- What the 11 Domains Actually Are
- Exam Format and Logistics at a Glance
- Domains 1-5: Theory and Hardware
- Domains 6-8: Site Surveys, Receivers, and Integration
- Domains 9-11: Internet, Troubleshooting, and Safety
- Reading a 2013 Outline in 2026
- Standalone CSI, Journeyman, and Endorsements
- Sequencing the Domains in Your Study Plan
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Certified Satellite Installer outline from ETA International lists 11 unweighted competency headings; no percentage blueprint is published.
- The base exam has 50 questions, a two-hour limit, and a 75% passing score, with no hands-on assessment.
- The published competency document dates to 2013, so expect legacy products alongside present-day equipment.
- Antenna, C/Ku, Commercial, and SMATV endorsements are separate $65 exams, not extra base domains.
What the 11 Domains Actually Are
Before memorizing anything, understand what kind of document you are studying from. ETA International publishes competency requirements for the Certified Satellite Installer credential, and ETA states that these competency requirements are the basis for examination questions. The 11 headings covered in this guide are objectives 1.0 through 11.0 of Section A, titled "BASIC - CSI, Small Dish Capabilities." Later sections of the same document (B through E) describe separate endorsements and are deliberately excluded here.
Two honest caveats shape how you should read the outline. First, these are unweighted headings. ETA does not publish a percentage-by-domain blueprint, so any site claiming "Domain 4 is 12% of the exam" is inventing a number. Second, the headings are competency categories, not a guaranteed table of contents for the question pool. The best use of the outline is as a checklist of subject areas you must be able to discuss fluently, not a prediction of question counts.
If you are new to the credential itself, start with What Is CSI Certification? for the big picture, then return here for the domain-by-domain breakdown. For a full preparation framework built around these domains, the CSI Study Guide is the companion piece to this article.
Exam Format and Logistics at a Glance
Knowing the container makes the content easier to plan for. The details below come from ETA's published certification listings and administration pages.
| Item | Published detail |
|---|---|
| Issuer | ETA International |
| Base exam fee | $80 (current ETA listing) |
| Questions | 50 |
| Time limit | Two hours |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Hands-on component | None |
| Retake | One free retake within one year; proctoring charges remain separate |
| Certification term | Four years, with maintenance required |
| Delivery | Proctored via an ETA Certification Administrator, online through Trapeza, or paper/pencil |
| Remote proctoring | ExamRoom.AI, registered through ETA, adds $16 for the two-hour exam |
Some practical points deserve emphasis. Test guidance calls for photo identification and allows scratch paper and nonprogrammable or scientific calculators under the stated rules; phones are excluded, and used scratch paper must be returned. Delivery mode does not tell you the question format or grant any open-book entitlement, so do not assume either. A 75% threshold on 50 questions is a passing standard, not a population pass rate; for what the available evidence does and does not say about outcomes, see CSI Pass Rate. The exact threshold is unpacked further in CSI Passing Score, and the full fee picture, including the legacy-price confusion some third-party pages perpetuate, is in CSI Certification Cost.
Domains 1-5: Theory and Hardware
The first five domains build the vocabulary and component knowledge that every later domain assumes. A candidate who skims them will struggle with site surveys, troubleshooting, and signal-chain questions, because those domains reuse the same concepts in applied form.
Domain 1: Satellite Communications History and Theory
Satellite Communications History and Theory
This is the conceptual foundation: how signals travel from an uplink through a satellite to a ground installation, and why the physics dictates what installers do on a roof.
- Why geostationary satellites appear fixed in the sky and how that drives fixed-dish pointing
- Frequency bands in common use and why band choice affects dish size and weather sensitivity
- Polarization concepts and their role in alignment and feed orientation
- Basic signal terminology you will meet again in troubleshooting questions
Historical questions, when they appear, tend to reward understanding of why the technology evolved, not memorizing dates. Tie each historical development to a practical consequence for equipment.
Domain 2: Satellite Dish Reflectors
Satellite Dish Reflectors
The reflector gathers and focuses the signal. Expect questions on geometry and its installation consequences.
- Prime-focus versus offset designs and how each focuses energy onto the feed
- How reflector size relates to gain and to the margin available in poor weather
- Surface condition, mounting rigidity, and why small physical deformations degrade signal
- Mount types and the practical effect of a mount that shifts over time
Domain 3: Cabling
Cabling
Cabling is where many field problems hide, which makes it fertile ground for scenario questions.
- Coaxial cable types, construction, and why quality and attenuation matter at satellite frequencies
- Connector selection and proper installation, including weatherproofing outdoors
- Grounding and bonding of the cable run
- Cable length, loss, and when signal-boosting becomes relevant
Domain 4: Amplifiers
Amplifiers
Amplifier questions test whether you know where in the signal chain boosting helps and where it creates new problems.
- Purpose of amplification in long runs or distribution scenarios
- Gain, noise contribution, and the risk of overdriving downstream equipment
- Powering considerations and how power is passed through the line
Domain 5: Satellite Dish Feed-horns, LNBs and LNBFs
Feed-horns, LNBs and LNBFs
The feed-horn and low-noise block converter sit at the dish focal point and determine signal quality at the very start of the chain.
- The role of the feed-horn in collecting reflected energy
- What an LNB does: amplifying a weak signal and converting it to a lower frequency for the cable
- How an LNBF integrates the feed-horn and LNB, and why that matters for installation
- Noise figure as a concept and why a quality LNB affects the weakest signals
- Skew and polarization adjustment at the feed
Key Takeaway
Domains 1-5 describe a single signal path from sky to cable. Study them as a chain (reflector, feed, LNB/LNBF, cable, amplifier) rather than five separate lists, because exam scenarios will ask what happens downstream when one link is degraded.
Domains 6-8: Site Surveys, Receivers, and Integration
Domain 6: Satellite System Installation - Site Surveys
This domain is the most directly "installer" part of the outline. A site survey determines whether a given location can support a working system before anyone drills a hole.
Site Surveys
Think like an installer walking a property: what blocks the view, what is safe, and what will last.
- Determining satellite look angles (azimuth and elevation) for a location
- Identifying line-of-sight obstructions such as trees, buildings, and seasonal foliage growth
- Choosing a mounting location that balances signal, structural soundness, and cable routing
- Planning the cable path, entry point, and grounding before installation begins
- Using a compass and inclinometer-style measurements in the field
Domain 7: Satellite Receivers - Digital Technology
Receivers and Digital Technology
The receiver turns the delivered signal into usable programming, and the outline emphasizes digital technology.
- Fundamentals of digital video transmission and why digital signals fail differently than analog ones
- Tuning, demodulation, and decoding at a conceptual level
- Conditional access and why a receiver can show a good signal yet no picture
- Menu-driven setup, signal-strength and quality indicators, and what they tell you
One useful distinction to internalize: signal strength and signal quality are not the same thing, and questions may probe whether you can tell which meter reading points to which kind of fault.
Domain 8: Interfacing With Other Consumer Electronics Equipment
Interfacing With Consumer Electronics
A working satellite system must coexist with televisions, recorders, audio gear, and other devices a customer already owns.
- Connection types between receivers and displays or audio systems
- Distributing a signal to multiple outlets or rooms
- Avoiding interference between satellite distribution and other in-home signals
- Basic remote-control and input-selection issues that generate customer callbacks
Domains 9-11: Internet, Troubleshooting, and Safety
Domain 9: Transmission - Internet Systems
Internet Systems
Satellite is not only for television. This domain covers how data services ride on satellite links and what that means for the installer.
- How satellite internet differs from one-way broadcast reception
- The concept of latency inherent to a long signal path
- The relationship between the dish, the modem, and the customer's network
- Why alignment precision matters even more for two-way services
Domain 10: Troubleshooting, Repairs, Sun Outage
Troubleshooting, Repairs, and Sun Outage
This domain rewards candidates who can reason from symptom to cause.
- A systematic approach: verify the symptom, isolate the section of the signal chain, then fix
- Distinguishing a dish, cable, connector, LNB, or receiver fault from the evidence available
- Weather-related fade versus a true equipment failure
- Sun outage: why the sun passing behind the satellite from the dish's viewpoint briefly disrupts reception, and why it is predictable rather than a fault
Sun outage is a classic trap for the unprepared: it looks like a failure but is not one, and the correct answer is usually to recognize the pattern and wait it out instead of replacing parts.
Domain 11: Safety
Safety
Safety is the final heading, but in practice it governs every other domain.
- Working at height, ladder use, and roof hazards
- Electrical hazards, including proximity to overhead power lines
- Grounding and bonding of the dish and cable to reduce lightning and surge risk
- Safe handling of tools and secure mounting so equipment does not become a hazard in wind
Reading a 2013 Outline in 2026
The ETA competency document you are studying against carries a 2013 copyright date. A 2026 article date does not mean the outline was revised in 2026, and it would be misleading to imply otherwise. ETA's current exam listings confirm the base exam is still offered, but the published objectives themselves have not been verified as updated.
The practical consequence is that the outline's product references can lean legacy. Some equipment named or implied in a 2013 document differs from what a technician installs today. Treat the principles (geometry, signal chain, grounding, troubleshooting logic) as durable, and treat specific legacy products as context rather than a shopping list. When a practice question references older gear, ask which underlying principle it is testing; that principle is what transfers.
This is also why it pays to compare your sources carefully. The SBCA Satellite Fundamentals credential is a different program with its own exam specifications, and those specifications do not apply to ETA's CSI. Using another body's outline as your syllabus is a reliable way to study the wrong material.
Standalone CSI, Journeyman, and Endorsements
Three related but distinct things get blurred in search results. Keeping them separate protects you from paying for or studying the wrong thing.
| Item | What it is | Relation to the 11 domains |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone CSI | The base Certified Satellite Installer exam | Covers exactly the 11 headings in this guide |
| Journeyman pathway | Combines CSI with CETa or GCT1 plus two years of training/experience | Uses CSI as one component; not a separate domain set |
| Antenna, C/Ku, Commercial, SMATV endorsements | Separate $65 exams | Not additional base domains; outside this guide's scope |
ETA's current listing discounts the base exam by half when taken with an endorsement in the same session, but that pricing detail does not broaden what the base exam covers. If you are weighing whether to add an endorsement later, finish the base domains first. For the career-side questions of whether the credential pays off, the evidence is laid out in Is the CSI Certification Worth It?, and earnings context, including the difference between occupational pay and any unproven certification premium, is in CSI Salary Guide. If you are exploring who employs certified installers, CSI Jobs covers that landscape.
Maintenance is worth knowing up front. For this non-hands-on credential, the published route requires the maintenance form and $25 per year ($100 per four-year cycle), with either 10 continuing-education hours annually (40 over four years) or qualifying employer verification. Do not confuse this with the separate rules that apply to hands-on credentials.
Sequencing the Domains in Your Study Plan
With no published weighting, the sensible approach is to sequence by dependency rather than by guessed importance. Foundational domains come first because later ones reuse their vocabulary. Here is one way to schedule them over four weeks, adjustable to your background.
Signal path foundations
- Domain 1 theory, then Domains 2 and 5 (reflector, feed-horn, LNB/LNBF)
- Sketch the full signal chain from memory at the end of the week
Distribution and survey
- Domains 3 and 4 (cabling, amplifiers)
- Domain 6 (site surveys), working through look-angle and obstruction scenarios
Receivers, integration, data
- Domains 7, 8, and 9
- Practice distinguishing signal strength from signal quality
Applied reasoning and safety
- Domain 10 troubleshooting scenarios, including sun outage
- Domain 11 safety review, then mixed practice across all domains
The reasoning is simple: troubleshooting only makes sense once you know every component it diagnoses, so Domain 10 belongs late. Safety is placed last for a final review but, as noted, it deserves real attention rather than a rushed pass. Use timed mixed sets against the main practice test site to rehearse the two-hour, 50-question pacing, and revisit weak domains with targeted sets. A condensed refresher of key facts is available in the CSI Cheat Sheet, and an honest read on difficulty is in How Hard Is the CSI Exam?. When you are ready to book, CSI Exam Dates explains scheduling mechanics, and you can sharpen weak spots anytime with CSI practice questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
No weighting is published. ETA lists the 11 competency headings without percentages, so treat all domains as potentially testable and avoid sources that claim specific percentage splits.
No. Antenna, C/Ku, Commercial, and SMATV are separate $65 exams. The base Certified Satellite Installer exam covers only the 11 headings from Section A of ETA's competency requirements.
No. The base exam is not a hands-on assessment. It is 50 questions in two hours with a 75% passing score, delivered through proctored paper, Trapeza online, or ExamRoom.AI remote proctoring.
The published competency document carries a 2013 date, and no later revision was verified. The underlying principles remain valid, but expect some legacy product references and verify details with ETA before test day.
ETA lists one free retake within one year, though proctoring charges remain separate. Remote proctoring through ExamRoom.AI adds $16 for a two-hour exam, including an otherwise free eligible retake.