[ARDF] Starting PicCons

[Marvin Johnston]

I *always* use the DTMF tone (#1) for starting the piccons. Be aware
that there is (was?) a bug in the software such that the initial time
delay (A4hhmm) should not be set to an even hour, i.e. A40300 for three
hours since apparently they may not start up reliably. Below are typical
settings I use for Start Delay, Cycle Delay, Tone On Time, Cycle Length,
Initial Start Delay, and Code Sequence for each transmitter.

#1 - A40315 A10100 A20056 A30500 A40000 C423#
#2 - A40315 A10100 A20056 A30500 A40000 C4123#
#3 - A40315 A10100 A20056 A30500 A40000 C41123#
#4 - A40315 A10100 A20056 A30500 A40000 C411123#
#5 - A40315 A10100 A20056 A30500 A40000 C4111123#

Note that the cycle time is set for 56 seconds (and is followed by your
callsign.) That time is dependent on how long it takes to transmit your
callsign. I try to set them up to leave about 1 second of dead space
between transmissions since that allows for a bit of drift between the
piccons.

You probably also want to set the lock/unlock codes and lock the piccons
after you've started them. I've run into problems using #4 in the
lock/unlock codes so I try to only use 5 - 0 when setting them.

Marvin


"Kenneth E. Harker" wrote:
> 
>      For those using PicCons to control their transmitters, what's the
> prefered method for starting them all in sync?  Trying to hit five SW1
> buttons all at once?  Or using the DTMF tone over the air?