The system at GZU is fully operational, it is receiving and visualizing products.
There was an issue of signal quality, which was a bit low after installation (we got 52% at installation and now it fluctuates to around 30%), but a permanent signal lock is still achieved.
After tests at BDMS we have discovered that with the new DVB cards the best signal quality reading we can get with the antennas we use is around 50%.
At BDMS the signal is also around 30%, but the SADC-THEMA staff have discovered that it is due to interference from their wimax, and nearby radio sources. When they switch off their wimax the signal quality improves a lot. The LNB installed at GZU is called a "One Cable Solution", it has two oscillators on-board at 700MHz apart. The tests at BDMS revealed that when you switch to the higher oscillator then our signal quality improves from 30% to 52%. This proves that there is interference at the normal oscillator frequency.
There was a national training in Zimbabwe on 20-24 July and GZU lecturers participated at that training (as trainers).
Upcoming Events at GZU
BDMS is expecting the v2 of the fire terminal to be released by CSIR soon, they will present the software at the MESA Forum in Nairobi this week. A stable tested version should be available within the next two months, so the MESA SADC-THEMA staff will go and upgrade the system at GZU to the new version in November (or end of October).
When they do the upgrade, they will also switch the LNB to the higher oscillator to boost the signal quality.