RESEARCH CONCEPTS RC4500 - Operating Mode; MANUAL Mode Basics

RC4500 Antenna Controller Chapter 2 Basic Operation
18
2.2 Operating Mode
The Operating Mode consists of the MANUAL mode and MENU mode. These are the two commonly
used modes of operation for basic operation and typical control of an antenna. This section is intended to
be a very abbreviated guide to the Operating Mode screens and an in-depth description of each screen
should be reviewed in section 5.1 OPERATING GROUP.
MOUNT POSITION CONFIRMATION
Following the power on screen, the RC4500 transitions to the appropriate screen based on whether or not
a mount position (latitude and longitude) has been entered.
If the mount’s position has been previously entered, no screen will appear and the RC4500 will
automatically transition to the mode defined by the INITIAL MODE configuration item in the SYSTEM
DEFINITION screen (
5.2.1.3.1.)
If no mount position has been entered (typically following a RESET DEFAULTS or LOCATION RESET),
the following screen appears to remind the user to enter a lat/lon.
LAT/LON
LAT: LON:
ENTER LATITUDE DEGREES (+dd.dddd)
After entering the latitude and longitude, the RC4500 will transition to the INITIAL MODE.
NOTE: One of the first actions that should be taken when integrating an RC4500 ACU is to define
the antenna’s latitude and longitude.
2.2.1 MANUAL Mode Basics
A full detailed description of the MANUAL mode screen and all displayed data can be found in section
5.1.1.
AZ: 179.97 RF: 50 MANUAL
EL: 42.45 SAT:
PL: 30.01 V SPD:FAST UTC
<MODE>MENU <0-9>JOG ANTENNA 14:25:47
While in MANUAL mode, the user may jog the antenna in all three axes via the keypad. The positions of
each axis is displayed immediately to the right of the axis’ name. If a limit becomes active, its status will
be displayed to the right of the axis position (angle or count.)
Pressing the SCROLL UP key or SCROLL DOWN key from the keypad will cause the ACU to display
alternate data that may be useful during basic operation. The SCROLL UP key will toggle through the
axes’ displayed position types (antenna angle, resolver angle, position count.) The SCROLL DOWN key
will toggle through the various signal strength inputs that are available for a particular ACU version.
The MANUAL mode is useful for manually jogging and peaking on a satellite and verifying the antenna’s
current position. Most Operating Mode actions will take place from the MENU mode.
From the MANUAL mode, momentarily pressing the MODE key will move to MENU mode.