Comtech EF Data MBT-5000 - Manual (Page 109)

MBT-5000 L-Band Up/Down Converter System MN-MBT5000
Serial-based Remote Product Management Revision 4
7–7
Character Definition
?
(ASCII code 63)
If the Controller sends an instruction to set a parameter to a particular value, and the value sent is not valid, the Target then
acknowledges the message and responds with, for example, MUT? (with no message arguments). This indicates that there was an
error in the message sent by the Controller.
!
(ASCII code 33)
If the Controller sends an instruction code that the Target does not recognize, the Target responds by echoing the invalid instruction,
followed by !
Example: XYZ!
*
(ASCII code 42)
If the Controller sends the command to set a parameter to a particular value, and the value sent is valid BUT the router will not permit
that particular parameter to be changed at present, the Target acknowledges the message and responds with, for example, MUT* (with
message arguments).
#
(ASCII code 35)
If the Controller sends an instruction code which the Target cannot currently perform because of hardware resource issues, then the
Target will acknowledge the message by echoing the invalid instruction, followed by the # character. This response can only occur if the
operator sends two or more ‘hardware configuration’ type commands without allowing adequate time between commands for the
hardware to be configured. For example, if the operator issued commands to change both the frequency and the attenuation with less
than 100 milliseconds between commands, and if this response is returned, then the command has not been accepted and the operator
must resend the command.
$
(ASCII code 36)
The Target acknowledges the message indicating that this block converter is not installed.
7.2.2.6 Optional Message Arguments
Arguments are not required for all messages. Arguments are ASCII codes for the characters ‘0’ to ‘9’ (ASCII codes 48 to 57), period ‘.’
(ASCII code 46), and comma ‘,’ (ASCII code 44).
7.2.2.7 End of Packet
Controller-to-Target: This is the ‘Carriage Return’ ([CR]) character (ASCII code 13).
Target-to-Controller: This is the two-character sequence ‘Carriage Return’, ‘Line Feed’ ([cr][lf]) (ASCII codes 13 and 10). Both indicate
the valid termination of a packet.