elevation contours, roads and the locations of the three radio stations in my Base VHF network. The radio links are shown as green, giving an immediate indication of good signal paths.
HOW IT ALL STARTED. When I first came
across the program in 1999, it was limited by the elevation data only being available at 30 arc-second resolution – equating to a height grid matrix at 1km intervals – so not able to describe the Peak District valley folds in any detail. At that time the program was at version 2, and the elevation data had to be manually downloaded from the US Geological Survey (USGS) websites. This took considerable effort and time using the slow dial-up internet connections then available. My main interest in the program was to be able to find suitable sites and predict
An introduction station coverage for our UHF Raynet
exercise event activities in the Peak District, but at that time the definition of the height data was insufficient for that
to Radio Mobile purpose. We used maps to manually select
possibly suitable high points, and then drew path height profiles to the event Working out probable radio paths for VHF and above used to checkpoint locations to try and predict workable radio paths. This worked call for an ordnance survey map and a lot of patience. That has reasonably well, but was very labour all changed with the advent of the excellent free program Radio intensive, and required a major effort from a lot of operators to check out all the Mobile. Ian Brown gives us a flavour of what it can do. locations for radio link performance on the ground. INTRODUCTION. Radio Mobile [1] is a be specified as a ‘System’ for frequency, freeware radio propagation simulation transmit power, receiver sensitivity, GETTING BETTER. The situation changed program written by Roger Coudé, antenna gain, height and feeder losses. All considerably after November 2003 when VE2DBE, which operates over the radio links between units can be examined the USGS released 3 arc-second data for frequency range of 20MHz to 20GHz. It is for path profile and signal parameters. Eurasia, which corresponded to a 90m based on the Irregular Terrain (Longley- Signal coverage patterns can be produced gridded height matrix. With this new data I Rice) propagation model [2]. It uses the for each separate unit if required. Another found that valleys were defined much more principle of a radio ‘network’, ie you specify very powerful feature is the capability of precisely. After placing stations (Units) at the performance parameters of two or more finding the ‘Best Sites’ on a map to provide the locations we had previously used, I was radio transmitters/receivers which need to radio coverage to a number of specified then able to plot the ground profiles and communicate. The program enables unit locations. The performance of the radio performance with a few clicks of my elevation maps to be drawn of specified radio link between a specified fixed unit mouse. The results were very close to the areas using Space Shuttle Terrain Radar and a second mobile unit which is manual plots, and the radio performance Mapping Mission data downloaded from traversing a route defined on the map can corresponded closely to that previously the internet. Elevation contours and roads also be generated by a new ‘Route experienced. 79 can be merged with the maps, and then Performance’ feature. In order to cover an annual 18 mile stations (Units) can be placed where The map in Figure 1 shows part of the charity walk we traditionally positioned the required. Individual unit performances can Peak District of Derbyshire and was control station beside a triangulation pillar.
To demonstrate some of the features available from the program I have used my Base Network, located in my local area, to generate the following screenshots. The network consists of a base unit, a mobile unit and two hand held units, with sensible operating parameters set up for each of them. Figure 2 shows the radio links from the base unit to a mobile and also a hand held unit. The plot in Figure 2 also shows the Radio Link pane, which gives details of the base to mobile link. On the main screen the link is shown in green, with the red ‘cross wire cursor’ located on the mobile unit. The small Elevation grid pane shows the ground height at the cross wires in the centre (white) box, while adjacent cells show the surrounding terrain heights. The Radio Link pane gives details of both stations and also path parameters between them, and This location worked fine but it had its required to obtain an initial working also plots the Fresnel zones. Moving the drawbacks, because access was via 2 display. This problem prompted me to cursor along the path by use of the arrow miles of farm tracks and fields, including a produce a simple ‘Base Network’ setup, keys causes the movement to be reflected half-mile climb at 30˚ across rough moor. complete with a complimentary set of by the cross wire cursor on the main The problem was compounded by the fact ‘Quick Start’ self-installing files (which window. One further function of the Radio that the station was set up in the dark at include the required USGS height data) to Link pane is to allow both antenna heights about 0630. Thick mist and rain reduced produce a working network. This setup FIGURE 3: POOR LINK QUALITY ALONG THE PATH visibility to about 5m, and the final 100 installer file is 2.5Mb and can be IS SHOWN IN YELLOW, UNUSABLE QUALITY IS RED metres of the route was along a 10m wide shelf next to a 30m cliff edge! Whilst sitting in the mist operating the station, I realised that if my Land Rover had any problems, recovery could be rather difficult. Obviously a more accessible site was required.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION. Using the
ability of Radio Mobile to quickly relocate units then check network signal path properties, I was able to find a new location next to a farm road which improved signal coverage to the check points. On-site radio link checks were quickly performed and these confirmed the results obtained from Radio Mobile, and the new site was used successfully for the November 2003 event.
80 GETTING STARTED. I found that when
introducing my friends to Radio Mobile, they had difficulty in setting up their first map and network, steps which are
settings, whilst displaying the signal path against ground profile. A reverse path can be shown by using the ‘Swap’ command. Looking at the mobile to hand held unit link plot shown in Figure 3, there are some regions of the path (shown in red and yellow) where acceptable communication cannot be achieved.
TERRAIN VIEW. A further feature of the
Radio Link pane is the capability of ‘viewing’ one unit from another. The view in Figure 4 was obtained by relocating HH- 2 to a convenient point closer to the base unit. If the viewed unit is visible, it is highlighted with a circle at its location as shown in Figure 4. The colours of this display are taken from elevation data. However, if an aerial photograph of the map area is available, it can be imported into the program and laid over the elevation matrix to provide a relief photograph of the path. I am just waiting FIGURE 4: VIEWING A STATION ACROSS A VIRTUAL for Google Earth to add the Peak District TERRAIN available picture as required. An advantage with their high resolution photo coverage to of this technique is that the rainbow try this out! capability of plotting the radio coverage of colours of the plot are not confused with a station in various measurement units. the underlying picture colours. Figure 5 FIELD STRENGTH PATTERNS. Another The best way to see the results is to shows the signal coverage in µV from the facility available in the program is the perform a plot over a black and white first hand held unit to the second. Radial roadmap, or a blank picture, either of range rings have been added to give an FIGURE 5: SIGNAL STRENGTH PLOT OVERLAID ON A ROAD MAP which can be merged with another idea of scale. The plot was performed in polar (radial sweep) mode with a step increment of 0.1˚ over a black and white map downloaded from MapPoint.
BEST SITES. Where it is necessary to find
a site which can communicate with several other units, the ‘Find Best Sites’ function can be invoked. To illustrate the point, in Figure 6 I have moved the second hand held unit to a position in the north east of the map, and have requested the best site for a ‘hand held’ unit location as the central communication hub to communicate with the first hand held, the mobile and base units. The display shows areas with 50% to 100% coverage as per the legend, and the plot shows the positioned hand held unit as Command located on the side of a road. This plot was performed in Cartesian (X-Y) format, with a resolution of 5 pixels square on the ground. 81
Mobile ‘Object Editor’, a path can be drawn on the map and saved for later use. The Route Performance plot takes this path as the route to be taken by a defined mobile station communicating with a fixed unit, and calculates the communication quality for the length of the route. The linear step length along the route can be selected, and parameters of the radio link can be displayed at any location. The route is also displayed on the main map with Green showing good communications and Red for a poor link, as illustrated in Figure 7. The detailed performance at any location on the route can be selected using the arrow keys, or by clicking on the grey window. The radio link on the main window shows the direction of communication, with its colour indicating performance.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. The 2500 members, and by April 2006 the FIGURE 6: FINDING THE BEST SITE FOR A COMMAND LOCATION program has continued to evolve, driven program had reached version 7. mainly by requests for features from users. transmit and receive performance of a Roger puts these on to his ‘Wish List’, CONCLUSION. As with any simulation hand held portable radio, where the stature which is maintained in the Radio Mobile program, the output is only as good as the and physical operating mannerisms of the Yahoo group [4]. This group has over data input. For instance, great care is operator can have a great bearing on the FIGURE 7: COMMUNICATION QUALITY ALONG A required to accurately assess both the equipment performance. On-the-ground DEFINED ROUTE radio checks are required for confidence, but after using the program to select sites over a number of years, we now only feel the need to look at the poorer locations – and specify higher performance radios to be used in those areas. With an emergency callout for Raynet it wouldn’t be possible to select a suitable site for a station, but we are generating a local knowledge base of suitable sites and coverage as a spin off from the exercises to use in those circumstances. Finally I would like to express my thanks to Roger, VE2DBE, for his work on Radio Mobile which is such an eye opening tool, and for releasing and supporting it so diligently as freeware.
REFERENCES [1] Radio Mobile home page http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html [2] ITM Model description 82 http://flattop.its.bldrdoc.gov/itm.html [3] Quick Start files via http://www.g3tvu.co.uk/Radio_Mobile.htm [4] Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radio_Mobile_Deluxe
