Frequently Asked Questions and Known Issues with
ComSitePro
During ComSitePro installation on Windows 98, I receive a
"Critical Component Missing" error message.
ComSitePro has a fatal error when
running a second analysis with a Microsoft Word report.
ComSitePro locks up or experiences a run time error when
running a Microsoft Word report.
Does the Intermodulation
Analysis limit the number of transmitter frequencies
to 5?
What Technology do I choose
for SCADA systems?
I keep getting an error message
indicating a Tx or Rx antenna is missing.
How do I import Allgon Antenna
Patterns into the ComSitePro Library?
How do I model an antenna
radome with two internal antennas?
How do I copy frequencies from a
spreadsheet into ComSitePro?
When I click Finish in the Report
Wizard, I receive a message that MS Word is open?
Why does the interference
analysis sometimes take a long time to complete?
When I register ComSitePro, I receive an
Error Code 46 message.
What type of information do I need to enter
communication systems data?
How do I delete or edit a communications system stored
in the Template database?
What is the significance of the Antenna Mount while
configuring a new communications system?
How do I add a custom antenna pattern to the Antenna
Library?
During ComSitePro installation on Windows 98, I
receive a "Critical Component Missing" error message.
This error is due to a Y2K component missing from the
Windows Operating System. A small Microsoft patch file is available on the
ComSitePro distribution CD with a file name of w98y2k.exe. Run the patch
file and try the ComSitePro installation again.
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ComSitePro has a fatal error when running a second analysis with a Microsoft
Word report.
If you are running a second
interference analysis for a Microsoft Word report, you may receive a fatal error
message and ComSitePro may stop running unexpectedly. The problem occurs
with Microsoft Word 2000 or 2002 when you have Norton Antivirus 2001 installed
and its Script Blocking feature is enabled. This is a known issue and
Microsoft has the following resolution:
"To work around this problem,
disable the Script Blocking feature in Norton Antivirus. For more
information, refer to the Norton Antivirus documentation."
Additional information can be found in the Microsoft
Knowledgebase article
329820.
ComSitePro utilizes scripts/macros while creating the
Microsoft Word report. The virus scanning script blocking software
believes this is a virus attack and therefore stops the script/macro from
running.
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ComSitePro locks up or
experiences a run time error when running a Microsoft Word report.
If you are running an analysis for a Microsoft
Word report, you may receive a fatal error message and ComSitePro may stop running unexpectedly. The problem occurs
with Microsoft Word when you have McAfee Antivirus Version 7 installed
and its Script Blocking feature is enabled. This is a known issue and
McAfee has the following resolution:
To work around this problem,
disable the Script Blocking feature in VirusScan. Open the VirusScan
Console. Select "Configure Automatic Protection Settings".
De-select "Enable Hawk Script Stopper". Click "Apply Settings".
ComSitePro utilizes scripts/macros while creating the
Microsoft Word report. The virus scanning script blocking software
believes this is a virus attack and therefore stops the script/macro from
running.
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Does the Intermodulation Analysis limit the number of
transmitter frequencies to 5?
When you set up the IM
analysis, you can choose from one to five simultaneous transmitters mixing. If
you choose five transmitters, the analysis first creates a “Hit List” which will
involve all frequencies at the site and will step through every frequency in
groups of 5 at a time (5 simultaneous transmitters).
The analysis takes each
frequency at the site and combines it with a group of 4 other frequencies to
determine if there are any IM products with this set of frequencies. It then
takes the next group of frequencies and performs the same analysis. This
process continues until all possible groups of frequencies have been analyzed.
For example, if you had
a site with 7 frequencies and the channel labels are A through G, the analysis
would look at the following grouping of frequencies.
A, B, C, D, E
A, B, C, D, F
A, B, C, D, G
A, B, C, E, F
A, B, C, E, G
A, B, C, F, G
A, B, D, E, F
A, B, D, F, G
A, C, D, F, G
A, D, E, F, G
etc.
This stepping through of
frequencies would continue until all possible combinations are analyzed.
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What Technology do I choose
for SCADA systems
Choose 'FM Land
Mobile' for the correct technology
for SCADA systems.
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I keep getting an error
message indicating a Tx or Rx antenna is missing.
When I finish configuring a system in the Communications
System Setup Wizard, it gives me an error message that a particular antenna is
missing.
This error is typically caused by having more transmitters
or receivers than the number of antennas that you have selected.
You must check the 'Combined Stations' checkbox to assign
all transmitters or receivers to one antenna. If you do not check this
option, you will have to add an antenna for each station. For example, if
you have three transmitters, you will need three antennas if the 'Combined
Stations' is not checked. If it is checked, you will only need one antenna.
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How do I import Allgon
Antenna Patterns into the ComSitePro Library?
First, you need to have at least ComSitePro Version 6.2.5
(dated 3/6/02). If you don't have this version, go to our
ComSitePro Application Maintenance page and
request an update.
After it is installed follow this procedure to import Allgon Antenna patterns:
1. Go to the Allgon
Antenna Application Software web page
2. Click Plot & View on the left side of the page.
3. Select the desired Antenna.
4. On top Menu, click Export.
5. Select MSI (Planet) for the Format.
6. Select Separate with a Space.
7. On the top Menu, click Export and save it to Program Files/ComSitePro/Library.
8. Open ComSitePro and select Components, Antennas, Import Antenna Patterns.
9. Select the antenna in the list and click OK.
10. The Manufacurers Form will appear. Select Generic/MSI Planet and a selection
list will be displayed on the right. Select the desired manufacturer (Allgon in
this case) and click OK.
11. Due to different manufacturer formats, the Antenna Model may appear in the
Name or Make field in the file. ComSitePro will now ask you which field to use
for the default Antenna Model field. Once you make your selection, ComSitePro
will use this default field for all antennas being imported during this
particular session
When the process is completed, you should receive a message box indicating the
import was successful.
To view the antenna pattern, select Components, Antennas and View Antenna
Patterns. The Antenna Patterns Form will appear. Click Select Antenna, select
Allgon from the Manufacturer List. Select the desire antenna from the list and
click OK. The pattern should now appear.
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How do I model an
antenna radome with two internal antennas?
First, determine the vertical spacing of the antennas in
the radome and the length of the radome.
Then create two antenna files with the model number and '_Top' and the other' _Bot'
with appropriate antenna patterns. Import them into the antenna database. If you
are running the studies without patterns (worst case), then simply enter in the
antenna data directly in the Communications System Setup Wizard.
Then use two antenna platforms to configure the antenna.
On the first platform select the antenna position number and set the height as
the height difference of radome centerline to Top antenna centerline above
ground.
On the second platform select the antenna position number (same as the first one
to keep them vertically stacked) and set the height as the height difference of
radome centerline to Bottom antenna centerline above ground.
For example, if the radome is 8' and each antenna is 4' long, the centerline of
the top antenna is plus two feet above the centerline of the radome and the
centerline of the bottom antenna is minus two feet below the centerline of the
radome. The centerline of the radome is 100' AGL, therefore, the top antenna
height would be 102' AGL on the first platform and the bottom antenna height
would be 98'AGL on the second platform.
This will simulate a radome with two antennas.
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How do I copy
frequencies from a spreadsheet into ComSitePro?
Open the spreadsheet that has the frequencies you wish to
copy. The frequencies should be grouped by transmit frequencies and
receive frequencies. Each group should consist of two columns. The
first column should be the channel/frequency label and the next column should be
the actual frequency as shown below:
Chan 1 925.0250
Chan 2 925.0125
Chan 3 925.0250
etc...
In ComSitePro, select Edit from the Main Menu
and click on Add New Communications System (Wizard). Enter data on
the first page as you would normally. Click Next and set up the
system and equipment details as normal.
When you are ready to enter the frequencies, move to the
spreadsheet and click and hold the left mouse button on the first Channel Label.
Drag the mouse over to the frequency column and continue dragging the mouse down
until you have selected all of the desired frequencies. Then, release the
mouse button. Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected frequency list (or
select Copy from the Edit Menu).
Go back to the ComSitePro System Wizard. If you are
copying transmit frequencies, click the first available row in column one in the
Frequency Grid (ChLabel). Now press Ctrl+V or select
Paste from the Edit menu. The channel labels and frequencies
will be added.
If you added transmit frequencies, follow the same
procedure for receiver frequencies.
Click Next to configure the antenna systems and
finish the System Wizard.
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When I click Finish in the
Report Wizard, I receive a message that MS Word is open?
When creating a MS Word report in ComSitePro, Word must
not be Open. ComSitePro will check if Word is running and if it is, a
message will be displayed. The message states "Microsoft Word is open or
being used by another application, such as Outlook. Please close it before
running the Report."
Several applications use MS Word as a default editor and
MS Word may be running but not appearing on the Task Bar. Press Alt
+ Ctrl + Del to activate the Windows Task Manager.
Select the Applications Tab and see if Microsoft Word is listed. If
it is, select it and click End Task. If it does not show up under
the Applications Tab, select the Processes Tab and see if
Winword.exe is on the list. If it is, select it and click End Task.
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Why does the
interference analysis sometimes take a long time to complete?
Occasionally users do not know the actual operating
frequencies at a communications site so they will select an entire frequency
band. This could amount to 500 or more frequency pairs requiring analysis.
With this large number of frequencies, the number of evaluations can be in the
trillions plus and the analysis time is increased dramatically.
Here is an example benchmark test:
342 transmit frequencies in the file.
492 receive frequencies in the file.
3-tranmitter IM mixing.
1st through 5th Order.
The report was configured for:
Excluded Antenna Patterns (Worst case).
Condensed IM reporting (1000 Hits/Order).
Microsoft Word Reporting.
The analysis took 33.2 minutes to complete. It was run on a P4, 1.9 GHz
computer with Windows XP and Word 2002. There
were 1,000 3rd Order Intermodulation (IM) products and
1,000 5th Order IM products.
To improve processing performance, We suggest you try
the following to speed up the analysis:
Set up the report with Exclude Antenna Patterns. This provides a
worst-case scenario and uses maximum gain in all directions. If you don't
exclude the patterns, processing performance suffers significantly since each
horizontal and vertical pattern gain point has to be determined.
Use Condensed IM Reporting to limit the number of IM Hits requiring
evaluation.
Close all other running applications before starting the analysis, especially
anti-virus software. Occasionally, MS Word and anti-virus software may conflict
with each other.
If you are connected to a LAN, log off and try running the analysis on the local
PC only.
Run the analysis on a PC with a higher operating speed.
If you are primarily interested in IM interference only, run the analysis using
the ASCII Text reporting feature. First generate the IM Hit List
and then run the IM Signal Level analysis.
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When I register ComSitePro, I
receive an Error Code 46 message.
After you enter the Application Authorization Code and
click OK, an "Error Code 46" message appears and the registration fails.
ComSitePro records licensing information in the Widows Registry. If you do
not have Administrative rights on a Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP
system, you will not be allowed to write to the registry.
You will have to obtain a new Authorization code by
resubmitting the Registration Form. Then, re-login as an
Administrator before you enter the new Authorization Code.
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What type of information do
I need to enter communication systems data?
To model a communications site properly,
you must obtain all of the technical parameters of the communications equipment
at the site. We suggest you read the
ComSitePro Data Entry
GuidelCine for further details.
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How do I delete or edit a communications system
stored in the Template database?
To delete a template, click the leftmost column of the row you want to
delete. The entire row will become highlighted. Now press the Del key.
To change the equipment configuration of an existing template, create a new file
and import the desired template into the new site file. Make the desired changes
and Copy it back to the Template database with a new name (or delete the old one
first and copy it back with the same name).
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What is the significance of the Antenna Mount
while configuring a new communications system?
When configuring a new communications system in the Communications System
Wizard, you must select an antenna mount and give it a name. The Antenna
Mount and its name has no real significance for the interference calculations or
the Report output. It is provided to help you visually decide where to
initially position and assign antennas. Depending on the type of mount you
select, ComSitePro determines the default spacing values for the RefDistance and
RefAzimuth. You can change these values to any type of mounting arrangement you
want after you exit the Wizard by opening the View/Edit Site Antenna Data
Form.
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How do I add a custom antenna pattern to the
Antenna Library?
Instructions for adding a custom antenna pattern to the ComSitePro Antenna
Library are included in a downloadable zip file. Download and unzip the
following file
AddingCustomAntennas.zip.
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