4 === Radio Signal Strength
6 Each unit in the TeleLaunch system has a debugging feature
7 that can be used to view the actual received radio signal
8 strength of each packet. To use this feature, connect to the
9 desired unit (TeleLCO is probably the most useful place to
10 start) with a laptop and terminal program as explained in the
11 configuration section of the manual. Then, you can enable
12 debug tracing using 'D 1' command.
14 Debug mode is fairly chatty, but each time the TeleLCO unit
15 queries the currently selected TeleFire unit for igniter
16 status, the return packet will print out the RSSI value.
17 RSSI is "received signal strength indicated" and is expressed
18 in decibel units relative to a milliwatt, or "dBm".
20 Observing the RSSI is a great way to compare antennas, antenna
21 mounting arrangements, and so forth with more granularity than
22 provided by the red/amber/green operational LED indicators.
24 The system is good down to about -100dBm, and it takes about
25 6dB to double the range. So a reading of -84dBm means that you
26 could extend the distance between the units by a factor of
27 10 before losing the link. Note, however, that real world
28 range is affected by terrain, vegetation, etc.