CPI & Codan BUC Commands

CPI Codan BUCs are used throughout the world by satellite service providers. CPI has a solid reputation for producing highly reliable and quality, with a wide range of RF equipment for the Satellite, Broadcasting, Military and many more industries.

These BUCs can be accessed by a serial cable, Hand Held Controller (HHC) or a Frequency Shift Key (FSK) module for configuration, fault finding and maintenance. In this post we are explaining how to connect by a laptop serial cable and the commands you will need. The commands are always the same however you are connected to the BUC.

Connecting to a CPI CODAN BUC

Most of the BUCs have a serial interface that provides Command Line Access (CLI) access to the BUC, normally labelled M&C (Management and Control).

You will need a serial to USB adaptor, your laptop, a serial cable and a software terminal programme like Putty.

Connecting to the BUC if straight forward using an 18 way Mil spec connector. These cables are available to buy from CPI or you can make your own using the pinout below.

If you do not have one of these you can temporally use some jumper wires to connect from a USB to serial adaptor.

Connect your laptop to the BUC and select the correct USB port (look in device manager if you are unsure or cannot connect).

There is no username or password on these BUCs, so just press enter to get the command prompt.

CPI Codan BUC Commands

When you are connected to the BUC then you can start to change the factory configuration, set the actuation, look at any faults, reset fault, reset the BUC and much more.

All of the command are three letters for example HLP, VSS, etc.

The first letter of the command determines the type of command:

• H = Help
• V = View
• S = Set
• R = Reset
• O = Output

The last two letters define the command

I won’t go through all of the commands here but these are some ones that I have found useful.

It’s pretty easy to figure out where you need to set the parameters or view any faults that might have occurred.

HLP – Lists the Help commands.

VSS – Displays the status and parameter settings of the BUC.

VOD – Displays the operational data of the BUC. Check the temperature and output power level.

VFS – Displays the fault status of the BUC.  It displays both current faults and latched faults that have previously occurred but may have since cleared.

VID – Displays the identification and configuration data of the BUC.

VLD – Displays the frequency and power ranges for the BUC. This is where you can check the Local Oscillator (LO) frequency.

VBS – Displays the build standard information of the BUC

RLF –  Clears all latched faults except those that are still current.

Setting VSAT BUC Attenuation

STAn –  Sets the transmit attenuation of the BUC in dB.
n = 0 to 12 dB in 4 dB steps for 6700/6900 series BUCs
n = 0 to 15 dB in 1 dB steps for 7700/7900 series BUCs

Attenuation Settings

Maximum gain is at an attenuation setting of 0 dB.

To minimise the possible effects of interference it is preferable to have a high transmit attenuation and a high IF level from the modem. Therefore, the BUC attenuation should be set as high as possible, consistent with the required BUC output power, transmit IF cable loss and maximum IF output level capability of the modem.

SATn – Set Pwr Alarm Thresh Function Sets a threshold (in dBm) below which an output power alarm is reported (see VFS command).
n = value within the allowable threshold range for your BUC
n = 0, disables the output power alarm (default)