Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Dillard
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Gary,
The IFI monitor can pick up radio traffic for a fairly large range. When I was inspecting at Boilermaker their first year, I was informed by the IFI guy that there were other robots operating on radio that were not on the field. After checking around we found that a robot demonstration had been set up outside and those radios were being picked up by the field system.
In addition to the data I mentioned earlier, the IFI monitor also looks at packet loss and can determine the condition of your link on the field. With the IFI rep and FTA working together, they should be agreeable to let you link up in the pits to check radios. Please remember that this might be difficult if there are active matches on the field.
At Championships, the pits are far enough from the playing fields that the monitor might not pick up your robot in the pits. There is some good communications at the event though and someone should be able to coordinate things for you.
As a side note, there have been many modem cable failures over the years. Since the radio power passes through the cable it may just go high resistance and prevent perfect communication. Just one spare may not be enough. Keep a couple and toss the defective one when they appear.