Berkeley Varitronics Systems Fox User manual

manual version 4.4
Fox

SECTION PAGE
OPERATIONAL TIPS - BEFORE YOU START 3
INTRODUCTION 4
Overview 5
General Features 5
Keypad 5
Fox Rear Panel 5
Charging/Fast Charging 5
GPS Power Switch 5
FOX MAIN MENU 6
FOX Power Up Screen 6
C/I Ratio 6
Adjacent Channel 7
Fast Fade 8
1 Channel Measurement 8
20 Channel Measurements 9
Variable Sweep 10
1 MHz Step Measurement 10
Receiver Status Menu 11
PCMCIA Replay 11
FOX SETUP MENU 12
PCMCIA Menu 12
Initialize PCMCIA Card 12
Download Data 13
RF Dump to PC 13
Step 13
Marker Type 14
Set Marker Number 14
Set X-Y Coordinates 14
Set PP Mile (odometer setting) 15
Date/Time Setting 15
Backlight Control 15
FOXDL PC SOFTWARE 16
Introduction 16
Starting the Application 16
Main Screen 17
Toolbar 17
GPS Information Status Bar 18
GPS Satellite Screen 18
Fox Information Status Bar 19
Thresholds 19
20 Channel Table 19
Paging Capcode Table 20
FOXDL PC CARD DOWNLOAD UTILITY 21
BVS CHAMELEON CW USER MANUAL 22
FOX APPENDIX 24
Battery Charge/Discharge 24
POCSAG Measurements 24
FOX Troubleshooting 27
FOX Supplemental Material 28
BVS FOX Serial Interface – Data Responses 29
Binary File Format 32
PCMCIA Card Record Structures 33
Millisecond to Degree Conversion 35
Fox PCMCIA Step-by-Step Data Collection & Conversion 36
ONCORE INTERNAL GPS RECEIVER 37
Fox 40 Lambda Averaging in Chameleon CW 42
FOX FAST FADE QUICK START 43
FOX REMOTE KEY COMMANDS 45
Glossary of Acronyms 46
PCS Allocation Table 47
GENERAL SAFETY 48
FOX CE Approval Report
Page 1

OPERATIONAL TIPS - BEFORE YOU START
1) The GPS antenna has a magnetic mount. For this reason, all possible care must be taken to not get it in close
proximity to the enclosed PCMCIA memory card once data has been collected.
2) When using external power (AC or DC), connect to the FOX before turning ON. DO NOT remove external
power while the unit is running.
3) It is possible that you will not need all of the cables supplied with the unit. Any unused cables are to be kept in a safe
place for possible future use.
4) Even though the FOX is made to be rugged and for field use, it is not water resistant. Do not attempt taking
measurements in the rain.
5) The PCMCIA card is an electronic device. As such, it is susceptible to electro-static shock. It should be kept in the
soft foam padded carrying case when not in use.
6) Be very careful to be familiar with and follow the instructions for exiting the Fox and turning it off. If you do
not, you can jeopardize the integrity of the data stored on the PCMCIA card. This is because the ‘ESC’ key
instructs the Fox to record the selection made, and therefore must preceed turning off the unit.
7) It is recommended that you set the unit up to take the fewest number of measurements per reading period in
order to reduce the final size of the data file. For example, approximately 1.7 Mbytes of data taken from the PCMCIA card will
expand to over 7.0 Mbytes of file size once the information is converted to tab delimited ASCII. The ASCII format data can
be saved as an Excel spread sheet for post measurement analysis by following the instructions in the Fox.MAN file previously
printed out. Therefore, in the screen where you select the number or samples per measurement, you should select 4096 (approx
1 record per second) as opposed to 64 (approx 22 records per second).
8) The FOX’s charger has three different LED indications:
blinking LED-battery in unit is trickle charging
solid LED-battery in unit is fast-charging
LED off-battery in unit is fully charged
9) If the PC used to download the PCMCIA was running Windows, reenter Windows before downloading from a DOS
screen. Use the system select to change COM PORT flow control to “Hardware.” If the computer used to download the
PCMCIA card boots up in Windows (3.1 or 95), do the following BEFORE attempting to download the Fox PCMCIA card:
1) Enter WINDOWS®
2) Select the MAIN menu (win 95 “Mycomputer”)
3) Select CONTROL PANEL, when in, select PORTS (win 95 system/device manager)
4) Set COM 1 or COM 2 (depending on which is to be used) FLOW CONTROL to “HARDWARE” or “OFF”. The nor mal setting
for this option is “XON-XOFF”. Flow Control MUST be set to the “HARDWARE” or “OFF” option for download to work reliably.
5) Enter MS-DOS® and use Fox.EXE to download PCMCIA.
Also note that when using laptops, POWER MANAGEMENT control MUST be turned OFF. This feature is usually found in the
CONTROL PANEL, set it to OFF for at least to 15 minutes. IF the power management control software puts the laptop in low
power mode DURING download, data WILL be lost.
Trademarks ®
Fox is a trademarks of Berkeley Varitronics Systems.
SolidState Data Drive is a trademark TM of ADTRON Corporation.
IBM PC is a trademarks of IBM Corporation.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft EXCEL is a trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
ASIS is a trademarks of American Microsystems Corporation
Page 2

INTRODUCTION
Overview
FOX is a hand-held, battery powered signal strength meter convenient for finding RF “shadows” in indoor wireless systems
or for drive-around studies to detect RF leakage and propagation coverage. FOX is designed to be powered from either AC, a
cigarette lighter, or to run for up to 8 hours on its internal, rechargeable NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) battery.
General Features
• FOX has a 240 x 64 graphic Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with electroluminescent back lighting and can display up to
160 channels (frequencies) at one time. The unit can resolve signal levels to 1 dB accuracy in real-time and display dBm in
either bar graph or scrolling X axis with a 1 second tick mark format. The sampling rate for Receive Signal Strength Indication
(RSSI) is user-programmable. Display contrast may be adjusted via the up and down arrow keys while in the greeting screen.
Each of these settings are then stored in non-volatile memory. The keypad is used for menu selection and includes full numeric
entry for which channels to scan, along with other user programmable functions.
• The keypad has 20 alpha-numeric keys for user entry.
• RS-232 serial interface is supported for use with Seiko DPU-411 thermal printer.
• Auto calibration feature utilizes a unique on-board program to calibrate the FOX without operator assistance
(using either Marconi 2957/2960 or HP 8920 communication test sets). The calibration values are automati
cally stored in nonvolatile EEROM.
• The audio (speaker) volume is adjustable using the up and down arrow keys while in the CHAN screen.
• A built-in real-time clock (RTC) is used in connection with the MARKER feature to log time stamp vs. positional
information with the collected data.
• An internal NiCad battery is employed for up to 8 hours of operation before recharging is necessary.
• Battery backup storage static random access memory (SRAM) is available for permanently saving screen
setups and favorite channel numbers, as well as collected measurements.
• Fast battery charger
• Internal differential GPS 8 channel receiver uses an active antenna, which can magnetically attach to the roof of a
vehicle
Options
• PCMCIA mass non-volatile storage RAM cards (128k - 2 MBytes are supported)
• BER demodulation: bit, byte, packet and burst error counts (where applicable)
• Printer: Seiko, Inc. DPU-411 Type 11 with cable
Keypad
Certain keys take on different meaning depending on the current operation mode. During MAIN MENU mode, the arrow keys are
used to select menu options (measurements). During the RF MEASUREMENT MODE the arrow keys are used to increment/ dec-
rement a channel number; or to change the frequency up or down (channel number), use the cursor left and right arrow keys.
Page 3

KEY FUNCTION
0 Pause the measurement.
1 Y axis -120 to -70 dBm.
2 Y axis -120 to -30 dBm.
3 Text/Graph (Survey CHAN, 1 MHz sweep)
4 Increase display contrast.
5 Decrease display contrast.
6 Display marker,date/time and battery gauge, Lat-Lon, odometer and PCMCIA gauge.
ENTER Enter frequency (or channel #) for position marked by cursor (CO, ADJ, 20 CHAN) or
change I CHAN measurement frequency (or channel #).
Shift + 7 Reset odometer.
Shift + 8 Toggle PCMCIA record on-off.
Shift + 9 Toggle between CHANNEL NUMBER and FREQUENCY display and entry.
Up arrow Increase volume (1 CHAN measurement).
Down arrow Decrease volume (1 CHAN measurement).
Right arrow Increase Frequency (1 CHAN measurement) or Move Cursor (SURVEY measurements)
Left arrow Decrease Frequency (1 CHAN measurement).
MARKER Increment marker number, print if PRINT ON MARK is selected.
PEAK HOLD Toggle highest dBm latch on-off (all SURVEY).
BEST/SCAN Move cursor to BEST (strongest) frequency (Survey measurements) or SCAN for strongest
frequency (1 CHAN).
SHIFT + BEST/SCAN Seek next higher freq >100 dBm
SHIFT + BEST/SCAN Seek next lower freq >100 dBm
SHIFT + BEST/SCAN (Var Sweep) Transfers the strongest 20 frequencies to 20 channel measurements
SHIFT and then Up arrow Seeks next highest frequency greater than 100 dBm in RSSI
SHIFT and then Down arrow Seeks next lowest frequency greater than 100 dBm in RSSI
Note: Certain FOX features are accessed by pressing SHIFT and another key at the same time while other features are
accessed by first pressing SHIFT, depressing SHIFT and then pressing another key.
Page 4

Fox Rear Panel
1 Receiver RF input (- 120 dBm to -30 dBm max) for measurement and calibration. (TNC type connector 50 Ω)
2 Serial port used with supplied cables to download PCMCIA card, collect measurements with laptop or PC (RF
Dump mode on), printer output and Marconi or HP calibration
3 Differential GPS antenna input (SMB Connector)
4 DC power input
5 Odometer 4 pin male input (12 volt pulse) from vehicle
Charging/Fast Charging
FAST CHARGING LED (yellow) - When lit, indicates FOX is connected to supplied fast charge power supply. Fast charge time is
about 1-2 hours dependent upon initial voltage level at the start of the fast charge.When the charge light is on, the unit’s internal
batteries are fast charging (charging in 1-2 hours). This can only be accomplished by using the supplied 18 VDC transformer.
Once the Fox’s internal batteries are fully charged, the charge light will go off.
LOW BATT LED (red) - When lit, indicates battery is low and the FOX needs charging. Data collected while LOW BATT LED is
on will not be accurate (RSSI error > 1 dB). DO NOT COLLECT data while LOW BATT LED is on. When using FOX in vehicle,
power with supplied cigarette lighter cable for unlimited run time. In addition, there are two charging methods. The first is
trickle charge, and the second is fast charge. The low battery light will come on when the FOX’s internal batteries need charg-
ing. As soon as the LOW BATT light comes on, you should stop making measurements and plug the Fox into the appropriate
charging jack.
Trickle Charge: Charges the FOX’s internal batteries overnight (approx. 8 hours).If the FAST CHARGING light is off and the FOX is
plugged into either the vehicle (via the 12 Volt supplied cigarette lighter adapter) or into the AC outlet (via the supplied switching
DC transformer) the FOX’s internal batteries will trickle charge (charge overnight).
This input will both charge the internal NiCad battery and run the unit regardless of the initial state of the internal battery. The
rate of charging is about 10 times faster with the unit off.
Ignition noise must be filtered out externally. Some filtering is provided by the unit, but not as much as needed for a very noisy
vehicle due to space considerations.
GPS Power Switch
Use this switch to turn on or off the internal GPS sensor. Running the unit with this switch in the OFF position doubles battery
run-time. It is recommended that if LAT/ LON positions are not required, the GPS switch should be left in the OFF position.
Page 5
1245

C / I RATIO
This measurement is used to compare (Carrier /
Interferer) two frequencies against each other. To
enter the “C” frequency, use the RIGHT or LEFT
ARROW keys to move the dotted line cursor over
the “C” column. When the cursor is positioned,
press ENTER and enter the “C” frequency. To enter
the “I” frequency, use the RIGHT or LEFT ARROW
keys to move the dotted line cursor over the “I”
column. When the cursor is positioned, press ENTER and enter the “I” frequency.
The C/I RATIO screen displays in both text and as a bar graph, the dBm level of both the “C” and “I” frequency.
The compare value in dBm of I-C is also displayed. If C > 1, this compare value (in dBm) is plus (+). If I > C, the compare
value is negative
FOX POWER-UP SCREEN
After power switch is turned to the ON position, the
POWER UP screen is displayed on the LCD. There
is no backlight for this screen. The backlight will
activate as soon as any key is pressed. Use the UP
and DOWN ARROW keys to adjust contrast while
in this screen. If, after power on, the screen is
too dark, press the DOWN ARROW key to reduce
contrast. If the screen is too light, press the
UP ARROW key to increase the contrast. Once out of the power up screen, you may adjust contrast at any
time by using the 4 / CONTRAST+ and 5 / CONTRAST- keys instead of the arrows. Press ESC to enter MAIN MENU.
After pressing ESC from power up screen, the ONE CHAN measurement option is automatically highlighted in the
MAIN MENU.
Page 6
MAIN MENU
This screen is displayed after the power up screen
and is used to select the RF desired measurements,
setups or unit status. To select any menu item, use
the right,left,up and down arrow keys to highlight
the item. When the item required is highlighted,
press the ENTER key to execute the highlighted
item. Remember that MAIN MENU screens and
their sub-menus can vary depending upon which
model of FOX you have purchased. This manual
covers all FOX models (except for EAMPS) so some
menus may not apply to your own custom Fox.
The current GPS status is displayed in the lower
lefthand comer of the display. If GL appears, it
means the GPS is locked to at least 3 satellites and
LAT/LON is valid. If “DL” appears, it means the
GPS is DIFFERENTIAL locked to at least 3 satellites
and LAT/LON is valid. If “??” is displayed, it means
the internal GPS receiver cannot track the required number of satellites required to provide valid LAT/LON. The percentage of
card storage remaining (0-100) is displayed as a number in far lower righthand corner.

ADJACENT CHANNEL
The adjacent channel measurement is used to
measure any frequency and the two frequencies
immediately adjacent to it. To select the center
frequency, press ENTER and enter the center fre-
quency. This measurement displays the dBm read-
ings of all three frequencies in both bar graph and
digital formats. It also displays the comparison of
the center frequency against both adjacent frequen-
cies. If the center is greater than either of the adjacent frequencies, this value is plus (+). If either of the
adjacent are greater than the center, this value is negative (-). The difference between the center frequency
and the adjacent frequency is determined by the last setting of the FREQ STEP in the VAR SWEEP measure-
ment screen. Starting from current frequency, push SHIFT + UP ARROW key to seek next highest frequency
greater than 100 dBm in RSSI and SHIFT + DOWN ARROW keys to seek next lowest frequency greater than
100 dBm in RSSI.
Page 7
FAST FADE (optional)
Fast Fade saves blocks of 64 consecutive samples
of dBm in PCMCIA card records. Also included in
each block is the time, date and GPS position of
the measurement.
Measurement Rates
FOX RSSI measurements are performed by a high-
speed 8-bit A/D converter. The actual sample is made rapidly, in about 200 microseconds. This is not, however, the amount
of time to record a single signal strength. Due to variations in the instantaneous amplitude of RF signals, some averaging
must be applied to the readings to “normalize” the
measurements. Therefore, multiple A/D samples
are added together and divided by the number
of samples to provide an integrated value and
a ‘smoother’ measurement. These parameters
are under user control, as shown in the tables on
the next page. They prevent measurement errors
which may be caused by noise or fast changes
in amplitude due to local reflections and attenu-
ations. A brief explanation follows so you can
choose the optimum rate of integration.
Each one of the 64 signal strength samples is the average of 1,2,4,8 or 16 A to D measurements (selected by the
user.)
The dBm value that is displayed on the FOX screen is the average of the 64 samples (A/D samples) saved on the PCMCIA card
(also displayed is PCMCIA storage and GPS status.)
Each AD sample of RSSI takes the FOX receiver 150usec, so that an average of 64 samples takes about 10msec to accumulate.
The time between samples is fixed (150usec), only the # of samples is currenly adjustable (1 CHAN measurement).
NOTE: The FOX display update and PCMCIA read/write overhead is about 60 msec, so that when using sample rates of 1,2 or 4,
the number of measurements per second is limited by this overhead time.

FAST FADE
Fast Fade saves blocks of 64 consecutive samples of dBm in PCMCIA card records. Also included in each block is the time,date
and GPS position of the measurement.
Each one of the 64 dBm samples is the average of 1,2,4,8 or 16 A to D measurements selected at the start of the measure-
ment.
The dBm value displayed on the FOX display is the average of the 64 samples saved on the PCMCIA card (also displayed is
PCMCIA storage and GPS status).
Note: FOX display and PCMCIA overhead is about 60 msec, so that when sample rates of 1,2 or 4 are selected, the number of
measurements per second is limited by this overhead time.
Fox Sample Conversion Times
# of A/D samples Time (msec) # 64 dBm measurements
selected per measurement saved per second
(includes overhead)
1 67 15*64=960
2 67 15*64=960
4 67 15*64=960
8 91 11*64=704
16 167 6*64=384
# of samples Storage Time (minutes)
selected 2 Meg PCMCIA card (saving GPS LAT and LON, 83 bytes saved per measurement)
1 28
2 28
4 28
8 38
16 70
One CHAN (ATA Save On, RF Dump Off) (Times include display and PCMCIA save overhead)
# A/D samples Time (msec) # measurements/sec saved
selected per measurement (a single 8 bit value/measurement)
64 60 17
128 70 14
256 90 11
512 140 7
4096 800 1
# A/D samples Storage Time in minutes
selected 2 Meg PCMCIA card (saving GPS LAT and LON, 24 bytes of data saved per measurement)
64 85
128 104
256 132
512 208
4096 1456
This feature is only available for the following measurements:
20 CHAN, VAR SWEEP, 1 MHZ SWEEP
Page 8

1 CHANNEL MEASUREMENT
This measurement is used to monitor one frequency
on the display in “oscilloscope” fashion. Before the
measurement begins, select the number of samples
taken for each reading. Use the right or left arrow
key to place the check mark next to the desired
number of samples (64, 128, 256, 512, or 4096)
per each measurement. The smaller this number
is, the faster data is displayed on the screen and
written to the PC card. i.e., 64 = 22 records/sec but
4096 = 1 record/sec. Press ENTER at anytime and
use the keypad to enter the RSSI signal threshold
number in dBm. Only measurement dBm values
greater than or equal to the entered value are saved
on the PC card. In addition, any dBm value below
the threshold causes the audio to be muted until the
dBm value returns to a value greater than or equal
to the threshold.
Press the BEST/ SCAN key during the measurement
to scan the entire band and change the measure-
ment frequency to the strongest frequency found by
the scan. The display graphs each dBm reading from
left to right and also digitally below the X-axis. On
the X-axis each second of elapsed time is marked
with a ‘tick’ mark. Any function that causes the
display to pause or be hidden (pause, print, status)
is marked with a vertical line to indicate a disconti-
nuity in time. Starting from current frequency, push SHIFT and then UP ARROW key to seek next highest
frequency greater than 100 dBm in RSSI and SHIFT and then DOWN ARROW key to seek next lowest fre-
quency greater than 100 dBm in RSSI.
NOTE: If the PCMCIA save is turned OFF in the PCMCIA setup menu, the threshold will be used only to MUTE-UNMUTE the
audio. When save is turned ON, the only data records saved on the card will be measurements where the measured dBm
values are greater than or equal to the threshold. The start and end records are recorded regardless of the threshold setting.
Setting the threshold to 120 dBm will cause all data to be saved on the card as in prior versions of the FOX’s ROM.
Page 9
20 CHANNEL MEASUREMENTS
These measurements are used to measure and
display up to 20 frequencies in either bar graph
(all frequencies are displayed) or text mode (7
strongest). To go between bar graph display and
text, press the 3 key.
NOTE: To enter which frequencies to measure, the
display must be in the bar graph mode. Move the
dotted line cursor to the position on the X axis where the new frequency should be displayed and press
ENTER and then type in the frequency to be measured.
When using the bar graph screen, all 20 selected frequencies are displayed along the X axis in the order that they
were entered. In addition, the frequency ‘marked’ by the vertical dotted line cursor is displayed in text below the
X axis. This cursor can be moved by either left or right arrow keys. Data relevant to where the cursor is pointing will always
be shown on the bottom line of the LCD display.

When in the text screen, the strongest 7 frequencies are displayed with the strongest on the top of the display, weakest on the
bottom.
HIGHEST dBm LATCH
The highest dBm reading for each frequency is held or “latched”. If the unit is left on for a period of time in one location, this
feature will show all of the highest readings for this time period. Use this feature when trying to determine frequency traffic
at the location of the measurement. To turn “latching” on and off, press the PEAK HOLD key during the measurement. During
the SURVEY measurements, pressing the BEST/SCAN key will move the dotted line cursor to the strongest frequency currently
being displayed.
Page 10
VARIABLE SWEEP
Use this measurement to display a selected portion
of the frequency band. Enter the start frequency
of the sweep, the end is automatically calculated
based on the frequency step. The frequency step
can be adjusted during the measurement using the
UP and DOWN ARROW keys. The current sweep
start, end and frequency steps are displayed on the
right side of the screen.
Note: The last step selected in the VAR SWEEP menu
is used in determining the ADJ CHAN measurement.
(see ADJACENT CHANNEL in this manual.)
1 MHZ STEP MEASUREMENT (optional)
This measurement sweeps the entire band from
start to end frequency at a fixed 1 MHz step.
All frequencies are displayed along the X axis,
with the start frequency at the origin (left side
of graph), and increasing by the step frequency
towards the right side of the graph. The frequency
marked by the dotted line cursor is displayed digi-
tally below the X axis. Use the RIGHT ARROW and
LEFT ARROW keys to move the cursor position and change the frequency displayed numerically.

Page 11
RECEIVER STATUS
Use this screen to monitor unit status during mea-
surement by pressing the 6 key. The measurement
continues while the status is displayed (but is invis-
ible). To restore measurement display, press 6 key
again. While status is displayed during measure-
ment, all keys but ESC and 6 are ignored.
Status is also available by selecting the STATUS item in the main menu. The display shows current
marker, odometer, GPS LAT/LON and GPS status as well as the number of satellites (1-7) that are cur-
rently being tracked by the GPS receiver in the FOX. Current time, date, battery and PCMCIA state are
also displayed below.
MARKER: current user marker value
ODOMETER: if using the odometer option, shows current trip mileage.
LA GPS latitude (if ?, unknown)
LO GPS longitude (if ?, unknown)
GPS STATUS-LOCKED 5 GPS position is ok, 5 satellites
GPS STATUS - NO LOCK GPS position is unknown
GPS STATUS - D LOCK 4 Differential Lock, GPS position is OK, 5 satellites
GPS STATUS-OFF GPS power switch in OFF position
HH:MM:SS real time (hour, minute, second, 24 hour)
MM-DD-YY date (month, day, year)
BATTERY empty / full gauge
PCMCIA empty / full gauge
Both gauges show state of battery or PCMCIA card from empty to full. When battery is empty, it needs to be charged. When
PCMCIA is full, there is no more room in the card to save measurements. The PCMCIA gauge is only displayed if a card is in
the socket and the PCMCIA option ‘SAVE ON’ is selected.
PCMCIA REPLAY
The FOX comes standard with a 8 Megabyte SRAM
memory card. To view data collected on the FOX
PCMCIA memory card, select the MAIN MENU
replay function. Before taking measurements,
you must install the PCMCIA SRAM memory card.
Insert the memory card with the text facing up, and
the arrow at the bottom of this side of the card fac-
ing the unit. Push the card into the slot until the
ejector button on the front pops out. After you have collected your data, you may remove the card by pressing the
same ejector button.
The REPLAY screen displays the following data saved on the PCMCIA card:
1 Measurement type, start time and date of measurement.
2 Time and strongest frequency (in dBm) found during measurement.
3 Mile marker (odometer).
4 User marker.
5 GPS LAT and LON. A “?” is displayed for LAT/LON if GPS status was UNLOCKED during measurement.
During card replay, press 0 KEY to pause the display. Press the ESC key to stop the replay.

Page 12
SETUP MENU
The SETUP MENU can be reached from the MAIN
MENU and should be accessed before you begin to
receive signals on your FOX. You can re-enter the
MAIN MENU at any time from the SETUP MENU by
pressing ESC. Use the 4 ARROW keys to navigate
through this menu and press ENTER to choose a
highlighted selection.
PCMCIA MENU
Before collecting data using the FOX in the field,
record some test data on the PCMCIA card. Then
verify download using the PC that will be used
later for downloading field data.
SAVE ON: This option MUST be ON for
measurement data to be saved on the card. Use
the UP or DOWN ARROW key to put the check
mark next to ‘ON’ and press ENTER.
SAVE OFF: When this option is checked, no measurements are saved on card.
If the PCMCIA SAVE ON option is checked ON, the key sequence SHIFT+8 can be used during any measurement to toggle the
PCMCIA save on and off. The status of PCMCIA save can be determined by looking at the lower right hand corner of the mea-
surement display as follows:
1) If nothing is displayed, PCMCIA SAVE OFF is selected in the PCMCIA MENU. No data is recorded.
2) A number between 0 and 100 is displayed. This number represents the percentage of space remaining on the card for data
storage (100 means entire card is available for data, 0 means card is full).
3) OFF is displayed. This indicates that recording has been temporarily stopped using the SHIFT+8 key sequence. To continue
recording, press the SHIFT+8 key sequence again and the display will return to displaying the percentage of space remaining.
4) During measurement, recording status can also be determined by pressing the 6 key. If PCMCIA save is selected OFF in the
setup menu, nothing is displayed below the battery gauge. If PCMCIA save is selected ON in the setup menu, a gauge of stor-
age available from E (empty-0%) to F (full-100%) is displayed. In addition, RECORD ON or RECORD OFF is displayed below
the gauge. RECORD OFF indicates recording has been temporarily stopped (see 3 above). Be sure to press the ESC key before
turning off the unit. Measurements will not be recorded until ESC is pressed and the FOX is shut down properly.
INITIALIZE PCMCIA CARD
It is recommended that the user initialize the
PCMCIA card before each use to ensure no corrupt
data remains on the card during measurements.
NOTE: Be sure to use the supplied PCMCIA card or
same brand of device. Use only Delkin Flash and
Compact Flash (with provided adaptor) PCMCIA
storage cards. Other brands prove to be unreliable
in the FOX receiver.

Page 13
RF DUMP TO PC
RF DUMP is used to save real time data on a PC
compatible computer via the serial connection on
the FOX. All of the data for current measurements
is saved in a disk file using the “Fox.EXE” PC pro-
gram. The RF dump mode can be used to provide
a backup to the PCMCIA data or in situations where
more than 32 Megabyte of data is being collected
(the present limit of PCMCIA storage). See more
about RF Dump menu in the following section (PC
Software) of this manual for more details.
INITIALIZE PCMCIA CARD
It is recommended that the user initialize the
PCMCIA card before each use to ensure no corrupt
data remains on the card during measurements.
NOTE: Be sure to use the supplied PCMCIA card or
same brand of device. Use only Delkin Flash and
Compact Flash (with provided adaptor) PCMCIA
storage cards. Other brands prove to be unreliable
in the FOX receiver.
DOWNLOAD DATA
Use this menu option when you are ready to download your collected data from the FOX to your PC. If the PC used to download
the PCMCIA was running Windows, reenter Windows before downloading from a DOS screen. Use the system select to change
COM PORT flow control to “Hardware.” If the computer used to download the PCMCIA card boots up in Windows (3.1 or 95), do
the following BEFORE attempting to download the FOX PCMCIA card:
1) Enter WINDOWS®
2) Select the MAIN menu (win 95 “Mycomputer”)
3) Select CONTROL PANEL, when in, select PORTS (win 95 system\device manager)
4) Set COM 1 or COM 2 (depending on which is to be used) FLOW CONTROL to “HARDWARE” or “OFF”. The nomal setting for
this option is “XON-XOFF”. Flow Control MUST be set to the “HARDWARE” or “OFF” option for download to work reliably.
5) Enter MS-DOS® and use Fox.EXE to download PCMCIA.
NOTE: When using laptops, POWER MANAGEMENT control MUST be turned OFF. This feature is usually found in the CONTROL
PANEL, set it to OFF or at least to 15 minutes. IF the power management control software puts the laptop in low power mode
DURING download, data WILL be lost.
RF STEP
The STEP selection is below the RF DUMP selection.
To change the RF step, highlight the STEP menu
selection and press enter. The possible RF steps
for the installed receiver will be displayed with a
check mark to the left of the currently selected step.
To change the step, use the up or down arrow key
to highlight the desired step and then press enter
(the check mark will move to the new step). Press
the esc key until back in the main menu. The step
just selected will be used for the next measurement
started. Note that when a new step is selected,
the last channels used for that step are restored,
including the 20 channels loaded from the PC.

SET MARK
To set a new starting marker number, select
MARKER in the setup menu, and press ENTER. Enter
the marker number (0-9999) and press ENTER. Use
the FOX keypad to enter the new starting MARKER
number in conjunction with printer MARK option.
Marker numbers can be used to manually log events
such as low signal levels. When an notable event
occurs, press the MARKER key and write down the
event in a log. When later reviewing data, use the
marker number to locate data records (printed, RF
dump or PCMCIA) where logged events occurred.
The MARKER is displayed during measurement
regardless of the the setting of the PRINTER options.
The MARKER is also incremented AFTER being dis-
played.
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Set X-Y COORDINATES
The measurement X-Y coordinates are saved (both
RF DUMP and PCMCIA) in place of the original
user marker/odometer readings. A flag is set in
the RF DUMP header and ATA RECT1 to indicate
to the PC software which marker type has been
selected by the operator. Use the numeric keys
and bottom command keys on the FOX keypad to
configure the X-Y coordinates. Pressing the ENTER
key for either X or Y coordinate will leave the current setting. The initial X-Y coordinate is set using the
setup menu option SET X-Y.
MARKER TYPE
Use this selection under the SETUP MENU to
determine the way in which you plan to log your
events. When MARKER / ODOMETER is selected,
a mark may be attached to a study based upon
PP MILE settings. In this setting the MARKER key
works as in prior versions during measurements
and the odometer reading is saved according to
the current PP MILE setting. Use the ARROW keys
to select X-Y COORDINATES if you wish to attach specific locations to notable signal variations. If X-Y
COORDINATE is selected, each time the MARKER key is pressed, the user should enter a new X and Y coordinate
for the current measurements.

DATE/TIME SETTING
To enter the date and time, select DATE/TIME in
the setup menu, and press ENTER. Enter current
date and time and press enter. The FOX begins
using the new date and time the instant ENTER key
is pressed. Make sure date and time are entered
before making measurements since all data is
tagged with date and time. Date and time can be
verified using the STATUS menu item.
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BACKLIGHT CONTROL
To control the LCD Backlight, select BACKLIGHT in
the setup menu and press ENTER. Use the ARROW
keys to place the check mark next to the desired
option and press ENTER. The backlight is required
when using Fox in a dim or dark environment. The
backlight requires a significant amount of battery
power, so using the backlight will reduce battery
run time.
5 MIN TIMER Backlight stays on for 5 minutes after the last key press.
ALWAYS ON Backlight stays on till unit shut off.
OFF Backlight stays off till turned on.
PP MILE ODOMETER SETTING
When using the odometer option, the number of
12-volt pulses per mile traveled is entered using
this setup menu item. Select PP MILE SETUP MENU
item and press ENTER. Enter the number of 12-
volt pulses per mile (this will vary from vehicle to
vehicle) and press ENTER. The current odometer
reading can be viewed using the main menu STATUS
item or by pressing the 9 key during measurement.
Odometer reading can be reset to 0000.0 during measurements using SHIFT+7 sequence.
Pulses Per Mile (PPM) Settings
Note: Fox setup parameter, Pulses Per Mile (PPM), must be set to a minimum value of 10.
Tested:
Signal source: pulse generator (0-12v) pulses.
PPM Rate Duty Cycle Time per 1 mile
(set on Fox) (Generator) (Generator) (Measured)
100 1 Hz 80% 100 sec
100 1 Hz 20% 100 sec
100 2 Hz 80% 50 sec
10 100 MHz 80% 100 sec
10 100 MHz 20% 100 sec

Fox Data Logger
Software Operations Manual
Introduction
The Fox Data Logger (DL) application software is the PC interface that enables a user of the Fox
Signal Strength Meter to collect and display valuable Fox scan data through a serial cable.
Fox DL was designed to allow the user to see full color displays of the scanned information while
also having the option to collect the data real-time. This data can then be converted and filtered
by Chameleon CW.
Channel tables can also be uploaded for use with the 20-channel measurement on the Fox. The
following sections of this document outline the various features of the DL.
FIGURE 1 - Fox Data Logger main screen with C/I measurement
Starting the Application
To begin using DL, make sure that you are connected to the Fox with the serial cable that
shipped with the Fox. Also, the Fox needs to be setup to send data.
Look for the RF download option under the setup menu on the Fox. Make sure that this option is
checked. Once the Fox is sending information through the serial cable, start the DL application.
When the application starts, a prompt appears for entering the correct serial port. There is also
an option for choosing whether or not to use the Fox internal GPS or from an external source
connected to a serial port. The external source must output Magellan GPRMC records.
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FIGURE 2 – Choosing ports
After the ports have been selected, a message will show up in the Fox information status bar
stating that a connection has been made. The DL will switch to a display representing the current
data type coming through the serial port.
Main Screen
The main screen contains the main menu, toolbar, real-time viewing area, GPS information bar,
and the Fox information bar. The real-time viewing area will display the appropriate information
based on the data coming through the serial port from the Fox.
For instance, if the Fox is in C/I ratio mode, the same screen will be displayed in the DL. The
real-time viewing area can be toggled with the GPS satellite screen by pressing the button locat-
ed in the toolbar.
Toolbar
The toolbar is located directly underneath the main menu.
The first button has a globe icon. This is a button that allows toggling to the GPS satellite screen.
To toggle back to the main viewing screen, choose the next button.
The next button has an R on it and this resets the watermarks on certain measurement screens.
Next is the log filename and whether or not logging is enabled. If the enabled button is pressed,
any real-time data will be logged to the corresponding filename. To browse for a file, choose the
browse button.
The size of the log file will increment next to the browse button when logging is enabled.
Next to that are ‘C’ and ‘F’ buttons. Choosing the ‘C’ button forces all of the screens to display
channels. The ‘F’ forces all of the screens to display frequencies.
Finally, the rightmost buttons activate editors for channel or CAPCODE tables. See the individual
sections later in this manual to explain the use of these editors.
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FIGURE 3 – Paging Screen
GPS Information Status Bar
The top status bar on the main screen is the GPS Information status bar. This will contain valid
information when the GPS receiver is locked. When the GPS receiver is locked, the background
color of the data capture bar and the GPS Information status bar will be green. If the receiver is
not locked, the color will be red.
The information from left to right is: Satellites (V=visible, T=tracked), Date, GPS Time, Latitude,
Longitude, Altitude (meters from sea level), Velocity (MPH), and Heading (degrees from North).
GPS Satellite Screen
The GPS satellite screen contains information from the GPS receiver concerning certain flags
and status of the satellites. The receiver can track up to 12 satellites at any one given time.
Information such as satellite ID and status flags are shown on this screen. The receiver generally
needs 3 to 4 satellites tracked in order to achieve a lock condition.
FIGURE 4 – GPS satellite screen
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Fox Information Status Bar
The second status bar on the main window contains general information on the Fox. Any status
messages will appear here. The PC system time is also displayed. The serial number, frequency
range of the receiver, and the firmware version number are also displayed.
Thresholds
When the bars on displays are at a certain level, they will turn green. This is due to the user
selectable threshold value. Any bar below this value will appear red. To change this value, look
for “Threshold” in the Settings menu.
20 Channel Table
The user may configure a channel table for upload to the Fox. To choose, select the ‘CT’ toolbar
button. A dialog box appears which allows the user to select up to 20 frequencies to scan. If the
channel is left as –1, the Fox will not scan I this position of the table.
Choosing a channel will adjust the frequency column. Choosing a frequency will adjust the
channel in the channel column. These tables may be stored as a disk file by choosing the save
option. They may be restored using the open option. Press the upload button to send the table to
the Fox.
Be sure not to be in 20-channel mode on the Fox. In this situation, the table will not be overwrit-
ten.
FIGURE 5 – Channel Table Screen
Paging CAPCODE Table
The user of the Fox DL application may upload or download tables of CAPCODES used for
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