^RW - Set RF Power Levels for Read and Write
Sets the radio power used for reading and writing tags, and picks the antenna element.
Read power and write power decide whether a tag encodes at all. Too little power and the transponder never has enough to accept programming. Too much and the extra energy reaches neighboring tags or corrupts the exchange. Different tag types and different media need different levels, which is why this is a per-format setting and not a printer-wide one.
Syntax
^RWr,w,aSupport
Accepted and skipped, because it configures the printer rather than the label. It cannot change the rendered output, and Labelary skips it too.
A radio transmit-power setting. It changes how reliably a tag encodes, never the printed label. The renderer does not parse this command. It reports IGNORED_COMMAND at info severity, which does not reach X-Warnings. Labelary is also silent, so the rendered label is identical in both engines and with or without the command. — not pinned by a test
Labelary renders this command.
Parameters
rRead poweroptional · integerTransmit power for reading. In Japan any value of 24 or above gives the same output, to stay within local radio limits.
- Default
- 16
- Accepted range
- 0 to 30
- Invalid value
- not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse this command or validate its arguments. The guide does not state what a printer does with an out-of-range value.
- Test coverage
- No test at the minimum, maximum or one step outside the range.
wWrite poweroptional · integerTransmit power for writing. In Japan any value of 24 or above gives the same output, to stay within local radio limits.
- Default
- 16
- Accepted range
- 0 to 30
- Invalid value
- not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse this command or validate its arguments. The guide does not state what a printer does with an out-of-range value.
- Test coverage
- No test at the minimum, maximum or one step outside the range.
aAntenna elementoptional · textWhich antenna element to use. Accepted values are A1 to A4, B1 to B4, C1 to C4, D1 to D4 and E1 to E4. Only the ZT400 and ZT600 series have more than one element; every other printer always uses A1.
- Default
- A4
- Invalid value
- not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse this command or validate its arguments. The guide does not state what a printer does with an out-of-range value.
- Test coverage
Behavior
Write power is usually the higher requirement of the two, and some printers cannot set it separately. The guide notes that the R110Xi HF applies the read power value to both. Regional radio limits clamp the top of the range: in Japan any value of 24 or above behaves the same.
Only the ZT400 and ZT600 series have more than one antenna element. Every other
printer always uses A1, and it accepts the parameter and ignores it. The 2006
edition of the guide documents this command differently again. It gives power as
H, M or L, and the antenna as port 1 or 2 on the R110Xi HF. A format
written for an older printer therefore uses letters where the table above expects
numbers.
Power affects only whether an encode succeeds, never the printed image.
Example
Read power and write power both set to 16:
^XA
^RW16,16
^FO50,50^A0N,30,30^FDpower set^FS
^XZ
Related commands
^RREnable Adaptive Antenna SelectionLets the printer retry a failed tag operation on neighboring antenna elements.^HRCalibrate RFID Tag PositionRuns RFID tag calibration and returns the resulting position and power table to the host.^HL / ~HLReturn RFID Data Log to HostReturns the printer's log of RFID read and write operations to the host.^RSSet Up RFID ParametersSets the tag type, the programming position and what the printer does when encoding fails.