Tech Notes from the Field

As you have seen tweeted over the last few months, I have installed and now tweaking our new remote control system.  I decided to go with the Burk Technologies ARC Plus as it was a logical move from the existing ARC-16 system plus I was able to integrate components from the ARC-16.  Moving over to an IP based system was not too bad, though I do have to wonder what others do for data at their transmitter sites.  Well, here are some things that I thing you should be aware of if you are considering the Burk ARC Plus.

1.  It works.  That’s nice.  Make sure you get the latest firmware if you do not have it yet.  Right now that is version 2.3.0.5.  It is up on their website: Burk>Downloads>ARC Plus.  This takes care of a flash memory corruption, that if attacks, you end up having to send the unit back to the factory.  I did not need a loaner, but be prepared.  Since the update my boxes have been running well.

2.  Tech support has been very good, though response can be somewhat slow.  Based on severity response is quick, but for some of the fun I’ve had email and screenshots have helped resolve some stuff.

3.  Networking and having sites see/talk with each other.  Talking with Burk, about half of the installs request or require sites to communicate with each other.  I do it for convenience.  If I’m on one site I like to be able to see the others.  Keep your network simple, and since the data rate is not a huge demand, not too many issues with busy networks.  We even have an older Moseley LanLink to one site and it works 90% of the time.  Also, configure the ARC Pluses correctly the first time.  I actually got confused and did not bother worry about the configuration of the Public IP Address field in the units.  I though, hey, I’m not using a public network, I”m on extended LAN, why bother.  I learned quickly that the sites will not talk unless everything is configured properly.  In our situation, the Public IP Address and the Private IP Address must be the same.  Research your installation and configure accordingly.

4.  Build that site list right the first time.  As tech support told me, think bees and a behive.  Build the first site to start the hive.  From there add new sites (bees) to the hive.  Do not connect to other sites and start the process over again.  Start with one and you will be safe.  I have four sites (ARC Pluses) along with a couple of ARC-16s attached.  Everything talks well, thus my delving into automatic switching of STLs and eventually switching to our auxiliary site.  See point #3 above about configuring them private and public IP addresses.  It is very important to make these sites talk.

5.  When using AutoLoad 2010 and all the Plus-X devices, make sure the latest definitions are downloaded for the devices.  Again, those are available on their web site (see link above).

That is what you need to make these things work.  Since my installation, Burk has introduced the Plus-X IP-8 adapter which takes the actual cable used between the IP-8 and ARC-16, eliminates the ARC-16 and now talks with the ARC Plus via IP.  Confused?  Simplified:  Keep existing IP-8, remove ARC-16, add IP-8 Adapter.  Ethernet cable on network, configure ARC Plus.  No rewiring of the IP-8.  I wish I had that as I still have 3 ARC-16s on my system.  I’m looking forward to updating that portion over the next year, money pending.

Note that all channel assignments when using the ESI (Enhanced Speech Interface) are 3 digits.  Since you can have up to 256 channels monitored on the ARC Plus, 3 digits are necessary.  Alarm reports are 300 now versus using 30.  Status is 350.  Logging off is 999, not 99.  As you can tell, if you can get connected via VPN and a computer, that is the way to go versus using the phone, but that functionality is there.  I am just starting to use the hidden channel feature so will update this post when complete.

Logging with the AutoPilot 2010 is similar to the older AutoPilot.  I am still not happy that I cannot print to a file a daily log for each site as a dialog box continues to pop up to confirm the print to PDF.  This may be a function of the PDF printer I am using, but still an annoyance.  I’m open to suggestions and thoughts.  If and when I figure out what I’m doing I will update this post.  Overall the reports are definitely in-depth and you can pick and choose what you want in the report.  I’ve used this to change a log for a week to track down a potential issue.  Didn’t find one, so back to my normal reports.

Overall I like what we have.  Not sure how others compare to this, but I would say the complexity level is about the same among them.  I like the fact that I can access each ARC  Plus directly via ESI, web interface, AutoPilot, and as a backup via modem.  I also like that I can have AutoPilot on my computer for quick access from home while the application running in the shop continues doing it’s business.  I will follow up as I create more macros and delve into the Jet Flowcharts which is next on my list of to-dos.  BTW, there is new firmware update coming out, but no date yet that will make macro and flowchart processes run based on status and limit changes.  At the moment you need to configure a monitoring loop to notice these changes.

Hope this information is helpful.  I will update accordingly as mentioned.  I plan to write more about other network devices and SNMP.  Stay tuned for a short post on how I configured my silence detection using the feature in the SAS 32KD.

Cheers!