Version 3.19, 21-11-2000

NEW FEATURES

• In order to implement downloading of the current TurboLog version from our website we have now changed the program according to the following procedure:

You can download a new copy of TL at any time you want and as often as you want whithout needing to ask us.

Every download, however, is by its nature a demo version in the beginning.

If you have subscribed to the update service or buy a new upgrade or update we will give you a licence key. This key is valid for your call exclusively and for the period of time you have been booked for.

Entering a valid key and your call will turn the demo version from that time on into a fully licenced version.

Please further note: If your key would be valid for or including version 3.18 and you would try to install 3.19 on top of it (which is still the way to do it) this would then yield a demo version!

The "one year update service" will mean for the future that you will be allowed to download 2 distinct versions, e.g. if you had 3.18 extend the "update service" you can consequently download versions 3.19 and 3.20.

You only need to download just one selfextracting archive which is named TL3INST.EXE

Please copy this file from the download into a temporary directory first. Start the archive from there. You are prompted for the target disk drive and file name. This of course should be the old version in case you upgrade/update. On start of the new program you will be asked for the key. Entering it would end the procedure. If you did it correctly the program will not ask you any more. An existing demo can of course be changed at any convenient later date into a full version.

Turning a demo into a full version will only require to move into the INFORMATION menu, to select the submenu item to go through the dialogue and to enter the key.

Those not having INTERNET access, please don't panic. There will be the disk service as a backup as long as it is needed. The installation procedure, however, is from now on as above.

There will also be the written documentation ( handbook, Quick Reference card) for new users and for the upgraders from version I and II for the foreseeable future.

We hope you will appreciate this new 24h on the spot service from TURBOLOG COMMUNICATIONS.

• Following a number of requests we have now also restructured the code to allow overwriting of existing files in PASTE and other STORE operations. You are prompted in each case whether you really want to overwrite an existing file before it will happen.

• By pressing CTRL-C from the main logging screen you can now enter a new very powerful unit which allows you to find the direction to a remote site with given locator or coordinates and to perform radio source localization by applying crossbearing techniques with the help of a second site and bearing. You can decide whether you want to work with Maidenhead locators or geographical coordinates to perform the localization operation. Furthermore, for ease of operation, you can select your locator as given in the INITIAL SETUP to be used as the first bearing poste. Localization then only requires a locator and bearing from a second poste which can easily be reported via the packet radio network.

  What is the benefit of this facility?

  You can now precisely localize:

• Location of an Aurora reflecting point
• Determine position and movement of sporadic Es-clouds
• Centers of thunderstorms
• Bandintruders ( Pirates, OTH-RADAR/Woodpecker, etc)
• Jammers, qrm-makers and other annoying operators
  

....with just a little help from at least one fellow ham ( the more the better ).

Of course the accuracy of the computation strongly depends on the quality and geometry of the input data (garbage in--->garbage out). As a rule of thumb the distance to the target should not exceed the length of the base line by a factor of 5 to 6. Precise bearings are necessary for small localization errors. We would like to refer to the bulk of literature which is available on the task of radio direction finding.

The bearing is to be taken with respect to geographical north in a clockwise direction. If you want to use geographical coordinates you are prompted to note that western longitudes and southern latitudes have to have a negative sign.

The mathematics involved are based on spherical geometry allowing for a worldwide coverage, in principal. In practice, however, things become rather complex at very long ranges. Thus the computation has been restricted to find targets within the area of an arc of 90 degrees off the bearing postes in any direction ( about 10.000 Km ). The code is just slightly optimized for central Europe.

Have fun with this facility, use Packet Radio for what it is ideally suited, help to find where the black sheep really are and contribute to the protection of our bands.

• Based on the expertise and experience of our customers in far east we have introduced a new facility in order to adjust LOCAL times. TL computes the local time at a foreign destination by evaluating ist geographical longitude. This yields the correct time zone in most cases. Unfortunately there seem to be more and more exceptions from the rule.

• Thus we now created means to adjust local times to any offset from the rule within -127.....+127 minutes. The user can move into UTILITIES---> DXCC--->Edit TIMEOFFS.DAT and assign an offset of suitable range to the DXCC-entity (s)he wishes. An example is given in the header of the file. The format is plain ASCII. If you need to find the country number you can simply enter its prefix into the red logging line of the main screen and press ALT-J. The three letter number is displayed in the upcoming information window.

• Thanks to GM4ZUK we include an import filter for the G0GJV contest log.

• For ease of operation we have assigned the equivalent hotkeys to the menu items under the PACKET menu. This should in particular help to remember the correct key actions in addition to or in lack of a mouse.

• For the same reason we have included the hotkey for toggling through the contents of the logbook cluster/information window (ALT-F5) on the main logging window.

• Following a suggestion from Mats/SM7PKK, who typically makes four or five QSOs per minute we have altered the input procedure in Expedition-Post-Logging mode in order to save as many keystrokes as possible. Date and time are required for input when entering the logging procedure for the very first time only. For all following QSO inputs the cursor will jump directly onto the callfield whilst taking date and time as being constant as long as the operator requires. In case the time needs to be changed CURSOR-UP will yield back to the date/time field for input. This procedure should save many of the keystrokes which were required in the former versions.

COUNTRY.DAT:

• ZS3 was removed as valid prefix for Namibia.
• CS3 was added to the list for Madeira.
• Based on information provided by Ivan, G4BGW, we have largely extended the assignments for Canadian Provinces in AREAS.DAT. Please note, your old AREAS.DAT file had to be overwritten for these purposes. The following assignments are now available and have been partly implemented.

  Prefix: Letter in AREAS.DAT

As you can see we are ready for more Canadian provinces to be identified.

• Following a suggestion from G3TXF we have included ZM7, ZM8, ZM9 as valid prefixes for ZL7, ZL8 and ZL9, respectively.

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