MultiSeason Duty Cycle Calculator

Typical PTT Total “Hours On” Lifetime

20 g = 400 hours
30 g = 750 hours
45 g = 1000 hours
95 g =2000 hours
95 g with Lix2™ = 4000 hours

When planning your duty cycle, please consider that Ground Track (GT™) consumes as much battery power as Argos transmission; as a result twice as many ON hours are consumed during a season in which GT™ is operating

(This factor is included in the calculations made by this on-line form.)

Duty Cycle Information

Use this page to calculate the duty cycle for each transmitter. Select your transmitter type from the drop-down list and enter the desired ON hours, OFF hours and Number of Cycles for each active season in the form below. If you need to have active ground tracking for that season, click the 'Yes" button in the Ground Track™ ON? column. and click, "Calculate" to perform the calculations.

Please note that the total hours in each cycle should not exceed 250 hours and should not be divisible by 12.
Chose an OFF time that does not cause the PTT to switch on at the same time each day. This prevents the PTT from drifting into a time window where there are few satellite overpasses wherever it might be. We always recommend that your chosen cycle time in hours (ON time + OFF time) is not a multiple of 12.
For a multi-season duty cycle timer, simply define a separate duty cycle for each season and ensure that the total ON time does not exceed the transmission lifetime for the model of PTT that you propose using.

If the numbers you select will result in 12 hour cycles or exceeding the typical total lifetime (TTL) of the PTT, this will be indicated in the calculation results.