System Overview

Typical Voyager System

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
A user wishing to place a telephone call over the rural phone from a remote location need only pick up the handset of the telephone just as if the user were making a telephone call on an ordinary telephone system.
Receiving a call on the Remote unit is just as simple as placing a call. If the Voyager system is not in use, and the telephone line rings, a ring signal will be generated on the Remote unit ringing the telephone connected to it.
A conversation is terminated by hanging up the telephone which is connected to the Remote.

CONFIGURATIONS

There are 4 basic configurations in which a Voyager Rural Telephone System may be configured. The configuration will depend upon the number of users, the number of available radio channels, and the number of available telephone lines. The configuration type, just like other programmable parameters (frequency, ID codes, dialing modes, etc.), can be programmed into the units via the DTMF keypad on a telephone.

Voyager Expandability

One- To- One Mode

When the TelCo line rings, the Remote unit will ring. When the telephone connected to the Remote is picked up, the Base will connect to the TelCo.
Two Remotes may be programmed to talk to each other. When the telephone connected to one is picked up, the other one will begin ringing. This will work in both directions and using this feature will allow a simple local telephone system to be set up without having to go through the local TelCo.

One-to-Many Mode: In this mode, one Base unit is connected to one TelCo line. Any number of Remote units (up to 9999) are programmed to talk to the one Base unit. When a telephone connected to a Remote is picked up, the Base unit will connect to the telephone line, allowing a call to be placed. If the system is not busy and the TelCo line rings, the Base unit will connect to the line, and send two beeps to the TelCo. The ID code of the Remote called is "overdialed" by the calling party. Once the ID has been overdialed, the Base unit signals the proper Remote unit to begin ringing. When the ringing Remote unit's telephone is picked up, the full voice path is connected between the Remote telephone and the TelCo. If the Remote is not picked up after approximately one minute of ringing, the Base will terminate the call.

Trunked Mode
If more than one telephone line is available for use on the system, then the trunked mode is used to allow efficient sharing of the available channels between the many Remotes. Up to 8 TelCo lines may be connected to 8 Base stations. Telephone calls are handled the same as the one-to-many mode where the ID code of the desired Remote is overdialed. The trunked mode differs from the overdialed mode in that if the radio channel is busy, the Remote unit will automatically "trunk" to another available radio channel and use it for communication.

Network Mode
Because the Remotes are full duplex, a Remote unit cannot talk to a Base and a Remote on the same system. If a Remote must talk directly to another Remote, then a network repeater must be used. A network repeater is a four channel repeater capable of receiving the signals from a Remote, and retransmitting them out on a Base radio channel to another Remote, thus allowing the second Remote to receive the signals from the first Remote just as if they came from a Base unit.

The Base unit channels are grouped together on the lower channel numbers, and the network repeater channels are grouped together on the higher channel numbers. A Remote may receive a call on any of the channels. When a Remote wishes to place a call, the operator must manually select either TelCo access or network access, by entering a 1 or 9 on the telephone handset after it is picked up. If a 9 is entered, then dial tone will be heard and the caller should begin entering the telephone number of the party to be called. If a 1 is entered, the caller must then overdial the ID of the Remote he wishes to call.

A network repeater may be either intelligent or passive. A passive repeater simply receives a signal from one radio channel and converts it to another channel. An intelligent repeater decodes the ID'S being sent and regenerates them on another channel. The advantage of an intelligent repeater is the ability to interface to an ID validator/logger. An intelligent repeater is made by coupling a Base and a Remote unit back-to- back. The Base unit may be connected to the ID validator/logger thus providing an audit trail for calls made between Remotes

REPEATERS
A repeater may be used to extend the range of the Voyager system, or to allow Remote units to talk to other Remote units. If a repeater is set up to simply retransmit the Remote signal to extend its range, it is called a radio relay. If a repeater is configured to convert the Remote channels to talk to other Remotes, then it is a network repeater. Network repeaters are not allowed on any mode other than mode 4. Radio relay repeaters may be used on any mode.

TRACKER
The Tracker software package runs on an IBM PC AT/386 compatible computer connected to the base unit(s) via an RS-232 serial port. If Tracker is used, the following functions can be performed with it:

• ID Validation
• Print-Out Details of Each Call
• Log-to-Disk Each Call Made
• Dialing Restrictions on an ID-by-ID Basis
• Show System Loading for Last 24 Hour Period
• Monitor Up to 8 Base Units Simultaneously
• Print Invoices for Air-Time Usage
• Manually Terminate Calls
• Sound an Alarm on Certain ID Codes
• Track Usage by ID Accounts