PD - POCSAG Decoder User Documentation Version 2.05 - February 2000 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Registration 3. Installation 4. Interfacing 5. Configuration 5.1 PD.INI 5.1.1 General Parameters 5.1.2 Function Codes 5.1.3 Colours 5.1.4 Serial Output 5.2 PAGERS.INI 5.3 REJECT.INI 5.4 TEXTSCAN.INI 5.5 Language (.LNG) files 6. Running the program 6.1 Starting 6.2 Supported Keys 6.3 Status Line 6.4 Normal Mode 6.4.1 Long Output (default) 6.4.2 Short Output 6.4 Debug Mode 7. Troubleshooting Appendix A Version History Appendix B PD and P_Base 1. Introduction PD, together with a receiver or scanner, allows the off-air decoding of POCSAG paging signals at 512, 1200 or 2400 bits/second. This makes it extremely useful for the testing of paging transmitters and systems. Decoding of both numeric and alphanumeric pager data is supported, as is the hex dumping of raw POCSAG codewords. PD uses a simple interface between a receiver or scanner's audio output and a COM port on the PC. In addition received pages may optionally be sent in ASCII form to another COM port. Received pages may also be logged on a parallel printer. PD runs on an IBM PC or equivalent, anything from an 80286 upwards. It requires 512K of conventional memory and a small amount of hard disk or floppy. Hard disk is recommended. PD runs under DOS or in Windows 95 MS-DOS Mode, running in a Windows DOS session is not recommended. 2. Registration PD is freely distributed as a shareware version. This has a timeout of about 15 minutes, after which a registration message is displayed and the program exits. Also the logging of pager data to disk is disabled. The fully functional registered version of PD is available on payment of a registration fee of either:- a) 20 Pounds Sterling cash/cheque. b) $30 U.S. cash. c) $40 U.S. money order. (NOT a "US Postal Money Order" - these are not negotiable in the U.K.) The registration fee should be sent to:- Peter Baston, 27 Higher Common Road, Buckley, Flintshire, CH7 3NG, U.K. Please note that the software is registered by a key file, which can be sent out by E-mail. If possible please give your E-mail address when ordering, and the version of shareware already in use. 3. Installation In order to install the program copy the following files into a directory on a hard drive, or onto a floppy:- README.1ST - List of files in release PD205.TXT - This file ! CIRCUIT.GIF - Interface circuit schematic - GIF format CIRCUIT.JPG - Interface circuit schematic - JPG format POCSAG.TXT - A brief description of the POCSAG protocol 7100MOD.TXT - Discriminator output mod for Icom IC-R7100 receiver 9600MOD.TXT - Discriminator output mod for Yaesu FRG-9600 receiver DISCRIM.TXT - How to find the disc. output on common scanners PD.EXE - The PD program file PD.INI - The main configuration file REJECT.INI - List of RIC's to reject PAGERS.INI - List of RIC's to highlight/beep/log TEXTSCAN.INI - Configuration for TextScan feature ENGLISH.LNG - Config file for English language GERMAN.LNG - Config file for German language SWEDISH.LNG - Config file for Swedish language DANISH.LNG - Config file for Danish language HEBREW.LNG - Config file for Hebrew language THAI.LNG - Config file for Thai language CHINESE.LNG - Chinese config file RUSSIAN.LNG - Russian config file SKYPER.LNG - Config file for German "Skyper" paging service xxxxxxxx.KEY - Your .KEY file if registered 4. Interfacing The PD program requires serial POCSAG data to be applied to either the CTS or DSR pin of one of the PC's COM ports. RS232 levels are required, ie at least +/- 3v. PD is insensitive to polarity, ie it doesn't matter which way up mark and space are. As POCSAG is transmitted as direct FSK of the VHF/UHF carrier the ideal way is to take the data direct from the discriminator, via a data slicer. The following circuit, however, has been fairly successful, taking audio directly from the receiver's speaker output:- 0.1 uF |\ +12v ---||-----------------------|- \| AF IN | |741 \ ---- | | /--------------------- Data Out | \ ------|+ /| | CTS (pin 5/8) | / 100K | |/-12v | or DSR (pin 6/6) | \ | | GND / ----/\/\/\---- GND ------ GND (pin 7/5) | | 100K | \ N.B. Pin Numbers for com port are GND / given as x/y, where x is for a 25 \ 10K way, y for a 9 way. / | GND The above circuit is a Schmitt Trigger, having thresholds of about +/- 1v. If such a large threshold is not required, eg for a discriminator output, then the level of positive feedback may be reduced by either reducing the value of the 10K resistor or by increasing the value of the 100K feedback resistor. The +/- 12v for the op-amp can be derived from unused signals on the COM port (gives more like +/- 10v but works fine !):- TxD (2/3) --------------|<-------------------------------------- -12v | | RTS (4/7) --------------|<-------- GND - - | | _ + 10uF --------->|------- - - | Diodes 1N4148 | - + 10uF GND | | DTR (20/4) ------------->|-------------------------------------- +12v PD may also be used with interfaces of the "Hamcomm" type, or with the Optoelectonics "Optolinx". These interfaces provide data on the dsr pin of the COM port, which may be selected by setting the "input=dsr" parameter in PD.INI, see section 5.1.10 below. Please note, however, that these interfaces generally do not have much positive feedback, and may give poor results with an audio feed. They should function fine with a discriminator output, however. 5. Configuration 5.1 PD.INI The PD.INI file allows the operation of PD to be configured. Any text editor can be used to edit this file. The file is divided up into sections, headed by a name in square brackets, eg [general], [functions]. In each section are parameters, set to a value with an "=" sign, eg:- logbeep=100 func1=alpha In PD.INI, and any of the .INI files, comments may be added by starting the line with "#' eg:- # This is a comment. 5.1.1 General Parameters These parameters come under the [general] heading. 5.1.1.1 comport This allows the COM port used by PD to be set. COM port 1,2,3 or 4 may be used, eg:- comport=2 The default is COM1 5.1.1.2 bitrate This alows the bitrate of POCSAG data to be set. Allowable options are 512, 1200, 2400 or auto. If auto is selected then the bit rate is determined by PD at the beginning of each transmission. Examples:- bitrate=1200 bitrate=auto The default is auto. 5.1.1.3 filter This allows the PD screen to display either all pages or, if filtered, only those with matches in PAGERS.INI or TEXTSCAN.INI. To turn filtering off set "filter=0" or to turn on set "filter=1". The default is 0 (no filtering). 5.1.1.4 toneonly This allows tone-only pages to be globally rejected, to reduce screen/log clutter. Set "toneonly=1" to allow tone-only pages, "toneonly=0" to reject. The default is 1 (allow tone-only pages). 5.1.1.5 logbeep This parameter allows the length of the "beep" to be set. PD can emit a "beep" when a received page has it's RIC listed in PAGERS.INI, or contains text matching the strings in TEXTSCAN.INI. logbeep= eg:- logbeep=100 Where is the length of the beep in milliseconds. A value of zero turns off the beeping, this is the default. 5.1.1.6 logging (Registered Version Only) This parameter turn on or off logging to a daily log file. It can take the value 0 (no logging), or 1 (enable logging). Example:- logging=1 Daily log files have filenames of the form DD-MM-YY.log, or MM-DD-YY.log if U.S. date format is selected. All decoded pages are logged to this file. At midnight the daily log file is closed, and a new one opened. The default is 0, logging off. 5.1.1.7 log_path (Registered Version Only) This parameter allows the path for the storage of log files to be set. This may be either an absolute path or may be relative to the current directory. If the path does not end in a "\" then this will be added automatically. Examples:- # Log files stored in subdirectory "logs" off the current PD directory: log_path=logs\ # Log files stored at an absolute location: log_path=C:\logfiles\ Please note that if the directory referenced does not exist then no logging will take place. The default is the current directory. 5.1.1.8 expire (Registered Version Only) This parameter allows daily log files to be automatically deleted after a given number of days. This will occur either when PD is started, or just after midnight. The format is expire= eg:- # Expire any daily logs over 5 days old: expire=5 The default is 0 (don't expire). 5.1.1.9 language This parameter allows PD to be customised for the language in use. The name given selects a special language configuration file, having the extension .LNG. This file allows the character set to be customised, as well as other special language features. See section 5.4 for a description of the .LNG file syntax. Example:- # Select the file ENGLISH.LNG language=english Please note that the correct display of special characters for a particular language may require the PC to have the relevant code page for that language loaded. For example to display the Danish character set code page 850 or 865 is required. 5.1.1.10 accept This parameter determines whether decoded addresses (RIC's) are allowed to contain corrected errors. This can have two values, 0 (don't accept errors) or 1 (accept errors). Eg:- accept=0 The default is 0. This is recommended. 5.1.1.11 date (Registered Version Only) This parameter allows the format of the date used when writing to log files to be set. Two formats, uk or usa, are allowed, eg:- # Use U.K. date format: date=uk # Use U.S. date format: date=usa The U.K. date format is DD/MM/YY, the U.S. date format is MM/DD/YY. The default is the UK format. 5.1.1.12 input This parameter allows the pin of the com port used for reading the input data to be selected. This can either be the CTS pin or the DSR pin, eg:- # To use standard PD interface on CTS pin: input=cts # To use "Hamcomm" type interface, or Optoelectronics Optolinx: input=dsr By default PD uses the CTS pin for it's input. 5.1.2 Function Codes These parameters come under the [functions] heading. Four parameters are supported - func0, func1, func2 and func3. These allow the decoding of the pager data to be determined by the function code, transmitted in the address codeword. The format for setting these parameters is:- funcx= Where is one of:- alpha - The message will be decoded as alphanumeric ASCII data. numeric - The message will be decoded as BCD numeric data. raw - The message will be dumped in raw form, as hex codewords. auto - PD will attempt to decide whether the message is numeric or alphanumeric, and decode accordingly. reject - Any pages having this function code will be rejected. eg:- func0=raw func1=auto func2=auto func3=alpha The program defaults to decoding all function codes as "alpha" data. 5.1.3 Colours These parameters come under the [colours] heading and may each be set to one of the following values:- BLACK 0 BLUE 1 GREEN 2 CYAN 3 RED 4 MAGENTA 5 BROWN 6 WHITE 7 GRAY 8 LIGHTBLUE 9 LIGHTGREEN 10 LIGHTCYAN 11 LIGHTRED 12 LIGHTMAGENTA 13 YELLOW 14 BRIGHTWHITE 15 These parameters are in pairs, setting the foreground and background colours for a particular screen area:- status_fore/status_back Set the colours for the status line at the bottom of the screen. page_fore/page_back Set the colours for the first line of a received page. This line contains the received RIC, function code, bit rate and decoding format. message_fore/message_back Set the colours for the message part of a received page. Also sets the colours for the debug display, data with no errors. log_fore/log_back Set the colours used to display a RIC code that appears in PAGERS.INI. corrected_fore/corrected_back Set the colours in debug mode for codewords containing bit errors believed to be corrected. errored_for/errored_back Set the colours in debug mode for codewords containing un-correctable errors. 5.1.4 Serial Output These parameters come under the [serial] heading and configure the optional sending of messages in ASCII form to a COM port on the PC. This cannot be the same COM port as used by the PD interface. 5.1.4.1 port This option sets the COM port used for serial output. Allowable values are 0 - 4. Setting this parameter to 0 turns the facility off. 5.1.4.2 baud This option sets the baud rate for serial output. Allowable options are 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 or 9600. 5.1.4.3 parity This option sets the parity for the serial port. Allowable options are none, even or odd. 5.1.4.4 data This option sets the number of data bits for ASCII output. Allowable options are 7 or 8. 5.1.4.5 stop This option sets the number of stop bits for ASCII output. Allowable options are 1 or 2. 5.1.4.6 ric This option allows the received RIC code to be sent out to the serial port. To enable output of the RIC this option should be 1, otherwise 0. 5.1.4.7 func This option allows the received function code to be sent out to the serial port. To enable output of the function code this option should be 1, otherwise 0. 5.1.4.8 filter This option determines whether all pages are sent to the serial port, or only those having RIC codes listed in PAGERS.INI/text matching strings in TEXTSCAN.INI. This has the same effect on the serial output as the "filter" option in the [general] section has on the screen display. This option should be set "filter=0" for all pages to be output, or "filter=1" for pages selected by PAGERS.INI/TEXTSCAN.INI (filtering on). 5.1.4.9 date This option allows the date to be output on the line sent to the serial port. To enable the date output set "date=1", to disable set "date=0" 5.1.4.10 time This option allows the time to be output on the line sent to the serial port. To enable time output set "time=1", to disable set "time=0". 5.1.5 Printer Output These parameters come under the [printer] heading and configure the optional logging of received pages to a parallel printer. This printer must be connected to the primary parallel printer port (LPT1). 5.1.5.1 enable This option enables printer output. Set to 1 to enable, 0 to disable. # filter - allows either all decoded pages to be sent to # the printer, or only those selected by PAGERS.INI or TEXTSCAN.INI. # filter=0 - print all pages # filter=1 - print only selected pages 5.1.5.2 filter This option allows either all decoded pages to be sent to the printer, or only those selected by PAGERS.INI or TEXTSCAN.INI. filter=0 - print all pages filter=1 - print only selected pages 5.1.5.3 width This option sets the width at which each printed line will wrap. Set dependent on printers form width. Example:- width=79 5.1.5.4 pagelen This option sets the number of lines per page, a form-feed is output to separate pages. If set to zero no form-feed will be output, and printing will be continuous. 5.2 PAGERS.INI This file contains a list of pager addresses to be logged and is simply a list of 7 digit RIC's. Each RIC must begin in the first column and any characters after the 7th are ignored, and may be used for comments. Also lines beginning in "#" may be used for comments. RIC codes may contain wildcards, using the "?" character. Eg:- # A few pager numbers.... 1234567 Fred's pager 0012345 Joe's pager 111???? Any pager number beginning "111" This file may contain up to 250 addresses. Every time one of these addresses is encountered it is highlighted on the screen, a beep is sounded if configured, and the page is logged to disk with a date/time stamp. The log filename is .LOG, eg 1234567.LOG. Wildcards are translated to underscores in filenames, eg 111____.log. Please note that a page will be logged by the first match found in the file. For example if this file contained 12?????, and then 1234567 further down, then pages to RIC 1234567 would go into 12_____.log and _not_ into 1234567.log. It is therefore best to put any entries containing wildcards towards the bottom of the file so that the individual entries will catch them first. 5.3 REJECT.INI This file contains a list of pager addresses to be rejected, eg to save screen clutter. This file has the same format as PAGERS.INI, described in 5.2 above. 5.4 TEXTSCAN.INI This file allows the TextScan facility to be configured. This looks for particular text strings in received pages and highlights those pages having matching text. In the registered version all received pages having text matches are logged to individual log files named TEXTxx.LOG, depending on which string was found to match. TEXTSCAN.INI has two parameter sections:- 5.4.1 [general] 5.4.1.1 enable This parameter is used to enable/disable the TextScan facility. Set "enable=0" to disable, "enable=1" to enable. The default is 0 (TextScan disabled). 5.4.2 [strings] 5.4.2.1 string1 - string100 These parameters allow up to 100 text strings to be entered. Each string can either be a single word, eg:- string1=hello or a sequence of words separated be spaces, eg:- string2="the quick brown fox" TextScan is case insensitive, eg:- "hello" will match "HELLO" otherwise the strings must match exactly. 5.5 Language (.LNG) files Language files allow PD to be customised for the language in use. These files have the extension .LNG and are selected by the "language" parameter in PD.INI. Several language files are provided with PD, but the user is free to create new ones. The easiest way is to copy one of the existing ones to a new filename and then edit. *** The author would be grateful if anybody creating a new language file could send him a copy, so that these my be distributed with future releases of PD. *** Language files are basically the same as .INI files, and have two sections:- 5.5.1 [general] 5.5.1.1 display_mode This parameter selects how received pages are displayed to the screen. The options are as follows:- display_mode=0 - long form 2-line displays, as per version 2.03 display_mode=1 - short form 1-line display, just - display_mode=2 - short form display, from right to left display_mode=3 - automatic selection of left-right, or right-left. If received message contains 3 or more characters above 127 then display right-left, otherwise left-right. The default is display_mode=0 5.5.1.2 logging_mode This parameter selects how received pages are logged:- logging_mode=0 - long form 2-line entries, as per version 2.03 logging_mode=1 - short form 1-line entries, just - The default is logging_mode=0 N.B. No logging modes are currently defined for languages which read from right to left. These will be added as requirements become clearer. 5.5.2 [mapping] This section allows the mapping between received 7-bit characters and displayed 8-bit characters to be set up. It consists of a series of statements of the form:- <7-bit code>=<8 bit code> Where decimal coding is used. Each line may be followed by a comment if required, after a space. For example:- [mapping] 125=129 If character 125 received display character 129 124=148 " 124 " 148 123=132 " 123 " 132 Any characters not mapped display as themselves, this is the default. 6. Running the Program 6.1 Starting PD is run from the DOS prompt by simply typing:- PD No command line options are supported, if any are given then PD displays the message:- ***************************************************** *** All PD Configuration is now by editing PD.INI *** *** No Command Line Switches are Supported *** ***************************************************** 6.2 Supported Keys The following keys are supported whilst PD is running:- ESC Exits the program F1 Toggles between NORMAL and DEBUG modes SPACE BAR Toggles PAUSE mode on and off N.B. PAUSE mode stops the output of paging messages to the screen and printer. Any logging to disk will still carry on, and is not affected. 6.3 Status Line After PD starts up it displays a status line along the bottom of the screen, with a data area below. The status line is as shown below:- NORMAL ³ COM1 ³ 1200 ³ REJ ³ PAUSE ³ 13-01-96.LOG 280890 ³ 100.0 ³ \ 13:50:39 The items on the status line are described below, from left to right:- * NORMAL/DEBUG indicator - shows which mode PD is currently operating in. * COM port currently in use. * Current POCSAG bit rate. * REJ indicator - appears when a pager address matches one listed in REJECT.INI * RUN/PAUSE indicator - indicates when paused by the space bar. * Filename of current daily log file, and current file size. * Indication of receiving efficiency. 100% indicates that all received codewords contain no errors. Any codewords containing errors, whether corrected or not, will drive this figure down. * Rotating signal indicator. Appears to rotate when data is being received on the correct pin of the COM port. This is no indication of good data, just that the levels are correct. * The current time from the PC's real time clock. 6.4 Normal Mode In Normal Mode decoded pages are displayed on the screen. The way they are displayed depends on display_mode, in the current language file. There are two basic display options, plus the ability for right-left text etc. Before data is displayed in NORMAL mode the address codeword is checked for errors. If the "accept" parameter in PD.INI is set to 0 then this codeword must be error free, thus ensuring that the correct RIC is always displayed. If "accept" is set to 1 then address codewords will be accepted even if they had correctable errors. This means there is a chance that the wrong RIC will be displayed - if a large number of bit errors are present. Subsequent data codewords are decoded irrespective of any errors. This means that some "garbling" of data will occur in the presence of a lot of errors. All codewords are, however, error corrected. This means that, in the presence of 1 or 2 bit errors, the orignal codeword will be recovered. 6.4.1 Long Output (display_mode=0) Mode (default) As long as good POCSAG data is being received, lines of the following form are displayed:- RIC: FUNC: RATE: [auto] Where:- is the 7-digit pager address is the single digit function code 0,1,2 or 3 is the data rate at which the page was received: 512, 1200 or 2400 specifies how the message data is being decoded: Tone - Tone - only page Numeric - BCD numeric page Alpha - ASCII alphanumeric page [auto] is appended to the line if PD is making an automatic alpha/numeric decision for this function code. In the case of numeric or alphanumeric pages then another line or lines of message data follow. eg:- RIC: 1234567 FUNC: 3 RATE: 512 Alpha: Please call 1234 - 5688 RIC: 0345678 FUNC: 1 RATE: 1200 Tone RIC: 0000123 FUNC: 2 RATE: 2400 Numeric (auto): 555-123-1212 6.4.2 Short Form Output (display_mode=1) This display mode allows simple one-line output of received pages. The lines output are of the form:- - For example:- 1234567-0 Please call Pete - Urgent. 1111111-3 111-555-1212 1122334-0 1122335-0 Test page 6.5 Debug Mode. In Debug mode the batches of raw POCSAG codewords are dumped to the screen in hex form, eg:- 7A89C197 7A89CI97 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 14083EE2 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 7A89C197 Any codewords containing errors will be displayed in different colours, as configured in PD.INI. By default codewords containing corrected errors are displayed as yellow on white whilst codewords containing un-correctable errors are displayed as red on white. The debug mode is very useful for setting up, as it gives an indication of the number of errors currently being received. The shareware version will not time out while in debug mode. Please note that no logging will take place while in debug mode. 7. Troubleshooting This section provides help with some common problems encountered when running PD. 7.1 "The signal indicator is not rotating" The signal indicator will rotate when any signal having the correct RS232 levels is received on the correct pin of the correct COM port. The signal does not have to be POCSAG and even white noise will suffice. Double check your interface and check that you're using the right COM port and pin, as defined in PD.INI. 7.2 "The signal indicator is rotating, but I'm not getting any decoded data on the screen" Basically a signal is being seen, but it's not good POCSAG data. This could be down to several reasons:- 1) The receiver is not tuned to a POCSAG signal. 2) The data is very distorted, due to poor signal strength, interference etc. 3) The audio level is not correctly adjusted - this can be very critical. 4) A "Hamcom" type interface, with little/no positive feedback is being used with louspeaker audio. Try the recommended interface or use a discriminator output. These symptoms could also be caused by attempting to run PD in a Windows "DOS Box". PD will only run successfully under DOS, or in Windows 95 "MSDOS mode". 7.3 "I'm getting decodes, but a lot are garbled" This could be down to the error rate, check the figure at the bottom of the screen, to the left of the time. If this is not at least 80% then you need to improve your signal/interface. See section 7.2 above. Some garbling could also be down to alpha pages being decoded as numeric, and vice versa, if the "auto" mode is being used. It's best to fix the decoding to "alpha" or "numeric" if you know what you need. APPENDIX A PD Software History VERSION 1.02 Initial Released Version VERSION 2.00 Jan 1996 Major Release * Now supports 2400 baud and has auto bit-rate detection. * Will now attempt to correct up to 2 bit errors in a codeword. * Will now attempt to auto-detect numeric or alphanumeric data. * Now supports logging of all messages to daily log files. * Logging now continues whilst in PAUSE mode. * PAGERS.INI and REJECT.INI will now allow comments after pager addresses. * PAGERS.INI and REJECT.INI will now allow wildcards in pager addresses. * PAGERS.INI and REJECT.INI will now accept up to 250 entries each. * Date format may now be configured for the US market. * Will now correctly display "umlaute" characters used in German. * Screen colours may now be configured. VERSION 2.01 May 1996 * Minor bugs fixed, screen colours and restoring cursor. * PAUSE now works while in DEBUG mode. * Serial output of messages on second serial port now supported. * Added support for Swedish and Danish language characters. VERSION 2.02 July 1996 * Fixed problem causing poor decoding when running on some motherboards - particularly Pentium systems. * Fixed problem with buffer overflow, caused by receiving long pages - this could cause strange behaviour or exit to DOS. * Fixed bug whereby PAUSE did not work properly (introduced in 2.01) VERSION 2.03 September 1996 * Increased maximum size of paging message received to 1000 characters. * Made input pin selectable between CTS and DSR for use with Hamcomm and Optolinx type interfaces. * Increased timeout in shareware version to 15 minutes. VERSION 2.04 September 1997 * Made language features configurable by means of .LNG files. * Re - introduced short single-line display and log formats. * Added TextScan facility, allowing up to 10 text strings to be searched for in received messages. * Serial output enabled in shareware version - allows evaluation with Dave Evans' P_Base. * Highlighting and beeping for selected pages now work in the shareware version * Added options for date and time on serial output. * Added the "filter" facility to restrict decoding to only those RIC's listed in PAGERS.INI or messages containing matching text strings. * Added the ability to globally reject tone-only pages. * PAGERS.INI and REJECT.INI may now each contain up to 1000 entries. VERSION 2.05 February 2000 * Added support for parallel printer output. * TEXTSCAN.INI can now have up to 100 strings. * Logging of TEXTSCAN pages to separate log files. * TEXTSCAN strings now work with space at beginning or end. * Select logging of numeric, alpha or both via "logging" variable. * Time stamping of received pages on screen. * Fixed "Year 2000" bug in "expire" feature. * Switching between two mapping tables, using control codes (see CHINESE.LNG). APPENDIX B PD with P_Base Dave Evans has developed a companion pager database for PD, called P_Base. P_Base runs under Windows and can either receive data via the serial link from another machine running PD, or can analyse the log files produced by PD. For information on P_Base, and to download, see Dave Evans' web page:- http://www.devans.demon.co.uk/p_base.htm Or contact Dave at the following address:- Dave Evans Glendale Mount Pleasant Road Buckley Flintshire CH7 3ET U.K. E-mail: p_base@devans.demon.co.uk In order for P_Base to work correctly with PD certain parameters have to be set correctly. These ensure that the log file and serial output are in the format expected by P_Base. Please follow the guidelines below:- Log Files --------- Make sure that logging_mode, in the language file being used, is set to 0 - giving the default (2 line) logging mode. Serial Output ------------- Set the following parameters, in the [serial] section of PD.INI:- filter=0 >> This is the normal setting for all messages baud=9600 >> pre-set speed etc. in P_Base parity=none data=8 stop=1 date=0 >> P_Base add its own date/time time=0 ric=1 >> P_Base needs to know the pager number func=0 >> P_Base doesn't filter on func code. (You can define what message types are sent to P_Base by editing the [functions] section of PD.INI). Interfacing to P_Base --------------------- Remember to use a crossover cable (null modem cable) or in-line crossover adapter when you connect your PD204 machine to your P_Base machine for real time operation. END <<<<<=====>>>>>