World of Ham Radio 1997

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KD5ON Software Steve Brown 2940 Koop Road Lima, Ohio 45807 USA Phone (419) 999-2186 (evenings & weekends) Prices as of Janurary, 1994 --------------------------- Quantity Price Total ______________________________________________________________________________ _______ DX-OnLine $ 20.00 _______.___ Ohio residents, please include 6% sales tax _______.___ Overseas Shipping (please add $2.00 per item) _______.___ (Not required for U.S.A., FPOs, APOs, Canada or Mexico) Order Total ** _______.___ Payment: ___ Check ___ Money Order (**** DO NOT SEND CASH ****) Programs supplied on 3-1/2" HD Diskettes unless otherwise requested ___3-1/2" HD ___5-1/4" HD ___5-1/4" SD Mail to: Name ___________________________________ Call _____________ Address ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Mail a check or money order payable to "KD5ON Software", in US dollars, drawn on a US bank. A Canadian Postal Money Order in US Dollars is acceptable. Sorry, no C.O.D.s. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments (Suggestions, Problems,etc): -------------------------------------------------------------------------- DX OnLine KD5ON Software Steve Brown 2940 Koop Road Lima, Ohio 45807 (419) 999-2187 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DX OnLine is an antenna bearing/range, signal propagation system that runs on an IBM or compatible personal computer. It is a result of an effort that started in 1989 and has more than 1,500 hours of effort in it. (Probably more if you ask my XYL.) Because of the complexity of the programs, I have targeted people with computers beyond the basic 8088 with a Hercules monitor scenario. DX OnLine requires a minimum of an 80286 with 640K and a color EGA or VGA monitor and a hard disk. I will warn you that even on an 80286 some functions such as the 24 hour MUF prediction will seem slow. Even some older 80386's will take a drag on the 24 hr. I use a 386-20 with a co-processor and it hums right along. 80486's work great. It is my opinion that more and more hams are progressing to more advanced systems so I decided not to sacrifice features to accommodate older systems. Although it is not required, a mouse (Microsoft compatible) is highly recommended. What I feel is one of DX OnLine's nicest feature, the "ROAM" mode requires a mouse. Some of DX OnLine's features include: World Map: The primary display of DX OnLine is a full color map of the world. Browse mode: As you move the mouse around on the world map, the antenna bearing and range is constantly updated. While in browse mode, if you click a mouse button, a window pops up with the current signal propagation prediction. For fine movement of the cursor, you may use the arrow keys. Prompt mode: This mode prompts you for a specific prefix or QTH (city, state, country,etc.). The search is such is that it looks for occurrences of the select parameters keyed. I like this as I don't have to remember how to spell places like "KYRGYZSTAN". You could key "KY","YRG","STAN", etc. and it would find it. Note that keying "STAN" would also find "TURKMENISTAN", STANLEYVILLE, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that the system has a limit in that it only likes 250 matches for the prompted data. So don't key in "W" for a prefix with no limiting QTH prompt. ~~~~ DX OnLine Print capability: You may print a listing a DX bearings from your home QTH to all locations in the target data base. Temporary home QTH override: you may temporarily override your home QTH data to allow you to demonstrate DX OnLine for someone else from their own home QTH or to print a DX Bearing listing for them. Gray Line: A continually (every 5 minutes) updated representation of the "Gray Line" or day/night terminator is shown on the primary map display. Time The time is shown, both local and UTC. Grid square: The grid square is shown for both home QTH andTargets. The target grid square is shown both in prompt and browse modes as well as on the Antenna bearing listing. CQ Zone: The CQ zone is shown for target QTH's while in prompt mode and on the antenna bearing listing. QTH data base: A data base of target QTH's is provided. You may edit or add to this file as you desire. Prefix cross reference: This is another of what I feel is a nice feature. A data base of prefix to prefix cross references is provided. Many are included. You may add to this data base as desired. This allows you to, for example, key prefix "PP". The X-Ref routine would determine this to be Brazil with a primary prefix of "PY" It also has a USA cross reference. It makes a best guess. For example, you could key my prefix "KD5" and it would put me in the "W5" call area. I know I'm in the W8 area, but I have future plans to incorporate a callbook database into the current call assignment strategy, the KC4's in the W4 call area will have to live with this for now. Current period propagation prediction: You can pop up a window that will give a propagation prediction for the current time to the currently selected target QTH. This can be done by selecting menu option m(U)f then (C)urrent. While in browse mode, clicking either mouse button will go directly to this option. While in this screen, you may advance the time by 1 hour by pressing "H" or by 1 day by pressing "D" 24-hour propagation prediction: Displays a full color graph predicting the propagation for the next 24 hours from yourhome QTH to the currently selected target based on the current Sunspot # or solar flux # you have entered. ~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSTALLING DX OnLine ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The diskette(s) supplied are NOT in packed format so installation is a relatively simple matter. 1. Log on to the Root directory CD \ <enter> 2. Create DXOL directory MD \DXOL <enter> 3. Change to DXOL directory CD \DXOL <enter> 4. Put DX OnLine diskette in diskette drive 5. Load diskette to hard drive Copy a:*.* <enter> (if copying from A drive) or Copy b:*.* <enter> (if copying from B drive) 6. If more than one diskette, repeat steps 4 & 5 for each diskette. (Would only apply if you requested 5-1/4" single density diskettes [360kb]) ~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- DX Online OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Change to the directory that contains the DX OnLine programs and data files. If this directory is "DXOL", key CD \DXOL and press the enter key. 2. Run the program by keying DXOL and pressing the enter key. The program will go thru a short initialization process after which a map of the World will be displayed. If you have a Microsoft compatible mouse installed, you will be placed in the "Browse" mode and the mouse cursor will be at approximately 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude and the antenna bearing and distance from the home QTH will be displayed under the map. Note that the initial home QTH information is from my home QTH of Lima Ohio. Try moving the mouse and watch the display update. Press a mouse button and watch what happens. Notice that just above the map is a menu bar similar to the following: (M)ode m(U)f (P)rint (F)ile e(X)it To select a menu option, key the letter enclosed in parentheses. For example, the File menu is selected by keying "F". You do not have to press enter. The first thing you will want to do is configure the system to your home QTH.To do this: 1. Select the File menu by keying "F" 2. Select edit home QTH by pressing "H" You may now enter your Call, QTH, Latitude, Longitude and hours to adjust for UTC. As I said, the initial information shown is for my home QTH so you may see how the entries should be made. The UTC hours adjustment is enter as East or West rather than + or -. This is to coincide with the longitude. For the continental U.S.: Time Zone Enter EST 5 hr 0 min W CST 6 hr 0 min W MST 7 hr 0 min W PST 8 hr 0 min W For daylight savings time add 1 hour. You will have to manually adjust this field when the time changes. Once you have made your changes, save the Home QTH information and exit. You will now be returned to the main program and everything will be relative to your own home QTH. ~~~ DX OnLine You will now want to configure DX OnLine for your printer. To do this, select Menu Option (P)rinter. Then select option (C)onfigure. You will be shown a list of available printers. You may scroll back and forth through the list to find your printer. Once you have found it,enter the # that corresponds to your printer. If your printer is not listed, try "Epson FX" for a dot matrix or H-P Laserjet for a laser. It is virtually impossible to put every make and model of printer in the master printer definition file. If nothing works, all may not be lost. The printer configuration file is in pretty plain language. The name of this file is "DXOLPRTR.CFG". You may use any editor to edit this file. The format is as follows: The file must have EXACTLY 9 fields and in EXACTLY the following order. (If your printer doesn't use one of the control strings, insert a blank line). 1. Printer text description 2. Printer reset code 3. Compressed print OFF 4. Compressed print ON 5. Proportional print OFF 6. Enhanced print OFF 7. Enhanced print ON 8. ASCII character for Degree symbol 9. ASCII character for Minute symbol You may enter any data into the control string fields. To enter a character that is not available (such as an ESC code), enter a backslant (\) followed by the 3 position decimal ASCII code for the desired character. Any keyboard character may be keyed directly. For example, you could key "\027@". The system would recognize this as esc@ which is the reset control code on Epson FX printers. If you enter a character with a backslant, be sure to enter exactly 3 numeric characters following. Don't leave off any leading zeros. Because of the multitude of different character sets available on many printers, the degree and minute symbols may not always be correct. They are initially set to correspond with the standard PC character set. This should work in most cases. If it doesn't, look in your printer manual to find the proper ASCII character needed and edit file DXOLPRTR.CFG as described above. If you make manual changes to the printer configuration file, you might want to incorporate these changes into the master printer definition file. This file is called "DXOLPRTR.DEF". It is in exactly the same format as DXOLPRTR.CFG except that it contains information for all available printers. Again, be very careful that any printer definition records added to this file contain exactly 9 fields (or lines). ~~~ DX OnLine The following is a list of the Primary Menu options and the secondary prompts that will appear as a result of selecting the primary option. (M)ode (R)oam mode Changes to ROAM mode (if you have a mouse) (P)rompt mode Changes to the prompt for target QTH mode (T)emp QTH Toggles the use of a temporary Home QTH. If going into a temporary QTH, displays a screen to enter the temporary QTH information. m(U)f (C)urrent Displays propagation predictions as of the current time. This is the same as hitting a mouse button in the ROAM mode. 24 hour (P)rediction Computes and displays a graph of the predicted signal propagation from the current time thru the next 24 hours from your home QTH to the currently selected target QTH. Change (S)sn Change the Sunspot # (Solar Flux) to the current values. This is available from a number of sources including WWV and ARRL bulletins. A SS# of 175 is set as an itial value. (P)rint dx (A)ntenna bearing list Prints and antenna bearing chart from your home QTH (or a temporary QTH) to alllocations in the target QTH data base. The information shown is Prefix,QTH,Longitude,latitude,long path bearing, short path bearing,short path range in statute miles, nautical miles and kilometers,the target Grid Square and the CQ zone. (R)egister Prints a form to register DX OnLine. Since this is a registered copy, this is here as a courtesy in case you or a friend wish to order another copy. (D)ocumentation Prints this documentation. (C)onfigure printer Configures DX OnLine to function with your printer. e(X)it (Y)es Exit DX OnLine and return to system (N)o No, do not exit yet ~~~ DX OnLine Note: while in prompt mode, an additional menu option is shown. (T)arget This brings up a prompt to select a prefix and/or target QTH. When prompting for a target, keep the following in mind: The system looks for occurrences of the keyed data. The following are examples of prefix and/or QTH prompt selections: PREFIX QTH RESULT ------ --------- ------------------------------ F All prefixes starting with "F" (F,FG,FH,etc.) LON London,England, etc. G LON London England PORT Lisbon,Portugal Portland,OR Portland,ME etc. UGAL Lisbon, Portugal etc. GX All "G" prefixes - used prefix X-ref to convert If you have any major problems. let me know. 73 es Gud DX Steve, KD5ON