Quantar end of message beep

[MassFD]

Anyone know of an easy way to get a quantar to generate a short beep over the air and on the wireline when the console (tone remote) unkeys?

We have a main quantar and a backup quantar, I would like a way to tell which is being used. A beep when it unkeys would do this.

I have the expanded TRC board with full wildcard. The wildcard is very versitile so I assume that I would be able to do something with it.

Any ideas before I break out the manual


Thanks

[RKG]

A so-called courtesy beep is not an option provided with the Quantar's internal repeater controller. Most of the external controllers around provide such an option, and wiring a Quantar to, say, a Zetron 38M is pretty easy. However, you would be hardpressed to justify the expense of the board for just the coutesy beep.

[xmo]

You can easily do what you want with the Quantar's wildcard programming capability.

The station can generate a tone of specified frequency either over the air or to the wireline. Hence you can create any sort of courtesy beep or beeps for signals received over the air or from wireline PTT or external I/O [e.g. a link radio]

You could even set up different tones or sequences for different PL codes so the courtesy beep will tell you who is using the repeater.

Look at some of the previous Quantar threads for examples of how to do this. Basically you set up a wildcard table in two parts. The first part is the station states that cause the table to execute. The second part is the commands you want to happen.

For example:

STATE: LINE PTT

ACTION:
NULL

INACTION:
RF TONE ON 1200
WAIT 100
RF TONE OFF

Example sends a 1200 Hz beep for 100 ms. after every wireline dekey.

You can also use the WL TONE command to send the beep back to the console. You can put multiple commands in for multi beep sequences [lo-hi for uplink, hi-lo for downlink], make the tones whatever frequency and duration you want, etc.

Pretty much the Quantar can do whatever you can think up.

[MassFD]

Thanks Xmo

That's just what I was looking for. Right now I have the wildcard set up so that the main and backup Quantars are on the same wireline (4 wire) and by sending diffrent keying tones from the console I can set up or knock down either the main or the backup

The wildcard is great, now I will be able to tell which Quantar is actuly on line. The backup is colocated with the console but is not in an ideal location as far as RF coverage, the main is in an ideal site RF wise and would prefer that it is always used. Sometimes after the daily test of the backup they forget to switch back to the main, now they will have a reminder tone.

Thanks again

[N4DES]

Boy I can't find RF Tone On in the Inaction field anywhere and
even with the station set to analog only.

I must be missin something.

[xmo]

RF Tone On/Off and WL Tone On/Off commands are part of the Enhanced Wildcard feature set and won't show up if your wildcard type is set to Basic.

Officially, you need an 8-wire wireline card to support the Enhanced wildcard option. In an earlier thread, Dan562 posted that you can set the wildcard type to Enhanced even if all you have is a 4-wire card.

I verified that you can do this in the RSS, but I have not verified if it works properly. Obviously, you would avoid using any of the extra I/O that exists on the 8-wire card if all you have is a 4-wire card. However, many of the enhanced wildcard capabilities have nothing to do with I/O - so this would be a good trick if it works.

Also, obviously, if you create such a codeplug for your station, the hardware validation selection in the service menu will show a problem with the wrong hardware.

[N4DES]

I only have Basic and Disabled for the Wild Card as options in the Hardware Configuration. Am I missing setting something else?

Speaking of Quantar CPS, Version R14.01.00 was just delivered.

[xmo]

You have to tell the RSS that you have the 8-wire board.

[N4DES]

OK...and where exactly do you do that?

Disregard....found it.

[Dan562]

In the F2 Hardware RSS / CPS parameters.

[RKG]

Pretty good; I've come to think that with wildcard programming you can make a Quantar do almost anything including turning on the morning coffee, but it refreshing to see a new application.

However (quibble follows), shouldn't the condition be LINE PTT or RPTR PTT, so that the beep appears when subscribers key up as well as the console?

[xmo]

You certainly could do that although the example was somewhat tailored to the original post which reads: " ... when the console (tone remote) unkeys? "

[RKG]

I overlooked that.

Now, since I don't want 10,000 calls from guys in the field to the effect "What is that beep," I suppose if I limit the command to WL Tone, and I'm on a 4W duplex system, I'll hear the beeps at the console but the guys in the field will not?

[xmo]

That's the way I read the book. RF tone to the transmitter, WL tone to the wireline.

Another thing you can do with the WL tone is use it for testing the wireline. Setup a wildcard action table to generate a 1000 Hz test tone for a fixed time in response to a tone sequence from the console [like a console wildcard function tone]

If you keep records of the station RX to line level, you can put a meter on the line at the console end, send the wildcard sequence, and then measure the return level of the test tone to determine if there is excessive line loss.

If you have main and standby repeaters you could also set up a query function so a wildcard sequence from the console [rather than every PTT] would cause a high or low tone to respond.

Better yet - put SAM cards in the stations and you could query the online station status over the air - or even change it over the air - so you don't have to rely exclusively on the dispatchers.

[FMROB]

Hello All,
Could some one please eloborate on the SAM module programming and wild card programming.

My quantro has both an enhanced wild card and Sam module, both of which are doing nothing. I bouth the SAM new for RAC control, but couldn't add more than like eight MDC ID's. I also bought the SAM manual, and that was no help with the programming.

I have the station service manual, but no help in programing there either.

Is there another prgraming manual for the wild card and/or sam?

I would love to use remote set/up, knock down and have a courtesy beep.
I would also love to be able to turn on/off link radios.

Thanks, Rob

[RKG]

1. The Quantar RSS Manual (don't have p/n in front of me) has a pretty good section on Wildcard programming.

2. If you want to make an MDC repeater access system, you can't beat the Cimarron Technologies MDC readers. They even have a programming routine and relays built in for performing this function. Take a look at pages 32-33 of:

http://www.cimtechcorp.com/downloads/cplusmanual.pdf

The Cimarron alias list supposedly can handle up to 4,000 entries. I've never done one with more than about 100, but the amount of time it takes to validate an entry is so fast you can't detect it.

[ddayfarms]

I have a quantro with the enhanced wire line card and have worked on trying to get a courtesy beep using the method in this thread and can not get it to work. Has anyone got an idea why it isn't working. It sure looks like it should. I have tried for hours trying about everything I can think of.