Seeker HL (Discontinued)

In-Home Leakage Evaluation Kit

The Seeker HL In-Home Leakage Evaluation System is a low-cost digital leakage solution that includes a dual-frequency tagged signal source, with a selectable output level and a discriminating leakage receiver that is designed to be extremely sensitive to leakage in both the Aeronautical and LTE Frequency Bands.

Seeker HL
This product has been discontinued.

This product has been discontinued

Please consider this product instead:

Easily find & fix the smallest, hardest to find sources of ingress in your plant

  • Dual-Band Leakage Receiver for Both Aeronautical and LTE Frequencies
  • Sensitivity Up to 0.1 uV/m at 138 MHz and 0.4 uV/m at 757.5 MHz
  • Tagged Signal Source Combined with a Discriminating Leakage Receiver
  • Audible Tone Increases Proportionally in Pitch as Technician Moves Closer to the Source of Leakage

Overview
Mitigation of signal leakage within the subscriber premise is essential for the successful operation of the subscriber’s cable and cellular services. To thoroughly evaluate the potential for interference to subscriber services, VIAVI has developed a patent pending approach to signal leakage measurement which will comprehensively test the Aeronautical and LTE bands in both fully digital and analog cable systems.

Historically, signal leakage detectors have required high levels of sensitivity to measure signal leakage radiating from the CATV system. Measurement within the subscriber premise and the migration to all digital services places even greater sensitivity requirements upon the leakage detector combined with a new requirement to simultaneously monitor for signal leakage in both the aeronautical and LTE bands.

In laboratory experiments signal leakage measurements as low as 0.1 uV/m have proven sufficient to allow LTE signals to enter the subscriber network and disrupt cable services. Achieving a measurement sensitivity of 0.1 uV/m is beyond the measurement range of conventional signal leakage detectors and requires a new approach to leakage detection within the subscriber premise.

Testing Approach
To meet the new measurement and sensitivity requirements, the Seeker Home monitors 138 MHz and 757.5 MHz simultaneously, supporting testing in both the Aeronautical and LTE frequency bands. The Seeker Home Signal Source replaces the Cable service with two high output test carriers which pressurize the subscriber cabling revealing any damage which may lead to service interruption from ingressing LTE carriers.

The Seeker Home Signal Source has two output levels. A +60 dBmV for home certification and a +40 dBmV output level should the subscriber network prove too porous for pinpointing the location of a leak at the higher transmit level.

The displayed leakage levels are normalized by the Seeker Home receiver to reflect the value of the leak at nominal systems levels within the subscriber premise. The normalization of the measured and displayed leakage levels simplifies the evaluation of leakage severity and provides consistency for documentation of leakage levels in accordance with established industry practices.

When utilizing the higher +60 dBmV transmit level the Seeker Home is able to locate signal leakage down to a normalized leakage level of .1 uV/m with a single flexible antenna; making it possible to locate and repair signal leakage levels far beyond the measurement range of conventional leakage detectors.


Advanced In-Home Shielding Integrity Testing

Until recently finding and fixing leakage in the aeronautical band was considered “good enough” for almost all cable operators. But, with increased deployment of off air services by cellular providers and increased bandwidth demands of both the MSOs and cellular providers, keeping the cable plant tight has never been more important. Additionally, the increase in service demands for cellular bandwidth has pushed services into the 700-800 MHz (LTE) band and maybe even lower into the 600 MHz band in the near future.



Up until now leakage detection has focused on the outside plant, but as cellular devices become more prevalent we need to somehow verify if these devices are causing harmful interference when they are in close proximity to leakage or ingress sources within a home. Since the relative distance between a cell tower and cellular devices determines the transmit level of cellular devices, this can results in cellular devices transmitting their data with a signal strength as high as 3 V/m. Due to this possibility of high transmit level of cellular devices, even the smallest sources of leakage or ingress points within the home can lead to cellular signals causing issues with downstream QAM channels. With this problem in mind, VIAVI has developed the Seeker HL In-Home Leakage Evaluation System as a solution for finding the smallest of leaks in the home and to help identify any shielding defects that will allow cellular signals to enter into the cable system.

During an installation or service call, the Seeker HL In-Home Leakage Evaluation System provides technicians with a way to comprehensively evaluate the customer premises for leakage in both the Aeronautical and LTE bands within fully digital, analog and mixed cable systems and is the only system available to quickly, easily and accurately verify that the shielding integrity of in home wiring meets the needs of today’s high tech world.

This innovative, patent-pending method of in home leakage detection involves using the Seeker HL Source Transmitter to replace the cable service at the subscriber’s ground block. The higher levels of the Seeker HL Source Transmitter will increase the field strength of the signals radiating out of the customer’s home network, providing a higher level of sensitivity to find even the smallest of leaks.

The transmitter injects two single CW carriers into the subscriber network with a 20 Hz tag modulation, one inserted at 138 MHz and another at 757.5 MHz supporting testing in both the Aeronautical and LTE bands. The source transmitter signal level is at considerably higher level than typical active plant levels in order to “over-pressurize” the cable system in the home. This approach is similar to pressurizing a water pipe and looking for any sources of water that may point to the location of a defect in the pipe. Using the Seeker HL with its source transmitter allows the technician to detect leakage levels at an otherwise unheard of sensitivity down to 0.1 uV/m. The user may set the output level to 60 dBmV for home certification, but also has the option to reduce the level to 40 dBmV should the subscriber network prove to be too porous for pinpointing the location of a leak at the higher transmit level.

The Seeker HL provides both a visual readout of the measured levels in uV/m and a tone proportional to signal strength. To prevent false triggering the Seeker HL utilizes our unique channel tagging technique. When checking the integrity of in-home shielding and to provide consistency with leakage levels typically found within the subscriber premise, the levels displayed by the Seeker HL have been normalized to represent the value of a leak at typical system levels. This correlation between measured and displayed levels will assist the technician in evaluating the severity and recording of a leak based upon established industry practices.



Additional resources:

Services

Instrument Care Support Plans

Save up the 50% of standard service prices and obtain priority service when you buy a bundled plan at the same time the instrument is purchased. Care Support Plans offer the best way to purchase extended warranty, premium technical support, self-paced training, and critical maintenance services like calibration services that include software and engineering change order update services to ensure your product is maintained with current software and a calibration certificate. These discounted plans are 2-5 years long when purchased upfront with your VIAVI instruments.


VIAVI Care Support

* 5-year plans only; if applicable

View Support Plans On New Equipment

Factory Repair

VIAVI Solutions is a single-source supplier for all of your factory and on-site test equipment repair, maintenance, and calibration service needs.

We offer return-to-factory, fixed-rate repair services for all VIAVI test equipment. Fixed-rate repair provides the best turnaround time, streamlining the overall repair process and creating a very predictable and reliable repair experience at the best pricing.

Our technicians ensure that your equipment is functioning properly by completing any maintenance and install enhancements,  including engineering change notice updates.

Find out more about our Factory Repair Services

Factory Calibration

Keeping your equipment in top-running shape with factory or onsite calibration services helps ensure your network will continue to operate at peak performance. A variety of options allow you to manage the logistics of calibrating your equipment, while maximizing your maintenance investment. Performing regular calibration of equipment ensures the accuracy of its measurements. Improper calibration, however can compromise a network and impact services.  

Keep your equipment in top-running shape with VIAVI On-site Services that help to ensure your network continues to operate at peak performance. It's the most cost-efficient and effective way to maintain equipment on a timetable that meets your requirements.

Find out more about our Calibration Services

Self-Paced Training

VIAVI offers self-paced technical and product training as a flexible, efficient, and cost-effective training delivery option. Self-paced training offers a flexible training option for small groups of employees or those located remotely or in multiple locations. It’s an ideal training solution for instructing technicians who work in the field and cannot attend on-site classes.

Find out more about our Training Services

Priority Service

VIAVI Care Plan Priority Services and Technical Expert Application Center (TAC) Service Levels for Field Portable Instruments used to test fiber, cable TV, xDSL, metro and wireless networks

All customers enjoy Standard Plus support during the product warranty period and can upgrade to Premium TAC by purchasing a VIAVI Care Support Plan.

The hallmark of our test platforms is evolving, modular test features to allow customers to keep pace with advancing communications technologies. The learning process is not just “one and done,” and field teams often have high rates of turnover.

Find out more about our Priority Services

Battery / Bag Replacement Coverage
Batteries and bags wear out with daily use and charge cycles. To ensure these items don't slow you down, our 5 year plans include a replacement over the life of your 5 year plan.

VIAVI will provide a one-time replacement of bad battery and worn soft bag/glove within the duration of a 5-year SilverCare or MaxCare Support Plan. Replacement will only be replaced when the instrument is returned to VIAVI for repair or calibration service. Hard cases are excluded, and coverage is not applicable for instruments sold without bag/battery.

This coverage is Included in 5 year Silver and MaxCare Plans

Technical Assistance
The VIAVI Technical Support team can assist you in using/configuring products or address issues regarding product performance.

Visit our Technical Assistance section for more information.

MaxCare Accessory Replacement Coverage
Instrument products come with accessory cables and connector tips. To ensure reliable, accurate testing we will cover the replacement of one accessory annually, to ensure good test results.

When an accessory has been determined to be defective or faulty, VIAVI will, at no charge to customer, either repair the accessory or exchange at VIAVI’s discretion. Exchanged accessories may be new or refurbished. All returned accessories become property of VIAVI. The following limitations apply: no more than one accessory may be exchanged per 12 month period; applicable accessories include only those accessories that are considered essential to the operation of the instrument and were shipped with the original purchased product. The Customer is responsible for shipping faulty accessory back to VIAVI when there is a concern or during a calibration or repair service event.

Express Loaner
Now you can schedule calibrations or repairs with no downtime. The Express Loaner Service provides you with a similarly configured piece of equipment before sending yours in for calibration or for that unexpected repair that you need immediately.


Care Support Plan - Seeker

Care Support Plan - Seeker

ProductRecommended Plan (Part Number)BronzeCare
BronzeCare
SilverCare
SilverCare
MaxCare
MaxCare
Why calibrate?
Seeker D, Seeker XMaxCare-5

Why calibrate this product?
What are the common issues?

Why calibrate this product?

Frequencies/levels need to be within specifications to guarantee precise and reliable results.

Factory standards to ensure accuracy

Factory standards to ensure accuracy

VIAVI Calibrates to TL9000 factory standards to ensure your instrument is certified to measure accurately, as it did when it came off the factory line.  Instruments that are out of calibration will produce unreliable measurements and can create false passing or false failing test results that often cause your team repeat work.  We maintain, polish and clean all fiber connectors, fix pigtail connections that are internal to the product to ensure all ports stay in good working order and upgrade software / firmware to the latest approved release to enable enhancements. VIAVI Care Plans are the most cost-effective way to plan for calibration with a low, discounted price at the time of instrument purchase, however fixed rate calibration can be purchased at a later date on a separate purchase order.

  • Ensure accurate measurements that meet calibration and service level agreements, ISO and TL standards for network test procedures.
  • Ensure all test transmission signals work properly to avoid issues such as not reaching full line rate testing rate required to validate service bandwidth, speed and quality of service (QoS).
  • Maintain ports and connectors to keep test transmissions working properly and to extend the life of the instrument. For example, if optical connectors and, lasers are bad or electrical/RF interface ports are loose after years of connection cycles, OTDR, TDR, and Radio Frequency measurements will not work properly.
  • When doing construction, installation and activation work that must be certified, all network components typically must be tested with a certified, calibrated instrument to preserve warranty from manufacturer, such as fiber optic cable manufactures. 
  • Accurate RF frequencies and optical wavelengths are critical to meet measurement specifications.  If using these to validate network elements, power levels, transmission rates, out of specification tools will prevent validation of network elements and signals.

How will my measurements be affected if the product is out of calibration?

Out of specification measurements could cause unnecessary repeat calls customer service issues

What are the most common implications of these issues to the business?

What are the most common implications of these issues to the business?

  • Uncalibrated tools produce unreliable measurement results that can't be certified to specifications and may violate service level agreements or ISO/TL9000 standards with your customers and their network equipment vendors.
  • QoS certification may be inaccurate and generate a repeat test need. Contractors are often not compensated or could be delisted as an approved service supplier due to incorrect results.
  • Full manufacturer  warranty (20-30 years) from cable suppliers (e.g. Corning, CommScope, Belden, ect.) will only be granted if the installation is certified with a calibrated instrument, thus the network owner is motivated to comply with correct installation certification procedures to retain and enforce the warranty on expensive cabling and optical network elements, etc.

Common Business impacts include:

  • Lost revenue, customer complaints and increased costs: 
  • Most network operators track and audit repeat work done by sub-contractors and often there is a billing dispute in these cases.  Contractors with high rates of inaccurate test results are usually hired for less or not at all when not meeting SLA agreements or quality metrics.   
  • For Network Operators, repeat service quality issues with customers often causes added cost, customer dissatisfaction and loss of business.  

Example:

Let's look at OTN/SONET/SDH/E1/T1 and various FTTX, DOCIS and xDSL measurements.  It is critical to reach full line rate (1G, 10G, 40G, 100G) to test service performance and service error rates.  If the uncalibrated tester can not reach full line rate during testing, a customer may be left with suboptimal performance that will quickly create complaints or alternatively, the technician could end up chasing phantom network problems that do not exist.


VIAVI Care Support for Existing Equipment

FleetCare
FleetCare

FleetCare plans can be customized to include any service entitlements on your fleet of existing equipment. Please fill out a Service Contracts form for a quote.

  • Any collection instruments with a single coterminous renewal date
  • Each contract is customized with any number of annual terms required by the customer
  • Onsite Calibration, Training, Field Application Engineer days can be added

View Support Plans For Existing Equipment


How to Get Started

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