-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All 1999 News for NTIA/ITS HF Propagation Models (WINDOWS version) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Jan 1999 1. In RECAREA, it was discovered that the coefficients were being re-read for each grid point. That has been taken outside the loop, and the calculations now run 3 times faster. There was no effect on the answers. 2. Also, in REC533 and RECAREA a new parameter has been added. SNxx is now the Signal-to-Noise ratio at the requested reliability. S/N is now the MEDIAN Signal-to-Noise ratio (i.e. 50%). SNxx will equal S/N if Required Reliability = 50%. The parameter FS/N (Reliability) is now unaffected by the Required Reliability. It is always the reliability of the MEDIAN Signal-to-Noise. This can be quite confusing, but is more in line with how the IONCAP (ICEPAC/VOACAP) models do it. Otherwise FS/N makes no sense when you change Req. Rel. 08 Jan 1999 1. If you created a Lat/Lon area plot with the Longitude center different from zero, using the cursor to read data values when the map was displayed did not work properly. That has been fixed. 11 Jan 1999 1. If you installed the software other than in C:\ITSHFBC, HFANT may not have worked. I had left in a file OPEN statement that was for debugging purposes, and it specifically OPENed a file in the C:\ITSHFBC\RUN directory. 15 Jan 1999 1. One user did not like it when (in Point-to-Point graph), you pick a point with the mouse and it interpolates the data, but displays the time in decimal (e.g. UT=5.75). That has now been changed to show both decimal and HR:Min, (e.g. UT= 5.75(05:45)). 21 Jan 1999 1. In the AREA programs, there was a problem if you did BATCH runs. If you had a list of files to run in BATCH, and wanted to delete one of them, if it was NOT the last item, the previous file would also get deleted when RUN was selected. This has been corrected. 2. I would recommend that you DO NOT install the software in a directory that contains NON-DOS file names. For example, DO NOT install the software in the Program Files directory. The blank in the directory name will cause the software to not work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Feb 1999 1. All the graph outputs now have a new menu button: to Clipboard Picking this option will write the graphics buffer to the Windows clipboard. The advantage of this over Alt+Print Scrn is that the menu buttons and border around the plot are not copied. This can make a cleaner image. You can then Paste the image into any Windows program that will accept it. I have used Word, WordPerfect, WinGIF, LView, and Paint. 11 Feb 1999 1. This is a beta version to test a new Salford FTN77 compiler. I only have access to Windows-95/98 systems, so I am very interested in any information on Windows-NT systems. The preliminary results on Windows-95/98 are astounding. A test set of calculations that took 75 seconds before, now runs in 27 seconds! And the answers are even the same!! I believe it should no longer require a different installation for Windows-NT systems. Access the file directly on the HF web page: http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/hf.html with the link: HFWIN32-beta (99.0211W). You should install it in the same directory as your previous installation was done. If you experience problems and want to go back to the previous version, you can still download that and install it. Before re-installing the older version, I would recommend deleting all the programs in the ..\bin_win directory to make sure you get the correct versions.. You should also delete the file: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SALFLIBC.DLL That is the dll required by the Salford compiler. If any problems occur, try and provide as much information as possible. 23 Feb 1999 1. This is still a Beta version testing a new compiler. See the news file (99_02_11.txt) for discussion of using the Beta version. 2. This version has modified VOACAP, at the request of Falcon Air Force Base, to be able to use the interpolated daily URSI 88 foF2 ionospheric coefficients. Normal users should always specify the month as an integer. The results will be the same as they always were. If you specify the month as "6.12", you will get the results interpolated to June 12th. VOACAP now contains the same ability as ICEPAC does. This works for all 3 implementations of VOACAP. VOACAP - point-to-point model VOAAREA - area coverage model S_I VOACAP - S/I point-to-point model Remember, when you use the DAILY coefficients, you will be forced to use the URSI 88 coefficients. The CCIR coefficients cannot be interpolated by day of the month. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 July 1999 1. There seems to be no problem with the new compiler, so this is no longer considered to be a beta version. Some minor problems have been fixed (I can't remember what they were). 2. VOACAP has been changed to include the ability to plot the Point-to-Point model versus distance and time as was done to the ICEPAC model some time ago. 3. The USA state boundaries have been added to the area coverage plotting. By default, this is turned off. To turn this option on, select the "BOUNDARIES" menu option when you have a map displayed. Select (USA states or No USA states). This selection will remain in effect until changed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Sept 1999 1. There have been some internal changes to all the models to perform some tasks funded by IBB (former VOA). This will allow them to perform Area Coverage calculations using an ITU/HFCC schedule that they use for HF planning. The first release of the IBB Area Planning software is available. It is installed from a separate file: ibbplan.exe 2. As there is not a lot of funding for HF work, I hope it has not affected other parts of the HF software. As always, "let the buyer beware". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Oct 1999 1. There was a recent problem when using antenna type #90. That should now be fixed in all of the models. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Nov 1999 1. An error causing VOACAP Point-to-Point to ALWAYS use the URSI coefficients was discovered. This may have occurred beginning with the 99.0223 version. The error has been fixed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- End of 1998 ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------