MagTek FULL SIZE PORT - Manual (Page 7)

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SECTION 1. FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS
The Full-Size Port-Powered Swipe Reader is a compact magnetic stripe card reader which
conforms to ISO/ANSI standards. The Reader is compatible with the PC series of personal
computers or any device with a serial RS-232 interface. A card is read by sliding it, stripe down
and facing the LED side, through the slot either forward or backward.
A green LED (Light Emitting Diode) indicator on the Reader panel provides the operator with
status of the Reader operations.
When power is applied, the Reader transmits a sign-on ID message. About 150 milliseconds
after DTR is applied, the Reader sends the part number of the firmware in the following form:
21088817A01 . The first 8 characters indicate the firmware number; the letter is the
revision, which is followed by a revision sublevel of 01 to 99. The indicates carriage
return (0x0D). The sign-on messages for part numbers are listed in Section 3. Timing is also
shown in Section 3.
Since the input voltage is supplied by a relatively low source of power, the Reader depends on its
input capacitor to maintain proper charge during all operations. In order to reduce the drain on
this internal power source during data transmission, the output data is transmitted in 5 to 6
millisecond bursts with a 10-millisecond gap between bursts to allow the capacitor to recharge.
The PC software should be able to tolerate this 10-millisecond space between characters. The
Timing is shown is Section 3, Figure 3-1. Configurations, including part numbers, firmware,
tracks, and unit configuration, are listed below.
FEATURES
Major features of the Swipe Reader are as follows:
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Powered through the RS-232 serial port – no external power supply required
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Hardware Compatible with PC or any computer or terminal with an RS-232 interface
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Software Compatible with Procomm, or any RS-232 communications program
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Bidirectional card reading
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Reads encoded data that meets ANSI/ISO/CDL/AAMVA standards
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Green LED for status