Wireline remote control of Spectra mobile

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andy08816
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Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 6:52 pm

Wireline remote control of Spectra mobile

Post by andy08816 »

A nearby police department uses a Spectra mobile as a repeater control station at their front desk. I got a few Motorola telephone-style tone remote control units and would like to have comments from anyone who has hung a wire-line remote control panel onto a Spectra mobile.

Thanks.
Jim202
Posts: 3610
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Wireline remote control of Spectra mobile

Post by Jim202 »

The first statement that needs to be made is don't go playing with the radio unless you have the required
test equipment to set everything with.

With that said, you will need a tone remote control adapter board to be able to control the radio. There
are a number of companies that make these boards. Many of the companies will be able to provide the
wiring instructions on how to connect the tone adapter to the radio.

You will need to run some sort of cable pair from the radio location to the tone remote control locations.
Normally this is done with some sort of regular telephone cable or Cat5 type cable. You need to use
some sort of twisted pair to reduce the hum and noise pickup.

Make sure that only one of the tone remote adapters has the 600 Ohm termination resistor installed.
Otherwise, you will load down the line and it will be hard to adjust the audio levels. Set the high level
guard tone output to about zero db. This will place the audio levels about where you will want to run
them. Another way is to key the tone remote with no audio and set the output level no higher than a negative 20 db. This is the low level guard tone output that is used to keep the transmitter keyed.

Now that you have got both or the multiple tone remote control units adjusted, it is time to set the
transmitter audio levels. This will take a second person. One to key the tone remote control unit and
you at the transmitter. You will also need a service monitor to measure the transmitter deviation. It
will take the person at the tone remote to bellow a steady audio level while you measure the deviation.
Normally the radio grunts use a steady 5 ive for a number of seconds duration to get the reading.

If you can't measure the db level or don't have a service monitor, then your not going to be able to
make the proper adjustment of the system. Get the pro's to do the work for you. They will have the
needed test equipment and know what the adjustments should be.

Then again as I travel around the country looking and measuring some of the public safety radio systems,
I have to wonder just what the local radio shops thought they were doing. I have seen these audio
settings and transmitter deviation adjustments be all over the place. Even the next radio over is not
set the same. Some end up with low audio and others have too much gain and you can hear people
walking on the floor in the background.

Jim


andy08816 wrote:A nearby police department uses a Spectra mobile as a repeater control station at their front desk. I got a few Motorola telephone-style tone remote control units and would like to have comments from anyone who has hung a wire-line remote control panel onto a Spectra mobile.

Thanks.
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