Campbell Scientific RF300-Series DRL VHF/UHF Radio Transceivers - Manual (Page 39)

B-1
APPENDIX B. ALTERNATE BASE STATION CONFIGURATIONS
The basic base station consists of a computer and the RF232 Base Station. There are other options for
a base station including a portable base station, a phone-to-RF base station, and a phone-to-RF base
station with measurement capability. The RF95A is used with RF300 radios. The RF95 is used with
RF100/200 radios.
B.1 THE PORTABLE BASE STATION
The portable base station is an aid in setting up
a large radiotelemetry network, or in trouble-
shooting RF network communication problems.
A portable base station allows any of the field or
repeater stations to act as a base station.
Therefore, to try any particular RF link, it is not
necessary to travel to the fixed base station.
Figure B-1 is a block diagram of a portable base
station. The computer, with PC208W installed,
is the user interface to the RF network.
Remember that the "RF Path" designation will
be changed often to test various RF links. The
SC532 is the interface from the laptop computer
to the RF95A Modem. The transformer on the
SC532 should be cut off 6" up the cable. The
two leads on the SC532 should be stripped and
tinned for connection to a battery. Most laptops
have a 9-pin RS232 port, so a 9- to 25-pin
RS232 cable is needed to connect the
computer to the SC532.
B.2 PHONE-TO-RF BASE STATION
When an RF network is a great distance from
the desired place of data collection, a phone
modem can be used to call the RF base station.
A computer, with PC208W Datalogger Support
Software, and a Hayes compatible phone
modem can call a phone-to-RF base station.
The configuration is shown in Figure B-2.
The Device Map in the Setup Window of
PC2082 must include the following
communication path: COM Port, Phone
Modem, RF Modem, Datalogger. The phone
number and RF Path need to be filled in to
match your setup. The PS512M Power Supply
and Charging Regulator supplies 5 V to the
RF95A, supplies 12 V to the COM200 Phone
modem and RF300 Radio, and acts as a null
modem between the COM200 and the RF95A.
The PS512M and CH512R need to supply 12
volts on Pin 8 of the 9 pin connectors. PS512M
with serial number less than 1712 require a
power adapter, part number 10704. CH512R
serial number less than 1075 also require the
same power adapter. The RF95A and COM200
are both connected to a separate 9-pin port on
the PS512M. The RF95A Station ID at the
phone-to-RF base station must be 255 to allow
more than one field station to be called without
terminating the initial phone link. The RF95A in
the RF95A-ME State recognizes Station ID 255
as a command to answer the phone and hold
the ring line high which keeps the Modem
Enable line high after the Ring from the phone
modem has quit.