CRW@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) (01/26/91)
I'm trying to describe generic programming characteristics of cellular
phones. I'll list the various terms used by previous authors and try
to describe the attributes. I'll use information from previous
postings and literature that I've read. Mostly I'll be asking
questions about holes in my understanding of how the attributes are
used.
The following contains information from telecom articles on programming
various phones including:
A) RS CT-301 from Rob Warnock <rpw3%rigden.wpd@sgi.com> on 20 Apr 90
(from the manual, I think)
B) RS CT-201 from Dave Levenson <dave%westmark@uunet.uu.net> on 29 Jul 90
(from the phone display, I think)
C) Technophone MC-915-A from PAT <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> on 15 Oct 90
(from the phone display)
D) NEC P9100 from me (from the phone display)
E) From Motorola `Programming Your Personal or Portable
Cellular Telephone' `Programming Manual' part #68P81155E16-D, 6/15/89 as
supplied by Jerry Durand <jdurand@cup.portal.com>.
A) home system identification 5 digits
B) ho id 5-digit
C) AREA ID five digit number
D) Home Area
E) System Identification (SID) Code
This is the five digit system id, or SID, of the home cellular system.
See the file cellular.carrier.codes on telecom-archives.
A) mobile number 10 digits
B) phon ten-digit
C) some ten digit number ten digit
D) Phone No.
E) Cell Telephone Number
This is the actual ten digit telephone number, or MIN, the mobile
identification number. MIN is made up of MIN1, the 24 bits which
correspond to the seven digit telephone number and MIN2, the 10 bits which
correspond to the three digit areacode (the encoding method is
non-obvious).
Sometimes people call this the "NAM." This is really the MIN. I think of all
these parameters together as a "NAM."
A) home paging channel 3 dig
B) paging ch 4-digit
C) IPCH initial paging channel
D) First P-CH
E) Initial Paging Channel
This is the paging channel on which a phone starts scanning when it is
"home." On the A side, this is typically 333 and scanning starts
down. On the B side, this is typically 334 and starts up. The
333/334 is obviously the split between A and B on the old 666 channel
system.
First set of questions:
Has anyone used anything other than 333 or 334?
Under what conditions would a carrier use a different first paging channel?
A) group identification 2 dig
B) group id 2 digits
C) GRP ID two digit group ID Mark
D) G.I.Mark
E) Group ID Mark
This is a marker (a bit position, I believe) to designate which (MSB)
bits in the system ID are used to identify a group of cellular systems
(such as PacTel Cellular).
(Pat, I believe in your article you mentioned that this had to do with
letting the carrier know that you have 832 channels available. I
believe that is the SCM parameter in the phone and not this. Do you
concur?)
[Moderator: I believe you are correct. Also, my Technophone MC-915-A
always parks on 327, although it is programmed for and starts out at
333. PAT]
I've read that home mobiles or mobiles roaming in the same group may
use "Local Control" (see Local Control below). Is the group ID used
for anything else? Can anyone comment on either current use or the
proposed use of the group ID?
A) local control option 1 or 0
B) locl opr 1 digit
C) <nothing similar found>
D) Local Use Yes/No
E) Local Use bit
I assume that this controls whether the mobile uses the "local
control" information from the carrier. From what I have read, this
info is specific to the local system. If this is the case, what does
my phone do with it? How does it know? Anyone with more info on what
local control may be used for? Mine is enabled in my phone.
A) overload class 2 dig
B) o-load class 2 digits
C) O/LOAD CLASS two digit number
D) ACCOLC
E) Access Overload Class
This is a four bit number to describe the access overload class of the
telephone. I believe it is used to control overloading conditions on
the reverse control channel. The carrier can prohibit classes from
originating on the reverse control channel at various times.
Do I have this concept right? Does anyone know the logistics behind
assigning these classes to telephones? Do any carriers assign
specific classes to specific groups of users (such as emergency
personnel)?
After starting these questions, I found a reference to ACCOLC:
EIA TSB16-85 Assignment of Access Overload Classes in the Cellular
Telecommunications Services. 6pp.
However, I wasn't able to find this locally. I may have to order it.
Has anyone seen it?
A) <nothing similar found>
B) <nothing similar found>
C) EXp ? 0 or 1
D) MIN Mark
E) MIN Mark bit
Is this whether the mobile sends both MIN1 and MIN2? If so, I thought
that was at the request of the carrier, not the phone?
A) access method 1 or 0
B) access 1 digit
C) <nothing similar found>
D) <nothing similar found>
E) <nothing similar found>
I'm not sure what this is? Any Radio Shack phone owners that can tell
us? This might have something to do with accessing the reverse
control channel (just a wild guess).
A) <nothing similar found>
B) st class 2 digits
C) <nothing similar found>
D) <nothing similar found>
E) Station Class Code
I believe this is Station Class Mark (SCM), a four bit code in the form ABCD.
A = 0 666 channels
A = 1 832 channels
B = 0 continuous transmission mode
B = 1 discontinuous transmission mode (battery saver mode)
CD = 00 high power
CD = 01 medium power
CD = 11 low power
A) <nothing similar found>
B) pref sys A or B
C) <nothing similar found>
D) Sys Select
E) <nothing similar found>
This seems fairly obvious.
Most phones also had an [un]lock code and/or a security code which I
omitted in this listing because I didn't find it very interesting.
Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM
HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet
+1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crwCRW@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) (01/29/91)
In article <16452@accuvax.nwu.edu>, CRW@icf.hrb.com (me) writes: > A) <nothing similar found> > B) <nothing similar found> > C) EXp ? 0 or 1 > D) MIN Mark > E) MIN Mark bit > Is this whether the mobile sends both MIN1 and MIN2? If so, I thought > that was at the request of the carrier, not the phone? I believe the phone or the system can request this. > A) access method 1 or 0 > B) access 1 digit > C) <nothing similar found> > D) <nothing similar found> > E) <nothing similar found> > I'm not sure what this is? Any Radio Shack phone owners that can tell > us? This might have something to do with accessing the reverse > control channel (just a wild guess). I now believe that these two categories are one in the same, ie: A) access method 1 or 0 B) access 1 digit C) EXp ? 0 or 1 D) MIN Mark E) MIN Mark bit EXp is the bit that controls "access method" which determines whether the mobile will send both MIN1 and MIN2 on every access attempt. I'm assuming that MIN Mark is another name for this (half because of its name and half from the process of elimination). Can anyone confirm this? Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet +1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crw