Campbell Scientific RF300-Series DRL VHF/UHF Radio Transceivers - Manual (Page 16)

SECTION 2. ASSEMBLING THE RADIOTELEMETRY NETWORK
2-6
1. RF modem's ID matches ID in the RF Path.
2. Field station's radio and datalogger have
sufficient power.
3. Radio is connected to RF modem.
4. RF modem is the only thing connected to
datalogger's 9-pin connector.
2.5.2 ERROR MESSAGES
PC208W will log all activity related to each
Communications port (COM port). There are
two ways to view the messages. On the
PC208W main tool bar, click the Status button.
The lower right part of the Status window has a
button labeled “View Messages”. Click the View
Messages button. The message window lists
all events. The Status window has a check box
to allow these messages to be logged to disk.
The log file is a text file.
One possible error message is "RF1 Failed to
Get Attention." This message indicates
PC208W cannot communicate with the RF95A
modem. Check the following items:
1. RF232A Base Station plugged into
computer and wall outlet?
2. RF232A Power Switch turned on?
3. Has PC208W been set up correctly?
4. Is the proper COM port specified in the
Setup window?
5. Is the SC12 9-pin ribbon cable inside the
RF232A connected from the small circuit
board to the RF95A Modem?
6. Is there other software open that uses a
COM port?
Another possible error message is "CR10X_1
Failed to Connect" (where “CR10X_1” is the
station name). If this message is given without
the previous message, "RF1 Failed to Get
Attention", PC208W did connect with the RF
modem but not the datalogger. In this case,
check the following items:
1. Are the radios plugged in to the RF
modems?
2. Are the radios connected to power?
3. Verify that nothing but an RF modem is
connected to the datalogger's 9-pin
connector.
4. Are Station IDs set properly in the RF
Modems?
5. Is the RF Path in the Setup Window
correct?
6. Are the antennas oriented correctly?
7. Check all antenna cable connections.
8. Turn radio off. Unplug the SC12 9-pin
ribbon cable from the RF95A in the
RF232A, reconnect the SC12 cable and
watch the carrier detect light. Does the light
stay on for one second, off for one second,
on for one second, and then off? If not, the
RF95A could have bad RAM or ROM. Also
check the field/repeater station modems.
9. Is the field station datalogger turned on and
does it have sufficient power?
VERIFY NEXT ERROR MESSAGE
The error message "RF Modem Does Not
Respond" can occur if communication is not
returned to the base station. Check the
following items:
1. Are all RF Modems connected to radios and
dataloggers?
2. Are the antennas oriented properly?
3. Is the SDC switch open?
4. Is the proper COM port being specified?
2.5.3 TROUBLESHOOTING WITH THE
TERMINAL EMULATOR
A general understanding of the communication
sequences is necessary to properly trouble-
shoot an RF link. The base station RF modem
(RF95A) is called the Start Of Link modem, or
SOL modem. The field station RF modem is
called the End Of Link modem, or EOL modem.
When powered up, the SOL modem
immediately goes into a Wait Mode. The
RF95A Modem has five different modes of
operation; these are described in Section 3 of
this manual.
PC208W, Connect window has three tabs:
Tools, Numeric Display and Terminal Emulator.
With the Tools tab active, select the datalogger
of interest in the “Station List”. Select the
“Terminal Emulator” tab. Once in the Terminal
Emulator window, select “Open Port”. Terminal
Emulator allows you to send individual
commands to each device in the