APPENDIX D NARROWBAND RADIO

CONFIGURATION

DNarrowband Radio Configuration

Narrowband Radio Setup

IMPORTANT

For Narrowband radios, always attach the antenna, following the instructions on the package, before connecting the power supply.

Only when the antenna is installed:

• Remove the battery cover, insert the battery, and replace the battery cover.

To display the Narrowband screens and the Control Panel:

• Click on the Narrowband icon in the taskbar.

Keep in mind that the Narrowband icon is only visible when a Narrowband radio is installed in the unit.

• Click on the Control Panel icon in the bottom-right corner of the Statistics screen to display the additional

Narrowband screens.

D - 2 VH10 Vehicle-Mount Computer User Guide

Basic Tab

CH (Channel)

CH displays the current channel. This value may change when a channel is out of range. Active channels are assigned in the Channels tab (see Channels Tab on page D-3 ).

CQ (Channel Quality)

This option displays the channel quality. CQ (Channel Quality) can be affected by the Channel switch speed set in the Channels tab.

RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator)

RSSI is an indication of the power level being received by the antenna. The higher the RSSI number, the stronger the signal.

Radio Address

If auto radio address is enabled, the hand-held requests an automatically assigned radio address. When auto is selected, the next field in which a radio address can be entered manually, is not available.

The field to the right of auto is used to assign a radio address manually. Manually assigned radio addresses must be predetermined by the system administrator before this field is completed. A unique value from 1 to

3840 must be assigned for each unit to identify each hand-held over the radio link. Initially, this field is set to 0 to prevent radio communication.

Starting Channel

This parameter determines the initial operating radio channel of the hand-held. When the unit is first powered on and channel selection is set to auto (refer to Radio Address on page D-2 ), a starting channel is automatically chosen. Otherwise, a channel from one to twenty can be chosen from the drop-down menu. Keep in mind that only the channels that have been enabled are listed here.

Radio Information

This information is read from the radio installed in the unit and is not editable.

Import from XML File and Export to XML File

Import from XML file allows you to use a configuration that has already been created to set up your unit.

Export to XML can be used to clone a radio setup so that configuration need only be completed once and can then be copied to an unlimited number of devices.

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• Configure the device once.

• Choose Export to XML file to export the configuration to an XML file – it will be named NBRadio_Set-

tings.xml automatically in the My Device folder.

• Copy the file to your PC or a USB key, and rename it to NBRadio_AutoLoadSettings.xml.

• On a new unit, copy this file to the root directory (the My Device folder).

• Warm reset the unit.

The XML file will be auto-loaded onto the device (and deleted). The device is ready for use.

Channels Tab

This tab lists the channel frequency pairs. Channels can be enabled or disabled here. Refer to Edit Channel

Frequencies on page D-4 to learn how to add or edit frequencies.

WARNING!

Do not add frequencies that are not applicable to your license.

Channel Switch Speed

This parameter changes the threshold the hand-held uses to determine when communication quality with a base station is unacceptable. When this threshold is exceeded, the unit starts channel searching for a new base station.

Setting this parameter to Slow means a higher threshold – the hand-held is more tolerant of poor communication quality. When the channel quality of the hand-held radio drops below the percentage assigned in the

Advanced tab under Low CQ (note that data in this tab can only be changed by authorized personnel), the unit monitors the channel quality for 15 time-out periods before searching for a new channel. If Channel Switch

Speed is set to Fast, the current channel is only monitored for up to 2 time-out periods before channel switching begins.

IMPORTANT

Fast switch speed is most effective where coverage areas are largely overlapping. If the coverage areas barely overlap, have dead spots, or if the hand-held frequently operates on the fringe of coverage, this parameter should be set to Slow.

D - 4 VH10 Vehicle-Mount Computer User Guide

Edit Channel Frequencies

• Click on the Edit channel frequencies button in the bottom-left corner of the tab to display the Edit dialog box.

• In the appropriate channel field, type the Receive and Transmit frequency for the channel, and click OK.

You can either edit an existing frequency if required or assign new frequencies for a new channel, keeping in mind that you can only use frequency pairs assigned to your license.

Edit Switch Order

When a channel is out of range, the Edit switch order screen allows you to indicate the order in which channels will switch. Edit switch order (the button) is rarely used. It is used when the order of channel switching needs to be tightly controlled. It is not recommended that Edit switch order be used without a clear understanding of how to order the channel sequences for optimum performance.

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• Highlight the channel you want to edit in the Channel tab before clicking on the Edit switch order button.

• Next, tap on the Edit switch order button in the lower-right corner of the Channel tab to configure channel switching order.

• Tap on the channel numbers in the order you want them to switch – in the sample screen for example, you can click on channels 1, 2 and 3 in the order you want the channels to switch.

• Click on OK.

IMPORTANT

With manual channel switch order specified, the channels will be switched exactly as stated. It is important to also include the original channel at the end of the manual switch order as the example above shows (original channel is #3). This allows the radio to return to this original channel if for some reason the other channels cannot be reached.

IMPORTANT

Clicking on Auto clears the manually selected channel order.

The manually ordered channels are listed in the Manual switch order column in the Channels tab.

• Scroll to the right to display the manually ordered channels.

If communication quality falls below the channel quality percentage specified in the Advanced tab under

Low CQ (note that this tab is restricted to authorized personnel), only the channels entered in the Manual

switch order are considered for channel switching. The channel search is carried out in the order in which the channels were selected.