[linrad] Re: Got Them EME Window / call3.txt Blues Again

[Leif Asbrink <sm5bsz.com; leif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:56:12 -0400
Roger Rehr <w3sz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hello, All,
> 
> I am trying to set up the EME Window on Linrad for Windows and having 
> difficulty.
> 
> I have re-discovered the following:
> 
> 1.  Linrad wants the emedirectory to be C:\emedir, NOT \home\emedir or 
> C:\home\emedir as in Linux [not documented that I can see].
Feedback is really scarse as you know. The number of postings
on this list is pretty small ;-)
In the help file you can find this:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
[301]INITIALIZE THE EME DATABASE
If you did it before and do not want to change anything,
press enter or any other key except M to use your old file:
/home/emedir/linrad_dxdata (Linux)
C:\emedir\linrad_dxdata (Windows)

                        ************

In order to decide what polarisation to use for transmit Linrad
has to know the geographical location of the other station.
There are files on the Internet containing this information.
Make a directory /home/emedir for Linux or C:\emedir for Windows and
copy the data files there so Linrad can find at least one of these files:

/home/emedir/allcalls.dta  or  C:\emedir\allcalls.dta
/home/emedir/eme.dta       or  C:\emedir\eme.dta
/home/emedir/dir.skd       or  C:\emedir\dir.skd
/home/emedir/CALL3.TXT     or  C:\emedir\CALL3.TXT

(Search for emedir.exe allcalls.dta, CALL3.TXT and vhfsched.skd
on the Internet) Linrad will create the file own_info, a file
containing your own location, UTC offset and whether the EME
database should always be installed so you will not have to
press M on the main menu. The database will occupy some memory
and you may want to use memory for other purposes now and then on
a small computer, that is why you have an option here.

Linrad will also create linrad_dxdata which contains the data from all
the files in Linrad's own format. If the files contain incompatible
information, the file location_errors.txt will report the errors.
All files are created in /home/emedir(Linux) or C:\emedir(Windows)

Once the EME database is initialized, the EME window can be
used for finding call signs by a search for fragments using
? and * as "wildcards"
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The above message is shown if you press F1 for help in 
the init procdure:
    lir_text(5,5,"Press M to update, F1 for help.");

The emedir directories should have been specified in options.h
as all other directories used by Linrad. I have forgotten - 
and nobody has complained....

> 2.  dir.skd is no longer available on the net.  At least I couldn't 
> find it.  Even af9y's links for it are broken.
 
> 3.  If call3.txt is either copied from a wsjt download or downloaded from
> http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/tracker.htm and placed in the emedir, 
> Linrad rejects it with the error:
> 
> [1230]routine:init_eme_database  file:eme.c Failed to read CALL3.TXT  
> Excessive line length or field too long.
OK. Seems this file has changed its format one way or another
since I adopted Linrad to read it.

I will look into the EME data base issues for the next Linrad version
but before that I need to know which files besides call3.txt that are
still available and reasonably up to date.

> 4.  The reference page
> http://www.sm5bsz.com/linuxdsp/run/emewin.htm
> makes no mention of the fact that linrad may potentially use call3.txt, 
> but only mentions the now essentially defunct dir.skd, eme.dta, and 
> allcalls.dta files.  I thought I remembered that as a result of a 
> previous posting linrad would work with call3.txt, but was stymied by 
> #4 above.

Since I still have no antenna, I will only act on feedback from
others. Hopefully this will change, I am slowly building the tx side
of Linrad towards the antenna. I just made a 2x15V power supply with
three transformers to give me 15V from a 3-phase unstabilized
power supply to feed 2x WSE RX converters + one set of TX converters
running simultaneously. One RX chain is for "normal usage" on the main
computer. The other is connected to a second computer to serve as a
spectrum analyzer to check the performance of the TX chain that is
connected to the main computer. Right now I have a good signal
on 10.7 MHz (CW/SSB 10.688 to 10.788 MHz)


> I am very suspicious that all of this is old information and that I am 
> having a major deja vu experience, but figured I would send this to the 
> list after Google failed to give me what I need ;)
> 
> All of this came about as I was preparing to give a lecture and 'how 
> to' session on Linrad tomorrow.  I guess I'll skip the eme window, at 
> least from Windows ;)
> 
> [Yes I have everything working from Linux including the EME Window]
As far as I know, there is no difference at all between Linux and Windows
except for the directory names:
/home/emedir/ (Linux)
C:\emedir\ (Windows)

If you supply the relevant information I will update
the EME data base of Linrad to read the files that are
currently available for EME operators.

73

Leif / SM5BSZ


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