Daktronics Venus 1500 Radio – Gen 2 - Manual (Page 11)

Section 2: Installation Guidelines
2.1 Site Survey
For maximum performance of the Venus 1500 radio system, survey the installation site and
answer the following questions:
• Is a direct line-of-sight possible between the server and client radios?
• Will the distance between the outdoor radios be less than 1500 feet (450 m), and
between the indoor radios less than 500 feet (150 m)? If not, is it possible to achieve
the required distance?
• Where will the radios need to be located in order to achieve the required direct line-
of-sight?
• Is there an optional location for the radios in case of interference that may degrade
the quality of the radio signal?
• Should maintenance be required, will the radios be easy to access?
2.2 Server Radio Installation
Installation of a radio system consists of two parts:
• connecting a server radio to a computer either directly or over a phone line.
• connecting a client radio at the display. Refer to Section 2.4 for this information.
Two types of server radios may be installed, outdoor or indoor, depending on the location of
the display. The most common is the outdoor server radio mounted to the outside of a
building and communicating with the client radio located near an outdoor display. An
indoor server radio is also available that communicates with the client radio mounted near
an indoor display. This type of installation is most common with a message
center/scoreboard setup.
To work correctly, the server and client radios must be set to the same channel in order to
communicate with each other. Daktronics will set them to the same default channel before
they are shipped to the customer. If a different channel is required because of multiple radio
sets near each other, the channels on both radios will need to be set accordingly. Addressing
information is located in Section 3.1 of this manual.
2.3 Installing a Server Radio
Warning: Cat-5 cable is not recommended in this installation. The distance that power
and signal can travel may vary with the use of Cat-5 cable. If Cat-5 cable is pulled, use
one pair for the ground (pin 6) and one pair for the power (pin 1). Do not place Cat-5
cable in this application next to Ethernet communication cables or signal loss may occur.
This section includes instructions for installing a server radio with either of these two
options:
• directly to the computer through a J-box/signal converter or
• remotely through a modem.
Installation Guidelines 9