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1994-01-26
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14KB
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341 lines
Bearing & Distance Computer
User's Manual
Shareware Advisory
------------------
The Bearing and Distance Computer is being distributed as shareware. This
means you have the opportunity to evaluate the product before purchasing it.
If after a trial period of one month, you find this product to be useful and
intend to use it, you are required to register the software for a small fee.
Shareware marketing helps you obtain quality software at low prices by
eliminating the high overhead associated with traditional marketing and dist-
ribution methods. You are encouraged to make copies of this software for
evaluation by friends or for uploading to bulletin board services. You must,
however, distribute all files found on this disk complete and unmodified. You
may not sell this software. However, you may charge a small fee (not to
exceed $5 US) to cover the costs of duplication.
The author reserves all right to this software. No warranty or guarantee is
expressed or implied. The author is not responsible for damage, physical or
otherwise, loss of time, data or income as a result of the use of this
program.
Registered users will receive a copy of the software without the shareware
banners, free upgrades and bug fixes. To register your copy of the Bearing
and Distance Computer, send $7.50 to:
Richard Jones
22447 Mountain View Road
Moreno Valley, CA 92557
All checks or money orders must be payable in US funds and drawn upon a US
bank.
Introduction
------------
The Bearing and Distance computer allows the user to determine the bearing and
distance between any two points on the earth. This data is useful for a
number of applications, especially for determining antenna bearing, for which
it was designed.
The user is allowed to enter the latitude and longitude of both the source
(starting point) and target (ending point) sites either manually or by table
lookup. A database of world coordinates is provided along with the computer.
This database is fully maintainable by the user. Entries may be added,
deleted or updated enabling the user to maintain current data without the need
for periodic software updates.
System Requirements
-------------------
This program is designed to run on PC compatible computers. It has been
tested on 286, 386 and 486 machines but should run on XT class machines as
well. The following are minimum system requirements to effectively use the
Bearing and Distance Computer:
IBM PC Compatible Computer
Hard Disk Drive
Color Monitor (CGA or above)
640K RAM
DOS version 2.1 or higher
While this program was not intended to be run from floppy disk, this is
possible. However, floppy disk space is a consideration, especially as the
size of the database increase. Additionally, the performance will be
seriously effected by floppy operation. Floppy disk operation is not
recommended.
INSTALLATION
Under DOS
---------
The following installation procedure is recommended. However, you may opt to
install on a different drive or into a different directory.
1. Create the BEARING directory using the following commands:
CD \
MD BEARING
2. Change directories to the BEARING directory using the following command:
CD BEARING
3. Copy the install program, INBEAR.EXE from the installation disk into
the BEARING directory using the following command:
COPY B:\BEARING.EXE
4. If the executable file INBEAR.EXE is present, run the install program
from within the BEARING directory using the following command:
INBEAR
INBEAR.EXE is a self-extracting compressed file.
If the compressed file, BEARING.ZIP is present, unzip it using PKUNZIP
decompression utility (not provided). Enter the following command to
UNZIP the file:
PKUNZIP C:\BEARING\BEARING.ZIP
The following files should be extracted or decompressed for the program
to run properly:
BEARING.EXE
DXDATA.DAT
DXDATA.K01
BEARING.ASC
BEARING.ICO
BEARING.ASC is the user's manual for the Bearing and Distance Computer.
It is an DOS text file and can be edited and printed from within any
text or word processor which can handle DOS text files. You may also
print the user's manual using the following command:
COPY BEARING.ASC > PRN
Under Windows (TM)
------------------
Follow the installation procedure for installing under DOS. Then proceed with
the following instructions.
1. From within Windows (TM), select the desired program group by clicking
the left mouse button.
2. Select the File menu item by clicking the left mouse button or using the
Alt-F key sequence.
3. Select the New menu item by highlighting and click on New or by using the
Alt-N key sequence.
4. Select the 'Program Item' radio button by click the left mouse button or
by pressing the TAB key once. Click the left mouse button on the 'OK'
button or press ENTER.
5. Key in the following data on the Program Item Properties screen.
Description: BEARING
Command Line: C:\BEARING\BEARING.EXE
Working Directory: C:\BEARING
6. Click on the 'Change Icon' command button using the left mouse button
or highlight the 'Change Icon' button by pressing the tab key until
it is highlighted, press ENTER.
7. Press ENTER key or click on the 'OK' command button stating that no
icon files exist.
8. Enter the name of the icon, BEARING.ICO at the filename prompt. Press
the ENTER key or click on the 'OK' button.
9 Select the 'OK' key on the Program Item Properties screen. The BEARING
icon should appear in the selected program group.
10. Double click on the BEARING icon to test.
RUNNING THE BEARING AND DISTANCE COMPUTER
Under DOS
---------
If you are running under DOS, change directory to the BEARING directory using
the following commands:
CD \
CD BEARING
From the DOS prompt, execute the program by entering the following command:
BEARING
The program will begin to execute. The screen will clear, a message will
appear indicating that files are being opened. The main menu screen will
appear and normal use can begin.
Under Windows
-------------
The Bearing and Distance Computer will run under Windows (TM) but only as a
DOS application. If the Windows (TM) installation procedure has been
followed, select the program group containing the BEARING icon. Double-click
on the BEARING program icon to begin execution.
The program will begin to execute. The screen will clear, a message will
appear indicating that files are being opened. The main menu screen will
appear and normal use can begin.
NAVIGATING THE MENUS
The Bearing and Distance Computer is a menu driven system. It was designed to
be easy and intuitive to use. By using a menuing system, complicated and
difficult to remember command lines can be avoided. The program has only
three main menu items; PERFORM A COMPUTATION, UPDATE DX DATA and QUIT.
Selecting Menu Items
--------------------
Selecting a menu item may be done by highlighting the desired menu item. The
highlighted item is the item shown in reverse video behind a highlight bar.
Only one menu item can be highlighted at one time. You may move the highlight
bar to the desired menu item by using the up or down arrows keys. Once the
desired item is highlighted, press the ENTER key.
The ESCape Key
--------------
Each item on the main menu will lead to a working screen. These screens will
actually execute the bearing and distance computations or allow you to update
the user profile. To back up from a screen to the main menu, simply press the
ESC key.
Exiting the Program
-------------------
To exit the program and to return to the DOS prompt or to Windows, return to
the main menu and select the QUIT menu item.
Pressing the ESC key from the main menu screen will also exit the program and
return to the DOS prompt or if using windows, return to Windows. LOG IT!
ensures that all updates to the database are completed and that all files are
properly closed.
Using the Bearing & Distance Computer
-------------------------------------
The B&D Computer allows the bearing and distance from and to any point on
earth to be determined. This feature is useful for determining beam headings
to DX locations.
To access the B&D Calculator, select the PERFORM A COMPUTATION menu item from
the main menu. The B&D computer screen will appear. Provide the latitude and
longitude for both the source and target locations. The source values will
default to the values entered on the user profile screen. These values may be
overridden by either manual entry or by table lookup. Simply press the ENTER
key to select the default values.
Manual Entry
To manually enter values in either the source or target latitude and longitude
fields, tab to the appropriate field and enter the desired value. Enter south
latitudes and east longitudes as negative values. For example:
Data for Los Angeles, CA (34.10N, 118.20W) would be entered as
Latitude: 34.10 Longitude: 118.20
Data for Tanzania (6.48S, 39.58E) would be entered as
Latitude: 06.48- Longitude: 39.58-
Table Lookup
To enter latitude and longitude values via table lookup, place the cursor on
the desired latitude field. Press the F8 key. A lookup table will appear
displaying prefix and coordinate information. Using the up or down arrow keys
or Page Up or Page Down keys, position the highlight on the desired entry.
Press the ENTER key. The table lookup screen will disappear and the desired
latitude and longitude values will be place in the appropriate fields. Press
the ENTER key to continue.
You may also locate particular entries in the table using the SEARCH FOR:
field. Simply enter the callsign prefix of the desired country at the
SEARCH FOR: prompt. The highlight bar will be positioned at the entry which
most closely matches the value entered. Simply press the ENTER to select
the desired entry.
Updating the DX Database
As new DXCC countries are created and old ones deleted, updating the
coordinate table becomes necessary. This program provides this capability,
eliminating the need for periodic updates to be installed. The user can
maintain data themselves.
In order to update an entry, select the PERFORM A COMPUTATION item from the
main menu screen. The B&D Computer data screen will appear. Press the F8 key
to cause the table lookup screen to appear. Position the highlight bar
on the desired record and press the F1 key to update. Fill in the required
fields and press Control-ENTER to complete the update.
To add a new record simply press the insert key. A blank ADD/UPDATE DX data
entry screen will appear. Fill in the required data and press Control-ENTER
to complete the addition. The program will automatically sort the new entry
into it's proper position in the database based upon the callsign prefix sort
order.
To delete a record from the database, position the highlight bar on the
desired record and press the DELETE key. The ADD/UPDATE DX data entry screen
will appear. Press Control-ENTER to confirm the delete. The highlighted
record will then be deleted from the database. If you do not desire to delete
the record, simply press the ESC (escape) key while on the data entry screen.
Updating the User Profile
The user profile module is used to maintain user specific information such
as the user name, callsign if applicable, address, home latitude and
longitude, etc. This latitude and longitude information is used as the
default data displayed on the Bearing and Distance Computer screen.
To update the user profile, select the UPDATE USER PROFILE item from the main
menu. The UPDATE USER PROFILE data entry screen will appear. Fill in the
required fields and press Control-ENTER to confirm the update. You may abort
the update prior to pressing Control-Enter simply by pressing the ESC (escape)
key until the data entry screen disappears.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Being a shareware product, technical support is provided for the Bearing &
Distance Computer is limited to mail only. Bug reports or enhancement
suggestions will be received. Please send bug reports or enhancement
suggestions to:
Richard Jones
22447 Mountain View Road
Moreno Valley, CA 92557
All registered users will receive free updates of bug fixes and enhancements.