ACRS NEWS October 2024

Nov 22, 2024 | News | 0 comments

OCTOBER 2024

Inside this issue

  • Webinar – IoT Infrastructure
  • ARC Where do residents go to find a cabler?
  • ACMA – How we regulate the cabling industry
  • ACMA – Steps for antenna installers to fix TV reception
  • ACMA -Outdated backup power rules for telcos to sunset
  • Getting involved in Safe Work Month
  • Electricity sector jobs forecast to double by 2029
  • NECA Market Monitor

WEBINAR: IoT Infrastructure

We’re pleased to announce our fourth webinar “IoT infrastructure”. Presented by Joseph Daboul, an expert in Telecommunications for over 40 years, with experience covering networking in both fixed and mobile formats. Joseph has been a technical instructor for Telstra Learning, Milcom, NECA, JB Hunter.

Topics covered include:

  • What is IoT
  • What infrastructure is required
  • Connectivity & Protocol

When: Tuesday the 22nd of October at 4:30pm AEDT

Where:Online webinar

The link to register is: https://registeredcablers.com.au/articles/webinar-iot-infrastructure/

If you are unable to join us on this webinar, it will be uploaded to view at your leisure on ACRS website.

Business opportunities for cabling companies on the Australian Registered Cabler Website

ACRS is a member of the Australian Registered Cabler Website consortium.

The site is for our registered cablers and is open to industry stakeholders and the public, as an advisory service.

ACRS Open Registered Cablers with Structured and Co-Axial (and Fibre where required) – can register their business on the RCWS website to gain leads to NBN, internet, telephone and smart wiring work.

Testimonials

Business opportunities for cabling companies on the Australian Registered Cabler Website

ACRS is a member of the Australian Registered Cabler Website consortium.

The site is for our registered cablers and is open to industry stakeholders and the public, as an advisory service.

ACRS Open Registered Cablers with Structured and Co-Axial (and Fibre where required) – can register their business on the RCWS website to gain leads to NBN, internet, telephone and smart wiring work.

The ACMA logo

How we regulate the cabling industry

We regulate and monitor telecommunications cabling in Australia. As the regulator, we:

We do not manage:

Steps for antenna installers to fix TV reception

As an antenna installer, there are steps you should take to help customers before you ask us to investigate interference.

Step 1: check the location settings and equipment

Check the location settings

Type in the address of your customer at mySwitch to check for:

  • the TV transmission tower which provides the best signal coverage for this address
  • predicted level of coverage
  • channel frequencies
  • antenna set-up information

mySwitch will also tell you if the predicted signal coverage comes from a distant TV tower that is not planned to cover this particular area. This is known as fortuitous reception and the unreliable nature of these weaker, distant signals are far more susceptible to interference . We do not investigate interference issues due to fortuitous reception.

If mySwitch indicates that the predicted level of coverage is poor, fortuitous or there is no coverage, your customer may need to get free-to-air TV by using the VAST service.

Check the antenna and equipment

Measure the level and quality of signal through the:

  • antenna
  • amplifiers
  • splitters
  • leads
  • connectors

If the antenna and equipment are damaged, incorrectly installed or old you may need to install a new system.

Measure signal level

For good TV reception signal levels at wall plates should be around 54 dBµV. Signal levels below 45 dBµV and above 80 dBµV are not suitable for TV reception.

Measure signal quality

CBER, VBER and MER give an indication of the quality of the signal provided to the receiver.

CBER

A TV receiver is able to identify and correct certain amounts of error in the transmission channel. In the TV receiver, error correction takes place in two distinct stages called Viterbi (inner) and Reed Solomon (outer) correction.

CBER indicates errors present before any correction has taken place in the TV, set-top box or test instrument.

CBER should be better than 2E-2 (2 errors in every 100 bits of data) for good quality TV reception.

VBER

The bit error rate after the Viterbi correction is known as VBER or post Viterbi. It should be better than 2E-4 (2 errors in every 10 000 bits of data).

MER

Modulation Error Ratio (MER) is a measure of the signal quality taking into account the sum of all interference effects occurring on the transmission channel. For good quality TV reception preferred MER is at least 25 dB.

Step 2: investigate interference

  • Location settings
  • Antenna
  • Equipment

You have checked the location settings, the antenna and the equipment. These are correct and appropriate for this location.

The problems may be caused by other signals interfering with good TV reception. This is called interference and can be internal or external to the house.

A signal with good levels but poor quality can mean interference.

Check the interference is internal or external. The interference is internal if interfering signals are coming from a source inside the property and interfering with the TV reception. The interference is external if the interference source is not on the viewer’s premises, or beyond the viewer’s ability to control. If the interference is external you may report it to us.

Step 3: report interference

We will not investigate interference coming from inside the house or from power lines.

You can report other types of external interference to us.

Complete Digital TV interference online form on behalf of your customer. Make sure you provide the signal levels, CBER, VBER and MER for all channels measured at the wall outlet.

We may contact you to discuss. We may also ask you to be onsite with your customer.

We may conduct a field investigation, and will let you know the outcome.

We will protect your privacy and all others involved in the investigation.

We seek to resolve issues first through education and awareness. If necessary we may take formal steps to enforce the provisions of the Radiocommunications Act 1992 .

Outdated backup power rules for telcos to sunset

The ACMA has decided not to remake the Telecommunications (Backup Power and Informed Decisions) Service Provider Determination 2014 , which sunsets on 1 October 2024. That Determinationrequired that before entering into certain agreements with a customer, telcos must inform the customer that a FTTP phone service would not operate during a power failure unless a backup power service is supplied. It also required telcos to provide details of a particular NBN Co supplied backup product.

Since May 2024, NBN Co has stopped taking orders for the backup battery unit. In addition, the Telecommunications (NBN Consumer Information) Industry Standard , made in 2018, requires telcos to provide information to customers about the impact of power outages on NBN services at the point of sale, facilitating the objective that customers are informed about likely limitations of particular products, such that customers can make choices, informed by an understanding of the risks to their operation when the power goes out.

Getting involved in Safe Work Month

Getting involved in Safe Work Month

National Safe Work Month is coming up in October, with the national theme being ‘Safety is everyone’s business’.

Getting involved is as simple as hosting a SafeTea event to start a conversation about health and safety in the workplace. Safe Work Australia has a number of SafeTea Resources organisations can download and use for their events.

The Northern Territory’s Work Health and Safety Regulator Peggy Cheong encouraged all Territorians and Territory organisations to get involved in the month and recommit to improving safety at their workplace.

“The Key Work Health and Safety Statistics by Safe Work Australia showed 200 Australian workers were fatally injured at work in 2023,” she said.

“Five of those workers were killed in the Northern Territory and the national figure last year was slightly higher than 2022.

“The Territory’s fatality rate remains the highest in Australia at 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers, compared to the national fatality rate of 1.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

“A lot more can be done by Territory organisations and workers to address workplace safety, and a perfect staring point is during National Safe Work Month,” Cheong said.

Article sourced: ECD online

Electricity sector jobs forecast to double by 2029

Research from the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) in collaboration with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has shown that the nation might soon face a worrying lack of the type of electrical skills needed to manage Australia’s energy transition.

The study was facilitated by the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (RACE for 2030).

Electricity sector jobs are forecast to double by 2029 – an increase of 33,000 in just five years in the most likely scenario of the 2024 Integrated System Plan (ISP).

The majority of these new jobs will be in renewable energy, with wind, solar and battery storage dominating. According to the report, operations and maintenance roles will be increasingly important; they are expected to account for 65% of the electricity sector workforce by 2033.

The rapid expansion of the renewable energy sector will place a significant strain on the labour market.

Key challenges identified in the report include:

  • Skills shortages: The demand for a range of skilled workers, including electricians, mechanical trades and engineers, will increase substantially, potentially causing project delays. The renewable energy sector currently invests very little in skills development and training, as noted by Jobs and Skills Australia in a recent report.
  • Boom-bust cycles: The construction-heavy nature of renewable energy projects will see a highly variable workforce with a risk of boom-bust cycles. This reduces national, regional and local opportunities as it becomes much harder to train and retain a stable workforce.
  • Regional challenges: Many renewable energy projects are located in remote areas, which will be competing for labour with infrastructure projects in big cities.

To read the full report as well as individual state reports, visit https://racefor2030.com.au/project/australian-electricity-workforce-for-the-2024-integrated-system-plan . Sourced ECD online

NECA Market Monitor

The only Australia-wide survey for the electrical and communications contracting industry

NECA’s Market Monitor biennial survey is Australia’s most comprehensive electrotechnology industry survey, monitoring the electrical and communications sector for the past decade.

To participate in the survey click here or scan the QR code below

As a respondent, you will receive an exclusive report by state and business size, including:

  • Industry charging methods
  • Call-out fees
  • Hourly rates for tradesmen
  • Apprentice hourly rates by year
  • Key industry trends and concerns

The survey closes on 30 November 2024.

PARTICIPATE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN:

  • 1 x Schneider Electric EVlink Home charging station
  • 1 x Clipsal Wiser starter pack
  • 4 x $250 Ampol cash gift cards
  • 5 x NHP packs including 1 x ISO Extension Socket and 1 x ISO Appliance Inlet
  • 20 x CABAC Premium Push Button Digital Dimmers