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DX-COMM PLUS (C)opyright 1992,1993 & 1994 By Eric B. Svenson/EBS Consultants A Terminal Control Program and Shortwave Database for the DRAKE R8 Communications Receiver DX-COMM PLUS is a shortwave broadcast database management program providing a total monitoring environment for use with the Drake R8 Communications receiver. It requires a 80286 CPU or later IBM PC compatible computer equipped with a CGA, EGA, or VGA monitor and preferably a hard drive. It allows the user to control the Drake R8, upload database records to the Drake, to download frequencies off the Drake to create new database records, and to monitor digital signals such as RTTY and CW using a TNC. These and other features are described in this manual and the updated Readme.Txt files included with this software. DX-COMM PLUS was commercial software, between February 1993 and December 1993. The author, Eric B. Svenson, Jr. has decided as of 1/1/94 to permanently distribute the program as "shareware". DX-COMM Plus is a significantly enhanced version of the previously released 1992 shareware DX-COMM versions 3.3, 3.2, 3.01 and the versions called QUICKCOMM 2.32, 2.1 and 1.01. -2- DISCLAIMERS AND TRADEMARKS: Throughout this document reference is made to "Drake" or "Drake R8". This reference is to the Drake R8 Communications Receiver manufactured by the R.L. Drake Company of Miamisburg, Ohio. The author of the program DX-COMM PLUS is not an employee, an agent, or affiliated with the R.L. Drake Company and makes no claims as representing the interests of the R.L. Drake Company. Reference is also made to the TRS Database. This database is the internationally acclaimed English Language Shortwave Broadcast database by Tom Sundstrom. It is for sale on a subscription basis by TRS Consultants through the PICs ONLINE RBBS at 609-753-2540 by typing "TRS" at Main Menu prompt; or by writing to TRS Consultants at PO Box 2275, Vincentown, New Jersey, 08088-2275; or by phoning 609-859-2447; or by Fax 609-859-3226. Reference is made to IBM. IBM is a registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. Likewise, MFJ 1278 is a registered trademark and product of MFJ Enterprises, Incorporated. AEA PK-232MBX is a registered trademark and product of Advanced Electronic Applications, Inc. MSDOS and Windows are registered trademarks and products of the Microsoft Corporation. COPYRIGHT The software described by this document (herein referred to as "DX- COMM or DX-COMM PLUS") is copyrighted and all rights are reserved by Eric B. Svenson, Jr. This manual is copyrighted and all rights reserved. Any modifications to the manual require the prior consent, in writing, from: Eric B. Svenson, Jr. EBS Consultants PO Box 1361 Summit, New Jersey 07901 (908) 522-8941 Included in this shareware program is the run-time module BRT71EFR.EXE whose distribution is governed by the following copywright notice: Portions(C) 1982-1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. -3- DEDICATION This program is dedicated to the memory of my loving mother, Louise W. Svenson, who passed away after a long illness of Lou Gehrig's disease on October 17, 1992. Throughout my life she was a tremendous motivator to do the best at whatever I set out to do. I like to think that this program would meet her expectations. This program also would not have been possible without the tremendous support provided by my wife Cindie and my children Cassandra and Heather. They knew that the many hours I spent creating it was therapeutic for my frame of mind. SPECIAL APPRECIATION AND THANKS This program has involved over a year of work and testing. There are four fellow SWL hobbyists who I am extremely grateful for their help. They not only assisted in the testing and debugging of the program, but provide invaluable ideas for making the program better. These individuals are: Greg Achenbach of Denver, Colorado Robert Atkinson of Wilmington, Delaware Thomas Peterson of Cleveland Hts, Ohio Robert Rogerson of Springdale, Arkansas -4- -5- TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction .......................................... 9 Installation and Program Configuration................. 9 Listing Shortwave/Utility Stations .................... 17 Uploading Database Data to The Drake R8 ............... 18 Displaying Utility Broadcasts with Center ............. 19 Frequency Offset Displaying Database Information for Other ............. 20 Time Periods Decrementing/Incrementing the Drake Frequency ......... 20 Accessing the Command Screen .......................... 20 Database Display Screen - Five Ways to Display ........ 22 Records: TSF, TFS, FST, SFT, and STF Maximum Useable and Lowest Useable Frequency Calc...... 25 24 Hour Plots of Predicted High Frequency ............. 27 Propagation Logging New Stations Into DX-COMM PLUS's Database ..... 29 Alternate Method of Entering Frequency in ............. 34 New or Edited Record Add Record Feature of Database Menu Screen ............ 34 Editing and Deleting Records .......................... 35 Undeleting Records .................................... 36 Deleting Records Directly From Within ................. 37 Database Display Screen Field Capture, Global Edit, and Field Import .......... 37 Feature Find, Edit, and Delete ................................ 38 -6- TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) PAGE Adding Frequencies to the Drake R8 Memory ............. 40 The TNC Window ........................................ 40 Scanning Records ...................................... 43 Audio Cassette Recorder Control ....................... 44 Alert Feature ......................................... 46 Printing Records ...................................... 47 DOS SHELL ............................................. 48 Exiting DX-COMM PLUS................................... 48 TRS DATABASE Importing The TRS SWBC Database Into ............ 49 DX-COMM PLUS Editing or Adding to the TRS SWBC Database ..... 51 Copying Records Between Databases .............. 51 APPENDICES Appendix A: Using DX-COMM's version 1.01, 2.1,.. 53 2.32, 3.01, 3.2 & 3.3 SWDB.DAT Appendix B: Programming Considerations ........ 55 Appendix C: Program Enhancements .............. 57 Appendix D: Modifying the Database to Use ..... 60 Only One Antenna Appendix E: Troubleshooting ................... 61 Appendix F: DX-COMM PLUS COMMAND SUMMARY F-1: Database Display Screen............ 63 F-2: Database Menu Screen .............. 64 -7- TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) PAGE F-3: Command Screen .................... 65 F-4: TNC Window......................... 67 F-5: Edit Record Screen ................ 68 F-6: Add Record Screen ................. 68 F-7: Propagation Menu Screen ........... 69 Appendix G: Alternative Terminal Handshaking ... 70 Protocols Appendix H: Windows Users ...................... 72 Appendix I: Shareware Registration &............ 73 License Agreement -8- -9- INTRODUCTION The program DX-COMM PLUS is designed for use with the DRAKE R8 Communications Receiver, an IBM AT or later compatible PC with a CGA, EGA or VGA monitor, and a Terminal Node Controller (TNC) or Universal Terminal Unit (UTU) such as the MFJ-1278 or AEA PK-232 for decoding digital ham and utility signals. It uses one serial port to upload and download information from and to the receiver for a variety of parameters including frequency, bandwidth, VFO, AGC, RF, antenna, mode, noise blanker, notch filter, and synchronous detector. It uses a second serial port to control and display decoded information from a TNC. The program is comprised of the files DX.EXE, MUFGRAPH.EXE, NODE.EXE, SETUPDX.EXE, PRINTING.EXE, ALT_TERM.EXE, SWDB.DAT, INDX.DAT, FLAG.DAT, COM.DAT, TRSCOM.DAT and README.TXT files. DX- COMM PLUS was written and compiled using Microsoft's Basic Professional Development System ver7.1. The program has been compiled to take advantage of the 80286 series and later CPU and requires IBM AT or later compatible PC's with 640k of memory; a CGA, EGA or VGA monitor; a 1.4 meg floppy drive or hard drive; a PC clock speeds of 12 mHz or faster; and MSDOS version 3.1 or later. If the user expects to expand the database beyond the 2500 records then a hard disk is required. DX-COMM PLUS contains about 1700 frequency listings for international shortwave stations. However, for a 640k PC this database can be expanded to approximately 4,000 records, provided one has adequate disk storage capacity (If MSDOS version 5.0 is used the total number of records may be expanded to approximately 5,000). The program provides the user the capability to continuously add to this database, modify the database, identify stations as: active, inactive, utility, shortwave or special. The program has comprehensive search, sort and printing routines and provides for the uploading of each record from the database to the Drake directly for frequency, bandwidth, mode and each of the programmable features provided as standard on the Drake R8. DX-COMM PLUS also provides the user the capability of importing the internationally acclaimed English language shortwave database authored by Thomas R. Sundstrom and distributed by TRS Consultants (Refer to the section of this manual entitled "TRS DATABASE" for more information). INSTALLATION AND PROGRAM CONFIGURATION All files must reside on the same directory or sub-directory of your hard disk or high density disk drive. You will need approximately 1.1meg of disk space for the files and approximately 300k for temporary data storage for sorting and other operations. -10- Keep in mind, however, that for every additional 1000 records added to the database, you will need approximately 250K of additional disk space to run the program and sort the database. As first preliminary step, make sure NUMLOCK on your keyboard is off, otherwise it will interfere with certain keyboard commands. Start the program by typing DX at the DOS drive prompt. The program will take only a few seconds to load. The program will then display something like the following: DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER xx:xx:xx TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter Command: (C)ommands (D)elete (A)dd T(N)C (R)etrieve Shortwave: (SB)(SA)(SI) and (T)ime (E)dit (F)lux# (SP)ecial Utility: (UB)(UA)(UI) INDEX# TIME TYPE STATION FREQUENCY DAYS S MUF - LUF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 99 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 5.97500 MTWHFAS A - 100 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 6.17500 MTWHFAS A - 101 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 7.32500 MTWHFAS W - 102 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 9.59000 MTWHFAS A - 103 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 9.91500 MTWHFAS A - 104 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 11.75000 MTWHFAS A - 105 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 12.09500 MTWHFAS S - 106 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 15.26000 MTWHFAS A - (SE)tup F2 = KHz Incr. F3 = Toggle SWDB F10= DOS (X)tra ^C=Clr (G)raph F9 = Freq.Offset ]/[ = dwn/up F8=VFO A ^A=Alert (Q)uit Take a moment and study the display. The upper third of your computer monitor provides the same information provided as on the Drake R8 backlit LED display. Please note, however, that data under the frequency and other Drake parameter headings will only be displayed once the radio is on and properly connected and configured to the correct PC com port. The middle half of the monitor's display, as well as the last 2 lines, identify commands that can be entered through your computer keyboard. Now press the letter "X" on the keyboard. You will note that the "X" in (X)tra is highlighted by a white background. Some of the commands previously displayed will now be replaced as is shown below. Both those listed before pressing "X", and those shown after pressing "X", are those that are available to the user within the Database Display Screen. Each command will be explained in more detail later. -11- DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 2:00:48 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: (C)ommands S(W)itch (A)dd ^Y=Lock ^Z= SWDB Chg ^S= Scan ^P= Program and (T)ime (E)dit (F)lux# (M)emory ^U= Untag ^Q= Fast Quit INDEX# TIME TYPE STATION FREQUENCY DAYS S MUF - LUF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 5.97500 MTWHFAS A - 100 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 6.17500 MTWHFAS A - 101 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 7.32500 MTWHFAS W - 102 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 9.59000 MTWHFAS A - 103 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 9.91500 MTWHFAS A - 104 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 11.75000 MTWHFAS A - 105 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 12.09500 MTWHFAS S - 106 0100-0200 s-a BBC LONDON 15.26000 MTWHFAS A - ^R=Review Glo(B)al F3 = TSF SWDB F10= DOS (X)tra ^V=ACR (G)raph F9 = Freq. Offset ^[= Move SWDB F8=VFO B ^T=Tag (Q)uit The lower third of your monitor displays a list of database records comprising "active" shortwave stations for the time of day using your computer's internal clock and the DOS "TIME" function. The headings over the list of records have the following meaning: INDEX# - The Index Number corresponding to the record to the record displayed; TIME - The start and end time of the station's transmission in UTC; TYPE - A descriptor to indicate whether the station is a shortwave or utility broadcast and whether the frequency is "active" or "inactive"; STATION - The call name of the broadcaster; FREQUENCY- The frequency of the station; DAYS - The days of the week that the broadcast can be heard; S - The season that the broadcaster uses this frequency (Summer/Winter, or All the time); MUF-LUF - The predicted average Maximum Useable and Lowest Useable Frequency for that broadcast. -12- The number of database records displayed will depend upon the UTC (Universal Time) time of day (as shown in the upper right hand corner of the screen) and the corresponding records in the database for that hour. Also note that the "F3" and "F9" on the bottom of your monitor's screen are highlighted by a white background. These represent commands that may be toggled. "F8" will also be highlighted if VFO A is selected. "F8" is plain when VFO B is toggled (selected). These features will be explained later. When the "W" key is pressed the "S", "DAYS", and "MUF-LUF" heading will be replaced by simply "REMARKS". Under this heading will be any remarks or special notes that have been ascribed to the individual database records being displayed. Your first step is to identify to the program the serial ports you will be using to communicate with the DRAKE as well as other configuration parameters that will identify your time zone, location, etc.. Press the "S" key followed by the "E" key. In a moment the Configuration Screen will be displayed. Within this screen you will be prompted to either replace or edit the parameters stored in the files COM.DAT and TRSCOM.DAT which are displayed on the lower half of the screen. As you edit those parameters the lower half of the screen will automatically be updated to reflect the most current information. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 1:17:50 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Com(n) port = 0 CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Com(n) port = 0 UTC offset to local time = 5 Receiver Latitude = 40 44' N Receiver Longitude = 74 10' W TNC Com(n) port = 1 TNC Baud rate = 9600 TNC Data Bits = 8 TNC Parity = N TNC Stop Bits = 1 Ctrl Sig= (A)ctive/(I)nactive/(B)oth = a RTTY Offset= 2.25 CW Offset= .85 North Polar Aurora= 50 South Polar Aurora= 30 Scan Delay-Seconds= 20 Default Datastring= 00 682<8sa The following, "COM(n) port =", should be displayed and highlighted by a white background where the "Enter Command:" statement in the -13- Database Display Screen was previously. Enter either 1, or 2 depending on the serial port you are using to connect to the DRAKE R8. Or enter "0" if DX-COMM PLUS is not going to be interfaced with the Drake. After typing a "0", "1" or a "2" you must press <ENTER> to have the program accept the new value and to advance to the next step within the setup routine. If after typing say "1" and you realize that it is com port "2" that you really desire, then press the BACKSPACE key and retype "2" followed by <ENTER>. (Note: in any of the subsequent parameter entries, the BACKSPACE key may be used to correct a mistyped entry). Next, in place of the "Com(n) port = " the following statement will appear: "Change UTC offset to local time:". Enter the offset hours to convert local time to Universal World Time. For example on the East Coast of the United States enter the number "5" to convert from Eastern Standard Time to UTC. Or if you were in Stockholm, Sweden you would enter "-1" to convert from local time to UTC. If the number "5" is already acceptable, simply press <ENTER>. (Note: for this and any one of the setup configuration parameters, by pressing <ENTER>, as opposed to pressing any other keys, will simply keep the value displayed as is and advance to the next setup step.) If the time offset of 5 is re-typed, or if a new offset is entered, upon doing so, press <ENTER> to advance to the next step in the setup routine. The command line will now display "Receiver Latitude =". Enter your location's latitude in degrees and minutes. This information is required to accurately calculate Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) and Lowest Useable Frequency (LUF) for those shortwave broadcasts in the database relative to your receiver's location. Placement of characters in this field are extremely important. You are provided 2 character positions for degrees and 2 character positions for minutes, and 1 for "N" or "S". If your entry is for example 1 degree 20 minutes North you would enter "01" or " 1" (space followed by the number 1) for degrees, and "30" for minutes, and "N" for North. If you enter a latitude in degrees greater than 90 or minutes greater than 60, or something other than S for South or N for North, you will hear a beep and the cursor will return to the beginning of the latitude data entry. After entering the last character of your receiver's latitude (N or S), press <ENTER> to have the program automatically advance to the next step in the setup routine. You are now prompted to enter your receiver's longitude. As with the entry for Latitude, character placement is extremely important. However, unlike, the Latitude entry, there are 3 character positions to be entered for degrees rather than 2. For example, 60 degrees would be entered as "060" or " 60" (space then 60). An entry of degrees greater than 180, or minutes greater than 60, or something other than E for East or W for West will cause a beep and will return the cursor to the start of the data field. After -14- entering "E" or "W" in the last character position, press <ENTER> to have the program automatically advance to the the next step in the setup routine. The next series of entries will configure the serial port for your TNC. Upon completing the step in the previous paragraph you will be queried to enter the serial COM port number for the TNC. If you do not have a TNC simply enter "0". If you enter "0", the program automatically steps you to the configuration step outlined on the top of Page 13 concerning center frequency offsets. However, if you are using a TNC, enter serial port "1" or "2". If the Drake R8 is COM port "1" then the TNC should be port "2". If you attempt to enter "1" it will beep. Similarly, if the Drake is COM port "2" you should enter "1" for the TNC. Upon typing the desired comport number advance to the next setup step by pressing <ENTER>. The program will now prompt you to enter the TNC's Baud rate. Valid Baud rates are 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600. After typing the desired baud rate press <ENTER>. Next, the program queries you to enter the number of data bits for the TNC COM port. Valid entries for the number of data bits are 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Press <ENTER> after typing the desired data bits. Next, the program queries you to specify parity for the TNC. Acceptable entries are: "S" for space, "M" for mark, "O" for odd, "E" for even, and "N" for none. (Do not enter the quotation marks, they are shown here only to highlight the letter to enter). Press <ENTER> after typing the desired parity. Next, the program queries you to enter the number of stop bits for the TNC. Valid values are 1, 1.5, and 2. Press <ENTER> after typing the desired stop bits. The program then queries you for the TNC COM port control parameters. If used, these must be entered in the following sequence: ",RS,CSn,DSn,CDn,LF,PE" where n is the number of milliseconds to wait (0-65535) for the signal before a device timeout error occurs. Note the "," as the first entry character - if control codes are to be used this MUST be typed as the first character in the string. If "RS" is the only control signal desired (suppresses RTS - request to send) then simply type: ",RS". If you desire to simply control the device timeout for carrier detection for say 100 milliseconds then simply type: ",CD100". For further reference on these control codes, their descriptions may be found in your IBM BASIC or Microsoft GW-BASIC manual. DX-COMM PLUS has been configured for the default state (no values have been assigned the control parameters). The next entry requires you to identify whether you want only active broadcast frequencies to be displayed on initial program startup, or "inactive" or "both". A description of the terms -15- "active", "inactive", or "both" is provided on page 14 of this manual under the heading, "LISTING SHORTWAVE/UTILITY STATIONS". One can type an "A" for active or "I" for inactive or "B" for both. For now, however, I suggest typing "A". Upon pressing any of these keys, the program will advance to the next step in the setup routine. Next the program requests that you identify a frequency offset in khz for RTTY broadcasts. The Drake frequency display shows carrier frequency, but if you tune in an RTTY station to exactly the carrier frequency you'll have to detune the Drake by approximately 2.250 khz or more. This feature allows DX-COMM PLUS to display the center frequency plus the offset when the F9 key is toggled. For now I suggest using 2.25 Khz until your own experience indicates otherwise. Upon typing in the desired offset, press <ENTER>. In a similar manner to that of the offset for RTTY, the user is requested to enter a CW frequency offset which again allows DX-COMM PLUS to display the center frequency plus the offset when the F9 key is toggled. Again, until you gain experience with the program, it is suggested that you stay with .85 Khz as the CW offset. Upon typing in the desire CW offset, press <ENTER>. Now the program queries you to enter information pertaining to the North and South Polar Auroral regions. These are the regions as defined by great circle bearings from the receiver's location over the North or South Polar regions (latitudes 60 degrees South or North) that high frequency signals would be expected to experience what is known as Polar Cap Absorption (PCA) during periods of intense solar activity. For example, for a receiver in Summit, New Jersey hf transmissions over the North Pole bounded by the region of Great Circle Bearings between 310 degrees and 50 degrees have a high probability of being affected by PCA - said another way, a heading of +/-50 degrees on either side of the North Pole would be expected to be subject to PCA. The number "50" then is entered as the North Pole Auroral Region. Upon typing "50" press <ENTER>. Similarly, for the same receiver in Summit, New Jersey transmissions over the South pole bounded by Great Circle Bearings between 150 degrees and 210 degrees would be expected to be affected by PCA -- or +/- 30 degrees of heading either side of the South Pole. Therefore "30" is typed into DX-COMM PLUS as the South Polar Auroral Region, and <ENTER> is pressed to advance to the next step in the setup routine. The next step is enter into the program's configuration file the number of seconds of delay for each frequency scanned. The program allows the user to tag certain frequencies in the database and scan those frequencies and to pause for "x" amount of seconds before going to the next frequency. The default value is 20 seconds. Press <ENTER> after typing in the desired scan delay. -16- The final step in the setup routine is to enter the Database Default String. The first 8 characters of this string corresponds to the default control parameters you want to assign to each new database record created. These first eight characters determine the Drake R8's VFO, antenna, gain, bandwidth, mode, etc. The last 2 characters of this string correspond to the default record type to be created: sa - shortwave active; ua - utility active. For now leave the default string as " 00 682<8sa". (For more information on the meaning of the first 8 characters of this string refer to page 22 of the Drake R8 owner's manual. For information on the remaining 2 characters, refer to the next section of this manual entitled "LISTING SHORTWAVE/UTILITY STATIONS".) To accept the default string simply press <ENTER>. The program then asks whether you wish to revise any of the configuration parameters entered. If you respond with "Y" the program will simply go back to the first step in the setup routine and display "Com(N) port =". If on the other hand you have entered everything correctly, simply press <ENTER>. This then completes DX-COMM PLUS's configuration. The parameters entered will remain stored in the file COM.DAT and TRSCOM.DAT for retrieval each time the program is restarted. If for any reason in the future you need to change a configuration parameter, press "S" followed by "E" when operating within the "Database Display Screen". You may then quickly go to the parameter you seek to modify by simply pressing <Enter> at those parameters that are to remain unchanged. For example, suppose you want to modify "Receiver Longitude =". First press the "S" followed by "E". Next, when the COM(n) port = 1" is displayed, simply press <ENTER> to keep the COM port to the number assigned. Likewise, do the same for the UTC offset value and receiver latitude value displayed. Finally, when the command line "Receiver Longitude =" is displayed, simply type in the correct longitude desired. For the subsequent data entry parameters of the TNC COM port, North and South Polar Auroral regions, and Scan Delay, etc. simply press <Enter> to step through each of the configuration parameters and to exit the setup routine. Now power up the Drake R8 (I'll discuss how you can do this via the (C)ommand screen later on). With the Drake power on, press the "R" key - the top portion of the screen of your computer monitor should display the same frequency and other parameters as the Drake in a similar manner as shown below. FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ============================================================================== xx.xxxxx x xxxx xxx xxx x xx x.x x xxx xx xxx ============================================================================== Enter Command: -17- If it doesn't, first check your equipment and serial port connection to make sure you have connected to the appropriate COM port. If this still doesn't work, I would then proceed on the assumption that perhaps the wrong COM port number for the Drake had been entered in previous procedure. Repeat the program configuration/setup procedure described in the previous paragraphs. If you still have problems proceed to "Appendix E: TROUBLESHOOTING". Now with the program configuration complete, a word of CAUTION. NEVER TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF WITHOUT FIRST EXITING DX-COMM PLUS. Failure to do so could result in lost data or damage to existing data files. Make it a practice to back up your data files upon exiting the program. LISTING SHORTWAVE/UTILITY STATIONS The database is designed to identify stations by what are termed "shortwave", "utility", or "special". "Utility" and "special" stations may for all practical purposes be one and the same, except I've made a distinction here to the allow the user to log frequencies that are not necessarily tied to a given time of day. Examples of what I term "special" loggings are the time signal stations WWV and CHU which broadcast 24 hours a day. Another example would be WLO's maritime Sitor and CW broadcasts, or ham packet frequencies. Concerning "shortwave" and "utility" broadcasts these are subdivided into the categories of "active" and "inactive". Active, in the context of the "as is" database that came with DX-COMM PLUS, means those stations recently heard just prior to release of DX- COMM PLUS (Jan. 1993) or likely to be heard as evidenced by recent loggings by others. Inactive means those stations not yet heard or possibly were at one time logged but may have since shifted frequency (e.g. change from summer to winter frequency schedule). Concerning Utility stations, there are many RTTY press services, and FAX services which only transmit at a give time of day. A great reference for such frequencies is Tom Harrington's "World Press Services Frequencies" - Fifth Edition available from Universal Electronics, Inc. (614) 866-4605. Another valuable reference to have on hand is Ferrell's "Confidential Frequency List" published by Gilfer Shortwave, 1-800-445-3371. When DX-COMM PLUS is first started, the "Database Display" screen lists just the shortwave active stations. (Note: You can change this startup mode to display both the active and inactive broadcasts by using the SETUP command and making the appropriate program configuration change.) To list the utility active stations press "U" followed by "A" in either upper or lower case. To display shortwave active stations press "S" followed by "A". Likewise, to display inactive stations press "S" followed by "I" for shortwave -18- stations and "U" followed by "I" for utility. One can also display both active and inactive stations by pressing "S" or "U" followed by "B". Similarly, to display all the frequencies logged as "special" press "S" followed by "P" in either upper or lowercase. UPLOADING DATABASE FREQUENCIES TO THE DRAKE R8 The first step in uploading a record to the Drake R8 is to determine which VFO you want the to use. If you want to upload the record to VFO A and you were using up until now VFO B, simply press Function 8 (F8) key. From this point then there are two simple methods to upload information from the database directly to the Drake R8 receiver. The most direct method is to align the "red" highlight bar over the record you desire to load. To move the Highlight Bar use either he "]" or "[" keys to move the bar down or up. It should be noted that when the red highlight bar is at the bottom of the Database Display, repeated pressing of the key "]" will advance the display one record at a time with the only restraint being the number of records available for that hour. When the bar is over the desired record simply press the <ENTER> key and the record will be loaded into the Drake R8. During the upload operation, the "Enter Command:" line will be replaced with "Loading INDEX# XXX REC# XXX". This information denotes the Index or crossreferencing number to that of the highlighted record in the display to the actual record number in the file SWDB.DAT. The second way is to simply press the "L" key followed by entering the Index number of the broadcast desired. To find the Index number, simply look at the lower left side of the screen for the Index number (INDEX#) representing the station broadcast desired, and type this number, and press enter. The Drake R8 should then proceed to display the frequency of the station. The other parameters on the radio will change in a matter of a second or two. At the end of the Drake upload operation, the program automatically downloads information off of the Drake's RS232 port and displays this information to the upper portion of your computer monitor's screen. (NOTE: if for any reason the computer display does not match the Drake's panel display press the "R" key - this could happen if for instance you touched the Drake's tuning knob or entered a frequency directly using the Drake's numeric keypad). Your Computer's monitor display lists up to 8 lines of station database information. You can scroll to obtain more lines of information (if the database for the UTC time in question contains such) by pressing "]" or "[", or by pressing the keyboard's up/down arrow keys (make sure NumLock is off!) or by pressing the "O" or "P" keys depending on which direction you want to scroll. The -19- scrolled list provides by default a total of 1 hour look ahead from the current "on the hour" UTC time. This time is displayed in the upper right hand corner of your monitor's screen. I'll describe shortly how the program may be reset to give more than a one hour look ahead. In addition to scrolling one line at a time, you can go to the end of the record list for that hour by pressing the "END" key or "Z" on the keyboard, or back to the beginning by pressing the "HOME" key or "H" on the keyboard. You can also pagedown and pageup 8 records at a time by using your computer's "PGUP" or "PGDN" keys or "J" and "K" on the keyboard. If you find the time it takes to load a record to be too long, you can speed the uploading of records to the Drake by first pressing the ^Y (Ctrl Y) keys. This locks open the PC serial communications port with the Drake R8. The disadvantage of this feature is that while the comport is open, direct user operation of the Drake's tuning knob or keypad is also locked out. However, this feature can be toggled off by simply pressing ^Y when so desired. DISPLAYING UTILITY BROADCASTS WITH CENTER FREQUENCY OFFSET A frequently cited shortcoming for the Drake R8 concerns its display of RTTY and CW utility stations. As stated by the 1992 World Radio TV Handbook. "If you tune in a Morse code station to exactly the frequency of the carrier wave you'll hear nothing at all. So you have to detune the signal around 850 hz lower in order to get a tone.... You need to keep this in mind when referring to frequency lists....The same is true of RTTY signals. Depending on the type of decoder in use, you'll have to tune the set some 1375 hz higher than the center frequency to be able to read the text being sent over the air......If you're a utility enthusiast, you'll have to remember to detune the set by 1375 hz from the frequencies listed in publications by Klingenfuss, Grove, or Gilfer Associates." To make up for this shortcoming, DX-COMM PLUS has been equipped to provide center frequency offsets for RTTY and CW stations automatically. The user can activate and deactivate this feature by pressing the F9 key. When activated the F9 descriptor at the bottom of the Database Display Screen turns from a red lettering on a blue background to black lettering on a white background. In this manner when RTTY AND CW frequencies are loaded from the utility database in DX-COMM PLUS they will display the utility's center frequency of the utility broadcast and the Drake will display the center frequency plus the RTTY or CW offset depending on the mode of operation selected. -20- My personal experience using the Drake R8 is that the typical center frequency offset of most commercial RTTY stations is approximately 2.25 khz and for CW stations to be around .850 khz. DISPLAYING DATABASE INFORMATION FOR OTHER TIME PERIODS By pressing the "T" key, the database display may be manipulated to provide data from a different UTC period than the one presently shown. Press the "T" key. "Enter New Time as xx00 or (T):" will be displayed. As an example, if database records corresponding to 0100 is what you desire, type "0100" followed by <ENTER>. You may also configure DX-COMM PLUS to display more than one hour of data from the database. For example suppose you are interested in displaying the shortwave broadcasts for 0100 hour to 0300. First press the "T" key as described above and type in 0100 followed by <ENTER>. Next press the "T" key again. The command line will display "Enter New Time as xx00 or (T)". Press the "T" key followed by <ENTER> - now the following will be displayed on the command line, "Enter No. of hours to display (1-3):". In the example described press 3 for a three hour look-ahead (0100 to 0200, 0200 to 0300, 0300 to 0400) followed by <ENTER>. DECREMENTING/INCREMENTING THE DRAKE FREQUENCY Within the "Database Display" screen, the current display if you've been sequencing through these instructions, when you press the left or right arrow key on the computer's keyboard the Drake frequency will be either decremented or incremented. The amount of decrement/increment is set by pressing the Function F2 key. The "Enter Command:" line in the middle of the monitor screen will be replaced with: "Enter frequency increment in Khz:". If you want to decrement/increment the frequency by 5 Khz (usually most international shortwave stations are located on 5 Khz intervals ...i.e xx.xx0 or xx.xx5 Mhz) simply enter the number 5. This is extremely useful in searching the bands by first working your way up/down from a given frequency and then using the (A)dd record feature to download and add the broadcast into the database. ACCESSING THE COMMAND SCREEN By pressing the "C" key, the lower portion of the display on your computer's monitor will be replaced with a list of direct commands that may be uploaded to the Drake R8 as shown below. -21- DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter Command: COMMANDS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Set frequency: Fxxxxxxx Mode select: AM, FM, CW, RTTY, LSB, USB AGC set: AF AS AO ANT select: A1 A2 AC Bandwidth select: 0.5, 1.8, 2.3, 4.0, 6.0 Synchro set: SO SF Notch set: NO NF Memory mode: C VFO select: VA VB Memory channel select: Cx (x=0 to 99) RF select: G+ G- G0 Program memory channel: PR then X (x=0 to 99) Tune UP/Down: U or D Scan start/stop: Sc Step chg: ST (scrolls) Scan Select: Sx (x=1-3,4-5) Noise blanker: BW BN BF Timer relay: TO TF Cont. Update display: (UP)date (return to quit) (S)wdb Menu and (L)ist ^Y=Lock (Q)uit Program F8=VFO A Most of these commands are documented and described in the Drake R8 Owner's Manual that came with the radio. For example, typing "PO" followed by pressing <ENTER> turns the Drake receiver on, and typing "PF" followed by pressing <ENTER> turns the receiver off. (Note: Entry of these commands is not case sensitive.) DX-COMM PLUS also provides increased user friendliness by allowing one to change the receiver's mode and bandwidth by directly typing, for example, "AM" as opposed to using the Drake code "M6", and "1.8" for 1.8 Khz bandwidth rather than the Drake code "W1". The "Command Screen" provides an almost hands-off operation of the receiver by simply using the computer keyboard (with the exception of the analog controls of passband offset, notch filter adjustment, tone, squelch, or volume adjustment). One can move rapidly from the "Database Display" screen to the "Command Screen" to adjust bandwidth, synchronous detector, mode, antenna, to make alternate settings to that which was uploaded from the "Database Display", or simply to prepare the Drake's display for downloading to create or edit a record. It should be noted that when the F9 frequency offset feature for RTTY and CW is activated that frequencies entered via the Command Screen will display on your computer monitor as entered, but the offset will be added and inputted into the Drake as the selected frequency. To return to the "Database Display" from the "Command Screen" press the "L" key, and then press the <ENTER> key. If instead you desire to quit the program simply press "Q" and <ENTER>. If instead you want To proceed to the "Database Menu" screen simply press "S" and <ENTER>. However, for now, return to the "Database Display" menu by pressing the "L" key followed by <ENTER>. -22- Other special features of the Command Screen are: - The left/right arrow keys frequency decrement/increment feature found in the Database Display Screen is also available within the Command Screen. One can also increment or decrement up/down in frequency in finer increments by pressing "U" or "D" and "ENTER". (Note: The U/D feature is a programmed feature within the Drake R8 itself). For every "U" or "D" key pressed the frequency will increment up or down .01 khz or .1 khz depending upon the frequency step you've selected (refer to your Drake manual for a description of the Step function) or whether the VHF Converter is invoked for Frequencies greater than 108 mHz . You can enter a string of U's as opposed to just a single U at a time. For example, if I wanted to increment upward by .1 khz using a step function of .01 khz then I would type "UUUUUUUUUU" and <ENTER>. - By typing "UP" followed by <ENTER> at the Enter Command line the program will every few seconds retrieve the radio's frequency and other parameter settings (i.e. Bandwidth, etc.). This allows the program's display to automatically update itself as the user manually operates the Drake R8 tuning knob or frequency keypad. To return back to normal DX-COMM PLUS operation press <ENTER>. DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN - FIVE WAYS TO DISPLAY RECORDS: TSF, TFS, FST, SFT, & STF From within the "Database Display" screen one can change the manner in which Database records are listed. When first starting the program, the program retrieves an index contained in the file INDX.DAT and retrieves certain Index pointers in the file FLAG.DAT for the UTC time in question. The INDX.DAT file contains a translation table to access the main file SWDB.DAT. Depending upon the last sort of INDX.DAT the database will either be listed in ascending order by time, station, and frequency (TSF) or in ascending order by time, frequency, station (TFS) or in ascending order by frequency, station, and time of broadcast (FST) or in ascending order by station, frequency, and time of broadcast (SFT), or in ascending order by station, time, frequency (STF). If the database has been previously sorted in ascending time, station, frequency order (TSF) the "F3" on the screen will be highlighted as black letters on a white background followed by "=TSF" (this is the manner the data is displayed when you first load DX-COMM PLUS). In this way, a station that is broadcasting on multiple frequencies for a given hour will have all its frequencies consecutively listed in ascending order. The next station will then be in alphabetically ascending order to that of the prior station, and so on. An example of this would be: -23- TIME STATION FREQUENCY 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 5.97500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 6.17500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 9.91500 0000 - 0100 CFCX MONTREAL 6.00500 0000 - 0030 RADIO PRAGUE 7.34500 0000 - 0100 SPANISH FOREIGN RADIO 9.53000 By pressing the Function F3 key until the "F3" lettering on the display turns to red letters on a blue background followed by "=TFS". Upon re-sorting the database, the same information will be displayed in ascending time, frequency, station order (TFS) as shown below. I've found this feature to be extremely useful when using the left/right arrow key to search a given band for stations not previously logged. TIME STATION FREQUENCY 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 5.97500 0000 - 0100 CFCX MONTREAL 6.00500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 6.17500 0000 - 0030 RADIO PRAGUE 7.34500 0000 - 0100 SPANISH FOREIGN RADIO 9.53000 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 9.91500 To sort the database in the manner described, leave the "Display Database" screen by pressing the "Q" key. This will access the "Database Menu" screen as shown below. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: DATABASE MENU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (A)dd Records (S)ort Records (I)mport TRS Database (L)ist Records - Database Display Screen (F)ind Record/Edit/Delete (P)rint Records (Q)uit Database Menu Once this menu is displayed press the "S" key to create, sort,and reorder the database. (Note: When no new records are added or no records are to be deleted, the database itself is not reordered. Instead a new index and new flags are saved to your default directory thereby substantially reducing the overall time taken to sort the database.) Once the sorting is complete the "Enter Command:" will re-appear in the middle of the monitor's screen. -24- Press "L" to return to the "Database Display" screen. The records should be listed in time, frequency, station (TFS) order. A third way you can display records is by Frequency, Station, and Time (FST). To display information as "FST" toggle the function F3 key such that the "F3" lettering on the screen becomes black with a brown background followed by "=FST". Repeat the sorting procedure described, then return to the Database Display Screen. Records will display in a similar manner to that shown below: TIME STATION FREQUENCY SPECIAL NAVTEX .51800 0700 - 0800 GHANA BC CORP 3.36600 0800 - 0900 GHANA BC CORP 3.36600 0900 - 1000 GHANA BC CORP 3.36600 SPECIAL WWV 5.00000 2330 - 0000 RADIO PRAGUE 5.93000 0000 - 0100 CFCX MONTREAL 6.00500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 6.17500 0100 - 0200 BBC LONDON 6.17500 0000 - 0030 RADIO PRAGUE 7.34500 0000 - 0100 SPANISH FOREIGN RADIO 9.53000 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 9.91500 Also now note that the Display Screen is slightly different. In the FST display mode MUF-LUF will not be displayed. Instead the first 15 characters of the "Remarks" field of each record will now be displayed. Likewise, the list of commands within the Display Screen is more condensed than that in the other two display modes. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 2:15:10 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.53000 N FAST PREAMP OFF 1 AM 6.0 B OFF NO 02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: (C)ommands S(W)itch (A)dd T(N)C ^Z= SWDB Chg ^S= Scan ^P= Program and @ and ! (E)dit (M)emory ^U= Untag ^Q= Fast Quit INDEX# TIME TYPE STATION FREQUENCY DAYS S REMARKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 SPECIAL s-p CHC 0.43505 MTWHFAS A 2 SPECIAL s-p NAVTEX 0.51800 MTWHFAS A 3 SPECIAL s-p WWV 2.50000 MTWHFAS A 4 0300-0400 s-a RADIO ORANJE, S.AFRICA 3.23000 MTWHFAS A 5 0400-0500 s-a RADIO ORANJE, S.AFRICA 3.23000 MTWHFAS A 6 0500-0505 s-a RADIO ORANJE, S.AFRICA 3.23000 MTWHFAS A 7 1620-1700 s-a RADIO ORANJE, S.AFRICA 3.23000 MTWHFAS A 8 1700-1800 s-a RADIO ORANJE, S.AFRICA 3.23000 MTWHFAS A ^R=Review Glo(B)al F3 = FST SWDB F10= DOS (X)tra ^V=ACR (G)raph F9 = Freq. Offset ^[= Move SWDB F8=VFO B ^T=Tag (Q)uit -25- For example, unlike the TSF or TFS mode, the commands associated with selecting specific UTC time periods, solar flux, or selection of active or inactive broadcasts are not available. However, other commands are provided: the commands "@" and "!" are provided which allow the user to step thru the display in increments or decrements of 100 records at a time (if that number of additional records is available). Also by pressing "W" the heading " LONG. LAT. " will be displayed in place of "S DAYS REMARKS". Under this heading will be the longitude and latitude fields of each record. The fourth way records may be displayed is by Station, Frequency, and Time (SFT). To display information as "SFT" toggle the function F3 key such that the "F3" lettering on the screen becomes white with a black background followed by "=SFT". Repeat the sorting procedure described previously. Then return to the Database Display Screen. As in the FST mode, MUF-LUF are not displayed and only those Database Display Screen commands available are shown. An illustration of the expected record display is shown below: TIME STATION FREQUENCY 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 6.17500 2300 - 0000 BBC LONDON 6.17500 2200 - 2300 BBC LONDON 7.32500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 9.91500 0000 - 0100 CFCX MONTREAL 6.00500 0700 - 0800 GHANA BC CORP 3.36600 SPECIAL WWV 5.00000 The final mode of displaying database information is by STF. Toggle the function F3 key such that the "F3" lettering on the screen becomes blue with a light blue background followed by "=STF". Again, please note, that as with the FST and SFT modes, MUF-LUF are not displayed. An illustration of the STF mode using just the "BBC" frequencies shown above, would be re-ordered as such. TIME STATION FREQUENCY 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 6.17500 0000 - 0100 BBC LONDON 9.91500 2200 - 2300 BBC LONDON 7.32500 2300 - 0000 BBC LONDON 6.17500 MAXIMUM USEABLE AND LOWEST USEABLE FREQUENCY CALCULATION DX-COMM PLUS provides the capability of calculating the maximum useable frequency (MUF) and lowest useable frequency (LUF) for each of the stations displayed. The MUF algorithms written into the program were primarily based from the following: -26- - "MINIMUF: A Simplified MUF-Prediction Program for Microcomputers", written by Robert B. Rose, QST December 1982 (pp. 36-38). - "MINIMUF for the Ham and the IBM Personal Computer", written by John E. Anderson, QEX November 1983 (pp. 7-14). An excellent information source to gain a better understanding of propagation and its affects on shortwave transmissions may be found in "Shortwave Radio Listening with the Experts" edited by Gerry L. Dexter. Other excellent sources are the "The Shortwave Propagation Handbook" by George Jacobs and Theodore J. Cohen as well as the "ARRL Handbook" and the "ARRL Antenna Handbook". MUF and LUF are calculated using UTC time, Solar Flux level as obtained at 18 minutes after the hour on WWV, and the shortwave transmitter's longitude and latitude as well your Drake receiver's longitude and latitude. If you've been following the sequence of these instructions, the latter is what you entered upon pressing the "S" and "E" keys. About 60% of the database records provided with DX-COMM PLUS contain longitude and latitude information. The remaining records can easily be edited to add the information as desired. (Note, that many international broadcasters are using relay transmitters in many parts of the world to reach desired audiences. If a relay is being used, it is that relay's longitude and latitude that should be entered). When you first start DX-COMM PLUS, MUF and LUF are not displayed. If you want to display this information press the "F" key to enter the Solar Flux value. The program will not accept values greater than 250 or less than 60 with the exception that "0" may be entered (this feature will be explained shortly). Upon entering a value between 60 and 250 the program will display the average MUF and LUF values for the start and end of that hour for those records which contain longitude and latitude information. In addition, for those records where the MUF and LUF are calculated, under the "S" or "SEASON" column of the database display you will note that the "S, W or A" has either a purple, brown, or green background. You should also note that for a few of the records the letter "S, W, or A" is blinking. o When the background is Purple this means that the frequency for that particular station's broadcast is within the frequency range bounded by the MUF-LUF. o If the background is brown and the foreground yellow, the broadcast frequency is within + or - 2 mHz of the MUF limit. (My personal experience is that broadcast within this range are usually the strongest when compared to alternate frequencies below this band or zone from the same transmitter location). -27- o When the background is green the broadcast frequency is outside the range of the region bounded by MUF and LUF. o The letter "S,W, or A" is blinking this means that the propagation path takes the signal over the north or south polar region within the areas where solar disturbance have a high likelihood of causing Polar Cap Absorption or Polar Blackout. Because of the calculations involved, to initially display records with projected MUF-LUF values takes slightly longer than if no MUF- LUF values were to be calculated. Subsequent redisplay of the particular hour's records, however, does not result in this delay since the calculation results are stored in the computer's RAM. If you find the few seconds that it takes to perform the MUF-LUF calculations inconvenient, this feature can be turned OFF by simply entering "0" for the Solar Flux value. 24 HOUR PLOTS OF PREDICTED HIGH FREQUENCY PROPAGATION By pressing the "G" key while within the "Database Display" screen, DX-COMM PLUS transfers control over to the program MUFGRAPH.EXE. A "PROPAGATION MENU" with 16 regions of the world is displayed. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: PROPAGATION MENU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REGION LONG LAT REGION LONG LAT N. AMERICA (Kansas) 94 38'W 39 06'N N.AF. (Tunis) 10 10'E 36 48'N C. AMERICA (Belize) 88 45'W 17 00'N C. AFRICA (Zaire) 24 00'E 02 00'S S. AMERICA (Brasila) 47 55'W 15 47'S S.AF.(Johannesburg) 28 03'E 26 12'S SCAND. (Stockholm) 18 00'E 59 16'N MID. EAST (Kuwait) 47 45'E 29 30'N N. EUROPE (Warsaw) 21 00'E 52 10'N INDIA (New Delhi) 77 15'E 28 19'N S. EUROPE (Athens) 36 44'E 37 59'N SE ASIA (Singapore) 103 51'E 01 17'N W. EUROPE (London) 00 07'W 51 30'N FAR EAST (Tokyo) 139 46'E 35 42'N E. EUROPE (Moscow) 37 35'E 55 45'N AUSTRALIA (Melbourne) 145 00'E 37 50'S <ENTER> ]/[ = Dwn/Up (S)tation (D)ate (F)lux# (P)lot (T)ransmitter (R)eceiver (L)ong (Q)uit If a Solar Flux value was not previously entered, or if you would like to experiment to determine the affect of different solar flux -28- levels, simply press "F". In the middle of the screen, directly below the DRAKE readout, "Solar Flux# =" will be displayed. If a solar flux level was previously entered it also will be displayed. If not, or if you would like to temporarily change the value, simply type the appropriate solar flux level remembering that the value must be between 60 to 250. The MUFGRAPH program uses the PC's internal clock as a default for determining the day and month in the calculations. The date may be temporarily changed by pressing the "D" key and simply entering a new date as MM-DD. It is important to note that for month and day, 2 digits for each must be entered (i.e. January is "01"). To select a region of the world move the red highlight bar by pressing the "]" or "[" keys. Upon moving the highlight bar to the desired region, simply press <ENTER>. The screen will clear and a 320x200 graphics display of MUF and LUF over the short path over 24 hours for the selected month and day of the year will be calculated. The heavy solid line plotted represents the calculated MUF value, the dashed line is a MUF adjustment from that which is calculated based on my own personal observation of MUF maximum relative to that which is calculated, and the light solid line plotted represents the LUF value. In addition, the number of F- layer hops taken by the radio signal between the transmitter location and the receiver will be displayed, along with the calculated number of miles between the transmitter and receiver. The beam heading from your receiver to the Shortwave Broadcaster is also calculated. To return to the "Propagation Menu" simply press the "Esc" key. If you would like to determine the propagation conditions for the long path to the same station press the "L" key. (Note: the letter "L" of (L)ong is highlighted by a white background.) This toggles the program to calculate the longpath and remains in that mode until retoggled by pressing the "L" key once again. Upon selecting the longpath, press the <ENTER> key and a 320x200 graphics display of MUF and LUF for that station will be provided. Note that the upper left corner of the display will indicate "LP" denoting Longpath. In addition to the regions provided, the user may directly type in a transmitter location. To do this press the "T" key and enter the latitude and longitude of the transmitter. Enter the degrees and minutes in each of the specified fields in the same manner as you did in the setup routine. Upon the last character entry in the latitude field and the longitude field the program will automatically return to the "Enter Command" line. Now press the "S" key to enter a description of the transmitter station. This description can not exceed more than 25 characters in length. Now press the "P" key for (P)lot. The middle of the computer screen will display the name of the station as you entered it, and the transmitter longitude and latitude, as well as a default longitude -29- and latitude from the original Setup configuration file of DX-COMM PLUS. If the station header is correct, and the transmitter and receiver locations are as you desire, press "Y" for yes to calculate MUF-LUF for these world coordinates. If the information as to header and location is not correct press "N" or simply press <ENTER>, followed by "T", "R" or "S" for whatever information you desire to change. Another method for entering a region not identified within the MUFGRAPH menu is to import it from the Database Display screen. This procedure will be later described in the section "FIELD CAPTURE, GLOBAL EDIT, AND FIELD IMPORT FEATURE". To return to DX-COMM PLUS's "Database Display" menu, simply press the "Q" key. LOGGING NEW STATIONS INTO DX-COMM PLUS's DATABASE Let's say you have tuned in a frequency of 15.43000 Mhz for the Channel Africa at 1700 UTC. Let's assume that it isn't in your database. You may add this station to your database from within the "Database Display" screen by pressing the "A" key. Immediately, the program listings on lower portion of the display will be replaced with the Data Entry Screen as shown below. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 17:22:30 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Use DRAKE frequency or IMPORT? (Y/n/I) DATA ENTRY SCREEN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frequency = 15.43000*MHz F1 = Drake Freq. Enter = Skip Thru Field Esc = Return -30- The monitor will now display the Drake's frequency. The "Enter Command:" line will also be replaced with the statement "Use Drake Frequency or Import (Y/n/I):". Assuming that you've proceeded through these instructions as I've described, and the Drake was set up for the desired antenna selection, mode, bandwidth, notch filter, noise blanker, RF gain setting, you can now press "Y". (For the moment ignore the "Import" feature which will be described in the "FIELD CAPTURE, GLOBAL EDIT, AND FIELD IMPORT FEATURES" section). Also, while not pertinent to the example being described, but relevant for future consideration, if upon initial entry into the new record screen, or anytime the statement "Use Drake Frequency or Import (Y/n/I)" is displayed and you decide you do not want to proceed to enter a new record, you can press the "Esc" key to return back to the "Database Display" screen. You can also Escape from the Add Record feature by pressing the "Esc" key once within any of the fields, provided the cursor is located in the field's 1st character position. Proceeding with the example, immediately to the right of the frequency field you will be prompted to enter information in the Radio Station or "R. Station =" field. You are allowed up to 25 characters. However, if you were typing CHANNEL AFRICA, which contains only 14 characters (including space between the words) you may after the last character press the "ENTER" key or "CR" key on keyboard. If you make a mistake in typing you can use the "BACKSPACE" key to retype what you want to correct. Upon correctly typing in this information in the R.Station field, press <ENTER> which will immediately bring you to the next field, "Start UTC =". In the "Start UTC =" field type the UTC time that the broadcast starts. You should be careful to assure that all four character positions of this field are filled (i.e. 1700) with the only exception being if this is to be a "special" logging. If it is a "special" logging just skip over this field by pressing the "ENTER" key. It should be noted that proper time entry is extremely important if the database is to later sort and display properly. Upon completing the "Start UTC =" field the "End UTC =" field will appear. Enter the UTC time that the broadcast ends. Note that some broadcasters have programs several hours in length. It is acceptable to enter an End UTC time beyond the hour that the program starts. DX-COMM PLUS will automatically, upon completion of other data fields break the file record into several records for each UTC hour that the station is broadcasting. If the broadcast being logged is a "special" logging simply skip over this field by pressing "ENTER". The next field is the "Days Operating (MTWHFAS) =" field. Many international shortwave stations do not broadcast in English every day of the week. If the station broadcasts Monday thru Sunday, -31- enter MTWHFAS where "H" represents Thursday and "A" represents Saturday. Data entry in this field, however, is not critical to proper sorting or displaying of records. The next field is "Longitude =". Enter the degrees and minutes of the broadcaster's transmitter. For example, using a World Atlas and the World Radio TV Handbook you would determine that Channel Africa broadcasts from Meyerton, S. Africa. By referring to an Atlas we find that Meyerton is close to Johannesburg. The longitude for Johannesburg is 28 deg. 03 min. East. If you had attempted to type a value greater than 180 deg., or something greater than 60 min., or other than E for east or W for west, the computer will beep and return the cursor to the start position of this field. The next field is "Latitude =". Enter the degrees and minutes of the broadcaster's transmitter. Again for the Channel Africa example, this would be 26 degrees 12 minutes South. If you had attempted to enter something greater than 90 degrees, or something greater than 60 minutes, or something other than N for North or S for South, the computer would have beeped and returned the cursor to the start position of this field. The next field is "Drake Download String =". This field will automatically display the string that represents the frequency, mode, bandwidth, antenna selection, etc. that you've down loaded off the Drake in the initial step to this section. (Refer to the Drake R8 Owner's Manual for a description of "RA" or the "Report All" response which is the principal component of this download string). Simply press the enter key if you are satisfied with the mode, bandwidth, and other parameters of operation that you've downloaded. If you are not, refer to the Drake R8 Owner's Manual to obtain the appropriate codes for typing in the first 9 characters of this string (I rarely use this feature since one can "Edit" the record after all other fields have been sequenced through and then use the F1 key to allow DX-COMM PLUS to download the appropriate information directly into the file record - a feature that is described later in this manual). Once the above field is either modified or the enter key has been pressed, you are prompted to enter the following information "(W)inter, (S)ummer, (A)ll =". Many international broadcasters change the frequency used during winter versus summer to take advantage of changes in propagation conditions. Enter "W" or "S" for winter or summer, or "A" if the broadcaster uses this frequency at the same UTC time throughout the year. It should be noted, however, that data entry here is not critical to sorting or displaying of records. The next field is "(S)hortwave/(U)tility/(S)pecial =". You must enter either "s" or "u". If any other letter is entered you will hear a warning beep. The program also automatically converts -32- uppercase to lowercase. Without an "s" or a "u" this record will not be properly displayed or printed. The next field is "(A)ctive/(I)nactive/S(p)ecial =". You must enter "a", "i", or "p". A mis-typed entry will result in a warning beep. The program converts all uppercase entries to lowercase. Correct data entry is essential to assure proper display and printing of the record. If you type "p" for this field, upon leaving the field, the Start UTC and End UTC fields will automatically display "SPEC" and "IAL " respectively. The final record field is "Remarks =". In this field you are allowed 25 characters of information. I typically use this field to identify the transmitter location, or other information about the station. This field is not critical to proper sorting or displaying of the record. At the completion of data entry in the "Remarks =" field the lower half of the screen will now appear as shown below and the user will be prompted by "Edit (Y/n)?". DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 17:22:30 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit (Y/n)? DATA ENTRY SCREEN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequency = 15.43000*MHz R. Station = CHANNEL AFRICA Start UTC = 1700 End UTC = 1800 Days Operating (MTWHFAS) = MTWFHAS Longitude = 28 03' E Latitude = 26 12' S Drake Download String = 15 602<8 15.43000*MHz (W)inter, (S)ummer, (A)ll = A (S)hortwave/(U)tility/(S)pecial = s (A)ctive/(I)nactive/S(p)ecial = a Remarks = VIA JOHANNESBURG,S.AFRICA F1 = Drake Freq. Enter = Skip Thru Field Esc = Return If you find that you have mistyped information in any of the fields, you have an opportunity to go back and edit the field(s) containing the error(s) by pressing "Y" and <ENTER>. I will describe the edit mode in the next section, but for now assume that data entry was correct. Press "N" followed by pressing the <ENTER> key, or simply press the <ENTER> key. The command line in the middle of the monitor's screen will then ask if you want to enter another record. At this point if one pressed "Y" one can then enter new information for a new database record. Initially, upon displaying each field the program will default to the prior information entered for the -33- previous record. In this way the user has the option of just pressing <ENTER> to accept the default condition or retyping the particular field. This feature is extremely useful for example when a broadcaster is transmitting on more than one frequency at a given time of day. However, for the particular example, type "N" when prompted whether there are additional records to enter, or simply press <ENTER>. The program will then redisplay the list of frequencies for the hour that was being reviewed by the user prior to performing data entry. The new record added, if it is inclusive of the UTC hour being displayed, will be the last record displayed for that hour. To properly place the record in the appropriate sequence to that of other records in the database, you must re-sort the database. To do this go to the "Database Menu" screen and then press "S". Some comprehensive sources of shortwave broadcast frequency listings include: "Monitoring Times", "Passport to the World Band Radio", "World Radio TV Handbook", and Tom Sundstrom's English Language Shortwave Broadcast Database. o "Monitoring Times" is a Grove Enterprises monthly publication. It contains a wealth of information concerning current English language broadcasts, their frequencies, time of broadcast, and provides anticipated Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) and Lowest Useable Frequency (LUF) propagation data for that month for broadcasts from various regions of the world. (Grove Enterprises telephone number is (704) 837-9200). o "Passport To World Band Radio" is an International Broadcasting Services, LTD. publication. (It may be purchased from a number of different shortwave and ham radio retailers including Grove Enterprises and Gilfer Shortwave. It is also available in large retail bookstores such as Barnes and Noble). The "Passport to World Band Radio", what one reviewer referred to as the "TV Guide for World Band Radios", is an excellent reference that identifies times and frequencies of all shortwave broadcasts, not just English language broadcasts, and provides very useful information about station transmitter location, the listening area the broadcast is intended, and transmitter power used. o Likewise, the WRTH handbook contains exhaustive detail about transmitter power, location, time of broadcasts, etc. for each international and domestic shortwave and mediumwave broadcaster in the World. The WRTH is also available from a number of shortwave and ham radio retailers as well as a number of larger retail bookstores. o A very convenient way to obtain the most up to date information about English language broadcasts is to subscribe to the internationally acclaimed database authored by Thomas R. Sundstrom. DX-COMM PLUS has the capability of directly -34- importing this database for use with the Drake R8. This import feature is fully described in this manual's section entitled TRS DATABASE IMPORT FEATURE. Tom Sundstrom's database is available on a subscription basis by ordering it by mail from TRS Consultants, P.O. Box 2275, Vincentown, NJ 08088-2275 or by telephoning him at (609) 859-2447. Regular updates of the database may be obtained by subscribers by downloading a specified file from PICs ONLINE RBBS at (609) 753-2540. ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF ENTERING FREQUENCY IN NEW OR EDITED RECORD If instead of using the Drake frequency when queried at the beginning of the "Data Entry Screen", you had desired to type in a frequency, you could have pressed "N". This would put the cursor within the "Frequency =" field. At this point you could type in the frequency you wanted to use - however, in doing so you must enter 8 characters of information in the form xx.xxxxx (i.e 9.59000 could be "09.59000" or " 9.59000" - in the latter case the space bar was pressed on the computer keyboard for the first character. (Note: you must enter the "." at the third character position for frequencies of less than 55 mHz - for frequencies greater than 108 mHz the "." is in the fourth position). Then enter data as previously described for the subsequent fields of this new record. When you come to the "Drake Download String =" field the field will automatically display a default string setting of " 00 612<8" which is equivalent to Channel 00, Noise Blanker = Narrow, AGC = Fast, RF= off, Notch filter = off, Antenna = 1, Mode = AM, Bandwidth = 6.0, VFO= A, Synchro Det. = off, and Scanning = No. There is also an automated feature in DX-COMM PLUS to enter the desired frequency into the frequency field. Suppose, for example, you accessed the "Data Entry Screen" but ou did not ave the correct frequency tuned in on the Drake. At the screen prompt to use the Drake frequency or Import (Y/n/I), press "N". When the cursor is located in the 1st character position of the "Frequency =" field, retune the Drake manually to the frequency and setting you desire, and then press the Function F1 key followed by <ENTER>. This retrieves the new Drake settings, displays the frequency, and will later display within the "Drake Download String =" field the mode, bandwidth and all other relevant parameters for the station you've currently tuned. ADD RECORD FEATURE OF DATABASE MENU SCREEN An alternate way of entering new records is within the "Database Display" described previously. To access the "Database Menu Screen" press the "Q" key from within the "Database Display" screen. Once the "Database Menu" is displayed, one can simply -35- press "A", which provides the same "Data Entry Screen" as described before. EDITING AND DELETING RECORDS One can edit records from within the "Database Display" screen by pressing "E" followed by the Index number of the record to edit. An example of the Edit Screen is shown below. Index numbers are those displayed directly under the "INDEX#" heading of the Database Display. The Edit Screen appears as shown below: DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 17:41:20 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.43000 N FAST OFF OFF 1 AM 6.0 A OFF NO 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit (Y/n) or Delete (D)? INDEX#= 1116 REC#= 1448 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequency = 15.43000*MHz R. Station = CHANNEL AFRICA, S.AFRICA Start UTC = 1700 End UTC = 1800 Days Operating (MTWHFAS) = MTWHFAS Longitude = 28 03' E Latitude = 26 12' S Drake Download String = 00 612<8 15.43000*mHz (W)inter, (S)ummer, (A)ll = A (S)hortwave/(U)tility/(S)pecial = s (A)ctive/(I)nactive/S(p)ecial = a Remarks = F1 = Drake Freq. Enter = Skip Field Tab = Highlight Field The "Edit Screen" displays information by field in the same format that was displayed during initial data entry. The user is prompted with the statement "Edit (Y/n) or (D)elete". If you decide not to change anything then simply press "N" followed by <ENTER> or simply the <ENTER> key. If on the other hand you decide to change the information being displayed for the record in question then type "Y" followed by <ENTER>. If you decide to change the frequency field information you have two alternatives. One option is to type it in directly, remembering that you must enter 8 characters of data (xx.xxxxx). Again it should be noted, the first character may be a space if the frequency is less than 10 Mhz. (i.e. frequency to enter is 9.59000 one would enter " 9.59000). An alternative way of entering the frequency is to retune the Drake manually to the frequency and the download settings desired and then within the first character position of the "Frequency =" field press Function F1 followed by <ENTER>. The new Drake frequency will then be displayed, as will -36- the corresponding "Drake Download String" when that field is accessed. If you need to change a field somewhere in the middle or end of the record, and desire to keep the other fields unchanged, simply press the <ENTER> key for each field of data you wish to retain. This skips from the first character position of one field to the first character position of the next field. Once, you start typing in a particular field though, you must continue retyping all the information you want in that field. It should be noted that the field will display the characters of the prior entry until written over. For example, let's say in the "R. Station =" field I had mistyped when entering the original data "BBC LLONDON". The mistake here obviously was too many L's. In the Editing mode I would retype "BBC LONDON" followed by pressing <ENTER>. Pressing <ENTER> marks the end of the string that you have entered to be stored in the SWDB.DAT file. When you have completed the editing of the particular record, you will again be prompted "Edit (Y/n) or (D)elete". If you mistyped something you can again go back through the record and make your changes, otherwise simply press "N" and/or <ENTER>. If you modified the "Start UTC" or "R. Station" or "Frequency =" fields or designated a shortwave or utility station as now a "special" log or vice versa, you might have to resort the database at the end of the edit to have the record properly display. In addition to editing records you may also delete them from within this screen. You do this by pressing "D" when prompted by "Edit (Y/n) or (D)elete?". The record will remain active until the user re-sorts the database at which time the record will be removed. If a record is being deleted which happens to fall into the UTC time that the program is presently displaying, that record will display "DELETE" in the "TIME" column of the display. At the bottom of the Edit Screen is a function entitled "TAB=Highlight Field". This feature willl be described in the section "FIELD CAPTURE, GLOBAL EDIT, AND FIELD IMPORT FEATURE". UNDELETING RECORDS If you want to un-delete a record, first proceed to the Database Display Screen. Now move the red cursor bar using the "]" or "[" keys to position the cursor over the record in question. Press ^T (Ctrl T) to tag the record. When you do this the Index number in the Database Display Screen will be highlighted in purple. Now press "D" for delete. This will un-delete the record in question. -37- DELETING RECORDS DIRECTLY FROM WITHIN DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN In a similar manner as described for undeleting a record, one could first tag records within the Database Display Screen and then press "D". Each record tagged will now display the words "DELETE" in the Display's TIME column and the purple "TAG" will be removed. This codes the records for future deletion upon sorting, however, until resorted, the records remain part of the database. Please note that once the tag feature is activated other features involving the tagging of records (these include ACR and ALERT features as described later in this manual) are "locked out" until the tags are cleared by pressing ^U (Ctrl - U). FIELD CAPTURE, GLOBAL EDIT, & FIELD IMPORT FEATURES Another feature provided within the Edit Screen is to capture fields for later importing into either other existing records or new records, or for use within the MUF-LUF plotting portion of the program. One can capture field information by simply pressing the "TAB" key when in the first character position of the field(s) in question. Captured fields may be inserted into other records by using the "Glo(B)al" command when within the Database Display Screen, or by importing the fields when "Adding" a record to the database by pressing "I" when queried "Use Drake Frequency or Import (Y/n/I). To use the Global editing command irst edit a record from which you wish to retrieve certain data fields. When within the edit screen highlighting the desired fields by using the TAB key. Exit the Edit Screen. Then within the Database Display Screen tag the records desired to be globally edited, and then presses the "B" key. As an example, say one wanted to use the Radio Station name from record 531 as well as the longitude and latitude information from that record. For purposes of the example, also assume that one also wanted to import this field information into records denoted by the index numbers 555 and 565. First select "E" for edit and type 531 to edit record 531. When within the Edit Screen press the <ENTER> key until the cursor is in the first character position of the R.Station field. Now press the "TAB" key. The field will turn "pink". The cursor will automatically jump to the next field position. Continue to press <ENTER> until the cursor is in the first character position of the Longitude field. Press the "TAB" -38- key again. This will highlight the longitude field in pink. Do the same once the cursor is in the Latitude field. Then simply press the "Enter" key until the cursor is back up at command line which says "Edit (Y/n)". Simply press <ENTER> or "n". This will return you to the Database Display Screen. Now move the red cursor over record 555. Press ^T (Ctrl T). This will highlight the record's index number in purple. Likewise, move the cursor to record 565 and press ^T. Now press the "B" key. This will perform a global edit and modify records 555 and 565 to now contain the same R.Station and Longitude and Latitude field information as record 531. Upon completion of the global edit, press ^U (Ctrl U) to untag the "Tagged" records. Please note that one could also have moved the cursor over record 555 and pressed ^T (Ctrl T) and then again over record 565 to untag those individual records. Captured field information may also be used with the MUF-LUF plotting program. To use this feature capture R.Station, Longitude, and Latitude information from the desired record. Now return to the Database Display Screen. Now press "G" to proceed to the MUF-LUF plotting program. Once within the MUF-LUF Plotting menu, press "P". The R.Station and Longitude and Latitude information should be displayed. To proceed to plot 24 MUF-LUF data then simply press "Y". FIND, EDIT, AND DELETE From within the "Database Menu" screen the user may search the database for a record or set of records. Press "F". The middle of the monitor's display will prompt the user with the following: "Enter Search Identifier(s)?" A few lines below this, the screen will display field identifiers of: UTC=Startime in UTC; RST=Radio Station; FRQ=Frequency; #####=Index# of Record. The screen will also identify the allowed combinations of fields to search as: UTCRST, FRQRST, UTCRSTFRQ. An important point to remember in searching for a particular record is that for each of the individual field identifiers, with the exception of ##### for record index number, you will be given the option of entering the ENTIRE field string (8 characters for Frequency; 25 characters for R. Station; and, 4 characters for UTC Time), or using a shorter search string as denoted by enclosing the search string in the brackets < and >. If one enters a number (up to five digits long), the database record corresponding to the index number entered will be displayed. If a "0" or a number exceeding the maximum number of records in the -39- current database is entered, the program will beep. Upon a correct index number entry, the record will be displayed. The user then has the option of editing, deleting, or highlighting the record as previously described in the "EDIT" section above. If one wants to find all the records associated with a given UTC time one must first enter "UTC". Directly beneath this command line, the user will be prompted by "Enter string to search (<xxx> sounds like):?". Now enter either the start UTC time you are seeking as 4 characters (i.e. 0100) or the first two digits of the hour as such "<01>". The former will provide you the first record that the search comes across with the start UTC time for the hour being searched. One can either edit that record or simply press <ENTER> to skip to the next record that is found. If the latter choice was used,"<01>", the program searches to match the first two digits of the start UTC time. It should be recognized that for example 0115, 0130, and 0145 equally satisfy this search criteria. A search may also be performed by searching the R. Station field. The program will search the entire R. Station field for a comparison to a search string. Enter RST at the first prompt and then either all 25 characters making up the string to be searched or <xxxx> (Note:xxxx represents the character string to be searched). Using the latter case as an example, suppose I'm searching for RADIO THAILAND. I could enter <THAI> and I would get all the records for where there is a match of that string. Note, however, if I had used simply <RADIO> I would get matches to stations including RADIO NETHERLANDS, RADIO MOSCOW, etc. as well. One can likewise search by Frequency by entering FRQ at the first prompt followed by the eight digits of frequency (i.e xx.xxxxx) or simply <xx.xxx>. If the latter <xx.xxx> is used, make sure for frequencies that are less than 55 mHz that you enter at least the first 3 digits of information up to and including the ".",and for frequencies over 108 mHz that you enter the first 4 digits up to and including "." One can also search using the following combinations: UTCRST or FRQRST or UTCRSTFRQ. When seeking to search by time and station, use UTCRST at the prompt. You will be subsequently prompted to provide the search string. You could for instance search for "0000BBC LONDON" or you could have made the search string "<00><BBC>" or "0000<BBC>" or "<00><LONDON>". Similarly if you had selected FRQRST you could have entered "<9.915>BBC LONDON" or " 9.91500BBC LONDON" or "< 9.915><LONDON> to find the records for when BBC London broadcasts on 9.915 mHz. When seeking to search by time, station and frequency use UTCRSTFRQ. Several combinations of search strings could be used to -40- find the same record. For example if one were searching for BBC at 0000 hour on 6.175 Mhz: "0000BBC LONDON6.17500" or "0000<BBC>< 6.175> or "<00><BBC> 6.17500" OR 0000BBC LONDON< 6.> or <00><LONDON>< 6.> to name only a few. For a number of search combinations more than one match is likely. The program will continue to display each additional record that it comes across that matching the search criteria specified. One can "QUIT" from this search routine by simply pressing the "Q" key when the program is displaying "Edit (Y/n) or Delete (D)?" and then pressing "Enter". One also has the option of editing a record found by indicating "Y" at the command line. Editing is performed in the same manner as described in the section EDITING AND DELETING RECORDS. The exception is that if one wants to capture a field for later use, upon coming back to the command line when "Edit (Y/n) or Delete (D)?" is displayed, one must enter "Q" if one wants retain captured field information from the record just edited. Otherwise the captured field information will be erased once a new record is displayed within the Editing Screen. ADDING FREQUENCIES TO THE DRAKE R8 MEMORY DX-COMM PLUS provides the user the convenient capability of sequentially programming the Drake R8's 100 memory channels with DX-COMM PLUS's database records. To upload a DX-COMM PLUS database record into one of the Drake R8 memory channels, first proceed to the Command Screen and type "C" followed by a number which can be between 0 and 99. The number entered should correspond to the memory channel you desire to store the database record within. After doing this, return to the Database Display Screen by typing "L" and pressing <Enter>. Now select from the Database Display the record you desire to load into memory. Move the red cursor over the desired record and press "M". The record will be displayed on the Drake R8 and the memory channel on the Drake will increment up by one, and then the Drake's frequency will be reset to the frequency just loaded. Subsequent channels may be entered sequentially simply by placing the cursor over the next desired record and pressing the "M" key. THE TNC WINDOW To access the "TNC WINDOW" screen simply press the "N" key when operating within the "Database Display" screen. Upon doing so the program jumps into an asynchronous terminal emulation mode between itself and the TNC. -41- If you are operating an MFJ-1278 follow these steps to synchronize the TNC with DX-COMM PLUS. Immediately upon pressing the "N" key, press the <ENTER> key several times in quick succession. This will lock in the autobaud feature of the MFJ-1278. Repeat the procedure if the TNC fails to synchronize with DX-COMM PLUS. Once the communication is established with the TNC the lower half of the display on your computer monitor will look similar to that shown (as illustration the screen is shown connected to the MFJ- 1278). The commands available within the TNC window itself are shown on the bottom two lines of the screen, and those available to communicate directly with the Drake are shown on upper half of the screen. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xx.xxxxx xx xxx xxx xxxx x xx x.x x xxx xx xx ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: L#### = Load Index# STEP### J = Dwn ### F5 = DWN 10 (R)eturn ^Y=Lock K = Up ### F7 = UP 10 TNC WINDOW ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bbRAM: LOADED WITH DEFAULTS |A MFJ ENTERPRISES, INC. MODEL MFJ-1278 AX.25 Level 2 Version 2.0 Release XXXXX (date) - 32K RAM Checksum XXX cmd: F5=Buf Display Sp.Bar=Step ^A=Clr ^D/^E=Open/Close File Esc=Exit F4=Drake Cmds Tab=Prn on BKSP=Prn off ^\ =Rtrn to Main F8=VFO A From within the "TNC WINDOW" simply enter commands as described in your TNC owners manual. For example, for the MFJ-1278, to access CW you would simply type MODE CW. Received and typed text will be scrolled across the TNC WINDOWs screen. You may simultaneously print this information on your printer by pressing the "Tab" key. You may turn the print feature off by pressing the "Backspace" key. DX-COMM PLUS has a 3000 byte buffer for capturing what is displayed within the 9 line scrolling window. To redisplay information received or typed simply press "F5". This automatically sends an XOFF$ signal (^S) to the TNC (called software flow control) which temporarily stops data transmission. The buffer then displays one line of stored screen data at a time. You may step the buffer one -42- line at a time by pressing the keyboard space bar. You may also resume normal TNC operation by pressing the "Esc" key or you may step thru the buffer to the end of the buffer at which time the program sends an XON$ signal (^Q). The buffer may be cleared of old information by pressing "Ctl A" (^A). This feature is provided as a convenience, but is not critical to proper buffer operation. If this is not done, the buffer when filled will simply rewrite over the old information. Please also note that when you leave the TNC Window that this buffer is erased. When displaying the buffer's stored data you can press the "Tab" key which will print each line held in the buffer immediately upon displaying it on the screen. You can turn off the buffer print feature by pressing the "Backspace" key. In addition to using the buffer to capture typed as well as received data, the user may save this information to a DOS ASCII file on the computers default directory or some other path as designated (the default diretory is the same DOS directory that DX.EXE and the *.DAT files reside). This is done by pressing "Ctl D". Upon pressing this, within the TNC window display you will be prompted to enter up to 8 letters for a file name. DX-COMM PLUS automatically attaches the file extension ".BUF". When providing a file name, you may also identify a path in which you want this file to reside. For example suppose the file name that you desire is "FILENAME" and you want to save this on the "A" drive in the subdirectory TEMP. You would then type "A:\TEMP\FILENAME". The file FILENAME.BUF will then be saved to the disk. At any time while operating within the TNC Window you may close the file by entering "Ctl E". Upon doing so the program will display "File FILENAME.BUF Closed". When within the main screen area of the TNC WINDOW the user may access either VFO A or VFO B by simply pressing the F8 key. This provides the capability to monitor for example two SITOR stations (i.e ship to shore & shore to ship) by simply toggling the F8 key. The TNC WINDOW screen also provides the user with direct keyboard control of the Drake R8. This is accomplished by pressing Function F4. Upon doing so, the cursor will jump to the line directly below DX-COMM PLUS's Drake Frequency display. You may now enter all the commands as identified in the Drake R8 Owner's Manual under the section entitled "RS232c Interface". For example, to increment the frequency up or down .01 khz or .1 khz depending on how you have the LED Drake Frequency set up, press the "U" or "D" key followed by pressing <ENTER>. Likewise, to enter a frequency into the Drake type Fxx.xxxxx and <ENTER>. If you made a manual adjustment to the -43- Drake R8 directly (i.e. turned the tuning wheel or selected a different bandwidth) and you want the DX-COMM PLUS to accurately display this information, simply type "RA" and press <ENTER>. In addition to the commands as identified in the Drake Owner's manual, DX-COMM PLUS provides others as well. To change bandwidths simply type "0.5" or "1.8" or "2.3" or "4.0" or "6.0" followed by pressing the <ENTER> key. Likewise to change modes simply type "AM","FM","CW", "RTTY", "LSB" or "USB". Also, one may activate the comport locking feature described under UPLOADING DATABASE FREQUENCIES TO THE DRAKE R8. By pressing ^Y, the PC's serial comport is locked in the open state to allow quicker communication between DX-COMM and the serial port of the receiver. Pressing ^Y again toggles this feature off. Other special features are also provided. o LOADING DATABASE RECORD: If you know the Index# of the database record that you wish to upload to the Drake you should simply type "L####" where #### is the record's index number. o STEPPING FREQUENCY DISPLAY BY USER SPECIFIED INCREMENT: You may step the frequency display a specified increment up or down by first typing "STEP###" where ### represents the step increment. For example, if you want to step the frequency up or down 2.7 kHz you would type 270 (provided the actual LED Drake Frequency is displaying to the nearest .01 khz. If you have the frequency display set to the nearest 1 khz or .1 khz an increment of 270 would equal 27.0 khz). Once set, the user can step the frequency up or down by pressing the "J" or "K" key. This step amount is stored until either overwritten by a new value or you exit the TNC Window screen. o STEPPING FREQUENCY DISPLAY DOWN OR UP BY INCREMENT OF 10: You may also step the frequency up or down by an increment of 10 (.10 khz if LED Drake Frequency is set to display to nearest .01 khz or 1.0 khz if the LED Drake Frequency is set to display to nearest 1 khz or .1khz). This is done simply by pressing the F6 key for down or F7 key for up. To return back to the TNC WINDOW type "R" and press the "Enter" key. To return back to the "Database Display" screen press "Ctl \" (^\). Please note that when you leave the TNC WINDOW screen data stored in the screen buffer will be erased. SCANNING RECORDS DX-COMM PLUS provides the capability of scanning user tagged records when operating within the Database Display Screen. To activate this feature first move the red cursor onto the record -44- desired and press ^T (Ctrl T). This "Tags" the record by highlighting the record number in purple. Do the same with other records you desire to scan. Now press ^S (Ctrl S). This activates DX-COMM PLUS's scan feature by loading in the first record tagged to the Drake R8, then pausing on that frequency for the number of seconds specified from the program configuration file, and then upon completion of that scan period, loading the next sequential tagged file into the Drake. This cycle is repeated until each of the tagged records is entered into the Drake. Upon loading the last of the tagged records into the Drake, the complete cycle is started over again until the user aborts the operation. To end the scan routine simply press any key. Upon exiting the scanning routine, untag the records by pressing ^U (Ctrl U). AUDIO CASSETTE RECORDER CONTROL DX-COMM PLUS allows the user to control the Drake R8 in much the same way a Video Cassette Recorder may be programmed to tape a desired TV show(s). To utilize this feature, the user must have an audio cassette recorder connected to the Drake R8 and a remote control jack connected off of the 5 pin Timer Relay DIN connector on the rear panel of the Drake R8 (See Drake Owner's Manual). This feature is activated by first tagging records, specifying for each record tagged the date the broadcast is to be taped, the UTC time you desire the taping to begin, and the UTC time you desire the taping to end. The easiest way to understand this feature is by example. Let's say you are located on the East Coast of the United States and it is October 24, 1992 - 5pm Eastern Standard Time and you wanted to tape the BBC London on 5.975 mHz between 0000 hour UTC and 0030 hour UTC. Assume that you wanted to follow this taping with Radio Australia on 21.740 mHz between the hours of 0200 UTC and 0300 UTC on the same date. Now before tagging any records, as good practice use the ^U (Ctl-U) key to clear the tagging buffer. Now having done this, press "T" in the Database Display Screen and type "0000" to get database records starting at 0000 hour UTC. Now move the red cursor in the Database Display Screen over the BBC LONDON record for 5.975 mHz. Now press ^V (Ctrl V). The "Enter Command:" line in the middle of the monitor screen will be replaced with "Record No.="; followed by -45- the record number corresponding to BBC LONDON on 5.975 mHz and a few spaces later "Date (mmdd) =" and the date "1025". The computer monitor's cursor will be directly under the "1" of "1025". The "1025" (October 25th) is displayed even though your EST Date is October 24th since 0000 hour UTC is the start of a new day. Since this is the desired date simply press <Enter>. (If, however, it was some other date desired, one simply types the appropriate month and day. Be careful to make sure that if, for example, the month is January, that you type "01" and not "1", and if it is the 5th day of the month, that you type "05" and not simply 5). On the same line on the computer monitor screen will now be displayed "Start UTC = xxxx". The Start UTC time for the record tagged will be displayed. You can accept this start time by either simply pressing <ENTER> or you may enter some other time by typing it into this field. In this case the time "0000" is what we want and we press <ENTER>. Upon pressing <ENTER> (or if we had typed in the Start UTC's last digit), on the same line will now appear the statement "End UTC=xxxx". The End UTC time displayed will be the same End UTC Time as displayed for the record in the Database Display Screen. If this is the time desired simply press <ENTER>, otherwise type in the End UTC time desired. In our example it is "0030". The line will now be replaced with "Enter Command" and the record within the Database Display Screen will be highlighted in purple. Now press "T" and enter "0200" to get to the database records corresponding to 0200 hour. When the records displayed are for 0200 scroll the display down to get to the record corresponding to Radio Australia on 21.740 mHz. Move the red cursor over this record. Press ^V (Ctrl V). The record will be displayed where the statement "Enter Command" appeared previously. In addition, the date 1025 will appear. Simply press <Enter> to accept this as the correct date. Now the Start UTC time will appear. Unlike the first record entered where no time was initially displayed, a start time of "0030" hour is displayed. DX-COMM PLUS anticipates that the start time for the next sequential record to be taped is the end time for the last record. In our example, however, we want the start time to be "0200" hour. Therefore, simply enter "0200". When the last digit is entered you are queried to now enter the End time. Enter "0300" hour. You may program a maximum of 8 records in this manner. Upon completion of the programming as described above, you may review these entries and make changes to the stored start stop times by pressing ^R (Ctl-R). Upon doing so the Database Display Screen window will be replaced by each of the individual records tagged, the start/stop times, and an identifier called the Sequence Number in which the records will be uploaded to the Drake. If you desire to edit let's say what you've programmed for the first upload record, type then number "1" and <ENTER>. The information will be redisplayed on the Enter Command line allowing you to edit -46- where appropriate. When you are satisfied that the ACR programming is proper simply press <ENTER> and DX-COMM PLUS will return to the Database Display Screen to await your next command. If, however, you wanted to untag one of the records to be uploaded, simply move the red highlight bar onto the record in the Database Display Screen and press ^V (Ctrl - V). You will note that the Index# for the record in question is no longer highlighted in purple. However, for our particular example assume that we wanted to proceed with using the records as selected. You are now ready to activate the ACR function. To do this make sure your Audio Cassette Recorder or Tape Recorder is in the record mode. Press ^P (Ctrl P). This activates the ACR function and acknowledges this to the user by replacing the "Enter Command" line with "ACR INITIATED". Turn your radio off manually using the POWER button located on the Drake R8's main panel. At 0000 hour UTC the Drake will power up, then the database record will be uploaded into the Drake, and finally the timer relay will be activated -- thus starting the tape recording of the broadcast. At 0030 hour the timer relay will be shut off (stopping the tape recording), followed by powering down the Drake. At 0200 hour the Drake will be powered up again, the Radio Australia record will be uploaded into the Drake, and the Timer Relay activated (reactivating the tape recorder). At 0300 hour the timer relay will be de-energized (shutting off the tape recorder) and the Drake will be powered down. If after activating the ACR function you wish to abort, simply press any key. If you desire to untag all the ACR records, simply press ^U (Ctl U) to do so. ALERT FEATURE Similar to the ACR programming feature, the DX-COMM PLUS user may also tag a record to be uploaded at a prescribed time. However, unlike the ACR feature, the user can continue to use DX-COMM PLUS after activating this feature. This feature is useful instead of trying to remember to pick up the 18 minutes after the hour broadcast of WWV for Solar Flux information, to automatically do so. Or to automatically switch to your favorite SW program at a prescribed time. To activate the feature, move the red highlight bar in the Database Display Screen over the record desired. Now press ^A (Ctl A). Similar to the ACR feature, the record along with the date, Start UTC and End UTC times will now be shown in place of the Enter Command line. While you may edit any field it is only the START UTC time that is relevant to this feature. Also, unlike, the ACR feature only one record may be tagged for "ALERT" status. -47- Upon completing the above, the record will be displayed at the bottom of the Database Display Screen in purple. When the prescribed Start UTC time is passed 5 warning beeps will be heard. If you do nothing, at the end of the 5th beep, the Radio will automatically swap to the other VFO, and the tagged record will be uploaded to the Drake. This feature will activate when operating within the following screens: The Database Display Screen, The Database Menu Screen, and the Command Screen. If you are operating in another screen and the Start UTC time is exceeded, upon returning back into one of the above three screens the Alert feature will automatically activate. You may abort the upload of this information if at any time before or within the 5 warning beeps by pressing ^C (Ctl - C). This will then clear the tagged purple record at the bottom of the Database Display screen. PRINTING RECORDS You can print your entire "shortwave", "utility", and "special" database records to any printer which accepts EPSON type commands or to a disk for later editing. Records are printed out in the order they were last sorted. Therefore, if the user desires a different sequence then the one that is displayed in the Database Display Screen you must re-sort the database accordingly. Upon doing this, in the "Database Menu" screen press "P", and the following prompt will appear "Enter (SB), (SA), (SI), (SP), (UB), (UA), or (UI) or (P)rinter Setup:". If you decide you do not want to print data you may simply press <ENTER> returning you back to the command line which displays the words "Enter Command:". If you do want to either print out data or to save it to a disk, first check to determine whether the printer setup string is as desired. To do this press "P". The string provided with DX-COMM PLUS is "27/64/27/15/27/71". This is equivalent to "Esc @; Esc SI; and Esc "G" which commands an EPSON compatible printer to perform a master reset, selects condensed style printing, and turns the double strike mode on. Use a "," to separate these commands. If the setup string is proper simply press <ENTER>. If not, retype in the correct values for your printer. You can enter a maximum of six control codes. Next the command line on the screen will display "Number of Lines". These are the number of lines per page in your printer. For example and 8.5x11 inch piece of paper normally can contain 66 lines of information if printed in the "portrait" mode. The value initially provided with DX-COMM plus is 66, if this is correct simply press <ENTER>. If it isn't, simply type in the correct value. -48- Upon verifying the printer setup string is properly set, enter the letters corresponding to the data you want printed (ie. UA stands for all Utility Active loggings, SB stands for both Shortwave active and inactive records, SP for "special" loggings, etc.). The program will now say "Print Records to (P)rinter or (F)ile". If you desire to print the records to the printer, make sure you align the paper to the top of the page, and then press "P". If at any time you want to terminate the printing of the database, simply press the "Esc" key. If on the other hand you wish to have the records printed to a disk, press "F". Upon pressing "F" the program will query you to type the path and file name. Note the program will automatically attach the extension ".TXT" to your file. Upon either typing eight characters for the filename or <ENTER> the program displays the drive, path, and filename of where the records are being printed. DOS SHELL The Database Display screen provides the user the ability to temporarily suspend operations and to invoke the DOS SHELL feature. This is accomplished by pressing the F10 key (Function F10). Upon doing so, the screen will clear and the DOS prompt will appear. To return to the DX-COMM PLUS type "EXIT" at the DOS prompt. Be careful, however, to ensure that before returning to DX-COMM PLUS that you are within the same directory/sub-directory as the DX-COMM PLUS data files. If this is not done, DX-COMM PLUS will not display any database records upon returning to the program. EXITING DX-COMM PLUS There are 3 ways to exit the program. The first is to type ^Q (Ctrl Q) when within the Database Display Screen -- this feature is termed a fast exit. The second method is to do the following: If in the Database Display screen press "Q". This in turn takes you to the "Database Menu" screen. Press "Q" again. This takes you to the Command Screen. Press "Q" again and enter. This returns you to the DOS prompt. The final way is simply to press "C" in the "Database Display". This in turn takes you to the "Command Screen". Then press "Q" and <ENTER> which exits the program. IT IS IMPORTANT TO PROPERLY EXIT THE PROGRAM IN ONE OF THE MANNERS DESCRIBED TO ASSURE THAT ALL DATABASE FILES ARE PROPERLY CLOSED. FAILURE TO DO SO (i.e. Simply turning the computer off while within one of the program's screens) MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT DATA FILES. -49- TRS DATABASE As has already been mentioned, the TRS Database referred to in this manual is the internationally acclaimed English language shortwave broadcast schedule database authored by Tom Sundstrom. It is for sale on a subscription basis by TRS Consultants through the PICs ONLINE RBBS at 609-753-2540(data); or by writing to TRS Consultants at PO Box 2275, Vincentown, New Jersey, 08088-2275; or by phoning 609-0859-2447 (voice); or by Fax 609-859-3226. IMPORTING THE TRS SWBC DATABASE INTO DX-COMM PLUS To import the TRS SWBC Database into DX-COMM PLUS take the file SWSKED.DBF and place it in the same directory and sub-directory on your hard drive as the other DX-COMM PLUS files. Having done this start DX-COMM PLUS by typing "DX" at the DOS prompt. Within the Database Display screen press ^Z (Ctrl Z). This swaps the database supplied with DX-COMM PLUS with a file of zero records. The original DX-COMM PLUS files SWDB.DAT are renamed TRS.DAT, INDX.DAT is renamed TRSINDX.DAT, and FLAG.DAT is renamed TRSFLAGS.DAT. The file COM.DAT is also swapped with the file TRSCOM.DAT Upon completion of this first step, the Database Display Screen will show zero records as depicted by an "End Of File" statement in the first line of the display window. Having done this, now press "Q" to call up the Database Menu Screen. From within the Database Menu Screen press the "I" key. A statement will appear in the command line saying "Import the TRS Database (Y/n)?". By responding with a "Y" the program first determines if the COM.DAT file is indeed the configuration file for the to be created TRS Database. If instead it is the COM.DAT file for DX-COMM PLUS's database (indicating perhaps that the earlier step of swapping databases wasn't performed) the computer will beep, a statement will inform you that this is not the TRS database, and will then return you to the Enter Command line of the Database Menu Screen. If, however, this test is successfully passed, DX-COMM PLUS automatically erases the existing database file (if there is one) and starts to create the SWDB.DAT file from the file SWSKED.DBF. As each record in this new file is created a record count will be displayed on the middle right of your computer monitor. Completion of the conversion operation is signified when the "Enter Command:" statement returns to the middle of the computer monitor's screen. -50- The next step is to create the files INDX.DAT and FLAG.DAT which are used for indexing the database. To create these files press the "S" key to sort the database. Upon completion of the sorting of the database return to the Database Display Screen by pressing the "L" key. The TRS.DAT data file should display in a manner similar to that of the one supplied with DX-COMM PLUS with the exception that the right hand portion of the display contains the "NOTES" field, whereas in DX-COMM PLUS the season of the broadcast and MUF and LUF are displayed. DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.53000 N FAST PREAMP OFF 1 AM 6.0 B OFF NO 02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter Command: (C)ommands S(W)itch (A)dd ^Y=Lock ^Z= SWDB Chg ^S= Scan ^P= Program and (T)ime (E)dit (F)lux# (M)emory ^U= Untag ^Q= Fast Quit INDEX# TIME TYPE STATION FREQUENCY NOTES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 292 0200-0300 s-a Channel Africa ,South Afr 11.74500 293 0200-0230 s-a FEBC ,Philippin 15.45000 294 0200-0300 s-a HCJB ,Ecuador 9.74500 #1&2 USB | #3 SA 295 0200-0300 s-a HCJB ,Ecuador 15.11500 #1&2 USB | #3 SA 296 0200-0300 s-a HCJB ,Ecuador 15.15500 #1&2 USB | #3 SA 297 0200-0300 s-a HCJB ,Ecuador 17.49000 #1&2 USB | #3 SA 298 0200-0300 s-a HCJB ,Ecuador 21.45500 #1&2 USB | #3 SA 299 0200-0300 s-a Italian Radio ,Italy 7.12500 test ^R=Review Glo(B)al F3 = TSF SWDB F10= DOS (X)tra ^V=ACR (G)raph F9 = Freq. Offset ^[= Move SWDB F8=VFO B ^T=Tag (Q)uit If for any reason the database is not displayed, press "S" followed by "A" to make sure DX-COMM PLUS is displaying the "Shortwave Active" broadcasts. Please note that when the file TRS.DAT is created it is assumed in the conversion process that all the files in the database are "active". To list the "TARGET" region for each broadcast record simply press "W". You redisplay "NOTES" by simply pressing "W" again. To swap back to DX-COMM PLUS's database at any time, press ^Z (Ctrl Z). This simply swaps the files TRS.DAT with SWDB.DAT, TRSINDX.DAT with INDX.DAT, TRSFLAG.DAT with FLAG.DAT, and TRSCOM.DAT with COM.DAT. DX-COMM PLUS's database should now be displayed. -51- EDITING OR ADDING TO THE TRS SWBC DATABASE If you desire to add your own records to the TRS Database or simply to edit the existing records the ADD and EDIT features in both the Database Display Screen and the Database Menu Screen are essentially the same as they were for the database provided with DX-COMM PLUS, with minor exception. The exception being that the TRS Database does not use longitude or latitude fields to calculate MUF and LUF. Instead these fields are replaced by a 20 character field for denoting the Target region of the broadcast in question. In addition, the field for the days of the week for the broadcast has been replaced by a field of identical length except now denoting the last date the particular broadcast record was updated. A sample of the Edit Screen is shown below: DX-COMM PLUS: COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 2:52:01 TERMINAL CONTROL PROGRAM AND SHORTWAVE BROADCAST DATABASE FREQUENCY NB AGC RF NOTCH ANT MODE BAND VFO SYNCHRO SCAN CHANNEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.53000 N FAST PREAMP OFF 1 AM 6.0 B OFF NO 02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit (Y/n) or Delete (D)? INDEX#= 298 REC#= 298 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequency = 21.45500*mHz R. Station = HCJB, Ecuador Start UTC = 0200 End UTC = 0300 Date Last Updated (yrmmdd)=921128 Target Info=NAm/SAm Drake Download String = 00 682<8 21.45500*mHz (W)inter, (S)ummer, (A)ll = A (S)hortwave/(U)tility/(S)pecial = s (A)ctive/(I)nactive/S(p)ecial = a Remarks = #1&2 USB | #3 SA F1 = Drake Freq. Enter = Skip Field Tab = Highlight Field COPYING RECORDS BETWEEN DATABASES DX-COMM PLUS provides the ability to copy records from one database to the other. For example, let's say you wanted to update DX-COMM PLUS's database with records provided with the TRS Database. To do this, simply switch to the TRS database as previously described. Now within the Database Display Screen move the cursor over the record you desire to copy. Press ^T (Ctrl T) to tag the record. The record number should appear with a purple background. Now the repeat the same for any other additional records you desire to copy. -52- Upon completing the tagging operation, press ^[ (Ctrl [) to copy the records to DX-COMM PLUS's database. Having done this, the tagged records within the Database Display Screen will now appear normal (no longer shown with a purple background). Now switch back to DX-COMM PLUS's database by pressing ^Z (Ctrl Z). You should be able to see the copied records as "Shortwave Active" records for their corresponding Start UTC hour(s). You now have the option to modify these records to include latitude and longitude information, and other fields in a consistent manner to other records for the same broadcaster. Note you should at a minimum make sure the broadcaster's name is identically specified as other records in the database to ensure proper sorting and grouping of the records. -53- APPENDICES APPENDIX A: USING DX-COMM VER.'s 1.01, 2.1, 2.32, 3.01, 3.2, & 3.3 SWDB.DAT If you previously downloaded ver1.01, ver2.1, or 2.32, 3.01, 3.2 or 3.3 of the shareware version of DX-COMM (Note DX-COMM was previously named QUICKCOMM), and have since added to that version's database, you have two options. The first option is that you can use that "old" database instead of the one provided with DX-COMM PLUS by doing the following: 1) Replace the SWDB.DAT file that came with DX-COMM PLUS with your existing SWDB.DAT file. 2) Erase the file INDX.DAT and FLAG.DAT from the drive and directory you have placed DX-COMM PLUS's DX.EXE and the other files. 3) Start the program by typing DX.EXE at the DOS prompt. The pro- gram will immediately display the Database Screen except no frequency listings will be displayed on the bottom half of the screen. Now press the "Q" key. This will take you to the Data- base Menu. Press the "S" key to initialize and sort the data- base. This creates the files on your directory or disk called INDX.DAT and FLAG.DAT. Now return to the Database Display Screen by pressing the "L" key. The lower half of the screen should display shortwave frequencies for the appropriate hour of day. The second option is to temporarily rename your "old" data files SWDB.DAT, INDX.DAT and FLAG.DAT to TRSSWDB.DAT, TRSINDX.DAT, and TRSFLAG.DAT and to then compare the "old" datalisting to the new database provided with DX-COMM PLUS. To do this perform the following operation: 1) Place these datafiles on the same directory/ subdirectory as DX-COMM PLUS's files. Then start the program by typing DX.EXE at the DOS prompt. 2) The program will display english language broadcasts for the particular UTC hour in question. Scan down the list. Now press ^Z (Ctrl - Z). This will switch the "TRS" prefixed data files with the main data files and display your "old" records. The exception being that rather than displaying MUF-LUF and days of the week for the broadcasts in question, only "Remarks" now is displayed. If you find there are records from your old database that you want to copy to DX-COMM PLUS's database, tag -54- the records in question by moving the cursor over the record and pressing ^T (Ctrl - T). After tagging the records you want to copy, then press ^[ (Ctrl - [). This copies all the tagged records to the new database. To untag the records press ^U (Ctrl - U). 3) Now press ^Z to go back to DX-COMM PLUS's database to see that the records have been properly copied. Since these records have been added to DX-COMM PLUS's database, the database must now be resorted to place the records in their proper order. -55- APPENDIX B: PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS For those individuals knowledgeable in programming and who desire to merge other available databases into DX-COMM PLUS the following information is provided: SWDB.DAT is a random file of the following fields and length: Frequency as a string 8 characters R. Station as a string 25 characters Start UTC as a string 4 characters End UTC as a string 4 characters Days station broadcasts as string 7 characters Longitude as string 10 characters Latitude as string 10 characters Drake datastring as string 25 characters W/S broadcast designation as string 3 characters Remarks as string 25 characters Longitude data is stored in its field as "xxx__xx'_x" where the first "xxx" contain degrees, "__" represents the ascii character for degree and a blank, the second "xx" represents minutes, followed by '_ which represents the symbol for minutes and a blank, and the last "x" represents E for East or W for West. Latitude data is stored in its field as "_xx__xx'_x" where the first character in the 10 character field is blank, the "xx" represents degrees, "__" represents the ascii character for degree and a blank, the second "xx" represents minutes, followed by '_ which represents the symbol for minutes and a blank, and the last "x" represents N for North or S for South. The Drake datastring appears as such in the 25 character field (where "_" represents a blank): "_xx_xxxxxABxx.xxxxx_MHz__". The "AB" located in the middle of the string indicates where the identifiers for shortwave/utility/special broadcast is stored (i.e. sa, si, ua, ui, or sp). FLAG.DAT's purpose is to establish record flags for where a given hour's records begin and end in the SWDB.DAT database. This particular feature was provided for PC's that run at slower clock speeds in order to speed the display of information to the screen as quickly as possible. A total of 26 flags are stored starting with the first flag being the first record number in SWDB.DAT, the second flag being the first record for 0100 hour, the third being the first record for 0200 hour and so on, all the way to the 25th flag being the record corresponding to either the last record of the database or if "special" records exist, then the first record -56- of the "special" section of the database. The 26th flag is the last record of the SWDB.DAT database. INDX.DAT is a random file which acts as an index to sort the SWDB.DAT database. The file has the following format: RECORDNUMBER as integer To accomplish sorting a RAM file is added to INDX.DAT with the following format: START TIME as string *8 R. STATION as string * 25 FREQUENCY as string * 8 RECORDNUMBER denotes the corresponding record number in the file SWDB.DAT. START TIME is the field in SWDB.DAT corresponding to RECORDNUMBER. R. STATION is the field in SWDB.DAT corresponding to RECORDNUMBER. FREQUENCY is the field in SWDB.DAT corresponding to RECORDNUMBER. -57- APPENDIX C: PROGRAM ENHANCEMENTS DX-COMM PLUS ENHANCEMENTS: DX-COMM PLUS incorporates the following enhancements over the shareware versions of the program: o Ability to import and use the English Language shortwave broadcast database authored by Tom Sundstrom. o Improved hardware handshaking between the Drake's RS232 port and the com port used by DX-COMM PLUS; o Scanning and Audio Cassette Recorder programming capability. o An improved sort algorithm making sorts 50-90% faster. o Global Editing capability to take information from one record and import it into tagged records or newly created records or into the Mufgraph program for MUF-LUF plotting. o Timed programming control of an audio cassette recorder to record up to 8 different broadcasts. o An Alert feature to automatically "remember" to switch to a desired broadcast at a preset time. o The capability to modify the entire database to either Antenna 1 or Antenna 2 operation. o The ability to change the "default" database (the Drake control parameters) string used when adding records to the database. o A Quick Exit capability. o Additional Database configuration capability to allow the user up to five ways to sort and display the database records. o A user friendly memory channel storage capability. o Provides for VHF Converter operation and uploading and downloading from the Drake for designated VHF frequencies. VERSION 3.3, 3.2 and 3.01 ENHANCEMENTs DX-COMM ver3.3 was converted from QuickBasic to Microsoft's Basic Professional Development System 7.1. In addition to program speed improvements, it now provides longpath calculation for MUF and LUF and a RTTY and CW frequency offset feature to rectify a display peculiarity of the Drake R8. -58- DX-COMM ver3.2 includes a TNC WINDOW to allow direct access and simultaneous access and decoding from a Terminal Node Controller such as the MFJ-1278 and PK-232. DX-COMM ver3.2 also provides a movable cursor bar in the Database Display screen allowing the user to mover the cursor over the record desired and press "Enter" to load that record into the Drake. Ver3.2 of The program also includes MUFGRAPH to graphically display MUF-LUF information for selected transmitter-receiver locations. DX-COMM in prior versions was called QUICKCOMM. This has been changed to avoid potential conflicts with commercial software of a similar name. VERSION 2.32 and 2.1 ENHANCEMENTS Ver2.32 corrected a problem with the terminal emulation routine found by some users in prior versions of the program. It also contains several major enhancement to that of ver2.1. - The program now provides a file (FLAG.DAT) to flag where groups of records for a given hour UTC reside with SWDB.DAT. The program will now rapidly list station, frequency, and other associated record information within the "Database Display" screen. - The program now calculates Maximum Useable Frequency for each record in the display when appropriate Solar Flux and transmitter/receiver longitude and latitude information is provided by the user. - The capability of displaying multiple hour look-ahead of database records is now provided within "Database Display" screen. Ver2.1 contains a number of enhancements over that of the prior release ver1.01. These include: - PGUP/PGDN and HOME and END key functions to quickly move thru the database display listings; - An INDX.DAT file to immediately load the sorted database into the program upon program start-up; - The program now sorts only when requested by the user to do so - prior version sorted automatically after adding new data records; -59- - Program returns to the same location within the database display listing after performing EDIT and ADD record functions as the user was reviewing prior to performing these functions; - The program now contains the "special" logging function for logging stations that either broadcast 24 hours per day (i.e. WWV) or are HAM related frequencies. - Program now includes the capability to delete records from the database. - Ver2.1 corrects some of the minor bugs in ver1.01 which included problems in the uploading of the Syncro Function to the receiver, ESC function in the New Record display. - Ver2.1's manual documents the "(SC)an" function in the Command Screen as well as the capability of entering a string of "U's" and "D's" to increment frequency up or down within the Command Screen. - Ver2.1 corrects a significant programming oversight which precluded dimensioned arrays of greater than 64k. This would have limited the size of the user's database to approximately 700 to 800 records. Ver2.1 should allow the user to create a database of several thousand records. - Ver2.1 includes about 300 additional frequency records in the database compared to ver1.01. -60- APPENDIX D: MODIFYING THE DATABASE TO USE ONLY ONE ANTENNA The database provided with DX-COMM PLUS was developed using three antennas: Antenna 1 being a random wire antenna; Antenna 2 being a sloper; and the third being a vertical VHF antenna. The user can easily now modify the database provided to accommodate only one antenna. If the user desires to exclusively use the "Antenna 1" connection on the Drake R8 then start up DX-COMM PLUS by typing "DX" at the Dos prompt. From within the Database Display Screen press "Q" to go to the Database Menu Screen. Now press "*" as the key (Shift and the number "8" key on most computer keyboards). This will bring up the message "Modify Database to Antenna 1 (Y/n)?". Any entry other than a "Y" will return the user back to the "Enter Command:" line on the computer monitor. Press "Y". DX-COMM PLUS will now proceed to look at each record in the DX-COMM PLUS's database to determine if the record is set up for Antenna 2. If it finds an "Antenna 2" designation it will automatically change this to "Antenna 1". It will leave untouched any reference to the "Converter" antenna. Upon successful completion of the conversion of the database, the "Enter Command" line will reappear in the Database Menu Screen. You are now ready to return to the Database Display Screen knowing that all records have been reconfigured for use with just Antenna 1. Similarly, if you are intending to use only "Antenna 2" on the Drake R8, the database may be reconfigured for this in the same manner as described for "Antenna 1" except now press "&" (shift and the number "7" key on most computer keyboards) from within the Database Menu Screen. -61- APPENDIX E: TROUBLESHOOTING SYMPTOM POSSIBLE CAUSE FIX _____________________________________________________________________________ Database Screen display When swapping between Press "s" followed no records databases or sorts DX- by "a" Comm becomes confused as to whether database files are sa", "sp" or "ua", "ub". ____________________________________________________________________________ DX-COMM Drake Parameter Wrong serial port Reconfigure prog. Display not properly identified in config- by typing "s" and displaying uration. "e" and then change serial port number. Serial cable not Check cables properly connected _____________________________________________________________________________ Database records for Radio Station field of Edit one of the same broadcaster are individual records not records and cap- out of order after a exactly the same due to ture R.Station sort perhaps an extra space field and then following the end of perform global the field in one edit/import the record ompared to field into all another. similar records _____________________________________________________________________________ After returning to DX-COMM for a number of Simply press "]" the Database Display operations tries to or "[" until the Screen the red cursor retain the last pos- cursor appears. is not seen. ition of the cursor rel- ative to the total re- cords for that hour. If for some reason the total records for that hour are less the cursor may be- come invisible. _____________________________________________________________________________ When displaying RTTY This may happen on No solution at and CW frequencies the very infrequent occa- this time. display is off by sions. It is due to a .00001 mhz. precision rounding calc- calculation error in cor- recting for center freq. offset. _____________________________________________________________________________ When operating from Wrong serial port sel- Reconfigure prog. within the TNC window ected setup with right DX-COMM has difficulty serial port. communicating with the TNC. Wrong baud rate, par- For example, ity. Reconfigure port's remove ",RS" selected control codes control code in setup file -62- SYMPTOM POSSIBLE CAUSE FIX _____________________________________________________________________________ Can't communicate with Baud rate, TNC serial Change port TNC port, or control codes designation, baud not correct rate or remove ",RS" control code in config- uration file. -63- APPENDIX F: DX-COMM COMMAND SUMMARY F-1: DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES A ............... used to call up the Fileinput Screen to add new records to the database B ............... used to globally import specified fields into tagged records C ............... access the Command Screen D ............... used to delete tagged records E ............... used to in conjunction with record number to call up the Edit Screen to edit or highlight fields in a record F ............... used to enter solar flux values G ............... used to access the 24 hour HF propagation prediction program within DX-COMM PLUS Home or "H" ............. moves to first record in database display for the mode selected End or "Z" .............. moves to last record in database display for mode selected PgUP or "J" ............. moves database display up 8 records PgDwn or "K" ............ moves database display down 8 records .............. decrements frequency display by F2 amount .............. increments frequency display by F2 amount or "P" .............. moves database display list up one record or "O" .............. moves database display list dwn one record L ............... used in conjunction with index number to upload a record to the Drake <ENTER> .............. used to upload record highlighted by red cursor to the Drake M ............... used to sequentially upload the record highlighted by the cursor into the Drake's memory channel N ............... used to access the TNC Window Screen Q ............... Access the Database Menu Screen R ............... used to download from the Drake the frequency presently being displayed, and all associated parameters T ............... used to select a particular UTC time or to have the display look ahead up to 3 hours W ............... used to switch between display of "REMARKS" and "S DAYS MUF-LUF" X ............... used to display additional commands ] ............... used to move the red cursor up [ ............... used to move the red cursor down @ or ! ............... In FST, SFT, STF modes increments records up or down 100 records at time SA ............... used to display Shortwave Active frequencies SI ............... used to display Shortwave Inactive freq. -64- COMMAND WHAT IT DOES SB ............... used to display both Shortwave Active and Inactive frequencies UA ............... used to display Utility Active frequencies UI ............... used to display Utility Inactive frequencies UB ............... used to display both Utility Active and Inactive frequencies SP ............... used to display "SPECIAL" frequencies SE ............... access the SETUP configuration routine F2 ............... used to set the increment in khz to increment/decrement the Drake freq. when pressing the left or right arrow key F3 ............... Toggle the database for subsequent resort- ing in order of TSF, TFS, FST, SFT, STF F8 ............... Toggles VFO A or B F9 ............... Activates the Center Frequency offset feature for RTTY and CW signals F10 ............... Temporary exit to DOS ^A ............... Tags Record for Alert Status and activates Alert status ^C ............... Clears/Aborts Alert Status ^P ............... Initiates the ACR feature ^Q ............... Quick Exit ^R ............... used to preview tagged ACR records ^S ............... used to scan tagged records and pause for specified number of seconds in COM.DAT on each record ^T ............... used to tag records ^U ............... used to untag all records ^V ............... used to tag records for Audio Cassette Recording (ACR) purposes ^Y ............... used to toggle the serial comport in the locked open mode, and to reclose the port ^Z ............... Swap Databases ^[ ............... Copy tagged records from one database to other database F-2: DATABASE MENU SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES A ............... Add records to database F ............... Find record in database using field identifiers and search strings I ............... Import TRS database into DX-COMM PLUS P ............... Print database records Q ............... Proceed to Command Screen S ............... Sort and index database * ............... Convert database records to Antenna 1 operation only & ............... Convert database records to Antenna 2 operation only -65- F-3: COMMAND SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES AF ............... Set gain control to Fast AS ............... Set gain control to slow AO ............... Set gain control to off A1 ............... Select Antenna 1 A2 ............... Select Antenna 2 AC ............... Select VHF Antenna BW ............... Select Wide Noise Blanker BN ............... Select Narrow Noise Blanker BF ............... Turn Noise Blanker off ST ............... Step change the frequency display Fxxxxxxxx ............... Set Drake frequency to xxxxxxxx SO ............... Set Synchronous Detector on SF ............... Set Synchronous Detector off G+ ............... Set RF preamp on GO ............... Turn RF preamp off G- ............... Turn RF attenuator on NO ............... Turn Notch Filter on NF ............... Turn Notch Filter off AM ............... Select AM mode FM ............... Select FM mode RTTY ............... Select RTTY mode CW ............... Select CW mode LSB ............... Select LSB mode USB ............... Select USB mode VA ............... Select VFO A VB ............... Select VFO B 0.5 ............... Select 0.5 Bandwidth Filter 1.8 ............... Select 1.8 Bandwidth Filter 2.3 ............... Select 2.3 Bandwidth Filter 4.0 ............... Select 4.0 Bandwidth Filter 6.0 ............... Select 6.0 Bandwidth Filter C ............... Select Memory mode Cx (x=0 to 99) .......... Select Memory Channel x PR ............... Program Memory Channel by placing current freq displayed in Mem. channel PO ............... Power On PF ............... Power Off TO ............... Timer Relay on TF ............... Timer Relay off U ............... Increment up frequency .01, .1 or 1 khz according to Step; increment up one channel if in memory mode D ............... Decrement down frequency .01, .1 or 1 khz according to Step; decrement down one channel if in memory mode -66- COMMAND WHAT IT DOES S (x=1-3,4-5) ........ Scan Selection: 1-3 MODES: 1- scans all memory channels 2- scans all unlocked memory channels within user sel. list of blocks 3- scans from VFO A to VFO B 4-6 MODES: 4- stops scan at first carrier detected 5- stops at detected carrier for 5 seconds then resumes 6- Stops at detected carrier until carrier drops for 5 sec., then resumes SC ............... Scan start/stop (toggles) ADDITIONAL DRAKE COMMANDS (Refer To Drake R8 Manual) RF ............... Report Frequency RFR ............... Report frequency, repeat every 5 seconds RM ............... Report Mode RMR ............... Report Mode, repeat every 5 seconds RC ............... Report Channel RCR ............... Report Channel, repeat every 5 seconds RA ............... Report All - reports 25 character Drake datastring containing channel, frequency, and all parameters RAR ............... Repeat Report All every 5 seconds RS ............... Report Stop ADDITIONAL DX-COMM PLUS PROGRAM COMMANDS ............... decrements frequency display by Database Display F2 amount ............... increments frequency display by Database Display F2 amount F8 ............... Toggles VFO A or B ^Y ............... used to toggle the serial comport in the locked open mode, and to reclose the port Q ............... used to quit DX-COMM PLUS and return to DOS S ............... used to access the DATABASE MENU screen L ............... used to access the DATABASE DISPLAY screen -67- F-4: TNC WINDOW COMMAND WHAT IT DOES F4 ............... Temporarily sends ^S to TNC and places cursor at Command Line to communicate with Drake. COMMANDS ACCESSIBLE AFTER USING F4 Note: All the commands identified in Appendix F-3 are accessible as well as the following: L##### ............... Load recordnumber - by pressing L and the recordnumber one uploads database record to Drake STEP### ............... Sets the amount of increment/decrement in frequency when subsequently J or K are pressed ^Y ............... toggles the serial comport in the lock- ed open mode, & to reclose the port J ............... Increments frequency up by ### as set by STEP entry K ............... Decrements frequency down by ### as set by STEP entry F6 ............... Increments frequency up 10 times what "U" command sets for frequency on R8 F7 ............... Decrements frequency down 10 times what "D" command sets for frequency on R8 R ............... Returns cursor back to TNC WINDOW and sends ^Q to TNC COMMANDS AVAILABLE WITHIN TNC WINDOW Note: All the command sets associated with the TNC will be accepted and the following special commands: F5 ............... Starts Buffer display - sends ^S to TNC temporily halting data transmission Space Bar ............. steps one line thru buffer display Esc ............... Allows user to leave buffer display back to Communication with TNC - issues ^Q to TNC ^A ............... Clears Buffer memory ^D ............... Opens a file whose name is designated by user to send all TNC Window screen information to. ^E ............... Closes the file opened by ^D TAB ............... Turns printer on to printout the same information that is being displayed on the screen BKSP ............... Pressing the Backspace key turns the printer off ^\ ............... Quit TNC WINDOW and return to DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN F8 ............... Select VFO A or VFO B -68- F-5: EDIT RECORD SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES F1 .............. When in first character position of Frequency field, retrieve Drake frequency and other paramters off radio. Requires pressing F1 followed by <ENTER> <ENTER> ............... Press enter key to step through record fields TAB ............... Press Tab key when if first character position of a field to highlight that field for input into another record. Used in conjunction with DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN Global Edit feature, and Add record (I)mport feature Q ............... Command Available when Find/Edit/ Delete feature from DATABASE MENU SCREEN accessed. When at top of screen in command line, the search for records matching a search string can be aborted. F-6: ADD RECORD SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES F1 ................ When in first character position of Frequency field, retrieve Drake frequency and other paramters off radio. Requires pressing F1 followed by <ENTER> <ENTER> ................ Press enter key to step through record fields I ................ Pressed at start of Add record feature when at command line. Imports previously highlighted fields from edited record. ESC ................ Escape key - by pressing escape key from any field's first character position the ADD RECORD SCREEN is closed and the particular data record entry aborted. -69- F-7: PROPAGATION MENU SCREEN COMMAND WHAT IT DOES F4 ................ Temporarily sends ^S to TNC and places ] ................ moves red cursor bar up [ ................ moves red cursor bar down F ................ used to set alternative solar flux levels to that set in DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN D ................ used to set alternative dates to base propagation calculations upon R ................ Allows user to temporarily modify the receiver latitude and longitude without affecting the DX-COMM PLUS's program configuration file T ................ Allows user to specify a transmitter latitude and longitude to determine propagation conditions from that transmitter site to the receiver coordinates specified by pressing "R" above. S ................ Allows a 25 character name to be assigned to the transmitter coordinates specified by pressing "T" P ................ Allows the coordinates entered by pressing R, T, and name from pressing S to be reviewed. If OK the user can press "Y" to generate plot. L ................ Used to toggle the program into performing longpath calculations <ENTER> ................ Used to generate plot for region highlighted by red cursor ESC ................ Used to return to the PROPAGATION MENU SCREEN when within the Plot screen Q ................ Used to return to the DATABASE DISPLAY SCREEN -70- APPENDIX G: ALTERNATIVE TERMINAL HAND- SHAKING MODES In the early development of DX-COMM, a number of "handshaking" problems between the PC and the Drake R8 were reported. Much of this was corrected by establishing the appropriate hardware protocol of RTS/CTS handshaking. However, with the wide variety of PC's in use a protocol modification program is provided to allow the user to establish the protocol/mode that works best for his/her particular application. A total of 10 protocols are available along with the ability to modify the control parameters of the comport (RTS detection time, CTS, etc. - refer to your GW-BASIC book that came with your computer for the "OPEN COM" command. To access this program return to the DOS prompt either before starting DX-COMM PLUS or after starting the program using the DOS SHELL Command (Function F10 in the Database Menu Screen). At the DOS prompt type "ALT_TERM.EXE". The program will clear the screen and ask you to type the protocol/mode you desire. The program disk is configured for mode "7". Each mode is described below: PROTOCOL DESCRIPTION MODE PACING WAIT LOOP BREAK DET. CTS ERROR CHK CHAR FLUSH 0 x x 1 x short x 2 x moderate x 3 x long x 4 short x x 5 moderate x x 6 long x x 7 short/sec. x x x 8 moderate/sec. x x x 9 long/sec. x x x The above headings have the following meaning: o PACING means that the characters are sent out to the Drake after be processed through a timing/delay loop. o WAIT LOOP means that a timing loop is employed in the receive buffer of the program which times out if no characters are received after the user prescribed number of seconds or after a loop executes a fixed number of iterations. The description "Short", "Moderate", or "Long" refer to the fixed number of loops before the loop times out. From a users perspective, the delay loop is provided to allow the Drake R8 to place information into DX-COMM -71- Plus's communication buffer before DX-COMM PLUS proceeds onto the next program execution step. Obviously, for a given delay loop, the actual time in seconds that the loop executes is a function of the computer's clock speed and the CPU used. In modes 7-9 the term "sec." refers to the number of seconds configured by the user (in the step identified below) as a limit condition to the delay loop so that regardless on what PC is being used, the loop cannot execute beyond the seconds specified. o BREAK DET. means that the program reads the com port line status register (port 3FD/2FD) to determine if a break signal has been detected. o CTS means that the program reads the com port's modem status register to determine if a CTS signal has been received before allowing a new character to be sent to the Drake. o ERROR CHK means that the program employs a error checking outine that determines for the Report All command whether the correct number of characters have been received and whether they are sequenced in the appropriate manner. If an error is detected, the program attempts to reconstruct the Report All string and if still unsuccessful, writes to the Drake one more time to attempt receive this information correctly. o CHAR FLUSH means that the program strips the Report All string of all Line Feeds. Upon entering the desired Mode (0-9) the ALT_TERM program will proceed to request you enter a "TIME DELAY". This is the number of seconds that is used in the WAIT LOOP described above in MODES 7-9 before a timeout signal occurs. The entry may be 0 to 9 seconds. The default is 1 second. The final step in the ALT_TERM program is to identify the CTRL CONFIG parameters. DX-COMM PLUS has as the default ",DS150". This setting tells DX-COMM PLUS that if it is not able to detect a DATA SET READY signal from the DRAKE in 150 miliseconds that it will reclose the comport. This is useful if for example you did not have the correct comport selected or you are using a switch box to swap your computer com port for other applications and accidently forget to swap it back to the Drake R8. If you didn't set ",DS150" and just left this blank, the computer would wait 10 seconds before issuing a timeout error - thus making DX-COMM PLUS appear very slow in loading the program under such a condition. -72- APPENDIX H: WINDOWS USERS DX-COMM PLUS is a DOS based program. However, it may be run in a WINDOWS environment as a DOS application. There are a number of considerations that the user needs to understand. Unlike some other programs written for the Drake R8, DX-COMM PLUS does not, unless selected to do so, take away manual control of the Drake from the user. For example, at any time, other than a direct upload or download operation, the user could turn the Drake's tuning knob and adjust frequency or use the Drake's panel controls to change a setting if so desired. However, this comes at a slight price. To accomplish this requires opening and closing the COM Port for each separate upload/download operation. However, opening the com port under the WINDOWs enviroment takes considerably longer than it does under DOS. DX-COMM PLUS has been re-designed from its shareware predecessor to minimize the opening/closing of the COM port as infrequently as possible compared to that of the prior shareware versions of program. But regardless, operation of DX- COMM PLUS in the WINDOWs environment is slightly slower than when operating in the DOS environment. The user may compensate for this, however, by toggling the "LOCK" feature with the keys ^Y (Ctrl Y) which locks the serial comport open until selected otherwise. This speeds up the upload/download of information to and from the Drake significantly. Other steps may also be taken to optimize the operation of DX-COMM PLUS in the WINDOWs environment. For example, one could set up the program to have exclusive, or as near exclusive, time slice operation when operating as the foreground application in WINDOWS. Also, my own observation is that the program seems to operate more quickly when running it in the FULL SCREEN mode as opposed to a WINDOWS mode. I suspect the reason for this is that in the WINDOWs mode the screen is constantly being updated as a graphics image, whereas, when displaying the program as FULL SCREEN the display is in the text mode. Also, running DX-COMM PLUS in the FULL SCREEN MODE is a must for those who are going to use the program with a TNC. In the WINDOWs display mode the keyboard will lock up. -73- APPENDIX I: END USER SHAREWARE REGISTRATION & LICENSE AGREEEMENT Notice to End User: Carefully read the following terms and conditions. Use of the software DX-COMM Plus constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions and agreement to abide by them. In return for acquiring a license to use DX-COMM PLUS and documentation contained in this package, and for acquiring the accompanying documentation, you, the user agree as follows: 1) EBS Consultants grants you a nonexclusive, personal license: (a) to use DX-COMM PLUS as ShareWare, (b) Continued use beyond an initial trial period requires you to register with EBS Consultants. You may copy the software for purposes of distributing it as ShareWare or for purposes of installing it on your computer, backup purposes, and archival purposes. As a registered user, you may assign your rights to a third party provided the third party agrees in writing to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. 2) You acknowledge that DX-COMM PLUS is copyrighted by Eric B. Svenson, Jr. and is proprietary to him. Eric B. Svenson, Jr./EBS Consultants retain title and ownership of the DX- COMM PLUS. 3) You may not modify, alter, translate, disassemble or decompile DX-COMM PLUS or documentation or any copy, in whole or in part. 4) To become a registered user of DX-COMM Plus, please send a check or money order for $39.95 to: EBS Consultants PO Box 1361 Summit, New Jersey 07901 Upon becoming a registered user you will receive a copy of the printed manual, and you will be notified of additional upgrades to the program. You will also be entitled to one free upgrade to the program by providing EBS Consultants with any suggestions for improving the program. 5) In no event shall EBS Consultants be liable to you for any consequential, special, incidental, or indirect damages of any kind arising out of the use of the DX-COMM PLUS software. 6) You acknowledge and agree that you have read this agreement, understand it, and that it is the entire agreement between EBS Consultants and you which supersedes any prior agreement, whether written or oral relating to the subject matter of this agreement. This agreement may only be modified by a written document signed by Eric B. Svenson, Jr./EBS Consultants. -74- 7) If you have any questions pertaining to this agreement or if you need to ask any questions pertaining to DX-COMM PLUS please contact: EBS Consultants PO Box 1361 Summit, New Jersey 07901 (908) 522-8941