9
SITE SURVEY
Some installation sites might cause paging reception problems. It might be beneficial to perform a site
survey by monitoring the radio waves in the area that you want to install a system. It also might be
beneficial to perform a range test to find out of the installed signal will be strong enough to be received in
all of the areas you want to cover. A site survey consists of both monitoring for radio signals on your
channel, and verifying that the paging system has adequate power to cover the expected area.
Following are some rules of thumb to use in deciding whether or not to perform a site survey.
Perform a site survey if the facility or paging conditions meet one or more of the following criteria:
1.
Hospital or medical facility
2.
Unobstructed line of sight distance exceeding 1 1/2 miles
3.
Building above 5 stories
4.
Building greater than 50,000 square ft
5.
Multi-building facility
6.
Vicinity of seaports and shipyards
7.
Pager reception problems occur
8.
Excessive carrier signal detection conditions occur at the paging system
You can monitor for radio signals using a simple multi-channel UHF band scanner, from sources like
Radio Shack. You listen to the scanner for any audio output on that channel. The louder the audio, the
stronger the signal.
If the scanning results in excessive use of that radio channel, consider changing the paging system to
operate on another radio channel. Use the scanner to identify the lowest traffic channels of those channels
available to you. You may need to monitor for several minutes to determine which channels are busier
than others.
If pager reception problems occur, and there is not excessive foreign traffic on that channel, then consider
boosting the strength of the paging signal. Typically, when you boost a signal, you will need to change the
paging system equipment and pagers to a channel that allows higher power transmissions, measured in
watts.
