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20-62 VHF & UHF TRANSMITTER 

 

Product Manual 

 

 

 

Sea Air and Land Communications Ltd, 10 Vanadium Place, Addington, Christchurch 8024, New Zealand 

 

  March 2020 

Sacoto Connection Settings 

Choose “Device > Set up Device” from the menu or Click the “Device settings” icon to open 
the setup window. 

 

Serial Port Settings 

For USB port, physical RS-232 port on PC, or third party USB-
to-Serial adaptor. 

 

Device: 20-62 

 

Interface: Serial 

 

Serial port: Identify the COM port associated with your 
serial connection 

 

Other setting can be left as the default settings. 

To  help  identify  your  COM  port  you  can  refresh  the  list  of 
COM ports
 by clicking the “Device settings” icon from the 
main  Sacoto  window,  or  select  “Device > Set  up  device” 
from the main menu. It is not necessary to close the settings 
window  first.  Refreshing  the  list  after  a  USB  port  has  been 
plugged in, or unplugged, can help identify the COM port 
number. 

 

Ethernet Settings 

The  20-62  TCP/IP  options  must  have  been  previously 
configured  before  Sacoto  can  communicate  with  it  via 
Ethernet. This can be done through the RS-232 ports or the 
USB port. 

The 20-62 must be set up as a TCP/IP server. You need to note 
the  IP  address  and  the  port  number  when  you  previously 
configured the TCP/IP tab via the serial port. You will need to 
ensure  that  the  IP  address  is  valid.  This  is  described  in 
“Ethernet Configuration” below. 

 

Device: 20-62 

 

Interface: TCP/IP 

 

IP address: Static IP address from TCP/IP tab 

 

Port: 8234 (default) from TCP/IP tab 

 

Other setting can be left as the default settings. 

 

The connection setting are updated immediately - there is no OK button 

 

Summary of Contents for 20-62

Page 1: ...Copyright 2020 Sea Air and Land Communications Ltd All rights reserved 20 62 VHF UHF Transmitter with Ethernet PRODUCT MANUAL Version 1 3 2 March 2020 ...

Page 2: ... the fault to assist with prompt return Any unauthorised alterations or repairs will invalidate the warranty We reserve the right to change products specifications and installation data at any time without notice All information provided in this document is carefully prepared and offered in good faith as a guide in the installation and use of Salcom products Installers must ensure that the final i...

Page 3: ...and Quick Start Guide 7 Salcom Protocol 9 Sacoto Configuration Tool Quick Start Guide 10 Configuring the 20 62 using Sacoto 13 Salcom UDP TCP Test Tool 23 Virtual Serial Port over Ethernet 24 Store forward systems 26 Simulcast Modulation Delay 28 Over Temperature Cutout 30 Aerial Mismatch 31 Antenna Selection and Installation 33 Supported Messaging Protocols 34 Trouble Shooting 37 Glossary 38 Acce...

Page 4: ...lease refer to the protocol list provided in this manual Triggered messages Messages may be triggered using four input pins the battery level or a regular watchdog timer Messages may be triggering on rising or falling edges with a programmable de bounce delay The input states and the battery state may also be transmitted at startup or at regular intervals with the watchdog timer These pre programm...

Page 5: ...t this features uses a different modulation input pin to the undelayed NRZ modulation input Aerial mismatch detection When enabled the 20 62 can provide serial reporting of a disconnected or damaged antenna and reduce output power to protect the transmitter The feature must be self calibrated for each installation before use Over temperature cutout The 20 62 is protected against overheating If the...

Page 6: ...Item Description 1 12V Supply 2 Transmit LED Red 3 Power LED Green 4 USB 5 Inputs RJ45 6 Serial ports x 2 RJ12 7 Ethernet Table 2 Serial Connector RJ12 6 Table 3 Input connector RJ45 Pin Connection Pin Connection 1 Ground 1 PTT OUT 50mA max 2 Reserved 2 Ground 3 RS232 Port 2 TX 3 Trigger Input 4 4 RS232 Port 2 RX 4 Trigger Input 3 5 RS232 Port 1 TX 5 Trigger Input 2 6 RS232 Port 1 RX 6 Trigger Inp...

Page 7: ...nual Sea Air and Land Communications Ltd 10 Vanadium Place Addington Christchurch 8024 New Zealand March 2020 Physical Dimensions The 20 62 has an extruded aluminum case with a mounting flange and screw slots A dimensioned drawing is provided below ...

Page 8: ... can vary depending on antenna height and position obstructions antenna cable length local radio interference antenna specifications and the sensitivity of the receiver Important To comply with FCC Controlled Occupational Exposure Limits the aerial must be positioned or mounted to operate at least 0 26 metres 0 853 ft away from operational staff and 0 57 metres 1 87 ft away from the general public...

Page 9: ...o indicate normal standby operation ready to transmit A rapid GREEN flash indicates a low battery voltage The RED indicator will flash for a few seconds at power up if there is a problem Error messages are sent to RS232 serial port 1 Configuration The 20 62 can be entirely configured using the Salcom Sacoto configuration tool Basic configuration such as frequency power TCP IP configuration and inp...

Page 10: ...ssage up to 240 characters CR is a carriage return enter key CA or ca Usage CA pager space level space message CR Description Call alphanumeric pager Example CA1119358 1 Please return to reception CR Response CA11193581 CR SPACE Page Sent CR LF CN or cn Usage CN pager space level space message CR Description Call numeric pager Example CN1119358 1 777 CR Response CN11193581 CR SPACE Page Sent CR LF...

Page 11: ...lation The latest version of Sacoto can be downloaded from the Salcom website from the 20 62 product page Unzip the downloaded file and run setup_Sacoto_n n n exe Connecting Sacoto to the 20 62 The 20 62 can be connected to a PC via either serial port on the RJ12 connector the USB serial port or the Ethernet port as described in the getting started section above Ethernet Ethernet can only be used ...

Page 12: ...his is the opening screen of an early version of Sacoto Later versions may vary but these essential elements should remain much the same Device Menu These functions can also be accessed from the Device menu Help Advanced configuration information and general help can be found under the Help menu A brief description of each field is shown when the mouse is over each setting ...

Page 13: ...evice Set up device from the main menu It is not necessary to close the settings window first Refreshing the list after a USB port has been plugged in or unplugged can help identify the COM port number Ethernet Settings The 20 62 TCP IP options must have been previously configured before Sacoto can communicate with it via Ethernet This can be done through the RS 232 ports or the USB port The 20 62...

Page 14: ...ta from the 20 62 or from a file The configuration is arranged into various tabs along the top Many of these are for advanced functions or for specific protocols These will not be described here however a full description can be found in the Sacoto Help Menu Of most interest for getting the basics set up and running are Transmitter Frequency and power settings Inputs Input triggered messages Syste...

Page 15: ...nfiguration in Sacoto and in the configuration of the 20 62 is unknown If you want to preserve the settings in the device and only make a few changes you should read from the 20 62 first Write All If you want to duplicate a known configuration read from another 20 62 or restore a previous configuration saved on disk then you should select Device Write All from the menu or click the Write all icon ...

Page 16: ...g is only used for frequency selection and does not affect transmitter deviation or bandwidth Deviation This is independent of the selected channel spacing Channel spacing is only used for frequency selection Typically a 12 5 kHz wide channel will use 2 25 kHz deviation Output power Select your power level as required The Custom setting is usually set to 5W unless otherwise requested Other setting...

Page 17: ... ensure reliable reception The message repeat time can be specified The input messages can be transmitted with the watchdog timer to indicate the current state A message can be sent at power up if the input is not in a specified state A message may be repeated continuously while the input is held in a specified state POCSAG rapid can be selected for faster relay control A minimum trigger hold time...

Page 18: ...be used for push button control of a remote relay No message is sent when the input returns to the high state In this example Input 4 is normally held low by an external circuit initial state low If it is high at power up eg disconnected or the circuit is broken the message I4HI will be sent After start up any change triggers either an I4LO or I4HI message Setting initial state Current prevents tr...

Page 19: ...code and ignore all others allowing 4 pagers to share the same CAP code The message text is limited to 40 characters for the 20 62 s pre programmed messages Battery level monitoring and Watchdog Configuration Battery monitoring Messages can be triggered when the battery voltage reaches predefined limits Both battery low and battery high conditions can be monitored to indicate a flat or charged bat...

Page 20: ... Battery good message is triggered if the battery voltage rises above 12 2V A Battery low message is transmitted if battery is low at startup initial state high Messages are transmitted 3 times for reliable reception The watchdog message Watchdog is transmitted every 30 minutes If the battery voltage is below low or above high the corresponding battery message will be transmitted with the watchdog...

Page 21: ...function as either a client or a server using either TCP IP or UDP protocol When operating as a TCP IP Server it will respond to any device on the local network that connects to the Current or Static IP address in the TCP IP tab A remote server address is not required Sacoto will only connect to the 20 62 if it is a TCP IP Server When operating as a TCP IP client it will attempt to connect to a sp...

Page 22: ...into the DHCP server the DHCP pool When selecting an IP address manually you must make sure that the DHCP server will not automatically assign the same address to another device The IP address must either be outside the DHCP pool or reserved for the 20 62 by the DHCP server Automatically assigning an IP address You can use the DHCP server to automatically assign a unique IP address to the 20 62 Se...

Page 23: ...net settings or Enter ipconfig from the windows command line to get the IP address of your PC Note that your PC will likely use a DHCP server to obtain its IP address You may need to reserve a static address for your PC too Checking if an IP address is active You can test if a device is using an IP address by using the ping command from the command line e g ping 192 168 1 100 If this returns a res...

Page 24: ...ool may be used to Establish and test connections Send serial commands Initiate paging messages Testing a connection If the 20 62 is configured as a server the test tool should be a client Enter both IP address and port numbers Click Connect Enter data to send in the bottom line and click SEND Any returned data will appear in the Data Received box The serial command SN will return the serial numbe...

Page 25: ... can connect to the 20 62 via Ethernet directly without the use of a virtual COM port Important USR VCOM is proprietary software for exclusive use with USR Ethernet modules such as the USR TCP232 S2 used in the Salcom 20 62 USR VCOM may not be used for any other purpose Downloading and Installing USR VCOM USR VCOM may be downloaded from the USR IOT website https www usriot com support downloads us...

Page 26: ...rt number to assign to the virtual COM port If the 20 62 is a TCP server you must configure the virtual COM port as a TCP client Enter the IP address and port number of the 20 62 Click OK Turn on the 20 62 and ensure the Ethernet is connected The Net State should show connected when a connection has been established Start your terminal software or other paging application and connect to the COM po...

Page 27: ...store and forward systems Adding a source delay To solve the first problem the 20 62 has a feature to add a delay between messages if it is the source transmitter In this case the store and forward configuration should be set to source Rejecting incoming messages during transmission To solve the second problem the 20 62 can be configured to ignore incoming messages during a transmission In this ca...

Page 28: ...stchurch 8024 New Zealand March 2020 Cross band repeaters Where a repeater is used to repeat messages from one band to another the transmitter is not on the same frequency as the receiver so there are no issues with message loops The repeater does not need to ignore message while transmitting or reject duplicate messages ...

Page 29: ...T the direct external modulation pin The same PTT input should be used The 20 62 can apply a delay of between 10us and 2550us 10us in 10us steps It also supports data inversion on the Trigger input 1 pin Data inversion is not available for the direct external modulation input Propagation delays cannot be removed so the transmitter with the least total delay data link RF is the one that should have...

Page 30: ...n oscilloscope to the green LED will show that the LED is in fact toggling every 10uS If this test signal is not present the feature will not operate Delayed modulated data is transmitted through the same internal path as internally generated POCSAG data The delayed data is also presently to the red LED A dual trace oscilloscope can be connected to the red LED and the input signal to verify correc...

Page 31: ...us again If the 20 62 is being externally modulated and the temperature exceeds 85 degrees Celsius the 20 62 is considered to be critically hot and powers down When critically hot no further messages queued for processing or transmission will be allowed until the 20 62 has reduced in temperature below 85 degrees Celsius In addition attempts to enable the 20 62 transmitter using the external PTT li...

Page 32: ...5 The default value is 50 which should yield good results in most cases e g _MISMATCH_CONFIG 1 50 CR Calibration The feature requires calibration before first time use To do this 1 Connect up the system and aerial 2 issue the command _MISMATCH_CONFIG 1 3 Confirm the 20 62 responds with OK 4 20 62 will auto calibrate on next transmission 5 Test by transmitting a message eg CA1234560 1 test Salcom p...

Page 33: ...dance presented varying with frequency and power setting may appear to be suitably matched within the limits set by the command used above This condition is close to impossible to detect in some cases using any method of detection other than using a remote receiver to monitor signal strength To overcome this if a problem is ever encountered you can either Change the length on the aerial coax sligh...

Page 34: ...he end plate of the unit The aerial connection should present a nominal load of 50Ω with a VSWR of better that 1 8 1 Other options such folded dipoles with 50 ohm impedance co linears and quarter wave whips with suitable ground planes are also suitable A high quality aerial installation will provide additional performance and reliability Note The 20 62 is designed to operate reliably over large di...

Page 35: ...cad TPP half TPP full Flex ESPA 4 4 4 Match Gent GPS and Pulse Count SMS Scope compatible Comp1 Comp2 Multitone half Multitone full Ascom compatible Austco compatible Scope compatible Blick compatible Gaming compatible Salcom product interface protocols 12 32 Input Expansion Unit 11 36 12 36 Paging Telephone Voice Interface 12 84 Receiver These protocols can be selected through Sacoto the Salcom c...

Page 36: ...products and other third party devices that use an Ascom compatible protocol Ascom s broadcast paging solution provides a set of products targeted at healthcare aged care corrective and government facilities where there is the need to send mission and life critical alerts to large groups of people who may be anywhere in a facility Gaming compatible protocol provides a method to monitor gaming mach...

Page 37: ...ice with a serial printer output Due to the message being sent to all contacts successively it is recommended that the database be kept to a minimum Format is Message CR COMP2 defines the database contact in the serial string and messages are only sent to that contact Strings are delimited with either tilde or carriage return character and can be synchronised by prefixing the command with three DE...

Page 38: ...n Check and write input configuration in Sacoto Unit transmits mostly solid red LED but nothing received Poor aerial Wrong frequency Incorrect CAPcode Incorrect baud rate Power too low Unit too hot the unit will also send out an error via the serial port Too much vibration No RS232 serial communication Incorrect COM port connection selected COM port configuration incorrect baud rate parity etc Cab...

Page 39: ...tting Duty cycle is commonly expressed as a percentage or a ratio POCSAG A radio transmission standard for the on air coding and signaling used for paging NRZ Non return to zero Digital data that may remain in either a high or low state indefinitely FSK Frequency Shift Keying A form of RF modulation where binary states are represented by shifting the carrier frequency high or low RS 232 An electri...

Page 40: ... port 2 12 45 2000 RJ12 serial cable splitter Standard 6P6C RJ 12 splitter and cable to allow connection to serial port 1 and serial port 2 at the same time 12 45 7000 or third party suppliers USB Programming Lead USB Mini B 12 48 0000 Ethernet Cable Standard Ethernet cable Standard Ethernet Cable Configuration Software Salcom 1262 configuration tool Sacoto Can be downloaded from http www salcom c...

Page 41: ... 100 with adequate ventilation Baud Rates 512 1200 Message Format POCSAG Configuration Software Salcom Configuration Tool Sacoto Programming Cable Standard USB mini B RS 232 with adaptor or Ethernet Serial Port 9600 N 8 1 RS232 USB Serial Protocols Salcom TAP PET TNPP TPP half TPP full ESPA 4 4 4 Match Gent GPS Pulse Count SMS Comp1 Comp2 Visicad Flex Multitone half Multitone full also protocols c...

Page 42: ...LED Green Slow Flashing Normal Operation Status LED Red On Transmitting Flashing 3 times sec for 7 secs Error Condition Weight 320g Enclosure Dimensions 130mm x 31mm x 128mm WxDxH 5 12 x 1 23 x 5 04 in Enclosure Material Extruded aluminium Colour Bright silver anodised aluminium Type Approvals AS NZS 4769 1 2000 Amendment 1 2002 RF EN 300 224 V2 1 0 RF EN 301 489 2 V2 1 0 EMC EN 60950 1 2006 Safet...

Page 43: ...Land Communications Ltd 10 Vanadium Place Addington Christchurch 8024 New Zealand March 2020 How to Contact Us Sea Air and Land Communications Salcom Ltd 10 Vanadium Place Addington Christchurch 8024 New Zealand T 64 0 3 379 2298 W www salcom com E sales salcom com ...

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