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================== = CONLOG = = November = = Sweepstakes = = Logging System = ================== Steven E. Margison, WA9DRE Program and Documentation Copyright 1987 by Steven E. Margison -- All Rights Reserved ISBN 0-944267-07-6 Member, Association of Shareware Professionals ("ASP") --------- TABLE OF CONTENTS --------- Introduction ................................. 1 A. Background ...................... 1 B. Supplied Files .................. 2 C. Hardware Requirements ........... 2 D. Other Software Requirements ..... 3 Installation ................................. 4 A. Backup and Working Disks ........ 4 B. CONFIG.SYS ...................... 5 C. Date & Time ..................... 6 D. Hard Disk INstallation .......... 7 E. Configuration ................... 7 INSTCLOG ..................................... 8 A. Usage ........................... 8 B. Editing CONLOG.PRM .............. 10 CONLOG ....................................... 14 A. Files and Formats ............... 14 B. Screens ......................... 17 C. Logging On and Off .............. 17 D. Changing Bands .................. 17 E. Printer Listing ................. 18 F. Making Contacts ................. 18 G. Delete a Contact ................ 20 H. Edit a Contact .................. 21 I. File Functions .................. 21 J. Screen Saver .................... 22 K. Invoking DOS from CONLOG ........ 23 L. Terminating CONLOG .............. 23 DUPSHEET ..................................... 24 LOGSHEET ..................................... 25 File Maintenance ............................. 26 Shareware .................................... 27 Warranty ..................................... 28 Screen Layouts ....................... Appendix A Registration Form ............................ -- I. INTRODUCTION A. Background You're a ham, and so am I, so this manual will largely be a person to person chat, rather than a dry technical treatise. I'm WA9DRE, licensed in 1962, and veteran of about 16 or 17 hectic weekends in November called the "ARRL November Sweepstakes". Maybe we've wound up in each others' logs. If not, I'll be looking for you next time (especially if you're ALASK, YU-NWT, or PAC). CONLOG was started about 6 years ago on an old Z80-based system as a simple duplicate check program. It evolved into a full logging program and logsheet printing program. In its first year as a full logging program my score went up by about 25%, confirming my theory that automated logging could increase the efficiency of contest operators, especially single operator stations. In addition, instead of spending hours re-copying my logs and dupsheets for submission (they'd never be able to read the hastily done originals!), I generated beautifully printed sheets ready to be mailed only an hour after the contest ended! That version of CONLOG was, however, not available to other hams, since it was created for a custom-built computer with a professional programmer's operating system normally not available to the hobbyist. It was inevitable, I suppose, that I should join the ranks of IBM-PC owners, which I did in 1986. And, for the 1986 Sweepstakes, I had a totally new contest logging program running on the PC. Which brings us to the point. For over a year I have been creating IBM-PC programs as an independent shareware author (more about shareware later). Now, I am making CONLOG available to other contesters as an inexpensive shareware program. Use CONLOG once, and you'll throw out the ARRL's venerable log forms. (By the way, the printouts made by CONLOG were submitted to the ARRL, and with their consultation were made acceptable as official submissions.) CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 1 B. Supplied Files The following files should be present as part of a full CONLOG distribution: CONLOG.EXE Logging program INSTCLOG.EXE Installation program DUPSHEET.EXE Duplicate Checksheet Formatter LOGSHEET.EXE Log Sheet Formatter SYMBOL.EXE support program for formatters CONLOG.DOC This manual NOEOF.BAT Strips EOF marker from backup file README Any update notes not in the manual These files may be on either a distribution diskette, or may be found on certain Bulletin Board Systems as the file CONLOG.ARC or CNLOG140.ARC. If you have either of the ARC files, extract all the files using one of the SEA-compatible archiver programs such as ARC, ARCE208, PKXARC, etc. Of course, if you're reading this, you have probably already un-ARC'd it anyway! C. Hardware Requirements CONLOG will run on a floppy disk system with at least 100K of memory available after DOS has been loaded any any other device drivers and resident programs you may use. Generally speaking this means a system with at least 192K of installed memory. The program will run faster on a hard disk, but a floppy is sufficient. CONLOG has been tested on genuine IBM PC/XTs and ATs, and on several different "clones". As long as your system is a true compatible, it should work without any problems. Your operating system must be MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 2.11 or higher. Version 3 or higher is to be preferred because of advanced critical error handling. Any standard video adapter may be used: CGA, MONO, or EGA (in the CGA emulation mode). If you are using an EGA or CGA video card but using a composite monochrome monitor, CONLOG can be configured to use only black and white, blinking, and highlighted text to avoid the usual shading problems associated with color output on monochrome monitors. If a MONO adapter is used, CONLOG senses it and automatically uses non-color text. Your printer should be an IBM Graphics compatible printer. Most printers sold with IBM-PCs fall into this category. Typical printers include the Epson MX/RX/FX series, any Okidata with IBM Plug 'n' Play ROMs, most STAR brand printers, and many others. However, if your printer is not IBM compatible, CONLOG can be configured to print out in plain text compatible with any printer, including daisy wheels. It is also possible to configure CONLOG to use non-IBM control codes for boldface, italics, and double width printing in the forms. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 2 D. Other Software Requirements CONLOG is a completely self-sufficient system requiring no other software (other than the DOS operating system). However, you may desire to manually edit the logging files or parameter file in which case you will need to have a text editor. Any editing done on CONLOG files must be done in a "non-document" mode. That means that the editor may NOT insert special characters or mark characters by setting the high bit of each character (WordStar does this in its document mode), nor may it automatically replace horizontal TAB characters with spaces. CONLOG uses the TAB character as a field delimiter in the logging files, and replacing the TAB character with spaces will cause the CONLOG system to malfunction. Many text editors have an option which will allow TABs to be automatically expanded or left intact. Be sure this option is set to leave TABs intact. Note that none of the PFS editors (PFS:WRITE, PFS:Professional Writer, PFS:First Choice, etc.) will allow literal TABS, and they cannot be used on any CONLOG logging files. Check your editor documentation if you are unsure of what it does to TAB characters. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 4 II. Installation At this point, I could write pages and pages on how to use your computer. Many commercial instruction manuals go on ad nauseum about which end of the disk to insert, which drive is A:, etc. I am going to assume that you know the basics of your system. If you are not familiar with such things as "path", "directory", "drive", "FORMAT", etc., then I suggest you stop here and review your DOS manual first. A. Backup and Working Disks CONLOG is not copy protected. In fact, copying is urged (see chapter on shareware). But the first copies you should make are for yourself. Your original diskette, whether received as a distribution diskette or expanded from a downloaded ARC file, should be used to make one or more working copies of the disk, and then stored in a safe place. NEVER execute the programs from your original master disk. If something should go wrong (unlikely) your original disk may be lost. If you are using a floppy based system, I suggest formatting a fresh disk, without the system files (do not use the /S option to FORMAT), and copying onto it all of the EXE files from the distribution disk. (place fresh disk in drive B:) FORMAT B: (place CONLOG disk in drive A:) COPY A:*.EXE B: - or - DISKCOPY A: B: (and follow the program prompts) The documentation files are not needed during program execution and will simply use up disk space. Run CONLOG from this disk, and after the contest is over, save the entire disk, making a new disk for next year's contest. In the unlikely event that a future update of CONLOG cannot use log files from earlier versions, you will then have preserved not only your log files, but the programs needed to manipulate them as well. Granted, there is probably no need to re-print any logs at a later date, but there is no point in burning bridges either. If you are using a hard disk system, then I suggest copying your final log files onto a freshly formatted diskette after the contest and placing this archive disk in a safe place. If you get a newer version of CONLOG in the future, be sure to save the current version in the unlikely event that the log files will be incompatible. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 4 B. CONFIG.SYS When DOS is first booted up, many pieces of information are initialized. Some items, which are very common, are the system date and time, the "prompt", and the "path" environment variable. These are usually set from within a file called "AUTOEXEC.BAT". Although sometimes missing from floppy-based systems, this file is omnipresent on hard-disk systems. There is also another file which is often overlooked on both floppy and hard disk systems: CONFIG.SYS. This file contains information relating to additional device drivers, country information, ram disk initialization, and other strange and wonderful items. If this file is not available during boot up, DOS does not complain; it simply makes certain assumptions which are usually valid. One of the assumptions made is the number of file handles which can be simultaneously open by all programs. File Handles are the means used to identify file or device channels between DOS and application programs. They are numbered beginning at 0. By default, each executing program starts with 5 file handles which are automatically opened by DOS: standard input -- the keyboard standard output -- the screen standard error -- the screen (and sometimes the keyboard also) standard aux -- usually the first serial port found standard printer -- the "PRN:" channel, usually LPT1: The first two channels, standard input and standard output, may be "redirected" from the command line using the '<' and '>' symbols. (You DID read about that in your DOS manual didn't you??) The other channels may not be redirected from the command line, but may be altered using the DOS "MODE" command. The point of this discussion is that 5 file handles are automatically opened at program execution time, whether they will be used or not. (Just as an aside, CONLOG uses standard input and error, but not the others. INSTCLOG uses standard input, output, and error, and the others use standard output and error. None of the programs will allow standard input or output redirection. Attempts to do that will get you a warning message and the program will terminate.) Unless specified differently, DOS will default to a maximum of 8 possible file handles. This leaves just 3 extra handles available for CONLOG. If you don't do anything tricky, this is enough. However, if you should exit to DOS from within CONLOG (more about this later), you will probably not have enough file handles left to do anything meaningful. CONLOG uses at most 2 file handles. INSTCLOG also uses two, while LOGSHEET and DUPSHEET use 1 each. However, LOGSHEET and DUPSHEET each invoke another subsidiary program, and this may cause the 8 handle limit to be exceeded. How is the 8 handle limit altered? Well, that's where CONFIG.SYS comes in. Check yours now. If it exists, look for a CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 5 line like this: files=20 If it is NOT present, then add it to your CONFIG.SYS using your favorite text editor. The line shown above will alter the default number of files to a maximum of 20. This is the recommended "standard" by power-users of DOS. More and more programs are using larger numbers of files. By setting files=20, it is unlikely that you will ever encounter strange program problems due to the lack of sufficient file handles. C. Date & Time CONLOG keeps track of the date and time for all contacts made. Therefore, it is IMPERATIVE that your system date and time be correctly set before invoking CONLOG. If your system has a real-time clock built in, then you probably already have it set to adjust the system clock at boot up. (By the way; when did you last check the time???) If not, then either add the "DATE" and "TIME" commands to your AUTOEXEC.BAT, or execute them manually. CONLOG "cheats" a little. It never looks at the month, which it forces internally to be always November. (I'm in serious trouble if they ever move the contest to July!) However, CONLOG does look at the date and the year, and of course the time, although seconds are ignored. For logging purposes, all times should be in UTC (GMT). This can be accomplished by either setting your system clock to UTC time, or by establishing a time zone or hour offset during the configuration of CONLOG. (This is explained a little later.) If such a time zone is set, then CONLOG will automatically adjust the system time to UTC time when making log entries and displaying the time onscreen. This eliminates the need to reset your system time from local to UTC for the contest and then back again. Of course, any date/time stamps on the logging files will still reflect your system time, since CONLOG does not actually reset the system clock. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 6 D. Hard Disk Installation Hard disk installation is very easy. First, make a working directory: c: cd \ mkdir nss cd nss Of course, you can name the directory anything you like, or make the directory under another directory instead of the root directory. Once in the working directory, place the CONLOG distribution disk into drive A: and enter: copy a:*.EXE b: As with the floppy installation, the documentation files are not needed except to make a printed copy once. At the end of the contest, I recommend placing the final logging files onto a floppy disk for safekeeping. Whether you leave them on your hard drive as well is up to you. E. Configuration CONLOG must be told something about yourself and your system in order to function correctly. This procedure is called "configuration", and consists of creating a special file named CONLOG.PRM. This file will contain all of the special knowledge required by the entire CONLOG logging system. The file is normally placed in the same directory (or disk) as the executable programs, but it may be placed anywhere in your current "path" as well. If it cannot be found or opened by CONLOG, LOGSHEET, or DUPSHEET, these programs will report the error and terminate. INSTCLOG does not report the inability to find CONLOG.PRM, since this program is used to create it in the first place. Details of using INSTCLOG are in the following chapter. If you are a glutton for punishment, you may create a CONLOG.PRM file with any standard text editor which does NOT make special files (such as WordStar does in the document mode). Details on the format of the file are in the next chapter. The only time you may need to manually edit the parameter file is to change the printer control sequences for boldface, double width, and italic printing. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 7 III. INSTCLOG A. Usage The CONLOG system requires a parameter file named CONLOG.PRM, which contains all the customized information for your installation. This file contains your name, QTH, section, check, rig info, club affiliation, power, time zone offset, plus program information regarding printer capabilities, screen colors, etc. This file is normally in the same directory as the CONLOG programs, but may actually be located in any drive:/directory specified in your PATH variable. CONLOG.PRM is an ASCII text file which may be created using a standard text editor. However, to insure accuracy, simplicity, and avoid syntax errors in the file, INSTCLOG is provided to automate the task. INSTCLOG is an interactive program which asks you for each item of information required and processes your responses into the parameter file. There are no command line arguments to INSTCLOG; simply execute it as any other program. If INSTCLOG finds a file named CONLOG.PRM in the current directory ONLY, then it will retrieve information from that file for each question and display the current entry. This entry may then be replaced with a new one or used as is. INSTCLOG will ultimately rename the old CONLOG.PRM file to CONLOG.BAK and then make a new CONLOG.PRM file. Most items requested require text information, such as your name, address, etc. Several items require a simple yes or no (Y/N) response, or a single digit parameter. For all cases of text input, INSTCLOG allows you to edit the line as you type, and only accepts the line when the <enter> key is pressed. To edit, simply use the backspace ( <-- ) key as you would in any text editor. The <HOME> key erases the entire entry and allows you to start over. The left arrow cursor key is accepted as though it were the backspace key. INSTCLOG will only allow a certain number of characters for each entry; the maximum determined by the available space for that information in the other programs. When the limit is reached, no further characters are allowed, and each keypress sounds the bell. The <enter> and backspace keys will still function as expected, however. INSTCLOG parses the keystrokes to allow only valid data for the entry. For example, when asked for your "check", only digits 0-9 will be accepted. Some entries will automatically convert lower case characters to upper case, others will leave case as is. The <ESC>ape key performs a special function. It tells INSTCLOG to quit and NOT make a new parameter file. This allows you to evacuate the program if you really mess up. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 8 This is the order in which information will be requested: CALLSIGN maximum 10 characters NAME maximum 50 characters ADDRESS maximum 50 characters CITY,STATE,ZIP maximum 60 characters SECTION maximum 20 characters CHECK maximum 2 digits POWER maximum 4 digits TIMEZONE maximum 3 characters PRINTER GRAPHICS ABILITY Yes/No response PRINTER PORT NUMBER 1, 2, or 3 is valid SLASH ZEROS? Yes/No response RIG INFO maximum 3 lines of 79 chars SINGLE/MULTI OP STATION? S/M response CLUB AFFILIATION maximum 50 characters COLOR SELECTION (see below) Color selection is effective ONLY if a color video card is detected. A miniature screen is presented in the upper left corner and a menu of color parameters in the upper right corner. A "rainbow" of possible colors is presented underneath these items. You should be able to see 15 of the 16 colors in this rainbow (the 16th is, of course, black). If you cannot see all 15 visible colors, adjust the color controls on your monitor before proceeding. (As a matter of fact, you can use this program any time you want to adjust your monitor. It displays all 16 of the possible CGA colors.) You are then prompted to select an item to adjust from the menu, and then a color for that item. After each selection, the miniature screen in the upper left is re-painted to reflect the change. When the screen first appears it uses the colors in the current parameter file, or my defaults if there is no current parameter file. When you have the colors the way you like them, one menu selection allows you to save them. This option also causes the final creating of the parameter file and the exit from INSTCLOG. The only other "tricky" entry is the TIMEZONE entry. This is used by the CONLOG program to offset the system clock to UTC time. You may enter any of the usual timezone designations: EST EDT CST CDT MST MDT PST PDT UTC GMT Z If your timezone is not listed above, as for the Pacific CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 9 Section, then enter an hourly offset from your local time (as set in your system clock) to UTC, expressed as 1 or 2 digits. For example, Central Standard Time (CST) is 6 hours behind UTC, and could therefore be entered as "6" instead of "CST". Note that it is assumed that any time offset will be hours to be ADDED to local time to meet UTC time. This is valid since all participants in the contest are in a relatively narrow range of time zones. If your system clock is set to UTC, then use UTC, GMT, Z, or simply 0. B. Editing CONLOG.PRM Normally, CONLOG.PRM may be completely setup by running INSTCLOG. However, since it is a straight ASCII text file, it is possible to edit the file to alter entries. Although the file is ASCII text, there are certain rules which must be observed. Each line in the file describes a single item, and is of the form: id=data where "id" is a code to indicate which item is being described, the "=" sign separates the id code from the data, and "data" is the actual data assigned. The first line of the file must be the version number designation, and is specified as follows @=1.40 for Version 1.40 of the CONLOG system. Be sure to change the version number if you obtain a different version of the program. Any numerical codes (such as printer control codes or color codes) must be entered as decimal values in the range 0-255. If multiple values are needed, each is separated by a comma. No other characters may be used. For all text entries (name, address, etc.) the maximum number of characters for the entry (after the "=") is as indicated in the previous section. Exceeding any entry's size WILL CAUSE THE CONLOG PROGRAMS TO FAIL! Here is a list of the code ids and associated data: C=callsign N=your name A=street address or P.O. Box Q=city, state, ZIP S=section name (spelled out, not abbreviated) Y=your check (last two digits of year first licensed) P=transmit power in watts Z=time zone designation or offset G+ (If your printer supports IBM-type graphics) - or - G- (If your printer is not IBM compatible) CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 10 B+=boldface ON printer control string (see notes below) B-=boldface OFF I+=italics ON I-=italics OFF W+=double width ON W-=double width OFF L=printer port number: 1, 2, or 3 0+ (to enable slashing zeros on printouts) - or - 0- (to disable slashing of zeros) F1=first line of rig information F2=second line of rig information F3=third line of rig information Omit any "F" entry not used M+ (If you are a multi-op station) - or - M- (if you are a single-op station) H=name of club affiliation Omit the H= entry if not affiliated with a club R=color selections (see notes below) - or - R- (to disable colors) The printer entries deserve some further explanation. First, your printer must be connected to LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. CONLOG may NOT be used with serial port printers, only parallel port printers. Fortunately, serial printers are becoming increasingly rare, which is why serial printers are not supported. Second, some printers have a slashed zero as a standard character form, while most do not. If you have a printer which slashes zeros, then set the slashed zero entry OFF (0-). Otherwise, set it ON (0+) to cause overprinting of any printer line with slashes at each zero character. This feature applies only to DUPSHEET and LOGSHEET. The printer logging output of CONLOG does not slash zeros. Finally, the control strings for boldface, italics, and double width default to IBM-type printer codes. If you have a printer which uses other codes, then you will have to edit them into these lines. (Actually, this is the only real need for editing this file.) The data fields of these lines contain the decimal control character strings to enable or disable the named feature, with an additional decimal value as the first value. This additional value is the number of control characters in the string. For example, the IBM control sequence to turn on boldface printing is "<ESC>ape E", which is decimal value 27 and 69. Since this string consists of two control characters, the string would be entered as: B+=2,27,69 Make sure that each value is separated by ONLY a single comma. The maximum number of control characters for each entry is 9, which should be more than enough for any printer. If a feature is not supported, or if you simply want to defeat it, then CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 11 either eliminate both the ON and OFF control strings from the file, or set the first value to 0 as follows: I+=0 I-=0 The above two lines will defeat italics printing. The color entry (R=) is formatted just as the printer control strings, except that there is a fixed number of values which MUST be entered. Each value represents a color used on the screen, and must be represented as a two-digit decimal number in the range 00-15. The order of entries is: Main Background Main Border Main Text Data Input Function Key Menu Background Function Key Menu Border Function Key Menu Text Highlights Error Background Error Text Statistics To defeat all colors, simply use R- as a entry. Of course, if your default video device is a monochrome adapter card, this entry will be ignored anyway. Here is a list of the legal color values: 00 Black 01 Blue 02 Green 03 Cyan 04 Red 05 Magenta 06 Yellow 07 White (normal) 08 Gray (hi intensity black) 09 Light Blue 10 Light Green 11 Light Cyan 12 Light Red 13 Light Magenta 14 Light Yellow 15 High Intensity White Use care in assigning any color value above 08 to a background color, since you will get blinking foreground colors instead. There are no "Light" background colors. Any line beginning with a semi-colon (;) is treated as a "comment" line, and is ignored by all CONLOG programs. This allows you to enter notes into the file relative to the meanings of the lines, if you wish. It cannot be stressed to strongly that errors in the parameter file will seriously affect operation of all CONLOG CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 12 programs, even though the programs attempt to validate the syntax of each line before trusting it. I strongly suggest using INSTCLOG first and printing out the resultant CONLOG.PRM file before attempting to edit it. The printout will serve as a sample of proper entry format. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 13 IV. CONLOG A. Files and Formats Logging information from CONLOG is saved to disk in two different formats. The first format is in a file named BACKUP.LOG, and saves data on all operations done during the operation of CONLOG. This file is used as a disaster backup. If power should fail, or your system should fail, BACKUP.LOG can be used to recover your log intact up to, and probably including, the last entry. Information saved includes each log entry, times on and off, log entries deleted or edited, and the time and filename of log dumps to disk. The second type of file is a "log dump" file, which saves the log information currently in memory. This type of file does not save deleted entries, and only saves the edited copy of an edited entry. It also saves section and QSO totals, total time logged on, and other vital information. It may also be used to recover from a power or system failure, but it will only be as accurate as the last time the log dump was performed. Unlike the BACKUP.LOG file, which is automatically created and updated, the log dump files are created only on operator command (see section I in this chapter, and chapter VII.). The log dump file is the file used with LOGSHEET and DUPSHEET to create the final printouts. BACKUP.LOG cannot be used for this purpose. Both file types are saved as ASCII text files, with one entry per line. However, the BACKUP.LOG format is not readily readable, since information is stored in a format which is convenient for use by CONLOG, rather than readable by real humans. The BACKUP.LOG format looks like this: ;File opened: 1207Z, 11-14-87 +0727 14 0000 : WA9XYZ 0001 0023 B 62 56 0727 2 0000 : W1AW 0002 0001 A 24 00 0728 2 0001 : K9ABY 0003 0123 B 55 63 0730 3 0003 @ K9ABY 0003 ;EDIT WA9XYZ 0001 ! WA9XYZ 0001 0024 B 62 56 0727 2 0005 -0732 14 0005 ;File: SWEEPS.87A Saved 11-14-87 1212Z ;READ LOG FILE: sweeps.87a at 1300Z 11-14-87 ;File closed: 1301Z, 11-14-87 This short excerpt shows just about all of the entries which can occur in the BACKUP.LOG. Note that each time you execute CONLOG, it will append new data to any existing BACKUP.LOG file in the current directory. If there is none, then it will be created anew. It should be obvious that the first character in each line has a special meaning. These are: CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 14 ; Comment or note for "human" readers + Indicates a "time on" entry - Indicates a "time off" entry : Indicates a QSO entry @ Indicates a deleted QSO entry ! Indicates an edited QSO entry The data following each code character varies with the type of entry. For time on and off entries, the first set of digits is the current time (UTC is assumed) in minutes since midnight of the current day. The next set of digits is the date, and finally is the current total time logged on in the contest, also expressed in minutes. QSO entries begin with the callsign, of course, followed by your QSO number, and then the other station's QSO number. Next is the precedence, check, section, time worked, band, and total contest time in that order. The section is specified as a number which is translated within all CONLOG programs to a section name. Number 00 is the CONN section, and number 74 is the YU-NWT section. The numbers are ordered as they appear on the CONLOG screen, proceeding downward in each column. Of course, this information is really not necessary for you to know, but it helps to understand what this log format contains. The band entry is also a number which corresponds to a band, with 1 being 80 meters, and 5 being 10 meters. Band 0 means that no band was selected. The entry time and total time are expressed in minutes since midnight, and total minutes, respectively. An edited entry appears in the same format as a normal QSO entry, except that certain fields will not change. The time worked and your QSO number cannot be altered. The total time will be the total time when the edit took place. This total time field is used during recovery functions to constantly update the total time counter. The comment entries appear for noting when files were saved or recovered, and for logging times when the BACKUP.LOG file was opened and closed. They are for user information only, and have no other purpose. Although possible, it is EXTREMELY UNWISE to attempt to edit the BACKUP.LOG file. Tab characters are used as field delimiters within each line, and they may NOT be altered to spaces. In addition, some text editors place and end-of-file marker character in a file. If this occurs, CONLOG will later append new data AFTER the EOF marker, and all that data will then be difficult, if not impossible, to recover. To cover this last case, a batch file is provided called NOEOF.BAT, which can be used to remove an EOF character from the BACKUP.LOG file. If you should happen to edit this file, be sure to run NOEOF.BAT before attempting to re-use BACKUP.LOG with the CONLOG program. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 15 The format of the log dump file is similar to that of BACKUP.LOG, but more readable to a "real person". The format of lines is: ;File: SWEEPS.87A Saved 11-14-87 1212Z + TIME ON 11-14-87 1207Z : WA9XYZ 1 24 B Ill 62 1207Z 40 : W1AW 2 1 A Conn 24 1208Z 40 - TIME OFF 11-14-87 1212Z >Conn 1 >Ill 1 ;QSOs SECTIONS SCORE TOTAL TIME # 2 2 8 00:05 ;Next number to send is: !4 The same scheme of identifying each line with a code character is used, except that some different characters are used. Here is a list of the codes for the log dumps: ; Comment or note for "human" readers + Indicates a "time on" entry - Indicates a "time off" entry : Indicates a QSO entry > Indicates a section total # Indicates scoring and logging totals ! Indicates the next number you will send In these files, all times are reported as normal hours and minutes. The QSO entry line should be easy to read. The fields in order are callsign, your number, his number, precedence, section, check, entry time, and band. You will notice in the above example that there are no entries for deleted or edited QSO entries. That is because deletions should not appear in the log, and only the final edited entry is valid. Compare this example to the BACKUP.LOG example above and note that the K9ABY entry does not appear (since it was deleted), and the WA9XYZ shows his number as 24, which is the edited version (the original entry was 23). All items relating to section totals and score totals are for the use of LOGSHEET and DUPSHEET programs, and for restoring the complete log to memory if you re-execute CONLOG. The same cautions apply to the log dump files as to BACKUP.LOG regarding editing them. There really shouldn't be any need for that, but if so, all tab characters must be preserved. However, an end of file marker character is acceptable here, since these files are never appended, only created new. Section I of this chapter and chapter VII explain more about using the various file recovery and save functions. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 16 B. Screens There are two screens used in the CONLOG program. The main screen is used for actually logging QSOs. The function key menu "pops up" in the lower half of the main screen in order to give access to special non-logging functions. The function key menu is visible when you first execute the program. Refer to Appendix A for printouts of the screen formats (the decorative borders have been eliminated from the printouts). The function key menu is displayed whenever CONLOG is in the "command mode", and disappears when CONLOG is in the "logging mode". The switch is made with the <F1> key. It will toggle CONLOG between the two modes. C. Logging On and Off Logging on and off creates entries in the contest log which indicate the times you started and stopped working the contest. Current rules state that an "off" period must be at least 30 minutes, but CONLOG does not enforce that rule. Be sure you observe it, however, to avoid disqualification of your log. Logging on and off may only be done from the command mode. If you are currently logged off, CONLOG cannot be placed into the logging mode. An error message will appear if you attempt to use the <F1> key while logged off. The function key menu will always be displayed while you are logged off. Pressing <F2> while in the command mode will log you on or off, and the legend onscreen will change accordingly. When you log on, the total contest time counter will begin to run as well, and will stop when you log off. D. Changing Bands The band you are working must be manually selected in the command mode. This is accomplished with the <F5> key. Each time it is pressed the BAND field of the main screen will change to the next band. The order of change is 80-40-20-15-10 and then back to 80 again. You may alter the band setting regardless of being logged on or off. It is VERY easy to forget to change the band setting when changing the band on your rig. This could cause your log to be disqualified. BE SURE to change the band information in CONLOG whenever you change bands on your rig! CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 17 E. Printer Listing Besides the normal backup files which CONLOG creates, it is possible to also log each operation to your printer. In the command mode, function key <F9> toggles printer logging on and off. The legend on the function key menu will report the current setting. This may be toggled regardless of being logged on or off. If you use this function, be sure your printer is online and loaded with paper. If CONLOG detects any printer error during operation, a warning message is displayed for a few seconds, and the printer is automatically toggled off. This feature is a handy way of being able to quickly scan back through your log without having to save it to disk, exit to DOS, and look at it in that manner. F. Making Contacts This is where the fun begins. After getting your rig warmed up, laying in a supply of your favorite liquid refreshment, kicking the kids and spouse out of the house, and taking the phone off the hook, you're ready to begin making contacts. If using floppy disks, place the CONLOG working disk into either drive A: or B: as you desire. Switch to that drive, and invoke the program by typing CONLOG This will run the program and establish or re-open the BACKUP.LOG file. DO NOT REMOVE THIS DISK WHILE CONLOG IS EXECUTING! To do so will cause failure of CONLOG and loss of your backup log file! If using hard disk, change to the CONLOG directory and invoke the program as above. Obviously, you cannot remove the disk, so there should be no trouble here. After the signon screen appears, hit any key (except Ctrl-Break) and CONLOG will be ready for use. First, use <F5> to set your band. Then, use <F2> to log "on" to the contest. Finally, use <F1> to enter logging mode. The main screen (Appendix A) is divided into separate areas depending upon the information being reported. The top line is the only line actually used in making the log entry. The second line will always report the next number for you to send, and your current band. The lower half of the screen reports the sections NOT WORKED. As you make contacts in new sections, this area will gradually become empty. The cursor is always on the top line, and shows you where your next character will be entered. For a fresh entry it starts in the CALLSIGN field. It is not necessary to fill in the entry fields in order, but they must be all filled in before the entry may be logged. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 18 For all but the PREC field, the entry may be edited by using the backspace ( <- ) key. In addition, the <HOME> key will erase the current field and place the cursor at the start of the field. Invalid keystrokes will cause a "beep" and will not be echoed to the display. The CALLSIGN field does not accept any punctuation, so do not attempt to enter any portable ("slash") identifier suffix. It really isn't needed for logging anyway. Duplicate checking is performed when the CALLSIGN field has been filled, and movement to another field is attempted. When the log begins to get large, there may be a slight pause during the search process. If the callsign is already in the log, an error message is displayed next to the CALLSIGN field showing the number you sent to that station. After a pause of several seconds, the error message is erased, and the CALLSIGN field is cleared out. If you re-enter a field which was already filled in, any characters typed will first cause the field to be blanked. Otherwise, the field may be left alone by moving to another field. Moving to another field is done by pressing the <enter> key. This will move the cursor to the starting position of the next field to the right, with wrap-around from the SECTION field to the CALLSIGN field. You may also directly move either to the next field right or the next field left by using the cursor right or left arrow keys respectively. This is handy for moving across a field without making an entry into it, or without disturbing an entry already in place. The <DEL>ete key will clear all fields and place the cursor back into the CALLSIGN field. If all fields have been filled, but the entry has not been logged, you will be questioned by the system to see if you really want to clear the pending entry. A "y" response will complete the clear. Any other response will ignore the delete request. The <INS>ert key is used to actually log the contact. All fields must be filled, or the <INS> key will be ignored. If the log entry is made, the entry fields will be cleared and the cursor placed in the CALLSIGN field. The next number to send will be incremented, and the scoring line will be updated. The last entry logged will be displayed just above the section tally, and if the contact was a new section, its name will be removed from the section tally. Finally, the entry will be saved in the BACKUP.LOG file, and sent to the printer if printer logging is turned on. The <F1> key may be used at any time to return to command mode, without disturbing any pending entry on the screen. The PREC field is entered slightly differently. When first entered, the field defaults to "B", and that precedence may be selected simply by hitting the <enter> key. If the precedence is "A", then simply type an "A" in either upper or lower case, or use the <space> bar to toggle between "A" and CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 19 "B". Use the <enter> key or one of the other keys described above to move to the next or previous field. The SECTION field has an extra feature. The section can be typed in if desired, or the cursor up and down arrow keys can be used to scan through the list of sections until the desired section is found. The <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys may be similarly used, except they scan by 15 sections at a time, whereas the up and down arrow keys scan in one section increments. Any time a section is selected which has not been worked, its name in the section tally is highlighted. When typing in the section name, either upper or lower case characters may be used. Because of this "case insensitivity", two section identifiers are altered from the ARRL format. The Louisiana section is normally indicated by "La", while the Los Angeles section is "LA". To avoid having to recognize case, the Los Angeles section in the CONLOG program is specified as "LOS" or "los", while "LA" or "la" is reserved for the Louisiana section. The Yukon-Northwest territories section is also renamed from "YU-NWT" to simply "NWT". G. Delete a Contact Sometimes you work a station and log him, only to find out that he really wasn't working you. Or perhaps you simply jumped the gun and hit <INS>ert before you really confirmed the contact. (It happens!) Any logged contact may be deleted by first using <F1> to enter command mode, and then selecting <F3> to delete an entry. You will be asked for either the callsign of the station or your QSO number. If the entry is found in the log, you will be asked to confirm the delete. After completing the action, use the <F1> key to return to logging mode. Note that the deleted call is still in memory, but marked as "deleted", so that it will not be matched during duplicate checking, and will not be saved to a log file later. The QSO number associated with that contact may not be used over again. In addition, your score will be adjusted accordingly. If the contact represented the only contact in a section, the section name will re-appear in the section tally. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 20 H. Edit a Contact You work a station and copy his check as "66". Several minutes later you hear him again, only much clearer this time, and realize that he is reporting a check of "56". You can correct the entry by returning to command mode with the <F1> key, and pressing the <F4> key to edit an entry. You will be prompted for either the callsign or your QSO number. If the contact is found, the data from that contact will be placed into the top line of the main screen, and the cursor will be placed in the CALLSIGN field. This is the only time when the cursor will be in the main screen while the function key menu is also displayed. You may now edit any of the fields displayed just as though it were a new entry. Note that any entry in the CALLSIGN field will cause duplicate checking to occur. This means that simply hitting <enter> in that field will run a duplicate check on the current callsign, which will cause a duplicate to be reported. Therefore, unless you really want to change the CALLSIGN field, use the cursor left or right keys to change to the next field, not the <enter> key. The <DEL>ete key will abort the editing process at once. The <INS>ert key will complete the edit function. You will be prompted one final time to confirm the edit or abort it. If confirmed, the entry will replace the old entry in memory. If a section change was made, the scores and section totals will be adjusted as needed. If the section was not changed, the score and totals won't change either. Certain items associated with a log entry may not be edited. These include your QSO number, the time worked, and the band used. The reasons for not allowing alteration of these items should be reasonably obvious from a contest rules standpoint. I. File Functions The <F8> key in the command mode controls the three file functions available. They are: Write the log to a logfile Read a logfile into memory Recover from BACKUP.LOG The last choice would be used only if a power or system failure caused an exit from CONLOG and the log had not been recently saved to a logfile. The current log in memory should be written to disk before any exit from CONLOG, and before using the <F7> Suspend to DOS function. After pressing <F8>, you will be prompted for the type of file function you wish to perform. If you choose to write the log file, the entire log in memory will be written to a new CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 21 file. The name of the file will be: SWEEPS.yyz where "yy" is the last two digits of the current year, and "z" is a letter from A to Z. CONLOG automatically searches the current directory and uses the lowest letter available. Therefore, for 1987, the first file written would be "SWEEPS.87A", and the fifth file would be "SWEEPS.87E". If you write more than 26 files, the final extension character will be "$", and you will be reminded to erase (or move to another directory or disk) some of the older files. Until you do this, all saves will use the "$" character and will overwrite the last file with that name. You may use the <F7> function to exit to DOS and erase some files. Normally, you will not save more than 26 files, so there should be no need to erase intermediate files until after the contest. If you choose to read in a log file, you will be prompted to enter the name of the file to read. This should be the most recent log file saved, so that the log will be as up to date as possible. If the log file was created and nothing further was entered after that, then the log will be fully up to date. If you have data currently in memory, you will be warned that it will be lost, and allowed to confirm or abort the read operation. If you choose to recover from BACKUP.LOG, that file will be read and your memory log will be restored. If there is data in memory at present, you will be warned and given the opportunity to confirm or abort the operation. When you will be logging off the contest for an extended period of time, say an hour or more, you should log off with the <F2> key, save the file to disk, and then exit the program using <F10>. Later, execute CONLOG again, and as the first operation, select <F8> and a Read operation on the last file saved. This will restore you to the condition at which you left off. J. Standby (Screen Saver) CONLOG is a "static" screen program. In other words, much of the information displayed never changes. It is possible to permanently etch information into the phosphor of a CRT. (Check out your bank's "Money Machine" screen to see what I mean!) CONLOG normally won't be used enough to cause this problem, but a feature has been added to help avoid it if you leave the contest for some minutes and don't want to exit CONLOG. Using <F1> to enter command mode, press <F6> to invoke the screen standby. The screen will be blanked except for one line, which reminds you to press the space bar to restore normal operation. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 22 K. Invoking DOS from CONLOG It is possible (if you have enough memory) to temporarily exit CONLOG back to the normal DOS prompt, without actually exiting CONLOG. This can be done to quickly check disk space, look at the directory, print a file, or whatever. What can be done is mainly limited by how much free memory is available on your system with CONLOG in place. From the function key menu, press <F7> to suspend CONLOG operation and exit to DOS. If the suspension works, you will get your normal DOS prompt. To return to CONLOG, type "EXIT<enter>" and you will be returned to CONLOG as you left it. L. Terminating CONLOG From the command mode, simply press <F10> to quit CONLOG. If you have made any changes to the log since the last time you saved the log, CONLOG will remind you of the fact and ask if you really want to exit without saving the log. In all cases, CONLOG will request confirmation of your decision to exit before the exit actually happens. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 23 V. DUPSHEET Even though a logging program like CONLOG will positively prevent duplicate contacts, the ARRL still requires a duplicate check sheet for all log entries totaling 200 QSOs or more. However, the ARRL has agreed to accept an alphabetic printout of callsigns, arranged by call area, in lieu of the standard handwritten form they issue. DUPSHEET is a program which prints a duplicate check sheet from your log file. DUPSHEET will not use the BACKUP.LOG file, only a log file which was created with the (W)rite option of <F8> in the CONLOG program. In addition, the first two characters of the filename extension must be the last two digits of the contest year. The filenames automatically generated by CONLOG provide this requirement. If you rename or copy the files, be sure to observe the naming convention. SWEEPS.87G is O.K. SWEEPS.876 is O.K. LOG.87A is O.K. FILE.LOG is invalid To use, simply invoke DUPSHEET with the name of the log file to use: dupsheet sweeps.87a Naturally, substitute your actual filename in the example above. All printer configuration information will be retrieved from CONLOG.PRM, which must be available and already established by running INSTCLOG. (See Chapter III.) The printout will be made with call area 0 first, proceeding through call area 9, and then Canada. Within each call area, callsigns will be arranged alphabetically by callsign suffix. Prefixes are ignored for sorting, and this is considered acceptable by the ARRL. To sort by both prefix and suffix would extend the time the sort takes by a very great amount, and for no real purpose. Even a sort of 300 entries on a typical 4.77mHz IBM-XT will take a number of seconds. The larger the file, the longer the sort. BE PATIENT! Just because nothing seems to be happening doesn't mean the program has crashed. If your contacts number into the thousand range, the sort on a standard XT may even take a minute or more. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 24 VI. LOGSHEET The final stage in working the "sweeps" is preparing a log and summary sheet for submission to the ARRL. LOGSHEET is a program which performs this function from your log file. LOGSHEET will not use the BACKUP.LOG file, only a log file which was created with the (W)rite option of <F8> in the CONLOG program. In addition, the first two characters of the filename extension must be the last two digits of the contest year. The filenames automatically generated by CONLOG provide this requirement. If you rename or copy the files, be sure to observe the naming convention. SWEEPS.87G is O.K. SWEEPS.876 is O.K. LOG.87A is O.K. FILE.LOG is invalid To use, simply invoke LOGSHEET with the name of the log file to use and the word "phone" or "cw" to indicate which mode was worked: logsheet sweeps.87a phone Naturally, substitute your actual filename and mode in the example above. The filename must be the first parameter and the mode second. All printer configuration information will be retrieved from CONLOG.PRM, which must be available and already established by running INSTCLOG. (See Chapter III.) In addition, LOGSHEET collects all the miscellaneous information entered in CONLOG.PRM to complete the summary and log sheet headings. Basically, there is nothing to do after running LOGSHEET. The logsheets will be printed first, followed by the summary. Just sign and date the summary form where indicated. If you are a multi-op station, you will also need to fill in the callsigns of all operators in the space provided. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 25 VII. File Maintenance A. Saving to Disk While running CONLOG, the <F8> function can be invoked at any time to write out a disk file of the complete log. This should be done as frequently as you see fit. I suggest writing the log every 1 hour or 100 contacts, whichever comes first, but adjust this to your operating conditions. The BACKUP.LOG will always be up to date, but it should be relied upon only as a disaster backup, not as the primary disk image of the log. A current log dump always gives me a "warm, fuzzy feeling", as it should do for you, too. Naturally, this log dump should ALWAYS be done before exiting CONLOG. If you don't, CONLOG will remind you before you are allowed to exit the program. After the contest, use the last dump as the file for creating the log sheets and duplicate check sheets. When they are properly printed out, you can erase all of the earlier log dump files. Don't even bother to save them on a floppy -- only the last file is really valid. If you operate both the cw and phone contests, be sure to save the BACKUP.LOG and SWEEPS.* files in a separate directory or floppy disk before running the phone weekend. This is very important! If you don't, your phone operation may become appended to, or replace your cw logs! B. Replacing and Deleting BACKUP.LOG The BACKUP.LOG file has no further use after the contest is ended and the logs are printed out. At that time, it should be deleted. Since it is no longer needed, there is no point in using up disk space. More importantly, since CONLOG always appends information to any existing BACKUP.LOG, erasing it will insure that it starts fresh for the next contest, or for the phone contest if you have already worked the cw contest. C. Using the Log Information The log file is mainly used for creating the final printout. However, if you print out the log file as it stands using any convenient means, such as "copy sweeps.87g prn:", you will find that at the end of the file is a list of all the sections worked and the number of contacts in each section made. This information may be useful to you in future contacts to determine where to direct your beam, what geographical areas you seem to work best, etc. Future plans for CONLOG include statistical compilation of this data indicating the optimum times for each section, number of calls per hour, busy hours, slack hours, etc. Until then, use this file information as you will to improve your score. Remember, "there's always next year"! CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 26 VIII. SHAREWARE Shareware is "try-before-you-buy" software, reasonably priced and user-supported. This simply means that you can get shareware software for free from anyone who has a copy, or often from bulletin board systems. If you use and like the program, then the author asks that you register the program for a usually small fee. By registering you will often also receive notice of available upgrades or supplemental programs. Payment under shareware is on the "honor system", but if the program is useful and the price is right, then you should play by the rules and register! Also, keep in mind that the purchase of a program from a public domain distributor or payment to an online service (such as CompuServe) does NOT constitute registration of the program since the producer of the program does not receive one penny of that payment. The CONLOG system is a shareware program. If you use it, please send your payment of $20.00 and you will be placed on a mailing list for any future upgrade notices, and will be registered as a user of this program. You will also receive a diskette with the latest version of the program and documentation. Online help is available through CompuServe (74435,1042) or GEnie mail (S.MARGISON). Sorry, but online help is available ONLY to registered users. A registration form is provided at the end of this manual. Help is also available by mail. I will try to answer all letters within 48 hours. Non-registered users must include a SASE for a reply. The degree of help offered to non-registered users is purely discretionary. No phone calls, please. CONLOG may be freely exchanged or given away. However, it may not be included or "bundled" with any software which is sold or is a commercial product without prior permission. No charge may be made for copying or transferring the files. PC Users groups and PD software distributors may charge a nominal fee, but please request a complementary copy of the latest release rather than use a copy from another user. This insures that you have the most accurate copy. CONLOG and its documentation may not be transferred nor exchanged in any modified form. If you really want to "hack" the program or the documentation, by all means do so; but don't give the hacked version to anyone else. I cannot be expected to help others use this program if it is not the same as it was when distributed. Under no circumstances may the copyright notices be altered or removed from the program or this documentation. If you decide not to use CONLOG, then just erase it or pass it on to someone else. If you do use it, please play fair and send in your registration. Inexpensive shareware cannot continue to exist if those who use it continue to treat it as a gift, rather than as a product for which the author must receive payment. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 28 IX. WARRANTY Oh, this shouldn't be necessary among friends and gentlemen, but it's really the lawyers who run the world and they say we gotta do this: ** CONLOG, its support programs, and this documentation are copyright 1987 by Steven E. Margison. ** This program and documentation are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. ** The user of this program and documentation agree to hold the author and/or distributor(s) of this program and documentation harmless for any direct or consequential damages resulting from its use. In other words, "you're on your own!" ** IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. ** MS-DOS is a trademark of MicroSoft Corporation. ** Many other tradenames have been used in this manual, acknowledgement of which may be assumed. CONLOG November Sweepstakes Logging System Page 28 APPENDIX A. Screen Layouts Main Screen: CALL QSO PREC CHECK SECT Send QSO # BAND Time On: Time: 0000Z Total Time: 00:00 QSO Total: 0 Sections: 0 Score: 0 Last Call Logged: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 VE Conn ENY EPa Ala Ark EBay Ariz Mich Ill Colo Mar EMass NLI Del Ga La Los Ida Ohio Ind Iowa Que Me NNJ MDC Ky Miss Org Mont WVa Wisc Kans Ont NH SNJ WPa NC NMex SBar Nev Minn Man RI WNY NFla NTex SCV Oreg Mo Sask Vt SC Okla SDgo Utah Nebr Alta WMass SFla Stex SF Wash NDak BC Tenn WTex SJV Wyo SDak NWT Va SV Alask W.I. Pac ======================================================================= Function key menu: 1. Exit To Logging Mode 6. Screen Standby 2. Log On & Off --> OFF 7. Suspend to DOS 3. Delete An Entry 8. File Functions 4. Edit An Entry 9. Printer Toggle --> OFF 5. Select Band 10. Exit Program Make Function Selection... ======================================================================= SOFTWARE REGISTRATION FORM AND ORDER ======================================================================= A separate form must be filled out for each product ordered or registered. This form may be photocopied, printed out, or edited to include all information and re-printed. PRODUCT: --------- CONLOG SWEEPSTAKES SYSTEM V1.40 -------------- Quantity: Amount: _________ Standard Registrations $20.00 $______ If ordering 3 or more copies, discount the price by 20% ($4.00) per copy LESS DISCOUNT $______ TOTAL ENCLOSED: $______ If you already have this program, from where was it obtained? [ ]CompuServe [ ]Friend [ ]Employer [ ]BBS:__________________ Version___________ Serial No._______________ Payment is by check[ ] or money order[ ] (Sorry - no COD or charges) NAME _____________________________________CALL: ____________ ADDRESS ____________________________________________________ CITY _______________________________________________________ STATE___________________________ ZIP _______________________ ======================================================================= Send completed form and payment to: Steven E. Margison, WA9DRE 124 Sixth Street Downers Grove, IL, 60515 ======================================================================= - do not write below this line - recd________ sent________ version #_____ serial #_____ Member, Association of Shareware Professionals ("ASP")