Parts list
You will need the following parts to externally change channels on the SATEL UHF (Model TR4) radio.
- 1034691-01: 0.15M cable Deutsch DT06-6S-CE06/D15 female
- 10346921-01: D15 Male/D9 Female 4A fuse, 2M power/programming
- USB to DB9 serial adapter, available at most electronics stores and Amazon
You will also need to download the SATEL Configuration Manager from myTopcon. It is available on the Volvo 3D-MC product page.
The 2M programming cable, PN: 1034692-01, comes with unfinished power/ground leads. You will need to modify these to whatever method you choose to supply the radio with 12 V DC power while programming.
Connecting to the radio
Connect the programming cables to the radio and power. Use the serial to USB adapter to connect the programming cables to your computer.
Open the SATEL Configuration Manager and go to the Program Preferences tab.
Under Serial Power in the lower left, set the appropriate COM port, and change the baud rate to 115200.
Now, tap the Connect button in the upper left. While connecting, you should see a blue bar at the top progressing left to right. Once the connection is made and radio settings have been read, a pop-up will appear stating, Successfully connected and settings read from device. Click OK to continue.
Maintenance mode
To create channel lists and initially configure the radio, you will need to change the user level access. By default, this is set to User. For initial setup, you will need Maintenance level access.
To change access level to Maintenance, enter the password of Maintenance, and hit the Login button.
In the User Level Settings tab, you can enable user level access to the channel editor by checking the box next to it. This will permit selecting UHF frequencies with user level access.
Select the Channel Selector button to enter the Channel Selector menu.
By default, the channel set should be blank.
Creating a channel list
To add a new frequency, tap on the Add button.
You will need to fill out the following fields:
- User Channel: The channel assigned to this frequency. You must use unique channels for different frequencies.
- TX Frequency/RX Frequency: The UHF frequency of the channel. Note that this value is displayed in hertz, whereas Topcon typically displays transmission frequencies in megahertz. The TX and RX values should be configured to the same value.
- Channel Width: Channel spacing used in hertz. This should be set to 12500 Hz.
- Channel TX Power: Transmitting power of the channel. Set to 1 W.
Once the values have been entered, tap the OK button.
Repeat this process for all channels needed.
The following buttons are also available at the top of the Channel Selector menu:
- Clear: Clears the channel table
- Load: Loads a predefined channel list
- Save: Saves a channel list in CSF format
- Add: Adds a channel frequency to the list
- Edit: Modifies the highlighted channel
- Up: Moves a frequency up in the list
- Down: Moves a frequency down in the list
- Set default: Makes the highlighted channel the active channel
- Delete: Removes the highlighted channel
- Close: Closes the Channel Selector menu
Enabling the channel list
On the Radio Settings tab, you should now see the new channel list values that were created highlighted in red. This indicates settings that have been changed but not written to the radio yet.
At the top of the Channel List is an option to set Channel List in Use. Set this to ON to use the channel list for radio frequencies.
Leaving the Channel List OFF will cause the radio to use the values programming in the Radio Settings section, which is typically not available at the User Level.
Tap the Write Settings button to program these settings to the radio.
After writing the settings, all items that were red should now be the default color. This means these changes have been applied to the radio.
Changing channels
To easily change radio channels, first connect to the radio using the programming cables.
Once connected, tap on the blue Channel Selector button at the top.
Note: If the Allow Channel editor on user level option was not enabled, Maintenance mode must be used to change channels.
In the Channel Selector menu, highlight the channel you wish to change to. In this example, we're changing to 462.75 Mhz.
Now, tap the Set default button to set 462.75 Mhz as the active channel, then the Close button.
You should now see that the Default Channel is highlighted in red, meaning its value has changed.
Tap the Write Settings button to apply the changes to the radio.
