©1999 Hamtronics, Inc.; Hilton NY; USA. All rights reserved. Hamtronics is a registered trademark. Revised: 4/29/04
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Also, refer to the computer-generated
Repeater Programming sheet we sent
with your repeater to list parameters
and command codes you specified
when you ordered your repeater. If
you still have problems, please give
our engineering department a call,
and we'll try to explain it further or
see if there is a problem.
At the end of this manual, there
are discussions of owner registration,
obtaining a reprogrammed EPROM,
and what to do if you have ideas on
future features and refinements.
TURN ON.
Be sure to read the entire Installa-
tion And Maintenance manual before
attempting to power up the repeater.
Otherwise, damage may occur. When
you first turn on the POWER switch,
the repeater will initialize the
computer to use all of the default
parameters for the cor, cwid, and
courtesy beep, and all the default
feature settings you selected on your
Programming Questionnaire. The
POWER led should illuminate.
Before operating for any extended
length of time, be sure to check the
power output of the transmitter and
the vswr going into the duplexer and
the antenna system. If the power
output is less than it should be, check
the tuning of the power amplifier in
the repeater to be sure it is properly
peaked with the load impedance your
antenna system presents. Refer to the
instruction manual for the power
amplifier for proper procedure.
Operation with a detuned amplifier or
a mistuned duplexer could cause
damage to the pa.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS AND
INDICATORS.
The front panel is fairly simple.
The POWER switch turns on the
+13.6Vdc operating power, and the
led indicates when power is applied.
The RCV led indicates when the
squelch is open.
The XMIT led indicates when the
transmitter is on the air.
The TONES led indicates when a
valid touch tone signal is being
received and decoded.
The PATCH led indicates when the
autopatch is activated to make a
phone call (not reverse autopatch).
The TIMEOUT led illuminates
when the transmitter cannot be keyed
because the receiver squelch was on
longer than the limit and the time-out
timer has inhibited further transmis-
sion. The TIMEOUT led blinks if the
transmitter is inhibited intentionally
by the owner with the transmit inhibit
touch tone command.
The SQUELCH control sets the
level of carrier which will activate the
repeater. Note that the squelch circuit
has hysteresis, which means that the
squelch requires greater signal
strength to open than to close. This
minimizes cycling of the repeater due
to fluttering mobile stations or
desense. For this reason, you will
notice a significant difference in
SQUELCH control settings to open
and close the squelch. Because the
squelch is so sensitive, the actual
amount of hysteresis in signal
strength is only a few dB, not as
much of a difference as you would
guess from the amount of rotation of
the knob. The further clockwise you
set it, the tighter the squelch will be
and the shorter the noise burst will be
when the squelch closes.
The MONITOR VOLUME control
sets the level of audio to the external
monitor speaker if one is used. To
conserve space and allow a low profile
chassis and panel design, the REP-
200 has provision to drive a local 8-
ohm speaker but has no built-in
speaker. We offer a low cost 3 x 5
oval speaker as an option if you don't
already have one. There are push-on
terminals on the controller board for
connection of this speaker. Refer to
the Installation and Maintenance
manual for more information.
There are many features which can
be turned on and off and many
parameter settings which can be done
by touch tone command and require
no front panel controls. These will be
explained later. Note that it is
possible to connect an external touch
tone pad to the repeater for local
control if you find it easier than using
your mobile or portable radio to make
settings. Refer to the Installation and
Maintenance manual for more
information.
REPEAT MODE.
COR Operation.
When the receiver squelch opens,
the transmitter is keyed. When the
squelch closes, the cor circuit waits
for a short period to see if anyone
wants to break in; if not, the courtesy
beep sounds, and the time-out timer
is reset. If no user captures the
receiver after the courtesy beep, the
cor circuit waits for a predetermined
time (tail), and then it shuts off the
transmitter.
Time-out Timer.
If the squelch remains open for
more than 3 minutes (or whatever
other time-out period you chose in the
Questionnaire), or if users do not wait
for the courtesy beep to announce
that the timer is reset (at least once in
three minutes), the time-out timer
shuts the transmitter down until the
squelch closes, and then the timer is
reset. This is to prevent a runaway
transmitter condition in the presence
of interference of some sort.
Just before the transmitter shuts
down, the cwid sends one long
warning tone followed by "T O" in
morse code.
To reset the time-out timer, the
squelch must close for at least 3 sec-
onds. When the time-out condition is
cleared, the computer turns the
carrier back on and sends an "OK" in
cw to let you know the repeater is
back in service.
CWID Operation.
The cwid is polite; so it is heard
only after the squelch closes and the
courtesy beep delay occurs to allow
for break-ins. It is triggered in this
way the first time there is repeater
activity after an extended period and
every 9 minutes after that (or
whatever period was selected on the
Questionnaire) as long as there is re-
peater activity.
If the DVR-2 Digital Voice Recorder
Module has been installed, the
repeater can id either in cw or with a
recorded voice message. The Voice ID
on/off setting done by touch tone
command and the corresponding
default setting in the eprom
programmed at the factory determines
whether the id will be in voice or cw
when it occurs. Consult separate
manual for the DVR-2 for details of
operation of the voice id option.
Changing Settings.
The various cor, cwid, and
courtesy beep time, speed, and tone
settings were initialized according to
selections you made on your Pro-
gramming Questionnaire. Refer to
computer-generated Repeater
Programming sheet we sent with your
repeater for any questions you may
have about these parameters. Many
of the settings can be changed by
touch tone commands. This will be
