Specifications

TNPP Networking
186 025-9034AA
It would be simple to send pages only to another node, or even all other nodes, when the
network is 2- or 3-node. However, when the network has six or more nodes the potential
number of combinations becomes very large, as does the probability of errors in entering a
subscriber record. A related headache is making sure that the proper channel and zone
settings are used for each destination node. As an example of the magnitudes involved, a
network of 10 terminals with two radio frequencies would result in a total of 1023 possible
combinations of page destinations.
A better approach is to assign coverage regions, where each region is a group of terminals
providing the desired geographic coverage. You give each coverage region a name, one
that has meaning to your application. Each coverage region will be assigned a secondary
node address, one that is not the primary address of any terminal in the network.
Continuing with our example, four types of coverage are decided on: local, east side of the
state, west side of the state, and the entire state. There are two transmitter frequencies in
use as well. The following table, which is similar to the table that would actually be used
on the Series 2000 terminal, shows the regions and their member nodes:
Table 24: TNPP System Layout — Regions and Nodes
Notice that the P6 regions have fewer members than the P5 regions. This is because
terminal 5092 and 2021 do not have transmitters for P6. However, these nodes will pass
P6 network pages on through to the next node in line. Also notice that node 2021 is in both
the P5WEST and P5EAST regions, extending the coverage of both of those regions to the
south-central portion of the state.
The P5LOCAL and P6LOCAL entries have “my terminal” as the only member node, and
no secondary addresses assigned to them. At each terminal, the “LOCAL” regions will be
mapped to perform just local RF paging, and not send any pages over the network.
When setting up a subscriber’s coverage all that is needed is to enter the coverage region
name in his record. It is clear that there is less work involved and less chance of error
typing “P5ALL” rather than entering the node addresses of five other nodes. One other
major advantage is that if a coverage region changes, say terminal 2021 adds a transmitter
on P6 or another terminal joins the network, then the only change that is needed is to
change the six lines that describe the networked regions. No subscriber records need be
changed, the expanded coverage is added to the existing region names at each terminal.
Region Node ID Nodes in Region
P5LOCAL — my terminal
P5EAST 0501 5091 5092 5093 2021
P5WEST 0502 4161 4162 2021
P5ALL 0500 2021 4161 4162 5091 5092 5093
P6LOCAL — my terminal
P6EAST 0601 5091 5093
P6WEST 0602 4161 4162
P6ALL 0600 4161 4162 5091 5093