9
3 Operation
This chapter describes the operation and programming of the Buoy Finder 4A. It is assumed that
the receiver is connected properly to an antenna. Information on how to replace the batteries can
be found in Chapter 4.
3.1 Antenna
The Buoy Finder 4A comes with a small whip antenna. This antenna is designed for outdoor use
only. It will not or badly work inside a building or a boat. If the Buoy Finder 4A is to be used
indoors or on a location with bad reception, the antenna should be relocated by using a coaxial
cable and a magnetic antenna foot. These are available as an option. Contact Datawell sales for
more details.
3.2 Power switch
Pushing the “power” button once will switch the Buoy Finder 4A on. Holding this button will
switch it off, unless the menu is activated. After power up, the receiver will be trying to receive
a buoy
1
, which can be seen on the LCD display showing the “
synchronizing
” message.
If the buoy frequency matches the receive frequency the receiver will respond as described in
Paragraph 3.4. If the receive frequency does not match the buoy’s transmission frequency the
Buoy Finder 4A should first be set to the transmit frequency of the buoy. This will be explained
in Paragraph 3.6, which also treats the other functions of the menu.
3.3 Display
Figure 3.1. The three sections of the Buoy Finder 4A display in decode mode.
The operational screen of the Buoy Finder 4A is divided in 4 sections:
•
Main
The main section shows synchronization state, the heave, GPS position, age of GPS
position (HXV mode) or UTC time of last GPS position (HVA mode), the volume of the
speaker, error messages or the “hold for menu” message, depending on the current
operating mode.
1
At power up its receive frequency is the last receive frequency which was stored into the non volatile
memory of the Buoy Finder 4A, see also the
note
at the end of paragraph 3.7.3.
