# Verifying that there is Adequate Recording Time Available

The total available recording time is determined by three factors:

1. The amount of memory you allocate for an optional Log File, which reduces the memory available for recording
2. The amount of configuration data stored
3. The selected speech recording rate, either 1800 or 3600 bytes per second

There are two ways to determine the amount of available speech recording time:

1. By formula (approximate value)
2. By querying the RTU (more accurate value)

The formula for the approximate amount of total available recording time is:

- At 1800 bytes/second: 28 - x .0092 x (log buffer size in Kbytes) Minutes.
- At 3,600 bytes/second: 14 - 0046 x (log buffer size in Kbytes) Minutes.

Example:

For a log buffer size of 256 Kbytes and a recording rate of 1800 bytes/second, the approximate amount of recording time available would be 28 – (.0092 X 256) = 25.65 minutes.

Important Note: These figures are approximate in part because there is a small amount of additional memory capacity lost to file overhead factors which are difficult to calculate.

To get a more accurate measure of the amount of recording time:

You can query the amount of recording time available via the Messages configuration dialog box in Alarmware or by using keycode 6 9 0 from the front panel or over the phone. If you have configured the size of the log file buffer then you can disregard the above formulas in favor of the actual displayed value. If you perform this query before establishing the size of a log file then substitute the displayed value for either the 28, or the 14, in the above formulas.

Channel status messages will typically occupy the great bulk of your total recorded messages. By comparison, Tag Words, as well as the Name Messages for the RTU, Networks, and destinations will represent only a small fraction of available recording time, if you decide to record them at all. Managing recording time requirements is mostly a matter of managing time requirements for channel message recording.

Even if you need to use the slower recording rate to accommodate all your channel messages, you might consider recording the Tag Words at the faster rate in order to maximize their quality. Tag Words will tend to be heard much more frequently than any given channel status message. The small number of such words means that recording them at a faster rate will have little impact on overall recording time capacity.

The Catalyst Memory Allocation Tool includes a stopwatch utility to estimate the recording time required for each message entered. The resulting accumulation of total estimated recording time is presented in comparison with the total time available. In particular, the Work File presents the estimated accumulated time and corresponding estimated total time remaining. At any given point through the process of the recording of the channel messages, you can compare this figure with the RTU statement of its actual remaining recording time to verify that you are "on track" with respect to use of overall recording time available.

Note: This feature is extremely valuable if you have any concern about the amount of recording time available.

To check the amount of recording time remaining at any point, use Key Code 690, following the guidelines presented in The Actual Recording Process. This topic also covers checking and changing the recording rate.

To make more recording time available you may elect to:

- Shorten some of your existing recorded messages
- Decide to rely more upon the default messages
- Change the recording rate for some or all messages. Note: This will require re-recording those messages.

For Basic guidelines on use of Keycodes from the RTU Front Panel or Over the Phone see:

Configuring your RTU from the Front Panel

Configuring your RTU Over The Phone