To satisfy the requirement for control of the repeater, we have a dedicated phone line connected to the controller. This line can also be used as an auto-patch phone line.
Please, the conduct of business is a no-no!
To use the Auto-Patch: Please identify yourself (Callsign), announce your intentions, Use your touch-tone keypad to enter the phone number you wish to dial, Enter the execute key, the star (*), to activate the patch.
Touch Tones are not re-transmitted through the repeater!
When the controller has recieved the star (*), and has qualified the number entered, it will silently dial the number requested.
You will not hear a telephone dial tone!
The S-Com controller generates touch-tones (your phone number) to dial the telephone line, rather than using the tones as they were generated by your radio. This greatly enhances the accuracy of dialing, and is one of the reasons to buy this type of controller.
The controller sends AS in Morse to signify a legal request.
The controller does NOTHING if it doesn't get a legal request.
The standard Pound sign (#) is used to end your conversation. The auto-patch time limit is 3 minutes! If the patch gets within 30 seconds of time-out it will send AR in Morse every 5 seconds! There will be a Macro to extend the time limit.
It is possible to place your common phone numbers in a Macro, so if you plan to make calls frequently to the same number, please contact WA1RHP and I will assign a short (easy dial) sequence to your number. For Example: 43* will dial your home. (Instead of dialing 7891234*.)
I have programmed many of the surrounding town's Emergency Centers into the controller. Do anything you have to do to save life or protect property, we'll sort it out later!
There is NO phone time limit on an emergency auto-patch. However, Be sure not to time-out (TOM-out) the repeater, by talking for more than 3 minutes on any transmission.
I want to call your ATTENTION to the Harvard Emergency center, as the police chief has requested that we NOT call them for situations best served by the State Police or other towns! Weird huh?
There is also a functional Reverse Patch. The controller sends "RING" in Morse Code, when someone is trying to use the reverse patch. Any Ham may answer the patch with a 4*. Anyone dialing the repeater does NOT cause the repeater to send the "RING". Persons calling the repeater must have a password to activate the reverse patch, so that I may track who is using this function. Again contact WA1RHP and I will assign a unique password for you.
With the WA1RHP S-COM expansion board a total of 128 devices can be controlled. I am always interested in what other devices you wish to control. (Add to the repeater.) However, BobbyB WA1ZJG has final dis/aproval! So send in those ideas folks!
You probably have noticed the FCOs listen almost ALL the time! And, you may reach WA1RHP, by telephone at home at 978-425-6672, or at work, NeuroPhysics Corporation, 978-772-6401.
Finally, I do have the ability to make this system much more secure. This has been a FUN experience for us all, so as much as possible, I would like to say THANK YOU by being liberal with controls.
Submitted by Thomas C. J. Sefranek WA1RHP ARRL Technical Specialist (as Alda says... Commanding General. But I'm really an advanced!)
* The FCOs are WA1ZJG, WA1RHP, KV1W, and N1JEB.
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