Unit installation

14-1

Chapter 14: Doug Hall RBI-1 and RLC-ICM Routines

What the RBI-1 is:

Doug Hall Electronics' Remote Base Interface (RBI-1) allows the RLC-3 to control the Kenwood

series TM-X21 and TM-X31 mobile radios. The RBI-1 converts the data output by the RLC-3

into a format that the radios can use. Up to four bands can be supported by one RBI-1 interface,

with one band active at a time. PL (CTCSS) encode and decode is handled by the radios. The

RBI-1 plugs into one of the RLC-3's radio cards. The audio, COR and PTT interface is made

through the RLC-3 card's radio port (the bottom DB-9) and the signals that control the RBI-1 and

ultimately the radio come from the serial port on the radio card (the top DB-9 connector). More

information about the RBI-1, including the address and phone number for Doug Hall Electronics, is

included on the following pages. Link Communications does not sell the RBI-1 interface.

What the RLC-ICM is:

The RLC-ICM is a remote base interface for IC-900 and IC-901 band modules. The RLC-ICM

uses the same data stream from the repeater controller as the RBI-1, except for the special setup

codes sent with command 139. Up to four bands can be supported by one RLC-ICM interface.

Unlike the RBI-1, more than one band can be active at the same time; up to all four bands can

transmit or receive at the same time. The RLC-ICM also supports a Communications Specialists'

TS-64 PL board for each band module. Each band that has a TS-64 can encode and decode PL.

Different bands can use different PL frequencies. The RLC-ICM plugs into one of the RLC-3's

radio cards. The audio, COR and PTT interface is made through the RLC-3 card's radio port (the

bottom DB-9) and the signals that control the RBI-1 and ultimately the radio come from the serial

port on the radio card (the top DB-9 connector). The RLC-ICM is available from Link

Communications.

Interfacing and Setup:

It is very easy to interface the RBI-1or RLC-ICM to the RLC-3. Directions for building the needed

cable is provided on one of the following pages. You can build it yourself or order one from Link

Communications, Inc.. The RBI-1 is connected to the radio's microphone connectors with cables

supplied with the RBI-1. The RLC-ICM includes cables and small interface boards to connect to

the IC-900/901 band modules. The only other connections are power, ground and antenna to the

radios. The RBI-1 gets its power from the radio; the RLC-ICM has its own power plug.

The first step in configuring the RLC-3 to control the RBI-1 or RLC-ICM is executing command

140. This will tell the RLC-3 what radio card inside the RLC-3 the RBI-1 or RLC-ICM is

connected to. If you are using the RLC-ICM, you should then set it up with command 139. After

that, all of the commands to set frequency, bands, etc should work.