DRC-ops User Guide
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 5 About DRCops .....................................................................................................................................
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Calling a Radio from the Stack .............................................................................................................. 24 Call Button..................................................................................................................................... 24 Reset Button ................................................................................................................................. 24 Clear Button ...................
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Introduction About DRCops DRCops is a screen based operator console providing a more flexible control of A.W. Communications Digital Switch the DS-32 than the conventional desktop based operators unit. The system still requires the desktop operators unit, which is used as the audio interface between the DS-32 switch and the PC running the DRCops software. DRCops is configured to run on a PC, which uses the Microsoft operating system Windows XP or Windows Vista.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Running the Software Once the software has been installed correctly, the installation routine will create a path to the DRCops program in the Program files path of your computer. The program can be run from the start menu or alternatively a shortcut can be placed on the users desktop to allow quick access to the program. Starting the DRCops for the first time Start DRCops from one of the two methods listed above.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Next type in the appropriate password for the level of Log on you require. If the computer does not have a keyboard attached then click on the down arrow and this will open up an on-screen keyboard for you to enter in your password. Click on the “Submit” or the “Enter” key to complete the log in procedure.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 If the password has been entered correctly the Log on window should disappear and you will be presented with the DRCops main screen. If the password is entered incorrectly you will be given a verification error and asked to input the user name and password again.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Screen layout Once your user name and password have been accepted you will be presented with the DRCops main screen with the appropriate level of access. You will note from the display that the screen is split into several sections, each pertaining to a relevant function. This screen is the normal presentation of DRCops and it will allow full control of the DS-32 switch through the DRC-32 operator unit.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Main Control Functions The main screen has functions available to both supervisors and general users. Channel buttons The radio channel buttons are located in the allocated radio channels box; a user can preselect the radio channels they require available to them for their normal operating duties. A user can change the channels available at any time.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 A light green band indicates that the channel is in the monitor mode and also that incoming audio is present on the channel. Select Clicking on the channel button a second time will place it into the select mode, in this mode an operator can receive audio from the channel and can also transmit out on the channel. An orange band across the bottom of the channel button indicates that the channel is selected by the operator.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Switching between Monitor and Select If an operator wishes to toggle between monitor and select modes on a channel, all they have to do is click upon the channel button and the coloured band will indicate the new state. Note that if single channel select mode has been set up in the configuration, when an operator selects a second channel by clicking on the channel button, any channel previously selected will revert to the monitor state.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Voted Site Information On some systems the site selected as the one receiving the strongest signal by the system will be indicated in a text message at the bottom of the channel buttons. This text will be updated each time the voter determines that a new site is receiving a stronger signal than the original site. The text on the display reflecting these updates. Channel Functions Within the function button area of the main window are some Channel function buttons.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 To set a function on a selected channel, the operator clicks on the function button, the button background colour changes to red to indicate that the function is active, the operator next needs to click on the channel button on which he wishes to apply the function. The same process is used to remove a function from a channel. Talk through The talk through button is used to set the radio channel into the talk through.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 PTT Button The Push to talk or PTT button is located at the lower part of the Allocated Radio Channels box and allows the operator to transmit on a channel by clicking and holding down the mouse button when the cursor is over the button. Releasing the mouse button will release the transmit button. The PTT button can also be activated by use of the keyboard space bar or the transmit button on the DRC-32 controller or a footswitch connected to the DRC-32 controller.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Facilities Button Pressing the facilities button opens up the facilities window in the central area of the sceen. Within the Facilities screen the user can manually select a radio site for the channel that is selected and lock the transmissions to this site. Auto Site Mode Click on the auto Site button and the radio system will operate in “Circulating Site” mode, scanning around all the available sites on the channel when a Selcall message is initiated to a radio.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Locking to a Site If the user wishes to “Lock” the radio system to a specific radio site, then they click on the appropriate site name in the site list window and then click on the “Lock TX Site” button. The Site name will then be highlighted and the TX Site Select box will indicate that the system is in manual select mode. Note that there is a timer operating in manual select mode and the system will revert back to Auto site mode when this timer expires.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Selcall Button Clicking on the Selcall button will open up the Selcall signalling window in the centre of the operators screen. From this screen the operator can make an individual Selcall to a specific radio.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Call Button This is used to initiate a call to the number entered from the keypad. This will open the loudspeaker in the individual radio allowing him to hear messages from the operator. Page Button This is used to send a Page sequence to the specific radio identity entered from the keypad.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Volume Button Clicking on the Volume Button will open up the volume setting window in the central area of the operators screen. From here the operator can set the volumes independently for the headset, handset and loudspeaker that are connected to the DRC-32 control unit. A numerical indicator underneath each volume control shows the current level the volumes are set at.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Playback Button Clicking the playback button will open up the instant replay recorder window in the centre area of the operators screen. The playback window shows a black box with a graphical representation of the recorded speech. This box is calibrated in minutes back from the current system time.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Buttons are provided to step the palyback point backwards or forwards in 10 second and 60 second steps. The instant replay recorder will record all audio presented to the operator either from radio or from telephone as well as the operators microphone audio. When in playback mode the audio being played back will also be recorded at the current time.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Using the Selcall Stack On the Operators main screen, the centre area is normally occupied by the main Selcall stack. The stack consists of columns of data showing incoming calls from radio devices. For each radio unit that has initiated a call into the system the following information is displayed:- Time The time that the call was received by the system Ident The individual radio identity of the radio initiating the call into the system.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Channel The radio channel on which the call was received. Site The radio site on which the call was received. Calls are placed on the stack in chronological order with the oldest call being at the top of the stack. If a radio sends in an alarm message this is automatically placed at the top of the stack and the background to the call details is highlighted in red.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Clear Button This will clear the call details from the current call box and will not initiate any Selcall messaging. Retain Button This will take the call details from the current call box and place the details back into the stack so that the operator can deal with the call at a later time. Calls placed back into the stack are highlighted in yellow to indicate that they are retained calls.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Menu Line Items Current User The first menu line item is the level of user that is currently logged on to DRCops. Clicking on this item will enable the user level menu items. Identity List Clicking on the Identity list menu item will produce a pop up window on the operators screen showing the identities of radios and the alpha-tags associated with those identities. This list can be updated from the current user menu level given the appropriate level of access.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 User Level Menu Items Clicking on the user level menu line item will display a list of menu items available to the current level of log on for the operator. Where the current user does not have access to certain items these are greyed out and are unavailable to that user.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Change Password Allows the current user to change their log on password Send Instant Message Allows a user to send short text messages to other operators on the system, the user can elect to send a message to a specific operator or to all operators on the system.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Channel Tags Here the operator can define what the alpha tags are associated with each radio channel. To edit the appropriate alpha tag, click on the current tag and then over type with a new tag. Click on the OK button to save the new alpha tags and close the window.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Site Tags This item is used to change or set the alpha tags for the radio sites used on each channel in a multi site voting system. To edit the site alpha tags click on the appropriate channel and site cell and then type in a new alpha tag. The scroll buttons can be used to access hidden areas of the matrix. Click on the OK button to save the new alpha tags and close the window.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Identity Tags This item is used to set the alpha tags associated with each radios specific identity. To add a new tag, select the identity from the drop down identity box, enter the appropriate tag in the tag box and then click on the “Add Tag” button. The new identity and alpha tag will now be added into the list. The remove Tag button is used to remove the tag from an identity and the Update tag is used to change an alpha tag associated with a radio identity.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Status Tags This item is used to change the alpha tags associated with status messages sent or received from radio units. The scroll bar can be used to scroll up and down the Status tag list, and again using the appropriate button a status tag can be added to the list, edited or removed from the list. Clicking the OK button will close the Status Tag window.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 User List This item opens the current user list for the system. From this screen new users can be added to the system, a level of access allocated to them and passwords set by the use of the Add User button. Existing users can have their access level updated as necessary using the update button. Users can be removed from the system by the use of the Remove user button. Clicking the OK button will close the User management window.
© A.W Communication Systems Limited 2008 Settings This menu item gives a user access to the system settings for DRCops. Some of the items on this screen will not be available to all users where their access level is not high enough. Where a user does not have access to certain elements these functions are greyed out. Some of these parameters are system specific and should only be adjusted by a competent person with overall knowledge of the complete system.
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