26
Radio Considerations
Be sure you have a frequency matched Base Station and R/F Scanner. The
color of the label on the underside of the R/F Base Station should match the
color on the scanner antenna or ID label, ((black/black, yellow/yellow,
purple/purple, red/red, etc).
RF Short range problems: 1) elevate the Base Station to as high as possible; 2)
move serial Base Stations to different parts of the room; 3) try placing the base
station on a metal file cabinet; 4) change keyboard wedge units to serial and try
locating away from the computer; 5) by process of elimination, turn off different
electronic equipment in the area to see what is causing the interference, (maybe
by relocating the offending equipment, the range problem will go away).
One-Way Operating Considerations
When scanning with the one-way products (LI101-RF Linear Imager CCD and
the LZ200-RF Laser), the radio link is one-way from the R/F Scanner to the
R/F Base Station. The Base station has the beeper in it; the one-way scanners
have no beeper in them, (there is a beeper in the 2-way RF Laser, but not in its
base). Therefore, if you are out of hearing range of the one-way base station's
beeper, you cannot know if scanned data was successfully transmitted to the
computer or if the scanned data was not successfully decoded and therefore
not transmitted. The big mistake you must avoid is UNKNOWN
DUPLICATE DATA ENTRY -- unknowingly reading multiple times
successfully because you are out of hearing range and have assumed that your
scans were "no-reads". Staying in hearing range of the base station will
prevent the problem. The same problem could occur with a corded scanner,
but because cords are normally 6-10 feet in length, out of hearing range has
never been a matter of concern before.
Use of a louder speaker (in lieu of the beeper) can extend the range. A speaker
jack is standard on the R/F Base Station so that you can attach a inexpensive
powered speaker such as available from Radio Shack (catalog # 40-167 at
$19.95 -- or you could attach a wireless headphone or amplified earphone for
beeper confirmation. In the USA, this product is available for $80 from Sears,
Fry's, or a multitude of stereo sound outlets - the brand name is Recoton W200.