Batboard

I work for a dispatching company that uses Zetron 4217B consoles with a 4020 rack for the cards. There are 6 cards, with 2 "channels" on each. Here is my question:
We are dropping dispatching services on a company that one of these cards is on. Actually, this service uses 5 total channels, spread out on 4 cards. The current frequencies in use are not owned by my company, and will be used by the company that will take over dispatching services. Without calling our local radio shop, is there a way that I can turn off these cards without removing them? 2 of the cards are also used for other things, so removing them would create a problem with the other services we dispatch for. I see little switches that say "BTI, OPT, OPT, FD" with ON and OFF written on the cards themselves. Can I change any of these to do what I'm looking to do? What are these little switches for?


Thanks in advance. I'm good with /\/\, but this Zetron stuff is new to me.

This is a good thing to ask questions first.



Somewhere between the card cage & the radios should, I repeat should be a punch-block to be the interface between them, and if you're lucky, is what we call a 'split block'; wires are punched down (or a connector clamped in ) on one side, and then the 'radio' equipment on the other side. Each row of 4 contact pins is one wire, and the two contacts on one side are electrically separate from the two contacts on the other side, and the connection is made with a 'bridging clip' (forgive me if you already know this). Put simply, if you remove those clips, you remove the radio from the console electronics.

Ah, but which ones, I hear you cry? That is going to take some serious detective work. Ya don't wanna take the wrong ones, eh?

There is an order to how the blocks are laid out in conjunction with the cards, but I'll have to look it up.

I'll have to look up what the switches for, too; but they're not for what you want.

And you may still have to call your local shop, presumably the one who put it in/services it.

I second the advise - pull the bridge clips. If you have a leased line to serve that customer, call the telco and cancel it. If you have a radio & antenna for that customer, turn it off and have them come pick it up.

There are a couple of manuals that you should be able to download from the Zetron web site. These should be
available in a PDF file for you to download.

Look for 025-09533 for the series 4000 console. (7.6 meg)

Also try the 025-9227 manual for the 4010, that will also provide the 66 block connection information. (3.4 meg)

Jim

KB4 is correct.

And to try to simplify matters:

Your console numbers "channels" based on the channel card slots, as follows:

Ch. 1 = Slot 1, A half.
Ch. 2 = Slot 1, B half.
Ch. 3 = Slot 2, A half.
Ch. 4 = Slot 2, B half.
and so forth.

The console backplane connects to split 66 blocks via RJ21 telco cables, and each block breaks out two channel cards (or four channels).

Ch. 1 = PDB 1, A segment.
Ch. 2 = PDB 1, B segment.
Ch. 3 = PDB 1, C segment.
Ch. 4 = PDB 1, D segment.
and so forth.

The Tx pairs on the PDB are as follows:

A = 29, 4
B = 35, 10
C = 41, 16
D = 47, 22.

The Rx pairs are the next ones down:

A = 30, 5
B = 36, 11
C = 42, 17
D = 48, 23

Not to be prissy, but if your console was installed properly, the channels should have been labelled on the DCC cards and on the PDBs.

I am looking for the series 4000 manuals online and cannot find them. I have emailed my Zetron rep for access to the service side of the website, but am still in a holding pattern for that. Can anyone point me in the right direction for said manuals? I am having an issue where a trunked EDACS radio hangs up the console (console refuses to accept input for X amount of time after the dispatcher unkeys). Thank you, FatBoy.