A system and method for configuring an equalizer 48 for a transmission link includes a computer 82 that forms a mathematical model of an analog equalizer having a plurality of mathematical model filter stages. The computer 82 determines a desired response and tunes each of the plurality of mathematical model filter stages toward the desired response to form a plurality of model filter parameters to compensate for distortions in the transmission link. The equalizer 48 is coupled to the RF chain. The plurality of filter stages is tuned in response to the filter parameters. The RF signals are broadcast in response to analog equalizer.