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Pacific Crest Corporation ADL Access User Guide – Dealer Version Page 1 of 28

ADL Access User Guide – Dealer Version

1/27/09

A. Front Cover

B. Title Page

C. Copyright page

D. TOC

E. Introduction

ADL Access is a Microsoft Windows software utility used to configure Pacific

Crest’s Advanced Data Link (ADL) radio modems. It ships with all radio modems in

the ADL family and is available for free download from the Pacific Crest website

This user guide describes the various ADL Access features and how to get additional

product support for ADL Access and ADL radio modems.

The version of ADL Access available with the modems and from the website in

copyrighted but not copy-protected. When you insert an ADL Access Dealer Version

software key into your PC’s USB port and launch ADL Access, an additional tab

labeled Dealer is activated. The features on the Dealer tab, described toward the end

of this User Guide, are not visible or accessible without first installing the Dealer

Version software key.

F. Installing ADL Access

Insert the ADL Access CD into your PC. After a few seconds, the installation

application will launch and guide you through the installation process. You may

alternatively insert the CD, click the Windows Start button, click Run, type

D:setup.exe (where D is the name of your CD drive) in the input field and click OK.

G. Running ADL Access

You can launch ADL Access in the following ways:

a. Double-click the ADL Access icon on your desktop

b. Click Start > All Programs > Pacific Crest Corporation > ADL Access > ADL

Access

c. Click Start > Run , type C:/Program Files/Pacific Crest Corporation/ADL

Access.exe in the input field and click OK

If you have trouble running ADL Access on a 64-bit PC with Windows Vista, try the

following:

a. Close ADL Access

b. Double-click on My Computer on your desktop or run Windows Explorer

c. Navigate to C:/Program Files/Pacific Crest Corporation/ADL Access/ and right-

click on ADL Access.exe

d. Click Properties

e. Click the Compatibility tab

f. Click “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”

g. Select Windows XP or Vista 32

h. Click OK on the bottom of the ADL Access.exe properties window

Summary of content (28 pages)

PAGE 1
ADL Access User Guide – Dealer Version 1/27/09 A. B. C. D. E. Front Cover Title Page Copyright page TOC Introduction ADL Access is a Microsoft Windows software utility used to configure Pacific Crest’s Advanced Data Link (ADL) radio modems. It ships with all radio modems in the ADL family and is available for free download from the Pacific Crest website. This user guide describes the various ADL Access features and how to get additional product support for ADL Access and ADL radio modems.
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i. Re-launch ADL Access H. ADL Access Menus a. File i. ii. iii. iv. v. Click on File to access a variety of functions The Upgrade Bootloader option allows you to select a bootloader firmware file to upload into the attached ADL radio modem. This is a low-level firmware application that launches the main radio application. The Upgrade Modem Firmware option allows you to select a *.bin file to upload the main radio application into the attached ADL radio modem.
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vi. vii. utilities described below or by importing an existing configuration) and then click the Program button. The View Report option allows you to view on a web browser all the configuration parameters of the attached radio. In addition, this htmlformatted report displays certain firmware settings that can help Pacific Crest support technicians diagnose certain problems in the event that the radio requires service. Clicking the Exit option exits the program. b. Edit i.
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Clicking OK on the Connect to ADL Radio screen restores the attached radio to the factory default settings. Click Cancel on the Connect to ADL Radio screen to leave the settings the way they are. ii. Clicking Edit > Undo All Changes voids all the configuration changes you have made during this session. All parameters on all ADL Access screens are reset to those that were there when you started this session.
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i. Click User Guide to view a copy of the ADL Access User Guide. Note: you must have previously installed a copy of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to view the User Guide. A free download of Adobe Reader is available from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. ii. Click Support to access links to Pacific Crest Technical Support and the Pacific Crest website. iii. To see which version of ADL Access is installed on your PC, click Help > About. I. Connecting the Radio a.
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c. Turn on the radio. d. On ADL Access, click the Connect button in the upper right of the screen. Important Note: ADL Access is like most Microsoft Windows programs in that when you launch the program, it displays a blank file. Clicking the Connect button not only connects ADL Access to the radio but also opens a file in the PC’s RAM memory containing the radio’s parameters. If you edit any parameters, the changes are made only to the version of the parameter file in your PC’s RAM.
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Connect, ADL Access does not ask you if you want to save the parameters from RAM to a file on your hard drive. e. On the Connect to ADL Radio screen, click the down arrow to the right of the Port field and select the COM port to which the radio is connected. f. With the default connection method selected (Soft Break), click OK on the Connect to ADL Radio screen. g. When you select the Soft Break method, the radio should be turned on.
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communications drivers can prevent this connection, however. If communication fails: o Turn off the radio o Detach it from the PC o Re-attach it but do not turn it back on o Use the Power On Capture method for connection (see below). h. An alternative to the Soft Break method for connection is the Power On Capture method. To use this method, turn the radio off, select Power On Capture on the Connect to ADL Radio screen and click OK. You must now turn on the radio within 10 seconds.
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a. Connecting to the radio displays the ADL Access Identification screen. This screen shows the current configuration of the attached radio: Model Name Firmware Version Radio Type (“Transceiver” or “Receiver Only”) Serial Number Frequency Range Channel Bandwidth (12.5 and 25 kHz) These fields are not editable. b. The Identification screen also allows you to type in a Call Sign and Owner name. To save the call sign and owner name to the radio, press the Program button on the right.
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To save any configuration changes to the radio, click the Program button. To save any configuration changes to a file on your PC, click File > Export. c. ADL radio modems record error logs in the field whenever the modem experiences an abnormality. To view this log, click View Error Log to the right of the Call Sign field.
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Your options are to copy the error log to your PC’s clipboard for pasting into other documents, printing the error log to the printer accessible to your PC, or saving the log to a file on your PC.
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K. Radio Link Screen Clicking the Radio Link screen displays the Radio Link screen: a. Current Channel field Channel tables are lists of radio parameters comprising a channel number, a frequency at which the radio will receive data, a frequency at which the radio will transmit data (which may be different from the receive frequency) and a channel bandwidth (which can be either 25 kHz or 12.5 kHz). Your dealer should have uploaded a channel table into ADL radios prior to delivery.
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Note: your radio will not be set to this new channel until you click the Program button. While all ADL radios can be reconfigured using ADL Access, some models have user interfaces that allow you to select other channels on the front of the radio while others can be reconfigured only using ADL Access. b. Clicking the Import Channels button simply allows you to select any additional channel table your ADL radio modem by an authorized Pacific Crest dealer may have created for you.
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possible. To do this, click the down arrow to the right of the Squelch field and click on the desire noise threshold level: I will need to make all new screen grabs once the SW is frozen.
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If the radio is a receiver-only, however, the TX Power field is grayed out. The Radio Type field on the Identification screen (see above) indicates if the radio is a transceiver or receiver only. g. Address Settings Use the Address Settings fields to set both Local and Destination addresses for any two Pacific Crest ADL transceivers to communicate exclusively with each other. The main advantage of addressing is the ability to restrict the usage of transmitted data to a specified receiver.
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The default Local address number is 0 and the default Destination address number is 255. If you are not using Transparent EOT, Transparent EOC or Packet Switched protocol (selected on the Serial Interface screen - see below), do not change these defaults. Note: This Local=0/Destination=255 combination is the only selection that works with receive-only rovers. h.
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Click the Repeater check box to set up the radio to act as a repeater, i.e., to automatically transmit the data it receives. Clicking this check box reveals the Repeater Delay field where you enter the amount of time in milliseconds you want to elapse between receipt of a data packet and its retransmission. The default is 2 ms. i. CSMA When the CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access) feature is turned on, the radio will “listen” on the selected transmission frequency for any broadcasts.
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Note: the Forward Error Correction option is grayed out when using Trimtalk protocol, which does not support Forward Error Correction. To select the protocol type, click the Serial Interface screen (see below). k. Advanced Settings i. Squelch off Some ADL radio users perform tests that require communication with the radio while its transmitter/receiver is turned off. By turning Squelch off, the radio’s transmitter/receiver is turned off. ii.
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monitoring equipment. The way you set up the ADL radio to talk to your PC is how it will talk to all external devices (unless your ADL radio is a model with a user interface on its front panel that allows radio configuration in the field). So you should first determine which parameters are required for serial communications in the field by the GPS receiver or external equipment and then input these same parameters into ADL Access on the Serial Interface screen.
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- With a length of time during which there is no transmission (EOT Timeout) With a special character (EOT Character) For systems using Pacific Crest radio modems exclusively, the default setting is Transparent with EOT Timeout. When you select Transparent with EOT Timeout you should input the amount of time in milliseconds you want to signify the End of Transmission: The default is 50 milliseconds.
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TRIMTALK 450S is a proprietary protocol used by Trimble TRIMTALK™ 450S radios. ADL radios are fully compatible with TRIMTALK 450S radios, but only when set to TRIMTALK 450S protocol. Note: If 4FSK modulation is selected on the Modulation Type field of the Radio Link screen (see above), protocol types that do not support 4FSK (e.g., TRIMMARK AND TRIMTALK protocol) do not appear in the Protocol Type field. To select one of these non-4FSK protocols, you must first select GMSK on the Radio Link screen. c.
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The primary function of the Dealer screen is to manage channel tables. Channel tables are lists of radio parameters comprising a channel number (from 00 to 31), a frequency at which the radio will receive data, a frequency at which the radio will transmit data (which may be different from the receive frequency) and a channel bandwidth. Pacific Crest dealers must use ADL Access to create and upload a channel table into each ADL radio prior to its delivery to an end user.
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This highlights the default frequency in the RX: field. ii. Type in the frequency in the RX: field on which you want the radio to receive data on the selected channel. iii. Type in the frequency in the TX: field on which you want the radio to transmit data on the selected channel. iv. Click the down arrow to the right of the Bandwidth field and select the channel bandwidth for the selected channel v.
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vi. Click the Clear button to delete any channel’s configuration and reset the channel to “unused.” You can clear any channel except Channel 00.
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b. Exporting a Channel Table After you created a channel table, you can save it as a *.frq file to your PC for archiving or uploading into other radios. To export it, click the Export button and identify a file name and location for the file. c. Importing a Channel Table You can configure a radio using an existing channel table created by ADL Access by clicking the Import button and selecting the desired *.frq file. d.
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N. Programming the Radio ADL Access is like most Microsoft Windows programs in that when you launch the program, it displays a blank file. Clicking the Connect button not only connects ADL Access to the radio but also opens a file in the PC’s RAM memory containing the radio’s parameters. If you edit any parameters, the changes are made only to the version of the parameter file in your PC’s RAM.
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On the subsequent Print screen, select the printer you wish to use and click OK. This action prints the current configuration of the attached radio. Note: The configuration displayed on ADL Access may not be the same as the attached radio’s configuration. ADL Access displays a radio’s configuration as soon as you connect to the radio. But you can import a configuration file from your PC by clicking File > Import. You can also use ADL Access to edit parts of the displayed configuration.
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- Clicking File > Exit When you exit ADL Access after changing any setting without programming the change(s) to a radio, you see the following message: Clicking Export writes a configuration file to a user-selectable location on your PC and exits ADL Access. Clicking Program writes the new configuration to the attached radio and exits ADL Access. Clicking Continue discards the changes and exits ADL Access. Clicking Cancel returns you to ADL Access without programming any changes to the radio.