ARRL International DX Contest Program August 8, 1990 NOTICE: ARRLDXLog_v1.01, ARRLDXScrn_v1.0, and ARRLDXPrt_v1.0, were developed by George R. Leone, K6SG, a member of the River City Contesters, an Amateur Radio Club, and also a member of the Sacramento Amiga Computer Club (SACC) These programs are in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed for non-profit purposes only. The developer assumes no responsibility for any losses incurred by the use of these programs nor is he responsible for debugging or maintainance of the programs. Use them at your own risk! Have fun! GENERAL: It is suggested that this "readme" file be printed out for ready reference purposes. The two principal programs are ARRLDXLog,(version numbers will no longer be given) a logging, dupeing and message sending program; and ARRLDXPrt, a printing program which will print out all required reports. The additional program, ARRLDXScrn, will allow viewing all reports on the screen and making any corrections needed without printing out hard copy of the reports. ARRLDXLog permits the usual contest logging functions and sends your preprogrammed customized contest exchange messages. Several other features are included. Continuous display of running score, QSO rate, number of stations and new country multipliers worked, sending speed, and the amount of operating time used and remaining, though not required by contest rules. Provision for sending a partial call with your exchange and entering the complete call when copying the other station's message as well as asking for and giving fill-ins. Acknowledgement of receipt is made using the complete corrected call. The computer can be toggled between Contest to Chit-Chat mode if you want to chat with an old friend during the contest. Each QSO is logged in a random access file on a disk so that data cannot be lost in the event of a power failure. ARRLDXPrt permits correction to any log entry, the same as ARRLDXScrn, and will print a complete log, summary report, call sign dupe sheet in accordance with the contest reporting requirements. QSL card labels as well as a list of multipliers by band can also be printed out. OPERATION: Copy these programs plus the DXPrefix-Country.lib and AMIGA BASIC to a working disk or preferably to your hard disk. Click on ARRLDXBoot and select ARRLDXLog. Operation of the programs is relatively simple. Just follow the prompts and provide any information reqested which will personalize the preprogrammed messages and printing of reports. Contents of preprogrammed messages, other than information provided at the prompts, can be changed by loading the program and stopping it with the mouse after it is completely loaded. Locate the text of the message you want to change, put in your own text, and then SAVE the program. The ARRLLog dupeing array is DIMensioned to handle 3000 QSOs as are arrays used in ARRLDXPrt and ARRLDXScrn. If you expect to make more than this number of contacts, you must redimension these arrays before you start the contest. Load the program, find the array dimensioned 3000, change to your requirement and SAVE. If you want to keep an accurate account of operating time you must sign "ON" at the beginning and "OFF" at the end of each operating session. Keeping track of your operating time is not a requirement in this contest but it is interesting to keep track of the hours used. The program is designed so that you must enter certain essential information such as ON or OFF, Y or N, last two digits of the contest year, and CW or SSB in order to proceed. To change bands just enter the band (10,15,20,40, 80 or 160) at the call sign prompt. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: It take several seconds for the logging program to load and present the first prompt. Be patient. It takes about 4 minutes for the print program to sort 1000 calls to print the dupe sheet. For proper dupe and multiplier checking and record keeping it is MANDATORY that stations operating portable be properly entered in the log. ANY STATION OPERATING AND SIGNING PORTABLE MUST BE ENTERED IN THE LOG PORTABLE LOCATION FIRST! e.g ja2tut/jd1 MUST BE ENTERED jd1/ja2tut: k6sg/xe2 ENTERED AS xe2/k6sg The portable location must be identified by a bon-fide country prefix and not a country abbrevivation. e.g. ce3abc/ei won't work since you will only get credit for ce3 but ce0a/ce3abc will credit you with Easter Island (CE/EI). I would recommend you print out theDXPrefix-Country.lib for reference purposes. DX stations using ARRLDXLog must make a minor change in the first line of the PRT.IT sequence AND DELETE the second and third lines to allow entry of W and VE contacts. Minor changes also need to be made in ARRLDXPRT to personalize the printing of reports and labels. The transmission of messages is accomplished by an outboard "black box" which contains an audio amplifier, rectifier, and keying transistor. You have to build it! A schematic is yours for a SASE. If anyone out there can make the serial port key a transceiver, I would appreciate knowing how it's done! If you choose not to build the "black box" and use a keyer or bug to key your rig, you can still use the program "as is" for all paperwork functions. When you correct the call sign by using the backspace key, the error will be transmitted followed by the error signal and the corrected call. You can correct the call by pressing DELETE to clear the screen and enter the correct call which will then be transmitted without the error signal. Sometimes only two or three letters of a call will be copied due to poor receving conditions. You can send your message with that portion of the call, and when you receive his message with his call, you can correct it at the prompt 'Correct call or press RETURN'. The print program, ARRLDXPrt, was written for the Epson EX-800 and should work with other Epson printers. You may have to modify it to work with your printer. HELPFUL HINTS: To facilitate operating, you can make a template of heavy paper or light, white cardboard marked with the following information to fit over the function keys until you learn it: F1 - CQ TEST Sends CQ TEST plus your call F2 - MSG Sends his call plus your exchange message. F3 - R+Ur Call Acknowledges receipt of his message. Make sure all repeats are completed before you press RETURN. F4 - CALL Sends your call ONCE for each time you tap the key. F5 - His Call Sends his call once for each time you tap the key F6 - QSO B4 When a dupe, automatically sends his call and tells him you worked him before followed by your call. F7 - NR? Queries his number F8 - My NR Sends my NR F9 - Vacant F10- Vacant Shift 1 - C.Cal Sends his corrected call + my NR Shift 2 - R + MSG Sends R plus your msg. Used when he sends you his message first Shift 3 - QRL? Sends it Shift 4 - QSY Sends QRL Pse QSY + your call Shift 5 - ? Sends ? A general repeat signal asking for a repeat of last transmission CTRL K - Toggles Contest/Chit-Chat modes Up and Down arrow keys increase and decrease sending speed only when not in sending mode. To override the dupe routine when a station is in your log but insists that he didn't work you before, just append / to his call and work him, and resolve the problem after the contest. The / is sent with his call, but that shouldn't bother him. As a matter of fact, this is a good way to flag any contact which might require attention after the contest. MISCELLANEOUS: The ARRLDXLog program utilizes information contained in the DXPrefix- Country.lib file. ARRLDXLog generates a random access file in which all information pertinent to a QSO is stored. The random access file name contains the year of the contest and mode (CW or SSB). When the contest is over this file may be left on the working disk or copied to a data disk which can be used to store files of many contests. The program also sets up a 4 element array used for call sign dupeing and multiplier checking. The DIMension of this array is set at 3000 as previously mentioned. The programs have been generously annotated for those interested in what is going on. Any comments or suggestions for improvement are welcome. George R. Leone K6SG 3631 Kiekebusch Ct. Carmichael CA 95608