Example
On first page "Pre-defined Locations" choose North America from the drop down list. Click Continue.
Select Oklahoma City from the NorthAmericaLocationsListed drop down box. Click Continue.
We now have a map of Oklahoma City on a 100Km map. Move the map around as required. Click North, Click East, Click East. Click on Chandler where the Tx is to be placed. A red X appears plus a trace. Click on the re-centre on point tab. The map re-centres on the Tx location with a blue cross at the Tx site.
Click on Cushing the Rx location. A red cross appears and the link line is traced. Click End to End Profile for the terrain profile between the Tx and Rx with the inter site distance. If there is a good line of site continue, otherwise select a new Rx location. We note that some 50m+ antenna heights are required. The New data point tab will tell us about the Rx site.
Click on the Link Mode button to begin characterisation of the link.
Tx and Rx Parameters.
We now fill in the Tx parameters: Power25W, Antenna Gain 15db, Height 75m.
The Rx parameters: Antenna Gain 15db, Height 75m, Sensitivity 2uV, margin 8db.
Continue to next page.
Transmission Parameters.
We now fill in the Transmission parameters: Frequency 450MHz, Antenna Polarisation Vertical, Climate Continental Temperate, Ground Type Poor, Propagation mode Single ( becuse this is a single pt=pt link)
Continue to carry out the analysis.
Results.
Path Parameters:
Results probably INVALID: Something is just not right.
The propagation conditions are: Line of Site Transmission.
The idealised propagation Friis path loss is: 115.58db
The maximum propagation path loss is: 141.09db for 90% reliability
The maximum propagation path loss when 99% reliability required: 154.98db
Ground type is:Poor, on a: Plains terrain with irregularity factor: 70,73
Ground conditions, dielectric: 4, conductivity: 0.001, refractivity: 301
The climate is: ContinentalTemperate, and antenna polarization: Vertical
Transmission Parameters:
The Tx power is: 25.00 W, the feeder loss -0.1db with a loss of: 569.1mW
The antenna power is: 24.43 W with an antenna gain of: 15db
The effective isotropic radiated power is: 772.6 W
The antennae tilt is indeterminate.
Reception parameters for a reliability of: 90%
Over a distance of: 31.85Km and a frequency of: 450.0MHz and 90% reliability
The resultant RX field power is: 6.014pW and Rx antenna voltage: 47.6uV, Rx antenna gain: 15db
The Rx feeder loss is: -0.1db with a_loss of: 136.9fW
The Rx input is: 185.8pW and voltage: 96.4uV on 50.0 Ohms
The Rx margin is: 33.66db for an Rx Sensitivity of: 2.00uV
The required margin is: 8.00db with a difference of: 25.66db
End to End path loss: -111.29db
Reception parameters for a reliability of: 99%
Over a distance of: 31.85Km and a frequency of: 450.0MHz and 99% reliability
The resultant RX field power is: 245.7fW and Rx antenna voltage: 9.62uV, Rx antenna gain: 15db
The Rx feeder loss is: -0.1db with a_loss of: 5.592fW
The Rx input is: 7.592pW and voltage: 19.5uV on 50.0 Ohms
The Rx margin is: 19.77db for an Rx Sensitivity of: 2.00uV
The required margin is: 8.00db with a difference of: 11.77db
End to End path loss: -125.18db
The analysis is valid but as the terrain profile shows there is a hill which could cause fresnel reflections. Both 90% and 99% reliabilty exceed the rx margin, though it may be required to factor in more feeder cable loss.
The analysis can be modified and repeated easily. A PDF document is available.