Philippine Electronics Code - Cable Television System BOOK 3 Summary

Philippine Electronics Code: Cable Television System BOOK 3

Chapter 1: General Provisions

  • Cable TV systems have evolved into major providers of high-speed internet and value-added services.
  • The Electronics Code on Cable TV System provides minimum specifications & guidelines for equipment, installation, maintenance, and operation uniformity.
  • The code has 12 chapters focusing on cable TV systems in the Philippines, including reference tables and annexes for government laws.
  • Harmonized with local and international standards, but understanding actual standards is crucial.
  • The code will be revised periodically by PRC-BECE.
  • Purpose: To ensure quality signal delivery, uniform installation practices, long-term reliability, and protect other utilities from interference.
  • Scope: Structured cabling within buildings, headend systems, outside plant installations, customer premise equipment, signal leakage, analog/digital TV transmission, cable internet, grounding/bonding, cables/connectors, and testing.
  • It does not cover specific equipment brands/models.
  • Metric (SI) units are used.
  • The Board of Electronics Engineering, Professional Regulation Commission approved and adopted this code.
  • Strict adherence is directed under RA9292; deviations require written permission.
  • The Code Committee of Cable Television and the Board of Electronics Engineering will provide final interpretations in case of controversy.
  • Government bodies enforce the code.
  • Compliance Notations:
    • SHALL/SHALL NOT: Mandatory rules.
    • SHOULD/SHOULD NOT: Permissive rules (recommended options).
    • MAY: Optional rule.
  • Electronics Permit: Required before starting cable installation for specific buildings (condominiums, airports, etc.). A Professional Electronics Engineer (PECE) is required.
  • Plans and Specifications:
    • Drawing sheet sizes (A0, A1, A2, A3).
    • Appropriate metric drawing scales and graphic scales are required.
    • Contents: Location plans, legends, general notes, floor plans of headend, Cable TV distribution layout (Fiber, Coaxial, Copper Network), one-line diagrams.

Chapter 2: Service Entrance Facility

  • Scope: From outside plant to the building's main service box, covering aerial and underground installations for multi-dwelling units (MDU).
  • Single-dwelling unit (SDU) installations use RG-6 tri-shield coaxial cable or drop fiber cable.
  • Aerial Entrance:
    • Minimum vertical clearances are specified for roads, driveways, sidewalks, and railroad tracks (e.g., 5.5 meters over roads, 3.5 meters over sidewalks). 1 meter over roofs not accessible to pedestrians, 3.2 meters over balconies and roofs accessible to pedestrians
    • Horizontal clearances to walls, windows, and balconies should be 1.4 meters (4.5 feet).
    • Avoid crossing property lines.
    • Use house hooks (P-hook, J-hook, or Oval Eye-nut) for building attachment.
    • For buildings over 30 meters from the utility pole, a private pole is needed to maintain clearance.
  • Underground Entrance:
    • Building owner provides a private pole or pedestal box.
    • Underground conduits (600 mm deep) with two runs (100 mm diameter) are required.
    • Conduits extend 5.5 meters above ground; use seal plugs/weather heads.
    • No 90° bends; standard radius.
    • Handholes every 50 meters, sized 610mm x 910 mm.
    • Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) requires 3-meter fiber slack for maintenance.
  • Service Entrance Cable: * Can be coaxial or fiber optic cable.
    • Minimum 0.500 coaxial cable, solid aluminum, 75 ohms.
  • Service Entrance Pull Box:
    * Installed on building wall at 1.5 meter height, sized 915 mm (H) x 610 mm (W) x 305 mm (D).

Chapter 3: Backbone Distribution System

  • Scope: Interconnection between entrance facilities, headend equipment, and horizontal distribution within a building. Includes cables, amplifiers, nodes, OLT, power supplies, NAP, CMTS, and ODF; extends between buildings in a campus.
  • Recognized Backbone Cables:
    • Depending on network topology (coaxial, HFC, FTTH, IP-based).
    • Vertical/Horizontal Cables: 500 Coaxial, Fiber Optic (Single/Multimode), Category-6 Copper Cable (UTP, SCTP).
    • Cables should be indoor/outdoor, fire-rated.
    • Coaxial: Tree and branch architecture.
    • Fiber: Star topology with ODF or NAP at center.
    • Copper: Star topology with patch panels at center.
  • Minimum conduit diameter for cable broadband installation:
    • Service Entrance: 2 x 100 mm (PVC or IMC).
    • Service Entrance Pull Box to Main Pull Box: 2 x 50 mm (PVC or IMC).
    • Riser (Vertical-Backbone): 2 x 50 mm (PVC or IMC).
    • Feeder (Horizontal-Backbone): 1 x 50 mm (PVC or IMC).
  • Pull boxes on all floors, sizes depend on the devices required:
    • Pedestal Box: 915mm x 610mm x 305mm. Providing Electrical outlet (220 Vac) at the basement , equipment room, wall space.
    • Main Pull Box/ Distribution Pull Box /Splice Pull Box
  • Building provides space for pull boxes for equipment and devices
  • Pull boxes can be interconnected through conduit sleeves or slots.

Chapter 4: Horizontal Distribution System

  • Recognized Cables: RG-6 coaxial, single-mode fiber, multimode fiber (50/125 μm or 62.5/125μm), and Category 6 copper cable (UTP, SCTP).
  • Horizontal Distribution Pathways:
    • Home-run wiring from work area outlets to backbone.
    • Careful design for changes, minimal disruption, and future additions.
    • Consideration of EMI sources (motors, generators, etc.).
    • Junction box (254mm x 254mm x 152mm) for indoor amplifier/splitter, 20 mm conduit pathway.
    • Conduit pathways with limited bends (90° max), no continuous sections longer than 30 m.
    • Conduit fill ratio: 1:1 for coaxial, 40% for copper/fiber.
    • Cable tray fill: 25% initial, 50% max; physical barrier if power cables included.
  • Design Considerations:
    • Coaxial Cable: Maximum lengths based on channel loading.
    • Copper Cable: Limited horizontal cable and combined length of equipment cables.
    • Fiber Optic Cable Infrastructure: Length combinations acceptable, but must meet the input/output specifications of the optical subscriber terminal.

Chapter 5: Work Area

  • Scope: Specifications from subscriber outlet to subscriber terminal.
  • At least one TV outlet box per room :
    • Dimension: L(Length) 68.8 mm x H(Height) 35.1 mm x T (Depth) 30.5 mm
    • Wall plates: 75 ohms barrel splice "F" female
    • 15 cm apart from electrical outlet but at the same level
  • Minimum of one (1) meter length of patchcord (coaxial, fiber, UTP) should be provided.
  • Coaxial patch cord: RG-6 single shield and 90% braid.
  • RG-6 coaxial patch cord must be compression type.
  • Category 5e or Category 6 copper wire patchcord for UTP wire, cable jacket should be blue in color.
  • Fiber optic patch cord use FC, LC, SC, or ST connectors.

Chapter 6: Outside Plant System

  • Scope: Aerial installation of coaxial and fiber optic cable, optical node, amplifier, splitters, coupler, closure, and power supply on the pole. Consideration of grounding and bonding.
  • Professional Electronics Engineer or Licensed Electronics Engineers to install and maintain Outside Plant.
  • Personal protective equipment and proper tools must be used.
  • Joint Pole Agreement (JPA) is required for joint pole attachments.
  • Avoid installing on:
    • Defective poles
    • Poles too short
    • Transmission Poles for Electrical Utility
    • Poles used for guying
    • Non-contracted poles
    • Poles scheduled or identified for pole clearing
    • Prohibited poles listed in the joint pole agreement.
  • Color-coding of cables to ID cable ownership to be applied at least every other pole for straight run and on every corner.
  • Minimum clearances observed between cable and electric utility wires:
    * Electric utility primary wire: 2560 mm (8.2 feet).
    * Electric utility secondary wire: 760 mm
    * Cable TV and Communication Company cables: 300 mm .
  • Following mid-span clearances above the ground shall be observed at all times for safety purposes:
    • Accessible to pedestrians: 3.5 meters (11.5 feet)
    • Residential drive ways: 4.7 meters (15.5 feet)
    • Non-residential areas: 4.7 meters (15.5 feet) (not for truck traffic) ,5.5 meters (18 feet) (for truck traffic)
  • Power supply unit requires independent pole installation with individual metering.
  • Heat shrink to all pin-type connectors with at least 5 mm of tube covering outer jacket of the cable.
  • Adequate guying is essential to prevent the pole from leaning or breaking.
  • Grounding and Bonding is implemented to protect personnel from electric shock and minimizes the destructive effects of lighting, ground resistance measured at any point in the grounding system shall not be greater than 25.0 ohms.

Chapter 7: Headend (Core) System

  • Scope: covers the general guidelines and installation of antenna, tower, and equipment facility to facilitate the technical operation of cable TV system efficiently.
  • Towers, Antenna, Satellite Dish:
    • Equipped with lightning protection and grounding conductor.
    • Lightning rods: 2.4 meter long, 16 mm in diameter.
    • Ground resistance should not be greater than 5.0 ohms.
    • Comply with National Structural Code of the Philippines(wind loading) and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)(tower requirements).
  • Headend Facility Site should be :
    • Free from interference and obstructions
    • Nearest the area to be served , To the antenna system
  • Adequate space to facilitate access equipment (1 meter minimum working space), Headend high should be 3 meters (10 feet)
  • Equipment rack:
    • Dimensions of 600 mm (Width) x 900 mm(Depth) x 2130 mm(Height)
    • Each equipment rack shall equipped with two 152 cm (60 in) power distribution strips
  • HVAC of headend : maintained at 20 °C (68 °F) temperature.
  • Signal leakage should be limited to 20 micro-volt/meter, measured at 3 meters distance around the building.
  • The facility should have adequate lighting (minimum of 500 lux or 50 footcandles measured 2.6 meters above finish floor).
  • Overhead cable trays with minimum 300 mm width and 150 mm depth. Clearance above the rack 300 mm and from ceiling at least 600 mm.

Chapter 8: Technical Operating Parameters

  • This section covers the technical parameters of RF signal over the outside plant to ensure the quality of signal at the subscriber terminal.

  • Analog Transmission :
    * Frequency Range : 54 MHz to 1002 MHz

  • Digital Transmission (DVB-C standards):

    • RF Frequency Range: 54 MHz to 1002 MHz.

  • Cable Internet. (DOCSIS):

    • The RF plant shall meet the following requirements to ensure continued operation,Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Signal Level as Relative to Adjacent Video Signal

Chapter 9: Signal Leakage

  • 9.1 Interference due to signal leakage may affect other communication facilities particularly the radio navigation services,
  • 9.2 signal leakages from a cable television system to 20 microvolt/meter at 3 meters distance and measurement using a field strength meter of adequate accuracy using a cut-to-channel horizontal dipole antenna tuned to any frequency from 54 MHz to 216 MHz shall be employed measuring . Channel bandwidth for measurement shall be 6 MHz.
  • Documentation shall include:
    • identification of the instruments, specifying the makes, model numbers, and the most recent date of calibration,
    • a description of the procedures utilized
    • Name of person who conducted the test
    • Attested by registered and licensed PECE/Electronics Engineer.

Chapter 10: Grounding and Bonding

  • The primary is to protect personnel

  • Secondary purpose is to establish common reference voltage

  • Effective Ground Path
    * Permanent and continuous
    * Have capacity to conduct safely any fault current likely to be imposed on it
    * Sufficiently low impedance to limit the voltage to ground and to facilitate the operation of the circuit protection devices.

Chapter 11: Cables and Connectors

  • Provide acceptable electrical and mechanical specifications of the cables used for cable TV and broadband applications.
  • Three Types of cable widely used:
    • Hardline Coaxial Cable, 75 Ohms
    • Braided Coaxial Cable, 75 Ohms
    • Copper Cable, UTP
    • Fiber Optic Cable

Chapter 12: Testing

  • This section demonstrates the technical test procedure of coaxial cable and optical fiber cable to measure their losses prior to installation.
  • Coaxial Cable:
    • The frequency response and cable loss of coaxial cable shall be measured using the RF network analyzer,Velocity of Propagation use MTDR meter
  • Fiber Optic Cable:
    • Material should be: test source, Optical power meter, Launch and receive reference cables, Mating adapters compatible to connectors, and cleaning supplies.
    • Clean all connectors and mating adapters