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Text File | 1987-09-10 | 15.9 KB | 460 lines

SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY DATABASE PROGRAM Version 1.4 Overview The Shortwave Frequency Database program is designed to take frequency information from various sources and give one the ability to manipulate the data. The program can print the data in a regular columnar format or in the "BBC" format as found in their program guide. I wrote the program to help me keep track of English language broad- casts to North America, and I seemed to have gotten carried away. The pro- gram takes data in the form of United Kingdom BBC 2200 - 2330 5.975, 6.175, 9.410 United Kingdom BBC 0030 - 0100 5.975, 6.140 Netherlands 0000 - 0200 9.435, 7.125 and prints it out by country: Greenwich Mean Time 0000 0100 0200 0300 0400 0500 ... 2100 2200 2300 NETHERLANDS DAILY 9.435 EEEE EEEE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 9.435 7.125 EEEE EEEE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 7.125 UNITED KINGDOM BBC DAILY 9.410 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 9.410 6.175 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 6.175 6.140 ..EE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 6.140 5.975 ..EE .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 5.975 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 0000 ... 1600 1700 1800 Local Time by frequency: Greenwich Mean Time 0000 0100 0200 0300 0400 0500 ... 2100 2200 2300 UNITED KINGDOM BBC DAILY 5.975 ..EE .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 5.975 6.140 ..EE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 6.140 6.175 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 6.175 NETHERLANDS DAILY 7.125 EEEE EEEE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 7.125 UNITED KINGDOM BBC DAILY 9.410 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... EEEE EE.. 9.410 NETHERLANDS DAILY 9.435 EEEE EEEE .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 9.435 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 0000 ... 1600 1700 1800 Local Time or in a standard columnar format: SHORT WAVE DATABASE SORTED BY COUNTRY ON 09/04/87 Country Station B-Tm E-Tm Frequencies Target Language ---------------- -------- ---- ---- -------------------- ------- --------- GREAT BRITAIN BBC 2200 2330 5.975 6.175 9.410 ENA ENGLISH GREAT BRITAIN BBC 2430 0100 5.975 6.140 ENA ENGLISH NETHERLANDS 2400 0200 9.435 7.125 ENA ENGLISH (columns shortened in above examples) By the way, in the "BBC" examples, the program consolidated the list- ings for 5.975 and printed it out on one line. I offer my program to the SWLers out there who have an IBM PC and would like to tie together their computer and DXing hobbies. The program was written with Turbo Pascal 3.0, using the Turbo Database Toolbox. It was tested on an IBM PC-XT with a monochrome monitor and an IBM PC with a B&W monitor attached to a color/graphics adapter. The program requires 256K of RAM and DOS 2.0 or greater. This is my first program that I am offering to others, and I would like to see if the user-supported software concept works. I am asking for a dona- tion of $10.00 if you find this program useful. If you like the program (or even if you don't), please feel free to give the program to anyone you think would be interested in it. I am always open to comments or suggestions in order to make the program even better. Let me hear from you! Dan Keever 2405 Highland Avenue Durham, NC 27704 MAIN CHANGES IN VERSION 1.4 OVER VERSION 1.0: 1. I fixed a bug in the data consolidation routine when the program prints out the BBC report by frequency. 2. The editing routine allows you to page through and edit an entire country's data instead of editing one form at a time. 3. On the Update screen, the UTC times are given under the Beginning and Ending times. 4. The Report feature now sorts by country, frequency, AND days aired. The '*' and '-' are no longer used to indicate that a broadcast is not directed toward North America. 5. The CAPS and NUM Lock on-screen indicators now work properly. SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY DATABASE PROGRAM Using the program To Begin the program - Type SHORT at the DOS prompt. For example, A>SHORT To print the documentation on your printer type - A>TYPE SHORT.DOC>LPT1: The main menu appears: ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Short Wave Frequency Database Program ║ ╟─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ 1... [U]pdate the database ║ ║ 2... Print a sorted [L]ist ║ ║ 3... Print out a BBC format [R]eport ║ ║ 4... Print out [I]ndividual countries in BBC style ║ ║ 5... Set up [P]rinter for condensed print ║ ║ ║ ║ 6... [Q]uit the program and save the data ║ ║ [ ] ║ . . . . ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ To select one of the choices, type in the number or the first letter of the desired command. For example, to choose Update, type < 1 > or < U >. No carriage return is needed. Described below are the subcommands for each of the main menu choices: [U]PDATE THE DATABASE Add - add an additional form to the database. Find - finds a country's first form so that any of the country's data can be edited or deleted. Quit - ends the Update routine and returns to the main menu. PRINT A SORTED [L]IST prints a listing sorted by Country, Station, Beginning Transmis- sion Time, Target Area, or Language. The print can be routed to a printer or to disk (to the file SHORT.PRN). This routine creates the file NUM.INX in order to sort the data for the printout. PRINT OUT A BBC FORMAT [R]EPORT prints the listing in the BBC format. The print can be routed to a printer or to disk (to the file SHORT.CTY if it is sorted by Country or SHORT.FRQ if sorted by Frequency). The program will ask how many hours BEHIND UTC is your local time (for example, input < 5 > if you are using Eastern Standard Time). It will print your local time at the bottom of each printout page. PRINT OUT [I]NDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES IN BBC STYLE prints out the same listing as REPORT, except that one can choose which countries one wants on the printout. The information can go to the printer or to a file (SHORT.IND). Using the program (cont.) SET UP [P]RINTER IN CONDENSED PRINT allows you to change the default printer code to print in com- pressed print. On the IBM Proprinter, for example, the code is decimal 15 or Escape 15. For C-Itoh printers, the code is Escape Q (entered in the program as their ASCII equivalents 27 and 81). [Q]UIT THE PROGRAM AND SAVE THE DATA will end the execution of the program. In order to preserve all of the files, BE CERTAIN to QUIT out of the program until you get the DOS prompt (i.e., A> or C> ). SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY DATABASE PROGRAM Update Command 1 UPDATE <-----(Main Menu)-------------- | | 2 --> ADD ------------------------ FIND -----------------------------QUIT | | | 3 | | --> NEXT -------- PREVIOUS ---------- QUIT | | | | | | | | --------------------- | | | --------------------- | | | 4 | | --------> EDIT ----- DELETE ----- NEXT ----- QUIT | | | | | | | 5 | | | | Yes -- No | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | Add | Edit Delete | | | | | | | | | | | | | -----Go to country's next form------ | ------------------------------------------------------- Level 1: UPDATE is found on the main menu. Level 2: ADD allows a new form to be entered. Press <F10> when all the information is correct. Level 2: FIND will locate an existing form by Country for editing or Level 3: deleting. Since there can be many forms for each country, you have the ability to page through the forms with the NEXT and PREVIOUS commands. When you have found the form you wish to edit or delete, type Q to QUIT. You need not enter the entire country name, but just a few characters. You may now edit each form for a particular country without leaving the UPDATE rou- tine. Level 4: EDIT allows you to edit the newly found form. Again, press <F10> when all the information is correct. DELETE allows you to delete the form. Level 5: Type Y to delete the form or N to keep the form. Notes under the ADD command: 1. The program will capitalize everything for you. You don't need to worry about upper and lower case characters. 2. The previous Country and Station appear upon adding a new form, thereby making it unnecessary to reenter the same information over again. 3. The Target Area defaults to ENA (Eastern North America). The program keys on the NA part, so if a station broadcasts to the USA, it is necessary to put NA as the target area. (More on this below.) 4. The Language defaults to ENGLISH. The program takes the first character of the word and uses it in the BBC report. (Again, more on this below.) 5. The When field defaults to DAILY. It is necessary for the program to see the complete word in order to function correctly. (Once again, more on this below.) 6. The times are entered as follows: Hour: Enter the corresponding letter. Examples: X = 24 or 00 hours, B = 02 hours. Minute: Enter 0 for 00, 1 for 15, 3 for 30, or 4 for 45 minutes past the hour. The program ONLY handles time in increments of 15 minutes. 7. After the times are entered, the BBC format will be shown for those times. An example, .... EEEE EE.. .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... The program will show in CAPS any station that is broadcasting in English to North America (hence the need for NA in the Target Area field). The program also takes the first character of the Language field and uses it to indicate what language the station is broadcasting. Therefore, the above example shows the station broadcasts from 0100-0230 UTC in English to North America. Here is another example: eee. .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... eeee (Broadcasts from 2300-0045 UTC in English but not to NA.) 8. The frequencies can be entered in any format: 15.26 becomes 15.260. 6 becomes 6.000. 6.1 becomes 6.100. 610 becomes 0.610. 6175 becomes 6.175. As you can see, the program translates, if necessary, from kilohertz (kHz) to megahertz (mHz). 9. The format of the Updated field is MM/DD/YY. The program will add any leading zeroes if needed (e.g., 3/3/87 becomes 03/03/87). Also, if today is the update day, press ALT-D to automatically input the date. 10. Notes on the Numeric Keypad: To move from one field to another: RETURN or <down arrow> to move forward. <up arrow> to move backward. To move within the field: --> moves one character to the right <-- moves one character to the left. To erase the entire field: Ctrl - End To go to the beginning of the field: Home To go to the end of the field: End 11. Continually pressing RETURN or <down arrow> will keep circling all the data fields. To end the editing, press <F10>. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATASETS INCLUDED IN THIS PACKAGE: SHORT.COM - The main program. SHORT.DAT - The database you create. SHORT.INX - The index file for the database. This file contains the sorted country fields to make finding a particular record in the database easier. SHORT.CTY - The BBC format sorted by Country. SHORT.FRQ - The BBC format sorted by Frequency. SHORT.PRN - The columnar listing of the data. Only the .COM file is needed to begin using the program. The data contained in the .DAT file is erroneous and is included as an example. The program and the data expect to be on the same disk;so it would be best to put the .COM program on its own floppy disk. If you use a hard disk, place the program into whatever subdirectory you wish - the datasets will be created on that subdirectory. The .INX file can, at times, become corrupted. You can tell that when your data seems to go haywire. Usually a corrupted index file occurs when you forget to exit the program completely. To remedy the problem, type "}" at the main menu. This will create a file called NUM.INX which you will need to put in place of the SHORT.INX file.