MINDA PERSONAL PROTECTION SYSTEM
RX-400
MINDA Portable Receiver
Operating Instruction
Rev 1.0 Ju ne 2000
Tactical Technologies Inc.
1701 Se cond Ave
Fo lsom, P A 19033
610-522-0106
www.tacticaltechnologies.com
RECEIV ER R X-400 - Q ui ck guide
Each 'MINDA' TX-400 recei ver ca n display t w o stat us indications from up to f our different
transmitt er units, coded 1- 4 and all operating with the same group code. Pressi ng t he RED butto n
on a 'key-fob' st yle transmitt er should light the Red LED on the receiver, whilst t he BLACK one
lights the Green LED.
'BEEP' mode is se lec ted by moving t he O n/Off switch in the direction away from the eight LED's,
and 'SILENT' mode is selected by moving the On/Off switch towards the eight LED's.
Briefly press ing the 'Re s et' b utto n w ill c ancel any a ud ib le ale rt, init iate a ' la mp-te s t' and ext inguish
any LED's that may have been illuminated prior to resetting.
Additional alerts pr ovided
1. A Transmitter Low - Batter y alert causes the appropriate LED indicat or on the receiver to ' bli nk'
out briefly about once per seco nd.
2. A Re c e iver ja mming a lert will cause a s e ries of aud ible 'beeps' t o be generated. I f t his occurs
you should move to an interference-fr ee locat io n and as soo n as the interfer ence clears the
'beeps' w ill c ea s e .
TRANSMI SSION RA NGE.
When using the 'MINDA' system over a line-of-sight path you are likely to obtai n a working
distance in excess of 100 yards, w hereas in a busy str eet , hotel or st at ion the range will be
noticeably less.
It is recommended that, before using a 'M I NDA' system in a 'live' operational situation, you carry
out a few tests in the location(s) of interest to confirm consistent and reliabl e operation.
'MINDA' SYST EM - FULL USER' S GUIDE
GENERAL.
A system, comprising tr ansmitter(s) and receiver , w ill have be en s upplied progr a mmed w ith a
specific 'Gr oup Identity' out of t he 255 possible codes availab le. This is set during prod uctio n to
'94' (hex.) unless an alternative gr oup code ident it y has been req uested by a par t icular customer.
Indi v idual tra nsm itte rs w ill a ls o ha ve be en pro g r a mmed w ith a Unit Identity ( 1 ,2, 3 o r 4), which will
be shown on the labe l o n the bac k of the c as e . The micro -pro c e s s or cont r o lled receiver will o nly
respond to signals from those transmitt er s sending the same 'group-code' identit y t hat it has been
pre-pr ogr ammed to accept . This capability minimi zes the risk of interf er ence betw een similar
systems that happen to be operating within radio range of one another.
'MI NDA' transmitter and recei ver units can be reprogr am med to dif f er ent codes if r equired, but
this operation req uires the use of wor k shop facilit ie s includin g a P C, sof twar e and a s p e c ia l
interfac e unit. Contact your s upplier f or more det ails.
THE 'M I NDA' RECEIVER R X-400.
Each 'MINDA' receiver can display two status indications from up to four different transmitter
units, coded 1- 4 and all operating with the same group code. Pressi ng t he RED butto n on a 'keyfob' st yle transmitter should light the Red LED on the receiver, whilst the BLACK one lights the
Green LED.
Operation
The receiver is very easy t o use, and has two modes of oper ation, 'SILE NT' and 'BEEP'. If the
'BEEP' mode is se lec ted by moving t he O n/Off switch in the direction away from the eight LED's,
when a 'wanted' signal is received the appropr iat e st atus LED will light and a n audible pulsed
tone alarm will be heard. The tempo of this pulsed to ne is faster f or a 'Red' alarm than for a
'G reen' ala r m, ther e by facilitat ing the aural i d entif ic a tio n of 'Urge nt ' and ' No n- Urge nt'
transmissions.
When 'SILENT' mode is selected by mo vi ng the On/Off switch towards the eight LED's, the
appropriate LED w ill s till light but all audible t one signals are inhibited. Silent signali ng will be
provided by means of a built-in vibrator.
Whenever t h e rece iv e r is in itial ly s witc hed on, a ll of t he eight large LED' s will be b rief ly
illuminated, in pairs, to provide a 'lamp-test' and give visual confirmation that t he microproces sor
is operating correct ly. The small red LED adjacent to the On/Off switch will then flash re gularly a s
long as the receiver is operating but not r eceivi ng any signals. As soon as the receiver detects a
sig nal the r e d L ED will light conti n uo usly. BE AW ARE that any sig nal re c eived w ill c ause t h is to
happen, whether it is local electrica l i nterf er ence, a t r ansmission with a differ ent group code, or a
'wanted' signal fr om a tr ansmitter on your own group code.
Briefly press ing the 'Re s et' b utto n w ill c ancel any a ud ib le ale rt, init iate a ' la mp-te s t' ( s e e above)
and extinguish any LED's that may have been illuminated prior to reset t ing.
Additiona l alerts provided
1. Transmitter Low - Batter y alert.
A valid transmissio n received from a transmitter with a weak, but not completely flat, battery will
cause the appropriate LED indicat or on the receiver to ' blink' out briefly about once per second.
This will indicate t o the operator that that part icular transmitt er should have its batt er y r eplaced at
the earliest opportunit y.
2. Receiver jamming alert
Any signal r ec e ived o n t h e fre q ue ncy will cause th e receiver to lock -on, whether it is loc al
electrical interf er ence, a t r ansmission with a differ ent group code, or a ' w anted' signal from a
transmitt er on your own group code. However, if t he 'MI NDA' receiver is 'jammed' by a continuous
unrecognized signal, t hen after a s hort per iod of time (set during manufacture to 5 seconds, but
re-pr ogr ammable) it produces a series of audible 'beeps' t o alert the user and enable him to move
to an interference-f r ee locat ion. As soon as the interfer ence clears the 'beeps' will ceas e .
More about t he Bat t er y Economizer
The battery economizer operat es by switching the receiver on for a very brief per iod, looking for a
signal, and if nothing is f ound switching it off again. If a signal is f ound, the receiver 'locks-on' for
long enough to process and display any alarm signal t hat may have been recei ved. T he small red
LED adjacent to the On/Off switch displays the status of the battery economizer circuit. While the
receiver is in the pulsing 'st andby' mode it is, in fact , switched on for less than two per cent of the
time, thereby dramatical ly e xtendi ng 'MI NDA''s oper at ing enduranc e bef or e a change of bat t er y is
required.
The slight penalty for this feature is that an incoming alarm transmission must last long enough to
catch the receiver duri ng one of its 'on' periods to ensure that it is r ecognized and decoded. In
practice t his should not cause any problems provided that the transmitter button is held dow n for
at least one second. This short imposed delay also reduces the chances of accidental falsealarms when the transmitt er is car r ied loose in a pocket.
Battery
The 'MINDA' RX-400 receiver uses a 9 volt Alkaline bat t er y ( Duracell M N 1604 or equivalent)
which should be capable of providi ng power for more than 1000 hours. The actual batt er y life
obtained will depend very muc h on the number of alert s r eceived whilst it is being used.
To replace the receiver battery, slide open the battery- box cover, lift out the battery and carefully
remo ve the connector. Inspect the connector and, if necessary, adjust the position of the springleaves to ensure good contact , and fit it on to the new batter y . Dress t he leads to one side of the
new battery and slide the battery-box cover on until it clicks into place.
TRANSMIS SION RANGE.
When using the 'MINDA' system over a line-of-sight path, a range of greater than 100 yards is
likely, whereas in a busy street , hotel or station the r ange will be notice ab ly less .
It is recommended that, before using a 'M I NDA' system in a 'live' operational situation, a few tests
are carr ied out in the locatio n(s) of interest to confirm consistent and reliable oper at ion.
GETTING THE BEST RESU LTS FRO M 'MI ND A' .
To maximize the effectiveness and communicatio ns range of a 'MINDA' alarm system there are
some simple 't r icks' that really do work and whic h, on all occasions when it is pract ical and
convenient to use the m, can be used to enhance its performa nce. These are....
When carrying and usi ng the 'MINDA' receiver, try to allow the antenna wire to hang freely from
the receiver case and also remember that audible war nings f r om the built-in 'beeper' may be
somewhat muted if the small hole on the label side of the unit is significantly obstructed.
Remember that the human body is largely comprised of w ater. When using a tr ansmitter, f ace in
the direction of the receiving locati on so that your own body does not obstr uct t he emitted radio
signal. If poss ible, hold the transmitt er away from your body so that there is free space around its
antenna. NEVER shorten or wrap up the transmitter ante nna wire.
When using a 'MI NDA' transmitter or receiver inside a vehicle, try to ensure that its antenna is
kept above the window line to ensure that signal leve ls are maximi zed.
If you are in the street and communications get difficult, try holding the unit just above the roof of
a parked car with the antenna wire pointing upwards. By doing this the metal roof of the vehicle
will ac t as a c o unter p o is e e a rth and so enhance the signals.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FCC CO MPLI ANCE:
THIS DEV ICE COM PL IES WITH PART 1 5 OF THE FCC RUL ES. OPERATION I S SUBJECT
TO THE FOLLO W ING TWO CONDITIONS:
1. T HIS DEVICE MA Y NOT CA USE HARM FUL IN T ERFERENCE, AND
2. THIS DEV ICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, IN CLUDING
INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UN DESIRED OPERATIO N.
U.K RADIO AUTHO RITY'S COMPL IANCE:
The unit is fully com pli ant with the U.K. Radio Authority’s Specifi cati on MPT1340 for s hor t-r ange
radio alarm systems.
‘MINDA’ operates i n the 418MHz radio frequency band, which in the U.K. has been allocated f or
general short- r ange operatio n by low-pow er security systems and car alarms.
LICENSING
All ‘MINDA’ products are license-e xempt when used in the USA and the U.K.
WH AT IS ACTU ALL Y TRANSM ITT ED
Whenever a ‘MINDA’ tr ansmitt er oper at es, t he actual digital data message transmitt ed contai ns
all of the following pieces of informatio n, repeated a number of t imes:
< I am a ‘MINDA’ tr a n s mi tte r >
and
< My Family Identity Code is ‘xxx’ >
and
< I am Un it No. ‘y ’ >
and
< My alarm status is ‘Red/Green’ >
and
< My battery status is ‘OK/ Low’ >
If the first tw o pieces of data in the above message exactly match the information programmed
into a ‘M INDA’ r ec e iver, the n t he r es t of the i nf o r ma tio n will b e d ec o ded and displayed on the
LEDs. If they do not match, the entire message is ignored.
GUARANTEE
Tactical Tec hnologies Inc. guarantees to make good any faults d ue to defective materials or
workmanship for a per iod of 12 months from the date of purchase. Where the fault is the result of
misuse, neglige nce or inexpert r epair, Tac t ical Technologies Inc. reserve the right to make a
charge to cover the extra cost s involved.
RE-PROGRAMMING OF OPTIONS
The configuration of a n RX-400 ‘MINDA’ receiver, and any of the ‘MINDA’ range of intellige nt
transmitt er s, c an be changed by re-programming them usi ng a PC and a ‘MINDA’ customdesigned interface. This work requires some specialist t e chnical know ledge as w ell as access t o
a PC and perip he rals and, for this r ea s on, mos t custo mers will pro b ably find it more conve ni ent t o
return the equipment t o Tact ical Technolog ies I nc. f or r e-progr amming.
Those customers w ho do have in-house t echnical e xpert ise a nd sufficient ‘MINDA’ units to make
an investment in programmi ng soft ware cost-effect ive, may wish to consider purchasing the
special ‘MINDA’ program ming k it which compr ises hardware interface cables and connectors,
custom softwar e on disk, and full instr uctio ns. Further details a nd prices o n this kit can be
obtained from Tact ical Tec hnologies Inc.
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