Suretrack STR1000-W1 User's Manual Oct 2002 8629, rev A Wireless Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION FEATURES 4 4 Basic Features....................................................................................................................4 SPECIFICATIONS 8 General ...............................................................................................................................8 RF ........................................................................................................................................8 Digital.............................
COMM.............................................................................................................................22 SET-UP AND OPERATION 23 Battery Operation ...........................................................................................................23 Antenna............................................................................................................................23 Start-up and the Command Environment ......................................................
INTRODUCTION Thank you very much for choosing the LOTEK Suretrack STR1000-W1. To take full advantage of the features available in this product, please study this manual thoroughly prior to operation. The Suretrack STR1000-W1 is a light-weight non-datalogging receiver for manual tracking of pulse carrier transmitters commonly used in wildlife and fisheries telemetry studies.
• Separate audio gain control (volume) A separate audio gain control allows the user to adjust the volume of the signal for comfortable listening without affecting the receiver sensitivity. • 1 kHz tuning over 4 MHz The ability to tune the receiver in 1 kHz steps permits fine adjustment to accommodate for transmitter drift or varying receiver tone preferences. • Internal Speaker An internal speaker is provided so that headphones are not required to operate the receiver.
• Nearly 40 dB dynamic range A 40 dB dynamic range means, in line of sight reception, no adjustment of RF gain is required between 10 and 1000 meter range between signal strength measurement saturation to fringe detection. • Graphic and/or numeric display of signal strength The signal strength can be displayed either graphically, using a peak hold bar meter or digitally with three digits of resolution. Therefore, direction finding is made easy regardless of user display preference.
• Low Battery indication A low battery symbol is displayed in place of the shift character when the voltage is getting dangerously low. A bar graph below the low battery symbol increases in length as discharge continues. When the bar is at full length, the receiver has less than 5 minutes operating time left. • Battery charger A battery charger which plugs into 115 VAC (230 VAC European) is provided with the receiver.
SPECIFICATIONS General Dimensions (LxWXH) 7.15 in x 8 in x 3.5 in Weight 2.2 kg Battery Operating Life Backlight on: Backlight off: Operating Temperature -20 to +50 °C External Operating Voltage 12-18 VDC External Charging Voltage 14-18 VDC External Power/Charge Connector Barrel Audio Output Impedance 4-16 Ω Audio Output Connector 1/4 inch jack Antenna Input Impedance 50 Ω Antenna Input Connector BNC female 9 Hrs 12 Hrs.
Key Pad Size 16 keys Frequency Display 6 digits Frequency Control Direct selection of any frequency in the tunable bandwidth with a resolution of 1 kHz Frequency Steps (∆F) Adjustable 1 to 999 kHz Number of Frequency Table Partitions 16 Maximum Frequency Table Size 512 Signal Strength Display 3 digits or bar graph Signal Strength Range 40 to 230 relative signal strength units (approximately 40 dB) RF Gain Display 2 digits RF Gain Control Direct selection of gain between 0 and 99 units (ap
CHG Connector This charge connector is a barrel jack which accepts the lead from the AC-DC wall adapter provided. When power is supplied form the adapter or another 14 to 18 VDC power source the receiver batteries will charge. External power between 12 and 14 VDC may be supplied to extend the operating time, however, charging will not occur. OFF/VOL Control This control doubles as an on-off switch and volume control. When turned fully counterclockwise, the receiver is turned off.
Keypad Most of the 16 keys have two functions, primary and shifted. The primary functions are indicated by the characters on the lower half of the key. The shifted functions are indicated by the characters on the upper half of the key. To access the primary functions simply press only the desired key. To access shifted functions, begin by pressing the SHIFT key and then press the function key.
ESC The ESC key is the general "return" operator. Most commonly it returns you to the previous menu or to the default receiver frequency and gain display. Alternatively, during data entry, it is used to select the current default value. If pressed simultaneously with the SHIFT key, a hardware reset will occur and the receiver will return to its power-on state. F TABLE The F TABLE key is used to program the frequency table used for scanning. The corresponding menu has five options.
3) Copy Selecting this option copies all frequencies, which have been temporarily deleted in SCAN mode, back into the active partition. Frequencies deleted using the previous option cannot be restored in this way and must be re-entered using the Add option. Copy is available only in configuration 2 and 3 Suretrack receivers. 4) Partition This menu option allows you to select from up to eight (dependant on the Suretrack Configuration number) separate frequency table partitions, numbered 0 to 7.
NEW PROM Initializes Enter access code: This access code can be obtained from your LOTEK account representative or one of our systems engineers if this function is required. Again, ESC can be pressed to return to the power-on default display or the access code can be entered. As the access code is entered, random characters appear on the display.
Finally, the receiver reverts back to the power-on default display. F2 In the Suretrack receiver, this key has no assigned function. F3 This key toggles the display backlight on and off. Turning the backlight off will conserve battery power and extend the operating life before recharge by about 30%. HELP This key is used to obtain abbreviated descriptions of shifted key functions.
Signal Status G F T → ← W : ^ Delta Status Scan Status Shift Status Figure 1: Display Status Characters After a period of time, the receiver automatically changes to the next frequency in the table. The dwell time on each frequency is governed by the value specified using the SET SCAN key. Scanning continues indefinitely in a cyclical pattern, returning to the first frequency after the last one is scanned.
SHIFT SET G SHIFT SET SCAN SET F is for frequency adjustment, SET G is for gain adjustment and SET SCAN is for scan time adjustment. The currently active parameter is displayed by the delta status position character. All adjustments remain in effect except the frequency adjustment which will be reset when the receiver steps to the next channel. When SET SCAN is selected, the scan time is displayed in the lower left corner of the display.
SHIFT + SET F SHIFT + SET G SHIFT + SET SCAN SHIFT + SIGNAL Signal Measurements SHIFT + F TABLE SHIFT + TIME Inc/Dec Frequency Inc/Dec Gain Inc/Dec Scan Time Open/Close Window Remove/Restore Frequency F G T W + + or - Pulse Interval/ Rate Table 1: Control Key Sequences for SCAN mode SEARCH This key is used to search through a range of frequencies for a signal. It is especially useful if the exact frequency of a transmitter is unknown.
Because of the pass band characteristics of the receiver's ultra-stable IF filters there may be more than one local maximum for a given signal, and if the signal is subject to dynamic fading (due to relative motion of transmitter, receiver or interfering objects) the maximum signal point(s) may move slightly or change in relative intensity. The search algorithm is designed to discriminate multiple peaks of equal or increasing magnitude, and locks on to each one individually until you press SHIFT.
SET SCAN The SET SCAN key sets the dwell time for the SCAN and SEARCH functions. It issues a prompt: Scan time (m:ss.ss) (0:05.00)> The format for the numerical input is shown on the top line meaning minutes, seconds, and hundredths of seconds. The current default value is shown at the bottom left. The receiver then waits until it receives five numeric inputs which it automatically formats with the colon and decimal. Shifted or non-numeric keys (except ESC) are ignored.
SIGNAL The SIGNAL key is used to select signal measurement and display options. Its standard menu is: 1)Power Graph 3)Boundaries 2)Interval 1) Power Graph Selecting this option will make the receiver display a bar graph and a dimensionless relative signal strength number between 0 and 255 upon reception of an impulse signal. The signal strength value is not compensated by the RF gain setting, therefore a change in RF gain will cause a change in signal strength reading.
The time shown at the lower left is the current default upper boundary for the window in ms. Enter the new boundary value as a 5-digit number, including leading zeros, if necessary. After entering all 5 numbers the following prompt appears: Time interval lowerbound (00080)> Enter the lower boundary for the window in the same manner. If you don't want any time interval filtering, open the window wide by setting the boundary values far apart (e.g., upper bound = 10000 and lower bound = 00001).
SET-UP AND OPERATION Battery Operation The Suretrack receiver will operate continuously for about 9 hours on a fully charged "Sub C" battery pack and up to 12 hours with the display backlight turned off. When the batteries need symbol. A fully discharged pack takes recharging the shift key ^ character is replaced by a about 12 to 14 hours to recharge. NiCad batteries will lose their charge over time even if they are not used. If you are going to store the receiver for extended periods (e.g.
Preface to the Examples The following exercises are designed to enhance familiarity with Suretrack receiver functions and operating modes. They are modeled as faithfully as possible on real applications and include a basic radio tracking session. Tracking You are studying caribou populations on a group of islands off the Labrador coast.
Enter the frequencies you wish as six digit numbers, or five digit numbers if you have a 30 or 50MHz receiver. The decimal point is supplied by the program but nothing bad happens if you enter your own. You may keep entering frequencies one after another; when you have entered all the frequencies you want, press ESC. This takes you back to the F TABLE menu.
The SIGNAL key controls the Suretrack's pulse interval and signal strength measurement functions. All of these functions except Power Graph are also available in the SCAN environment. This example illustrates the use of SIGNAL functions for a single frequency. First, from the command environment, set a frequency using SHIFT SET F with appropriate five or six digit data entry. Then press SHIFT SIGNAL and, at the menu, press 2 to select the Interval routine.
SHIFT SET ∆ and enter the two-digit gain increment value (e.g., 01). Returning to the SIGNAL/Interval routine, you continue to increase the gain until you begin to see random triggering of the signal strobe character (lower right display quadrant). For automatic signal recognition by the receiver you should set the gain just below this value. In many applications this will also be the optimum gain for audio tracking as well. For a further discussion of these issues, see the Optimization section, below.
direction of the strongest signal to obtain a more accurate position estimate, in which case you can stop the scan by pressing the decimal point key l If the program has already scanned to the next frequency before you are able to stop the scan, press SHIFT SCAN to assign the arrow keys to manual scan functions. Then press to backup one frequency.
SHIFT F TABLE and then 3 for Copy All frequencies which have been removed during SCAN will be restored, and the program will report the number of frequencies copied. If you are using more than one partition (table) you will have to repeat this operation for each one individually. To change the partition (from the F TABLE menu) select item 4 (Partition) and enter a two digit number.
window boundaries tightly around the expected pulse interval of the transmitter will help prevent bursts of noise from being reported as signals. It will also help relieve congestion in the processor, since invalid events take less time to process than legitimate ones. Both gain reduction and time interval filtering have limited usefulness if the dominant noise source is "impulsive". Engine noise of all kinds falls into this category.
Warning Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Lotek Engineering could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
