• Link budget preparation for Satellite TV, SNG, radio and data (digital or FM)
• Sun outage prediction (single site and satellite)
• Sun outage batch file handling (multiple sites or multiple satellites)
• Antenna aiming.
• Dual/multi feed positioning.
• Dish sizing.
• Polar mount alignment.
• EIRP/SFD and G/T map viewer,
• Magnetic variation.
• Solar transit times.
• Off-axis gains.
• Rain attenuation losses (ITU-R P.618-6 and Crane)
• Atmospheric absorption and tropospheric scintillation losses.

The software can calculate digital link budgets for GEO satellite bent-pipe and regenerative transponders as well as snapshot digital link budgets for some NON GEO varieties. FM link budgets are also supported for bent-pipe transponders on GEO satellites.

Even if you already use a favourite link budget tool, take a look at Satmaster Pro you may find it useful for a host of other reasons.

Rain Attenuation Models: ITU-R P.618-6, Crane global or Crane revised two component models are supported without any requirement for rain zone input or consultation of maps. These models are used for link budgets, graphs and tables and have simple radio button selection. For the ITU-R model it is also possible to enter locally obtained R0.01 values in mm/h.

Atmospheric Losses: For low elevation paths, atmospheric absorption and tropospheric scintillation losses are significant. Satmaster Pro calculates these parameters as standard but there is now an option to zero these parameters for comparison with other link budget tools that neglect them.

Tabulate Availability v Rain Attenuation: Generates tables of availability, rain attenuation, XPD and expected downtimes.

Separate Rain Attenuation Module: Quickly calculate XPD, rain attenuation and noise increase due to rain for use with other software and spreadsheets.

Antenna Aiming: Calculates elevation, true azimuth, compass bearing and polarization offset for any geostationary satellite from any location. No need to know magnetic variation values, it's all automatic! Finds minimum and maximum antenna elevation for satellites in inclined orbits.

Quick TVRO Dish Sizing: Short form downlink budgets for FM and digital TV broadcasts using GEO satellites. Minimum dish size optimizer for any value of C/N, C/No, S/N, ITU-R Grade, Eb/No or LNB output level (IF distribution systems).

Sun Outage Prediction: Presents accurate annual lists of date and time windows for geostationary satellite/ground station combinations worldwide. All time zones supported. Output in Local Civil Time or GMT. Please note, this module is not suitable for elderly satellites placed in inclined orbits. There is also new batch file processes to produce listings for either multiple sites, or multiple satellites, ready for pasting into MS Excel or a similar spreadsheet program.

Dual / Multi Feed Calculations: Finds relative satellite and feed spacing relative to boresight. Calculates antenna "squinting" efficiency for link budget. Execute any number of times for multiple feeds. Tabulate dual feed calculations for major towns and cities in a country with average value.

Footprint Map Viewer: Satmaster Pro can display, scanned or downloaded, footprint maps of your choice in BMP, GIF, PCX, TIFF and JPEG formats.

Flexible Output Options: Prints reports with your company name at the top or output may be copied and pasted into MS Excel or similar as tab delimited text for unlimited customization. Reports and tables may also be saved in editable HTML for uses such as emailing, uploading to web sites or importing into other documents.

Reference Maps: Displays world maps of water vapour density and mean surface temperatures.

Modified Polar Mounts: Locate true north/south anywhere in the world using the sun's position as your guide. Calculates modified polar mount angles for any latitude with notes on installation.

Wind Loading: Calculates overturning moment (OTM) and ballast required for a given wind speed. Assumes antenna is pole mounted using a base frame weighted with concrete blocks.

Overcome Local Magnetic Anomalies: Select monthly tabulations of the local time when the sun and a selected satellite have the same azimuth. Useful where local magnetic anomalies may affect compass readings.

Data Files: Supplied with a satellite data file and over 30,000 town and city records arranged in over 200 separate country data files. Easy browse transfer of data to input forms. All databases may be user edited. The satellite data is also updated and may be downloaded at any time.

Help File: Large help file which is fully context sensitive by using the F1 key or selecting the button on any active input field.

Table Generator: Tabulates modified polar mount angles, antenna look angles to any geostationary satellite from multiple town/city locations in a selected country, 'visible' satellites from either a single location or two sites.

Graph Plots: Plots graphs relating to digital modulation, ITU-R or Crane rain attenuation models, BER v Eb/No, atmospheric absorption, dish parabolas, lobe patterns and much more. There is also a BER v Eb/No reference chart for Reed Solomon concatenated Viterbi codes and 'turbo' codecs at various FEC rates.

Calculations and Conversions: Performs often used calculations and conversions, including antenna focal distances, rain attenuation with noise increase, off-axis gains and power spectral densities. Includes an editable mathematical expression evaluator.

Tool Bar: Includes convenient toolbar with speed buttons for most often used menu selections. Menu option for quick opening of the six most recently used files.

Multiple Document Interface: Allows mixes of link budgets, maps, graphs and tables within a single application window. Ideal for comparing link budgets.

Persistent Input Data: Input forms under the Graph, Table and Calculate menus have persistence of input data by default.

Notepad: Convenient notepad with "word-wrap" and auto-insertion of time and date.

Related Help Files: Option to call a third party help file from menu.

Overall Design: Satmaster Pro was written entirely in C++ with accuracy and stability having a higher priority than arbitrary marketing deadlines. Requires approximately 2MB of hard disk space to install.