NOAAPort - Novra S200 is the wrong receiver

After purchasing the S200 receiver and installing it here, I have now learned that this is the wrong receiver.  What I really need is the S300 receiver, which not currently available.  Apparently NOAA wanted to use VCM (variable coding modulation).  The S200 receiver does not support this capability.  Novra will releasing the S300 sometime between now and April.  I understand that the cost of the S300 is around $699.00.  There is a discount for current Novra S75 and S200 users.

Due to this situation, NOAA is delaying the DVB-S transition by 45 days.  Here is the text of the latest message.

WHAT - SBN/NOAAPORT EXPANSION AND HARDWARE UPGRADE DATE - JANUARY 19 2011 

NOTICE - 002 PLANNED IMPLEMENTATION DATE - MAY 18 2011

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UPDATE OF NOTICE 001 TO IDENTIFY RECEIVER SELECTED FOR USE BY THE NWS AND DELAY OF THE PLANNED IMPLEMENTATION DATE
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THE AWIPS PROGRAM OFFICE IS CONTINUING WITH ITS PLANS TO EXPAND THE BANDWIDTH OF THE AWIPS SATELLITE BROADCAST NETWORK SBN/NOAAPORT FEED FROM 10.24 MBPS TO ABOUT 30 MBPS IN MAY 2011.

AS PART OF THIS EXPANSION, THE SBN/NOAAPORT SIGNAL WILL BE TRANSITIONED FROM THE CURRENT DVB-S STANDARD TO A MORE EFFICIENT DVB-S2 STANDARD.

TODAY, THE NWS AWIPS PROGRAM AGREED TO A DELAY OF 45 DAYS TO  ALLOW MORE TIME FOR THE NOAAPORT COMMUNITY TO PREPARE FOR THE TRANSITION.

THE AWIPS PROGRAM HAS SELECTED A DVB-S2 RECEIVER FOR THE SBN/NOAAPORT EXPANSION PROJECT. WE WILL BE IMPLEMENTING A SINGLE DATA STREAM THAT WILL REQUIRE VARIABLE CODING MODULATION -VCM- OVER MULTI-PROTOCOL ENCAPSULATION -MPE- WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY OUR SELECTED RECEIVER.

WE UNDERSTAND THAT ONE OR MORE OTHER MODELS OF DVB-S2 RECEIVERS MAY ALSO BE SUITABLE. THE RECEIVER SPECIFICATIONS CAN BE FOUND ON THE NOAAPORT WEB SITE.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR THIS PROJECT ARE BEING FINALIZED AND WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE NOAAPORT WEB PAGE AS THEY ARE COMPLETED.

IN PREPARATION FOR THE TRANSITION, THE NWS WILL BE PROVIDING A 30 DAY WINDOW STARTING APRIL 18 2011 UNTIL MAY 17 2011 OF DUAL ILLUMINATION WITH BOTH THE -DVB S- AND -DVB S2- STANDARDS TO ALLOW AWIPS SITES AND NOAAPORT CUSTOMERS TIME TO FINALIZE THEIR TRANSITION.

Novra S200 Arrives

I received my new Novra S200 and installed it today.  It is working fine with the current NOAAPort signal.  I will see how it performs with the new NOAAPort signal in March.