Software needs
The dispatch PC shall have Mimer SoftRadio v4 and the RadioCalls option installed.
Hardware needs
Tetra and DMR radios are connected through the standard Network Interface for each type of radio. No extra hardware needed.
Transmission of 5-tone, Quick Call II and DTMF can be done on any analogue radio type without extra equipment. DTMF transmission is only available using the large Network Interfaces (article 3009/XX), not with the LE-interfaces (article 3130).
Opening the RadioCalls window
The Radio Calls window is opened, by ticking the selection “RadioCalls” on the “View” menu in SoftRadio.
When selected it will forwards be opened automatically every time SoftRadio is started.
Selection of RadioCalls
History page
Receiving calls
The History page will show all incoming calls that have been received by the Network Interface at the radio(s).
The log message will describe the date and time, and the radio it was received on, the type of call and if available, the ID of the caller.
The History page will show the incoming calls with the latest on top. When the list is full, at about 300 posts, the oldest will be deleted. All calls are also stored in a log file.
The History page will handle all radios connected in the SoftRadio system. To show on what radio the call came, this is presented in the column On Radio. Please note that if you have more than one radio in the SoftRadio system listening to the same call, they will both be presented in the list.
The On Radio column will also present time and date.
The Info column shows the number of the calling party and what type of message that was received.
Message types
Messages can be sent in different formats depending on the urgency and who or whom it is sent to. The History page reflects this in different background colours.
The CallLog will show:
Private calls are shown in green
Emergency (Alarm) messages in red
All other types in black
When selecting a call to do a call back, the background of the post turns light grey.
Call addressing
In Tetra and in DMR systems it is the ID number of the fixed radio that is used for Private Calls and Emergency Calls. Therefor all operators that share one or more radios will get the same calls.
In 5-tone systems the ID number is set for each operator, see below. Therefor operators that share one or more radios can have different ID numbers. Or if they prefer, they can have the same number as a group call.
Call back
You can make a call back to a radio just by selecting the post in the History list and push “Make Private Call”.
Saving a contact
If a call is received and registered from a radio that you don´t have in your contact list. You can push the key for saving the contact. Read more on saving contacts below.
Deleting a post
Any post can be deleted from the History list by selecting it and pushing the Trash can button.
Contacts Page
Here you have a list of your favorite radio users.
Entries in the list
You can save both the name and the organization that the contact belongs to.
Add a contact
Pushing the Plus button will bring forward a menu where you can enter:
Manage Radio Contacts
Pushing the “Grid”-button brings forward a window were all contacts can be edited. There are also functions for export and import of contact lists. Useful if several dispatchers shall share a list.
The exported list is stored in Excel format and can be edited in a normal Excel program.
Radio net
Leaving this setting at “Selected Radio” will direct the call over the radio defined by the red arrow in SoftRadio.
Alternatively select a Radio net defined in the settings described further down. This setting will force the call to be made over a specific radio rather than the one the red arrow points at.
Using colour codes
When editing in the “Grid”, you can assign a colour to each of your contacts. The colour will then show up in the history list of incoming calls to make it easier to identify a caller.
This is also useful when working with for example status messages. You can have different colours for different status.
Coloured contacts in the contact list and in the history list
Update a contact
A contact already in the list can be updated by pushing the Pen button.
Delete a contact
The Trash can button will delete the selected contact.
Check the information on a contact
At each contact there is a small “i” icon that will bring forward a read only list of the contact information.
Filtering contacts
You can search for contacts by writing in the “Filter”. The contacts are searchable by any part in the name or organisation.
Support of private calls and text messages
Please note that, as can be expected, if you have different radio types in your system where some do not support private calls and/or messaging, those functions will only work on the radios that do support them. Nothing will happen if you try to make a call on a radio that does not support that call type.
The exception is 5-tone calls and DTMF calls that can be made on any analogue radio since the tones are created in the operator PC (5-tone) and the Network Interface (DTMF), and sent as audio, they are not created in the radio itself.
Call page
The Call page is used for entering radio numbers freely for private calls, without saving them in the contact list. When the full number is entered just push “Make Private Call”.
You have a keypad for entering a radio number with mouse or touch screen. You can also use the computer keyboards number pad.
The call will be sent on the selected radio in SoftRadio. This is the radio where the small red arrow points.
If there is a match for the number in the contact list, the display will show the contact name.
You can also enter a number here and then select to go to the message page to send a text message to the selected radio.
Select type of call
If the radio you are trying to send the call on is defined in several RadioNet´s, with different call types, you will get a popup window asking what type of signaling to use for the call.
Text message page
On the text message page you can both enter a free text message and use predefined templates.
You need to select the radio that you would like to send the message to, beforehand, on one of the other pages.
Sending free text messages
Enter the text message and press “Send message to…”
Sending templet text messages
Select the message by double clicking it or pushing “Use selected templet” and press “Send message to…”
Saving a new templet
After entering a text message you can choose to save it as a template by simply pushing “Save as template”.
Deleting a templet
The trash can button will delete a selected message from the template list.
Message history
There is a list showing the latest sent messages and to what radio it was sent.
The settings are located under Settings/Advanced settings in “Mimer Connection Setup”.
Call ID settings
This is where you set up what tone messages a dispatcher shall react to.
When a tone sequence is detected by the tone decoder in the Network Interface and sent to the Mimer SoftRadio client, it will be checked against the definitions for that radio ID. It does not need to be five tone´s in the sequence. Any number of tones will work.
If a match is found, a call or alarm indication is triggered (sound and light) and Mimer waits for a second sequence within 0,5s. If this is received it will be interpreted as the ID of the calling party.
A log message will be written describing the date and time, and the radio it was received on, the type of call and if available, the ID of the caller.
If a non-matching ID is received without a second ID, it will be written as an ID from that party, it will not be announced as a call. This is used in systems with ANI or PTT-ID.
If a non-matching ID is received together with a second ID, it will be interpreted as a call to another radio and will be rejected.
Setting up the ID´s
The call ID´s are set up on the Call ID settings tab. This needs to be done at each operator PC. There are two columns, one for individual calls and one for alarm calls (emergency).
Fill in the Mimer Device ID of the fixed radio that will receive the selcall and then the tone sequence that shall be decoded.
Repeat this step for each fixed radio that can receive selcalls.
Each fixed radio can have several selcalls.
Each operator can have different individual selcall numbers and also have different selcalls on different radios.
When you are done press save and also restart the SoftRadio application.
Setting up an auto acknowledge
If it is preferred that a call to an operator shall be followed by an auto acknowledgement to the caller, this can be set up for each call.
Beside the Call ID there is a column where the file name of an audio file (voice or tone message) can be entered. The file shall be placed in the folder: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Mimer\StandardAudioMessages
Alternatively you can enter the text: “TONECALL:” followed by a set of numbers. This will send a tone call back in the format set up for the radio that it refers to.
Radio net settings
Defining a Net-ID for a radio or a group of radios or pagers will make it possible to direct calls, selected in RadioCalls, or tone sequences to different radios or pagers in your Mimer system.
For example, your system has both analogue radios using 5-tone or DTMF and also Tetra radios. By specifying the NET-ID for each call, the right radio will be used for the call transmission.
For pagers, the option QuickCall should be picked from the drop down “Call type for this net:”
The alternative to this is that the user always sets the red arrow to point to the right radio before he makes the call.
Tone call settings
5-Tone transmission
In 5-tone systems you also need to set the behaviour for tone transmission on each radio that the operator has access to.
In this example Radio 101 will send the 5 digits that are in the list or entered via the keypad. If less than 5 digits are entered, leading zeroes will be added. So entering 12345 will transmit 12345, but entering 12 will transmit 00012.
On radio 102 above it is expected that the operator enters 4 digits and the call will have a 1 added. Entering 1234 will transmit 11234.
On radio 117 above entering 123 will send the sequence: 5012399100.
DTMF tone transmission
DTMF transmission have some extra selections apart from the standard 0 9, # and *.
Entering a G gives a 1000Hz tone and entering H gives a warble sounding tone. They are both 3sec long.
You can also place a pause between two tones by entering X for 0,5sec or Y for 1sec pause. The X can be exchanged for “:” and the Y can be exchanged with “-“ or “SPACE”.
If a longer tone or pause is needed you can stack them after one another.
Please note that the system has no DTMF decoder only encoder.
Quick Call II Transmission
The paging codes in Quick Call are made of two sequential tones with a defined tone length and a defined pause between the two tones.
The system can in theory handle any combination of tones and pauses, but has been evaluated from one up to 10 tones in sequence, with various pauses in between.
In the Contact List you must enter the Name and Radio Net, as well as tone frequency and the tone length in the following format:
Tone;Duration;Pause-duration;Tone;Duration
Example: F300;L1000;P50;F450:L3000
This example will give a 300Hz tone with 1 second duration followed by a pause of 50ms and then a new tone at 450Hz with 3 seconds duration.
Example of call list with QuickCalls
Example of call list overview
Example of NET-ID settings
When sending the page, SoftRadio will indicate transmission in orange on the transmitting radio. When the orange indication has ended, you can start the voice message to the pager(s). Allowing for the time of any “beep” that the pager does when receiving a call.
Please note that any fully analogue radio can transmit the tones. Since they are created in the PC and sent in the same way as voice audio is sent on the radio channel.
But we have noticed that there are some modern digital radios programmed with analogue channels, that have restrictions on the highest and lowest tones. For example, the Motorola MotoTrbo series.
The tone message that is played at the operator when a call or alarm comes in, is a standard .wav-file. If another tone message is preferred the file can be changed out. It can also be altered in order to be longer or shorter if that is preferred.
Just remember to give the new file the same name as the old file. You might also want to keep the old file as a backup, in that case, first give the old file a new name before you use the same name for the new file.
The audio files are found here: C:\ProgramData\Mimer\
They are called: radiocall.wav & radioalarm.wav
Format of Audio Message files
If you make your own audio file. The file shall have the following properties.
