Audible Signal Meter

[c.davis]

Just a heads up for everyone.

Currently there is a private beta test in progress for an audible signal meter and it will be released as a public beta within the next week.

The purpose of this application is to feed you audible tones based on the signal of your client and repeater installation. It will only work with StarOS V3 clients, the AP end is irrevelant. There is basic AP end functionality which only supports StarOS V3 AP's but that functionality is fairly low as the intended use is for client installs.

I read a couple of threads and got a PM asking for this type of tool and it is on the go, so far it works quite nicely and gives a very audible and varying output tone based on your current signal... might be a good time to treat your installers to a bluetooth or wireless headset ;). The hold up is to decide on a final feature set and get those features working to the point that you should be able to put it on a thumb drive and hand it over to your installers.

There isn't much left to do before it is relaesed other than to provide an 'inverse' function so that the display is clearer for laptop users in sunlight conditions as well as a couple of other things here and there, it is already fairly intelligent and it will get smarter over the weekend.

Please note that this is something that I am doing after hours, otherwise it would be out sooner. It is a very nice app in both its simplicity and functionality, I'm sure that you'll really enjoy it.

[DrLove73]

Very nice, thanks. Pease insert config/INI funkcionality and to accept command prompt parameter, so admin could prepare batch or config scripts for installers. That would help in bright sunlight conditions.

[lonnie]

Just a couple of points.....

AP end is just as important as the Client end if the link is a p2p shot fro repeater or what have you.

The most important feature would be the audible tone, because I thought the consensus was to use them with wireless headsets. You'll never see a screen from a 96 foot tower.

[ripv]

thanks Carl, both for the very useful app and for burning the night oil - I guess you are on a mission to make all our lives easier? right :D

[DrLove73]

I was thinking about less educated instalers. They would turn on notebook, click on the already prepared batch file wich would connect itself automaticaly to CPE, and then all they needed to do is to listen to audio. No IP addresses, or passwords they need to remember, so no points of delay.

Main irritation when using "Basic Dataflow" is constant need of manualy adding IP address and interval.

[c.davis]

The batch idea is a good one, I'll take a look into it.

The inversed screen is something that was requested by one of the beta testers, I assume that he takes his laptop with him on the roof and would like to see the signal once he hears the highest tone from the antenna sweep, just for fine tuning.

AP end functionality is quite good.. if the tool finds more than one association it will create a list of associated mac/ip paris to choose from, the chosen mac/ip will be monitored.

[David L. Vrablic]

Screens are also nice when you are working in a Hospital hallway or a Hotel lobby where you just might not want a bunch of beeping and squawking going on .
-------------
Without a decent screen how can you tell what association you want to single out on to zero in on a averaged center field for an AP sector serving several folks that are spread out.

Thank you Carl for making our work so much easier.
Keep in mind my friend you won't please everyone no matter how you try.

[DrLove73]

For the AP side, MAC adress could also be part of program config.

Maybe even for the Client side if Carl is using site survay and not assoc list, but this is not something important, just my "creativity rush" :-)

[c.davis]

The public beta is out and ready for testing, grab a copy in the Utilities section at http://files.star-os.com and is named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter 0.0.2b.zip"

Feature Highlights:
-> Choose from tone or voice output, muting is available as well, all on the fly.
-> If more than one association is found on the chosen card you are able to switch between any individual association on the fly.
-> A best guess effort is made to determine if the chosen wpci card is in AP or Station mode.

Requirements:
-> Latest .NET 2.0 runtime
(x86) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en
(x64) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B44A0000-ACF8-4FA1-AFFB-40E78D788B00&displaylang=en
-> Sound card
-> Speakers or headphones
-> Target unit must have SNMP running

Please report any bugs as well as a way to reproduce them.

Happy testing.

Thank you David Vrablic and DLNoah for all of your testing efforts.

[ninedd]

Hi. I've downloaded and installed it, and I love it. I'd like to be able to expand it to full screen, with a stupidly LARGE number display (that can be seen from 96' away) but even as is, this'll be great!

[nelson05]

VERY Nice!

A couple of little requests....

Could you add a setting to allow an adjustment of the interval between reading/announcments? I love the voice reading of the signal but would love to be able to have it report it even faster.

Would it be possible to allow a couple of bookmarks of addresses or at the very least have it remember the last five or so addresses used?

Finally, what traditional wireless or bluetooth headset do you recommend for optimum range? I'm thinking being able to leave the laptop inside and have it talk all the way up to the roof... or around 50 -70 feet.

Once again, very cool. Thanks for a great tool!

[luke541]

Yes Very Cool new tool!

But I also agree that if it could be made bigger, that would make it pretty much Perfect as far as i'm concerned!

Thanks for your hard work, its trully appreciated. =)

[David L. Vrablic]

[quote=nelson05;54894]VERY Nice!

A couple of little requests....

Could you add a setting to allow an adjustment of the interval between reading / announcements? I love the voice reading of the signal but would love to be able to have it report it even faster.
SNMP has about a 1 second response time.
----------------
dlv--->I found that setting it faster just made for a lot of extra noise while you are waiting for the radio to settle out and return a stable response.
As I am sure you know this is not an analog function off some receivers AGC circuit. Everything must happen and then be computed before it can be displayed.
---------------
Would it be possible to allow a couple of bookmarks of addresses or at the very least have it remember the last five or so addresses used?
dlv----> It's in the works right Carl?
--------------
Finally, what traditional wireless or Bluetooth headset do you recommend for optimum range? I'm thinking being able to leave the laptop inside and have it talk all the way up to the roof... or around 50 -70 feet.

dlv----> I have had real bad luck with Bluetooth. It has a bad enough time just getting from my ear to my belt for my phone to work properly.

I tried one of the game adapters and got about 30 ft and it went away.
A lot of my work is around high RF areas, rooftops and transmitter sites etc.
Even my cell drops out and is just about worthless there.
I think I am going to make a little adapter cable to plug my laptop into a GSM pocket radio. I'll snap a rubber band around the xmitt button to keep it on, drop the second unit in my pocket and I'll bet it will work for several hundred feet.
---------
dlv---> Also I don't think I want to radiate any more 2.4 gG signals near a 2.4 antenna I am trying to align. It would be a bit like "Whizzing in your drinking water." :o GSM radios are in the VHF band and shouldn't bother.

dlv-----> Great work Carl, I used it up in my bucket yesterday to aim a patch with the truck computer in the cab running the program.
I piped it out the trucks PA speaker.....85-80-75-60-60-65-60-60-60
Great tool!

Once again, very cool. Thanks for a great tool

[c.davis]

I'm glad that everyone is enjoying it, it is a neat tool and should make life a whole lot easier.

You are right David, the bookmark (sticky) function is in the works and will remember the last 25 IP's/Community pairs that were able to successfully reply. I was considering allowing more to be stored but I think it would defeat the purpose as you would be able to type them again faster than pick from a list especially with a touchpad on a laptop.

The polling interval is locked at 2000ms, any less would either cause the voice and signal to overlap and become out of sync or would stop the voice part way through as new signals are received (eg. "seve.." instead of "seventy one").

I don't have any specific suggestions for a headset and, as David pointed out, it may cause signal issues. Bluetooth is only rated for about 30 feet (10 meters) in optimal conditions so it may or may not be a good choice depending on your needs.

I've seen a couple of VHF headsets for around $100US but the base station requires 110V so this may not work for some. IMHO, this would be the best choice with the best range.

I like the idea of piping the sound through a vehicle stereo system, ghetto blaster, etc. The downside is that it might really get frowned upon in heavily populated areas to have SAM yelling numbers. You may even see people puting on tinfoil hats.

If anyone knows of or finds a headset that is ideally suited please do share.

[therealboss]

Work a treat, that should keep the installers happy for a while..

Thanks..

[ninedd]

...to have SAM yelling numbers...Oh, oh! I can see your 64 showing!
Ahhh - I can see the advertising campaign now... "I Adore My VNC WAR"

[c.davis]

There's a new beta available:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter 0.1.0b.zip"

Changes:

A bookmark list is in place holding a maximum of 25 enteries. This list can be hand edited but will be truncated if there are more than 25 enteries. The format is simple, 'ip|community', each entry must be on its own line. See the included 'iplist.txt' file which is the file used. This file can be shared among users but it must be in the same folder as the application.
Linux and Mac users, if you edit the iplist.txt file by hand, be sure that your text editor saves line endings in Windows format '\r\n'
The Community field will automaticly update when a saved ip is selected from the list.


All fonts are much larger including input fields, this should make things a bit more comfortable for laptop touchpad users.The bookmark function has had limited testing, please be sure to report any bugs.

[ninedd]

Finally, what traditional wireless or Bluetooth headset do you recommend for optimum range? I'm thinking being able to leave the laptop inside and have it talk all the way up to the roof... or around 50 -70 feet.We're planning on just using our GMRS radio with the VOX setting. Seems to work fine and a LOT more than 30' range. :) http://cobra.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=396&category_ID=29

[c.davis]

Thanks, those are very nice looking, should be able to take a M-M 1/8" cable to connect the speaker output on a laptop to the mic in on one of the radios.

Amazing at how inexpensive they are.

We're planning on just using our GMRS radio with the VOX setting. Seems to work fine and a LOT more than 30' range. :) http://cobra.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=396&category_ID=29

[ninedd]

Yea - the of course don't get anywhere close to 20 miles (or the 27 advertised on the newest model) so the key wording is 'your performance may vary depending on terrain'. They do a mile or so pretty easily for us.

(BTW - You can even run the Speaker out of one radio, into the Mic in of another radio - set them up on different channels and get a reapeater out of them!)

[Beebe]

Cool, stick a pair 200' up a tower and you might get 5 or 10 miles out of them.

[ninedd]

There are reports of folks lost on mountains that have talked 20+ miles (with perfect conditions and no trees) to rescuers on other mountain tops with them. We get 1 to 5 miles depending on conditions - I use them hunting with good results. However, we use them for talking around a jobsite most of the time - or even just to talk tower-top to ground without having to yell.

[c.davis]

I found a bug of sorts with the bookmark (sticky) function that I will remedy right away. There will be a new beta to reflect the change.

The bookmark function is supposed to be in a FIFO design, instead the last entry is overwritten over and over again.

Don't let this discourage you from testing the current 0.1.0b beta release as the next one will certainly work with the existing iplist.txt format and will only remedy the FIFO flaw, it won't add or change features.

Otherwise, I hope that you're all enjoying this tool.

[c.davis]

The new beta is out and is named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter.0.1.1.b.zip"

Changed:
-> FIFO (First In First Out) iplist.txt rotation has been updated and should work properly.

As with the previous beta release, there has been limited testing in regards to the iplist.txt functionality. Please report any bugs that may come up.

Please note, the iplist.txt file shipped with this release may overwrite one that is already existing. Please backup your iplist.txt file and replace it after extracting files from the downloaded zip file.

[c.davis]

Dang. Still a small issue with the bookmarks.

I'm going to take a short pause to evaluate and fix this, it won't take long, please continue to test the most current beta and report any bugs other than bookmark (sticky) issues.

Thanks,
Carl

[amp]

What would be cool is to login to a an asterisk box, dial a number/extension that references the unit on your network and gives you a readout over the phone etc. Only if you are connected that is.

I think its doable with from what ive seen. Just the time it takes.

[c.davis]

You want this app to talk to you on the phone?

More often than not, where this application is used you won't have a very good link, or one at all, until it has finished it's job.

[DrLove73]

He maybe thought about using it on the AP side or something. Creative rush I would say.

[c.davis]

A fresh beta is now out and named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter-0.1.9b.zip"

Changes:
-> FIFO order has changed, successful and new ip/community pairs are added to the top of the list and force ones at the bottom out as needed.
-> IP lists are working correctly
-> The Inverse function is definate and very readable in low and high lighting conditions

Please test this new beta and report any bugs that you may come across.

Current Plans (also in current development):

Voice commands to instruct the application on what to do
List of voice commands planned and/or in development
"Next Association"
"Previous Association"
"Best Signal"
"Worst Signal"
"Start"
"Stop"

Naming per IP

Currently, there is no way to extract station/association names. There will be a field that will allow you to give a 'friendly' name for an IP/Community pair which will be saved within the iplist.txt file.
This functionality will be incorporated with voice commands but will be deferred until naming is able to faithfully be saved along with ip/community pairs. At this point there will be three available variables per IP, including the IP itself (ip|community|firendly name)
Caveats/Notes:
-> Please backup you current iplist.txt file and edit/modify as necessary as it will be overwritten when extracting this zip file.

Although voice commands are in the works, they are very much in an alpha stage and will not make their way into any private or public betas until the current feature set is known and confirmed to work properly.

Enjoy,
Carl

[c.davis]

There is an informal beta for Vista and XP users out named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter-0.1.9b-Vista.zip"

Notes et all are the same as my last post with the follong exception:
-> .NET 3.5 is required
-> please see the following webiste for .NET 3.5 downloads:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=333325fd-ae52-4e35-b531-508d977d32a6&displaylang=en

I would really appreciate it if XP and Vista users would download and test this beta and report back success and/or failure.

The main reason for this beta refresh was because I have received a couple of reports of this application not running reliably on Vista sytems.

I should also note, if these tests prove to be successful, the .NET 3.0/3.5 runtime may become the new standard for future development. It is time to move forward and deliver more intelligent and interactive applications, the new frameworks allows for that.

This is, of course, open to a reasonable amount of discussion as it will likely effect a few users here and there as .NET 3.0 and 3.5 will only work on systems runnning XP and above, users running Windows 2000 and below will not be able to run subsequant applications.

[ninedd]

Hi. This downloaded and installed and runs fine on my XP Laptop. I havn't tried inverse in bright light (being 2 AM and all....) but it looks to be VERY contrasty, so should be good.

(But why is Sam so depressed when the signal goes to 62? Or 72? He seems really dissapointed by that!)

[c.davis]

I'm glad it's working well for you.

If I had to venture a guess as to why Sam sounds disappointed I would have to guess that he was hoping for a -71 or -61 :D.

Speech synthsis is a really neat thing but the voices follow a wave form and don't always represent natural language and expression. Vista users should have some delight in this as the default Vista voice, "Anna", was apparently created over a period of a few years worth of recordings from a real human voice.

More to come.

[ninedd]

I had a TI99/4A (http://oldcomputers.net/ti994a.html) and a Texas Instruments Voice Synth back in 81, along with a C64 singing 'Daisy' and finally an Amiga & it's built-in Speach Synth. English is pretty wierd for them... why to we pronounce 'Truly' and 'July' so differently? If 'Truly' is 'Truly' then 'July' should be pronounced like 'Julie', shouldn't it? :)

But, they've come a LONG way. http://www.cepstral.com/ has a great voice! There's a good demo on http://www.callbutler.com/Voices.aspx that's fun to play with.

[therealboss]

[quote=c.davis;55036
If I had to venture a guess as to why Sam sounds disappointed I would have to guess that he was hoping for a -71 or -61 :D.
[/quote]

I thought he sounds so depressed cos he works for Microsoft :D

[c.davis]

New beta named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter-0.9.0b.zip"

Things have progressed quite nicely thus far and the next download will be a Release Candidate.

This is the type of tool that could potentially continue grow for a long time and be something that would be running on your desktop constantly. I think that is a great idea but the initial purpose was to create a tool that would make an installers life a little less tedious, I think that has been surpassed and it is time to concentrate on a solid release before going further.

Certainly, I have received many great suggestions and ideas to extend functionality, I welcome all of these ideas and certainly do enjoy the challenge. For the immediate time being, I think that it is most important to get the 1.0.0 version out, then get working on extending from there.

Changes:
-> .NET 3.0 is used for voice output to fix crashes in Vista as well as allow voice output for Vista machines while keeping this same functionality for XP users.
-> Association list format has changed and is much easier to read.
-> Update interval is now 1500ms (1.5 sec) instead of 2000ms (2 sec)
-> The following output types are available
---> 'voice M', male voice (available to XP and Vista users only, XP default)
---> 'voice F', female voice (available to XP and Vista users only, Vista default)
---> 'tone HL', lower tone for better signal
---> 'tone LH', higher tone for better signal
-> The window is resizable, the textual signal reading will grow and shrink as the window is resized before the final release.
-> The inverse function is complete and respects your theme/color scheme
-> Final binary is more than 600KB less than before and as a result, operates more efficiently and is more responsive
-> Various other tweaks and updates

Notes:
-> Voice recognition will not be a part of this final relaease, this will simply take too much testing and troubleshooting to allow a solid release to come out before 'install season' really hits. This will certainly be a very large portion of the step towards a 2.0.0 release

Requirements:
-> .NET 3.0 runtime is required for XP and Vista users for voice output.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10CC340B-F857-4A14-83F5-25634C3BF043&displaylang=en
-> .NET 2.0 runtime is manditory
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5
-> Sound card
-> Speakers/Headphones
-> SNMP must be running on the monitored unit
-> Monitored units must be Star V3

Caveats:
-> Voice output is only available to XP and Vista users, tone output is available for all who are capable of running .NET 2.0
-> Please backup your iplist.txt file as it may be overwritten with the one bundled
-> There doesn't seem to be an apparent male voice for Vista users, the female voice will be used for both 'M' and 'F' selections

Please report any bugs as well as a way to reproduce them.

[c.davis]

Wow, well over 200 downloads of the most recent release in less than 24hrs.. awesome!

Also, not a single bug report.. even better. I think that we may have a release on our hands. I'll hold back until the weekend before making a release so that reports can come in if necessary.

Thanks everyone, enjoy.

[ninedd]

There doesn't seem to be an apparent male voice for Vista users, the female voice will be used for both 'M' and 'F' selectionsI seem to have no Female (only Male voice) on my XP. Or maybe she's just really butch?

[c.davis]

Is this to say that you get no voice at all or just not male or female?

The whole voice thing depends on you having .NET 3.0 installed. Do you have .NET 3.0 installed?

Thanks,
Carl

I seem to have no Female (only Male voice) on my XP. Or maybe she's just really butch?

[ninedd]

Yes, I have Voice. Just only the Male voice. When I pick "voice m" or "voice f", either way, I get the same voice. (Not a big deal at all to me, but thought I'd report it anyway)

[c.davis]

It seems as though the Microsoft Speech SDK may be needed to get both male and female voices.

I tried this on a couple of different machines and both voices were male and I thought of the movie 'Crocodile Dundee'.. 'that aint no Sheila'.

Either way, it will play the voice of your choice if it's available otherwise it will default to the one that is available.

Thanks for the report.

[c.davis]

As a FYI to all who have downloaded and tested the latest beta.

There have been a couple of behind the scene changes...
-> The first public beta release allowed you to monitor a card without associations and simply replied with a 0 until a link was established. This was great for ptp and new links. Somewhere along the line, specificly when the association list was introduced, this functionality was accidently dropped. It has since been picked back up and is working well.
-> As reported on a seperate thread concerning association id's being changed durring activate/reboots/etc.. there is now a 'double check' policy in place that will notify you that association id's have changed and that the current reading is no longer valid. This should prove especialy useful since you be notified that the association id that you were previously monitoring has changed and you should rebuild the association list to reflect and update and restart monitoring.

A new beta, reflecting the above changes/enhancements will be out shortly.

Thank you all for the reports, they have been very helpfull. I'm sure that anyone that uses this tool will thank you as well.. you have made their life that much easier.

I will post a new beta very soon.

[DrLove73]

You could read and remember MAC address of the association ID, so when ID changes, you look for that specific MAC and switch to it?

Maybe MAC address search and lock as well?

I haven't used this yet so I am just stumbling in the dark.

[ninedd]

Hi. I'd like to have an 'automatic operation' setting where it defaults to the first IP in the list (without having to select the 1st one from the pulldown), and have it get the 1st association of the 1st client card (without having to click 'Get Associations') and start (without having to click 'Start'). I know that saves me 3 whole clicks in my day, but that way, if I have 'automatic operation' turned on and saved, an installer can simply start the program and it'll connect to the board, get the association, and start calling out numbers. Then even the home-owner can help from the ground. Not a huge deal at all, but a 'would be nice' deal. :)

[c.davis]

Great idea and I'll see if it can be added and act faithfully before this is a release, if not then it will certainly be on the plate for another release.

Hi. I'd like to have an 'automatic operation' setting where it defaults to the first IP in the list (without having to select the 1st one from the pulldown), and have it get the 1st association of the 1st client card (without having to click 'Get Associations') and start (without having to click 'Start'). I know that saves me 3 whole clicks in my day, but that way, if I have 'automatic operation' turned on and saved, an installer can simply start the program and it'll connect to the board, get the association, and start calling out numbers. Then even the home-owner can help from the ground. Not a huge deal at all, but a 'would be nice' deal. :)

I am trying not to incorporate anything that may add unforseen complexity or instability at the moment as I would really like to get this very stable and out as a true release in the very near future so that it can used in the field without trouble, not to mention that I need to lay focus on something much bigger.

[lonnie]

Much BIGGER. If they knew they would not be hounding you for little things. hehehe

[c.davis]

Yes it is much bigger than this and I have learnt a great deal from this that will more than likely be incorporated on some level...

I have looked over the code for the Audible signal meter, collected reports and wishes and have come to a final release date which will be this Sunday by 23:59PDT (April 20, 2008). I am very comfortable with stability and performance, there have been hundreds of downloads of the last public beta without a single bug report... it is simply time to do a full release and get on with that bigger project.

Certainly, this one will not be forgotten and will be updated/fixed as the need arises. There is however a feature freeze, ninedd.. I will try to incorporate your request before release time as it is a great idea but I can't make any promises, I need to push on.

Thank you all.

[c.davis]

The Final 1.0.0 Release is available at http://files.star-os.com in the Utilities section and named:
"LNC Audible Signal Meter-1.0.0.zip"

There haven't been any significant changes since the last beta except for the addition of automatic font sizing for the textual representation of the current signal when the window is resized.

Requirements:
-> .NET 3.0 runtime is required for XP and Vista users for voice output.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10CC340B-F857-4A14-83F5-25634C3BF043&displaylang=en)
-> .NET 2.0 runtime is manditory
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...D-AAB15C5E04F5 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5)
-> Sound card
-> Speakers/Headphones
-> SNMP must be running on the monitored unit
-> Monitored units must be Star V3

Thanks again to all, hopefully this makes your alignments a bit easier.

[David L. Vrablic]

Directory files/current/ does not exist.
I can't get there from here!

[lonnie]

That, unfortunately, was a very sleepless night and going to be a long day. Patience, please.

[mikek]

not exactly sure if this the right forum for this, but tried searching and can't find any info.

my question is, is there a manual for this, or am i missing something?
i can load the program, i have the .net requirements, but i can't seem to be able to log into any boards. i downloaded the latest program today. i have XP but not exactly sure how to turn on snmp as i have never needed to use it, or does it need to be turned on the board, i am not sure.

a mini how-to/sticky would sure be handy

any help would be greatly appreciated

thankyou

[rbolduc]

not exactly sure if this the right forum for this, but tried searching and can't find any info.

my question is, is there a manual for this, or am i missing something?
i can load the program, i have the .net requirements, but i can't seem to be able to log into any boards. i downloaded the latest program today. i have XP but not exactly sure how to turn on snmp as i have never needed to use it, or does it need to be turned on the board, i am not sure.

a mini how-to/sticky would sure be handy

any help would be greatly appreciated

thankyou

You have to have SNMP on the board running, under services. then the program will work.

Reed

[c.davis]

To enable SNMP on a V3 unit:
Login via ssh, System -> Services -> SNMP Agent

From there you can choose to configure (set community name, enable/disable at bootup) or start/stop/restart the service on a running system without the need to reboot.

When using the Audible Signal Meter, make sure that you are entering the IP address of the interface with the shortest route to you, typically the ethernet but situations vary. Also make sure that the community name you enter into the app matches the one entered into the V3 system.

Aside from that, the usage of the app is quite straight forward and will prompt you to take any necessary action as needed.

The basic workflow is as follows:
1) enter the IP of the system to monitor
2) enter the community name
3) choose the wpci interface with the assoc. to monitor
4) click 'Get Associations' which will populate the associations drop down box
5) choose the association
6) click 'Start'

You can change associtions on the fly as well as the output type. If you wish to monitor an assoc. on a different wpci card you will have to click 'Stop' and repeat steps 3-6.