run the study using the special LPTV processing program.
Post-Transition Full Service Program - This version analyzes the impact of proposed full service stations using the CDBS database and the new "Appendix B" post transition DTV allotment table.
Post-Transition LPTV Program - This version analyzes the impact of proposed LPTV stations using the CDBS database and the new "Appendix B" post transition DTV allotment table. If your reference station is an LPTV station, translator, or Class A translator, use this option to run the study using the special LPTV processing program.
Post-Transition Nightlight - This option runs the standard post transition full service post transition processing program, however it flags interference at the 0.1% level instead of the standard 0.5% level.
Note: Depending on which processing program is selected some of the options below may not be shown be cause they are not available in the selected processing program.
Consider Applications - The "Consider Applications" switch can be used to specify whether or not applications should be considered in the study (we were informed that the FCC runs studies without considering applications, and if they pass then they re-run the studies with the "Consider Applications" switch on in order to identify any mutually exclusive situations).
Include NTSC as potentially affected - Includes NTSC stations in the study as potentially affected stations.
Include Class A as potentially affected - Includes Class A translator stations in the study as potentially affected stations.
This is a DTV maximization analysis - Performs special processing with DTV stations 'maximized'. The processing that this option does is no longer used. Therefore this option should remain unchecked and is only left in for legacy purposes.
This is a channel change - Runs the study the special case of a channel change. Enter the previous channel in the text box on the right.
Census Data - Choose to run the study using either 1990 or 2000 census data.
Cell Size - This is the distance between the center of each cell in the grid used for calculating Longley/Rice field strength data. A cell size of 2 km is commonly used for full service studies and 1 km is common for low power studies.
Profile Spacing - This is the distance between each sample point on the profile used for calculating field strengths at each cell. The FCC typically uses a value of 1 km for this (note that smaller values dramatically increase computation time required for the study).
Job Name - The job name is used to create the output files generated by the program (so you should use a valid file name, but don't add a file extension). After entering a job name, the job can be sent to the server using the "Send Job to Server" button. Once the job has been processed the user will be notified by email where they can use a web browser to download the results.