Does the SOSS computer need to be co-located with the demods?
The connections between the SOSS computer and the attached serially-controlled devices is a 6-conductor, unshielded, twisted pair using the RS-485 voltage and loading standards. RS-485 is the multi-drop version of RS-422. 4 wires are used for data and one for ground. The RS-485 standard allows for a bus length of up to 4,000 feet and up to 64 devices (32 “talk” ports and 32 “listen” ports) can be connected. Devices on the bus can have addresses from 1 to 255 (address zero is reserved for the DACS alarm panel in our design). The DACS/ARA PC will support at least five (5) such busses per radio station. Your chief engineer, at the time of installation — and at any time after that — may alter or configure the number of busses, which devices are on which busses and what their addresses and functions are. You can have one bus per “room” or “area” or you can put all ARA-controlled devices on a single bus — your choice. So, you CAN locate the DACS/ARA PC in the Operations Manager’s office a
