Signal Broadcast Identification requires Option 400. When hunting interference signals, it can be helpful to have real-time information for what type of signal is authorized to be in a given channel. Regulators monitoring their frequency bands also desire to view what signals are present and whether the transmissions fall within the bandwidth allocated to a particular vendor.

Anritsu’s Signal Broadcast Identification feature is designed to meet these needs. Using publicly available data, users can import this information so that it is readily available once the spectrum is viewed. Whatever information that is available from the government regulator (or other agency involved with broadcast licensing) can be used. Broadcast information generally supplied include the following:

It should be noted that not all country’s regulators supply this information and the types of information provided on the authorized broadcaster may vary. See Figure: Signal Broadcaster Identification for an example illustration of the broadcast identification feature.

Broadcaster information can be imported into Vision Monitor (option 400) via a spreadsheet (CSV format) and overlaid on the trace display. The data should be in *.csv format– for saving formatted data in text file with Comma Separated Values. Additionally, users can plot the positions of all the transmitters on a map. Users can simply ‘mouse-over’ an icon on the map to see a pop-up window showing all information available on that transmitter.

In addition to broadcaster information supplied by the regulator, users may want to plot and identify other positions. For example, a cellular operator may want to identify the positions and frequencies of all their BTS transceiver equipment. This information is often considered proprietary and would be used only within the operator’s system. Interference hunters working for the operator could use this information to know their proximity to BTS equipment to prevent over-powering their receivers.