route radio coverage

7/29/2019 Route Radio Coverage

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Route Radio Coverage

Rou t e Radio Cov erag e

I can be contacted at E-mail address:- w eb@g3t vu .co .uk

Th is new fea tu re , added in Vers ion 7 .1 .1 , al low s a 'Rou te ' t o b e d r a w n o n a m a p , an d t h e r a d io pe r fo rm ance o f a speci f ied Transmi t te r / Receive r pa i r to be eva lua ted as one t r ave rses the p lo t ted rou t e p a t h .

Fo r i n f o r m a t i o n , I h a v e i n cl u d e d t h e n e x t s cr e e n sh o t s t o s h o w h o w a R ou t e c a n b e g e n e r a t e d , b u t t o j u s t t r y o u t t h e f e a t u r e f r o m a ' s a v e d f i l e' i n m y B a se N e t w o r k , g o t o S tage 2 here , f o r a more de ta i l ed exp lana t ion o f t he use o f t he Ob jec t

Ed i t o r and genera t ion o f Sp l i t Rou tes go t o and

The requiredRou te is defined byW a y p o in t s , generated by the 'Objec t Ed i t o r ' , found under 'Tools/Object Editor'. Opening theObject Editor and ent ering 'File/ New/Lines' will produce the pane below,where t he Line width and colour can be specified. Every click on

the map will enter a waypoint at that position, and when the required route has been completed, 'Stop Add' will finalise the route. TheRoute can t hen be saved using ' File/Save' fun ction.

(Note that the Object Editor was updated from RM Version 7.6.6 to show Altitude in metres, and to have additional Control buttonfunctions).

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The 107 point rout e, as shown below, w as saved using 'File/Save' for m y Base.net, w ith t he name 'L1X-base.plt'. This will be found inthe root of m y Base Network Radio Mobile folder using 'File/Load', and browsing t o the folder.



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In this pane condition - i.e. when 'Star t Add ' hasn't been enabled - a click on any ent ry w ill place the Cursor cross wires at the locationof the highlighted Waypoint on the main map. The displayed Waypoint can be changed using the up/down arrows, with the Cursorreflecting the changed location. This pane can be m oved around t he screen by click-dr ag on its Blue title bar if it obscures the cursor onthe main display.

Activation of the 'Draw' comm and will cause the Route to be drawn on the active picture wit h the Width and Colour specified above.

Stage 2 :

Open 'Tools/ Radio coverage/Route' in m y Base Network , which is the following pane, and brow se to the file 'L1X-base.plt'shown:

Note : if you have pr eviously accessed a different Netw ork folder for a Waypoint file, th e previous file location will be shown, and t heBrowse button w ill open that folder - however, deleting t he File Path entr y followed by use of the Browse butt on will cause the selected

Network folder to be opened.

The pane gives the choice of Centr e Unit, Mobile Unit, Link Direction, ant enna selection and Step size. I t is also possible to displayRoute Elevation as a background line on the m ain plot. These settings can be changed later as required from th e 'Edit/ Options' button on

the Route Radio Coverage display. Clicking on 'Draw' causes the route calculations to be performed, and the Route to be drawn on the



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main map, with theRoute Radio Cover agepane opening.

( ' Le f t Cl i ck ' f o r a h igher reso lu t ion p ic t u re . )

The Route Radio Coverage pane will open w ith t he cursor at t hes ta r t point of t he Route. The cursor can be mov ed using the Left andRight arr ow keys, or a left click on any point on t he grey part of the Route Coverage pane will move t he cursor to that location. The Route

and Radio Link are shown inGreenfor signals at + 3dB and above the receiver threshold, wit hRe dfor signals below -3 dB. Signals inthe + / - 3dB range being shown inYel low. Route Elevation is shown as a B r o w n line in the backgroun d of th e pane if selected,changing toBlue where th ere is aL ine o f S igh t path b etween t he Units. The Radio Link line also reflects the signal range colours, andthe position of the 'mobile' unit is shown by the red cross wires on the main display, with its location being given at the bottom of thescreen. The lower part of th e pane shows the ground profile and direction of the active radio path .

Cl ick here t o see how t o change t he Route p lo t co lour t h resho lds on t he S t y le pane .

The ' mob i le ' un i t can be moved a long t he d isp lay in ' Step ' i nc rem ents us ing t he Le f t and Righ t a r r ow keys , and m oved t o t h e r o u t e ' s t a r t p o i n t ' w i t h a ' S h i ft + L e ft c l i ck ' , o r r o u t e ' e n d p o i n t ' w i t h ' S h i ft + R ig h t c l i ck ' o n t h e m o u s e a n y w h e r e i n t h e g r e y w i n d o w a r ea .

http://www.g3tvu.co.uk/Base_Network_Settings.htm#Style:_http://www.g3tvu.co.uk/Base_Network_Settings.htm#Style:_http://www.g3tvu.co.uk/Route_Radio_Coverage2.htm


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When small step increments are set using 'Edit/ Options' from t he Radio Coverage options pane - e.g. 10 m - a scroll bar will appear atthe bott om of t he Radio Coverage pane, as only a portion of the rou te will appear in the w indow. A click on th e scroll butt on causing it t oblink, will allow the point on the route being viewed to be moved using the arrow keys. A 'Tab' will transfer control to the cursor, whichthen can be moved using the arrow keys. Shift+ arrow key places the cursor in centre screen, with t he route panning behind it. The 'Shift+ click' actions still operate, and the tot al route radio performance can be examined by m oving the scroll button. T o r et u r n t h e e x p a n d e d v i ew t o t h e C u r so r p o s i t i o n , ' L ef t c l i ck ' i n t h e t o p g r e e n a r e a o f t h e w i n d o w ( o r u s e Sh i f t + a n a r r o w k e y ) .

This pane has all the rout e data in t he green area. The 'Route e leva t ion ' displays the route elevation at the cursor position, the'R ou t e o d o m e t e r ' showing th e linear distance along the rout e to where t he cursor is placed. 'Rad io pa th ' shows the length of t he directRadio path to t he 'mobile' un it from the fixed unit , and the bearing of t he Unit. The Route data can be saved in a Text file by using 'Edit/Save data'. To find theTota l l i near Rou te leng t h , a 'shift+ right click' in the grey area will place the cursor at the Route end point, withthe Odometer then giving the total Route length.

As an example of t heL ine o f S igh t path display, this is theL1X-Ash-Bux .p l t route displayed (available in the root of the RMfolder). The total route is some 32km long, traversing my Base map from bottom centre to the North West top corner.



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By Clicking on the 'Radio L ink ' button on the ' Route Radio Cover age' pane, t he Radio Link pane opens, showing all the details forthe Radio Path. I t should also be noted that, w hen the position of th e cursor is moved w ithin t he Radio Link pane, the red cross-wir ecursor reflects this position on t he radio link selected, and displayed, on the m ain map. It is also possible to select Radio Paths betweenthe Mobile Unit and any other Unit - or any pair of Units - using this pane to check the path perform ance. All features of the Radio Linkpane are available such as viewing one Unit fr om t he other. Closing the pane causes the display to r evert t o the 'Route Radio Coverage'function once more.



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Selecting 'View/ Observe 40 degr ees' over the aerial view pr oduces this picture, showing that the Mobile Unit is Visible from t he BaseUnit by a white circle round the Unit position.



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One other control butt on 'Swap' above either screen allows the transmission direction of the link to be reversed and calculated.

Finally, when t he Route Radio Coverage pane is closed you will be prompt ed as to whether you wish to keep the rou te in the pictur e, ina new picture or discard.

Keyboard and m ouse Shor t cu ts on t he Rou te Pane

Ctrl + Toggles Up the picture panes in m ain window

Ctrl - Toggles Down the picture panes in main window

Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, etc. Toggles to picture pane in main window

Click on the display Moves the cursor to th at position

Left keyboard arrow Moves the display cursor to t he left

Right keyboard arrow Moves the display cursor to t he right

Shift+left mouse button Moves the cursor to the start of the route

Shift+right mouse button Moves the cursor to th e end of the rout e

Note t ha t t he Land fo l iage losses can a lso be inco rpo ra ted in the p lo t s



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- to see how , v isi t :

To f ind ou t about 'Sp l i t Routes ' c l i ck her e

Th is page i s ava i lab le in . pd f f o rm at here

Th is i s ye t ano the r pow er fu l add i t ion t o g rea t p iece o f Sof tw a re By Roge r !

Please keep check ing back f o r upda tes / add i t i ons .

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