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Text File | 1990-06-21 | 44KB | 1,149 lines

***************************************************************************** * Help File for WeatherFAX Program * Copyright 1990 Jerry Dahl, 6404 Lakerest Court, Raleigh, N.C., 27612 * * NOTES: * - file must be named 'FAX.HLP' * - WeatherFAX program searches for help file on the default drive and path * * IBM and PS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp ***************************************************************************** %10,4,5,17,60,HELP: Index Press a function key for more information: F1 Help index (This panel) - How to get help F2 Getting started - Installing the card - Setup software F3 General information - Introduction - Command-line parameters F4 Displaying an image F5 Test/calibration of the fax adapter F6 In case of difficulty F7 Facsimile broadcasts F8 RTTY broadcasts ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── How to Get Help Help information is available anytime you see F1=Help displayed on the screen. You can access Help by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard. You can quit viewing Help by pressing the Esc key on your keyboard. Selecting The menus allow you to set parameters and select various actions. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor to the item you want to select, then press the Enter (─┘) key. To set parameters you either type in the value or select the desired choice from a list of choices. %11,4,5,17,65,HELP: Getting Started 1. Install the fax adapter. The card can be installed in any IBM PC, PS/2 Model 25/30 or compatible computer that uses the standard PC bus architecture. Refer to the Guide to Operations for your computer for instructions for installing adapters. You will need to remove the cover from the computer to insert the fax adapter into an unused adapter socket. 2. Setup Program A) Copy the Diskette. Copy the WeatherFAX diskette and save the original diskette in a safe place. You can copy the diskette to either a hard disk or to another diskette. Refer to your DOS manual for instructions for copying diskettes. NOTE FOR USERS USING THE IBM CGA DISPLAY ADAPTER. (Note does not apply if you are using a PS/2 computer or a VGA or EGA Display adapter). The CGA adapter ROM does not include the entire graphics character set. You need to load the DOS graphics character set driver GRAPHICS.COM into memory. The driver is available on your DOS diskette. An entry can be added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to load this driver every time you start your PC. Example: C:\DOS\GRAPHICS.COM B) Test Fax Adapter Test the fax adapter by using the Test option on the Main Menu. The various tests will indicate whether the adapter is operating within its correct operating region. C) Connect the adapter to your Fax Receiver Use a two wire cable to attach the fax adapter to your fax receiver. The cable should have a standard 3.5mm phone plug on the end that plugs into the adapter. Plug the cable into either the receiver earphone jack or fax output jack. D) Specify Hardware Go to the fax menu to specify the Display Mode and Printer type. E) Capture Image to Computer Memory Set fax parameters and select the Acquire fax action. The program will automatically capture the next image into the computer storage. If the first image is slanted then the page alignment needs to be adjusted. Once adjusted the page alignment should never need to be changed again. Alignment is done while an image is being acquired. Refer to the help panel for acquire image to buffer. F) Enhance and Save Image After an image is received you can then use the various enhancement options and then save the image to the printer or disk. %12,4,5,17,60,HELP: General Information Introduction: This scan converter and software can be used with your IBM or compatible personal computer. With the proper receiving equipment and antenna, your computer will be able to capture, enhance, save and print. Not just black and white but gray-scale weather- facsimile images received on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. Users of this Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) imagery include military and commercial meteorologists, ships at sea, scientific observers, educators, and amateurs. See "A Weather-Facsimile Package for the IBM PC-Part I," QST Magazine, April pp 15-24 and Part 2, May 1990. ╔═══════╗ ║Display║ ║ ║ ╚═══════╝ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────┐ │ Weather │ │ Computer│ phono cable │ Facsimile│ │ │-----------------------│ Receiver │ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ The scan converter can be installed in any IBM PC, PS/2 Model 25/30 or compatible computer that uses the standard PC bus architecture. System features o Direct APT weather satellite imagery. Capture GOES APT/WEFAX, NOAA 9/10 APT IR/Vis, Soviet METEOR, METEOSAT, HF-FM NAFAX, and similar APT formats. o Image capture can be fully or partially automatic, including APT start tone detect, header skip, sync, image save to disk, APT stop tone detect, and cycle repeat. o Expanded memory support. The size of the captured image is limited only by the amout of RAM in your computer. o All standard graphics cards supported including CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA and extended 800 x 600 resolution. o Histograms, enhancement, zoom, scroll, gray scale, 256,000+ colors, real-time acquisition/display. 4 user settable imagery enhancement curves. o Print images with 16-level gray scale on a wide variety of printers including 9- and 24-pin dot-matrix printers and laser printers. o Images saved on disk with standard TIFF and GIF formats allows pictures to be used by other software. o Self test mode verifies proper operation of the fax adapter. Command line parameters ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Syntax: FAX [options] │ │ Where options are: │ │ │ │ /E = Use Expanded (EMS) memory if installed. │ │ Requires LIM 4.0 driver. │ │ /C = Use conventional memory. │ │ /A = Go into acquire mode │ │ /Ffile = Go into acquire mode, save next image to │ │ disk with the given file specification, │ │ then exit to DOS. │ │ /Hxx = BIOS display mode for 800x600 resolution │ │ mode. See help screen for graphics mode. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ NOTE: Program will automatically use EMS memory if available EMS memory is greater than conventional memory. Examples: C:>FAX /FC:NEWFILE.TIF Image will be saved to file C:NEWFILE.TIF C:>C:>FAX /H54 Enable 800 x 600 pel resolution mode for ATI VGAWonder compatible card. See help screen for other cards. %13,4,5,17,60,HELP: Displaying an Image When viewing the image you can enhance the detail in several ways: Display Mode You can view the image with different display modes to change the resolution and palette range. Change the display mode using the Setup Menu. Example: VGA mode has high resolution (640 x 480) so most or all of the image may be displayed. However only 16 colors (or grayshades) are viewable at a time. However, by selecting MCGA mode with a lower resolution (320 x 200), small details of interest in the image may be more easily seen and you can highlight details with 64 grayshades. Also with 50 percent zoom you can see almost the same area as VGA mode but with 64 grayshades. The cursor keys will normally allow you to scroll the image window up, down, right, and left. Also you can press the Alt key and either the F1, F2, F3, or F4 keys to select one of the four color look up tables. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ In Scroll Mode the active keys are: │ │ │ │ cursor keys: scroll up, down, right, left │ │ Home go to top of image │ │ End go to bottom of image │ │ F1 help (this screen) │ │ Esc - return from help │ │ - abort when writing screen │ │ - return to last screen │ │ Alt/F1..F4 Select color table │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you press the space bar while viewing the image an action line will appear. Use the cursor keys to chose a selection and then press the Enter key. The different image enhancement selections are described below. Press the Esc key to return to scroll mode. Palette You can change the colors and gray scales of the image by changing the loop-up tables (LUT) that define the way the image is displayed. With VGA, EGA, and MCGA 4 tables can be defined. For each table you can adjust the Red, Green, and Blue colors separately. The table number is displayed at the top of the panel. While the image is displayed you can change to a different table at any time by pressing the Alt key and either F1, F2, F3, or F4. Enhancement You can change the contrast and brightness if the image was captured with pels per byte = 1. The histogram displays a chart of the distribution of shades of the displayed window and can be used as a visual aid to help adjust the image brightness and contrast. For Brightness, the right cursor key makes the image darker. For Contrast, the right cursor key increases the contrast. See FAXGUIDE.DOC for more detailed information on using these adjustments. When you exit the window with the Esc key the display is redrawn with the new Brightness and Contrast values. These values are also used for printing the image. Zoom (and Negative and Rotate) Zoom. You can select Zoom of 50, 100, 200, and 400 percent. 50 percent is useful for shrinking the image to half size to display more of it at one time. 200 and 400 percent zoom is useful to enlarge the image to better display small details of interest. Negative. You can display both the positive and negative view of the image. The negative view displays the image similar to a photographic negative. Rotate. Rotate turns the picture upside down for viewing. This is useful for viewing images from descending-node (North to South track) polar-orbiting satellites that send images upside down. Print Before printing for the first time: - Select your printer type on the Setup Menu. - Set the desired print gray scaling on the Print Menu. With this option the displayed portion of the image is printed. If the screen is Zoomed then the printing will be scaled accordingly. NOTE: For 200 or 400 percent the printing is enlarged by automatically setting a greater printer gray scale (e.g., print mode 2x2 would be changed to 4x4). If the print mode is already set to 4x4 then the printed image cannot be enlarged further. If you want to print the entire image then align the top and left corner of the image to be printed then exit back to the Print Menu. You can now set the desired print gray scaling and print either the screen or the entire image starting from the top left corner. %14,4,5,17,60,HELP: Fax Adapter Calibration WeatherFAX card physical layout ╔════▌█══════▌█═══════════▌█═════════▌█═══════╗ ║ ┌─██─┐ ┌─██─┐ ┌─██─┐ ┌─██─┐ ║╔═══ ║ │POT2│ │POT4│ │POT3│ │POT1│ ║║ ║ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘ ║║ ║ Stop Start AM FM ║║ ║ Detector Detector Demodulator Demod. █████▌<─┐ ║ 450 Hz 300 Hz 2400 Hz 1800 Hz █████▌ phono ║ ║║ jack ║ ║║ ║ ║║ ║ ║║ ║ ║║ ║ ║║ ║ ║║ ╚═════════╗ ╔═══╝║ ╚▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌▌╝ ║ Calibration procedure Calibration is needed if any of the Self-Tests indicate that the adapter is operating out of the indicated operating range. The self tests will indicate which parameter is out of range and needs adjustment. Instructions are provided below for making the adjustment. The procedure is simple and can be performed without special tools or knowledge. Because adjustments are made while the computer is powered on it is recommended that the adjustment be done by a qualified service technician. A non-metallic screwdriver should be used for the adjustment. This will prevent damage to the computer if the screwdriver should accidentally be dropped into the computer. 1) Turn power to the computer off. 2) Remove the cover of the computer. Refer to the Guide to Operations for your computer for instructions for removing the cover. 3) Locate the fax adapter. 4) Turn computer power on and start the WeatherFAX program. 5) Select Test Adapter, and then Static Test. Adjust the potentiometers for the parameter out of range. When you are finished all parameters should be in the 'OK' region. 6) The final adjustment for the FM demodulator should be done while viewing the FM Graph Test. The line should be linear, sloping upward with time, and centered between 0 and 256. If not centered adjust the FM potentiometer while viewing the Graph. %15,4,5,17,65,HELP: In Case of Difficulty SYMPTOM SOLUTION ───────────── ──────────────────────────────────────── NO PICTURE 1) Run fax adapter tests to assure that the adapter is operating within the correct range. 2) Verify that Adapter Mode is set correctly for the facsimile signal. 3) For Marine fax mode verify that the receiver signal level is within the range of the fax adapter attenuation pads. If the signal level is very weak then decrease the attenuation pads using F4 on the adapter mode menu. 4) Is the fax receiver powered on and the cable connected to the fax adapter? DISTORTED 1) Verify that the Adapter Mode is set correctly PICTURE for the received signal. (e.g., if the image is WEFAX then the Adapter Mode must be set to AM. 2) Verify that Scans per minute is set correctly for the received signal. 3) If the image is slanted then the Page Alignment needs to be adjusted while an image is received. 4) For FM Marine fax verify that the receiver is tuned correctly. Marine fax images are usually transmitted using Upper Side Band (USB). The receiver must be tuned approximately 1700 Hz lower then the center frequency. Example: For a 8080 KHz HF fax signal, the receiver should be tuned to 8078.3 KHz. (8080 KHz - 1.7 KHz = 8078.3 KHz). Vary the frequency slightly to get the best picture. 5) Check your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to remove any terminate-stay-resident (TSR) programs. Some TSR programs interfer with the proper operation of the fax software. EXPANDED Be sure that the Expanded memory device driver MEMORY NOT (LIM 4.0) is loaded into memory. RECOGNIZED: If you have an 80386-type computer then the EXTended memory can emulate LIM 4.0 EXPanded memory using a device driver shipped with DOS 4.0. The EXTended memory on 80286-type computers cannot emulate EXPanded memory. You must use an actual LIM 4.0 capable memory card. EMS Simulators using either a hard disk or EXTended memory are not supported because of the 'data aliasing' problem that is inherent with simulators. 800x600 1) Verify your graphics card supports this mode. DISPLAY 2) Verify that you have a multi-frequency monitor MODE that supports 800x600 resolution. DOESN'T 3) Verify you have set the correct BIOS display WORK mode. See the Help Screen for Graphics Mode to find the correct mode for your type of card. 4) Verify that the correct mode is listed as a command line parameter. See the Help Screen for Graphics Mode. %16,4,5,17,60,HELP: Facsimile Broadcasts Radiofacsimile Sources Marine Weather Radiofacsimile can be received direct from government radio transmissions. There are over 65 transmitter sites worldwide which utilize over 200 different radio frequencies. The information that is broadcast includes weather analysis charts, satellite pictures, and radar charts. These radio signals are received on short wave radio frequencies (e.g., 8080 kHz) on Upper Sideband. Set FM mode and 120 Scans per Minute for capturing these images. Weather satellites. There are two types of operational satellites, Geostationary and Polar-orbiting spacecraft. Geostationary satellites include U.S. GOES, European METEOSAT, and Japanese GMS. These spacecraft transmit WEFAX format images on S-Band frequencies (e.g., 1691 MHz). Set for AM mode and 240 Scans per Minute. Polar-orbiting satellites include U.S. TIROS/NOAA and Soviet METEOR. These spacecraft transmit on VHF frequencies (e.g., 137.5 MHz). Set for AM mode and 120 Scans per Minute. %17,4,5,12,60,HELP: RTTY Broadcasts Many weather radiofacsimile transmitters broadcast radioteletype messages in addition to charts and images. These are usually transmitted at 100 wpm with normal sense and 750 Hz wide shift. WeatherFAX allows you to receive these RTTY broadcasts with standard Baudot speeds from 60 to 133 words per minute. You can also select either normal or reverse sense. Reception is in FM mode. You can save the RTTY to both a printer and disk file. NOTE: This product is not suitable for general purpose Amateur radio RTTY decoding. It has limited performance in noisy environments and with narrow shifts. It is primarily intended to decode RTTY from HF fax stations that broadcast both RTTY and fax. %18,4,5,3,30,HELP: F9 Key pressed No help available %19,4,5,3,30,HELP: F10 Key pressed No help available %100,4,5,12,65,HELP: Main Menu This menu provides access to all WeatherFAX functions: FAX . . . . . . Capture, store, view, and print an image. RTTY . . . . . . Receive, store, and print Baudot using standard speeds, shifts, and sense. Test Adapter . . Test adapter for correct operation. Exit to DOS . . Terminate program and exit to DOS. %110,4,5,17,70,HELP: Fax Menu The main screen displays information about the image stored in computer memory. Lines . . . . . . . Number of image lines Pels per line . . . Image samples taken per image line Pels per byte . . . Number of samples stored per byte Bytes . . . . . . . Amount of storage used to store the image. Buffer used . . . . The arrow points to the type of buffer used: Conventional Memory; or Expanded Memory. WeatherFAX will use whichever type that is larger. You can select various fax functions: ACQUIRE Allows you to capture a weather facsimile image from the fax receiver into the computer memory. GOES (WEFAX), polar orbiting NOAA, and Marine fax images can be acquired. Various receive options can be selected. You must have a fax adapter installed in your computer and your fax receiver must be attached to the adapter with a cable. FILE You can either: - Retrieve an image from disk into memory. - Save image from memory to disk. - Erase a file from the disk. PRINT You can print the image with selectable gray scaling. You can print either the entire image or just the displayed portion. Several half-toning (dithering) methods can be selected VIEW You can view the image with selectable display resolutions. You can scroll, adjust the contrast, change the colors, and zoom. For more information go to the HELP INDEX and select Displaying an Image. SETUP You can select the graphics display mode and printer setup information. You can easily change from one display mode to another to view the image with different color palettes and resolutions. Select the printer type that that your printer is compatible with. You can print the image to a printer connected to either your computer's printer port or to a DOS device name. The device name could be a file name or the name of a printer attached to a Local Area Network. %120,4,5,17,70,HELP: File You can either: Retrieve an image from disk into memory. You can retrieve and display image files that are created by other software packages if they are stored with either the GIF or TIFF file formats. NOTE: If you should get the error message "Drive not ready" when retrieving very large files (1 MB or larger) the reason may be not enough DOS disk buffers that your computer requires. Try increasing the number of buffers by adding the following line to your DOS CONFIG.SYS file. BUFFERS = 24 Save image from memory to disk. You can save either: 1) the part of the image that is displayed. 2) the image starting from the top left corner displayed on the screen. This feature allows you to "crop" the top and align the left edge of the image. Before you save to disk be sure view the image using the cursor keys. The image will be saved starting at the top left cornor on the screen. Files are saved using the standard Tag Image File Format (TIFF) or Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) which allow the files to be used by many other software programs. Erase a file from the disk. %130,4,5, 5,45,HELP: Exit You can either: Resume and continue using the program or Exit to DOS %141,4,5,17,60,HELP: Graphics Mode Select one of the display modes for viewing the image. Only the modes available for your computer can be selected. You can switch between modes to display the image with different colors and resolutions. The different display modes are listed below: ┌────────┬───────────┬────────┬────────┐ │ Mode │ Resolution│ Colors │ BIOS(2)│ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ CGA │ 320x200 │ 4 │ H04 │ │ CGA_H │ 640x200 │ 2 │ H06 │ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ EGA │ 320x200 │ 16 │ H0D │ │ EGA_H │ 640x350 │ 16 │ H10 │ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ MCGA │ 320x200 │ 256 (1)│ H13 │ │ MCGA_H │ 640x480 │ 2 │ H11 │ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ VGA │ 640x480 │ 16 (1)│ H12 │ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ Note 3 │ 800x600 │ 16 │ │ ├────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤ │ 8514 │ 1024x768 │ 16 (4)│ (4) │ └────────┴───────────┴────────┴────────┘ NOTES: 1) Colors are selectable from palette of over 256,000 colors that includes 64 gray scales. 2) BIOS mode is the graphics mode for the display adapter. It is listed here for information purposes only. 3) 800x600 mode requires a graphics card that supports this mode and a multi-frequency monitor. Because different cards use different modes you must specify the BIOS display mode on the command line parameter '/Hxx' where xx is the mode. For example: the ATI VGAWonder card uses mode 54 to display 800 by 600 with 16 colors. Start the program with: C:>FAX.EXE /H54 Other graphics cards are listed below: ┌───────────────────────────────────┬──────┐ │ CARD │ MODE │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼──────┤ │ ATI VGAWONDER │ /H54 │ │ Paradise VGA Plus/Professional │ /H58 │ │ Dell VGA │ /H58 │ │ AST VGA Plus │ /H58 │ │ Compaq VGA │ /H58 │ │ Video7 VRAM/Fastwrite │ /H62 │ │ Orchard Designer VGA │ /H29 │ │ Genoa Super VGA/VGA Hi-Res │ /H29 │ │ Sigma VGA/H │ /H29 │ │ STB VGA Extra │ /H29 │ │ Tecmar VGA-AD │ /H18 │ │ Everex EVGA │ /H70 │ └───────────────────────────────────┴──────┘ If your card isn't listed then you should determine the 800x600 mode from the instruction booklet that came with your card. You may need to adjust your monitor to display the 800x600 graphics mode properly. Use the vertical and horizontal size and position controls on your monitor to display the entire image without distortion. 4) IBM 8514 mode with 1024x768 resolution is not supported at this time. %142,4,5,17,60,HELP: Printer Type You can select a compatible printer type from the list of supported printers. Check your printer documentation to determine which of the supported types that it emulates. Printers supported and Print Resolution (dots per inch) ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Epson compatible 8-pin printers (120 dpi) │ │ - Epson FX, MX, RX, LX series │ │ - IBM Graphics or Proprinter │ │ - Okidata 192I+, 193I+, 292, 293 │ │ - Okidata in IBM mode │ │ - Panasonic KX-P1080i, P1091i, P1093 │ │ - Cannon PW-1156A │ │ - Citizen MPS-25 │ │ - Star Micronics: Gemeni 10X │ │ │ │ Okidata compatible 8-pin printers (120 dpi) │ │ - Okidata 192, 193 │ │ │ │ Apple ImageWriter II (160 dpi) │ │ │ │ Epson 24-pin compatible printers (180 dpi) │ │ - Epson LQ series │ │ - IBM Proprinter X24 and XL24 │ │ - Panasonic KX-P1124 │ │ │ │ Toshiba 24-pin compatible printers (180 dpi) │ │ - Toshiba P321, P341, P351 │ │ │ │ IBM Pageprinter 3812 (240 dpi) │ │ │ │ PCL command compatible (300 dpi) │ │ - HP LaserJet series II │ │ - HP DeskJet │ │ - Apple LaserWriter II │ │ - IBM LaserPrinter │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ %143,4,5,17,60,HELP: Printer Destination You can select the printer destination. The print destination can be: LPT1 : first locally attached parallel printer LPT2 : second locally attached parallel printer DOS output device : - an external printer shared on a local area network. - a DOS disk file which will create a print-ready file. The first two choices (LPT1, LPT2) use the computer BIOS functions for sending data to a printer attached to a parallel port. This is the fastest way to print an image. NOTE: If you are using a printer attached to the Serial Port (COM1) then you need setup the Serial Port using the DOS MODE command before starting the WeatherFAX program. These commands could be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 1) Set the baud rate and other parameters with the DOS MODE command. (e.g., MODE COM1:96,N,8,1,P) 2) Redirect LPT1 to COM1 with the DOS MODE command (e.g., MODE LPT1=COM1) 3) Start WeatherFAX program and set the Printer Destination in the SETUP MENU to LPT1 %144,4,5,4,40,HELP: Wide Carriage Enter YES if: 1) your printer has a wide carriage AND 2) you want the images printed with wide paper. %145,4,5,11,60,HELP: Test Printer This test will print a sample of the various shading patterns to the attached printer. This will allow you to check the operation of the printer. NOTE: Some printers can be attached to either a Parallel or a Serial computer port. These printers usually are configured for either 7 bit or 8 bit graphics mode. Be sure that the printer is configured for 8 bit mode. Otherwise the printed sample will have a blank row (space) every 8 lines. %201,4,5,11,55,HELP: Filespec Menu To view a list of files on a disk or in a directory, enter just a drive or directory name and press Enter. To list selected files, use * or ?. Example: a:*.TIF Type a filename with an optional extension of a period and up to three characters. You can include a drive and a path of directory names up to 45 characters. You can type over the default drive and directory names. Press Home, type the drive, press Cursor Right to move over the colon, and type the directory name. %202,4,5,7,42,HELP: Get File This file has an unknown file format. It was not saved using this Fax program. You must enter the Pels Per Line and Pels Per Byte parameters. If these are not set correctly then the image will not display correctly. %206,4,5,6,50,HELP: Save Range You can save either the entire image or just the displayed portion. If you save the entire image then the image is saved starting at the top displayed row and left hand column. The remainder of the image is saved. %207,4,5,17,60,HELP: Save Format You can save the image in either the TIFF or the GIF file format. These standard image file formats allow images to be imported as graphics files into various painting and Desktop Publishing applications that support either of the formats. TIFF (Tag Image File Format) has fast file operations and stores an image as an uncompressed raster-scan gray-scale image. Each byte stores either 4 or 8 bits of gray scale information for each pixel digitized. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is the standard format used for storing images by CompuServe and other computer bulletin boards systems (BBS). GIF is much slower than TIFF, but uses an efficient compression algorithm that minimizes file size and saves disk space. %208,4,5,2,20,HELP: Save Image No help available %211,4,5,17,60,HELP: Print Mode ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Dot Number │ │ matrix shades Description │ │ ────── ───── ───────────────────────────────────────│ │ 1x1 1 Black and white │ │ 2x2 4 4 halftones │ │ 4x4 16 Bayer dither - high resolution │ │ 4x4 16 Fatting dither - high contrast │ │ 4x4 16 Horizontal Line dither. │ │ Emphasizes vertical lines │ │ 4x4 16 Vertical line dither. │ │ Emphasizes horizontal lines. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Dot matrix - Number of horizontal and vertical dots printed for each pixel. Number shades - Number of gray scales. %212,4,5,17,60,HELP: Print Range You will need to view the image to align the top line and left column to be printed. You can print either the entire image or just the displayed portion. If you print the entire image then the image is printed starting at the top displayed row and left hand column. This helps you to align the image to be printed. The remainder of the image stored is printed. If you print only the displayed portion then the print size depends upon the selected graphics mode. VGA and EGA modes print more area then CGA and MCGA modes. You may want to change the graphics mode before printing to adjust the size of the printed image. %213,4,5,4,40,HELP: Print Title The title you give is printed at the top of each picture. This option is useful for labeling the pages. %214,4,5,4,40,HELP: Time and Date If you select Yes then the current time and date is printed at the top of the page. %215,4,5,3,60,HELP: Print Image Prints the image stored in the buffer using the selected print options. Before printing for the first time: - Select your printer type on the Setup Menu. - Set the desired print gray scaling on the Print Menu. You may then print the image one of two ways. 1) You can choose the Print option while viewing the image. This will only print the portion of the image displayed on the screen. If the screen is Zoomed then the printing will be scaled accordingly. 2) View the image to align the top and left corner of the image to be printed then exit back to the Print Menu. You can now the the desired print gray scaling and print either the screen or the entire image starting from the top left corner. %301,4,5,17,60,HELP: Adapter Mode The fax adapter can capture three types of weather facsimile images: - HF Fax. These image are usually Marine weather facsimile and are received on HF radio on shortwave radio frequencies (e.g., 8080 kHz). The adapter is set to FM mode. The fax adapter allows the FM signal to be within a wide amplitude range. However if the signal output from your receiver is very strong or very weak then you can then you can compensate by adjusting attenuation pads on the adapter. F4 allows you to change the pads. - WEFAX. This is the format for geostationary weather satellites (GOES). The receiver is usually tuned to S-Band 1691 MHz. The adapter is set to AM mode and Automatic Gain Lock (AGL) is used to set the correct level for any type of image. - Polar satellites. These are images transmitted from polar orbiting satellites (e.g. NOAA) at VHF frequencies between 136 and 138 MHz. The adapter is set to AM mode and a fixed gain level is used. F5 allows you to set the fixed gain level. The gain should allow the AM signal to vary over a wide dynamic range without clipping. %302,4,5, 8,50,HELP: Scans Per Minute Selects the number of image lines sampled every minute. Use the same value as that of the signal that you receive. NOTE: Typical SPM rates: GOES (WEFAX) = 240 Polar (NOAA) = 120 HF fax (Marine) = 120 %303,4,5,17,60,HELP: Pels Per Scan Line Selects the number of samples (pixels) stored for each image line. You would typically set this value to be at least as large as the resolution of your graphics display mode (e.g., 640 for EGA or VGA). This sets the resolution of the image and affects the amount of computer storage needed to hold the image. The equation for image size (bytes) is: IMAGE_SIZE = PELS_PER_LINE * NUM_LINES / PELS_PER_BYTE Where: PELS_PER_LINE = pixels stored for each image line NUM_LINES = lines in the image PELS_PER_BYTE = pels stored per byte, either 1 or 2 NOTE: The greater the number of Pels Per Line the greater the image resolution. However the maximum value may be limited by the speed of your computer. For earlier PCs having a 4.77 MHz clock speed use a maximum value of 700 when using 240 Scans Per Minute. The 'squareness' of the displayed image depends upon both the Index of Cooperation (IOC) of the received image, the Pels Per Line setting, and the aspect ratio of your display adapter. The relationship for these parameters is: PELS_PER_LINE = π * IOC * ASPECT Where: π = Pi = 3.14 IOC = Index of Cooperation of received signal GOES (WEFAX) = 268 polar satellites = 288 HF fax (Marine) = 576 ASPECT = horizontal/vertical pixel density set by adapter display mode, not the physical size of the display. Extended VGA, VGA = 1.00 EGA (640x350) = 0.73 CGA, MCGA = 0.83 Example: If you want to receive WEFAX (IOC = 268) in VGA display mode then for a square picture you should set 842 pels per line. %304,4,5,15,60,HELP: Pels Per Byte The fax program uses all of the available memory in your computer to capture images. If you have limited memory (less then 512 KB) then consider selecting 2 pels per byte. This value saves memory by packing two pixels into each memory storage byte which allows you to capture images twice as large. The image is stored with 16 shades and once captured you cannot enhance the brightness and contrast. If you have more then 512 KB of memory or expanded memory (LIM 4.0) then you should select 1 pel per byte. The image is stored with up to 256 shades and you can enhance the brightness and contrast of the image at any time. %305,4,5,17,60,HELP: Acquire Image to Buffer Your fax receiver should be attached to the fax adapter. The bottom line of the display is the action line. It displays the current receive status and allows you to select various actions while receiving the image. Different actions are displayed using the cursor keys. Press Esc to exit back to the Fax Menu. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ACTION LINE SELECTIONS │ │ │ │ Manual start Press ─┘ for manual start │ │ Scroll image window - - keys scroll left/right │ │ Darker - - - to adjust brightness │ │ Adj contrast - - to adjust contrast │ │ Printer: on/off ─┘ to turn printer on/off │ │ Disk : on/off ─┘ to save to disk on/off │ │ Page alignment - - adjust timing. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Disk allows you to save the image to disk as it is stored in memory. You will be prompted for the filename to use. NOTE: The Disk function has been tested on IBM computers. However the BIOS of some computer clones disable interrupts when saving to disk which will cause part of the received image to be lost. When this happens part of the image will appear shifted. Do not use this function if you have this type of clone computer. Page alignment allows you to adjust the adapter timing if the image is slanted. Once adjusted the timing will not need to be changed again. Use cursor keys to increase and decrease the timing value. Increase if the image slants to the left. Decrease if the image slants to the right. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RECEIVE STATUS │ │ │ │ Wait : Waiting for start signal │ │ Start : Start signal detected │ │ Sampling : Putting image into buffer │ │ End of mem : Image size exceeds buffer │ │ Stop : Stop signal detected │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ %310,4,5, 9,50,HELP: Adjust Level Allows you to set the gain of the fax adapter so that the signal level for polar satellites is just right. Use the cursor keys to increase or decrease the signal level while a satellite signal is active so that the level covers a wide dynamic range without exceeding the MAX value. You can also ajust the signal level by changing the audio gain control on your receiver. %311,4,5,17,50,HELP: FM Attenuation The phase lock loop on the card works for a wide variation in signal level. You will normally keep the attenuation set for Normal. This setting allows operation for input signal amplitudes that vary between -20 dBm to +10 dBm. However you can adjust the attenuation pads on the adapter to compensate for very weak or very strong FM fax signals. ┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐ │ Pad setting │ Signal strength │ ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤ │ Increase (+10 dBm) │ Strong (-10 dBm to +20 dBm) │ │ Normal ( 0 dBm) │ Normal (-20 dBm to +10 dBm) │ │ Decrease (-10 dBm) │ Weak (-30 dBm to 0 dBm) │ └────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘ Notes: 1) The input impedance of the adapter is 10K ohms. 2) If your signal is very weak then set the pad to Decrease, this decreases the attenuation by -10 dBm. %230,4,5,17,50,HELP: Device Name DOS Output Devices use the computer DOS functions for sending data to a DOS Device Name. Enter the name of the DOS device. Possible device names are: LPT1, LPT2, PRN - DOS name for locally attached printers COM1, COM2 - DOS name for serial communications port. Use the DOS MODE command to set the baud rate. network printer name - use name of Local Area Network attached printer DOS disk file name - (e.g., print.dat) This will create a print ready disk file of the image. %400,10,10,10,60,HELP: RTTY Menu Allows you to set RTTY parameters, print, and save to a disk file. RTTY Parameters . . You can set baudot speed, signal sense, and unshift on space. RTTY Output . . . . The RTTY characters can be be printed or saved to a disk file. %410,10,10,10,60,HELP: RTTY Parameters RTTY Speed . . . . Select the desired RTTY Baudot speed. RTTY Polarity . . . RTTY signal polarity (sense) is either Normal or Reverse. Unshift on Space . . Causes shift to Letters Case when a space is received. This may reduce the number of errors when the channel is noisy. %420,10,10,5,55,HELP: Ouput Menu Print RTTY . . . . Send characters to printer. Save to File . . . Save characters to disk file. %510,4,5,17,70,HELP: Adapter Test You can check the operation of the adapter at any time to verify that it is working correctly. Various tests can be selected to check the operation of all of the major functions of the adapter. Static Test The nominal frequencies of the phase lock loops and filters are displayed. All of the marks should be in the OK region. This test can be used for checking for normal operation and for calibration. If any of the values are out of range then the adapter may be adjusted with only a screwdriver. No special- ized test equipment or knowledge is required. For more information see: Test/calibration of fax adapter under the HELP INDEX. Dynamic Test Checks the operation of the major functions of the adapter. A test signal is applied and the outputs are checked to verify that all of the circuits are working. Start/Stop detectors The detectors allow automatic operation by detecting the beginning and ending of a received image. They are tested for both On and Off states. FM detector Checks the operation of the Phase Lock Loop circuit and the Analog to Digital (A/D) converter. It is tested at various frequencies to verify linearity. AM detector Checks the operation of the Automatic Gain Lock (AGL) circuit, AM detector, and (A/D) converter. The circuit is tested at various amplitudes to verify linearity. AM Graph A test signal is applied and the AM detector linearity (signal amplitude vs time) is graphically displayed. The graph should be linear and sloping upward with time. FM Graph A test signal is applied and the FM PLL linearity (signal frequency vs time) is graphically displayed. The graph should be linear, sloping upward with time, and centered between 0 and 256. %900,5,5,5,5,End of file