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Entering commands on a local repeater port
When controlling from a repeater port, the controller prefix is a DTMF star “*”. For
example when entering command 123 you would key up and enter “* 1 2 3”.
After successful decoding and execution of the 123 command, the control system will
generate the function complete “beep beep”.
All DTMF digits are ignored until the “*” is entered. The controller can be configured to
either pass all non-decoded DTMF or mute all non-decoded DTMF. However, when a
star is decoded the control system will immediately mute the repeater audio until the
command executes or the command window timer expires.
Entering commands on a remote site through a link port
When controlling from a remote site through a link, each control system on the network
must have a unique address or “prefix”. All prefixes start with a pound “#” followed by
2 or 3 DTMF digits from the set 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D.
Valid prefixes include #01, #1#, #AB, #123, #A9D, etc.
Of course, if you can not use a 3 digit prefix that overlaps with a 4 digit prefix. For
example you can have #01 and #123 on the same network but you can not have #12 and
#123 on the same network.
When controlling from the link you first send the prefix of the control system you want
to control like #01. If controller #01 is listening on the network, it will respond with a
“controller ready” telemetry tone. The default tone is a common dial tone (350 Hz and
440 Hz). At this point, you can enter your command, lets say “123”. Do not ever enter a
star “*” when controlling on the link. As with the normal repeater input, you can string
together multiple commands. For example
You can send commands 123, 456 and 789 in the following way…
Key up, send #01, unkey.
Hear the dial tone from site #01
Key up and send 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, unkey
You will hear “beep beep” “beep beep” “beep beep” indicating all three commands
were executed on site #01
Note that the control system access timer, which allows commands to be received, is
active while the “dial tone” is running. If no commands are entered, after about 10
seconds, the window will time out and the control system will ignore DTMF until it is
prefixed again.
While the access window is active, as soon as a single DTMF digit is entered, it will stop
the “dial tone” and keep the window open for a few seconds. If you keep entering digits,
the window timer will refresh. If you wait too long, more than 4 seconds, the timer will
dime out and the input buffer will be flushed.