Delivery: Online
College Credit: 4 credit hours
Estimated Length: 40 seat hours
Price: $910
Course Assessment/Equivalency Exam: $120
The NCTI Installer Technician course focuses on maintaining reliability in the installed drop system. The electronic theory provides the foundation for understanding decibels, signal leakage detection, and troubleshooting techniques. A basic mathematics review helps the student with equations and formulas relating to fundamental electronic theory and signal level. Signal leakage can cause significant problems for cable systems, and various topics on detecting and troubleshooting signal leakage in the VHF and UHF frequency bands, including LTE frequencies, are presented. Students are provided with the basic characteristics and functions of digital signal analyzers, critical test instruments used today to develop and test radio frequency (RF), electronic circuit design, manufacturing, installation, field repair, and more. As the rules and regulations governing the broadband cable industry continue to impact cable operators and customers, the student benefits from in-depth details of government regulations and ways to comply with industry rules.
Completion Time:
The estimated completion time for this course is 40 hours. The maximum allotted time is four months from enrollment.
Benefits:
- helps prepare for SCTE’s Broadband Premise Installer and Broadband Distribution Specialist certifications
- earn four hours of college credit
- receive credit toward NCTI® Master Technician certification
- receive an industry-recognized NCTI certificate of graduation
Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
- explain and apply basic DC electronic theory, perform Ohm’s law calculations and discuss relevant broadband cable applications
- perform basic cable math calculations
- explain dB and dBmV fundamentals and broadband cable applications and perform gain and loss calculations
- recognize the impact of signal leakage and use a signal leakage detector to identify and troubleshoot signal leakage from the tap into the customer premises
- identify, locate and repair common problems from the customer premises equipment to the tap in both single dwellings and MDUs
- understand the theory of operation of line extender amplifiers and explain the functions of amplifier passives and actives
- identify the role of national and international organizations in establishing and implementing telecommunications standards
Outline:
Exploring Electrons and Electricity
Establishing electron characteristics, identifying element categories, understanding electrical force, and understanding electric current
Understanding Magnetism and Electromagnetism
Understanding magnetism, understanding electromagnetism, and exploring magnetic and electromagnetic applications
Using Positive and Negative Numbers, Decimals and Fractions
Positive and negative numbers, understanding common fractions, and understanding decimal fractions
Using Equations and Powers of Numbers
Using equations, and powers of numbers
Understanding Resistance
Exploring resistance, and changing and controlling resistance
Using Ohm’s Law for Power and Energy
Describing basic electrical characteristics, working with Ohm’s law, solving power equations and solving an energy equation
Understanding Decibels
Reviewing the history of decibels, making comparisons between two values, explaining the concept of bels and decibels, and understanding power and voltage ratios
DC Series Circuits
Citing basic circuit requirements, describing DC series circuit requirements, and solving various circuit calculations
Using dB and dBmV
Working with decibels millivolt, and performing signal level calculations
Detecting Signal Leakage
Signal leakage, and examining signal leakage measuring equipment
Thinking Skills for Troubleshooting
Preparing your mental processes for troubleshooting and discussing how to think when troubleshooting a problem
Communication Skills for Troubleshooting
Identifying the soft skills of communication, focusing on spoken communications, and enhancing unspoken communications
Troubleshooting Coaxial Cables and Connectors
Applying the troubleshooting process, describing the drop and inside wire elements, and using coaxial test equipment
Troubleshooting Fiber-Optic Cables and Connectors
Reviewing fiber-optic cable, troubleshooting fiber-optic cable and components, and repairing fiber-optic cable
Troubleshooting Drop Splitters, DCs and Drop Amps
Examining splitter problems, examining directional coupler problems, and examining basic troubleshooting of drop amplifiers
Troubleshooting Ingress and Egress
Troubleshooting inside wire, and troubleshooting power cables and connectors
Troubleshooting Inside Wiring, Powering Elements and Bonding
Identifying insider wiring plugs and jacks, understanding how to troubleshoot inside wiring, power cables and connectors
Using Digital Signal Analyzers
Describing digital measurements, operating the digital signal analyzer, and using cable modem analyzers
Understanding Broadband Cable Regulatory Issues
Understanding government regulation, regulating network technical performance, and complying with industry rules