DX Altus Alto UserManual (MNL 00096 310) PDF

Alto™ 1.
2
DX-Altus™ Dispatch Console
User Manual
™
Alto 1.2
™
DX-Altus Dispatch Console
User Manual
© 2012-2017 Omnitronics Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

(ABN: 28 798 126 642)
Product Notice
This guide describes features that are common to most installations as well as optional features available
separately. Some features may not be available with your installation.
No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means
without the prior written consent of Omnitronics. Information contained in this document is provided solely to
enable use of Omnitronics products. Omnitronics assumes no liability whatsoever for neither technical or
editorial errors that may appear in this document nor does it make a commitment to update the information
contained herein. Omnitronics retains the right to make changes to this information at any time without notice.
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The cartography used by Alto and reprinted in this User Manual is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0. DX-Altus and Alto are trademarks of Omnitronics Pty Ltd.
Technical Support
If you require additional information or assistance with installation or configuration of this product, please contact
our technical support at support@omnitronics.com.au or your local sales representative at the appropriate
telephone number shown below. When contacting Omnitronics for support, please have your Omnitronics
product serial number, system hardware, and system software versions available.
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Documentation Feedback
Omnitronics welcomes your comments and suggestions for improving this manual. You can e-mail your
comments and suggestions to documentation@omnitronics.com.au. Please include the Omnitronics product
name and version with your correspondence. Omnitronics will carefully consider all feedback for future improve-
ments to Omnitronics documentation or software.
Date: July 2017

Document Number: MNL-00096-310
ii
Document Revision History
Issue Date Description
1.0 08/2012 • Original publication
1.1 09/2012 • Minor updates
1.2 11/2012 • Minor updates
1.3 03/2013 • Updated “Console Computer Requirements” on p4.
• Added “Upgrading Alto” on p16.
1.4 03/2014 • Updated section “Installing the Alto Software” on pp5–9.
• Added section “Product Licensing and Activation” on pp10–17.
1.5 05/2014 • Updated section “Activating the Product Offline” on pp12–16.
1.6 06/2014 • Updated section “Alto and Firerwall Software” on pp9–10.
• Updated section “Product Licensing and Activation” on pp10–24.
1.7 06/2014 • Updated section “Installing the Alto Software” on pp6–9.
• Updated section “Activating the Product from the Help Window” on pp12–14.
• Updated section “Activation after Expiry of Trial Period” on pp19–20.
1.8 08/2014 • Updated section “Using Fast Select” on pp118–119.
• Updated section “Sending and Receiving Messages” on pp122–124.
• Updated section “Rapid Recall Options” on pp164–165.
1.9 10/2014 • Updated section “Activating the Product Offline” on pp14–20.
• Updated section “Mapping Options” on pp172–174.
2.0 12/2014 • Added section “Importing and Exporting Contacts” on p164.
• Added section “Exporting Contacts” on pp183.
• Added section “Importing Contacts” on pp183–186.
• Added section “Format of Contacts File” on pp187–188.
2.1 01/2015 • Updated section “Transferring the License” on pp26–30.
• Updated section “Audio Announcements” on p135.
• Updated section “Format of Contacts File” on pp191–195.
2.2 03/2015 • Updated section “Transferring the License” on pp26–30.
• Added section “Purchasing Addional Licenses” on p31.
• Added section “Reinstalling the Licenses” on p31.
2.3 04/2015 • Added section "Licensing Problems" on pp32-33.
• Updated section "Running Alto" on p33.
2.4 04/2015 • Added section “Changing the Viewing Mode” on p59.
• Updated section “Selecting and Monitoring All Channels” on pp65–67.
2.5 08/2015 • Updated section “Licensing Problems” on p32.
• Added section “Channel Volume Change Control” on pp114–117.
• Updated section “Originating Phone Calls” on pp119–120.
• Updated section “Originating Phone Calls with the Dialer Keypad” on pp120–122.
• Updated section “Originating Phone Calls with Contact Lookup” on pp122–123.
• Updated section “Using the Phone Control Dialog” on pp123–125.
iii
2.6 09/2015 • Updated section “Features” on p2.
• Added section “Layout of Channel Buttons” on pp59–61.
• Updated section “Viewing Events with the Status Panel” on pp73–75.
• Updated section “Controlling Digital Radios” on pp149–150.
• Updated section “Rapid Recall Options” on p180–181.
2.7 12/2015 • Deleted section “GPS Map Panel” from Chapter 3.
• Updated section “Active Workgroups Panel” on p55.
• Updated section “Channel Modes and States” on pp79-82.
• Updated section “Sorting Contacts” on p145.
• Added section “Filtering Contacts” on p145-146.
• Updated section “Types of Messages” on p161.
• Updated section “Displaying Message Details” on p162.
• Updated section “Message Auto Scroll” on pp164-165.
• Added section “Filtering Messages” on pp166-167.
• Updated section “Sending Selective Call Messages” on p167–171.
• Updated section “Theme and Layout Options” on pp192-194.
• Renamed Chapter 4, “Controlling Digital Radios”.
• Added Chapter 5, “Contacts Window”.
• Added Chapter 6, “Messages Window”.
• Added Chaper 7, “GPS Essentials”.
2.8 02/2016 • Updated section “What is Alto?” on p1.
• Updated section “Console Computer Requirements” on p5.
• Updated section “Installing the Alto Software” on pp7–12.
• Updated section “Reinstalling Licenses” on p33.
• Updated section “Header Panel” on p54.
• Updated section “Manipulating Channels in a Workgroup” on p82.
• Added section “Sending a Selective Call” on pp87–91.
• Updating section “Playing Audio Recordings” on pp111–112.
• Updated section "Adjusting Audio Levels" on p117.
• Updated section “VoIP and Radio Status” on p133.
• Added section “Progress of Remote Call” on p146.
• Added section “Terminating Remote Call” on p148.
• Added section “Radio Stun and Radio Revive” on p148.
• Added section “All Text Message” on p149.
• Updated section “Editing Contacts” on pp155–157.
• Added section “Dialing from Contacts” on pp161–164.
• Added section “Sending Selcall with the Contacts” on pp165.
• Updated section “Message Storage and Retrieval” on p171.
• Added section "Sending Selective Call Messages" on p176.
• Updated section "Deleting Messages" on p179.
• Updated section "Theme and Layout Options" on p199.
• Updated section "Selecting a Theme" on p200.
iv
2.9 01/2017 • Added section “Replacement for Software License due to Hardware Failure” on p34.
• Updated Chapter 3, “Basic Operation”.
• Added Chapter 4, “Rapid Recall and Recordings”.
• Added Chapter 5, “Call History”.
• Updated section "Recording Audio Samples" on pp116-119.
• Updated section “Saving Audio Recordings (Archives)” on pp121–122.
• Added section "Unsaving Audio Recordings" on pp123–124.
• Added section “Call Completion and Direction” on p132.
• Added section “Special Radio Functions” on pp152–159.
• Updated section “Sending Selective Call” on pp179–182.
• Added section “Sending Selective Call Messages” on pp191–192.
• Updated section “Receiving Selective Call Messages´on pp193–195.
• Updated section “Answering Phone Calls” on p201.
• Added section “Sending DTMF during a Call” on p210.
• Added Chapter 11, “Advanced Locations Services (ALS)”
• Added section “Call History Options” on pp238–240.
• Updated section “Theme and Layout Options” on pp242–244.
• Added section “Advanced Location Services (ALS)” on pp249–250.
• Added section “Configuring ALS Event Options” on pp250–252.
3.0 05/2017 • Updated section “Theme and Layout Options” on p241.
• Added section “Resetting the Layout of the User Interface” on pp243–244.
3.1 07/2017 • Added section “Grouping Multiple DX-Altus Systems” on pp50–55.
• Inserted Chapter 10, “Paging Remote Devices”.
Please report any errors or omissions in this document to Omnitronics so that such errors or
omissions may be corrected in later issues (see “Documentation Feedback” on page ii).
v
Contents
About this Manual xv

Intended Audience ............................................................................................... xv
Related Documentation ....................................................................................... xv
Document Conventions and Symbols .................................................................xvi
Touchscreen Display Terminology ...................................................................... xvii
How this Manual is Structured ............................................................................ xvii
Introducing Alto 1
What is Alto? .......................................................................................................... 1
Features ................................................................................................................. 2
Network Requirements .......................................................................................... 4
Console Computer Requirements ......................................................................... 5
Getting Started with Alto 7

Installing the Alto Software .................................................................................... 7
Alto and Firewall Software ................................................................................... 12
Product Licensing and Activation ......................................................................... 13
Activating the Product Online ....................................................................... 13
Activating the Product at Startup .......................................................... 14
Activating the Product from the Help Window ...................................... 15
Activating the Product Offline ....................................................................... 16
Offline Activation by Omnitronics Support .................................................... 22
Activation after Expiry of Trial Period ........................................................... 24
Online Activation ................................................................................... 24
Offline Activation ................................................................................... 25
Transferring the License ............................................................................... 28
Purchasing Additional Licenses.................................................................... 33
Reinstalling Software Licenses .................................................................... 33
Contents vii
Replacement for Software License due to Hardware Failure....................... 34
Licensing Problems ...................................................................................... 34
Running Alto ........................................................................................................ 35
Specifying the Connection Settings ............................................................. 36
Using the Existing Connection Settings ....................................................... 40
Uninstalling Alto ................................................................................................... 40
Upgrading Alto ..................................................................................................... 42
Calibrating the Touchscreen Display ................................................................... 42
Basic Operation 43
Accessing DX-Altus Systems .............................................................................. 44
Logging into DX-Altus................................................................................... 44
Automatic Login to DX-Altus ........................................................................ 49
Logging into Multiple DX-Altus Systems ...................................................... 50
Grouping Multiple DX-Altus Systems ........................................................... 50
Logging Out .................................................................................................. 56
Main Window Layout and Navigation .................................................................. 57
About Panels and Windows ......................................................................... 58
Header Panel ............................................................................................... 59
Control Panel ................................................................................................ 59
Active Workgroups Panel ............................................................................. 60
Minimizing the Main Window ........................................................................ 61
Changing the Layout .................................................................................... 61
Cleaning the Touchscreen Display ............................................................... 61
Changing the Viewing Mode ........................................................................ 62
Layout of Channel Buttons .................................................................................. 63
Using the On-Screen Keyboard ........................................................................... 66
Workgroups and Working with Channels ............................................................. 68
Adding Workgroups ...................................................................................... 69
Changing the Workgroup State .................................................................... 74
Editing Workgroups ...................................................................................... 75
Selecting and Viewing Workgroups .............................................................. 79
Removing Workgroups ................................................................................. 82
Channel Modes and States .......................................................................... 84
Manipulating Channels in a Workgroup ....................................................... 87
viii Contents
Selecting and Monitoring All Channels ......................................................... 89
Fast Select ................................................................................................... 91
Sending Selective Call ......................................................................................... 92
Selective Call Dialog .................................................................................... 93
Selective Call Keypad .................................................................................. 93
Contact Lookup ............................................................................................ 95
Link-Groups and Linking Channels ..................................................................... 97
Adding Link-Groups...................................................................................... 98
Changing the State of a Link-Group ........................................................... 102
Editing Link-Groups .................................................................................... 104
Removing Channels from a Link-Group ..................................................... 107
Preserving Link-Groups.............................................................................. 108
Linking a Common Channel ....................................................................... 108
Advanced Linking Features ........................................................................ 108
Adjusting the Audio Levels................................................................................. 109
Channel Volume Change Control .......................................................................111
VoIP and Radio Status ....................................................................................... 114
Viewing Events with the Status Panel ............................................................... 115
Rapid Recall and Recordings 117

Recording and Playback of Audio ...................................................................... 117
Recording Audio Samples ................................................................................. 120
Recalling Audio Recordings ............................................................................... 123
Playing Audio Recordings .................................................................................. 123
Saving Audio Recordings (Archives) ................................................................. 125
Specifying the Location .............................................................................. 126
Saving Audio Clips ..................................................................................... 126
Unsaving Audio Recordings............................................................................... 127
Deleting Audio Recordings ................................................................................ 128
USB Audio Connection ...................................................................................... 131
Call History 133

Call History Window........................................................................................... 134
Types of Calls .................................................................................................... 135
Contents ix
Call Direction and Completion ........................................................................... 136
Viewing Call Details ........................................................................................... 136
Audio Playback of Calls ..................................................................................... 139
Calling from Call History .................................................................................... 140
Call History Auto Scroll ...................................................................................... 141
Controlling Digital Radios 143

Digital Radio Capabilities ................................................................................... 144
Individual Call ............................................................................................. 144
Outgoing Calls .................................................................................... 144
Incoming Calls .................................................................................... 145
Text Messaging .................................................................................. 145
Call Alert ............................................................................................. 145
Group Call .................................................................................................. 146
Outgoing Calls .................................................................................... 146
Incoming Calls .................................................................................... 147
Text Messaging .................................................................................. 147
All Call ........................................................................................................ 147
Incoming Emergency.................................................................................. 148
Changing Radio Channels ................................................................................. 149
Querying Radio Channels.................................................................................. 153
Setting the Radio Power Level .......................................................................... 153
Progress of Remote Phone Call ........................................................................ 154
Terminating Remote Phone Call ........................................................................ 156
Special Radio Functions .................................................................................... 156
Radio Stun .................................................................................................. 157
Radio Revive .............................................................................................. 159
Radio Check ............................................................................................... 160
Radio Status Message Request ................................................................. 162
All Text Message ................................................................................................ 163
Contacts 165
Contacts Window ............................................................................................... 165
Sorting Contacts ................................................................................................ 167
x Contents
Filtering Contacts ............................................................................................... 167
Importing and Exporting Contacts ..................................................................... 168
Adding Contacts ................................................................................................ 169
Adding Contact Numbers................................................................................... 171
Editing Contacts ................................................................................................. 173
Deleting Contacts .............................................................................................. 176
Deleting Contact Numbers................................................................................. 178
Dialing from Contacts ........................................................................................ 179
Phone Number ........................................................................................... 180
Radio ID ..................................................................................................... 181
Group ID ..................................................................................................... 182
Sending Selective Call ....................................................................................... 183
Messages 187
Messages Window............................................................................................. 187
Types of Messages ............................................................................................ 189
Displaying Message Details............................................................................... 190
Message Storage and Retrieval ........................................................................ 191
Audio Announcements ....................................................................................... 191
Message Auto Scroll .......................................................................................... 192
Acknowledging Messages ................................................................................. 194
Filtering Messages ............................................................................................. 194
Sending Selective Call Messages ..................................................................... 195
Quick Callback from Messages Window .................................................... 195
Receiving Selective Call Messages ................................................................... 197
Selcall Alert ................................................................................................. 197
Emergency Selcall Alert ............................................................................. 198
Deleting Messages ............................................................................................ 199
Phone Channels 203

Identifying Phone Channels ............................................................................... 203
Controlling the Operation of Phone Channels ................................................... 204
Answering Phone Calls...................................................................................... 205
Originating Phone Calls ..................................................................................... 205
Contents xi
Using the Dialer Keypad............................................................................. 206
Using Contact Lookup ................................................................................ 208
Phone Control Dialog......................................................................................... 209
Holding a Call .................................................................................................... 212
Parking a Call .................................................................................................... 213
Sending DTMF during a Call ............................................................................. 214
Hanging Up a Phone Call .................................................................................. 215
Priority of Audio Levels ...................................................................................... 215
Paging Remote Devices 217

Paging Capability ............................................................................................... 217
Paging with the Page Dialog.............................................................................. 217
Paging from the Contacts Window .................................................................... 221
GPS Essentials 225

Displaying GPS Mapping Data .......................................................................... 225
Requesting Radio Location................................................................................ 228
Filtering GPS Data ............................................................................................. 228
Advanced Location Services (ALS) 231

ALS Event Log Window ..................................................................................... 231
Geofence Event Types ...................................................................................... 234
Event Profiles ..................................................................................................... 235
Displaying Event Messages............................................................................... 236
Radio Map Markers for Geofence Events ......................................................... 236
Managing and Customizing the Software 239

Options Overview .............................................................................................. 239
Login Options ..................................................................................................... 242
Entertainment Audio Options ............................................................................. 245
Rapid Recall Options ......................................................................................... 246
General Options ................................................................................................. 247
Call History Options ........................................................................................... 249
xii Contents
Reporting Options .............................................................................................. 252
Theme and Layout Options ............................................................................... 253
Resetting the Layout of the User Interface ................................................. 255
Selecting a Theme ..................................................................................... 256
Creating a Custom Theme ......................................................................... 258
Mapping Options ................................................................................................ 259
GPS Map .................................................................................................... 259
Advanced Location Services (ALS) ............................................................ 262
Configuring ALS Event Options .................................................................. 263
Selective Call Options........................................................................................ 265
Importing Contacts ............................................................................................. 267
Exporting Contacts ............................................................................................ 270
Format of Contacts File ..................................................................................... 270
Index 277
Contents xiii
About this Manual
This user manual discusses the operation and configuration of Omnitronics

Alto™ Dispatch Console software designed for Omnitronics DX-Altus Digital
Radio Management systems. It provides information about:
• Installing and using Alto software

• Customizing Alto software
Intended Audience
This manual is intended for console operators who use the Alto software for
radio-dispatch communications with a DX-Altus system. It describes how to
use Alto from an operator’s perspective and how to configure the Alto
environment from an administrator’s perspective; and covers the latest release
of the DX-Altus System, known as Release 4.
Related Documentation
In addition to this user manual, the following documents provide related
information:
• DX-Altus Server – Configuration Guide (MNL-00097)

• DX-Altus Server – Installation Guide (MNL-00104)
• DX-Altus Basic Paging Supplement (MNL-00136)
• DX-Altus Canned-Voice Recordings Supplement (MNL-00151)
• DX-Altus Emergency and Blast Alarms Supplement (MNL-00140)
• DX-Altus RSSI and Channel Voting Supplement (MNL-00135)
• DX-Altus System Failover Supplement (MNL-00126)
Alto User Manual xv

Document Conventions and Symbols
Table 1 lists the document conventions used in this manual.
Table 1. Document conventions

Convention Description
Blue, underlined text: Website addresses and e-mail addresses.
http://www.omnitronicsworld.com
Bold text Keys that are pressed.
Text typed into a UI element, such as a text box.
UI elements that are tapped or selected, such as
menu and list items, buttons, tabs, and check
boxes.
Italic text Text emphasis, file and directory names.
Italic text in quotation marks: Hyperlinked cross-references to other sections
see “What is Alto?” on page 1. or paragraphs in the document.
Monospace text System output and configuration examples.
Commands and arguments.
Warning A warning is a type of note that advises you that failure to take
or avoid a specific action could result in physical harm to yourself or to the
equipment.
Caution A caution is a type of note that advises you that failure to take
or avoid a specific action could result in loss of data.
Important An important note provides information that is essential to the

completion of a task. You can disregard information in a note and still
complete a task, but you should not disregard an important note.
Note A note provides information that emphasizes or supplements import-

ant points of the main text.
Tip A tip is a type of note that suggests alternate methods that may not be
obvious. A tip is not essential to the basic understanding of the text.
xvi About this Manual

Touchscreen Display Terminology
Alto is designed primarily to work with a touchscreen. Therefore, all pro-
cedures in this manual use terminology for touchscreens. You can, however,
use a computer mouse and keyboard if you prefer, in which case, you will
need to interpret the terminology for mouse and keyboard use.
If you are using a touchscreen, you can use the on-screen keyboard (an on-
screen representation of the computer keyboard that the user touches) to
input characters. The following touchscreen terminology is used in this manual
(the equivalent mouse terminology is provided in parentheses):
• Tap means to touch the control on the screen with your finger and then
lift your finger off (mouse click).
• Double-Tap means to tap twice in quick succession (mouse double-click).
• Drag means to touch the control on the screen with your finger, move
your finger on the screen, and then lift your finger off (mouse drag).
• Touch-n-Hold means to touch the control on the screen with your finger
for about half-a-second (until the popup window appears) and then lift
your finger off (mouse click-and-hold).
How this Manual is Structured

This user manual will help you install, configure, and use the Alto™ Dispatch
Console software. To assist you in locating information quickly and efficiently,
this manual is structured into several chapters:
• Chapter 1, Introducing Alto introduces Alto and provides a list of

features plus a list of network requirements and console computer
requirements.
• Chapter 2, Getting Started with Alto describes how to install and run
the Alto software and how to calibrate a touchscreen display.
• Chapter 3, Basic Operation describes the Alto main window layout and
navigation and how to use the basic functionality provided by Alto.
• Chapter 4, Rapid Recall and Recordings discusses the layout of the
Rapid Recall window and the Recordings window, and how to use these
to playback and manage recordings.
• Chapter 5, Call History discusses the operation of the Call History
window with a description of its layout, and how to use it to view call
history (both inbound and outbound), playback the audio recording of
select calls, and to initiate calls directly from the call history log.
Alto User Manual xvii

• Chapter 6, Controlling Digital Radios describes how to use Alto to
control digital radios, such as making individual and group calls, querying
and changing the radio’s channel, and setting the power level.
• Chapter 7, Contacts discusses the layout of the Contacts window and
how to manage the contacts list for contact lookup, sorting and filtering
the contacts, and how to import and export the contacts.
• Chapter 8, Messages discusses the layout of the Messages window and
how to manage messages, display details of messages, acknowledge
messages, filter messages, and send/receive messages.
• Chapter 9, Phone Channels discusses how to use phone channels to
control phone calls, such as originate and answer phone calls, place a
call on hold, or park a phone call.
• Chapter 10, Paging Remote Devices discusses how to use the Page
dialog to page a remote pager device using the TAP-paging capability.
• Chapter 11, GPS Essentials discusses the built-in GPS mapping
functionality and how to monitor GPS-equipped portable devices and
view device location data on a map.
• Chapter 12, Advanced Location Services (ALS) discusses Advanced
Location Services (ALS) built-in client-side functionality designed to log
and visualise geofence transgressions as reported by Omnitronics
Advanced GPS Service (AGS).
• Chapter 13, Managing and Customizing the Software discusses the
available system options and how to configure the Alto software to suit
your preferences.
• Index helps you to locate information in the manual quickly.
xviii About this Manual

Introducing Alto
This chapter includes the following sections:
• “What is Alto?”
• “Features” on page 2
• “Network Requirements” on page 4
• “Console Computer Requirements” on page 5
What is Alto?
Omnitronics Alto™ Dispatch Console, “the face of DX-Altus”, is a sophisticated
and easy-to-use dispatch solution that gives you the power and flexibility to:
• Communicate in radio-dispatch environments—Control up to 56

channels (single system) or 168 channels (multi-system) comprising any
combination of digital radio, analog radio, phone, and entertainment
audio channels.
• Use multiple workgroups simultaneously—Organize your workspace
by grouping similar channels together into workgroups.
• Customize and configure the layout—Easily change the appearance
and layout of the user interface with support for docked or floating
windows.
• Record and playback audio—Use the Rapid Recall audio logging to
record, playback, and save audio of conversations.
• Control advanced digital radio functionality—Initiate individual calls,
group calls, text messaging, and more.
The Alto user interface (UI) can be used with a touchscreen display or a
computer keyboard and mouse.
Alto User Manual 1

Chapter 1
Features
Alto is completely configurable depending on the options made available by
your system administrator and provides the following features:
• Customizable user interface—change the appearance and layout of

windows or create new colour schemes.
• Secure logins—use passwords for user accounts with secure logins to
protect against unauthorised access to your DX-Altus systems.
• User groups and permissions—easily set up and manage user groups
(roles) and permissions (privileges) for users (operators).
• Workgroups and linkgroups—allocate up to 10 workgroups and link-
groups comprising any combination of analog- and digital-radio channels
(including trunked) plus phone channels.
• Remote channel change—remotely change channels on compatible
radios.
• Special functions—use special functions such as Text Messaging,
Individual and Emergency calls, Emergency/Blast tones, PA, and Busy
Override.
• Audio priorities—set the audio priority of the local PABX extension
relative to the radio.
• Audio modes—independently set the audio mode of radio channels to
Foreground (louder), Background (softer), or Off (muted).
• Adjustable volume levels—adjust audio volume (Master, Foreground,
Background, and Auxiliary) to suit an operator’s preference.
• Adjustable audio for radios—adjust the audio level (gain or attenuation)
of radios on an individual channel basis.
• Telephone calls and phone patching—initiate, disconnect, place calls
on-hold or park, and patch calls to radios. Phone channels include both
PLI (PABX) and SIP technologies.
• Analog radio channel capabilities—use the capabilities of analog-radio
channels such as channel change and sending/receiving selcalls.
• Digital radio channel capabilities—use the capabilities of digital-radio
channels such as Individual Call, Group Call, No Call, Default Call,
Individual Text Message, Group Text Message, and Radio Alert.
• Trunked radio channels—use the capabilities of trunked-radio channels
(in addition to the capabilities of digital-radio channels) such as changing
the trunk talk-group.
2 Introducing Alto
• Rapid Recall audio—record and play back the audio of radio and phone
channel conversations.
• Canned voice recordings—record operator voice announcements for
specific types of events for later transmission over radio channels.
• Contact lookup with the Contacts List—create and edit contact
information in the Contacts List to make it easy to initiate calls.
• Portable device tracking with GPS Mapping—accurately keep track of
portable or mobile digital radios with positional information on a map.
• Message logging with Message History—maintain a log of messages
such as selcalls, text messaging, and radio status messages so you can
look back through the message history.
• Night Mode operation—switch to a darker, low-contrast colour scheme
especially designed for night-time operation in low-light environments.
Alto also provides specialised features that can be tailored to a client’s specific
requirements including:
• RSSI Voting—acquires the strongest channel when multiple channels

become busy at the same time on the same frequency.
• Paging—allows for the transmission of paging tones over a channel
designated for paging.
• Emergency 10-33—supports the transmission of emergency 10-33 tones
over channels.
• Emergency tone—supports the transmission of emergency tone over
several participating channels.
• Blast tone—supports the transmission of blast tone over several
participating channels.
• Channel Pairing—supports the dynamic pairing of a transmitter-only
channel with one of several receiver-only channels.
Alto also supports several different types of logins depending on the config-
uration of available DX-Altus system(s):
• Single Login allows users to login to a single DX-Altus system (supports

a maximum of 56 channels).
• Multi Login allows users to login to up to three DX-Altus systems
(supports a maximum of 168 channels).
• Redundant Login allows users to login to a pair of DX-Altus systems:
one serves as the primary system and the other as a secondary
system—Alto decides when to fail over to the standby system.
Alto User Manual 3

Chapter 1
Network Requirements
The information in this section discusses the minimum Ethernet network
requirements for a DX-Altus system. The system is not concerned with the
specific implementation of the network (i.e. wireless, microwave, or internet
etc.) as long as the requirements stated below are satisfied. Further fine-
tuning of the requirements may be required due to specific implementation
considerations.
VoIP devices use the Real Time Protocol (RTP) for transferring audio across a
network. Each VoIP audio channel requires a certain amount of bandwidth.
This bandwidth depends on the compression used to encode the audio, which
is determined by the codec used.
Omnitronics VoIP devices support several standardised codecs with each one
providing different levels of compression and audio quality. For a list of codecs
supported by the DX-Altus and IPR devices, refer to the appropriate product
manual.
You can use the following information to calculate the minimum Ethernet
throughput requirements in kilobits per second (kbps) for a network between a
single console (desktop/laptop computer and AFI-IP) and a DX-Altus Server
sub-rack.
Upstream (from Console to DX-Altus Server sub-rack)

G.711 80kbps per operator when transmitting to any number of radio channels
GSM 45kbps per operator when transmitting to any number of radio channels
Downstream (from DX-Altus Server sub-rack to Console)

G.711 170kbps per operator when receiving any number of foreground and
background channels simultaneously
GSM 60kbps per operator when receiving any number of foreground and
background channels simultaneously
You can use the following information to calculate the minimum Ethernet
throughput requirements in kilobits per second (kbps) for a network between
the DX-Altus Server sub-rack and IPR100, IPR110+, and IPR400 devices.
Upstream/Downstream (to/from DX-Altus Server sub-rack)

G.711 80kbps per radio channel (TX or RX)
GSM 45kbps per radio channel (TX or RX)
4 Introducing Alto
Other requirements for network connection between DX-Altus components:
• Dead time (periods of no network connection) must be less than 3

seconds
• Jitter must be less than 2 seconds as a worst-case scenario
• Service Availability is an operational requirement to be specified by the
client
• Support is an operational requirement to be specified by the client
Console Computer Requirements

Alto is designed to run under Microsoft Windows 7/8.1/10 operating systems
with the latest updates installed as a minimum requirement. Table 2 lists the
minimum requirements for a desktop or laptop computer running Alto.
Table 2. Console computer minimum requirements

Operating Minimum Minimum
System Requirements Processor
Windows 7, • 4GB RAM Intel i5
8.1, 10 • 320GB hard disk (150MB required for Alto installation 2.5GHz
Professional plus about 40MB for Microsoft C++ Redistributable
(32- or 64-bit) package and about 100MB for the Microsoft .NET
Framework 4.0. Additional space required for cached
GPS maps. Rapid Recall recordings require an
additional 1MB per minute approximately.)
• Ethernet port (10/100 Mbps)
• Video card (GeForce 8800GS 512MB or Intel HD4000
onboard video or equivalent) with Microsoft DirectX 11
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports (for connection to AFI-IP or AFI-IP+
and to touchscreen, computer keyboard and mouse
as required)
• Standard keyboard and mouse
• LCD Touhscreen 15-inch (1024x768);
(17-inch 1920x1080 with configurable “touch and
hold” functionality recommended)
• Stereo desktop speakers (or built-in touchscreen
speakers)
• DVD-ROM drive (USB drive can also be used to
install software)
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In addition to the system requirements listed above, you will also require one
or more remote radios (please contact Omnitronics for a list of supported
radios).
Alto requires the Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.0 in addition to the
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package to be installed on the
console computer for it to function correctly. If you are installing Alto from the
product DVD, the installation utility will automatically run the required .NET
framework and redistributable installer(s) for you. Alto does not support the
Windows 7 Classic Theme.
It is recommended that the computer is kept up to date with the latest updates
to Windows and .NET Framework available through Windows Update.
6 Introducing Alto
Getting Started with Alto
This chapter describes the system requirements and the installation of Alto.
This chapter includes:
• “Installing the Alto Software”

• “Alto and Firewall Software” on page 12
• “Product Licensing and Activation” on page 13
• “Running Alto” on page 35
• “Uninstalling Alto” on page 40
• “Upgrading Alto” on page 42
• “Calibrating the Touchscreen Display” on page 42
Installing the Alto Software

If you want to perform a standard install on a single console computer, you
can use the following procedure. This provides step-by-step instructions to
help you install Alto on a single computer only.
Note You must have administrative permissions to install Alto on Windows and it
must be installed on a local drive and not a network drive.
During the installation process, you may be prompted to install the Microsoft
Visual C++ Redistributable Package. This needs to be downloaded and in-
stalled first. The Alto Setup Wizard will do this for you. However, you can also
download it from the following site if you wish:
32-bit Windows: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

64-bit Windows: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632
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Alto requires the Sentinel® runtime—this is provided on the Alto product DVD.
The Alto installer will warn you if the Sentinel runtime cannot be installed. If
the Sentinel runtime is running on the console computer, but the Alto trial
license has expired, you will only be able to use Alto for the purpose of
activating it once you have purchased a license.
To install Alto on a single console computer

1. Insert the Alto DVD into your DVD drive.
The installation Alto Setup Wizard should start automatically and show
the Welcome to the Alto Setup Wizard screen.
If the Setup Wizard does not automatically start, run drive:\AUTORUN,

where drive is the drive letter of your DVD drive.
2. Tap Next to display the License Agreement screen.
3. Read the license agreement, select I accept the agreement, and then
tap Next to display Select Destination Location screen.
8 Getting Started with Alto
4. (Optional) At the Select Destination Location screen, tap Browse if you
want to change the default location for the Alto program files, and then
select the folder from the Browse For Folder window.
The wizard will install the Alto software into the C:\Program Files
(x86)\Omnitronics\Alto folder by default. It requires at least 50MB of
available disk space (150MB recommended).
5. Tap Next to display the Select Start Menu Folder screen.
6. (Optional) At the Select Start Menu Folder screen, tap Browse if you
want to change the default location for the Start Menu folder, and then
select the folder from the Browse For Folder window.
The wizard will create program shortcuts in the Omnitronics\Alto Start
Menu folder by default.
7. Tap Next to display the Select Additional Tasks screen.
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8. At the Select Additional Tasks screen, select Create a desktop icon to

create a program icon.
9. Do one of the following:
• Select For all users to share the application settings with all users; or
• Select For the current user only to make the application settings
specific to each user.
10. Tap Next to display the Ready to Install screen.
11. At the Ready to Install screen, tap Install.

The wizard will display the progress of the installation as it installs Alto.

12. (Optional) At the Completing the Alto Setup Wizard screen, select
Launch Alto if you want to automatically run Alto after the installation is
complete.
13. Tap Finish.
You can also install Alto in “silent” mode across multiple console computers.
To perform an unassisted (or silent) install, you can invoke the installation with
the /SILENT command-line option. This option can be used by network ad-
ministrators to deploy Alto across multiple workstations using a centralized
server. The options available for silent installation are listed below:
/SILENT Runs the installer in silent mode (progress window is

displayed)
/VERYSILENT Very silent mode (no windows are displayed)
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/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES Suppress message boxes (only has an effect when

combined with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT)
/NOCANCEL Prevents installers cancelling the installation process
/DIR="x:\dirname" Overrides the default install directory
For example, to perform a silent install (without displaying any windows or

message boxes), use the following command line:
Alto_Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Alto and Firewall Software

Microsoft Windows features the built-in Windows Firewall service to protect
your computer against unauthorized or malicious intrusion by third parties via
a network connection. It can be optionally enabled or disabled; however,
Microsoft recommends that you always enable this service when connected to
a network.
You should ensure that the operating system on your computer is configured
to use Windows Firewall or a third-party firewall—if you do not enable a
firewall, you could potentially expose your computer system to hackers and
third parties.
However, enabling a firewall may initially cause a problem for Alto because
the firewall may block Alto from accessing the network. In this case, when you
run Alto for the first time, you will see an alert from Windows Firewall similar to
that shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Windows Firewall security alert

To resolve this problem, you will need to add Alto to the list of programs and
services that Windows Firewall (or third-party firewall software) will allow. This
needs to be done on all computers that will run Alto. Additionally, a TCP host
port must be added, which will allow Alto to send and receive TCP packets.
Windows Firewall will do this for you—simply select the appropriate option for
your network and tap Allow Access. If you are using third-party firewall
software, refer to the vendor’s documentation.
Product Licensing and Activation

Alto requires a product license in order to run. Once you purchase a license,
and Omnitronics processes your order, a product activation key will be gen-
erated and sent in an email to the address you provided when you purchased
the product. You can then use this key to activate your product as described in
the following sections.
If you do not have a product license, you can continue to run the product in
trial mode for a period of thirty days from the date of installation. After this
period, you will no longer be able to run the product unless you purchase a
license from Omnitronics.
If after 90 days from the date of installation you still have not activated the
product, you will no longer be able to run Alto (even for the purpose of activat-
ing the product) and you will need to contact Omnitronics support for
assistance.
Activating the Product Online

To use this method of activation, the computer on which you want to activate
Alto must be online (access to the Internet). If the computer is not online, you
can use the method described in the section (see “Activating the Product
Offline” on page 16).
You can continue to run the product in trial mode for a period of thirty days
from the date of installation. During this trial period, you can activate the
product at any time once you receive your product activation key.
If you have already received your product activation key from Omnitronics,
you can activate your product online during the trial period either from the
startup screen (see “Activating the Product at Startup” on page 14) or from the
Help menu (see “Activating the Product from the Help Window” on page 15).
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Activating the Product at Startup

The easiest way to activate Alto is from the startup screen, as described in the
steps below. If you are already running Alto in trial mode, you can activate it
from the Help menu as described on the following page.
To activate the Alto product at startup

1. On the computer you want to activate the product, run Alto.
The following License Check screen appears.
2. Tap Activate.
The Activation screen appears.
3. Select the Install to new Key option.

4. Copy and paste the product activation key into the text box.

5. Tap Activate.
Your Alto product should now be activated.
Activating the Product from the Help Window

Once you have received your product activation key, you can activate the pro-
duct during the trial period from the Help menu as described in the following
steps.
To activate Alto from the Help Window

1. On the Control Panel, tap Options, and then tap About.
The About dialog is displayed.
2. On the Activation License menu, tap Automatic, and then tap Install
License.
The Activation screen appears.
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3. Follow steps (3) to (5) in “To activate the product at startup” (see pages
11 and 12) to complete the process.
Activating the Product Offline

If the computer on which you want to activate Alto is not connected to the
Internet, but you have access to another computer with Internet access, you
can still activate the product by connecting with the Omnitronics Product
Activation Server using the offline-activation method described below.
If your thirty-day trial period has already expired, you cannot use this pro-
cedure to activate Alto. You can, however, still activate Alto by using one of
the procedures described later in this chapter (see “Activation after Expiry of
Trial Period” on page 24).
To activate the Alto product offline

1. On the computer you want to activate the product, run Alto.
The following License Check screen appears.
2. Tap Continue Trial.

The DX-Altus Systems dialog appears.

3. Tap the “add” button.
The DX-Altus Connection Setup Settings dialog appears. This dialog
shows the default connection settings. You can override these settings
and specify the settings for the DX-Altus system you want to use.
4. In the System Name text box, type the name you want to use for the DX-
Altus system.
Alto uses the system name to identify this DX-Altus system from other
systems. In this example, we have specified the “Omnitronics Server” as
the system name.
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5. In the IP Address text box and the TCP Host Port text box for the Main
SCU, type the IP address and port for the main SCU device respectively.
6. In the IP Address text box and the TCP Host Port text box for the
Standby SCU, type the IP address and the port number for the standby
SCU device respectively.
7. Tap OK.
The DX-Altus system appears in the DX-Altus Systems dialog.
8. Click Apply and Close to save your settings.

The Login window appears on the screen.

9. Log in to your user account.
For further information about logging into DX-Altus Server, refer to
“Accessing DX-Altus Systems” on page 44.
11. On the Activation License menu, tap Manual, and then tap Create Host
Fingerprint.
This generates a host-fingerprint file required for later steps.
12. Tap Save to save the host-fingerprint file to a portable storage device
such as a USB drive (you will need this file in a later step).
13. On a computer with Internet access, run your browser and navigate to the
Omnitronics Customer Portal Login site located at the following address:
http://mail.omnitronics.com.au:8180/ems/customerLogin.html
This displays the Product Key Login page.
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14. In the Product Key text box, copy and paste the product key as pur-
chased from Omnitronics.
15. Tap Login.

Once you have successfully logged in, the following page appears.
16. Tap Offline Activation.

This displays the Generate License form shown below.

17. Tap Upload C2V button .
18. In the Upload dialog, select the host-fingerprint file from step (12).
19. Tap Generate to generate a V2C license file.
Note The V2C license file is also attached to an email that will be
automatically sent to the email address specified in the customer
details shown on the form.
Once the V2C file is generated, the following screen is displayed.
20. Tap the Download V2C File link to save the license file to a portable
storage device such as a USB drive.
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This license file will be required on the original offline computer.
Note This file is the same as that attached in the auto-generated

email in step (19).
21. On the Control Panel of the original offline computer, tap Options, and
then tap About to display the About dialog.
22. On the Activation License menu, tap Manual, and then tap Install
License.
23. Locate and select the V2C license file on the portable storage device, and
then tap Open.
A message appears informing you the license installed successfully.
24. Tap Exit to close Alto.
25. Run Alto.
Your Alto product should now be activated on the offline computer.
Offline Activation by Omnitronics Support

Internet, and you don’t have access to another computer with Internet access,
Omnitronics can remotely activate the product using the following method.
If your thirty-day trial period has already expired, you cannot use this pro-
cedure to activate Alto. You can use one of procedures described later in this
chapter (see “Activation after Expiry of Trial Period” on page 24).
To activate the Alto product remotely by Omnitronics

1. Run Alto.

3. On the Activation License menu, tap Manual, and then tap Create Host
Fingerprint.
This generates a host-fingerprint file required for later steps.
4. Tap Save to save the host-fingerprint file to a portable storage device
(such as a USB drive).
You will need to email this file to Omnitronics later when you have access
to the Internet.
5. On a computer with Internet access, email the host-fingerprint file to
Omnitronics Technical Support (see contact details on inside front cover).
Omnitronics Technical Support will generate a license key and a V2C
license certificate in a “V2C license” file for you. This file will then be
emailed to you.
6. When you receive the license file, copy this to the original offline
computer using your portable storage device.
7. On the Control Panel of the original offline computer, tap Options, and
then About to open the About dialog.
8. On the Activation License menu, tap Manual, and then tap Install
License.
9. Locate and select the V2C license file on the portable storage device, and
then tap Open.
A message should appear informing you that the license has installed
successfully.
10. Tap Exit to close Alto.
11. Run Alto.
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Chapter 2
Activation after Expiry of Trial Period

Once the thirty-day trial period has expired, you cannot use any of the pro-
cedures above to activate your Alto installation. In this case, you will need to
connect with the Omnitronics Product Activation Server over the Internet using
one of the methods described below.
Alto Other
computer computer
online online What to do
 Use the procedure for Online Activation below.
  Use the procedure for Offline Activation.
(see “Offline Activation” on page 25)
  Follow steps (7) to (11) in the procedure for Offline Activation
(see “Offline Activation” on page 25) to create the “C2V host-
fingerprint” file (Note: You can use the RUS tool located in the
Alto installation folder). You will then need to send the finger-
print file to Omnitronics Support using a USB Flash drive (or
similar). Omnitronics will then generate an activation file and
send it to you.
Online Activation
If the computer on which you want to activate Alto is connected to the Internet,
you can use the following procedure to activate Alto online.
To activate Alto online after expiry of trial period

1. On the actual computer on which activation is required, run your browser
and navigate to the Omnitronics Customer Portal Login site located at the
following address:

3. Tap Login.
4. Tap Online Activation.

Your Alto installation should now be activated.
Offline Activation
Internet, but you have another computer with Internet access, you can use the
following procedure to activate Alto offline.
To activate Alto offline after expiry of trial period

1. On a computer with Internet access, run your browser and navigate to the
Omnitronics Customer Portal Login site located at the following address:
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Chapter 2
3. Tap Login.
4. Tap Offline Activation.

This displays the Generate License form shown below.
5. Tap Download RUS to download the RUS tool.

6. Tap Save to save the RUS tool to a portable storage device (USB drive).

7. On the offline computer (on which activation is required), run the RUS
tool you downloaded and saved in steps (5) and (6).
The RUS main screen will be displayed with the Collect Status Infor-
mation tab shown.
8. On the Collect Status Information tab, select the Installation of new

protection key option.
9. Tap Collect Information to generate a C2V host-fingerprint file.
The Save Key Status As file dialog is displayed.
10. In the File Name text box, type the name of the file you want to save
(e.g., JOEC-PC.C2V).
11. Tap Save to save the C2V file to a portable storage device (USB drive).
This C2V host-fingerprint file will be required on the online computer.
12. Tap Upload C2V button .
13. In the Upload dialog, select the host-fingerprint file on the portable
storage device from step (11).
14. Tap Generate to generate a vendor-to-customer (V2C) file.
Once the V2C file is generated, the following screen is displayed.
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Chapter 2
15. Tap the Download V2C File link to save the file to a portable storage
device (USB drive).
This vendor-to-customer (V2C) file will be required on the offline
computer.
16. On the offline computer (on which activation is required), run the RUS
tool you downloaded and saved in steps (5) and (6).
17. Tap the Apply License File tab.
18. Tap Update File button .
19. In the Update dialog, select the V2C file on the portable storage device
from step (15).
20. Tap Apply Update to conclude the activation.
Transferring the License

You can transfer your Alto product license from one installation (the “source”
computer) to another (the “recipient” computer) without incurring an additional
activation fee. Once you do this, the license on the source computer is
deactivated and you will no longer be able to use Alto on that computer.
In Alto version 1.1.20 and later (January 2015 onwards), the built-in function-
ality to transfer the license is no longer available. Instead, you must now use
RUS, the Remote Update System tool in the installation folder, to transfer the
product license. This involves several steps as described below.

Important If the computer on which Alto is installed is no longer operational
(e.g., hard disk failure), you will first need to reinstall and activate Windows and
then Alto on a replacement hard drive (see “Reinstalling Software Licenses” on
page 33), and then use the RUS tool to transfer the product license(s) as
described here. However, if you are replacing the computer motherboard or
CPU, you will need to contact Omnitronics Technical Support to purchase a new
license.
To transfer the license to another installation

1. On the computer to which you want to transfer the license (the “recipient”
computer), install Alto (see “Installing the Alto Software” on page 7.)
2. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, Omnitronics, Alto, and then
tap License Remote Update Tool (RUS).
3. Select the Transfer License tab.
4. Next to Save recipient information to, tap the button.

5. From the Save recipient information as window, select a folder on a
network share or a portable storage device (such as a USB drive), and
then type the name for the file (e.g., “Alto-License”).
6. Tap Save to close the window.
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Chapter 2
7. Tap Collect and Save Information.

This generates a recipient information (.id) file for the recipient computer.
It is saved to the file you specified in step 5. Ensure that this file or a copy
of this file is accessible on the computer that currently contains the
license (you will need this file in a later step).
8. On the Start menu of the computer from which you want to transfer the
license (the “source computer”), point to All Programs, Omnitronics,
Alto, Licensing and then tap License Remote Update Tool (RUS).
9. Select the Transfer License tab.
10. Next to Read the recipient information file from, tap the button.
11. From the Select the recipient information file window, select the file
you saved in step 7 (e.g., “Alto-License”), and then tap Open.
12. Next to Generate the license transfer file to, tap the button.
13. From the Save the transfer license file as window, select a folder on a
network share or a portable storage device (such as a USB drive), and
then type the name for the file (e.g., “Alto-License”).
14. Tap Save to close the window.
15. Tap Generate License Transfer File.

This deactivates the license from the source computer and generates a
license transfer (.h2h) file. The information is saved to the file you
specified in step 13. Ensure that this file or a copy of this file is accessible
on the computer to which you want to transfer the license (you will need
this file in a later step.
16. On the source computer, close the RUS tool.
Alto User Manual 31
Chapter 2
17. On the recipient computer, select the Apply License File tab.
18. Next to Update File, tap the button.

19. From the Select the file to apply window, select the file you saved in
step 15, and then tap Open.
The path and filename of the file appears in the Update File text box.
20. Tap Apply Update.
This transfers the license from the source computer to the recipient
computer.
21. On the recipient computer, close the RUS tool.
The Alto license should now be transferred to the recipient computer and
you should now be able to run Alto on that computer.

Purchasing Additional Licenses
Alto includes a multitude of features as standard out of the box! You can also
add more functionality and enhance the user experience with optional feature
packs available separately.
Feature packs are designed to provide additional features not available in the
standard Alto product. These are available as separate licensed add-ons,
which you can purchase from your local Omnitronics sales office.
Reinstalling Software Licenses

If you replace your hard drive or reinstall Windows on the computer that runs
Alto, you must also reinstall your software and activate it again using the
license key originally emailed to you when you purchased the product.
If you purchased any optional feature packs, you will also need to apply the
license updates for these feature packs in chronological order using the
license keys emailed to you. So you should not delete any emails you receive
from the Omnitronics Licensing EMS Server—they are all needed!
For example, if you purchased the digital-radio feature pack, the Omnitronics
Licensing EMS Server would have issued an additional new license with a
license key to enable the additional features provided with this feature pack.
After reinstalling and activating Alto, you would then need to apply the license
for the digital-radio features followed by the licenses for any optional feature
packs you may have purchased.
You should follow the steps below to ensure the licenses are applied correctly:
To reinstall the licenses

1. Reinstall Alto, and then activate the product using the Alto license key
(see “Activating the Product at Startup” on page 14).
2. Once Alto is activated, enter the license key for the digital features (see
“Activating the Product from the Help Window” on page 15).
3. (Optional) For any additional feature packs you may have purchased,
repeat step 2 to activate these.
Alto and any additional feature packs will now be licensed and ready for
you to use.
Should you have any further issues or queries about reinstalling the licenses,
please contact Omnitronics Technical Support for further assistance.
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Chapter 2
Replacement for Software License due to

Hardware Failure
Loss of software product license may occur as a result of computer hardware
failure. This is not covered under warranty and requires Omnitronics to issue a
new license.
To request a replacement license, contact Omnitronics support. You must be

in possession of the product (if it is damaged or defective) and be able to
provide proof of purchase. The customer service representative will advise
you of any replacement costs that may be charged. If a product is no longer
under warranty, the replacement item may no longer be available.
Licensing Problems
When you try to use Alto, you may see one of the following error messages
stating that the required license could not be found or has expired.
These messages indicate that the “Sentinel LDK License Manager” service is
not running on your computer. This occurs when the service is stopped or is
removed from the list of start-up services. To check whether this is the
problem, and to resolve it, please perform the following procedure.
To start the Sentinel service

1. On the computer on which you installed Alto, go to the Start menu and
type services.msc in the Search programs and files text box.
The services.msc program should appear as the only item in the results.
2. Click on the services.msc item.

You should now see the list of services. It may be helpful to sort the list in
ascending alphabetical order.
3. Scroll down the list to find Sentinel LDK License Manager.
You should see the Sentinel service in the list. If you do not see the
Sentinel service, either it was not installed with Alto or it was removed.
• If Sentinel is not in the list, reinstall Alto: it will automatically install the
Sentinel LDK Run-time Environment if not yet installed.
• If Sentinel is in the list, but its status shows that it is not Running, right-
click the service, and then select Start.
Sentinel LDK License Manager should now be installed and running and
you should see it in the list of services with a status of Running.
5. Run Alto.
The license issue should now be resolved and you should now be able to
use Alto.
Running Alto
Before running Alto for the first time, ensure the DX-Altus Server is correctly
configured and connected to your Ethernet network and that a headset (or
microphone and speakers) are connected to the AFI-IP and operational.
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Additionally, ensure that the AFI-IP device is powered up, correctly configured,
and connected to the network using an Ethernet network cable.
If you see a message saying that the Alto license could not be found or has
expired when you try to run Alto, refer to “Licensing Problems” on page 34.
Alto uses configuration information stored in a configuration file on the

computer on which it is installed (i.e. the console computer). The configuration
file contains all the settings that are applicable to the Alto installation such as
the connection settings to the DX-Altus Server, the layout and style of the user
interface, and the position and size of the login window.
You have two methods for running Alto: you can run it either by overriding the
default connection settings (for administrators only) or by using the existing
connection settings (for console operators) as explained below:
• Specifying the Connection Settings uses either the factory-default

settings for the connection settings (IP address and host port) that was
supplied with the system if Alto was pre-installed by Omnitronics, or for a
computer where Alto has been installed for the first time, will have no
connection settings at all and therefore will need setting.
When you run Alto by selecting “Alto (Show Configured DX-Altus
Systems)” or “Alto (Default Settings)” from the Start menu, the “DX-Altus
Settings (connection setup)” window is displayed: it will show either no
configured systems (if you selected the Default Settings option) or your
existing systems (if you selected the Show Configured DX-Altus Systems
option) and provides you with a way to add new, or edit existing, systems.
You can add new DX-Altus system settings as required by selecting the
“+” icon and entering IP addresses and TCP Host port numbers for both
the Main and Standby SCU—Alto will remember these settings by saving
them in the configuration file on the console computer.
• Using the Existing Connection Settings uses the existing connection
settings configured when the administrator installed and configured the
Alto software. When you run Alto by selecting Alto from the Start menu,
the login window will appear instead of the DX-Altus Connection Setup
window and the connection settings from the configuration file will be
used. This method will be used by console operators.
Both of these methods will be discussed in the following sections.
Specifying the Connection Settings

The following procedure provides step-by-step instructions for running Alto
either for the first time or after Alto has been reset to default settings—note
that administrators would usually only perform this procedure if there is a
problem with Alto and resetting it to default settings was the only way to
resolve this problem.
To run Alto with new connection settings
tap Alto (Default Settings).
The DX-Altus Systems dialog appears.
2. Tap the “add” button.

The DX-Altus Connection Setup Settings dialog appears. This dialog
shows the default connection settings. You can override these settings
and specify the settings for the DX-Altus system you want to use.
3. In the System Name text box, type the name you want to use for the DX-
Altus system.
Alto uses the system name to identify this DX-Altus system from other
systems. In this example, we have specified the “Omnitronics Server” as
the system name.
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4. In the IP Address text box and the TCP Host Port text box for the Main
SCU, type the IP address and port for the main SCU device respectively.
5. In the IP Address text box and the TCP Host Port text box for the
Standby SCU, type the IP address and the port number for the standby
SCU device respectively.
6. Tap OK.
The DX-Altus system appears in the DX-Altus Systems dialog.

7. (Optional) If you made a mistake, you can edit the settings: tap the
padlock button, and then tap the server button for the server you
want to edit, and then repeat steps (3) to (6) above.
8. (Optional) To add another DX-Altus server, repeat steps (2) to (6) above.
Note The settings for an optional Standby System may also be specified if you
are configuring your DX-Altus system for automatic fail-over. This requires at
least two DX-Altus systems to be listed in the DX-Altus Systems window for this
option to become available.
9. Click Apply and Close to save your settings.

The Login window appears on the screen.

For further information about logging in to DX-Altus Server, refer to
“Accessing DX-Altus Systems” on page 44.
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Chapter 2
Using the Existing Connection Settings

The following procedure is intended for console operators who want to run
Alto with the existing connection settings set up by the administrator—note
that administrators usually configure the connection settings for you so all you
need to do is select the server and type your login credentials.
To run Alto with existing connection settings

tap Alto (or on the Windows desktop, double-tap the Alto program icon).
The Login window appears on screen.
Note The Login window will appear only if the automatic-login option is
disabled. If the automatic-login option is enabled, the system will automatically
log you in to the DX-Altus system using the login credentials configured for the
automatic-login option.

For further information about logging in to DX-Altus Server, refer to
“Logging in to DX-Altus” on page 44.
Uninstalling Alto
If you need to uninstall the Alto software, you can do so from the Windows
Control Panel as outlined in the following procedure. If you intend to reinstall
Alto on another computer, it is recommended that you first deactivate any Alto
license prior to proceeding with the uninstallation. You can then transfer the
license to the other computer (see “Transferring the License” on page 28).

To uninstall Alto
1. On the Start menu, tap Control Panel, then tap Programs and
Features.
The Programs and Features dialog appears.
2. In the program list, locate Alto, and then tap Uninstall.

The Uninstall confirmation message appears.
3. Tap Yes to uninstall Alto.

Windows commences uninstalling Alto and displays a progress dialog.
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Chapter 2
When Alto is completely uninstalled, the following message is displayed.
4. Tap OK, and then close the Programs and Features dialog.
Upgrading Alto
Omnitronics may from time to time release updates to the Alto Dispatch Con-
sole application. No special instructions are required for upgrading Alto. When
installing an update, you can simply install it over the current version installed
on your hard disk: you do not need to uninstall it first.
Simply follow the on-screen instructions to install the update. The update will
automatically check your existing installation and update it accordingly.
Calibrating the Touchscreen Display

For an optimal Alto experience using a touchscreen, Omnitronics recom-
mends that you calibrate the touchscreen display using the software supplied
by the manufacturer. If an installation CD is not available, software for your
touchscreen (as well as calibration instructions) may be available from the
manufacturer’s website.

Basic Operation
The chapter discusses the basic operation of Alto, the front-end console soft-
ware designed for console operators that provides access to a DX-Altus
system. This chapter includes the following sections:
• “Accessing DX-Altus Systems” on page 44

• “Main Window Layout and Navigation” on page 57
• “Layout of Channel Buttons” on page 63
• “Using the On-Screen Keyboard” on page 66
• “Workgroups and Working with Channels” on page 68
• “Sending Selective Call” on page 92
• “Link-Groups and Linking Channels” on page 97
• “Adjusting the Audio Levels” on page 109
• “Channel Volume Change Control” on page 111
• “VoIP and Radio Status” on page 114
• “Viewing Events with the Status Panel” on page 115
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Chapter 3
Accessing DX-Altus Systems

Alto Dispatch Console software allows you to control and monitor one or more
a DX-Altus systems depending on your installation. Only authorised users can
access a DX-Altus system so you must first login to use the system as
discussed in the section below.
Alto should already be installed and running at your workstation and ready for
you to use, however, if this is not the case, you should contact your system
administrator for assistance.
Logging into DX-Altus

In order to use Alto, you must first login to a DX-Altus system by entering your
user name and password for your user account at the login window.
Note If Alto Dispatch Console is configured for automatic login, it will bypass
the Login window at startup and automatically log you into the system using
the automatic-login credentials (refer to the section “Automatic Login to DX-
Altus” on page 21 for further information).
Figure 2 depicts the login window that appears when logging in to DX-Altus—it
will also appear when you log out of the system (see “Logging Out” on page
50). The login window requires you to type your user name and password to
login—the administrator should have provided you with this information when
your account was set up.
If you do not know your user name and password (login credentials), please
contact your system administrator for assistance.
System name
Selects the DX-Altus system
to use
User name
Identifies the user
Password
Authenticates the user
Login button
Logs user into DX-Altus server
Onscreen keyboard button

Shows or hides the onscreen
keyboard
Figure 2. Logging in to DX-Altus

44 Basic Operation
Table 3 provides information about the user name and password fields shown
in the login window.
Table 3. Description of fields in the Login window
Field Description
User name • Consists of any combination of alphanumeric characters and the
following characters:
~!@#$%^&*()_+-=[]\;’,./{}|:”<>?
• Must contain at least 2 characters and not exceed a maximum of
16 characters
• Case-insensitive
Password • Consists of any combination of four alphanumeric characters and
the following characters:
~!@#$%^&*()_+-=[]\;’,./{}|:”<>?
• Case-sensitive
If you want to use the on-screen keyboard to type information, tap On-Screen
Keyboard OFF as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Using the on-screen keyboard
With the on-screen keyboard enabled, it will automatically appear when you
tap in either the user name or the password text boxes as shown in Figure 4
or other text boxes from this point forward.
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Chapter 3
Figure 4. Using the on-screen keyboard to log in
To hide and disable the on-screen keyboard, tap On-Screen Keyboard ON.
For further information about using the on-screen keyboard, refer to “Using the
On-Screen Keyboard” on page 66.
When you log in, if the USB (audio) cable is not connected between the AFI-IP
and the console computer, you will see the message similar to the one shown
in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Warning message displayed when USB audio cable is disconnected
This warning message advises that you cannot use the rapid-recall feature to
record or play back audio as the USB (audio) cable is not connected. To solve
this problem, you need to connect the cable to use the rapid-recall audio.
If your login credentials are invalid or someone else has logged in under your
user account (i.e. using the same user name and password), you will not be
able to log in to the system and a log-in error will be displayed similar to the
one shown in Figure 6.
46 Basic Operation
Figure 6. Invalid login
If the automatic-login option is not in effect, you will need to log in to use the
DX-Altus system. The following procedure provides step-by-step instructions
for logging in to the DX-Altus system.
Tip If you are using a touchscreen, you can use the on-screen keyboard
(see “Using the On-Screen Keyboard” on page 66).
To log in to DX-Altus
1. Run Alto if not already running.
For further information, see “Running Alto” on page 24.
2. From the System Name dropdown list, select the DX-Altus server you
want to use.
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Chapter 3
3. In the User name and Password text boxes, type your user name and
your password respectively.
Note The password is case-sensitive so ensure the Caps Lock key

on your computer keyboard (or on-screen keyboard) is not active.
4. Tap Login.
DX-Altus Server will authenticate your login credentials—this might take
several seconds. If your credentials are valid, Alto will log you in to the
DX-Altus system and display the main window similar to the one shown
below (for further information about the Alto main window, refer to “Main
Window Layout and Navigation” on page 57.)
48 Basic Operation
Automatic Login to DX-Altus
Alto can be configured to automatically log in when it is started so that you
(and other operators) do not need to enter your login credentials each time
you want to start using Alto. This feature can be enabled by selecting the
Login Automatically (without specifying login credentials) option (refer to
“Login Options” on page 242).
When the automatic-login option is selected, the login credentials (i.e. user
name and password) of the operator currently logged in will be used as the
automatic login credentials for future logins. Each time Alto starts, these
credentials will be used to automatically log operators into the system.
Starting Alto with the automatic login feature will briefly display the System
Login window while the login credentials are authenticated by the DX-Altus
Server. Once the login credentials are authenticated, and you are logged in,
the main Alto screen will be displayed as normal.
When you configure Alto to use the automatic login feature, sometimes the
login may fail due to several reasons. The most common cause of this situ-
ation is due to the interruption of the communication to the DX-Altus Server.
Additionally, the user account used for the automatic login feature may not be
valid (e.g., the user account has since been deleted). For further information
about how to configure the automatic-login option, refer to “Login Options” on
page 242.
When the automatic login attempt fails, the login window will be displayed, and
Alto will attempt to login again.
If the login failed due to interruption of the communications and communic-

ations is then restored, the main Alto window will be displayed when the login
succeeds. However, if the login still does not succeed, the login window will
continue to be displayed as long as Alto is not able to log in to the DX-Altus
Server.
Note Selecting the Automatic login on startup option bypasses the login
window and allows any operator to automatically log in and use Alto.
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Chapter 3
Logging into Multiple DX-Altus Systems

Alto is capable of supporting multiple simultaneous logins to three different
DX-Altus systems. A single DX-Altus System is capable of supporting up to 56
channels and 32 operators. By allowing an operator to log in to multiple
systems, a single console operator can access up to 168 channels.
System name
Shows the names of the
systems available
Figure 7. Logging in to multiple systems
To log in to multiple DX-Altus systems, first select the systems by tapping the
corresponding system buttons. In the example shown in Figure 7, the operator
has selected System 1 and System 2.
As you select each system, its system button changes to green and the name
of the system is added to the text that appears on the dropdown. Once you
have selected the systems, type your User name and Password in the
appropriate text boxes, and then tap Log In.
Grouping Multiple DX-Altus Systems

Alto allows you group several DX-Altus Servers together in order to make it
easy to log in to those systems (with the touch of one button). This is useful
for multi-login systems.
When you run Alto using the “Alto (Show Configured DX-Altus Systems)”
option, it shows the list of systems similar to the dialog shown in Figure 8.
50 Basic Operation
Figure 8. Showing configured DX-Altus systems
When you select one of the configured systems by tapping on it, the DX-Altus
Settings dialog similar to the one shown in Figure 9 will appear.
Figure 9. Showing the settings for the selected DX-Altus system
The Group button will indicate whether the system is associated with a
particular group. In this case, the group is “(Unspecified)” as the system is not
associated with any group.
Tapping on the Group button, as shown in Figure 10, allows you to:
• Add (define) a new group

• Delete (remove) all empty groups (groups that have been defined but are
not yet associated with any system)
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• Associate the system with an existing group

• Dissociate (ungroup) the system from a group
Figure 10. Tapping on the Group button
To add (define) a new group called “Sarich Main” for example, tap the Add
‘Sarich Main’ button, as shown in Figure 11. The actual group displayed here
will be whatever you type.
Figure 11. Adding a new group
Associate the system with the new group by flicking the corresponding switch
to the ON position, as shown in Figure 12. Notice that the Standby System
option now becomes disabled as grouping and associating a system with a
standby system are mutually exclusive. Ungrouping would involve flicking the
switch to the OFF position.
Figure 12. Switching the group ON
Tapping OK will confirm the group association as shown in Figure 13.
52 Basic Operation
Figure 13. Showing the group association
Additional systems can be associated with the same group. Like in the
example shown in Figure 14, the system called “Hein’s” is assigned to the
same group. The number in parentheses shows the number of systems
associated with the group.
Figure 14. Associating another system with the same group
In a similar fashion, you can group other systems together by creating another
group and making the corresponding associations. Figure 15 shows an
example in which the system “Jaco’s” is associated with a newly created
group called “Sarich Backup”.
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Figure 15. Associating several systems with a group
The example shown in Figure 16 shows the systems and their corresponding
group associations shown in green. Make sure you tap Apply and Close to
save any changes.
Figure 16. Groups and system associations
Notice how the groups are presented as buttons on the login screen, as
shown in Figure 17. If you have an OEM logo, it will appear in place of the
Omnitronics logo.
54 Basic Operation
Figure 17. Group buttons on the Login dialog
Tapping on a group button will select all (up to the first three systems)
associated with the group. For instance, tapping on the Sarich Backup button
will select the systems associated with the “Sarich Backup” group.
If you want to double-check which systems are in that group, you can look at
the names displayed on the Systems button, which shows “Jaco’s &
Michael’s”. Alternatively, tap the Systems button to expand it to show a list of
the systems, as depicted in Figure 18. In this example, the “Sarich Backup”
group includes “Jaco’s” and “Michael’s” systems.
Figure 18. Selecting the systems associated with a group
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Logging Out
You should always log out of the DX-Altus Server when you no longer need to
control and monitor the DX-Altus system. For example, when you have
finished your work shift for the day, it is recommended that you log out to
prevent unauthorized access to the system.
To log out of DX-Altus

1. In the Control Panel, tap Log Out (or Exit if the automatic login feature is
enabled).
A confirmation window is displayed to confirm you want to log out of DX-

Altus.
2. Tap Yes.
DX-Altus will log you out the system and display the Alto login window. If
you want to use the system, you will need log in again (see “Accessing
DX-Altus Systems” on page 44).
56 Basic Operation
Main Window Layout and Navigation
Once you log in to the system, the Alto main window is displayed. All the
functional aspects of Alto that do not appear on the main screen are access-
ible by tapping on the various buttons on the Control Panel. The main window
comprises several panels and windows similar to the ones shown in Figure
19.
Header
Panel
Rapid
Recall
window
Contacts
window
Control
Panel
Workgroups Panel Status bar

Figure 19. Layout of Alto main window
If you are using a touchscreen, pop-up windows can be moved to any part of
the main screen by touching any part of the window, except on a command
button and the Close Window icon (X), and dragging the window to the
desired location on the screen.
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About Panels and Windows

Most panels and windows on the main window can be undocked and moved
to another position on the screen (except the Header Panel). You can also
group panels and windows together or dock one panel at the side of another
panel. To change the size of a panel or window, drag any corner of the panel
or window.
To group panels together to form one panel with multiple tabs, drag the panel
onto the body of the target panel. A blue background appears on the body of
the target panel when the pointer is over the correct area for grouping to
occur.
If you want to move a panel to another group, drag the tab of the panel to that
group. To separate a panel from a group, drag the tab of the panel outside the
group.
To move a panel group, drag the title bar. To dock panels together (stacked
panels), drag a tab of the panel or the title bar onto another panel. To reset
panels to their default positions, choose Reset Screen Layout to Default
option from the Themes menu (see “Theme and Layout Options” on page
253).
Figure 20 shows an example of the main window layout that has been re-
arranged so that multiple workgroups are now visible at the same time.
Figure 20. Rearranging the layout of the main window

58 Basic Operation
Header Panel
The Header Panel shown in Figure 21 contains the console title, logos,
system date and time, user type and name, and the AFI number. The date
and time is synchronized to the date and time set by the computer's operating
system; and is displayed in the format dictated by Windows settings.
The customer and provider logos can be displayed or left blank if not required.
If customer logos are present in a specific folder on the installation CD, these
will be shown. If the provider logo is not available, the Omnitronics logo will be
visible in the upper right-hand corner.
The user type is the type of user account (role) and the user name is the
name of the user currently logged into the system.
AFI number
Customer logo Date and User Provider logo
(optional) time (role and name) (optional)
Figure 21. Logo images and the header panel
The AFI number is the identity of the AFI-IP associated with the user logged in
to the system. The colour of AFI number indicates the state of the AFI con-
nection as follows:
• Red indicates that the VoIP connection between the AFI-IP and the IPE
(in OPR mode) has failed.
• Green indicates that the VoIP connection between the AFI-IP and the
IPE (in OPR mode) is operational and available to use.
• Black indicates that the VoIP connection between the AFI-IP and the IPE
(in OPR mode) is statically configured (or not established dynamically via
SIP).
Control Panel
The Control Panel area is located along the lower edge of the main window
and includes buttons that provide access to system functions. The buttons that
appear on the Control Panel will vary depending on the features that your
system administrator has configured, and the level of access that is associat-
ed with each button. Figure 22 shows the Control Panel with several optional
control buttons typical to most systems.
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Chapter 3
Figure 22. Control panel
The control buttons that can appear on the Control Panel include:
• Screen Clean (see “Cleaning the Touchscreen Display” on page 62)

• Minimize (see “Minimizing the Main Window” on page 61)
• Select All (or Foreground All, see “Selecting and Monitoring All Channels”
on page 89)
• Options (see “Options Overview” on page 239)
• Work Groups (see “Workgroups and Working with Channels” on page 68)
• Link Groups (see “Link-Groups and Linking Channels” on page 97)
• Fast Select (see “Fast Select” on page 91)
Active Workgroups Panel

The Active Workgroups Panel displays all of the workgroups you are using in
separate tabbed windows. These workgroups are called active workgroups,
and each one displays its own group of channels in its own workgroup
window. Figure 23 shows an example of the Active Workgroups Panel.
Figure 23. Active workgroups in the active Workgroup Panel
In this example, we have two active workgroups with user-defined names of

“Region 1” and “Region 2”. The channels for the latter are currently displayed.
In each workgroup, the channel buttons represent specific channels on which
you can communicate: you control a channel by using its corresponding
channel button (see “Channel Modes and States” on page 84).
60 Basic Operation
Minimizing the Main Window
You use the Minimize button to minimize, and temporarily hide, the main
window of Alto. This is useful when you want to run some other software while
staying logged in to DX-Altus.
When you minimize the main window, the Alto program icon remains on the
task bar so you know that it is still running in the background. You can restore
the main window by tapping on the program’s icon on the task bar.
Changing the Layout

Alto is flexible when it comes to the layout of the main window. It provides
several built-in screen layouts and themes that you can use depending on
your preference.
Alternatively, if you do not like the built-in themes, you can completely change
the layout by creating your own custom theme to give Alto a new appearance.
Themes are selectable from the Options dialog (see “Theme and Layout
Options” on page 253).
Cleaning the Touchscreen Display

When using a touchscreen display with Alto, it may be necessary to clean the
screen from time to time to remove fingermarks and smudges. You can use
the Screen Clean button for this purpose: when you tap the Screen Clean
button, it temporarily maximizes the Alto main window, locks the screen, and
suspends normal operation of the computer so that the screen can be wiped
clean of fingerprints, smudges, and dust.
Figure 24 shows the main window maximized while the screen-clean function
is in effect. The screen-clean period is initially set to ten seconds and starts to
count down to zero, at which time, normal operation will be restored.
Note Tapping the Screen Clean button will disable all input to the computer
(i.e. keyboard and mouse, or touchscreen) for a period of 10 seconds, with the
intention of allowing the screen surface to be wiped clean without activating
any functions.
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Figure 24. Main window with “screen clean” in effect
Changing the Viewing Mode

Alto allows you to change its viewing mode depending on the whether the
environment in which it is operating is dark or is a bright environment with
plenty of ambient light.
Two viewing modes are available: day mode and night mode. Day mode is
the default viewing mode and is useful in environments with plenty of ambient
light. In this mode, Alto uses one of the various themes to adjust the
brightness and contrast of the user interface to make it easy to view in bright
environments.
In night mode, Alto compensates for dark environments by reducing the

brightness and contrast of the user interface. This makes it easier to view in
environments with low ambient light such as those used for night-time oper-
ation. Alto uses the special built-in “Dark” theme for Night mode.
You can switch between the different viewing modes by changing the theme
that Alto uses to display its user interface (see “Selecting a Theme” on page
256). For example, to switch from Day mode to Night mode, select the “Dark”
theme under the Theme Options; and to switch from Night mode to Day mode,
select a theme other than the “Dark” theme.
If your administrator has configured the special Display Day/Night Toggle

permission, the Day/Night button will be visible on the right-hand side of the
status bar, as shown in Figure 25.
62 Basic Operation
This allows you to switch Alto’s viewing mode between day and night modes
by simply tapping the button instead of manually changing the theme.
Figure 25. Switching the viewing mode with the Day/Night button
Layout of Channel Buttons

Channel buttons displayed in a Work Group window allow you to control
individual channels used for communication. The information depicted on
channel buttons varies depending on the capabilities of the channels but may
include the following labels:
• Channel or talk-path name and description

• Radio channel (when channel-change functionality is supported) or a
user-defined label (when a channel-change set is configured).
• Status message for selcalls
• Activity timeline (only supported by the large-sized channel buttons)
Figure 26 depicts the typical layout of an analog channel button. The layout of
the digital-radio channel button is essentially the same as an analog radio
channel. Digital radio channels, however, are distinguished by a “DR” symbol
in the lower left-hand corner as shown in Figure 27.
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Channel Name
Shows the user-defined name for the channel
Description
Shows a user-defined descriptive label
Channel (Talk-Path)
Shows the channel number or user-defined label
Status
Shows the last status sent or received on the channel
Activity Timeline
Shows the PTT and Busy activity
Figure 26. Layout of an analog channel button
Channel Name
Shows the user-defined name for the channel
Description
Shows a user-defined descriptive label
Radio Channel
Shows radio channel name (when channel change
is supported) or user-defined label
Call Type
Shows the type of digital-radio call
Status
Shows the most recent status message
(emergency takes precedence)
Figure 27. Layout of a digital channel button
The first line is the channel name or talk-path and displays a user-defined
name for the channel or talk-path. You can include whatever text you want on
this line to help identify the channel or talk-path.
The second line is the channel or talk-path description and displays an

optional user-defined description of the channel or talk-path. This is typically
used to show the type of device on this channel or talk-path but you can
include whatever text you like or leave it blank.
The third line displays either a channel number (if channel-change function-
ality is supported) or some descriptive text that is mapped to a channel
number (if a Channel Change Set is configured).
For conventional radios, the channel number is shown by default, or if a

channel-change set is configured for the channel, the name of the channel (or
some other user-defined text) is shown.
Note To display a user-defined label on line 3 instead of the default channel

number, the channel-change function must be enabled with a channel change
set configured in the DX-Altus Server.
64 Basic Operation
The fourth line of an analog channel, or the fifth line of a digital channel
button, is the status. For an analog channel, this shows the originator and
status message of the last selcall status sent or received on the channel or
talk-path. The selcall status is represented by code that is mapped to a user-
defined status message. For a digital channel, this shows the most recent
status message sent or received on the channel or talk-path.
The information depicted on the fourth line of a digital channel button is the
call type. This may include the following labels:
Individual Call: Radio ID
Group Call: Group ID (Radio ID)
All Call: Radio ID
Most recent message (type emergency or

text: an “Emergency On” message takes
precedence over more recent text mes-
sages).
The bottom line is the activity timeline. This shows the latest PTT activity (red)
and Busy activity (green) that occurred over the last 40 seconds or so and is
only shown on large-sized buttons.
This activity is depicted as coloured bars in a timeline view across the bottom
line of the button. The length of the bars gives an indication of the duration of
the activity. The activity timeline is not shown when no radio-state changes
occurred in the last 40 seconds.
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Using the On-Screen Keyboard

If you intend to use a touchscreen display with your DX-Altus system, you may
find it easier to use the on-screen keyboard shown in Figure 28 to type
information. The on-screen keyboard is a cut-down version of the standard
“qwerty” keyboard optimized for use with Alto: it supports the Tab, Delete, and
Enter keys, and allows the following characters to be entered:
Uppercase characters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Lowercase characters: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Numbers and special 1234567890

characters: ~!@#$%^&*()_+-=[]\;’,./{}|:”<>?
You enable or disable the on-screen keyboard from the Login screen (see
“Logging into DX-Altus” on page 44). The on-screen keyboard is not fixed to
the one location on the screen so you can drag it to reposition it and move it
out of the way of other UI elements.
Decrease button Opacity slider Increase button

Decreases the opacity Changes the opacity Increases the opacity
Figure 28. Using the on-screen keyboard with touchscreen systems
You can also adjust the opacity of the on-screen keyboard by moving the
position of the Opacity slider: dragging it to the left decreases the opacity
(makes it more transparent) and dragging to the right increases the opacity
(decreases the transparency).
You can also tap the increase button or the decrease button to achieve
the same effect. The opacity changes in steps of 10% with 100% representing
full opacity. When you decrease the opacity, any underlying windows will
show through the keyboard at varying degrees of transparency. This is useful
66 Basic Operation
when you are using a touchscreen with low resolution and cannot see more
than one or two windows on the screen at the same time.
Figure 29 shows the on-screen keyboard with opacity set to 10% positioned
over the Workgroups Modify window in the background. In this example, the
on-screen keyboard is used to type the workgroup name “Region 2” into the
workgroup name text box.
Figure 29. Using the on-screen keyboard with transparency
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Workgroups and Working with

Channels
Alto uses workgroups to help you group channels together into separate
groups so that you can control and monitor the channels on a group-by-group
basis. You can define as many groups as you like, however, each workgroup
can contain a maximum of 56 channels when logged into one DX-Altus Server
system.
DX-Altus allows simultaneous logins to multiple systems—up to three systems

are supported, which supports up to 168 channels. The maximum number of
channels displayable at any specific time will depend upon the number,
resolution, and physical size of the monitor(s). As a general rule, a maximum
of 128 channels can be displayed in any workgroup. The practicality of having
so many channels visible for a single operator is questionable though.
The Workgroups feature, which is usually configured by the system admin-

istrator, may not be available to you depending on whether the administrator
has granted the necessary permissions to you. If this feature is available, the
Work Groups button will appear on the Control Panel. Tapping the Work
Groups button displays the Workgroups Setup dialog similar to the example
shown in Figure 30.
Padlock button
Locks (or unlocks) the workgroup
Add button
Adds a new workgroup
Figure 30. Configuring workgroups
The Control Panel shown in this example may contain additional control
buttons for optional features that might not be available on your system—the
control buttons that you see depends on how the administrator has configured
your system.
68 Basic Operation
The Workgroups Setup dialog allows you to add a new workgroup (see
“Adding Workgroups” on page 69), select one or more workgroups as active
workgroups (see “Changing the Workgroup State” on page 74), edit an
existing workgroup (see “Editing Workgroups” on page 75), or remove an
existing workgroup (see “Removing Workgroups” on page 82).
Note The Workgroups feature may not be available on your system. In this
case, the Work Groups button will not be visible on the Control Panel, and you
will not be able to set up individual workgroups nor be able to access the
Workgroup Setup dialog.
Workgroups and the channels defined within the workgroups appear on the
main window similar to the example shown in Figure 31. Workgroups make it
easy to control and monitor a group of channels.
Each channel in the workgroup has a channel name associated with it, which
appears at the top of corresponding channel button. The channel name helps
you easily identify a channel—the administrator assigns the channel names.
Figure 31. Main window with workgroups
The SCU in the DX-Altus Server preserves your workgroup configuration so

that when you next log in to the system your workgroups will be restored to
the current configuration.
Adding Workgroups
When you set up the workgroups for the first time, you will need to add at least
one workgroup before you can manipulate and work with channels. Using the
Workgroups Setup dialog, you can add a new workgroup by tapping the Add
button . This will add a new workgroup with a name of “New Workgroup” in
the Workgroups Setup dialog as shown in Figure 32.
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Workgroup button
Allows you to edit the
workgroup
Figure 32. Adding a new workgroup
The New Workgroup Modify dialog will also appear on the screen so you can
add one or more channels to the workgroup, as shown in Figure 33.
Channel button
Allows you to add or
remove the channel
from the workgroup
Channel list
Shows all of the
available channels
Figure 33. Modifying the workgroup
To add a channel to the workgroup, simply tap the corresponding channel

button in the channel list. This will add a “tick” to the channel button to indicate
that the channel is now included in the workgroup, as shown in Figure 34. To
remove the channel, tap the channel button again and the “tick” will disappear.
70 Basic Operation
Selected channel
Shows channel is
included in the
workgroup
Channel list
Shows all of the
available channels
Figure 34. Adding channels to the workgroup
When you add a channel to a workgroup, it is not automatically set to the

muted mode as it depends on whether or not the channel already exists in
another workgroup—you can allocate the same channel to more than one
workgroup.
If the channel you add is already in another workgroup, its audio mode and
state will be determined by its current mode and state in the other workgroup.
For example, if the channel in the other workgroup is selected in the
foreground and is currently busy, it will assume that mode and state when you
add it the workgroup.
Otherwise, the channel will be added in the muted mode—such a channel is

referred to as a muted channel. You will not hear any audio on a muted
channel, nor will you be able to transmit on a muted channel.
To add a new workgroup

1. On the Control Panel, tap Work Groups.
The Workgroups Setup dialog appears.

2. On the Workgroups Setup dialog, tap the “plus” button .
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A new workgroup is added to the dialog.
The New Workgroup Modify dialog also appears.
3. To add a channel to the workgroup, tap the corresponding channel

button.
A “tick” will appear on the channel button to indicate the channel is includ-
ed in the workgroup.
72 Basic Operation
4. In the Workgroup Name text box, type the name of the new workgroup
(e.g. “Region 1”).
The default name for the new workgroup is “New Workgroup”. It is
recommended that you change this name so that you can easily identify
the workgroup and its associated channels. Usually, workgroups are
based on a geographical location; however, you can choose whatever
naming convention is most appropriate for your system.
5. Tap Apply and Close to apply the workgroup configuration and close the
Workgroup Modify dialog.
6. (Optional) To make the workgroup active, tap OFF to change the work-
group status to ON.
Workgroup status button

Sets the workgroup status
to active (ON) or inactive
(OFF)
When you make a workgroup active (ON), it appears on the main window
in the Active Workgroups Panel (see “Changing the Workgroup State” on
page 74), and the channels you added to the workgroup will appear when
you select the workgroup (see “Selecting and Viewing Workgroups” on
page 79).
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7. (Optional) Repeat steps (2) to (5) to add another workgroup.

The new workgroup(s) will appear on the Workgroups Setup dialog in the
order in which you added the workgroups.
8. Close the Workgroups Setup dialog.
Changing the Workgroup State

Each workgroup has a status associated with it known as the workgroup state.
A workgroup can either have an active or inactive state. An active workgroup
is one that is in use and is therefore visible on the main window—a workgroup
needs to be active before you can use it to control and monitor the channels
defined in that workgroup. An inactive workgroup does not appear on the main
window and therefore you cannot use it.
When you create a workgroup, its state is set to inactive by default. This
means that the workgroup is not visible on the main window and you cannot
use it to control and monitor the channels defined in that workgroup. You can,
however, change the state of the workgroup to make it active.
Figure 35 illustrates how to change the state of the workgroup named “Region
1”. Tapping the workgroup-state button toggles the workgroup’s state between
inactive (OFF) and active (ON).
74 Basic Operation
Workgroup button (enabled)
Workgroup is not active (OFF)
so it can be edited
Workgroup button (disabled)

Workgroup is active (ON) so it
cannot be edited
Workgroup state button

Changes the state of the
workgroup
Figure 35. Changing the status of a workgroup
If you have multiple workgroups defined, you can easily select which work-
groups appear on the main window by making the workgroups active.
Editing Workgroups
When you edit a workgroup, you add channels to, or remove channels from,
the workgroup. Using the Workgroups Setup dialog, you can edit an existing
workgroup by tapping the padlock button, and then tapping on the
workgroup button for the workgroup you want to edit.
You cannot edit an active workgroup (i.e. a workgroup with its status set to
ON). If you want to edit an active workgroup, you will need to temporarily
change its status to inactive (OFF) by tapping the workgroup-status button
(see “Changing the Workgroup State” on page 74). You can then edit the
workgroup to add or remove channels as required. When you have finished
editing the workgroup, you can set its status back to active (ON) by tapping
the workgroup-status button again.
When you edit a workgroup to add channels to, or remove channels from, the
workgroup, the DX-Altus Server saves the workgroup information in its internal
database. The next time you log in to the system, your workgroups will be
restored so you can immediately begin using the workgroups.
You edit a workgroup using the Workgroup Modify dialog shown in Figure 36.
This example shows the Workgroup Modify dialog for the workgroup named
“Region 1”. This workgroup contains two channels with the names of “LIU
Ch2” and “LIU Ch3”.
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Workgroup Modify window

Allows you to add and remove
channels in the selected workgroup
Navigation button
Navigates to next or
previous page of channels
Available channel
Channel not included
in the workgroup
Apply and Close button

Applies the changes to the
workgroup and closes the
Clear All button Workgroup channel window
Removes all channels Tick-mark indicates channel
from the workgroup is included in the workgroup
Set All button
Adds all available channels
to the workgroup
Figure 36. Editing a workgroup by adding and removing channels
The number of channels available in the system for configuring workgroups

depends on the equipment installed in your system; and how the administrator
has configured the channels.
It also depends on whether or not you have logged in to multiple DX-Altus

systems or just one DX-Altus system. For a system with only one DX-Altus
Server, you can add a maximum of 56 channels to a workgroup. For a system
with two DX-Altus Servers, the maximum is 112 channels, and for three DX-
Altus servers, it is limited to the number of channels that can be effectively
displayed on the monitor(s). For further information about this limitation,
please refer to “Workgroups and Working with Channels” page 68.
When you select a channel to add, a number appears alongside it as shown in

Figure 37. This number is called the channel position of the channel in the
workgroup: it indicates the order in which you added the channel to the work-
group, and also determines the order in which the channel buttons will appear
in the workgroup.
76 Basic Operation
Channel position
Shows the position of the
channel in the workgroup
Figure 37. Selecting channels to add to a workgroup
If you are adding or removing channels from multiple systems, you will see a
different Workgroup Modify dialog similar to the one shown in Figure 38—you
will only see this dialog if you are logged in to multiple DX-Altus systems.
System selector
Selects one or more
systems to use
Selected system
Indicates this system
is selected
Figure 38. Editing a multi-system workgroup by adding and removing channels
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Using this dialog, you can select the systems you want to use by selecting
them from the list of systems. A green background indicates that the system is
selected and the channels from that system will appear in the Workgroup
Modify dialog.
When you add a channel to a workgroup, it will usually be set to the muted
mode provided that the channel is not already in another workgroup—in this
mode, you cannot hear any audio on the channel.
However, if the same channel is already in one or more workgroups at the

time you add it, the audio mode of the channel will be set to the mode it was
set to in the other workgroup(s).
You can later change the mode of the channel to selected (foreground),
monitored (background), or muted (off) as required by tapping the correspond-
ing channel button (see “Manipulating Channels in a Workgroup” on page 87).
To edit a workgroup
1. On the Control Panel, tap Work Groups to display the Workgroups Setup
dialog.
This shows a list of all of the workgroups you have created.
Workgroups Setup dialog

Allows you to set up and
configure workgroups
2. If the status of the workgroup you want to edit is ON, tap ON to change it
to OFF.
You cannot edit a workgroup that is ON.
3. Tap the workgroup button to open the Workgroup Modify dialog for
workgroup you want to edit.
78 Basic Operation
Workgroup channel
Channel is included in
the workgroup
Available channel
Channel is not included
in the workgroup

• To add a channel(s) to the workgroup, tap the channel button(s) to
select the channel(s).
• To remove a channel(s) from the workgroup, tap the channel button(s)
to deselect the channel(s).
Note Repeatedly tapping on a channel button will toggle the

channel selection.
• To add all the channels to the workgroup, tap Set All.

• To remove all the channels from the workgroup (except for reserved
channels), tap Clear All.
5. (Optional) To change the name of the workgroup, in the Workgroup Name
text box, type the new name of the workgroup.
6. Tap Apply and Close to accept the changes and close the dialog.
Selecting and Viewing Workgroups

When you have created several workgroups (see “Adding Workgroups” on
page 69) and have at least one active workgroup (see “Changing the
Workgroup State” on page 74), the workgroup(s) is displayed in the Active
Workgroups Panel on the main window.
Figure 39 shows the Alto main window with three active workgroups in the
Active Workgroups Panel. The name of each workgroup is displayed on its
own tab.
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Selected workgroup
Shows the channels allocated in
the selected workgroup
Figure 39. Configuring multiple workgroups
In this example, we have defined three active workgroups arbitrarily named

“Region 1”, “Region 2”, and “Region 3” (the selected workgroup). As you can
see, the channels associated with the selected workgroup are displayed.
You can select another workgroup to display by tapping on the corresponding

tab for that workgroup. For example, to display the channels associated with
the workgroup named “Region 1”, select the workgroup by tapping on the tab
for that region. The channels for the selected workgroup will be displayed in
the Active Workgroups Panel.
You are not limited to displaying only one workgroup at a time. If you prefer to
see several workgroups on the screen simultaneously, you can drag a work-
group panel and dock it to another panel. You can then rearrange the layout
as required (see “About Panels and Windows” on page 58).
Figure 40 shows the Active Workgroups Panel rearranged in a different layout

so that the three workgroups appear as separate docked windows. This layout
allows you to view all three workgroups on the screen at the same time.
80 Basic Operation
Workgroup windows
Shows workgroups docked
in separate windows
Figure 40. Viewing several workgroups at the same time
To make a workgroup active

1. Tap Work Groups on the Control Panel to display the Workgroup Setup
dialog.
Workgroup status button

Changes the workgroup status
2. Next to the workgroup you want to make active, tap OFF.

The workgroup status changes to ON and the workgroup becomes an
active workgroup—it will now appear in the Active Workgroups Panel on
the main window.
The channels in the workgroup will appear in the Active Workgroups
Panel when the workgroup is selected.
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Removing Workgroups
Using the Workgroups Setup dialog, you can easily remove a workgroup that
you no longer want to use so that it no longer appears in the Active Work-
groups Panel. You cannot, however, remove a workgroup while it is active
(ON) so that it is displayed in the Active Workgroups Panel. In this case, you
will first need to change the status of any active workgroup(s) that you want to
remove (i.e. switch the workgroup OFF).
Note When you remove a workgroup, it is completely removed from the DX-
Altus Server and cannot be restored—you will need to re-create it again if you
removed it by mistake!
The following procedure outlines the steps to remove a workgroup.
To remove a workgroup
1. On the Control Panel, tap Work Groups to display the Workgroups Setup
dialog.
2. If the status of the workgroup you want to remove is ON, tap the ON
button to change it to OFF.
3. Tap the padlock button to unlock the workgroups.
The Workgroups Setup dialog displays a remove button (trash icon) next
to each workgroup(s) that you can remove.
Remove button
Removes the workgroup
82 Basic Operation
4. Tap the remove button for the workgroup you want to remove (e.g.
“New Workgroup”).
A “Confirm Delete” button appears next to the trash icon.
Confirm Delete button

Confirms you want to remove
the workgroup
5. Tap Confirm Delete to remove the workgroup.

The workgroup is removed from the list of workgroups.
6. Tap the padlock button to lock the workgroups.

The Workgroups Setup dialog shows the remaining workgroups.
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Channel Modes and States

Each channel has a channel mode associated with it, which is the operational
mode of the channel. A channel can be in one of the following modes:
selected (foreground), monitored (background), or muted (off) mode.
Selected channels (or foreground channels) are referred to as channels in the

foreground and monitored channels (or background channels) are referred to
as channels in the background. The audio level on foreground channels is
louder than the audio on background channels.
You can cycle through the modes in order by tapping the corresponding
channel button. The colour of the button changes accordingly as you cycle
through the different modes as shown in Figure 41.
Muted mode Selected mode Monitored mode

Indicates channel is Indicates channel is Indicates channel is
muted (grey) in foreground (yellow) in background (cyan)
Figure 41. Cycling through the channel modes
When you add a channel to a workgroup, it is usually added in the muted

mode (provided it does not already exist in another workgroup). In this mode,
audio is inhibited so you cannot hear any audio on the channel nor can you
talk on the channel. In the next section, we will discuss the different channel
modes and the channel state in more detail.
If you want to talk on a channel, you must select the channel by tapping on its
corresponding button until the channel is selected. This places the audio on
that channel into foreground—the colour of the button changes to yellow. In
this mode, you can talk and listen to audio on that channel.
If you only want to monitor the audio on a channel, you can set it to the
monitored mode by tapping on its corresponding button until the channel is
monitored. This places the audio on that channel into the background—the
colour of the button changes to cyan. In this mode, you will not be able to talk
on the channel.
Table 4 provides a summary of the different operational modes you can use
for a channel and helps you to determine when to use a particular mode. For
further information about channels and workgroups, see “Workgroups and
Working with Channels” on page 68.
84 Basic Operation
Table 4. Channel modes and when to use a particular mode
Icon Channel mode When to use
Muted Mode: Use this mode when you do not want to
channel audio is muted hear audio nor talk on the channel.
(grey) (No monitoring and no talking)
Selected Mode: Use this mode to talk and listen to audio

channel is selected with on the selected channel.
audio in the foreground (Monitoring and talking)
(yellow)
Monitored Mode: Use this mode to only listen to (monitor)

channel is monitored with the audio on the monitored channel.
audio in the background (Monitoring only – no talking)
(cyan)
In addition to the channel modes, each channel in a workgroup provides infor-

mation about the state of its operation. The background colour of the corre-
sponding channel button indicates the channel’s state. This helps you to
determine the channel’s operational state at any time simply by looking at the
colour of the button.
Table 5 lists the various icons used for the channel states and the meaning of
each state.
Table 5. Channel states and the meaning of each state
Icon Channel state Meaning
PTT (local) PTT asserted at your operator console.

(red icon) (You can talk on this channel)
PTT asserted at a different console by

another operator on this channel.
PTT (remote)
(You can listen to this channel but cannot
(orange icon)
talk at the same time unless configured for
full-duplex operation)
Busy signal is received from a radio on this

Busy channel.
(You can listen to this channel but cannot
(blinking green icon) talk at the same time unless configured for
full-duplex operation)
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This channel is a member of a link

Linked group(s)—the link group(s) is identified by
(linked-channel icon) the characters to the left of the linked-
channel icon.
Trunk connection in Trunk call initiated on the channel. You

progress. cannot yet talk on this channel.
PTT asserted on a trunk channel at your

PTT on trunk channel. operator console.
(You can now talk on this channel)
For the orange icon (PTT by another operator) and blinking green icon (Busy),
these indicators can now be optionally suppressed by system configuration
when the channel is in the audio OFF (muted) mode.
Trunk-radio channels typically require a few seconds to establish a

connection. Whilst setting up the connection, the upper-left corner of the
channel button will show red. This indicates to the operator that the PTT has
been sensed but it is not yet time to talk on the channel.
When the trunk call is established, the channel button changes to red
(provided PTT is still active) to indicate that the operators voice will now be
conveyed on the channel.
For each of the channel modes listed above, if the channel is not available or
is in a fault condition (e.g., VoIP failure), diagonal stripes (candy striping) will
appear on the corresponding button as shown in Figure 42.
Figure 42. Candy striping indicates unavailable channel
In this example, the three channels are not available with CH38 shown in the
muted mode, CH39 shown in the monitored mode, and CH40 shown in the
selected mode.
Similarly, for each of the channel states list above, if the channel is not
available or is in a fault condition (e.g., VoIP failure), diagonal stripes (candy
striping) will appear on the corresponding button as shown in Figure 43 and
Figure 44.
86 Basic Operation
Figure 43. Candy striping indicates local PTT on unavailable channel (CH39)
Figure 44. Candy striping indicates remote PTT on unavailable channel (CH39)
In both of these examples, CH39 is unavailable and is shown firstly in the local
PTT state (red with candy striping) and then in the remote PTT state (orange
with candy striping).
Furthermore, CH38 is shown in muted mode (grey with candy striping) and
CH40 is shown in the monitored mode (cyan with candy striping), and both are
also not available.
Note Selected channels may also be referred to as foreground channels (or

channels in the foreground) and vice-versa; and monitored channels may be
referred to as background channels (or channels in the background) and vice
versa—these terms can be used interchangeably.
Manipulating Channels in a Workgroup

You can manipulate the channels in a workgroup by changing the operational
mode of the channels—the mode of the channel can be set to either selected
(foreground), monitored (background), or muted (off) mode (for further
information, see “Active Workgroups Panel” on page 60).
Changing the mode of a channel allows you to control the operation of the
channel. For example, changing the channel to the monitored (background)
mode, while leaving all the other channels in the muted mode, allows you to
monitor the audio only on that channel (you will not hear any audio from the
other channels).
If you also want to transmit on the channel, change its mode to the foreground
audio mode. This will allow you to talk on that channel as well as monitor the
audio.
You can change the mode of a channel by tapping the corresponding channel
button in the workgroup. This places it firstly into the selected mode. Tapping
the same button again will then place it into the monitored mode—repeatedly
tapping the same button cycles through the modes in the following order:
selected, monitored, and muted.
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A channel in the selected (foreground) mode is referred to as a selected or

foreground channel, and a channel in the monitored (background) mode is
referred to as a monitored or background channel.
You can also mute the audio on a channel by placing the channel into the
muted mode—a channel in this mode is referred to as a muted channel or a
channel that is off. You will not hear any audio on a channel in this mode.
Figure 45 shows an example of a workgroup named “Region 1” in which three

channels are allocated: channel 1 is selected (in the foreground), Channel 2 is
monitored (in the background), and Channel 3 is muted (off).
Selected Monitored Muted

(foreground) (background) channel
channel channel
Figure 45. Selected workgroup showing the different channel modes
The audio on selected channels is in the foreground (louder) and audio on

monitored channels is in the background (softer). Selected channels are indi-
cated with the selected-channel icon ; monitored channels are indicated
with the monitored-channel icon ; and muted channels are indicated with
the muted-channel icon (for further information, see Table 4 on page 85).
Channels can also be linked together to form a link-group. Channels in a link-

group behave in the same manner. When a channel is linked to other
channels in a link-group, the linked-channel icon (blue chain) appears on
the lower right-hand corner of each linked channel as shown in Figure 46.
Linked channels
Indicates channels linked
together in a link-group
Figure 46. Workgroup showing linked channels
88 Basic Operation
To help you identify the link-group to which a channel belongs, the first
character of the link-group name appears above the linked-channel icon. In
this example, the workgroup named “Region 1” includes two linked channels:
“CH2 LIU” (in the background) and “CH3 LIU” (muted). Both channels belong
to the same link-group identified by “L”.
Note The link-group feature may not be available on your system as it is

configured by the administrator so you may not be able to use link-groups!
For further information about link-groups, refer to “Link-Groups and Linking

Channels” on page 97.
Selecting and Monitoring All Channels

Sometimes you may want to change the mode of all the channels in a work-
group at the same time instead of individually changing the mode of each
channel one after the other—this is especially useful in the case when you
have many channels in your workgroup.
Note Depending on the language of localization of your computer, the Select

All button may appear as Foreground All and the Monitor All button may
appear as Background All on your control panel.
The Select All button on the Control Panel makes it easy to select all the
channels in a workgroup in one operation. If the administrator has enabled this
feature, you will see the Select All button on the Control panel. Figure 47
shows the Control Panel with the Select All button highlighted.
Figure 47. Select All button on the Control Panel
When you tap the Select All button, all of the channels in the workgroup are
automatically selected (placed into the foreground audio mode), as shown in
Figure 48. This makes it easy to quickly select all channels (except disabled
channels) in the workgroup so you can then talk on those channels.
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Select All
Tap to select all channels
(audio in the foreground)
Figure 48. Using Select All (Foreground All) to select all channels
You can also monitor all channels in the workgroup. When you touch-n-hold
the Select All button, all channels are automatically monitored (placed into
the background audio mode), as shown in Figure 49. This is useful when you
only want to monitor the audio on all channels (except disabled channels) in a
workgroup.
Monitor All
Touch-n-hold to
monitor all channels
(audio in the background)
Figure 49. Using Monitor All (Background All) to monitor all channels
As well as being able to quickly place all channels into either the foreground or
the background audio mode with the Select All button, you can also select
these functions from the dropdown list that expands when you tap the down-
arrow. Figure 50 shows the available options.
Figure 50. Options available on the Select All button
90 Basic Operation
The Select All (or Foreground All) and Monitor All (or Background All)
items perform the same function as described above. The only way to place
all channels into the muted mode is to select the All Channels Off option from
the dropdown list. These functions are summarized below:
Select All Places all channels into the selected (foreground) audio
(Foreground All) mode (this is the same as tapping the Select All button).
You can talk and hear voice traffic from other operators.
Monitor All Places all channels into the monitored (background) audio
(Background All) mode—you can monitor the audio on these channels, but
you cannot talk on the channels.
All Channels Off Places all channels into the muted (off) audio mode—in
(Mute All) this mode, you cannot hear any audio on these channels
nor can you talk on the channels.
These functions make it easy to quickly set all channels in the workgroup into
the appropriate mode in one operation. This button is disabled when Fast
Select mode is active.
Fast Select
The Fast Select function is an optional feature that the system administrator
can configure. If this feature is configured, the Fast Select button appears on
the Control Panel as shown in Figure 51. The Fast Select function is shown
here in the Fast Select OFF state.
Figure 51. Fast Select button on the Control Panel
The Fast Select button behaves like a toggle switch so you can switch the
Fast Select function ON and OFF as required. To switch the function ON, tap
the button to change it to Fast Select ON, as shown in Figure 52.
Figure 52. Using the Fast Select function
The Fast Select function prevents you from placing more than one channel in
the workgroup into the foreground at the same time.
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Hence, with Fast Select function ON, when you tap a channel button to place
it into the foreground, any other channels that are already in the foreground
will be automatically set to the background or muted modes depending on
how the system administrator has configured the function.
Note When you use the Fast Select function, the Select All (Foreground All)
function is disabled.
When you repeatedly tap the same channel button, it will cycle through the
various channel audio modes (i.e. foreground, background, and muted).
In Fast Select mode, it is possible to have no channels in the foreground. This

is the normal mode of operation for the Fast Select function.
The exclusive mode of operation is an optional feature of the Fast Select

function that the system administrator can enable. The purpose of this mode is
to keep one channel in the foreground at all times.
In this mode, when you tap a channel button that is already in the foreground,
it will remain in the foreground instead of cycling through the channel modes
as in Fast Select normal mode.
Only channels in the background and muted modes can cycle through the
channel modes until one is in the foreground mode. Thus, in exclusive mode,
you will always have one channel in the foreground; whereas in normal mode,
you can have no channels in the foreground.
You may not be able to switch Fast Select mode off depending on how the
system administrator has configured the feature. In this case, the Fast Select
button will always appear ON with a padlock symbol shown on the button.
Sending Selective Call

You can send a selective call (selcall) using one of the following methods:
• Selective Call dialog for a channel supporting Selcall capability (see

“Selective Call Dialog” on page 93)
• Contacts window (see “Sending Selective Call” on page 183)
• Messages window (see “Sending Selective Call Messages” on page 195)
92 Basic Operation
Selective Call Dialog
When you touch-n-hold a channel in the active workgroup, the Channel
Control dialog appears. This shows the capabilities supported by the channel,
and if the channel supports Selcall, you can tap the Selective Call button to
display the Selective Call dialog, as shown in Figure 53.
Channel Control dialog

Provides options to control a channel
Selective Call dialog
Allows you to send a selcall
Status button
Selcall textbox Selects a status code from
Shows the selcall the status list
digits to send Backspace button
Backspaces over the last digit
Selcall keypad Contacts button

Enters selcall digits Opens the contacts dialog
Send button
Sends the selcall
Tab button
Moves back and forth between the selcall
textbox and the status code textbox
Figure 53. Sending a selcall using the Selective Call dialog
Using the Selective Call dialog, you can send a selcall by:
• Manually typing the selcall with the keypad (see “Selective Call Keypad”
below); or
• Automatically looking up the selcall from the contacts list (see “Contact
Lookup” on page 95).
Selective Call Keypad

If you know the selcall of the remote party you want to call, and the function
that the selcall performs, you can use the selcall keypad to manually type the
selcall—sending indiscriminate selcalls is not recommended!
If you do not know the selcall of the party you want to contact, you can use the
contacts list to lookup the selcall.
Tapping the Backspace button will backspace over the last (right-most) digit
in the Selcall textbox. Tapping the Send button transmits the selcall sequence
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Chapter 3
in the selcall textbox on the selected channel—this button is not enabled until
you start tying a selcall.
The asterisk button (*) enters a “B” tone into the selcall sequence. The Tab
button is used to move back and forth between the selcall textbox and the
status textbox. You can also select the status textbox by tapping on it.
If your system administrator has configured Alto to use the selective call status
feature, you can append a status code to the selcall. You can include the
status code by selecting one from the status list. The status list contains a list
of status codes with associated descriptions and appears when you tap the
status button, as shown in Figure 54.
You use the selective-call status codes to convey specific information in a

selcall message. When sending a selcall message, you can enter the selcall
number and then append a status code from the selective-call status list, as
outlined in the following procedure.
Status button
Opens the status code list
Status list
Allows you to select a status
code from the status list
Figure 54. Selective Call dialog showing the selcall status list
To send a selcall using the Selective Call dialog

1. In the Active Workgroups Panel, select the workgroup that includes the
channel on which you want to send a selcall.
2. Touch-n-hold one of the channel buttons in the workgroup.
After about a half second, the Channel Control dialog will appear.
3. On Channel Control dialog, tap Selective Call to display the Selective
Call dialog.
• In the Selcall text box, type the selcall digits you want to send; or
• Use the selcall keypad to enter the selcall into the Selcall text box.
94 Basic Operation
Each digit of the selcall appears in the textbox as you tap a digit on the
keypad or as you type. If you make a mistake while typing the selcall, tap
Backspace to backspace over the last digit.
5. (Optional) If you want to append a status code to the selcall, tap the
Status button, and then select the status code from the list.
Note The status code is available only if the administrator has

configured your system to use the selcall status feature.
6. Tap Send.
The selcall shown in the selcall textbox (including any status code) is sent
and the selcall message is then added to the Messages window.
Contact Lookup
You can use the Contacts window to quickly locate a contact name from a list
of contacts and send the selcall that corresponds to that contact. The
Contacts window retreives the contact information from the contacts database
maintained by the DX-Altus Server and displays it in the contacts list (the
administrator creates the contacts list for you).
You can access the Contacts window by tapping the Contacts button on the
Selective Call dialog as shown in Figure 55.

Sends a selcall to
selected contact
Contacts window
Shows list of selcall
Contacts button
contacts
Displays the contacts
First button
Scrolls to start of list
Contact panel Page Up button
Shows contact name Scrolls up one page
and opens contact Page Down button
number dialog Scrolls down one page
Last button
Scrolls to end of list
Figure 55. Using the contacts list for selcall lookup
The contacts list displays up to ten contacts at a time although it depends on

the physical size of the underlying window; you can use the Page Up and
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Page Down buttons to navigate through a large contacts list. The contacts list
is sorted in ascending alphanumeric order by contact name.
If you have many contacts in the contacts list, you can quickly locate a contact
by using the built-in search feature—this uses an incremental search that
narrows down the result set with each keystroke. As you type, it builds up a
search filter based on the first name, last name, and notes fields.
You can type just the first few characters of the contact name using the
keyboard (or the on-screen keyboard if using a touchscreen), and as you type,
the search will immediately list only those contacts with a matching first name,
last name, or notes field containing the search filter.
To begin a new search, you will need to dismiss or delete the current search
filter.
To send a selcall using the contacts dialog

1. In the Active Workgroups Panel, select the workgroup that includes the
channel on which you want to send a selcall.
2. Touch-n-hold one of the channel buttons in the workgroup.
After about a half second, the Channel Control dialog will appear (see
Figure 53).
3. On Channel Control dialog, tap Selective Call to display the Selective
Call dialog.
4. On the Selective Call dialog, tap Contacts to display the Contacts dialog
(see Figure 55).
5. (Optional) To quickly search for a contact in the list, type the first few
characters of the contact name.
As you type, the search feature will immediately begin narrowing down
the list of matching contacts.
Tip If using a touchscreen, you can use the on-screen keyboard

(by tapping the Keyboard button) to search for a contact.
6. Select the contact in the contact list.

The Contacts dialog closes and the selcall for the selected contact
appears in the selcall text box on the Selective Call dialog.
7. Tap Send.
The selcall shown in the selcall textbox (including any status code) is sent
and the selcall message is then added to the message list—this displays
the details of the call including the direction (outbound), the selcall, and
the time that the call was sent.
96 Basic Operation
Link-Groups and Linking Channels
Alto allows you to link individual channels together so that you can control the
routing of audio to, and from, specific linked channels. A group of linked
channels is referred to as a link-group. DX-Altus system can support a
maximum of 14 link-groups between all operators—if you attempt to use any
more, you will see an error message.
Channels linked in a link-group receive the same audio; hence, you allocate
link-groups to route audio to specific channels. Link-groups are distinct from
work-groups, which allow you to group individual channels together to make it
easier to control and monitor the audio on those channels.
Linking channels (by adding channels to a link-group) is considered an

advanced feature of the DX-Altus system that is usually reserved for super-
visors and administrators.
Sometimes, however, console operators may be permitted to use this feature.

If the feature is available on your system, the Link Groups button will be
visible on the Control Panel.
Tapping the Link Groups button displays the Linkgroups Setup dialog
similar to one shown in in Figure 56.
Linkgroups Setup dialog

configure link-groups
Edit button
Edits a link-group
Add button
Adds a new link-group
Figure 56. Link-groups button and link-groups setup dialog
The Control Panel shown in this example may contain additional control
buttons for optional features that might not be available in your system—the
control buttons that you see depends on how the administrator has configured
your system.
Note The Link-Groups feature may not be available on your system. In this
case, the Link Groups button will not visible on the Control Panel, and you will
not be able to set up individual link-groups nor be able to access the
Linkgroup Setup dialog.
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The Linkgroups Setup dialog allows you to add a new link-group (see “Adding
Link-Groups” on page 98), remove an existing link-group (see “Removing
Channels from a Link-Group” on page 107), select one or more link-groups as
active link-groups (see “Changing the State of a Link-Group” on page 102), or
edit an existing link-group (see “Editing Link-Groups” on page 104).
Adding Link-Groups
When you set up the link-groups for the first time, you will need to add at least
one link-group before you can manipulate and work with channel linking.
Using the Linkgroups Setup dialog, you can add a new link-group by tapping
the Add button . This will add a new link-group with a default name of “New
Linkgroup” in the Linkgroups Setup dialog as shown in Figure 57.
New Linkgroup button

Allows you to edit the new
link-group to add channels
Figure 57. Adding a new link-group
The New Linkgroup Modify dialog will also appear on the screen so you can
add one or more channels to the link-group, as shown in Figure 58.
Channel button
Allows you to add or remove
the channel from the linkgroup
Channel list
Shows all of the available
channels
LinkGroup name
Allows you to change the
name of the link-group
link-group
Figure 58. Modifying the link-group
98 Basic Operation
To add a channel to the link-group, simply tap the corresponding channel
button in the channel list. This will add a “tick” to the channel button to indicate
that the channel is now included in the link-group, as shown in Figure 59. To
remove the channel, tap the channel button again and the “tick” will disappear.
Selected channel
Shows the channel is
included in the link-group
Deselected channel
Shows the channel is
excluded from the link-group
Figure 59. Adding channels to the link-group
When you done editing the link-group, tap Apply and Close to apply your
link-group configuration. The new link-group(s) will appear on the Link-groups
Setup dialog in the order in which you added the link-groups.
When a link-group is created, its default state is inactive (OFF). This means
that although the channels in the link-group are linked together, the physical
channel linking is not actually in effect until you make the link-group active
(see “Changing the State of a Link-Group” on page 102).
To add a new link-group

1. On the Control Panel, tap Link Groups.
The Linkgroups Setup dialog appears.

2. On the Linkgroups Setup dialog, tap the “plus” button .
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A new link-group is added to the dialog.
The New Linkgroup Modify dialog also appears.
3. To add a channel to the link-group, tap the corresponding channel button.

A “tick” will appear on the channel button to indicate the channel is
included in the link-group.
100 Basic Operation

4. In the Linkgroup Name text box, type the name of the new link-group
(e.g. “Linkgroup-1”).
The default name for new link-group is “New Linkgroup”. It is recommend-
ed that you change this name so that you can easily identify the link-
group and its associated channels. Usually, link-groups are based on a
geographical location; however, you can choose whatever naming con-
vention is most appropriate for your system.
5. Tap Apply and Close to apply the link-group configuration and close the
Linkgroup Modify dialog.
6. (Optional) To make the link-group active, tap OFF to change the link-
group state to ON.
Link-group state button

Sets the link-group state
to active (ON) or inactive
(OFF)
When you make a link-group active (ON), the channels in that link-group
will now be linked to each other (see “Changing the State of a Link-
Group” on page 102). If any of these linked channels is part of an active
workgroup, you can easily identify it by the linked-channel icon that
appears on the button face.
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7. (Optional) Repeat steps (2) to (5) to add another link-group.

The new link-group(s) will appear on the Linkgroups Setup dialog in the
order in which you added the link-groups.
8. Close the Linkgroups Setup dialog.
Changing the State of a Link-Group

Each link-group has a state associated with it known as the link-group state. A
link-group can either have an active or inactive state. An active link-group is
one that is in use: each channel in the link-group physically links to the other
channels in the same link-group. The channels in an inactive link-group do not
physically link together.
Unlike a workgroup, which appears in its own window in the Active

Workgroups Panel, a link-group does not appear in a separate window.
Instead, the channels in the link-group will continue to be displayed in the
same workgroup(s) as usual—depending on whether the operator has
included the linked channels in one or more workgroups—but will clearly
indicate that the channel is linked (see discussion below).
When you create a link-group, its state is set to inactive by default. This
means that the channels in the link-group are not physically linked together.
You can change the state of the link-group to make it active, and thus,
physically link the channels together.
Figure 60 illustrates how to change the state of the link-group named

“Linkgroup-1”. Tapping the link-group state button toggles the link-group’s
state between active (ON) and inactive (OFF).
102 Basic Operation

Link-group button (enabled)
Linkgroup is not active (OFF)
so it can be edited
Linkgroup button (disabled)

Link-group is active (ON) so it
cannot be edited
Link-group state button

Changes the state of the
link-group
Figure 60. Changing a link-group’s state
If you have multiple link-groups defined, you can easily select which link-
groups to use by making the link-groups active. When you make a link-group
active (ON), the channels in that link-group will now be physically linked to
each other.
Furthermore, if any of these linked channels is part of an active workgroup

(i.e. a workgroup displayed in the Active Workgroups Panel), you can easily
identify it by the linked-channel icon that appears on the button face, as
shown in Figure 61.
Figure 61. Main window showing linked channels
This icon also helps you to identify to which link-group the channel belongs by
including the first character of the link-group name above the linked-channel
icon.

Chapter 3
Editing Link-Groups
When you edit a link-group, you add channels to, or remove channels from,
the link-group. Using the Link-group Modify window, you can add or remove
channels in a link-group by tapping the channel buttons.
When you add a channel, you link the channel to other channels in the link-
group; and when you remove a channel, you unlink the channel from the other
channels in the link-group.
Any operator can modify a link-group by

About Link-Groups
adding or removing channels (see
sidebar “About Link-Groups”). When DX-Altus Server manages all link-
you modify a link-group to add or groups in a DX-Altus system. Any
remove a channel, the appearance of operator with the necessary per-
the corresponding channel button will missions can create and modify a
change: a linked channel is shown with link-group (not just the operator
a green “tick” and a channel that is no who created the link-group).
longer linked will not have the “tick”.
A link-group may contain channels
Once you have finished modifying the that are common to other link-
link-group, you must apply the changes groups (these channels are known
by tapping the Apply button; otherwise, as common channels).
Alto will discard the changes. When you Any link-groups that you create will
apply the changes, Alto will notify the be preserved by DX-Altus Server
other operator consoles (positions) (even after you log out of the
logged in to the system of the change system) until you (or another
you made to the link-groups. operator) actually remove the link-
groups.
When adding channels to a link-group,
you can only add radio-type channels: When you log back in to the DX-
you cannot add channels such as those Altus system, you can continue to
dedicated to phone, trunk, or auxiliary use the link-groups, add channels
(entertainment) functions. to, or remove channels from, the
link-groups as required.
Link-groups are common to all users of
A link-group is not “owned” by any
the DX-Altus system. That is, when you particular operator so all operators
set up a link-group, the operators at the can see and use the same link-
other operator consoles will “see” the groups.
same link-groups as you, and vice
versa. Therefore, if you modify a link- Other operators can also edit or
group, the other operators will see the remove the link-groups that you
changes you made to the link-group. create and vice versa.
Using the Linkgroups Modify dialog, you can edit an existing link-group by
tapping the padlock button, and then tapping on the link-group button for
the link-group you want to edit—you can also just tap the link-group button to
edit the link-group.
104 Basic Operation

You can edit a link-group even if it is active (i.e. a link-group with its state set
to ON)—you do not need to make the link-group inactive.
You edit a link-group using the Linkgroup Modify dialog. Figure 62 shows the
Linkgroup Modify dialog for the link-group named “Linkgroup-1”. This link-
group contains two channels with the names of “LIU Ch1” and “LIU Ch2”—
these are the same two channels that we added to the workgroup named
“Region 1” (see ”Adding Workgroups” on page 69).
Linkgroup Modify window

Shows the channels in the
selected link-group
Navigation buttons
Navigate to next or
previous page of channels
Available channel
Channel is not included
in the link-group
Linked channel Apply and Close button

Indicates the channel is Applies the changes to the link-
included in the link-group group and closes the window
Clear All button
Removes all channels from
the link-group
Set All button
Adds all available channels
to the link-group
Figure 62. Editing a link-group by adding and removing channels
The number of channels available in the system for configuring link-groups

depends on the equipment installed in your system; and how the administrator
has configured the channels. However, you can add a maximum total of 56
channels to a link-group.
When you edit a link-group and add channels to it, or remove channels from it,
the DX-Altus Server saves the link-groups information in its internal database.
The next time you log in to the system, your link-groups will be restored so
you can immediately begin using the link-groups.

Chapter 3
To edit a link-group
1. On the Control Panel, tap Link Groups to display the Linkgroups Setup
dialog.
Linkgroup button
Selects the link-group to edit
Link-groups Setup dialog
Edit button
Allows you to edit a link-group
configure link-groups
2. If the state of the link-group is ON, tap ON to change it to OFF.

3. Tap the padlock , and then tap the link-group button for the group
you want to edit.
The Linkgroup Modify dialog for selected link-group is displayed.
Link-group button
Linked channels
Selects the link-group to
Channels are included
in the link-group

linkgroup and closes the window
106 Basic Operation

• To add a channel(s) to the link-group, tap the channel button (s) to
select the channel(s).
• To remove a channel(s) from the link-group, tap the channel button(s)
to deselect the channel(s).
Note Repeatedly tapping on a channel button will toggle the

channel selection.
• To add all the channels to the link-group, tap Set All.

• To remove all the channels from the link-group, tap Clear All.
5. (Optional) To change the name of the link-group, in the Linkgroup Name
text box, type the new name of the link-group.
6. Tap Apply and Close to accept the changes and close the dialog.
7. Close the Linkgroups Setup dialog.
Removing Channels from a Link-Group

If you remove a channel from a link-group and apply the changes while activity
is present on that channel, the changes will not take effect until the activity
ceases. This prevents an active link-group from getting “cut-off” during a
conversation.
For example, consider a system that has only four channels (ch1, ch2, ch3,
and ch4) and the first two channels (ch1 and ch2) are linked together in a link-
group. When activity is present on one of those channels in the link-group, the
audio that you hear on that channel will be transmitted out on the other
channel. In other words, the audio that you hear on one channel (the receive
channel) will be linked to, and transmitted on, the other channel (the transmit
channel).
Furthermore, while receive activity is present on a linked channel, and you

decide to change the link-group so that the last two channels (ch3 and ch4)
are now linked together instead the first two channels, the new linking will not
take effect until activity on ch1 and ch2 ceases. When ch1 (or ch2) becomes
active again, only ch1 (or ch2) will receive the audio due to the fact that the
link between ch1 and ch2 is now removed.
Note Once you have removed the channel(s) from the link-group, you must
apply the changes by tapping on the Apply button; otherwise, the changes will
be discarded. When you tap the Apply button, only the selected link-group will
be updated.

Chapter 3
You can remove all the channels in the selected link-group by tapping the
Clear button. Although this clears all of the linked channels displayed in the
selected link-group, it does not actually remove the channels from the link-
group. You must apply the changes by tapping the Apply button.
Clearing channels in a link-group only affects that link-group. If you want to

clear the channels in another link-group, you must first select the group using
the group buttons, clear the channels, and then apply the changes.
Preserving Link-Groups
The DX-Altus Server saves the link-group information in its internal database.
Hence, any changes that you make (or changes that some other operator
makes) to a link-group are saved. The next time you log in to the system, the
link-groups will be restored unless another operator has made changes to the
link-groups in the meantime.
Linking a Common Channel

When you modify a link-group, you may find that you have configured the
same channel in two or more link-groups. When the same channel is linked
between link-groups, it is referred to as a common channel. In this situation,
incoming audio on the common channel will be linked to all the channels in all
link-groups in which this channel is common.
Advanced Linking Features

The channel-linking feature provides some advanced linking options that
affect how the channels in a link-group behave. These options, which are not
available in Alto, can only be configured by the system administrator, and
include the following:
• Send to linked channels allows you (or another operator) to transmit

audio to all the channels in a link group provided at least one of those
channels is selected (or in the foreground). Normally, when you want to
transmit to more than one channel in a link group, you must first place all
of the channels into the foreground. Other operators who have any of the
linked channels of the active workgroup in the foreground, but do not
have cross-muting in effect, will also hear your transmitted audio; and
vice versa.
• Loopback on source allows the transmit audio on a radio channel in a
link-group to loop back so that it can be heard on that channel as well as
on the other channels in the associated link group.
108 Basic Operation

• PTT overrides link allows any operator to override linked transmit audio
by transmitting on a linked channel in the foreground—it allows the
transmit audio from an operator to override the transmit audio from linked
channels. That is, if a link is active and you transmit, your audio will take
precedence and be transmitted on all your foreground channels, even if
one or more of the channels coincides with the active linking channels.
Without this option, your audio will not take precedence, and the linked
transmit audio cannot be overridden by any other attempt to transmit (on
common channels) until the first transmission ceases.
Adjusting the Audio Levels

The Audio Levels window provides sliders for adjusting the audio levels of the
Master, Selected (Foreground), Monitored (Background), and Auxiliary (i.e.
entertainment) audio streams, as shown in Figure 63. The Auxiliary slider is
optional so it may not be visible.
Figure 63. Audio Levels interface with optional Auxiliary slider
Note Depending on the region and language settings you have configured
on your computer, you may see the Selected slider shown as Foreground and
the Monitored slider shown as Backgound.
Audio from selected channels is in the foreground and audio from monitored
channels is in the background—foreground audio is usually louder than back-
ground audio but can be set to the same level as required.

Chapter 3
Note Selected channels may also be referred to as foreground channels (or

channels in the foreground) and monitored channels may be referred to as
background channels (or channels in the background) and vice versa—these
terms can be used interchangeably.
The term audio level refers to the level that can be applied to audio directly
managed by the DX-Altus system: it does not refer to audio levels of the
computer running the Alto software. Also, the DX-Altus system maintains
separate audio level settings for each user.
The audio level is a percentage of the maximum level with 100% correspond-
ing to maximum audio level and 0% corresponding to minimum level. The
Master level slider controls the overall output level of the other levels: it scales
the levels for Selected (Foreground), Monitored (Background), and Auxiliary
audio accordingly. For example, if the foreground level is set to 80% and the
master level is set to 75%, the effective foreground level is 60% (i.e. 75% of
80% = 60%).
You can adjust the audio levels of the selected (foreground) and monitored
(background) channels, and the optional auxiliary channel (if available), by
moving the appropriate sliders to the required position.
Note When adjusting the sliders, Alto will prevent you from setting the fore-
ground level lower than the background level and the background level higher
than the foreground level—both of these audio streams, however, can be set
to the same level. Volume setting occurs on releasing the slider or after half a
second of non-adjustment.
Additionally, the system administrator can also set the minimum audio level to
which you can adjust the level (higher than 0% up to a minimum level of 20%)
so that you will always hear the audio unless you mute it.
You can mute the Master by tapping the corresponding Mute button for the
Master level. If the Master is muted, all the other audio sources are
automatically muted. In this case, you will need to tap the Mute button again
to un-mute all the levels.
The Selected slider adjusts the audio level of the selected channels (channels
in the foreground) and the Monitored slider adjusts the audio level of the
monitored channels (channels in the background). Both the foreground level
and the background level can be muted with the corresponding Mute buttons.
The Auxiliary slider adjusts the audio level of the auxiliary (or entertainment)
channel. You can also mute the Auxiliary audio with the corresponding Mute
button.
110 Basic Operation

Channel Volume Change Control
You can independently adjust the audio volume for a particular channel by
using the Channel Volume Change control shown in Figure 64. You get to this
control from the touch-n-hold context menu for the channel in the workgroup
window. This feature is only available if you belong to a role that has the
“Individual Channel Volume” privilege and Alto is licensed for this feature.
Figure 64. Channel Volume Change control
Using the Channel Volume Change control, you can adjust the volume for the
selected channel by dragging the volume slider up to increase or down to
decrease the volume as shown in Figure 65.
The volume scale ranges from 0 to 100% (12dB) for increasing (or amplifying)
the audio and from 0 to -100% (-12dB) for decreasing (or attenuating) the
audio. The midway point is the “zero” point or the default volume. This
equates to 0dB, which means that the audio is neither amplified nor
attenuated.

Chapter 3
Figure 65. Adjusting the volume for a channel
The volume adjustment only affects the channel you selected in the work-
group window. Hence, adjusting the volume on one channel will not affect the
volume on another channel as adjustments apply on a per-channel basis.
Furthermore, any changes you make are independent of the changes made
by other operators. So your changes will not affect other operators and vice
versa.
The volume levels are also saved so the next time you login, all of your levels
will be restored—you don’t need to manually adjust the levels again.
Tapping the Default Volume button will “reset” the volume to the zero point.
This is a quick way to reset the volume instead of dragging the slider. It only
affects the volume for the current channel.
If you want to reset the volume for all channels in the workgroup, tap the
Default Volume on All Channels button. This makes it easy to reset the
channels all at once instead of resetting each one in turn.
When you adjust the volume by dragging the slider, the magnitude of the
volume is indicated by a level meter overlaid on the channel button as shown
in Figure 66 and Figure 67. The indicator changes depending on whether you
increase or decrease the volume and stays on screen for several
seconds.
112 Basic Operation

Figure 66. Increasing the channel volume
Figure 67. Decreasing the channel volume
You can also use the volume shortcut buttons on the toggle bar next to the
channel button to adjust the channel’s volume. The toggle bar for that channel
must be enabled to use the shortcut buttons.
Figure 68 shows the volume shortcut buttons on the toggle bar for Channel 1
and illustrates how to use these buttons to adjust the channel’s volume.

Chapter 3
Figure 68. Using the toggle bar to adjust the channel volume
The shortcut buttons provide a quicker way to adjust the channel’s volume but
the adjustment is coarser than using the slider. Use the slider when you
require finer adjustment of the volume.
VoIP and Radio Status

A DX-Altus system can be used over the internet or a LAN. This allows audio
feeds for radio channels and operator audio to be routed via an IP network
using VoIP (Voice over IP). The administrator configures this type of
operation, which depends on the equipment installed in your system.
Sometimes, network congestion or other factors may interrupt radio

communication on VoIP channels. If the system detects interruption to one or
more VoIP radio channels, or the actual radio is not operational or connected
to the IPR or DRG device, the appearance of the corresponding channel
button(s) in the workgroup will change to diagonal lines to indicate an
interrupted channel, as shown in Figure 69.
114 Basic Operation

VoIP Channel button
Shows interruption to VoIP
channel (diagonal lines)
Figure 69. Main window showing the VoIP status of channels
When the system detects that interrupted VoIP channels have been restored,
the appearance of the corresponding channel button (s) will be restored to the
original appearance.
Viewing Events with the Status Panel

Figure 72 on the following page shows an example of the Status Panel that
provides helpful information about the operation of your DX-Altus system. It is
a semi-transparent popup window, which will appear from time to time. Alto
uses this panel to display informational messages, errors, and warnings
generated from the event log in DX-Altus Server.
You can change the position of the panel by dragging it to another location,
however, it will automatically close after several seconds (this period is pre-
configured) or you can close it by tapping the Close icon.
The Status Panel always shows error messages with a red background to
draw your attention to such messages. Figure 70 and Figure 71 show some
examples of an informational message and an error message respectively.
Figure 70. Status panel showing an Figure 71. Status panel showing an error
informational message message

Chapter 3
Figure 72. Main window showing error message
The status panel displays only the latest message and does not keep track of
previous messages: you cannot backtrack through the messages.
The administrator configures how long the status panel stays on screen—it
may appear for a brief time before it automatically closes or it can stay on
screen indefinitely until you close it.
In the latter case, if a subsequent message is available for display, it will

appear after about four seconds and stay on screen until you dismiss it.
116 Basic Operation

Rapid Recall and
Recordings
The chapter discusses the Rapid Recall window and the associated
Recordings window, and includes the following sections:
• “Recording and Playback of Audio”

• “Recording Audio Samples” on page 120
• “Recalling Audio Recordings” on page 123
• “Playing Audio Recordings” on page 123
• “Saving Audio Recordings (Archives)” on page 125
• “Unsaving Audio Recordings” on page 127
• “Deleting Audio Recordings” on page 128
• “USB Audio Connection” on page 131
Recording and Playback of Audio

Sometimes when monitoring channels in a workgroup, you may miss some-
thing important such as a person’s name, location, or phone number; or you
may not understand a portion of the audio the first time and need to listen to it
again.
Using the Rapid Recall feature, you can instantly replay the last voice
communication, known as an audio recording, which was transmitted or re-
ceived. Audio recordings can also be automatically saved to hard disk for later
play back.

Chapter 3
The system administrator usually configures Rapid Recall for you; however,
you may be able to configure it depending on whether the administrator has
granted you the necessary permissions (see “Rapid Recall Options” on page
246).
The Rapid Recall feature provides functions to:
• Record and playback audio

• Pause and stop audio playback
• Save and delete recorded audio
• Search audio recordings
The Rapid Recall window and its complimentary Recordings window appear
as shown in Figure 73. The Rapid Recall window provides controls for audio
record and playback and the Recordings window lists the audio recordings
that you can play back.
Rapid Recall window

Allows recording and
playback of audio
Recordings window
Shows list of audio recordings
available for playback
Figure 73. Main screen showing Rapid Recall and Recordings windows
118 Basic Operation

In this example, the Recordings window is docked below the Rapid Recall
window, but you could easily rearrange the layout of the main window to suit
your preference as both of these windows can be docked to other areas of the
main window.
Figure 74 and Figure 75 show views of the Rapid Recall window with the
playback controls and an audio-level meter so you can see the level of the
audio as it is recorded or played back. This represents the loudness of the
audio using a logarithmic scale so as to mimic the action of a real VU Meter.
Header
Shows audio recording details
Duration
Shows the duration of the
recording
Previous Play/Pause Next Repeat Save

button button button button button
Figure 74. Rapid Recall window
Progress bar
Shows playback progress
Volume slider
Sets audio playback level
Audio meter
Shows playback/record level
Figure 75. Rapid Recall window showing playback in progress
Note The playback volume slider also affects the playback volume of other
wave audio files such as message announcements and the ring sound on
phone channels.

Chapter 3
The audio-level meter provides a peak marker that immediately indicates the
most recent (in the last 2 seconds) audio peak before falling back slowly. The
peak marker uses colours as follows:
• Grey – represents both playback and recording not active

• Yellow – represents peak playback audio
• Red – represents peak recorded audio (only whilst playback is inactive)
The audio recording header includes details about the audio file, such as the
date and time the audio was recorded and the first three channels contributing
to the recording. The recording duration shows the duration (in seconds) of
the recording. This information makes it easy to identify individual recordings.
Use the Previous/Next buttons to navigate backward and forward through the
audio recordings (see “Recalling Audio Recordings” on page 123).
Use the Play/Pause button to play or pause playback of the selected audio re-
cording and the Repeat button to play the audio recording in a loop (see
“Playing Audio Recordings” on page 123).
Recording Audio Samples

Each time you talk, or receive audio, on a channel, Alto automatically records
the audio to hard disk and saves it in the Microsoft Wave (.wav) format. This is
called an audio recording. Alto also records the audio when a phone channel
is taken off-hook—you cannot manually record the audio.
This type of audio recording is referred to as a temporary audio recording, and

it is only available for recall (play back) while you are logged in to the system.
You can play back the audio in temporary audio recordings, but when you log
out, if the option to “purge audio on logout” is enabled (refer to “Rapid Recall
Options” on page 246), all temporary audio recordings will be automatically
deleted. Once the recordings are deleted, you cannot undelete them!
Note Recorded audio is temporarily saved to disk in Microsoft Wave (.wav)

files. These files are called “temporary audio recordings” and are usually
deleted when you log out of the system.
Alto will limit the duration of a single audio recording to 10 minutes. If audio is
still present on a channel after this time, a new audio recording will begin. The
new recording will include the last ten seconds of audio from the previous
recording to maintain continuity.
Alto will automatically start to record the audio from one or more channels
when any of the following stimuli occurs:
120 Basic Operation

• Radio channels in selected (foreground) or monitored (background) mode
changing to busy state or PTT state by the local operator whilst the
“record radio audio” setting is enabled;
• Phone channels going off-hook by the local operator whilst “record phone
audio” option is enabled; or
• Operator’s phone (AFI phone) going off-hook whilst “record phone audio”
option is enabled.
Figure 76 shows the appearance of the Rapid Recall window whilst Alto is
recording audio after detecting an audio stimulus. The recording indicator
changes to red to indicate recording is in progress.
Recording indicator
Indicates recording in progress
Audio meter
Shows audio recording level
Figure 76. Recording audio when PTT or busy detected
Whilst recording is in progress, the audio meter shows the relative level of
recorded audio. As the audio level fluctuates, the level will appear on the
meter as segments of a bar graph. A red marker will indicate the peaks of
active audio as it is recorded.
Figure 77 shows the Rapid Recall window when the audio stimulus is
removed. The recording indicator will change to an orange colour as soon as
the stimulus is removed. This indicates that the recording is about to stop
unless a new stimulus is detected within the conversation timeout config-
uration setting, which is usually set to several seconds (can be set to zero).

Chapter 3
Recording indicator
Indicates recording is about to
stop (audio stimulus removed)
Audio Meter
Shows audio recording level
Figure 77. Recording audio when no PTT or busy detected
Alto automatically saves the audio of a conversation to hard disk and time-
stamps it so you can easily determine when it was recorded. Once the audio
is saved, it appears in the Recordings window as shown in Figure 78.
The Recordings window shows details about the recording including the
channel on which it was recorded—this is also used to help you identify the
audio recording.
Recorded message
Shows details about the audio
recording
Play button
Starts playback of audio recording
Padlock button
Locks (or unlocks) the recording list
Figure 78. Recordings window showing an audio recording
The description of the recording displayed in the Rapid Recall window shows
the first three channels that contributed to the recoding. If the recording
includes audio from more than three channels, an ellipsis (…) is post fixed.
If you want to recall the audio recording for playback at a later date, you can
change it to a permanently “saved” audio recording (see “Saving Audio
Recordings (Archives” on page 125).
122 Basic Operation

Note Saved audio recordings are stored to disk as Microsoft ADPCM format
files. These files are called “saved audio recordings” and will not be deleted
when you log out of the system.
Recalling Audio Recordings

Using the Recordings window or the Next and Previous navigation buttons on
the Rapid Recall window, you can quickly locate the audio recording that you
want to recall and play back. The recording properties, such as the channel(s)
and the date and time of the recording, are displayed to make it easy to recall
the correct audio recording. Once you have selected an audio recording, you
can:
• Playback the audio

• Permanently save the audio
• Delete the audio
Playing Audio Recordings

Whilst playback is in progress, the audio meter shows the relative level of
recorded audio. As the audio level fluctuates, the level will appear on the
meter as segments of a bar graph. A yellow marker indicates the peaks in
audio as it plays back.
Playback of an audio recording usually starts at the beginning of the recording

called the mark-in point, and then continues until it reaches the end of the
recording called the mark-out point, and then stops.
You can select only a portion of the recording to play back in a continuous
loop by changing the mark-in and mark-out points of the recording—this is
helpful in cases when the audio may be noisy or difficult to understand and
you only want to listen to, and repeat, a particular portion of the audio several
times.
To repeat only a select portion of the audio, tap the Repeat button and
then adjust the sliders for the mark-in and mark-out points respectively. Only
the portion between the markers will repeat. Figure 79 shows the Rapid Recall
window with the mark-in and mark-out points adjusted for repeat playback.

Chapter 3
Mark-In slider
Adjusts the position of the
mark-in point (start)
Mark-Out slider
Adjusts the position of the
mark-out point (end)
Repeat button
Repeats the audio between
the markers
Figure 79. Repeating a portion of the audio recording
In this configuration, the audio will commence playback from the mark-in point
and continue to the mark-out point. It will then repeat the same portion of
audio over again. This will continue until you tap either the Pause button to
pause playback or tap the Repeat button again to cancel repeat mode.
Once you start playing the audio recording, you can pause playback, continue
playback to the end, or repeat the entire recording (or a portion of the
recording) in a loop.
To play back an audio recording

1. Select the audio recording you want to play by doing one of the following:
• In the Rapid Recall window, tap the Next and Previous navigation
buttons.
• In the Recordings window, tap the recording.
The recording details including the date and time of the recording and the
recording duration appear in the Rapid Recall window.
Tip To jump directly to the most recent or oldest recording, touch-n-hold the
Next or Previous buttons respectively.
2. To start playback of the recording, do one of the following:

• In the Rapid Recall window, tap Play to start playback.
• In the Recordings window, tap the Play icon for the recording you
want to playback.
While the recording plays, you can pause or stop the playback. You can
also increase or decrease the volume level by dragging the volume slider.
3. (Optional) Tap Pause to pause playback.
Playback of the audio recording pauses. You can resume playback from
that point by tapping Play.
124 Basic Operation
4. (Optional) To repeat the recording in a continuous loop, tap Repeat, and
then drag the sliders for the mark-in and mark-out points accordingly.
Playback of the audio recording starts at the mark-in point and continues
up to the mark-out point. It then repeats again between these two points.
Saving Audio Recordings (Archives)

You can save audio recordings so you can recall them later. This type of
recording is known as an archive. Saving an audio recording compresses the
audio into a smaller file size whilst maintaining audio quality. It also protects it
from deletion when you log out even if the “Purge audio recordings on logout”
option is selected (see “Rapid Recall Options” on page 246).
You can save a recording by tapping the Save button . When you save a
recording, an asterisk (*) is prepended to the recording details to let you know
that it is now saved as an archive. This is depicted in the Rapid Recall window
shown in Figure 80 and the Recordings window shown in Figure 81.
Saved recording
Asterisk indicates this
recording is saved
Figure 80. Rapid Recall window with a saved recording
Saved recording
Asterisk indicates this
recording is saved
Figure 81. Recordings window with a saved recording

Chapter 3
To save an audio recording

1. Select the audio recording you want to save by doing one of the following:
buttons to find the recording.
You can identify the selected recording, as it will have a yellow border.
2. In the Rapid Recall window, tap .
The recording is saved to the default folder and tagged as a “saved”
(“archived”) audio recording, as indicated by the asterisk (*) in the
recording details.
Specifying the Location

You can specify the location where you want to save the audio recording. Tap-
n-hold the Save button to open the Save Audio Recording As dialog.
You can then specify the location for the recording.
To save an audio recording to a specified location

2. In the Rapid Recall window, tap-n-hold to open the Save Audio
Recording As dialog.
3. Select a folder and type the name for the recording.
The recording is saved and tagged as a “saved” audio recording, as
indicated by the asterisk (*) in the recording details.
Saving Audio Clips

You can also save a portion of the audio instead of the whole recording—this
is known as an audio clip, which is a short clip of audio usually part of a longer
recording.
Tap the Repeat button to activate repeat mode, and then move the mark-
in and mark-out sliders to select the clip of audio, as shown in Figure 82.
126 Basic Operation

Mark-In slider
Sets the mark-in point (start)
Mark-Out slider
Sets the mark-out point (end)
Repeat button
Repeats the audio between
the markers
Save button
Saves the audio clip
Figure 82. Selecting and saving an audio clip
Once you have adjusted the markers to select the audio clip, tap-n-hold the
Save button . This opens the Save Audio Portion Between Markers As
dialog so you can specify the location where to save the audio clip.
To save an audio clip to a specified location

2. In the Rapid Recall window, tap the Repeat button to activate repeat
mode (the mark-in and mark-out sliders appear).
3. In the Rapid Recall window, drag the mark-in and mark-out sliders to
adjust the start and end of the audio clip.
4. In the Rapid Recall window, tap-n-hold to open the Save Audio
Portion Between Markers As dialog.
5. Select a folder and type the name for the audio clip.
The recording is saved and tagged as a “saved” audio recording, as
indicated by the asterisk (*) in the recording details.
Unsaving Audio Recordings

You can “unsave” a previously archived audio recording by tapping the
button again. In fact, each time you tap the button, the recording alternates
between “saved” and “unsaved”.

Chapter 3
A pop-up message will appear advising that the functionality associated with
the Save button has changed in this version of Alto, as shown in Figure 83.
Figure 83. Audio recording save status
If you no longer wish to see this message, simply tap the blue hyperlink to
prevent it from appearing again.
Deleting Audio Recordings

You can either delete temporary audio recordings one at a time or delete them
all in one operation—this makes it easy to free up disk space and remove
unwanted recordings. However, you cannot delete all saved audio recordings
in one operation: you can only delete them one recording at a time.
Furthermore, if the option to delete rapid-recall audio is selected (see “Rapid

Recall Options” on page 246), all temporary audio recordings will be auto-
matically deleted when you log out.
To delete an audio recording

1. In the Recordings window, tap the padlock to unlock the recordings.
A delete button appears next to each recording.
Delete button
Deletes the audio recording
2. Tap the Delete button next to the recording you want to delete.
A confirm-deletion button appears waiting for you to confirm it.
128 Basic Operation

Note Once you delete a recording, you cannot undelete it!
3. Tap Confirm Deletion to delete the recording.
4. (Optional) To delete another recording, repeat steps (2) and (3).

5. Tap the unlocked padlock to lock the recordings.

Chapter 3
To delete all audio recordings

1. In the Recordings window, tap the padlock to unlock the recordings.
The Delete All button appears in the lower-left corner.
2. Tap Delete All.

A confirmation appears asking for you to confirm the multiple deletions.
3. (Optional) To include archived recordings in the deletion, tap Exclude

Archived Recordings to toggle the selection.
4. Tap Yes to delete all recordings or No to cancel.
Note Once you delete all recordings, you cannot undelete them!
130 Basic Operation

USB Audio Connection
If the USB audio connection to your AFI-IP device at your console is inter-
rupted, a message will appear in the Rapid Recall window and a warning
message will pop-up in the Workgroups window as shown in Figure 84.
Figure 84. Message displayed when USB audio connection to AFI-IP is interrupted
This “USB audio connection” message will remain in the Rapid Recall window
for as long as the connection is interrupted. You can, however, dismiss the
pop-up message.
As soon as Alto detects that the USB audio connection to the AFI-IP is re-
stored, the message will disappear and normal operation of the Rapid Recall
feature will resume.

Call History
The chapter discusses the Call History window and includes the following
sections:
• “Call History Window” on page 134

• “Types of Calls” on page 135
• “Call Direction and Completion” on page 136
• “Viewing Call Details” on page 136
• “Audio Playback of Calls” on page 139
• “Calling from Call History” on page 140
• “Call History Auto Scroll” on page 141

Chapter 5
Call History Window

The Call History window shown in Figure 85 keeps track of all the calls you
make and receive. It logs the calls in the Call History Log, and uses this log to
display the call activity. Using Call History, you can do the following:
• Review your call history

• See a chronological breakdown of the incidents comprising a call
• Playback the audio of individual incidents comprising a call
• Filter calls based on search criteria
• Initiate a return/repeat call
• Determine when a call occurred, the channel, duration, type of call, and
the distant party involved
Auto Scroll switch

Enables or disables auto scroll
Navigator panel
Quick access to pages
First Page button

Jumps to first page
Page Up button
Shows next page
Call Details button
Shows details about the call
Page Down button
Shows previous page
Last Page button

Jumps to last page
Padlock button
Locks or unlocks the list
Call icon Filter text box
Shows the type of Applies the filter you type to
call and direction incrementally search for calls
Figure 85. Call History window
134 Call History

When you make or receive a call, it appears in the Call History window—
newer calls always appear above older calls in the list.
The Call History window is visible in its own dockable window. You can
reposition, resize, or dock it to another window as required.
The Call History window displays one page of calls at a time, and the number
of calls on a page depends on the physical size of the Call History window.
You can use the navigation buttons to quickly page up or page down through
the call-history log. You can also use the page slider on the navigator panel to
go directly to the desired page by dragging it left or right.
The total number of calls allowed in the call-history list depends on a

configuration option (see “Call History Options” on page 249).
Types of Calls
The Call History window can log and display several different types of calls,
namely: phone calls, calls on analog- and digital-radio channels, and calls on
trunked-radio channels.
Call icons identify the type of channel involved in the call and the direction of
the call (if the call direction is known). The direction can be either inbound
(received) or outbound (originated).
Each call icon is constructed from a base image identifying the channel type
and an optional overlay image identifying the call direction (if the direction is
known).
Icon Description
This base image represents a phone call.
This base image represents an analog radio call.

Type
This base image represents a digital-radio call.
This base image represents a trunked-radio call.

Direction
This overlay image indicates an inbound (received) call.
This overlay image indicates an outbound (originated) call.

Chapter 5
Call Direction and Completion

Call direction is based on the following:
• Phone and Individual Calls: Depends on which end originated the call.
• Analog and Group Calls: Depends on which end spoke first.
Call completion is based on the channel type as follows:
• Phone Channels: Based on the phone channel returning to the on-hook

state or an incoming call ceasing to ring (missed call).
• Analog Radio Channels: Based on a configurable timeout (PTT or
inactivity).
• Digital Radio Channels: Based on a change in the radio call mode (see
below).
• Trunk Radio Channels: Based on a change in the radio call mode (see
below).
Digital-radio and trunked-radio channels can have the following radio call
modes: All Call, Default Call, No Call, Individual Call, Group Call and Alert
Call.
If the direction of a call can be determined, a direction (tray-arrow) icon will be

overlayed on the call-type icon. An up-arrow denotes an outgoing call and a
down-arrow denotes an incoming call.
Viewing Call Details

The Call History window displays details about a particular call on the call’s
Call Details button as shown in Figure 86.
Call Details button

Shows details about
the call
Figure 86. Call details

136 Call History
The information about a call includes the following details:
• Date and time the call was logged

• Channel on which the call was originated or received
• Type and status of the call
• Duration of the call
Calls can have one or multiple incidents. An incident is a channel event that
occurs whilst the call is in progress, such as call connection or completion
(termination), when a PTT occurs, when the channel becomes busy, or when
some other activity occurs.
When a new incident occurs, Call History inserts it in chronological order into
the call’s incidents list. The most recent incidents appear above older
incidents. The text displayed on the Call Details button reflects the most
recent incident comprising the call.
You can expand or show the incidents list for a call by tapping the Incidents
button , as shown in Figure 87. To collapse or hide the incidents list, tap the
Call Details button again or tap on another window.
Incidents button
Shows or hides the list
of incidents for the call
Incidents List
Shows all the incidents
for the call
Figure 87. Call Incidents
The incidents list shows additional information about the call including when
the call was initiated and completed (unless it is still in progress), the total call
duration, and the PTT/Busy cycles with time stamping.

Chapter 5
The channel status icons in the incidents list have the following meanings:
Channel received during this period

Channel received and transmitted during this period
Channel transmitted during this period
Channel did not receive nor transmit during this period
The incidents list can accommodate a maximum of twenty incidents per call.
Once the number of incidents reaches this limit, the incidents list is full, and
Call History starts to combine older incidents together into one incident so that
it does not exceed this limit.
In order to accommodate subsequent incidents when the incidents list is full,

Call History merges the two oldest incidents into one aggregated incident
making room for the new incident. This is called incident aggregation and is
illustrated in Figure 88.
Aggregated Incident
Indicates this is an
aggregated incident
Figure 88. Aggregation of incidents
138 Call History

As depicted in the example, the two oldest incidents have merged into one
aggregated incident, as indicated by the text “(AGGREGATED)”.
The duration of the aggregated incident is the combined duration of the two
individual incidents. The channel status icon reflects the status of the most
recent of the two individual incidents.
Audio Playback of Calls

To commence playback of the audio for an incident, tap the incident in the list.
Rapid Recall searches for the first audio clip (recording) that overlaps with the
timespan of this call. If it finds such a recording, Rapid Recall will commence
playback from the start of the audio clip, as depicted in Figure 89.
Figure 89. Playback of incident audio comprising an Individual Call

Chapter 5
In the Rapid Recall window, the orange range bar indicates the duration of the
audio recording for the incident. The mark-in and mark-out points auto-
matically snap to this range (regardless of whether repeat mode is active in
the Rapid Recall window). If the call extends over multiple incidents
(recordings), Rapid Recall will not automatically play these.
The Auto Scroll switch automatically switches OFF to prevent new incidents
from interfering with the list (see “Call History Auto Scroll” on page 141).
As more than one channel can be active (busy or PTT) at the same time,
there is no guarantee that each incident will have its own recording. In fact, it
might be that the whole call fits within the extent of a single recording due to
another channel being busy for longer.
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that a recording will be available to play,

as it might not exist anymore due to manual deletion or the standard purging
mechanism.
If you try to play an audio clip, but Call History cannot find its associated audio
recording (one with an overlapping timespan), you will see the informational
message shown in Figure 90. This causes the incident list to collapse or hide.
To expand or show the list again, tap the Call Incident button.
Figure 90. Informational message displayed when audio recording is not available
Calling from Call History

When you tap-n-hold the Call Details button for an Individual Call for example,
Alto will attempt to initiate a new Individual Call to the same remote party on
the same channel. This also applies to the other types of calls.
If the remote party is not known (i.e., it cannot be cross-referenced against the
contacts list), but the original call is still available in the active workgroup, the
Individual Call will be initiated once you accept the confirmation dialog.
However, if the remote party is known (i.e., it can be cross-referenced against

the contacts list), the context menu of the contact will be presented. This
allows you to invoke other operations like text messaging, radio alerts, or
locate radio instead of just making an individual call.
140 Call History

Call History Auto Scroll
The Auto Scroll switch allows you to control automatic scrolling of the call
history. With Auto Scroll ON, when a new call is added to the top of the first
page, all other calls will be bumped down one position regardless of which
page is displayed. This is the default action.
To prevent this from happening, you can switch off auto scrolling by switching
to Auto Scroll OFF. Subsequent new calls will not have any effect on the call
items currently displayed in the list. This is because new calls will be unlisted
(hidden) until automatic scrolling is enabled again.
Figure 91 shows an example of Call History with two pages of calls in which
the operator switches to Auto Scroll OFF (to disable automatic scrolling).
Auto Scroll switch

Switches auto scroll on or off and
shows the number of unlisted calls
Page Selector
Selects the page to display
(showing page 1 of 2)
Page Selector
Unlisted Call Counter

Shows the number of
unlisted calls
Figure 91. Call History window without auto scroll

Chapter 5
Whilst viewing this page, one new call and one new incident arrived as
indicated by the number in parentheses, known as the unlisted calls/incidents
counter. This shows the number of new calls and incidents, which are called
unlisted calls and unlisted incidents. As auto scrolling is off, these do not
appear in the list and the existing calls do not scroll down.
Switching to Auto Scroll ON adds the unlisted call to the top of the list and
bumps the other calls down by the number of new calls (i.e., one position in
this example), as shown in Figure 92.
Auto Scroll switch

Auto scroll switched to ON
New Call
Shows the new call added
to the top of the list
Page Selector
Call List
Calls bumped down by one
with auto scroll in effect
Figure 92. Call History window with auto scroll
142 Call History

Controlling Digital Radios
This chapter discusses the digital-radio functionality built into Alto, and
includes the following sections:
• “Digital Radio Capabilities” on page 144

• “Changing Radio Channels” on page 149
• “Querying Radio Channels” on page 153
• “Setting the Radio Power Level” on page 153
• “Progress of Remote Phone Call” on page 154
• “Terminating Remote Phone Call” on page 156
• “Special Radio Functions” on page 156
• “All Text Message” on page 163

Chapter 6
Digital Radio Capabilities

Alto supports the following digital radio capabilities:
• Channel Change and Channel Query

• Individual Call: Individual Text Messaging and Call Alert
• Group Call: Group Call Messaging
• All Call
• Incoming Emergency
Not all digital radios support all of the above capabilities—Alto only exposes
the individual capabilities (touch-n-hold on the channel button) supported by
digital radios.
Some conventional DMR digital radios can support talk-groups—a talk-group

allows radio operators to communicate privately with other radio operators in
the selected talk-group.
DMR radios support two timeslots on a single frequency, so a “channel” is

usually referred to as a “talk-path” and becomes a combination of a frequency
and a timeslot. This is especially the case when a channel controls a DRG
device. Hence, the term “talk-path” is used to refer to the button instead of
“channel”.
Conventional digital radios can also support multiple talk-groups on the same
frequency (and timeslot). However, for simplicity sake, Alto only uses the term
“channel” for conventional radios.
For trunked systems, only talk-groups are used. Hence, the term “talk-group”
is used instead of “channel”, and therefore, the name of the talk-group is
shown. Talk-groups can be seen as “virtual channels” on a trunked system.
The equivalent of “channel change” is therefore “talk-group change” for
trunked radios.
Individual Call
Channels supporting individual call allow you to make an individual call
(outgoing private call) to a specific radio or receive an individual call (incoming
private call) from a digital radio. Both of these are discussed below.
Outgoing Calls
The digital radio is identified by a radio identity. You can either enter a raw
radio identity or select one from the items in the contact list with listed radio
identities.
144 Controlling Digital Radios

The digital radio state (label on line 4) will start to flash whilst the call is being
setup, and if successful, the flashing will stop and the button with a single
figurehead (on the toggle bar to the right of the channel button) will light up
green.
You will have a limited amount of time to PTT to commence the

conversation—other operators will be prevented from interacting with this
channel as it will temporarily suspend at their consoles for the duration of the
individual call.
Individual calls may time-out at any stage (primarily due to inactivity) and
revert to an “All Call” state. Calls may be cancelled from the tap-and-hold
context menu or by tapping on the button with the green single figurehead.
Incoming Calls
Similar to the outgoing individual calls, the digital radio channel may at any
stage signal an individual call state by indicating details about the call (label
on line 4) of the channel button and turning the button with the individual
figurehead green.
The difference now is that any operator may interact with the individual call
and the channel will not be suspended for any particular operator.
Text Messaging
You may prepare and send text messages to digital radios (initiated by a
touch-n-hold on the corresponding channel button). Likewise, in the case of an
outgoing individual call, you can either enter a raw radio identity or select one
from the items in the contact list with listed radio identities as the recipient of
the text massage.
Regardless of whether the text message is outgoing or incoming, the

Messages window will contain an entry of such occurrence and the most
recent text message will scroll across (label on line 5) the channel button
(unless there is an active state of emergency on the channel).
Call Alert
You may issue a call alert to digital radios—this is similar to paging a recipient.
It is up to the recipient to respond either by talking back or sending a text
message. The process of issuing a call alert is similar to making an individual
call except that you must either tap the Alert button or the icon of the intended
contact with the desired radio identity, as shown in Figure 93.

Chapter 6
Call Alert button

Allows you to send a call
alert message
Figure 93. Call Alert button
Group Call
Channels supporting group call allow you to make a call (outgoing call) to a
specific group or receive a call (incoming call) from a specific group. Both of
these are discussed below.
Outgoing Calls
The radio is identified by a group identity. You can either enter a raw group
identity or select one from the entries in the contact list with group identities.
A group call allows you to communicate with all individual radios that have
been pre-configured to be in the group. The digital radio state (label on line 4)
will start to flash whilst the call is being setup, and if successful, the flashing
will stop and the button with multiple figureheads (on the toggle bar to the right
of the channel button) will light up green, as shown in Figure 94.
Figure 94. Group call

You will have a limited amount of time to PTT to commence the conversation.
When the channel becomes busy (as a result of radio belonging to the group
transmitting), the channel button will blink green and indicate both the group
name and the individual talking (see Figure 94).
If the group identity could not be cross-referenced to a name, the raw value
will be displayed. Similarly, if the radio identity could not be cross-referenced
to a name, the raw value will be displayed in brackets prefixed with the tag
“Radio ID”.
Group calls may time-out at any stage (primarily due to inactivity) and revert to
an “All Call” state. Calls may be cancelled from the touch-n-hold context menu
or by tapping the button with the green multiple figureheads.
Incoming Calls
Similar to the outgoing group calls, the digital radio channel may at any stage
signal a group-call state by indicating details about the call (label on line 4 of
the channel button) and changing the colour of button with the individual
figurehead to green. Any operator may interact with the group call as the
channel will not be suspended for any particular operator.
Text Messaging
You may prepare and send text messages to digital radios (initiated by a
touch-n-hold on the corresponding channel button). Likewise in the case of an
outgoing group call, you can either enter a raw group identity or select one
from the entries in the contact list with listed group identities as the recipient of
the text message.
All radios that have been preconfigured to be part of the particular group and
are turned on and within range should receive the text message. Regardless
of whether the text message is outgoing or incoming, the Messages window
will contain an entry of such occurrence and the most recent text message will
scroll across (label on line 5) the channel button (unless there is an active
state of emergency on the channel).
All Call
In the absence of an Individual Call or Group Call, the default call state for a
digital radio is the All Call. When in this state, the corresponding channel
button indicates “All Call”.
An operator’s voice will be conveyed to all radios tuned to this channel when
that operator presses PTT and talks—the corresponding channel button
changes colour to red as a result of selected in the foreground.

Chapter 6
When the channel becomes busy (as a result of a radio on this channel
transmitting), the channel button will blink green and indicate both “All Call”
and the individual talking. If the radio identity could not be cross-referenced to
a name, the raw value will be displayed in brackets prefixed with the tag
“Radio ID”.
Incoming Emergency
Most digital radios can be placed in an emergency state. Alto reflects a state
of (incoming) emergency on a channel by the tag “Emergency ON” displayed
in a red colour on the corresponding channel button, which is prefixed with the
initiator (if possible).
This tag remains on for the duration of the emergency. As the same label is
used to display both the most recent text message and the emergency state,
the latter takes precedence. This means a more recent text message will only
be shown if the channel is not in a state of emergency.
In addition to this channel button adornment, the Messages window will

contain entries of all text messages and alarm messages displayed in chrono-
logical order. You can use this as a log to obtain information as to when
emergencies were set and cleared, the originator of the emergency, and the
name of the corresponding channel.
Figure 95 shows an example of the Messages window with emergency state

messages.
Figure 95. Messages window showing emergency states
If you touch-n-hold a message item in the Messages window, it will display the
particular message in more detail. This is useful in cases when the message
cannot be displayed in full on the message panel.
DX-Altus Server can be configured to optionally alert the Alto operator of
incoming emergencies. The options include the following:
• Disabled – Does not alert the operator (just rely on channel adornments
and items in the Messages window).
• Dialog without sound – Displays a popup message without sound that
the operator must dismiss.
• Dialog with sound – Displays a popup message whilst playing a siren
sound that the operator must dismiss.
An example of the optional popup message is shown in Figure 96.
Figure 96. Emergency alert dialog
If subsequent emergencies are received whilst the popup alert is displayed,

the blue Dismiss button will split into two buttons: one of these buttons will
allow the operator to dismiss all occurrences in one operation; and the other
button will allow for individual dismissal of each incoming emergency. In the
latter case, the popup will remain on-screen and show the next emergency
with the number of pending emergencies waiting to be dismissed.
Changing Radio Channels

The Channel Change function is an optional feature of the DX-Altus system
that is configured by the system administrator and may be available on your
system. This feature works in conjunction with radios or transceivers that are
compatible with channel-change functionality. Using the Channel Change
feature, you can:
• Send channel-change commands to change the channel

• Send channel-query commands to determine the current channel
A channel (or frequency) is used by a radio or transceiver to transmit and

receive audio, and radios usually have more than one channel. This feature
allows you to change the channel on which a radio or transceiver can transmit
and receive.

Chapter 6
The DX-Altus system supports two types of channel-change functionality:

DTMF Channel Change and Serial Channel Change. This functionality
depends on the types of radios installed in your DX-Altus system—the
administrator will configure the system accordingly.
The channels in a workgroup are each associated with a particular DX-Altus

channel, and each of these channels can have a transceiver attached to it that
has one or more (radio) channels. These channels are configured by your
system administrator.
Changing the channel on a radio involves selecting a channel in the active

workgroup—remember that these are DX-Altus channels and not radio
channels—and then selecting one of the available radio channels for the radio
associated with that DX-Altus channel. The selected radio channel will then be
assigned to the DX-Altus channel and the radio changes to the channel you
selected.
Figure 97 shows how the Radio Channel Change dialog might appear when
you tap the Radio Channel Change button on the Channel Control dialog for
a channel named “Channel 4”.
Channel Control dialog

Provides options to control a channel
Radio Channel Change dialog

Allows you change the radio
channel
Radio Channel keypad
Shows the channel you key-in
from the keypad
Radio Channel keypad

Selects the channel on
the radio
Query Radio Channel button

Queries the radio for its current
channel
Figure 97. Changing a radio channel using the Radio Channel Change dialog
This dialog is the default one that appears when the system administrator has
not configured any channel-change capabilities for the DX-Altus channel. This
default dialog allows you to select a channel using the channel-change
keypad. You can also type the radio channel directly in to the Radio Channel
text box by using the on-screen keyboard.
When you select a channel, Alto immediately sends a channel-change
command directly to the radio instructing it to change to the specified channel.
You can also query the radio for its current channel by tapping the Query
Radio Channel button.
The maximum number of digits that you can key-in for a radio channel is
limited to three—this provides a range of channels from 0 to 999 although the
number of channels supported depends on the radio.
Figure 98 shows an example of using the Radio Channel Change dialog with
a radio that supports only four radio channels. In this case, the system
administrator has configured the DX-Altus channel (channel name of “CH50
LIU-7”) so that it is associated with a channel-change set that includes four
predefined radio channels labeled VHF-1, VHF-2, VHF-3, and VHF-4.
Channel-change sets make it easy for you to change channels on a channel-

change compatible radio. You do not need to be concerned with how to
configure channel-change sets as these are usually configured for you by the
system administrator depending on the types of radios used in your system.
Radio Channel Change button

Opens the Radio Channel Change
dialog for the selected channel Radio Channel Change dialog
Shows the radio channels
configured for the radio on this
channel
Channel keypad
Selects the channel on the radio
Figure 98. Changing a radio channel using a custom Radio Channel Change dialog

Chapter 6
Using the Radio Channel Change dialog, you can change or query the radio
channel for the radio on the selected DX-Altus channel. To change the
channel on the selected radio, tap one of the channel buttons on the Radio
Channel Change dialog.
The Radio Channel Change dialog will send the channel-change command to
the radio to change it to the channel you selected. The Radio Channel
Change dialog will then close.
It is also possible to change the channel on a radio from the selected work-
group using the toggle bar next to the channel button. This assumes, how-
ever, that you have enabled the toggle bar for the corresponding channel in
the Workgroup Modify dialog.
Figure 99 shows how to enable the toggle bar for channel 1 and channel 2
using the Workgroup Modify dialog. To enable the toggle bar for a particular
channel, tap the corresponding Toggle Bar OFF button.
The text on the button will change to Toggle Bar ON indicating that the toggle
bar for that channel is now enabled. If you tap the button again, the toggle bar
will turn off.
Toggle bar
Provides channel up/down
controls for changing
channels on the radio
Figure 99. Enabling toggle-bar controls in the Workgroup window
When the toggle bar for a particular channel is enabled, it will appear next to
the corresponding channel in the workgroup window. If you enable the toggle
bar for a channel that does not support the channel-change capability, you will
see a toggle bar similar to the one shown next to channel 2—the up/down
control buttons on the toggle bar appear disabled.
In addition to channel-change controls, depending on the capabilities exposed
by a channel, a digital channel may expose buttons to perform individual- or
group-calls. Phone channels also have dedicated buttons on the toggle bar.
Querying Radio Channels

If you simply want to know the current channel selected by the radio, tap the
Query Radio Channel button on the Radio Channel Change dialog. This
sends the query-channel command to the radio, which should then respond
with the selected channel. The Channel Change window will then close.
Whilst Alto is querying the radio, the text on the corresponding channel button
in the workgroup will show “querying” to indicate it is waiting for a response
from the radio.
Setting the Radio Power Level

Transceivers usually provide several discrete power levels that you can select
such as low or high power. You can change the power level directly from the
power toggle bar for a particular channel as shown in Figure 100.
Power toggle bar

Selects the power
level of the radio
Figure 100. Using the power toggle bar to set the radio power level
You can also use the touch-n-hold menu to select the radio power level as
shown in Figure 101.
If the current transmit power of the radio is known, this page of the context
menu will present the power setting as a single switch. When you tap the
switch, the touch-n-hold menu will close.
The current state of each channel is indicated by the text on the corresp-
onding channel button in the workgroup. The channel button will show
“Unknown” if the channel cannot be determined.

Chapter 6
Figure 101. Setting the radio power level using the touch-n-hold menu
Progress of Remote Phone Call

When the operator of a compatible portable device makes a digital-radio call
on a digital-radio channel, connection information for the SIP call will be sent
from the DRG100-P25 via the CCP link to the connected consoles. This
information is displayed on line 5 of the corresponding channel button in the
active workgroup window.
If the remote end answers the call, console operators will see the several
status messages appear on the channel button, as shown in Figure 102.
If the remote end does not answer the call, console operators will see a
“failure” message, as shown in Figure 103.

Idle
Channel is idle
Ringing
Remote phone ringing
Connected
Remote phone connected
Figure 102. Remote phone call showing successful connection message
Failure
Remote end failed to
connect
Figure 103. Remote phone call failure message

Chapter 6
Terminating Remote Phone Call

Once a digital-radio call is connected using a compatible digital radio, any
console operator can terminate the call by tapping the Cancel Remote Phone
button in the popup window shown in Figure 104.
Figure 104. Terminating a phone call with Cancel Remote Phone
To display the popup window, touch-n-hold the channel button for a second or
so until it appears.
Special Radio Functions

Some digital radios may offer the ability to perform special radio functions. At
the time of writing, these functions include the following:
• Radio Stun
• Radio Revive
• Radio Check
• Radio Status Message Request
These functions are available on the Channel Capabilities dialog for digital-
radio channels that provide any of these capabilities. Typically, these functions
will be grouped under the heading Special Radio Functions on the home
page of the Channel Capabilities dialog, as shown in Figure 105. However, if
only one of these functions is available, it will be listed directly on the home
page.

Figure 105. Channel Capabilities dialog showing Special Radio Functions
When you select the Special Radio Functions category, the Special Radio
Functions dialog opens, as shown in Figure 106. Note that due to the
permissions and supported capabilities, you may not see all these functions
listed. The following sections discuss each of these functions.
Figure 106. Special Radio Functions dialog
Radio Stun
The Radio Stun function offers the ability to stun field radios remotely; that is,
to render the radio inoperable from the point of view of the field radio operator.
Some digital radio technologies like P25 DFSI provide feedback as to the
effectiveness of the stun function.

Chapter 6
Select Radio Stun on the Special Radio Functions dialog to display the Radio
Stun dialog, as shown in Figure 107.
Figure 107. Radio Stun dialog
Use the keypad to specify the identity of the radio you want to stun.
Alternatively, lookup the specific radio identity by tapping the Contacts button
. Once you have specified the identity of the radio to stun, simply tap
Radio Stun to attempt to render the radio inoperable.
Each time you attempt to stun a radio, specific details about the attempt
appear in the Radio Stun list. This list is expandable and collapsible under the
Radio Stun button. Figure 108 depicts a scenario where an attempt to stun
Radio ID 5 succeeded but an attempt to stun Radio ID 6 failed.
Figure 108. List of attempts to stun radios

You can issue a specific stun function again by selecting the item in the list.
However, it will not appear as a new item in the list as it will reflect the latest
detail. This list will be available the next time you display the Channel
Capabilities dialog again. You can clear the listed items by tapping Clear List.
Note The Radio Stun function will not be available unless permitted by
system role configuration.
Radio Revive
The Radio Revive function offers you the ability to revive field radios remotely;
that is, to revive field radios previously rendered inoperable by a stun function.
Some digital radio technologies like P25 DFSI provide feedback as to the
effectiveness of the revive operation.
Select Radio Revive on the Special Radio Functions dialog to display the
Radio Revive dialog, as shown in Figure 109.
Figure 109. Radio Revive dialog
Use the keypad to specify the identity of the radio you want to revive.
. Once you have specified the identity of the radio to revive, simply tap
Radio Revive to attempt to make the radio operable again.
Each time you attempt to revive a radio, specific details about the attempt
appear in the Radio Revive list. This list is expandable and collapsible under
the Radio Revive button. Figure 110 depicts a scenario where an attempt to
revive Radio ID 5 succeeded but an attempt to revive Radio ID 6 failed.

Chapter 6
Figure 110. List of attempts to revive radios
You can issue a specific revive function again by selecting the item in the list.
Note The Radio Revive function will not be available unless permitted by
system role configuration.
Radio Check
The Radio Check action offers you the ability to check whether field radios are
operable and within range; that is, it acts similarly to a ping operation to check
the presence or reachability of the radio on the radio network.
Select Radio Check on the Radio Actions dialog to display the Radio Check
dialog, as shown in Figure 111.

Figure 111. Radio Check dialog
Use the keypad to specify the identity of the radio you want to check.
. Once you have specified the identity of the radio to check, simply tap
Radio Check to check if it is reachable.
Each time you attempt to check a radio, specific details about the attempt
appear in the Radio Check list. This list is expandable and collapsible under
the Radio Check button. Figure 112 depicts a scenario where an attempt to
check Radio ID 5 reported as successful but an attempt to check Radio ID 6
turned out to be unsuccessful.
Figure 112. List of attempts to check radios

Chapter 6
You can issue a specific radio-check function again by selecting the item in
the list. However, it will not appear as a new item in the list as it will reflect the
latest detail. This list will be available the next time you display the Channel
Radio Status Message Request

The Radio Status Message Request function offers the ability to request the
current status-message setting of a field radio.
Select Radio Status Message Request on the Special Radio Functions

dialog to display the Radio Status Message Request dialog, as shown in
Figure 113.
Figure 113. Radio Status Message Request dialog
Use the keypad to specify the identity of the radio. Alternatively, lookup the
specific radio identity by tapping the Contacts button . Once you have
specified the identity of the radio, simply tap Radio Status Message Request
to request its current status-message setting.
Each time you attempt the status-message request, specific details about the
attempt appear in the Radio Status Message Request list. This list is expand-
able and collapsible under the Radio Status Message request button.
Figure 114 depicts a scenario where both the radio 5 and 6 status message
requests turned out to be successful and the radio 7 request reported as
pending. Radio 5 returned a status of “Meeting” and Radio 6 a status of “With
Client”. The system will always attempt to cross-reference raw status values
with descriptive text. If you see only raw values, ask your supervisor or system
administrator to add these to the digital-radio status-message configuration.
Figure 114. Radio Status Message Request dialog
You can issue a specific request again by selecting the item in the list.
All Text Message

You use the All Text Message capability to send broadcast text messages to
compatible digital radios. This capability appears on the popup window for the
associated digital-radio channel, as shown in Figure 115.
Figure 115. All Text Message capability

Contacts
This chapter discusses the Contacts Window and includes the following
sections:
• “Contacts Window” on page 165

• “Sorting Contacts” on page 167
• “Filtering Contacts” on page 167
• “Importing and Exporting Contacts” on page 168
• “Adding Contacts” on page 169
• “Adding Contact Numbers” on page 171
• “Editing Contacts” on page 173
• “Deleting Contacts” on page 176
• “Deleting Contact Numbers” on page 178
• “Dialing from Contacts” on page 179
• “Sending Selective Call” on page 183
Contacts Window
The Contacts window is a central repository of information relating to contacts,
called the contacts list. If your administrator has granted you the “display
contacts” permission, the contacts list will be visible in its own dockable
Contacts window so you can reposition it as required. The contacts list is
similar to a conventional phone book you use to lookup a person’s number.
Using the Contacts window, you can quickly and easily manage all of your
contact information such as lookup a contact, add new contacts, edit contact
details, or delete contacts. Figure 116 shows an example of the Contacts
window with several pages of contacts.

Chapter 7
Sort button
Sorts the contacts list
Navigator panel
Allows quick access to contact pages
First page button

Jumps to first page of contacts
Previous page button

Jumps to previous page of contacts
Next page button

Jumps to next page of contacts
Last page button

Jumps to last page of contacts
Padlock button
Locks or unlocks the contacts list
Contact panel
Add button Filter text box Shows the contact details
Adds a new contact Applies the filter you type
to incremental search
Figure 116. Using the Contacts window to manage the contacts list
The Contacts window populates its contacts list with information obtained from
the contacts database maintained in the DX-Altus Server—this database is
usually configured for you by your system administrator.
You may be able to add, modify, and delete contacts, but this depends on the
permissions granted to your user account by the administrator.
After you log in, the contacts list takes some time to synchronize its local
cache with the DX-Altus system. This may take several minutes depending on
the size of the contacts database. A red exclamation icon on the Contacts
panel indicates the contact list is synchronizing—you will need to wait for this
to complete before you can use the contacts.
The contacts list contains a wealth of information about your contacts, includ-
ing a list of names, telephone numbers, and selcall numbers (if applicable)
much like a traditional phone directory that you use to look up the phone
number for a person or business you want to call.
You can use the Contacts window to add a new contact (see “Adding
Contacts” on page 169), edit an existing contact (see “Editing Contacts” on
page 173), or to remove an existing contact (see “Deleting Contacts” on page
176).
166 Contacts
Sorting Contacts
The items in the contacts list are usually displayed in the order in which they
are accessed (i.e., most-recently-used contacts appear first). The sort order is
indicated by the sort icon displayed on the Sort button as described below.
Sorts contacts in order of priority (contacts with higher priority appear

above contacts with lower priority).
Sorts contacts in alphabetical ascending order (based on last
name—if last name not specified, first name is used).
Sorts contacts in most-recently-used (MRU) order (based on the
time you added or last edited the contact). When using this sorting
method, you (i.e., the currently logged in user) will not see global
contacts added by other users.
You can change the sort order by tapping the Sort button—each time you tap
the button, the sort order changes according to the order you select. For
example, to sort the contacts in alphabetical ascending order, tap the Sort
button until the icon appears on the button.
Filtering Contacts
If you have a large number of contacts, you can use the incremental search
feature to quickly find a particular contact. This works by filtering the contacts
list based on the filter you type into the Filter/Incremental Search text box.
The filter searches on the first name, last name, and notes fields of the
contacts.
Figure 117 shows the incremental search in operation. As you start typing a
filter into the Filter/Incremental Search text box, the background colour of the
Contacts window changes to a salmon colour to indicate a filter is now in
effect. The Contacts window automatically filters the contacts based on what
you type.
Tip If you type a character by mistake, you can backspace over it by tapping
the Backspace key on your keyboard.
In this example, the operator searches for a contact by the name of “Joe”. As
the operator starts typing the name, the search incrementally narrows down
the list of matching contacts with each character typed until a match closest to
the filter is found.

Chapter 7
Once you have found the contact you want, you can change the contact’s
details (see “Editing Contacts” on page 173), delete the contact from the
contacts list (see “Deleting Contacts” on page 176), or call the contact by
tapping on it and selecting a contact number.
Filter text box

Applies filter to incremental
search
Clear button
Clears the search filter
Figure 117. Incrementally searching for a contact
If you want to clear the search filter applied to the contacts list, tap the “clear
filter” button . This will immediately reload the contacts list.
Importing and Exporting Contacts

If the administrator has granted you the necessary permissions to import and
export the contacts list, you will be able to import and export the contacts list
in a comma-separated-values (CSV) file (see “Importing Contacts” on page
267 and “Exporting Contacts” on page 270)
168 Contacts
Adding Contacts
The system administrator usually configures the contacts list for you; however,
you may need to add a new contact from time to time. Provided the system
administrator has granted you the permission to add contacts, adding a new
contact is straightforward.
Using the Contacts window, you can add a new contact by tapping the Add
Contact button . This will display the New Contact Modify dialog as shown
in Figure 118 with a default contact first name of “New Contact”.
Thumbnail image
Associates a thumbnail image
with the contact
Figure 118. Adding a new contact
When creating a new contact, you must specify a first name for the contact;
however, the last name is optional. You also need to specify the importance of
the contact—this is used to categorize the contact based on its importance or
priority, which is also used to sort the contacts list in order of importance.
For example, you may have several important contacts that you use for
emergency calls, and many other less-important contacts that you use for
everyday routine calls. For the important contacts, you would set the
importance to “High” or “Very High” and the others to “Low”, “Medium Low” or
“Medium”.
You can designate a contact as either private or shared. A private contact is

available only to the operator who created the contact and cannot be used by
other operators, whereas a shared contact is available to all operators.
To add the new contact, simply complete the information for the contact and
tap Apply and Close, as described in the procedure below. This adds the
new contact to the contacts list.

Chapter 7
The position of a new contact within the list depends on the importance you
assigned to it when you added the contact. Contacts with higher importance
always appear ahead of contacts with lower importance.
To add a contact
1. On the Contacts window, tap the “plus” button .
The New Contact Modify dialog appears.
2. In the First Name text box, type the first name of the contact.
3. (Optional) In the Last Name text box, type the last name of the contact.
Note If you do not specify a last name, the first name will be used
for sorting. Any leading or trailing whitespace characters will be
trimmed from both names.
4. From the Importance drop-down list, select the importance of the

contact.
5. (Optional) In the Notes text box, type any notes that will help you identify
the contact.
6. If you want to make this contact a shared contact, tap Private Contact.
This changes the contact type from a private contact to a shared contact.
7. Tap Apply and Close to save the new contact.
170 Contacts
Adding Contact Numbers
When you add a new contact, you should also add one or more contact
numbers to the contact. The following procedure outlines how to do this.
To add a new contact number

1. On the Contacts window, tap the contact you want to modify.
The Contact Modify dialog opens with the details for the selected contact.
2. Tap the “plus” button .

The Contact Number Modify dialog opens.

Chapter 7
3. In the Number text box, type the contact number.

4. From the Contact Number Type dropdown list, select the type of contact
number.
5. (Optional) If you want to optionally link this contact number to a specific
channel, tap NOT linked to a specific channel (Optional), and then tap
the channel you want to link.
A tick mark indicates that the channel is linked to this contact number.
6. Tap Apply and Close.

The new contact number now appears in the list of contact numbers.
7. To add another contact number, repeat steps (2) to (6).

172 Contacts
Editing Contacts
You may need to make changes to a contact from time to time especially if the
contact number(s) has changed or you need to add a new contact number—a
contact can include multiple contact numbers such as a landline and cell-
phone (mobile) number, or a selcall number.
A contact comprises several fields of information including the contact’s first

and last name, its importance, a description, and whether it is local (private) to
this console or shared with other consoles.
You will need permission to edit or modify contacts (the system administrator
grants permission to edit contacts).
Figure 119 shows the Modify Contact dialog with the contact information for
the selected contact named “Joe Citizen”—all of the information about this
contact appears here in the one place so you can make changes to any of the
fields as required.
Contact Modify window

Allows you to edit the selected contact
Thumbnail image
Shows an image of the contact
Shared/Private button
Selects whether the contact is shared
or private
Contact number button
Shows the contact number to call
Add button
Adds a new contact to the contacts list
Padlock button
Locks or unlocks the contact-number
list
Figure 119. Modifying a contact
If you add more than one contact number for a particular contact, those
numbers will appear underneath each other in the contact-number list. The
padlock only applies to the contact-number list and is used to unlock the list so
you can delete one or more contact numbers.

Chapter 7
To edit a contact
1. On the Contacts window, tap the contact you want to edit.
The Contact Modify dialog for selected contact appears (e.g. “Joe
Citizen”).
2. In the First Name text box, type the first name of the contact.
3. (Optional) In the Last Name text box, type the last name of the contact.
Note If you do not specify a last name, the first name will be used
for sorting. Any leading or trailing whitespace characters will be
trimmed from both names.
4. From the Importance drop-down list, select the importance of the

contact.
5. (Optional) In the Notes text box, type any notes that will help you identify
the contact.
6. To change the type of contact, do one of the following:
• To make this contact a shared contact, tap Private Contact.
• To make this contact a private contact, tap Shared Contact.
7. To modify a contact number for the contact, tap the contact number to
select it.
The Contact Number Modify dialog shows the details of the number.
8. To modify the contact number, in the Contact Number text box, type the
new contact number.
174 Contacts
9. To change the contact number type, from the Contact Number Type
drop-down list, select a new contact number type.
10. (Optional) To link this contact number to one or more channels, tap NOT
linked to a specific channel (Optional).

Chapter 7
Contact Number Modify window

Modifies the details for the selected
contact number
Link button
Links one or more channels to
the contact number
Channel button
Allows you to link or unlink the
channel (green tick indicates
channel is linked)
11. Tap Apply and Close to commit the contact number modification.
Deleting Contacts
Using the Contacts window, you can easily delete a contact so that it no
longer appears in the Contacts window. Before you can delete a contact,
however, the system administrator needs to grant you the permission to delete
contacts.
You will see a padlock button in the lower right-hand corner in the locked
position. This shows that the list is locked and you cannot make any changes
to it. You can unlock the list by tapping on the padlock. When the list it is
unlocked, a trash button appears next to each contact.
Note When you delete a contact, it is completely deleted from the DX-Altus
Server and cannot be restored—if you delete a contact by mistake, you will
need to add it again!
To delete a contact
1. On the Contacts window, tap the padlock button to unlock the
contact-number list.
176 Contacts
Delete button
Deletes selected contact
2. Locate the contact you want to delete, and then tap the corresponding
delete button .
A Confirm Deletion button will appear next to the contact.
3. To confirm the deletion, tap Confirm Deletion.

The selected contact is deleted and longer appears in the contacts list.
4. Tap the padlock button to lock the contacts list.

Chapter 7
Deleting Contact Numbers

A contact can include one or more contact numbers. When a contact number
is no longer required or becomes obsolete, you can delete it so it is no longer
associated with the contact. Deleting a contact number completely deletes it
from the contact..
Note When you delete a contact number, it is completely deleted from the
DX-Altus Server and cannot be restored—if you remove a contact number by
mistake, you will need to add it again!
To delete a contact number

1. On the Contact Modify dialog, tap the padlock button .
Contact number list

Shows all of the numbers for
this contact
2. Next to the contact number you want to delete, tap the delete button ,
and then tap Confirm Delete.
Delete button
Deletes a contact number
Confirm Delete button

Confirms deletion of the
contact number
178 Contacts
The selected contact number is removed from the list of contact numbers.
3. Tap the padlock button to lock the contact numbers.

4. Close the Contact Modify dialog.
Dialing from Contacts

You can dial a contact directly from the Contacts window. Tapping on a
contact in the Contacts window (with the padlock closed) displays the Contact
Numbers window listing all the contact numbers for the contact, as shown in
Figure 120. In this example, the contact numbers for “James” are displayed.
Figure 120. Dialing from Contacts window

Chapter 7
Phone Number
The action is similar to selcall but only one phone channel can be earmarked if
the number is not already linked to a phone channel. If a phone channel is not
available in an active workgroup, a message appears advising of such, as
Figure 121. No phone channel available
If one or more phone channels are available, these will be listed allowing you
to choose the desired channel, as shown in Figure 122.
Figure 122. Choosing a phone channel
180 Contacts
Radio ID
Radio contacts for individual calls appear in the Contacts window as shown in
Figure 123.
Figure 123. Radio contact for individual calls
The options available for radio (individual call) contacts are as follows:
Issue radio alert
Make an individual call

Issue a request for the radio to report its location. Note
this button is only available when GPS Mapping is
operational.
Prepare an Individual Text message to send to this radio
only
With all of these options, you can earmark one or more desired channels for
the operation as shown in Figure 124. This lists all of the suitable channels
supporting the particular operation.
Figure 124. Choosing radio channels for individual calls

Chapter 7
Group ID
Radio contacts for group calls appear in the Contacts window as shown in
Figure 125.
Figure 125. Radio contacts for group calls
The options available for radio (group call) contacts are as follows:
Make a group Call
Make a group Call

Prepare a Group Text message to send to all radios
belonging to this group
With all of these options, you can earmark one or more desired channels for
the operation as shown in Figure 126. This lists all of the suitable channels
supporting the particular operation.
Figure 126. Choosing radio channel for group calls
182 Contacts
Sending Selective Call
You can send selective call (selcall) directly from the Contacts window by
selecting the contact you want to call, and then selecting the selcall number
from the list in the Contacts Number window (see Figure 120).
If a selcall status is required, the Selective Call window will appear similar to
the one shown in Figure 127. This provides a text box for the selcall and a list
of available selcall status items from which you can select one (e.g., “Out to
Lunch”). If a selcall status is not required, you will not see the selcall status
list.
Figure 127. Selecting a selcall status
Figure 128 shows an example of a selcall contact number that is linked to a

radio channel. The information in parentheses indicates the name of the
associated channel—note that if you do not see any channel information in
parentheses, the contact number is not linked.
The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location.
Figure 128. Selcall contact number linked to a channel
For a contact number linked to a channel, you will not be prompted to specify
the channel on which to send the selcall. Hence, you will not see any further
prompts when you tap the green Send button . Note that if the linked
channel is not available in an active workgroup, the associated contact
number will be disabled to prevent you selecting it.

Chapter 7
If the contact number is not linked to a channel (no channel information in

parentheses), you will need to perform an additional step to select a suitable
channel.
However, a suitable channel may not be available due to one of the following
circumstances:
• No single channel available in any active workgroup that is capable of

selective calling.
• The selected contact number is invalid in terms of the number of
destination digits required.
When a suitable channel is not available in an active workgroup, a message

will appear to inform you of this situation, as shown in Figure 129.
Figure 129. Message appears when no suitable channel available
The following procedure demonstrates how to send a selcall from the

Contacts window without any channels linked to the contact number.
Note It is possible to associate (link) a contact number with a particular

channel, in which case, steps 4 and 5 in the procedure below will not be
required when dealing with a linked selcall contact number.
To send a selcall from the Contacts window

1. In the Contacts window, locate the intended recipient of the selcall.
Tip If you have numerous contacts listed, it is suggested you

use the incremental search to locate the contact by typing the
desired name into the Filter/Incremental Search text box.
2. Select the contact from the list.

The Contact Numbers dialog for the selected contact will list all of the
contact numbers of various types for the contact. The icon identifies
contact numbers of the type Selective Call.
3. In the Contact Numbers list, select the desired selcall number.
184 Contacts
Note This may result in a message advising that no suitable
channel is available in an active workgroup (see Figure 129).
Under normal circumstances, you will see all the channels capable of
handling the selcall from which you can select one or more channels;
however, you cannot do this when dealing with a linked contact number.

Chapter 7
4. (This step is only required if the contact number is not linked to any
channels.) On the Contact Numbers dialog for the selected contact
number, do one of the following:
• Select one or more specific channels; or
• Tap Target All to select all channels; or
• Tap Target All Foreground to select all channels in the fore-
ground (selected) audio mode.
5. (This step is only required if the selcall is configured to provide a selcall
status). Select the selcall status from the list (e.g., “Default”).
6. Tap the green Send button to send the selcall
186 Contacts
Messages
This chapter discusses the Messages Window and includes the following
sections:
• “Messages Window”
• “Types of Messages” on page 189
• “Displaying Message Details” on page 190
• “Message Storage and Retrieval” on page 191
• “Audio Announcements” on page 191
• “Message Auto Scroll” on page 192
• “Acknowledging Messages” on page 194
• “Filtering Messages” on page 194
• “Sending Selective Call Messages” on page 195
• “Receiving Selective Call Messages” on page 197
• “Deleting Messages” on page 199
Messages Window
The Messages window provides a list of inbound and outbound messages.
This is an optional feature configured by your administrator so you may not
have permission to configure its options. The Messages window allows you to:
• Display or hide messages in a list

• Filter messages based on search criteria
• Acknowledge messages

Chapter 8
The Messages window is visible in its own dockable window. You can re-
position or dock it to another window as required. Figure 130 shows an
example of the Messages window.
Auto Scroll switch

Enables or disables auto scroll
Navigator panel
Quick access to pages
First Page button

Jumps to first page
Page Up button
Shows previous page
Page Down button

Shows next page
Last Page button

Jumps to last page
Padlock button
Locks or unlocks the messages
Message icon Message panel
Shows the type of Shows the message details
message and direction Filter text box
Applies the filter you type to
incrementally search for messages
Figure 130. Messages window
When you send or receive a message, it appears in the Messages window—

newer messages always appear above older messages in the list. Messages
shown with bold typeface are unacknowledged messages. The text of
unacknowledged messages also appears on the appropriate channel button
until acknowledged (see “Acknowledging Messages” on page 194).
If the Messages window contains more than one page of messages, you can
use the navigation buttons to quickly page up or page down through the
messages. You can also use the page slider in the navigator panel to go
directly to the desired page by dragging it left or right.
A configuration option limits the total number of messages that can be

displayed in the list (see “General Options” on page 239).
188 Messages
Types of Messages
The Messages window can display several different types of messages. Each
message is identified with a message icon that shows the type of message,
direction, and mode. The type can be selcall, text, radio status, or emergency.
The direction can be either inbound (received) or outbound (sent). The mode
can be active, pending, or acknowledged.
Each message icon is constructed from a base image (the message type) and
one or two overlay images (the message direction and mode) as described in
the table below:
Icon Description
This base image represents a selcall message.
This base image represents a text message.

Type
This base image represents a radio status message.
This base image represents an emergency message.

Direction
This overlay image indicates an inbound (received) message.
This overlay image indicates an outbound (sent) message.
This overlay image indicates an active message. It is only

used for emergency messages.
Mode
This overlay indicates the message is pending.
This overlay indicates an acknowledged message. It is only

used when selcall acknowledge is configured in the DX-Altus
Server and is only shown on inbound selcall messages after
the DX-Altus system sends the ACK.

Chapter 8
Displaying Message Details

Each message is displayed on its own message panel and includes the
following information:
• Channel on which the message was sent or received

• Originator and recipient of the message
• Date and time the message was sent or received
• Status code (only associated with selcall messages)
If you want to see more information about a particular message, you can open
the message in its own Message Detail window. Simply touch-n-hold the
corresponding message until the Message Details window appears as shown
in Figure 131.
Message panel
Touch-n-hold to open
Message Detail dialog
Figure 131. Message Details dialog
This example shows details for the latest outbound message. Message details
are read-only so you cannot change any of these details.
You can close the window by either tapping Dismiss or the close button .
Dismissing the dialog automatically acknowledges the message whereas
simply closing it does not.
190 Messages
Message Storage and Retrieval
All messages satisfying the listing criteria are persisted to the DX-Altus
Server—selcall messages can be configured to be conditionally listed. You
can configure the number of messages to persist up to a maximum of 1000
(see “Limit Messages to the most recent” setting under “General Options” on
page 247). Once the number of messages reaches this limit, newer messages
will overwrite the oldest messages so that the number of messages persisted
will not exceed this limit.
When you login, the Messages window synchronizes its message list for all
systems included in the login. This may take several seconds whilst the initial
set of messages is retrieved from each system. Not all messages will be
included in this initial set as it depends on the listing criteria used.
Messages retrieved from several systems will be merged (duplicates will be

removed). The messages will be sorted in chronological order so that newer
messages will appear above older messages. Each time you log out and then
log back in, the Messages panel will synchronize its messages list.
Messages that you delete in Alto are only temporarily removed from Alto while
you are logged in—this action does not delete the messages stored in the DX‐
Altus Server.
Audio Announcements
Each time Alto receives a message, or a certain type of call event occurs, a
specific audio announcement (sound file) will be played depending on the type
of message or call event. Alto provides a default set of sound files for the
following types of messages and call events.
• Selcall Messages • Incoming Phone Calls

• Emergency Messages • Successful Trunk Calls
• Text Messages • Failed Trunk Calls
• Radio Status Messages
The administrator can override the default audio announcements with your
company’s own custom audio announcements as required. The administrator
can also configure whether or not to play audio announcements for specific
types of messages and call events.

Chapter 8
Message Auto Scroll

The Auto Scroll switch allows you to control automatic scrolling of messages.
With Auto Scroll ON, when a new message is added to the top of the first
page, all other messages will be bumped down one position regardless of
which page is displayed. This is the default action.
To prevent this from happening, you can switch off auto scrolling by setting
Auto Scroll to OFF. With Auto Scroll OFF, subsequent new messages will not
have any effect on the message items currently displayed in the list. This is
because new messages will be hidden until automatic scrolling is re-enabled.
Figure 132 shows an example in which the operator set auto scrolling to OFF
and then navigated to page 3.
Auto Scroll switch

Shows the number of unlisted
messages
Navigator panel
Shows the current page selected
Figure 132. Messages window without auto scroll
Whilst viewing this page, two new messages arrived. As auto scrolling is off,
these messages will not appear in the list and the existing messages will not
scroll down. The number of new messages, known as unlisted messages, is
indicated on the Auto Scroll switch.
Switching auto scroll ON adds the unlisted messages to the top of the list and
bumps the other messages down by the number of new messages (two
positions in this example), as shown in Figure 133.
192 Messages
Auto Scroll switch
Auto scroll switched ON
Messages list
Messages bumped down with
auto scroll in effect
Figure 133. Messages window with auto scroll
To see the new messages, you will need to navigate to the first page. The
new messages appear in bold typeface to indicate they are unacknowledged,
as shown in Figure 134.
New messages
New messages shown in bold
typeface added to top of list
Figure 134. Messages window showing new messages in bold typeface

Chapter 8
Acknowledging Messages
When a new message is received, it appears at the top of the Messages
window in bold typeface. This makes it stand out from the other messages
and indicates it is an unacknowledged message—this is analogous to emails
where an unread email is usually shown in bold typeface.
You can acknowledge a message simply by tapping on it. When you acknow-
ledge a message, it changes to normal typeface. Each time you tap the
message, it alternates between acknowledged and unacknowledged.
An unacknowledged message will also appear on the corresponding channel

button in the Workgroups window until you acknowledge it. If the message text
is too long to fit, it will scroll across the lower edge of the button.
You can also acknowledge a message from the Message Detail dialog by
tapping the Dismiss button to close the dialog instead of using the close
button .
Filtering Messages
If you have a large number of messages, you can use the incremental search
feature to quickly find a particular message(s). This works by filtering the
messages list based on the filter you type into the Filter/Incremental Search
text box.
Figure 135 shows the incremental search in operation. As you start typing a
filter into the Filter/Incremental Search text box, the background colour of the
Messages window changes to a salmon colour to indicate a filter is now in
effect. The Messages window automatically filters the messages based on
what you type.
Tip If you type a character by mistake, you can backspace over it by tapping
the Backspace key on your keyboard.
In this example, the operator searches for a message with “01833” in the
message text. As the operator starts typing the filter, the search incrementally
narrows down the list of matching messages with each character typed until a
match closest to the filter is found.
Once you have found the message you want, you can use the touch-n-hold
feature to view its details (see “Displaying Message Details” on page 190),
delete the message (see “Deleting Messages” on page 199), or acknowledge
the message by taping on it (see “Acknowledging Messages” on page 194).
194 Messages
Figure 135. Incrementally searching for messages
Any filter you apply to the messages will remain in effect until you clear it by
tapping the “clear filter” button.
Sending Selective Call Messages

As an Alto operator, you have several different options available to initiate
Selective Call (selcall) messages: the Contacts window, the Messages
window, and from the Channel Capabilities dialog (context menu) of a capable
radio channel. Note that initiating a selcall from the Contacts window allows
you to target multiple channels simultaneously.
When you send a selcall using the Channel Capabilities dialog of a radio
channel, you do not need to first place the channel into the Selected
(Foreground) audio mode.
Quick Callback from Messages Window

Depending on configuration, selcall activity can be listed in the Messages
window. In this case, you can quickly reply to a selcall directly from the
Messages window, as shown in Figure 136.

Chapter 8
Figure 136. Replying to a selcall in the Messages window
To reply to a particular selcall, tap its corresponding icon (button) in the

Messages window. This displays the Selcall Dialler for the channel associated
with the listed item, and prefills the destination and status (if applicable) fields,
as shown in Figure 137.
Figure 137. Selective Call dialog with prefilled fields
The destination field is prefilled as follows:

Received Selcall Prefill using the original source digits: if unknown, use
the original destination digits.
Transmit Selcall Prefill using the original destination digits: if unknown,
use the original source digits.
If the status field is used, it will be prefilled with the original status. Typically, in
order to send a selcall, all you would need to do is tap the green Send button
. You could also change the status entry (if applicable) prior to sending.
196 Messages
Receiving Selective Call Messages
The most recent message, regardless of type or direction, is added to top of
the messages list and appears as the top item on the first page of the
Messages window.
Various rules (defined in system configuration) determine whether various

types of messages can be listed. Consult with your supervisor or system
administrator if you miss any messages or have unwanted messages listed.
Depending on your role, you might be able to override the selcall listing
options (see “Selective Call Options” on page 265).
The font type of newly added messages appears in boldface identifying it as

an unacknowledged message. The most recent unacknowledged message
appears on the corresponding channel button albeit in a different format. You
can toggle the acknowledgment state of the message by tapping the
corresponding message in the Messages window. Normal font type denotes
an acknowledged message.
When you acknowledge the most recent unacknowledged message assoc-

iated with a channel, that message is replaced with what would then become
the most recent unacknowledged message associated with the channel (if
any). You do not need to acknowledge any message as it does not affect the
operation of Alto; this visual appearance is purely for your benefit to help in
organising completed actions.
Selcall Alert
In addition to listing incoming selcalls in the Messages window, your system
administrator can configure the system to produce a popup notification to alert
you of a received selcall, which might also include an audible announcement
depending on configuration. As a prerequisite for the notification to appear,
the incoming selcall must satisfy all the rules governing its listing in the
Messages window. Figure 138 shows an example of such a notification.
Figure 138. Selective call notification

Chapter 8
Tap Dismiss to dismiss the notification. If you do not dismiss the notification
in time prior to the subsequent reception of an additional selcall(s), a Dismiss
All button will appear next to the Dismiss button, as shown in Figure 139.
Figure 139. Dismissing all announcements or individual announcements
The number of notifications waiting to be dismissed is shown in parentheses.

Now you can either tap Dismiss All to dismiss all notifications at once or tap
Dismiss several times to dismiss the notifications one at a time.
Emergency Selcall Alert

In addition to listing incoming selcalls in the Messages window, your DX-Altus
system provides an Emergency Selcall feature that you and others can use in
emergencies—your system administrator configures this feature as required.
If the Emergency Selcall feature is configured on your system, Alto can

identify specific digits within a received selcall as an emergency. When it
detects an emergency selcall, a popup notification appears with an approp-
riate message to alert you of the specific emergency condition.
Additionally, Alto can also play an audible announcement. Figure 140 shows
an example of an alert message for an emergency selcall.
Figure 140. Alert message for emergency selcall

198 Messages
Tap Dismiss to dismiss the notification. If you do not dismiss the notification
in time prior to the subsequent reception of an additional selcall(s), a Dismiss
All button will appear next to the Dismiss button, as shown in Figure 141.
Figure 141. Dismissing all announcements or individual announcements
The number of notifications waiting to be dismissed is shown in parentheses.

Now you can either tap Dismiss All to dismiss all notifications at once or tap
Dismiss several times to dismiss the notifications one at a time.
Details about the latest emergency will also appear on the associated channel
button in the Work Group window, similar to the one shown in Figure 142.
Figure 142. Emergency selcall details
Deleting Messages
You may want to remove older messages, or messages no longer required,
from the Messages window. When you remove a message, it is permanently
deleted from the messages list—you cannot undelete it! You can, however,
reload all the messages from the DX-Altus Server SCU.
You will see a padlock button in the lower right-hand corner in the locked
position. This shows that the list is locked and you cannot make any changes
to it. You can unlock the list by tapping on the padlock. When the list it is
unlocked, a trash button appears next to each message and a Delete All
button appears in the lower left-hand corner.
You can delete a specific message by tapping its corresponding trash button
or you can clear the entire list by tapping Delete All.
Chapter 8
To delete a message in the list

1. In the Messages window, use the Page Up/Page Down navigation
buttons to find selcall message you want to delete.
2. Tap the padlock in the lower-right corner.
This unlocks the messages list. A trash button appears next to each
message and a Delete All button appears in the lower-left corner.
Trash can (delete button)

Deletes the message
3. Next to the message you want to remove, tap the trash button .
A Confirm Deletion button appears asking for confirmation to delete the
message.
200 Messages
4. Tap Confirm Deletion to delete the message.
Note Once you delete a message, you cannot undelete it!

However, you can reload all the messages from the DX-Altus
Server SCU!
The message is deleted and the remaining messages scroll up in the list.
5. (Optional) To delete another message, repeat steps (3) and (4).

6. Tap the unlocked padlock to lock the list.

Chapter 8
Messages are stored in the DX-Altus Server SCU on a first-in-first-out basis.

The messages list can hold up to 1000 messages, but this limit can be
configured (see “General Options” on page 247), before older messages are
overwritten as new messages are sent or received.
202 Messages
Phone Channels
This chapter discusses the phone channels and includes the following
sections:
• “Identifying Phone Channels”

• “Controlling the Operation of Phone Channels” on page 204
• “Answering Phone Calls” on page 205
• “Originating Phone Calls” on page 205
• “Phone Control Dialog” on page 209
• “Holding a Call” on page 212
• “Parking a Call” on page 213
• “Sending DTMF during a Call” on page 214
• “Hanging Up a Phone Call” on page 215
• “Priority of Audio Levels” on page 215
Identifying Phone Channels

You can easily identify phone channels in a DX-Altus system by the “PHONE”
mnemonic on the corresponding channel buttons. Figure 143 shows the
workgroup named “Workgroup 1”, which includes two phone channels named
“Phone 1” and “Phone 2”.

Chapter 9
Phone channels
Phone channels identified
by the PHONE mnemonic
Figure 143. Identifying phone channels in the Workgroup window
Controlling the Operation of Phone

Channels
You can control the operation of phone channels by using the Phone Control
dialog shown in Figure 144. To show this dialog, touch-n-hold the correspond-
ing phone-channel button until the Phone Control dialog appears—the dialog
will pop up after about a half-second.
Phone Channel button

Phone Control dialog
Phone Control dialog

Controls the operation of
phone channels
Figure 144. Phone Control dialog
The Phone Control dialog provides several phone-control buttons that you can
use to control the phone channel, and includes the following:
• Telephone Hook State shows the whether it is off-hook (OFF) or not off-
hook (ON). Tapping this button alternates the hook state.
• Telephone Call opens the Telephone Call dialog so you can use the
keypad to dial the phone number.
• Hold is used to place the phone call on-hold. Tapping this button
alternates between placing the call on-hold and taking it off hold.
204 Phone Channels
• Park is used to park the phone call so that you or another operator can
pick up the call and talk. Tapping this button alternates between parking
the call and picking it up.
• Patch is used to patch the phone channel to one or more radio channels.
Tapping this button opens the Phone Patch dialog that allows you to
specify the channels to patch.
• Talk allows you to talk over patched channels.
• Listen allows you to listen on patched channels.
The administrator configures the total number of phone channels available in
the system. You can select which channels you want to make phone channels
as required. DX-Altus Server will preserve your phone-channel configuration
and restore it the next time you log back in to the system.
Answering Phone Calls

When you receive an inbound call on a phone channel, the following occur:
• the corresponding phone button in the workgroup will blink; and

• an audible announcement (configured by the administrator) will play.
The audible announcement may be either a ringing sound synonymous with a

conventional telephone or a shorter non-obtrusive periodic “blip-blip”. The
latter is known as call waiting tone and applies when you are already dealing
with another phone call in the presence of a new incoming call(s).
You may choose to either end, patch (with both talk/listen OFF), park, or place
the current call on-hold, which will present the opportunity to answer any
incoming call. You can answer the call by tapping the button—calls on PABX
lines are private between the caller and the operator.
When you answer the call, the Rapid Recall window will automatically start to
record the audio (configured by the administrator), as indicated by the
“recording” icon (see Figure 76 on page 121). When you are done with the
call, tap the phone button again to terminate it.
Originating Phone Calls

Alto makes it easy to originate phone calls (both conventional and SIP-based
phone calls) with the popup Dialer keypad shown in Figure 145. This is similar
to the keypad on a landline phone except it is optimized for use with Alto.

Chapter 9
Channel
Shows the phone channel
Dialer keypad
Dials a phone number
Number text box

Shows the phone number to dial
Backspace key
Backspaces over last digit
Contacts key
Opens the contacts list
Pause key
Inserts pause into dial sequence
Keypad buttons
Dials the phone number
Call key
Calls the remote party
Figure 145. Using the phone Dialer keypad

Originating a phone call in Alto is similar to how you would make a call with a
conventional phone. However, instead of picking up a handset and dialing a
number with the handset’s keypad, you simply tap a phone channel and then
dial the number using the popup Dialer keypad.
Additionally, if the option to record phone audio is configured by your system

administrator, Alto will start to record the audio on the channel (using the
Rapid Recall functionality) and the audio-level meter in the Recordings
window will fluctuate accordingly (see Figure 76 on page 121).
Using the Dialer Keypad

Using the Dialer keypad to make a call is straightforward: if you know the
phone number of the recipient you want to call, simply dial the number using
the keypad, and then tap the Call key to dial the number and call the
remote party.
You can also use the Contacts dialog to look up the phone number for the
contact you want to call in the case when you do not know the phone number
(see “Using Contact Lookup” on page 208).
When using the Dialer keypad, you can enter a maximum of 20 digits in the
phone number (including the special digits “*”, “#”, and “,”). Tapping the Pause
key inserts a half-second pause (comma) between digits in the phone
number.
206 Phone Channels

The “*” and “#” characters are valid digits for the Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN), whereas the pause digit “,” is specific to Alto.
To originate a phone call using the Dialer keypad

1. On the phone channel you want to place a phone call, tap the corre-
sponding phone-channel button to open the Dialer keypad.
2. On the Dialer keypad, type telephone number you want to dial.
3. Tap the Call key to call the remote party.

The Dialer keypad closes and the phone channel goes off-hook as
indicated by the orange colour as Alto dials the phone number.

Chapter 9
4. When you are finished with the call, tap the active phone button (orange)
in the workgroup to hang up the call.
For further information on hanging up the call, see “Hanging Up a Phone
Call” on page 215).
Using Contact Lookup

If you do not know the phone number to call, you can use the contact-lookup
feature to find the contact’s number. However, if you know the phone number,
you can manually dial it (see “Originating Phone Calls” on page 205).
To originate a phone call using the contact lookup

1. In the Workgroup window, tap the phone-channel (for the channel you
want to place a call) to open the Dialer keypad.
Contacts button
Locates a contact in the
contacts list
2. Tap the Contacts button to open the contacts list.
208 Phone Channels

3. In the contacts list, tap the contact you want to call.
The contacts list automatically closes and Alto dials the phone number
associated with this contact—the phone-channel button changes to off-
hook state (orange).
4. When you are done with the call, tap the active phone button (orange) in
the workgroup to hang up the call.
For further information about hanging up a call, see “Hanging Up a Phone
Call” on page 215.
Phone Control Dialog

The Phone Control dialog provides you with complete control over phone calls
and allows you to park a call, or place a call on-hold, and also to patch the call
to one or more radio channels.
To use the Phone Control dialog, touch-n-hold the corresponding phone-

channel button until the Phone Control dialog appears—the dialog will pop up
after about a half-second as shown in Figure 146.
You can use the Phone Control dialog to originate a call with either the Dialer
keypad (see “Using the Dialer Keypad” on page 206) or the contact-lookup
feature (see “Using Contact Lookup” on page 208).

Chapter 9

Phone Control dialog Phone Control dialog
Allows you to control a
phone channel
Figure 146. Using the Phone Control dialog to originate a call
To originate a phone call using the Phone Control dialog

1. On the phone channel you want to make a call, touch-n-hold the phone-
channel button until the Phone Control dialog appears.
The dialog will pop up after about a second. In this example, we tapped
on the first phone-channel button with the name of “PABX-1 (CH5)”.
2. Tap Dialer to open the Dialer dialog.
210 Phone Channels

Pause button
Inserts a dialling pause in the
number

• On the keypad, type the digits for the number you want to dial (see
“Using the Dialer Keypad” on page 206); or
• Tap the Contacts key to open the Contact Lookup dialog (see “Using
Contact Lookup” on page 208).
The telephone number will appear in the text box. The Call button (green
phone) will also appear so you can call the number.

Chapter 9
Holding a Call
The Call-on-Hold feature places a phone call on-hold. To place a call on-hold,
tap the Hold button on the Phone Control dialog, as shown in Figure 147.
Figure 147. Placing a phone call on-hold

When you place a call on-hold, the button icon for the corresponding phone
channel changes from “Off-Hook” to “Hold” to indicate the call is now on-hold,
and the colour of the button changes to blue.
Depending on how your system is configured, audio from a configured enter-

tainment audio channel may be played to the caller whilst the call is on-hold.
To take the call off-hold, either tap the Hold button again or tap the phone-
channel button again in the workgroup window.
Note Only the operator responsible for placing the call on-hold can take the
call off-hold.
212 Phone Channels

Parking a Call
The Call Park feature is similar to the Call-on-Hold feature with the exception
that any operator may pick up a parked phone call; and not just the operator
who parked the call. To park a call, tap the Park button on the Phone Control
Figure 148. Parking a phone call
When you park a call, the button icon for the corresponding phone channel
changes to “Park” to indicate the call is now parked, and the colour of the
button changes to pink.
A call that is parked may be taken by any operator available to take the call.
To take a call off park, either tap the Park button again or tap the phone-
channel button in the workgroup window.

Chapter 9
Sending DTMF during a Call

During a phone call (connection with a remote party already established), it
may become necessary for you to send tones (DTMF) to signal intentions to
the remote end. You can easily do this with the touch-n-hold interface.
Touch-n-hold the phone channel button in the Work Group window, which
should be orange in colour, to open the context menu, and then tap the Dialler
button . This opens Dialler in single-digit operation (note the green Send
button is not visible), as shown in Figure 149, allowing you to send one
digit (DTMF tone) at a time.
Figure 149. Using the Dialler to send DTMF tones
Each time you tap a digit button, the system will send the corresponding
DTMF tone to the remote end. You will also hear the tone when you tap the
button in order to provide you with audible feedback.
214 Phone Channels

Hanging Up a Phone Call
Alto makes it easy to hang up or terminate a phone call. All you need to do is
tap the phone-channel button that is off-hook (orange) and it will terminate the
call and place the phone channel back on-hook, as shown in Figure 150.
However, calls that are parked, patched, or on-hold will require two taps: one
tap to return to the orange (off-hook) state, and another tap to go on-hook.

Tap to hang up phone call
Figure 150. Hanging up a phone call
Priority of Audio Levels

When DX-Altus Server detects activity from both radio and phone devices
simultaneously, it adjusts the level of the incoming audio prior to mixing based
on the priority rules. It does this by implementing a priority mode, which
determines the audio level of each source.
Figure 151. Setting the audio priority

Chapter 9
The administrator can set the permission that allows operators to set the
priority mode, which can be set to one of the following: “No Priority”, “Radio
Priority”, or “Phone Priority”. This is done under General Options as shown in
Figure 151.
Here you can select either Phone Priority or Radio Priority by tapping the
corresponding option button. You can also set both to OFF if you do not want
to specify a priority. If you do not have the permission to set the priority mode,
both options will be disabled.
Phone audio is always mixed at the foreground level and radio audio can be
mixed either at the foreground or background level. The priority mode takes
effect only if both phone and radio activity occurs at the same time. The audio
priority and mixing is shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Priority rules for radio and phone audio levels

Activity Audio Level
Priority Mode
Phone FG Radio Phone FG Radio
No Priority  
  FG
  FG
  FG FG
Radio Priority  
  FG
  FG
  BG FG
Phone Priority  
  FG
  FG
  FG BG
216 Phone Channels

Paging Remote Devices
This chapter discusses the paging functionality supported by Alto and includes
the following sections:
• “Paging Capability”
• “Paging with the Page Dialog”
• “Paging from the Contacts Window” on page 221
Paging Capability
In addition to the Motorola Quick Call 2 paging, Alto now supports Telocator
Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) paging, as follows:
• Paging capability on an analog channel works according to Motorola

Quick Call 2 paging scheme.
• Paging capability on a digital channel works according to the TAP paging
scheme and involves capturing the text to be sent to the remote pager
device.
When you touch-n-hold a pager-enabled channel in the Work Group window,
the Capabilities dialog will open (this is a context menu that shows the
capabilities of the channel). For a pager channel, the Capabilities dialog will
show the Page capability and any other capabilities enabled for the channel.
Paging with the Page Dialog

Figure 152 shows an example of how to use the Page dialog from the Work
Group window to page a remote device connected on Channel 10 (DRG 209).
The channel has the Page capability and the Channel Volume Change
capability. Tap the Page capability to display the Page dialog.

Chapter 9
Using the Page dialog, you either type the Pager ID directly into the Pager ID
text box, or you can look up the pager ID by tapping the Contacts button .
Pager Channel
Touch-n-hold to open Capabilities dialog
Capabilities dialog
Shows the capabilities
enabled for the channel
Page dialog
Pages the selected
channel
Figure 152. Paging a remote device
Once you have set up the Pager ID, type the message text into the Message
text box, as shown in Figure 153, and then tap Send.
Previous pages are listed under the Send button, as shown in Figure 154. The
icon of each listed page indicates the last known stage of the page operation.
This can be one of the following: Pending, Success, Failed. Typically, on
sending a page, the feedback momentarily indicates pending as Alto waits for
further status updates.
218 Phone Channels

Figure 153. Setting up the Pager ID and Message text
Figure 154. Status updates for previous pages

Chapter 9
On confirmation that the remote pager device was successfully paged, the
status feedback will show a checked (tick) icon, as shown in Figure 155.
Figure 155. Remote pager device successfully paged
Note that the status list will continue to grow until you tap Clear List.
Dismissing the Page dialog will not clear this list: it will be available the next
time a page is prepared on a channel. Note that tapping on a listed status item
will resend the same page to the same remote pager device.
It is alto possible to prefill the Message text box with the text of a previously
sent page. Tapping the Recent Messages button above the Messages text
box reveals the text of the ten most recent unique pager messages sent, as
shown in Figure 156. Tapping on a listed item will prefill the Message text box
with the corresponding text.
Figure 156. Using Recent Messages to prefill the Pager dialog
220 Phone Channels

The Messages window also logs pager messages, as shown in Figure 157.
Figure 157. Message window showing pages
Paging from the Contacts Window

Instead of using the Work Group window to initiate a page, you can also
initiate a page directly from the Contacts window. Once you have selected a
contact (e.g., “Linda”), the Contact Numbers dialog will display a list of contact
numbers for you to choose, as shown in Figure 158.
Linked Contact Number

Tap the contact number to
directly page the contact
Figure 158. Using the Contacts window to initiate a page on a linked channel

Chapter 9
When a contact number displays a channel name in parentheses (like the

contact number shown in the example), this indicates it is linked to that
channel. Therefore, when you tap the contact number, you will not be
prompted to select a channel for the paging operation (the channel is already
linked to this contact number). Hence, it will immediately open the Page
Figure 159. Page dialog
However, when a contact number is not linked with a channel, you will not see
any channel name in shown parentheses, and you will therefore be prompted
to select a channel when you tap the contact number.
Figure 160 depicts the scenario in which the operator must perform an
additional step to select a channel capable of performing the page. Note that
when paging, you can only select one channel.
222 Phone Channels

Unlinked Contact Number
Tap the contact number to
select a channel on which
to page the contact
Paging Channel
Tap the channel to select it as
the paging channel and to
page the contact
Figure 160. Using the Contacts window to initiate a page on an unlinked channel

GPS Essentials
This chapter discusses the built-in GPS location and mapping functionality
provided in Alto, and includes the following sections:
• “Displaying GPS Mapping Data”

• “Requesting Radio Location” on page 228
• “Filtering GPS Data” on page 228
Displaying GPS Mapping Data

The GPS Map window displays a map that is periodically updated with the
position, radio-ID, and call information of GPS-equipped portable devices. You
can change the level of detail displayed on the map by zooming in or zooming
out. To zoom in and see more map detail, tap the Zoom In button; and to
zoom out and see less map detail, tap the Zoom Out button.
The accuracy of the GPS data presented depends on the portable device in
question. Techniques to obtain GPS coordinates from portable devices vary
and may depend on the device providing such information on a PTT or on
remote request.
Figure 161 shows an example of GPS mapping data provided by MapQuest®.

Several other data providers are available so you can choose whichever
provider you prefer. To display the GPS Map window, you first need to enable
the mapping-data option (see “Mapping Options” on page 259).

Chapter 11
Figure 161. GPS Mapping with transmitter
The radio that is transmitting appears in a green colour with animated

concentric red circles radiating outward: it also shows a popup providing
additional details.
The tip of the antenna of the radio marker is aligned with the last known GPS
position of the radio. Hovering over a radio marker will provide more detail as
well as how long since the GPS position was last updated.
As soon as the radio no longer transmits, its radio marker becomes high-
lighted in yellow, as shown in Figure 162. This identifies the radio marker with
the radio that last transmitted.
226 GPS Essentials

Figure 162. GPS Mapping showing last radio to transmit
The Auto Zoom function allows the map to automatically zoom in or zoom out
to accommodate all devices on the map. You can still manually zoom in or
zoom out, however, the auto zoom will override your manual setting as soon
as new positional data is available.
Radios in the emergency state are identified with a red cross as shown in
Figure 163. The green radio icon (with animated concentric red circles
radiating from the antenna) indicates the radio is transmitting.
Figure 163. Radios in emergency state indicated by a red cross

Chapter 11
Requesting Radio Location

Channels usually expose one or more capabilities depending on the type of
channel, and some channels may expose the Request Radio Location
capability, which allows operators to request the current GPS position of a
portable device.
Figure 164 shows the Request Radio

Location capability for a particular
channel.
If you know the Radio ID of the radio

to interrogate on this channel, you can
type it directly into the Radio ID text
box; otherwise, you can look up the
contact number from the contacts list.
To send the request, tap Request

Radio Location. The last marker
associated with a location request is
highlighted on the map in magenta.
Note that requests by other operators
will not appear on your map and vice
Figure 164. Request radio location
versa.
Filtering GPS Data

The GPS Map window supports a powerful filter/incremental search feature,
similar to the Contacts and Messages windows. If you have many portable
devices, you can use the filter to quickly find a particular device or group of
devices. The filter narrows down the number of devices displayed on the map,
and is based on the search term you type into the Filter/Incremental Search
text box.
The filter searches on the first name, last name, and notes fields of the
contacts. You can also filter on the digital radio ID even if the contact with that
radio ID is not linked to a channel or there is no contact with that particular
radio ID.
As this is an incremental search, any devices not satisfying the filter will
disappear from the map as soon as you start to type. A filter remains in effect
until you clear it by backspacing over it or by logging off or exiting Alto. Hence,
the filter will also apply to new positional information received from GPS-
equipped portable devices. If you cannot see the devices you expect to see,
check the filter as you may be filtering out those devices.
228 GPS Essentials

Filters allow you to restrict the number of portable devices displayed on the
map. This is extremely useful in situations, for example, when you want to
display only the devices that are located in a particular region. In this case,
you can group the devices together into regional groups.
If you want to filter the devices using groups, you can use the notes field of the
contacts as a group identifier. Using the notes field in this way, you can easily
group your contacts (devices) into groups for GPS mapping purposes and
then use it to filter the map.
You can include any text you like in this field so long as it can be used to
uniquely identify the group of contacts (devices) associated with this group
identifier (filter). Hence, you need to decide on an appropriate naming
convention for your groups and determine how many groups you will require.
It is recommended that you assign group identifiers that are easy to under-
stand, such as geographical regions, types of equipment, or role of individuals
and so forth. All of these can be used as group identifiers. This will also make
it easier for other operators to understand.
If your company uses a radio network that is shared with other organisations,
you probably don’t want to see any devices other than your own. In this case,
you can filter out the other devices by including some identifying text, such as
your company’s name, in the notes field of each contact, and then apply this
as a filter.
This technique effectively allows you to group your contacts and filter the
associated devices so that only the devices you are interested in appear on
the GPS Map.

Advanced Location
Services (ALS)
This chapter discusses the Advanced Location Services (ALS) built-in client-
side functionality designed to log and visualise geofence transgressions as
reported by Omnitronics Advanced GPS Service (AGS), and includes the
following sections:
• “ALS Event Log Window”

• “Geofence Event Types” on page 234
• “Event Profiles” on page 235
• “Displaying Event Messages” on page 236
• “Radio Map Markers for Geofence Events” on page 236
ALS Event Log Window

The ALS Events switch must be set to the ON position to enable ALS Event
Logging as a prerequisite for logging geofence transgressions to the
Messages window and the Mapping window (see “Advanced Location
Services (ALS)” on page 262).
If ALS Event Logging is enabled, the ALS Event Log window will display
geofence events from the Omnitronics Advanced Location Services (ALS)
Server.
Alto displays geofence events in the ALS Event Log window similar to the one
shown in Figure 166 on the following page. This window is dockable so if you
have the necessary permission, you can reposition it as required by dragging
its tab to the desired position or docking area. Alto will remember
the layout when you log back in the next time.

Chapter 12
If you cannot see this window, check that the ALS Event Logging is enabled
and that you have a license to use the feature (see “Advanced Location
Services (ALS)” on page 262).
Using the ALS Event Log window, you can easily see all of the geofence
events that have occurred and quickly respond to devices or radios associated
with these events.
The ALS Event logging feature relies on a network connection with the
Omnitronics Advanced GPS Service (AGS), which is a component of
Omnitronics Advanced Location Services (ALS) Server and provides the
source of geofence events. If this network connection is down, Alto will
continually attempt to re-establish the connection, and you will see an
appropriate message displayed along the lower edge of the ALS Event Log
window, as shown in Figure 165.
Figure 165. Message displayed when connecting to ALS Server
If Alto is connected to AGS, and the option to “Display Event in Event History”
is selected (see “Configuring ALS Event Options” on page 263), it will display
geofence events in the ALS Event Log window.
Figure 166. ALS Event Log window
The ALS Event Log window lists geofence transgressions chronologically with
the most resent item at the top. Items that present in boldface text denote an
unacknowledged event. You can mark an event as acknowledged by tapping
on it, which would be evident by the font presenting normal face. Note that
repeated tapping will toggle between acknowledged or not.
232 Advanced Location Services (ALS)
As per standard Alto functionality, this window features an incremental search
control allowing you to search for specific entries. This narrows down the
search with each character you type.
Once you unlock the window, you can either delete entries individually or
delete all entries at once (this is similar to the operation of the Messages
window).
You can configure how Alto responds to each geofence event (see
“Configuring ALS Event Options” on page 263). If the option to “Display Event
in Popup Window” is selected, the event will appear in the ALS Geofence
Events notification window, as shown in Figure 167.
Figure 167. Showing new geofence events in a popup window
The ALS Geofence Events notification window is a popup that lists the
geofence transgressions that warrant notification, as dictated by the profile
setting. Additionally, Alto plays different sounds for audible announcements
according to the event type or severity of the event.
You can dismiss individual events by tapping the Dismiss button next to each
listed event, or alternatively, tap Dismiss All to dismiss all events and close
the notification window.

Chapter 12
Geofence Event Types

ALS geofence events include several properties as follows:
Event This shows an icon that indicates the event type. These event
types can be configured (see “Configuring ALS Event Options” on
Type page 263).
Critical Critical event requires immediate attention.
Warning Warning event you should not ignore.
Informational Event intended for informational purposes only.
Time This is the time the event was added to the ALS Event History.
Name This is the name of the originator of the event.
Event This column combines the geofence name and trigger (e.g. “Exit
No Go Zone”). Each geofence is assigned a descriptive name
such as “No Go Zone”, “Blast Zone”, or “Yard” and so forth.
Event This column is the unique name assigned to each geofence.
Name
A geofence event occurs when a portable device (called a subscriber in ALS

parlance) enters or exits the boundary or buffer region defined by the
geofence (note that not all devices report buffer events). This information is
reported by the Advanced GPS Service component of ALS and is displayed in
the ALS Event Log.
Your system administrator configures the Omnitronics Advanced GPS Service

(AGS) and assigns a colour to each of the geofence event types as a means
to distinguish between the severities of ALS events.
A geofence event comprises the event trigger (i.e., what caused the event)
and the geofence name (a descriptive label that identifies the geofence). For
instance, if a subscriber leaves a geofence identified by the name of “Blast
Zone”, the geofence event would be “Exit Blast Zone”. The following is a list of
geofence events currently available at the time of writing:
• Inside Blast Zone

• Inside Blast Zone Buffer
• Exit Blast Zone
• Exit Blast Zone Buffer
• Inside Emergency Zone
• Exit Emergency Zone
• Inside No Go Zone
• Inside No Go Zone Buffer
• Exit No Go Zone
• Entered Confinement Zone
• Left Confinement Zone
• Speeding In Zone
• Entered Yard
• Left Yard
• Arrived At Site
• Left Site
Event Profiles
Alto stores event options in a structure called an event profile, and provides a
default set of event options in a profile called the default profile. The system
administrator can define new event profiles in addition to the default profile.
With a number of profiles defined, the system administrator can assign any
number of Alto (console) users to a particular profile; and not all the users
need to be assigned to the same profile.
Furthermore, it is not necessary to assign a console user to a profile, in which

case the console will be assigned to the default event profile. However, a
console user cannot be assigned to more than one profile.
Each event profile contains the full complement of ALS event types and
includes the following settings:
Enabled Determines whether this event is enabled (the

remainder of settings apply) or disabled (none of the
remaining settings has any effect)
Event Displays the name of the event (e.g., BlastZoneExit).
Severity Determines the severity (or type) of this event: Critical,

Warning or Information.
Pop Up Window Determines whether this event will be presented on a

popup notification window requiring you to dismiss the
event.

Chapter 12
Event History Determines whether this event will be logged to the

ALS Event Log.
Message History Determines whether this event will be listed in the

Messages window.
GPS Essentials Determines whether this event will highlight its cor-
responding radio marker when listed on the GPS Map.
Displaying Event Messages

Figure 168 depicts an example of some geofence events that are important
enough to be listed in the Messages window, as dictated by the profile setting.
Figure 168. Messages window showing geofence events
Radio Map Markers for Geofence

Events
If the GPS Map is in use, important geofence transgressions can be visualised
on the map resulting in the underlying radio map marker enclosed by a
blinking border, as depicted in Figure 169. A prerequisite is for the radio map
marker to exist at the time the geofence event occurs.
The colour of the flashing border will be in accordance with the colour of the
severity of the event, which the system administrator configures. Blinking will
continue until the final unacknowledged event associated with the radio map
marker is acknowledged on the ALS Event log.

Figure 169. Geofence events with blinking borders

Managing and
Customizing the Software
This chapter describes the system options available to help you set up and
manage the operation of Alto, and includes the following sections:
• “Options Overview”
• “Login Options” on page 242
• “Entertainment Audio Options” on page 245
• “Rapid Recall Options” on page 246
• “General Options” on page 247
• “Call History Options” on page 249
• “Reporting Options” on page 252
• “Theme and Layout Options” on page 253
• “Mapping Options” on page 259
• “Selective Call Options” on page 265
• “Importing Contacts” on page 267
• “Exporting Contacts” on page 270
• “Format of Contacts File” on page 270
Options Overview
Alto provides access to various system options that you can configure to
control its operation. The system options available to you as a console
operator or a supervisor depend on what role(s) the administrator has
assigned to your user account: each role has a specific set of permissions

Chapter 13
assigned to it by the administrator and these permissions determine what

options are available to you.
Usually, console operators are members of the operator role so that they can
perform operator-type functions; and supervisors are usually members of the
supervisor role, which grants more access to a DX-Altus system, so that
supervisors can also perform supervisory functions.
If the administrator has granted you the necessary permissions to allow you
access to the system options, you will see the Options button on the Control
Panel.
You can then access the system options by tapping the Options button, which
displays the Options dialog similar to the one shown in Figure 170.
Options dialog
Options button Shows a category button for
Opens the Options each option category
dialog
Option category buttons
Each button shows the options
for the selected category
About button
Shows information about Alto
Figure 170. Showing the Options dialog
The options are arranged into categories to make it easy to find a particular
group of options. Each category is represented by a category button.
You select a category by tapping on the corresponding category button.

Selecting a category will display all of the options applicable for that category.
For example, if you select the Rapid Recall category, all of the options that
affect the operation of the Rapid Recall feature will be displayed in the
Options dialog as shown in Figure 171.
You may not be able to access all of the categories depending on whether the
system administrator has granted you the necessary permissions.
240 Managing and Customizing the Software

These options allow you to customize certain behavioral aspects of Alto. The
options are saved on your console computer. These options will be restored
when you next log in; and will be available to other operators who may use the
same console.
Options dialog
Shows the available option categories
Rapid Recall button
Selects the rapid-recall
category of options
Category name
Shows the name of the
category selected
Option
Shows the option name
and its state
Figure 171. Displaying the options for the selected category
Each option provides a description of its function and shows its state (ON or
OFF). You can select (ON) or deselect (OFF) an option as required by tapping
on the option. When you select the option, its colour changes to green and its
state changes to ON, as shown in Figure 172.
Figure 172. Selecting (ON) and deselecting (OFF) options

Chapter 13
In the example above, the “Record Active Background Audio” option is

selected (ON) and the remaining options are deselected (OFF). For further
information on Rapid Recall options, see “Rapid Recall Options” on page 246.
Login Options
Figure 173 shows the options available under the Login category. At this time,
the category provides only one option, which allows operators to automatically
login at start-up without needing to specify login credentials (i.e. username
and password).
Options dialog
Options available at the Operator level
Login options button
Shows the login category
of options
Category name
selected category
Automatic
Login option
Allows you to
automatically
log in
Figure 173. Login options
With this option selected, the Log Out button on the Control Panel changes to
an Exit button as shown in Figure 174.
Figure 174. Control panel showing the Exit button

Now, when you want to log out, you do not explicitly log-out as usual, but
instead, you exit the system by tapping the Exit button—this automatically
logs you out and shuts down Alto. Additionally, the normal log-in and log-out
procedures will be bypassed so the Login window will no longer be displayed.
When you want to use Alto again, you will need to run Alto by tapping the
program’s icon on the desktop (see “Running Alto” on page 24); however, you
will not need to log in as Alto will use the automatic-login credentials instead.
You can enable the automatic login feature by following the procedure below.
To enable the automatic login feature

1. At the Login window, log in under the user account you want to use for
the automatic login.
2. On the Control Panel, tap Options to show the Options dialog.
3. In the Options dialog, tap Login to show the login options.

Chapter 13
4. Tap Login Manually.

This changes to “Login Automatically (without specifying credentials)”.
5. Close the Options dialog.

6. On the Control Panel, tap Exit.
When Alto restarts, it will use the new credentials to automatically log in.
You can change the login credentials used for automatic login by following the
procedure below.
To change the automatic login credentials

1. In the Control Panel, tap Options to show the Options window.
2. In the Options window, tap Login Automatically.
The option changes to “Login Manually (specifying credentials)”.
4. On the Control Panel, tap Log Out.
5. At the Login window, type the new login credentials you want to use for
the automatic login, and then tap Log in.
If the login credentials are valid, the system will log you in and display the
main Alto window.
6. In the Control Panel, tap Options to show the Options dialog.
7. In the Options dialog, tap Login to show the login options.
8. Tap Login Manually.
This changes to “Login Automatically (without specifying credentials)”.
10. On the Control Panel, tap Exit.
The next time Alto restarts, it will use the new credentials to automatically
log in.

Entertainment Audio Options
The Entertainment Audio category of options allows you to select the audio
channel you want to listen to for entertainment audio—you will hear this audio
in the headset.
You display the Entertainment Audio options by selecting the Entertainment

Audio category on the Options dialog, as shown in Figure 175.
Options dialog
Entertainment Audio button
Selects the entertainment-
audio options
Category name
selected category
Entertainment button
Selects the broadcast channel
for entertainment audio
Figure 175. Entertainment audio options
Under the Entertainment Audio options, select a system channel associated

with entertainment audio (this channel may not yet be hooked-up to an actual
audio source).
You can control the volume level of the entertainment audio using the auxiliary
slider on the Audio Levels window (see “Adjusting the Audio Levels” on page
109).

Chapter 13
Rapid Recall Options

The Rapid Recall category of options allows you to control the behavior of the
Rapid Recall interface for both record and playback of audio recordings. You
display the Rapid Recall options by selecting the Rapid Recall category on
the Options dialog, as shown in Figure 176.
Options dialog
Rapid Recall button
Selects the rapid-recall
category of options
Category name
selected category
Option
Shows the option and its
state
Figure 176. Rapid Recall options
The options available under Rapid Recall category include the following:
• Record Active Background Audio option allows you to record audio

activity on background channels. If this option is OFF (default), any audio
activity on background channels will not be recorded (note that audio
activity for foreground channels is always recorded). If you want to record
audio on background channels, select this option.
• Pause Playback On Channel Activity option allows you to automatically
pause the playback of rapid-recall audio while audio activity is recorded.
If this option is OFF (default), playback of rapid-recall audio will continue
when audio recording is in progress. If you do not want playback to
continue, select this option.
• Purge Audio Recordings on Logout option allows Alto to delete all
temporary audio recordings when you log out (this option does not affect
any audio recordings that you have saved). If you do not want the
temporary audio recordings to be deleted, deselect this option (OFF).

• Audio Recording Level slider allows adjustment of the Windows USB
Audio Codec recording level without the Windows Control Panel.
If Rapid Recall recordings are too soft or too loud or sound distorted, you
can adjust the level using this slider. You can use the following recom-
mended audio levels as a guide.
Windows 7 Set the level to approximately 15%
Windows 8/8.1/10 Set the level to approximately 70%
Once you have adjusted the audio level, all new recordings from that
point onwards will use the new level—this will not affect any existing
recordings.
Note If the USB cable from the AFI-IP has been moved to another USB port
on the console computer, the recording level may be reset by Windows and
will require setting again!
General Options
The General category of options provides several miscellaneous options that
do not belong under the other categories. You display the General options by
selecting the General category on the Options dialog, as shown in Figure 177.
Options dialog
General button
Selects the General category
of options
Category name
selected category
Disabled option
Shows the option is disabled
Figure 177. General options

Chapter 13
The options available under General category include the following:
• Busy Hold option allows you to specify the number of seconds that the
busy indication should persist (0 to 60 seconds) on a channel after busy
activity has ceased on that channel. If you do not want to use this
function, set the value to zero.
• Busy Hold Fixed option allows you to enable the busy status hold
function that ensures the busy status persists indefinitely after the busy
activity ceases. The channel button will blink green very slowly (not the
usual cadence of a busy). If this option is OFF (the default setting), the
busy hold function is not fixed. You may not be able to change this option
as it depends on whether the system administrator has granted the
necessary permissions to your user account—check with your
administrator. This applies only to the last radio channel that experienced
a busy state.
• Follow Active Channel option allows Alto to automatically set the last
active background channel to the foreground so you can talk, and monitor
the audio, on that channel—this saves you from needing to tap the
channel button several times to place the channel into the foreground. If
this option is OFF (the default setting), the last active background
channel will remain in the background and you will need to tap the
channel button several times to place the channel into the foreground
before you can talk on that channel.
Note The “Follow Active Channel” feature only works when the
“Fast Select'”mode is active.
• Radio Priority option allows you to prioritize the audio from radio
channels so that this audio is heard at the foreground level and the audio
from the phone channels is pushed to the background level.
• Phone Priority option allows you to prioritize the audio from phone
channels so that this audio is heard at the foreground level and the audio
from the radio channels is pushed to the background level.
The Radio Priority option and the Phone Priority option work in conjunction
with phone channels—if none of these options is selected, the audio from
phone and radio channels is mixed together at the foreground level.
• Limit Messages to the most recent limits the number of messages that
can be listed in the Messages window. The valid range is 10 to 1000.
When you move the page slider, the message panel is dynamically
repopulated and auto scroll is re-enabled. Sliding the page slider to the
left will result in fewer messages listed. Sliding it to the right will result in
repopulating the list from the persisted list for older entries relevant to the
current logged in system(s) increasing the number of messages listed.

Call History Options
The Call History options allow you to configure the properties of the Call
History window. Select Call History on the Options dialog to display the Call
History options, as shown in Figure 178.
Options dialog
Call History dialog

Shows the options for Call History
Call History switch
Enables or disables Call History
Log Incoming Calls switch
Includes or excludes incoming
call activity in Call History
Log Outgoing Calls switch
Includes or excludes outgoing
call activity in Call History
Limit Entries slider
Sets the maximum number of
items in Call History
Call Timeout slider
Sets the call timeout for analog
calls
Call Types button
Shows all the call types
Call History button
Opens the Call History dialog
Figure 178. Call History options
You may not be able to access the Call History options. This depends on
whether you belong to a role with the “Override Call History Configuration”
privilege. Without this privilege, you cannot override any of the call-history
settings configured by the administrator, and will not see the Call History
button on the Options dialog.
In order to log call activity and display it in the Call History window, you need
to enable call history. Tap the Call History switch to switch it ON. The Call
History window will appear on screen.
If you switch Call History to OFF, the Call History window will disappear and
it will not log any call activity.

Chapter 13
With Call History enabled, you can select whether to log only incoming calls,
outgoing calls, or both incoming and outgoing calls.
• Log Incoming Calls is an ON/OFF switch that controls whether Call

History will log incoming calls (i.e., calls initiated by an external source).
Set this switch ON to log incoming calls otherwise switch it OFF.
• Log Outgoing Calls is an ON/OFF switch that controls whether Call
History will log outgoing calls (i.e., calls initiated by an Alto operator). Set
this switch ON to log outgoing calls otherwise switch it OFF.
When you tap the Call Types button, it expands to show all of the available
call types that you can include in the call history, as shown in Figure 179.
Call History options

Shows all the options enabled
for Call History
Call Types button

Shows all the call types
Call Type switch

Enables or disables the call type
in the Call History
Figure 179. Selecting call types
Use the Call Type switches to select which call types you want to include (or
exclude) in the Call History window. These buttons operate as switches so
you can switch the corresponding call type ON (include) or OFF (exclude). For
example, to include Individual Call activity in the Call History window, switch
Individual Call to ON.

• Log Default Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences
of digital radio channels entering Default Call mode.
• Log Individual Calls determines whether Call History includes
occurrences of digital radio channels entering Individual Call mode.
• Log Group Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences
of digital radio channels entering Group Call mode.
• Log All Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences of
digital radio channels entering All Call mode.
• Log Alert Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences of
digital radio channels entering Alert Call mode.
• Log No Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences of
digital radio channels entering No Call mode.
• Log Phone Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences
of phone channel activity.
• Log Analog Calls determines whether Call History includes occurrences
of analog radio channel (PTT/Busy) activity.
The Call History Options dialog provides two settings you can adjust:
• Limit entries to the most recent specifies the maximum number of calls
to log in the Call History window. Once it reaches this this limit, a newly
added call will purge the oldest call. The lower limit is 10 and the upper
limit is 1000 calls.
• Analog Call Timeout Duration specifies the timeout in seconds for
analog calls. Analog radio channels do not carry any call state. This is
because an analog call is merely a sequence of PTT and busy events
that constitute a conversation.
This setting determines the period of inactivity that needs to elapse
before an analog call is considered as completed. The minimum timeout
is 0 seconds (no timeout) and the maximum timeout is 60 seconds.
You adjust the value for both settings by dragging the corresponding slider to
the left or right: sliding it to the right increases the value and sliding it to the left
decreases the value.

Chapter 13
Reporting Options
The Reporting category of options provides several useful options that allow
you to generate different types of event reporting. You display the Reporting
options by selecting the Reporting category on the Options dialog, as shown
in Figure 180.
Options dialog
Reporting button
Selects the reporting
category of options
Category name
selected category
Syslog Server text box
Specifies the IP address
of your Syslog server
Option
Shows the option and its
state
Figure 180. Reporting options
You may not be able to change any of these options as it depends on whether
the system administrator has granted the necessary permissions to your user
account—check with your administrator. However, these options are typically
only available to administrators to help troubleshoot problems. The options
available under General category include the following:
• Syslog Enabled option allows you to use the Syslog reporting feature to
generate Syslog-compatible reports. You need to specify the IP address
of your Syslog server in the Syslog Server text box.
• Debug Output Enabled option allows you to generate debugging
information in a format suitable for viewers such as DebugView.
• Show Incoming Contracts option allows you to view the inbound
contracts from the DX-Altus Server to Alto.
• Show Outgoing Contracts option allows you to view outbound contracts
from Alto to DX-Altus Server.

Theme and Layout Options
The Themes category provides several useful options that allow you to
change the layout and appearance of the Alto user interface. To display the
Themes options, select the Themes category on the Options dialog, as shown
in Figure 181.
Options dialog
Shows the available options
Themes button
Selects the Themes
category of options
Category name
selected category
Themes option button

Shows additional options
for selecting themes
Figure 181. Theme and layout options
You might not be able to change any of these options as it depends on

whether the system administrator has granted the necessary permissions to
your user account—check with your administrator.
• Reset Screen Layout to Default resets the layout of the user interface
to the built-in layout resetting any changes you may have made (see
“Resetting the Layout of the User Interface” on page 255).
• Set Current Screen Layout as Default keeps your layout and uses it as
the default layout.
• Themes allows you to choose one of the predefined colour schemes to
use for the Alto layout (see “Selecting a Theme” on page 256).

Chapter 13
• Show PTT Button controls whether the PTT button appears on the
Control Panel, as shown in Figure 182.
Figure 182. Control Panel showing the PTT button
The PTT button allows you to actuate PTT on the AFI-IP in case you want to
transmit. It acts as a simple ON/OFF switch: simply tap PTT to activate the
PTT function on the AFI-IP; and then tap it again to deactivate it.
When you tap PTT to activate the PTT function, a countdown timer (set to 60
seconds) will appear on the button, as shown in Figure 183. This shows the
time remaining before PTT will automatically deactivate. You can override this
and manually deactivate PTT by simply tapping the PTT button it again.
Figure 183. PTT button showing time remaining
The PTT button can also act as a momentary switch. In this case, the PTT on
the AFI-IP will remain active whilst the button is “pressed” (touch-n-hold). This
is similar to a conventional PTT button and is especially useful for short and
rapid transmissions in which you “press” the button for a few seconds and
then release it.
• Export Layout and Theme allows you to export (save) the current Alto
layout, including theme detail, to an XML file. The standard Windows
Save As dialog allows you to specify the location and file name as
desired.

• Import Layout and Theme allows you to import (restore) a previously
saved Alto layout. The standard Windows File Open dialog allows you to
specify the location and name of the file containing the desired layout and
theme. If the file contains valid layout and theme content, Alto will use it
as the current layout and theme.
Resetting the Layout of the User Interface

If you need to reset the layout for some reason (e.g., you cannot access the
menu system), you can reset the layout of the Alto user interface to the built-in
default layout. Note that this will completely reset the layout of the Alto user
interface and discard any changes that you may have made to the layout.
Assuming you have a keyboard attached to the console computer, you can
reset the layout of the Alto user interface using the special Ctrl-F8 key
combination. To reset the layout, first ensure the Alto main window has the
focus (by tapping on the Alto label for instance), and then press the Ctrl and
F8 keys simultaneously. Alto should now be reset to the default screen layout.
If you do not have a keyboard attached to the console computer, you can also
reset the layout by tapping on the “Click/Tap here” panel located in the upper-
left corner of the Alto main window, as shown in Figure 184.
Figure 184. Resetting the layout to the built-in default layout.

Chapter 13
The above depicts a case in which the layout is so corrupted that the Work
Group window is not displayed. Hence, this exposes the back panel with the
Ctrl+F8 graphic, which you can tap to restore your layout.
If the layout allows the Options button to be visible on the Control Panel, you
can also restore the layout by tapping the Reset Screen Layout to Default
button on the Themes window, as shown in Figure 185. Note, however, that
the Modify Main Window Layout permission is required (this is configured in
the DX-Altus Server) for this action to be allowed.
Figure 185. Resetting screen layout to the default layout
Selecting a Theme
The Themes button provides several predefined colour schemes, known as
themes, which you can select. Figure 186 shows the list of predefined themes.
The “tick” next to the “default” theme indicates the selected theme—the
default theme is the theme used in the preparation of this user manual. When
you select a predefined theme from the list, it changes the colour scheme
used for the Alto user interface.
You can select one of these themes to use for your layout or you can even
“roll” your own and create a custom theme (see “Creating a Custom Theme”
on page 258) if you want to be creative!

Figure 186. Selecting one of the built-in themes
The Night Mode theme is a special theme intended for night-time operation in
environments with low ambient light. This theme changes the “viewing mode”
of Alto (see “Changing the Viewing Mode” on page 62). If the Alto user
interface is too bright or glary, you may find night mode using this theme to be
useful in such environments.

Chapter 13
Creating a Custom Theme

If you prefer to “roll your own” theme, you can create a custom scheme by
selecting the Custom Scheme option. Figure 187 shows an example of
selecting a light blue colour for a custom theme from the Theme Colors.
Figure 187. Creating a custom theme
As you move the pointer over a colour square, the color is immediately applied
to the Alto user interface so you can see what the new scheme will look like.
Once you have chosen a colour, tap on the colour to select it.

Mapping Options
The Mapping Options category provides several options that allow you to
change how the mapping data is displayed. GPS Mapping is an optional
licensed feature: this category will only be visible when the GPS Mapping
license is activated on the installation.
GPS Map
If you have a license for the optional GPS Mapping feature, the mapping data
will appear in its own GPS Map window, which you can undock from the main
window and reposition as required. Figure 188 shows the GPS Map window.
Figure 188. Displaying the mapping data in the GPS Map window
This example uses the popular mapping service provided by MapQuest as the
data provider but you can also select OpenStreetMap as the mapping service
provider.
To display the GPS Map window, you first need to enable the mapping-data
option. This option is located under the mapping options, which you can
display by selecting Mapping on the Options dialog shown in Figure 189.
On the Mapping dialog, you can choose a data provider, and specify how to
display the GPS mapping data.
Chapter 13
Options dialog
Mapping button
Selects the mapping
category of options
Category name
selected category
Figure 189. Mapping options
• Mapping option enables the display of the GPS Map window and all
functionality associated with it. If this option is OFF, the mapping
functionality will be disabled and Alto will not show the GPS Map window.
• Zoom option enables the manual zoom functionality (using the zoom-in
and zoom-out buttons) and the auto-zoom (using the button)
provided on the GPS Map window. If this option is OFF, both the manual-
and auto-zoom controls will not be visible on the map and you will not be
able to zoom in or zoom out of the map.
• Dragging option enables the ability to reposition the map displayed in the
GPS Map window by dragging it left, right, up, or down. If this option is
OFF, the dragging feature will be disabled and you will not be able to
drag the map.
• Map Provider allows you to select a data provider from the list of
providers to use for map imagery. Some of these map providers may
have license requirements, or may introduce such requirements in the
future, which may result in ongoing costs to the end user. The end user is
responsible for such costs and for determining whether such costs apply.
• Open Street Map (Self Hosted) map provider option is special in the
sense that it does not require public Internet access to obtain map
imagery. Use this option when the map data is hosted on a machine
reachable on the company’s LAN. Note that the DX-Altus system must be
configured accordingly to reach this machine.

• Map Mode allows you to choose whether you want Alto to cache the
mapping data or to go online to get the data when the map needs to be
updated.
The “online” mode requires a reliable connection to the Internet so that
mapping information can be downloaded when the map requires up-
dating—this occurs when the operator drags the map or zooms in or out.
Note A good quality connection to the Internet is required for the

online mode. The use of a proxy server is not recommended.
The “cached” mode does not require an Internet connection as it uses

cached maps only. This option is ideal when online updates are blocked
or slow to update. Maps can be cached by enabling the “Online and
Cache” mode and accessing all areas that need to be cached while
online. The “Online and Cache” mode updates the map from the Internet
(if available) otherwise it uses previously cached maps. When set to
either “Online” or “Online and Cache”, and using the “Open Street Map
(Self Hosted)” map provider, public access to the Internet is not required.
• Time To Live Duration is the time in seconds (from 1 to 3600) that new
GPS positional data is displayed on the map before it is removed. If the
console does not receive a position update from the portable radio during
the Time To Live (TLL), that position (and only that position) will be
removed from the map. This option is disabled if this setting is zero.
• Activity Only option determines whether markers are visible on the map
and for how long.
• Activity Only OFF – Alto will remove any markers from the map with a
GPS timestamp older than the Time to Live Duration.
• Activity Only ON – Alto will display markers on the map at their last
known GPS location when transmitting or emergency active. As soon as
radio activity ceases, the marker will remain visible on the map for a
period equal to the Time to Live Duration before they are no longer
displayed.

Chapter 13
Advanced Location Services (ALS)

If your DX-Altus system is configured to support Advanced Location Services
(ALS), and your Alto license key includes the ALS feature, you will be able to
enable/disable ALS event logging. If your system supports ALS, you will see
the Advanced Location Services button under the Mapping Options, as
depicted in Figure 190.
Figure 190. Mapping options showing Advanced Locations Services button
Tap Advanced Location Services to expand the ALS options, as shown in

Figure 191.
Figure 191. Advanced Location Services options

The ALS Events button functions as an ON/OFF switch to control ALS Event
logging. Tap the switch to toggle logging ON or OFF. Setting this switch to the
ON position displays the ALS Event Log in its own tabbed window (see “ALS
Event Log Window” on page 231). In the default layout, this appears in the
same window as the Workgroup area.
Configuring ALS Event Options

The ALS Event Options are accessible from the Mapping Options dialog. To
display the ALS event options, tap ALS Event Options, as shown in Figure
192.
Figure 192. Selecting the ALS Event Options from the Mapping Options dialog
This displays the ALS Event Options dialog, as shown in Figure 193. This
dialog lists all the geofence events and the associated options for a particular
ALS profile. If you have the necessary permissions assigned to your user role
by the administrator, you can modify the individual settings of the profile.
However, you cannot change the name of the profile.
Figure 193. ALS Event Options dialog

Chapter 13
The button at the top of the dialog is the profile selector button. This shows the
name of the current profile, as defined by the system administrator when
creating the profile on AGS. When the profile name is prefixed with an asterisk
symbol (*), it denotes the profile (if any) assigned to you.
When more profiles are available in addition to the default profile, a small
triangle symbol will appear on the right edge of the profile selector button. This
denotes that more profiles are available on the dropdown. Tap this button to
expand the list and show the additional profiles.
Figure 194 shows an example of a system with multiple profiles defined. You
can select another profile from this list, and then modify it accordingly.
Figure 194. ALS Event Options dialog with multiple profiles.
You can modify the selected profile by tapping on the individual settings of an
event entry. Unless toggling the Event Type setting, toggling a setting cycles
between enabled and disabled .
ALS geofence events are assigned to one of the following event types: Critical
, Warning , or Informational . You can change the event type for an
event by tapping its corresponding Event Type icon. Each time you tap the
icon, the event type cycles through the different event types. Note that if you
cannot change the event type, you probably do not have the necessary
permission to make modifications.
For each of the events, you can configure how Alto responds to the event,
such as whether to display it in a pop-up window, add an entry into the ALS
Event Log, add an entry into the Messages (queue) window, or display the
event on the GPS map.
If you clear the Enabled setting for a particular event, this will disable the
event; and the current setting of Pop Up Window, Event History, Message
History, and GPS Essentials will have no effect.
Once you are done, tap Apply to save the changes to the profile. Should you
want to undo any changes you made to the profile, tap Undo; or alternatively,
you may simply dismiss the dialog by closing it.

Selective Call Options
The Selective Call category provides several options that allow you to change
how the system handles selective call (selcall) messages. You display these
options by selecting the Selective Call category on the Options dialog, as
Options dialog
Category name
selected category
Figure 195. Selective Call options
You may not be able to change any of these options depending on how your
administrator has configured the DX-Altus system. If you do not have per-
mission to make changes, you will see a red padlock next to each option to
indicate the option is locked.
The options available under the Selective Call category include the following:
• Show Received Selcalls option allows Alto to show received selcalls in

the Messages window. If this option is OFF, Alto will not show any
received selcalls in the Messages window, and all of the other incoming
selective-call options will be disabled.
• Restrict to known Contacts option allows you to restrict the received
selcalls so that only those with the destination digits matching a selcall of
one of the contacts in your contacts list appear in the Messages window.

Chapter 13
• Selected and Monitored options determine whether selcalls received on

channels in the selected (foreground) audio mode and/or the monitored
(background) audio mode will appear in the Messages window.
Selected Monitored Description

OFF OFF The audio mode of the channel on which the
selcall was received does not play a role in
determining whether the selcall will appear in the
Messages window.
ON OFF The selcall must be received on a channel that is
in the selected (foreground) audio mode. Selcalls
either received on channels in the monitored
(background) or muted (off) audio mode will not
appear in the Messages window.
OFF ON The selcall must be received on a channel that is
in the monitored (background) audio mode. Sel-
calls either received on channels in the selected
(foreground) or muted (off) audio mode will not
ON ON The selcall must be received on a channel that
either is in the selected (foreground) or monitored
(background) audio mode. Selcalls received on
channels in the muted (off) audio mode will not
• Alert Popup option allows Alto to display a popup message when it

receives a selcall that was just added to the messages list. If this option is
OFF, the popup message will not appear and the Alert Sound option (see
below) is disabled.
• Alert Sound option allows Alto to play an alert sound whilst the popup
message is displayed (only in effect while Alert Popup option is ON). If
you do not want to use the default sound, you can use your own by
copying the desired sound file (.wav format) into the Alto installation
folder. You should ensure that the filename is “selcallalert.wav”. You
should also confirm that the sound file is playable by double-clicking on it
to see whether Windows can play it.
• Show Transmitted Selcalls option allows Alto to show transmitted
selcalls in the Messages window. If this option is OFF, Alto will not show
any transmitted selcalls in the Messages window, and all of the other
outgoing selective-call options will be disabled.
• Restrict to Mine Only option allows Alto to restrict the listing of outgoing
selcalls to those generated by the operator. If this option is OFF, outgoing
selcalls generated by other operators may be listed.

• Restrict to known Contacts option allows Alto to restrict the listing of
outgoing selcalls to those with destination digits that can be matched
against a contact in the contact list. If this option is OFF, outgoing selcalls
with unknown destination digits may be listed.
Importing Contacts
The Import Contacts category allows you to import the contacts list from a
comma-separated-values (CSV) file. Provided the system administrator has
granted you the permission to import contacts, you can access the Import
Contacts feature by tapping Options, then tapping Import Contacts. This
displays the Import Contacts dialog similar to the one shown in Figure 196.
Figure 196. Importing contacts from a file
This allows you to load the contacts list from a CSV file. In this example, the
operator imports the contacts list from a file named “Contacts.csv” located in
the “Documents\CSVs” folder.
Read CSV is the first stage of importing the contacts list. This involves reading
and validating the CSV file to ensure it contains valid entries, as shown in
Figure 197. This provides a summary of how many valid contact entries are
contained in the file.

Chapter 13
Figure 197. Summary of validating the contacts
Invalid contact lines will be ignored during the import process. If you want to
read the contacts file again or choose a different contacts file, you can repeat
the first stage by tapping the green Read CSV button.
If an error is encountered during the import process, the summary will state
what is wrong with the file, as shown in Figure 198. In this case, you should
advise your administrator of the error.
Figure 198. Summary showing invalid contacts file
Note Imported contacts will be created as new contacts—you should ensure

that the contacts import file does not include any duplications (or duplicates of
existing contacts) as there is no protection against creating duplicate contacts.

To proceed to the second stage of Create Contacts, tap the blue Commence
Contacts Creation button to import the contacts. Figure 199 shows a
snapshot taken during the contact creation stage. Notice how the progress bar
provides visual feedback of the progress.
Figure 199. Importing and creating the contacts
Whilst importing the contacts (contact creation), you can cancel the process
by tapping Stop Creating Contacts. This will prematurely terminate the
importing of contacts—only the contacts imported up to that point will be
added to the contacts list and you will not be able to resume from where you
left off.
On completion (or termination) of the import process, the Summary stage will
provide a summary of the number of contacts imported (created) as well as
the number of contact numbers created as depicted in Figure 200.
Figure 200. Summary stage showing the number imported contacts

Chapter 13
Exporting Contacts
The Export Contacts category allows you to export the contacts list to a
comma-separated-values (CSV) file. Provided the system administrator has
granted you the permission to export contacts, you can access the Export
Contacts feature by tapping Options, then tapping Export Contacts. This
displays the Export Contacts dialog similar to the one shown in Figure 201.
Figure 201. Exporting contacts to a file
This allows you to save the contacts list to a CSV file. You can name the file
whatever you like. In this example, the operator exports the contacts to a file
named “Contacts.csv” located in the “Documents\CSVs” folder.
Format of Contacts File

You can manually create contacts using a text editor providing you adhere to
a few simple rules. Valid contacts (CSV) files must conform to a specific
format described below.
The first line is the heading line. This must identify the name of each column
to include in the contact. Valid column names are listed in Table 7 below.
Each column name must be delimited with a single comma “,”. All columns
other than the First Name and the Last Name are optional.
The heading line must include one column with a name of “First Name” and
another column with a name of “Last Name”. No other columns may contain
these names.

The column names may be included in any order. Both upper- and lower-case
characters are allowed. If a column name comprises several words, the
individual words do not need to be separated by spaces. For example,
“Landline Business Phone” is equivalent to “LandlineBusinessPhone”.
All lines other than the heading line must contain the details of a contact. Each
field of the contact must be delimited by a comma “,”. These fields must be in
the same order as the column headings.
A valid contact line is one which includes a First Name or a Last Name that is
not blank or does not contain only whitespace.
Table 7. Contacts file column description
First Name The first name of the contact.
Last Name The last (surname) name of the contact.
Digital Radio ID A positive number that can be up to 50 digits long, which
matches the radio ID programmed into your digital radio. May
be left blank.
Linked Channel ID In a DX-Altus system, a radio ID may be optionally linked to a
channel. In such cases, this value must match the DX-Altus
system channel number (a number between 1 and 56). Leave
blank or 0 if unused.
Group ID A positive number that can be up to 50 digits long, which
matches the group ID programmed into your digital radio. May
be left blank.
Group ID Linked In a DX-Altus system, a group ID may be optionally linked to a
Channel ID Channel. In such cases, this value must match the DX-Altus
system channel number (a number between 1 and 56). Leave
blank or 0 if unused.
Landline Business A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
Phone contain leading zeros as well as the * or # symbol.
Landline Private A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
Landline Emergency A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
Mobile Business A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
Mobile Private A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
Selcall A string of numeric characters up to 50 digits long that may
contain leading zeros.

Chapter 13
Importance A positive number that must be between 0 and 4 inclusive.

These numbers mean the following:
• 0 is Low
• 1 is Medium Low
• 2 is Medium
• 3 is High
• 4 is Very High
Any other value outside the above range or not specified will
result in an Importance setting of Low.
Notes A textual description of the contact which may be up to 250
characters long.
Shared A true/false parameter which specifies whether the contact is
shared with other operators or private.
• “0” or “false” means that this contact is private and is
associated with the Creator ID.
• “1” or “true”, blank (not specified), means that this contact
is shared (public) and other operators will have access to it.
Creator ID A positive number between 1 and 65535, which matches the
DX-Altus assigned User ID. This ID may be found in the DX-
Altus SCU System Status page, under the Network Connect-
ions area for logged-in operators. If left blank, the contact will
be treated as a shared (global) contact regardless of the
Shared column setting noted above.
System ID A positive number between 1 and 65535, which matches the
DX-Altus System ID. This ID may be found on the DX-Altus
SCU Network Settings page. If left blank, the ID of the system
to which the contacts are restored will be used.
Importing and exporting of contacts was implemented in Alto version 1.1.19.

With this version of Alto, if you do not include the “Shared” field in the contacts
file, all contacts will be imported as private contacts. This means that only you
(the operator who imports the contacts file) will be able to see the contacts.
To make the imported contacts visible to all Alto operators, the heading line
must contain the field heading “Shared” and each contact record must include
this field (the value can “true”, “1”, or blank).
If the contacts file contains shared and private type contacts, the heading line
must also contain the field heading “Creator ID” and each contact record must
include a Creator ID value.
For private contacts, the Creator ID field must be a number from 1 to 65525
and the Shared field must be “false” or “0”. If you leave this field blank, the
contact will be treated as a shared contact.
An example should help to clarify these requirements. Let us import three

contacts with the following fields:

First Name Last Name Radio ID Group ID Shared Creator ID
Martin McTavish 888 12 Yes
Mary Mumford 889 12 No 1
Glenn Giles 818 10 Yes
Note that we require a “Shared” field and a “Creator ID” field for these
contacts to make the contact “Mary Mumford” a private contact. We can
create the csv file in a text editor such as Notepad or a spreadsheet such as
Microsoft® Excel. In each case, the file name must have a “.csv” extension.
Figure 202 shows an example of using Notepad to create the contacts file
“TestList.csv” for the example contacts above. Note how each record is
specified on a new line (each line is terminated by a carriage return).
Figure 202. Example of using Notepad to create the contacts file
The heading line must appear as the first line: this specifies the fields to
include. However, the order of the fields is not important, but you must ensure
that the fields in each record align with the corresponding heading.
For the shared contacts (Martin McTavish and Glenn Giles), we do not have to
provide a Creator ID, however, for the private contact (Mary Mumford), we
must have a Creator ID of “1” or greater.
Figure 203 shows an example of using Excel to create the same contacts file
“TestList.csv” for the example contacts above.

Chapter 13
Figure 203. Example of using Excel to create the contacts file
To import the contacts from our sample contacts file into the DX-Altus system,
follow the procedure outlined in the section “Importing Contacts” on page 267.
Once the contacts are imported, you can then view them in Alto as shown in
Figure 204.
Figure 204. Viewing the imported contacts in Alto

If we want to import the contacts into a multi-login system (i.e., more than one
DX-Altus Server sub-rack), the field “System ID” must be specified and each
contact record must specify the system ID of the sub-rack to which it relates.
For example, if we add the System ID field to our sample contacts file and
specify a value of “2” for a particular record instead of “1”, that record would
not be imported because the system ID of our system is “1”.

Index
A muting, 110
Audio Levels window, 109
active workgroup, 60 audio recordings, 117, 120, 123
channels archiving, 125
adding, 75 audio clip, 126
default state, 71 deleting, 128
linking, 88 duration, 120
removing, 75 format of, 120
selecting, 79 header, 120
Active Workgroups Panel, 60 mark-in point, 123
advanced linking options, 108 mark-out point, 123
AFI number, 59 pausing, 120, 124
AFI status indication, 59 playing, 123, 124
All Call. See digital radios recalling, 122, 123
All Channels Off button. See control saving, 125, 126, 127
panel types of
Alto saved, 122
about, 1 temporary, 120
activating. See product activation Auto Scroll switch, 141, 142, 192
functions of, 2 automatic login, 40
installing, 12 about, 44, 49
license, transferring, 28 credentials, changing, 243, 244
login options. See login options option, 40, 242
requirements, 5
running, 36 B
uninstalling, 40
windows, docking, 58 Background All button. See control
announcements. See audio panel
announcements background channel. See channel
answering phone calls. See phones modes
archive. See audio recordings
audio announcements, 191 C
audio clip, 126 C2V host-fingerprint file. See licenses
audio levels Call Alert. See digital radios
adjusting, 110 call history
auxiliary, 110 call types, 135
background, 110 Call History window, 134
foreground, 110 auto scrolling, 141, 142
master, 110 navigating, 135
Index 277
call holding. See phones channel modes
call parking. See phones about, 84
calls background, 84
displaying, 136 changing, 84, 89
channel buttons foreground, 84
adding, 79 icons, 84
All Call, 147 muted, 84
blinking, 147, 248 channel status
bold text, 188 about, 85
busy indication, 148 channel volume
call details, 147 adjusting, 111
call state, 145 Channel Volume Change control, 111
call-type line, 65 channel volume
capabilities exposed, 144 adjusting, 111
changing modes, 78, 84, 87, 92, 248 indicator, 112
colour, 85 resetting, 112
diagonal lines, 114 Default Volume button, 112
DR symbol, 63 Default Volume on All Channels
emergency, 148 button, 112
fast select, 92 channels
hanging up, 215 linking, 88
layout, 63 maximum number of, 68, 76
linking, 99, 107 modes of operation, 84
name line, 69 selecting, 89
parking, 213 VoIP, status of, 131
phone channels, 204, 209, 212 volume, adjusting. See Channel
PTT indication, 86 Volume Change control
querying, 153 configuration file, 36
removing, 79 connection settings
scrolling text, 147 default, 36
state, 153 exisiting, 36
status line, 65 console computer requirements, 5
text messaging, 145, 147 contact numbers
tick mark, 70, 72, 100 about, 178
toggle bar, 113, 145, 146, 152 deleting, 178
transmitting, 147 contacts
trunked radio, 86 about, 165
unacknowledged message, 194 adding, 169
unlinking, 107 deleting, 176
volume indicator, 112 editing, 173
Channel Change Interface exporting, 270
about, 149 filtering, 167
changing channels, 150 format of, 270
DTMF channel change, 153 importing, 267
features of, 149 looking up, 95
functionality, 150 managing, 165
Query button, 153 permissions, 166
channel linking, 98, 99 private, 169
278 Index
search filter, clearing, 168 channel buttons, layout, 63
selecting, 96 channel-change function, 149
shared, 169 channels
sorting, 167 changing, 149
types of, 169 querying, 153
contacts file controlling, 144
exporting, 270 DR symbol, 63
format of, 270 group call
heading line, 270 about, 146
importing, 267 incoming calls, 147
valid fields, 271 outgoing calls, 146
Contacts window text messaging, 147
about, 165 incoming emergency
contacts list, 95 about, 148
locking and unlocking, 176 alerts, 149
navigating, 166 individual call
padlock button, 176 about, 144
searching and filtering, 96 call alert, 145
sort button, 167 incoming calls, 145
trash button, 176 outgoing calls, 144
using, 95, 165 text messaging, 145
control panel remote phone call
about, 57, 59 progress, 154
All Channels Off button, 91 terminating, 156
Background All button, 90 DX-Altus Server
buttons, 59 connection settings, 36
configuration of, 68 Connection Setup dialog, 17, 37
Exit button, 243, 244 default connection settings, 36
Fast Select button, 91 host port, 18, 38
Foreground All button, 89 logging in, 19, 39, 40, 44, 47
Link Groups button, 97, 106 logging out, 46, 56
Log Out button, 56, 243 network requirements of, 5
Monitor All button, 90 System Control Unit (SCU), 1, 18, 38
Options button, 240 Systems dialog, 16, 37
Select All button, 89 USB audio, 46
Work Groups button, 68, 71, 78, 81, DX-Altus system
82, 99 digital audio network
bandwidth of, 4
D
day mode. See viewing modes
E
Day/Night button. See viewing modes emergency-message announcements.
deleting audio recordings, 128 See audio announcements
digital audio network entertainment audio options, 245
bandwidth of, 4 event log. See status panel
digital radios exporting contacts, 270
all call, 147
all text message, 163
capabilities, 144
Index 279
F Linker dialog, 98
Apply button, 108
Fast Select button. See Fast Select applying changes, 108
feature Clear button, 108
Fast Select feature clearing channels, 108
about, 91 Linkgroup Modify dialog, 104
Fast Select button, 91 link-groups
Foreground All button. See control channels
panel adding, 104
foreground channel. See channel removing, 104, 107
modes common channels, 108
editing, 104
G Link Menu button, 97
general options Linker dialog, 98
about, 247, 249 logging in, 44
busy hold, 248 login credentials, description of, 45
busy hold fixed, 248 login options, 242
follow active channel, 248 about, 242
phone priority, 248 automatic login, 242
radio priority, 248 manual login, 244
GPS Map. See also mapping options Login window, 18, 39, 40, 44
Group Call. See digital radios about, 49
bypassing, 243
H login credentials, 44, 243, 244
on-screen keyboard, using, 45
heading line. See contacts file password, 40, 45
Hold button. See Phone Control dialog position and size of, 36
user name, 40, 45
I
Incoming Emergency. See digital radios M
Individual Call. See digital radios
main window. See Alto
about, 57
K header panel, 59
keyboard, on-screen, 66 layout of, 58
maximizing, 61
L minimizing, 61
mapping options
licenses
about, 259
C2V host-fingerprint file, 24, 27
dragging, 260
expired or not found, 34, 36
Omnitronics Licensing EMS, 33 map provider, 260
mapping enabled, 260
purchasing, 33
zoom, 260
rehosting, 28
message list
reinstalling, 33
RUS tool. See RUS tool
sending selcalls, 94
transferring, 28
messages
V2C license file, 21, 23, 28
Link Menu button, 97 acknowledging, 194
deleting, 199
280 Index
displaying, 137, 190 mapping. See mapping options
filtering, 194 dragging, 260
search filter, clearing, 195 map provider, 260
types of, 189 mapping enabled, 260
unacknowledged, 194 zoom, 260
Messages window overview of, 240
about, 187 rapid recall
auto scrolling, 192 about, 246
configuring, 187 pause playback on channel activity,
Delete All button, 199 246
Dismiss button, 194 record active background audio,
functions, 187 246
locking and unlocking, 199 reporting
navigating, 188 about, 252
padlock button, 199 debug output disabled, 252
searching and filtering, 194 hide incoming contracts, 252
Monitor All button. See control panel hide outgoing contracts, 252
muted channel. See channel modes syslog disabled, 252
roles, 240
N selecting, 241
network congestion. See VoIP selective call
channels about, 265
New Contact Modify dialog alert popup, 266
about, 169 alert sound, 266
adding new contacts, 169 monitored, 266
fields, 169 restrict to known contacts, 265
night mode. See viewing modes selected, 266
show received selcalls, 265
O show transmitted selcalls, 266
status of, 241
Omnitronics Licensing EMS, 33 themes
on-screen keyboard, 66 about, 253
options
entertainment audio P
about, 245
auxiliary volume, 245 Page dialog, 217
channel, selecting, 245 paging capability, 217
general Phone Control dialog
about, 247, 249 about, 209
busy hold, 248 Hold button, 212
busy hold fixed, 248 phones
follow active channel, 248 about, 203
phone priority, 248 answering calls, 205
radio priority, 248 call holding, 212
login, 242, See also login options call parking, 213
about, 242 Hold button, 212
automatic, 242 originating calls
manual, 244 about, 206
recording, 206
Index 281
Telephone Call dialog,using, 206 hide incoming contracts, 252
Park button, 213 hide outgoing contracts, 252
recording calls, 205, 206 syslog disabled, 252
Telephone Call dialog RUS tool
using, 206 about, 28
terminating calls, 205 dowloading, 26
using, 203 license, transferring, 28
popup messages. See status panel location of, 24
product activation, 13
at startup, 13 S
in trial mode, 13, 15
saving audio recordings, 125
offline, 16, 22
selcall options. See selective-call
transferring the license, 28
options
product activation key, 13
Select All button. See control panel
PTT button, showing, 254
Selective Call dialog, 93
keypad, description of, 94
R status code feature, 94
radio channels using, 150
changing, 149 selective-call options
channel-change function, 149 about, 265
digital. See digital radios alert popup, 266
radio-status-message announcements. alert sound, 266
See audio announcements monitored, 266
rapid recall restrict to known contacts, 265
about, 117 selected, 266
audio recordings show received selcalls, 265
deleting, 128 show transmitted selcalls, 266
format of, 120, 122 Sentinel LDK License Manager. See
identifying, 122 Sentinel service
pausing, 124 Sentinel service
playing, 123 about, 34
properties of, 120 license problem, 34
recalling, 123 running, 34
recording, 120 stopped, 34
saving, 125 show PTT button, 254
types of, 122 special radio functions
Rapid Recall options, 246 about, 156
pause playback on channel activity, radio check, 160
246 radio status message request, 162
purge audio recordings on logout, 246 revive, 159
record active background audio, 246 stun, 157
Real Time Protocol (RTP). See VoIP status panel, 115
Interface configuration, 116
recording phone calls. See phones event log, 115
Recordings window, 122 popup messages, 115
reporting options repositioning, 115
about, 252 system requirements. See console
debug output disabled, 252 computer requirements
282 Index
T about, 62
changing, 62
talk-group, 144 day mode, 62
talk-path, 63, 64, 65, 144 Day/Night button, 62
text-message announcements. See night mode, 62
audio announcements VoIP channels
themes options network congestion, 114
about, 253 restoring, 115
touchscreen status of, 131
terminology, xvii VoIP connection, 59
using, xvii VoIP interface
touchscreen display Real Time Protocol (RTP), 4
calibrating, 42
terminology, xvii W
U Windows Firewall, using, 12
windows, docking, 58
uninstalling Alto, 40 Work Group window, 63
user interface Work Groups button, 68
Header panel Workgroup Setup dialog, 75
about, 59 workgroups
AFI number, 59 about, 68
active. See active workgroup
V editing, 75
V2C license file. See licenses selecting, 79
viewing modes Work Groups button, 68
Index 283

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© 2012-2017 Omnitronics Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyrights and Trademarks

Head Office: International Sales Office: North America Office:

Omnitronics Pty Ltd Omnitronics Pty Ltd Omnitronics, Inc.

Date: July 2017

About this Manual xv

Getting Started with Alto 7

Rapid Recall and Recordings 117

Call History 133

Controlling Digital Radios 143

Phone Channels 203

Paging Remote Devices 217

GPS Essentials 225

Advanced Location Services (ALS) 231

Managing and Customizing the Software 239

This user manual discusses the operation and configuration of Omnitronics

• Installing and using Alto software

• DX-Altus Server – Configuration Guide (MNL-00097)

Alto User Manual xv

Table 1. Document conventions

Important An important note provides information that is essential to the

Note A note provides information that emphasizes or supplements import-

xvi About this Manual

How this Manual is Structured

• Chapter 1, Introducing Alto introduces Alto and provides a list of

Alto User Manual xvii

xviii About this Manual

This chapter includes the following sections:

• Communicate in radio-dispatch environments—Control up to 56

Alto User Manual 1

• Customizable user interface—change the appearance and layout of

• RSSI Voting—acquires the strongest channel when multiple channels

• Single Login allows users to login to a single DX-Altus system (supports

Alto User Manual 3

Upstream (from Console to DX-Altus Server sub-rack)

Downstream (from DX-Altus Server sub-rack to Console)

Upstream/Downstream (to/from DX-Altus Server sub-rack)

• Dead time (periods of no network connection) must be less than 3

Console Computer Requirements

Table 2. Console computer minimum requirements

Alto User Manual 5

• “Installing the Alto Software”

Installing the Alto Software

32-bit Windows: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

Alto User Manual 7

To install Alto on a single console computer

If the Setup Wizard does not automatically start, run drive:\AUTORUN,

Alto User Manual 9

8. At the Select Additional Tasks screen, select Create a desktop icon to

11. At the Ready to Install screen, tap Install.

10 Getting Started with Alto

13. Tap Finish.

/SILENT Runs the installer in silent mode (progress window is

Alto User Manual 11

/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES Suppress message boxes (only has an effect when

For example, to perform a silent install (without displaying any windows or

Alto and Firewall Software

Figure 1. Windows Firewall security alert

12 Getting Started with Alto

Product Licensing and Activation

Activating the Product Online

Alto User Manual 13