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EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS. EXTREMELY SIMPLE. G6-DB Satellite Data Transmitter Operator’s Manual 1.800.548.4264 | www.ftsinc.com 700-G6-DB-Man Rev1 12 Feb 2021...
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Contact Information Canadian Headquarters: 1065 Henry Eng Place Victoria, BC | V9B 6B2 | Canada www.ftsinc.com Toll-free: 1.800.548.4264 Local: 250.478.5561 Technical support portal: http://support.ftsinc.com Email: service@ftsinc.com Warranty Terms and Conditions https://ftsinc.com/support/warranty/...
HANDLING AND SAFETY HANDLING Although G6-DB is rugged, it should be handled as a precision instrument, that is, with caution and attention. Before powering up the transmitter, ensure the antenna is properly connected in accordance with general guidance contained in Section 4.3...
OVERVIEW The G6-DB is a satellite data transmitter that operates with the GOES (Version 2.0 - CS2) and METEOSAT networks. The transmitter has a global positioning system (GPS) that provides accurate location and time synchronization information. The G6-DB was designed to be used in Data Collection Platforms (DCPs), also called weather stations.
NOTE: It is only possible to use a GOES platform through approval and certification of the transmitter by NESDIS. GOES Satellite Antenna Equipped DCP with Ground Receiving GOES transmitter Station Figure 1: GOES system / DCP equipped with G6-DB 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 3/65...
3. Once logged in select “Submit an Application for a GOES DCS SUA”. 4. Complete and submit the application. More information about the GOES Data Collection System can be found on the NOAA site. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 4/65...
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±20 Hz disciplined to GPS; After this process, a GPS fix occurs after power up and once per day. Channel Bandwidth 100 bps: 3 KHz GPS Receiver Type: 3.3 V active Connector: SMA jack 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 5/65...
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21.88 x 13.15 x 4.4 cm (8.61” x 5.17” x 1.7”) connectors: Weight: 955 g Interface command protocols Binary command protocol: Available on RS-232 ASCII command protocol: Available on all ports 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 6/65...
INSTALLATION FIELD SITE REQUIREMENTS For proper operation of the G6-DB transmitter, the user must follow the following requirements: • Install the antenna so that it has a clear view of the sky (view of the satellite). • For directional antennas, the user must point it toward the satellite (Section 4.4.1).
The LEDs may represent the following conditions: • When the G6-DB is powered for the first time, the four LEDs quickly light up in a circular motion representing an auto test sequence, and then the GPS LED will light up.
NOTE: If the transmitter cannot synchronize to UTC time during the first 20 minutes, the transmitter will switch off the GPS module for one minute and then will restart the synchronization cycle. This process continues until the transmitter successfully synchronizes to UTC time. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 9/65...
4.3.1 ANTENNA CONNECTOR The G6-DB uses the type N female connector for RF power out. It must have a proper connection before any transmission occurs. Failure to use a properly matched cable and connector may cause permanent damage to the equipment. The nominal impedance is 50 ohms; the frequency range is approximately 400 to 403 MHz.
It requires no assembly and no aiming in most locations. It just needs to be mounted with a clear view of the sky., Additionally, the FTS EON2 antenna is dome-shaped for shedding snow and ice, is completely sealed for use in harsh environments, and has the option of an embedded GPS antenna.
CONFIGURING COMMUNICATING WITH THE G6-DB A method to communicate with the G6-DB transmitter must be established. There are two ways to communicate: Connecting the transmitter to a PC (RS-232 or USB port) and run a terminal emulation program such as Windows HyperTerminal.
Connect the cables as shown in Figure 6. Note that only one of either the USB cable or the communication serial cable may be required depending on the equipment in use. However, both can be used simultaneously. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 13/65...
IMPORTANT: Both serial ports can be used for ASCII command protocols, but for binary protocol commands only the serial communication RS-232 port will work 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 14/65...
The access level of each command is noted in the command descriptions in Chapter 6. Some commands are only available when transmissions are disabled. This is also noted along with each command description. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 15/65...
CONFIGURATION FORMAT The G6-DB will arrive with the factory default settings and the transmitter configuration will be displayed in the following format: >RCFG NESID=0000 TCH=0 TBR=0 Mandatory parameters TIN=00:00:00:00 provided by NOAA FTT=00:00:00 TWL=0 CMSG=N EBM=N TPR=S TDF=A RCH=0 RBR=0...
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Table 1: NOAA Transmit parameters setting examples The transmitter will always return a “OK” message when the parameters above are entered correctly. Check the entered values if any parameter gives a different answer. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 17/65...
>CMSG=Y Y=Yes (Recommended). N=No. See Section Center message CMSG=N >OK 9.7.1 for details. in window Y=Yes. The G6-DB transmitter will transmit even if there is no data in the transmit >EBM=Y buffer. EBM=N Empty buffer message N=No. There will be no transmission if there >OK...
GOES Data Collection Platform Radio Set (DCPRS) CERTIFICATION STANDARDS, NOAA/NESDIS, June 2009; http://www.noaasis.noaa.gov/DCS/docs/DCPR_CS2_final_June09.pdf; Section 4.1.1 EUMETSAT International Data Collection System Users’ Guide, Edition 10 version 1, October 2009 https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Data/TechnicalDocuments/index.html 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 20/65...
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NOTE: If the message returns BAD PARAMETER instead of OK, an error was made inputting the transmit parameters. Review the configuration and then re-enter the erroneous command with the correct parameter. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 21/65...
1) If a GPS Off message is returned, to confirm if synchronization has occurred type in the TIME command No GPS synchronization >TIME Time=2000/01/01 00:00:11 : this return indicates synchronization has not occurred (wrong year/month/date). The running time count indicates time passed since the last synchronization attempt. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 22/65...
Information is loaded into the transmit buffer approximately 2 minutes before transmission, so ensure the periphery equipment’s offset time is calculated to have completed reading, logging and processing at least two minutes before the transmission. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 23/65...
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8) Once you have confirmed that the transmission was successful and the data was transmitted correctly, ensure the EBM is returned to EBM=Y (if that is the desired setting). 9) Close the HyperTerminal text file capture and disconnect from the Communication Port. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 24/65...
Forward Power: 32.0 dBm Reflected Power: 16.3 dBm SWR: 1.39 Power Supply: 10.9 V Msg Truncated (message truncated) indicates that there was more data than could be transmitted within the transmission window. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 25/65...
>TBD Timed Message Length = 25 bytes Timed Message is: 300,29.6,45.25 : this would return the actual data for your device; the returned values shown here are for example only 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 26/65...
Transmission buffer the same as Timed Transmission Data Buffer Loading Commands. Detailed examples can be seen in Section 3.6.2 – just exchange the random transmission commands for the timed transmission commands. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 27/65...
Timed Message Length: 119 bytes Next Timed Tx: 2010/05/13 23:17:40 Random Message Length: 119 bytes Random Message Tx Count: 0 Next Random Tx: N/A Failsafe: OK Supply voltage: 11.9 V 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 28/65...
"Transmitter Must Be Enabled[CR][LF]>" if command must first be enabled, "Configuration Not Recognized[CR][LF]>" if configuration is invalid, If the command was a request for a configuration parameter the transmitter will respond with: <cmd>=<data>[CR][LF]> When returning data parameters. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 29/65...
This command defines the ASCII character that will be substituted for any Prohibited ASCII character detected in the transmission data when operating in ASCII or Pseudo-Binary mode. The default character is ‘?’. Only printable ASCII characters, excluding space, are permitted. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 30/65...
Note that the factory default configuration is not valid. The factory default parameters must be explicitly overwritten with valid values before transmissions can be enabled. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 31/65...
Enabled/Disabled This command changes the command access level back to USER. No password is required. A power cycle of the transmitter will also return the command access level to USER. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 32/65...
Sets the transmitter’s GOES DCP Platform ID to the assigned 8 character NESID hex value. 6.3.2 SET SELF-TIMED TRANSMISSION CHANNEL NUMBER Syntax: TCH=ccc Access level: USER Tx State: Disabled Assigned by the satellite system’s operator, specifically NOAA or EUMETSAT. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 33/65...
SET SELF-TIMED TRANSMISSION TRANSMIT WINDOW LENGTH Syntax: TWL=xxx Access level: USER Tx State: Disabled Set the length of the timed transmit window. Length is specified in seconds. Valid range is 5 to 240 seconds. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 34/65...
For 100 BPS operations on channels 201-266, the transmitter will be configured for International operation. Specifically, the 31-bit International EOT will be used (0x63CADD04) in place of the ASCII EOT. Setting the channel number to 0 will disable random transmissions. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 35/65...
3 will direct the transmitter to send the data in the Random buffer 3 times before clearing it. A value of 0 indicates that random transmissions will occur every random transmission interval until the random buffer is cleared by the host. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 36/65...
This command returns the number of bytes in the message and the message as it was sent to the GOES transmitter. Timed Message Length = 119 bytes Timed Message is: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 37/65...
The maximum length of the formatted data can be up to 126000 bits, or 15750 bytes. If there is more data loaded into the buffer than can be transmitted in the assigned transmit window the message will be truncated. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 38/65...
This command returns the number of bytes in the message and the message as it was sent to the GOES transmitter. Random Message Length = 119 bytes Random Message is: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 39/65...
If the failsafe is tripped by a transmission that was too early then cleared and a subsequent transmission is sent before the required time between transmissions then the failsafe will trip again. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 41/65...
Timed Message Length: nnnn[CR][LF] Next Timed Tx: N/A or yyyy/mm/dd/hh:mm:ss[CR][LF] Random Message Length: nnnn[CR][LF] Random Message Tx Count: nnn[CR][LF] Next Random Tx: N/A or yyyy/mm/dd/hh:mm:ss[CR][LF] Fail-Safe: OK/Tripped[CR][LF] Supply Voltage: xx.x V 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 42/65...
Last Tx Stop Time: 2004/12/16 23:29:49 Forward Power: -23.1 dBm Power Supply: 12.0 V If a transmission has not occurred since power up, the transmitter will respond with: No Tx Has Occurred 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 43/65...
Where latitude is in degrees, + for N and - for S, longitude is in degrees, + for E and – for W and altitude is in meters. If a GPS fix has not yet occurred the transmitter will respond with: No GPS Fix[CR][LF]> 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 44/65...
"Message buffer full. Append failed" 6.5.10 CLEAR AUDIT LOG Syntax: Access level: TECHNICIAN Tx State: Enabled/Disabled This clears the audit log. Once this command is called it cannot be undone. >CAL (command) OK (response) 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 46/65...
READ MEASURED FREQUENCY Syntax: Access level: TECHNICIAN Tx State: Enabled/Disabled This command returns the last measured OCXO and TCXO frequencies in the following format: F-OCXO: 10000005.9000 F-TCXO: 43199.9166 Units are Hz. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 47/65...
RF power level will be the maximum output not the setting. Rate Minimum Maximum (bps) (dBm) (dBm) 26.00 40.5 26.00 38.5 1200 26.00 38.5 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 48/65...
Turns the OCXO and synthesizer on if they are not already ON. 10MHz OCXO output will appear on TP4 and 1.25MHz reference frequency will appear on TP6. They will stay on until OCXOOFF command is issued or the G5 is power cycled. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 49/65...
Disable automatic synchronization to GPS. This command is used during testing to prevent automatic GPS fix and OCXO/TCXO calibrations. An automatic synchronization will be stopped if this command is entered while it is in progress. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 50/65...
6.7.7 ENABLE AUTOMATIC CALIBRATION TASK Syntax: Access level: TECHNICIAN Tx State: Enabled/Disabled Enables automatic synchronization to GPS if they were previously disabled by DAS. 700-G6-DB- Man Rev. 1 dft5 11 Feb 2021 Page 51/65...
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