Contents
- Index
Quick Start
When you start the programme, a small Registration window will appear, informing you of the number of days remaining from the 7-day trial period. If you have purchased a password to register the programme, you can enter it now, with your email address, or press the 'Continue with Trial' button to continue with an evaluation of the program. During the trial-period, the programme performs with full functionality. At the end of the trial period, the programme must be registered, and the level of functionality will depend on the class of licence that you have purchased. For details of this see the 'Registration' section.
The programme is supplied with a recent version of the Spectra Database, which is sufficient to get you started. There are also a couple of sample logs included, to illustrate the log-facilities.
OK: lets get going. The main programme-window opens to show the Menu-Bar on the top line, and below that, a line of 'tabs' that access the area where the data, logs, and maps are displayed.
The programme starts by showing the contents of the 'Tables' tab, which lists all of the callsigns from the database, with corrections applied. (We will talk more about Corrections shortly.) Notice that the last two columns show latitude and longitude, which are not from the Spectra dataset. The programme has used the Postcode and Suburb names to find the latitude and longitude values from another table in the database. You can sort any of the columns in the table by clicking on its header.
Right-click any callsign in the table, and choose 'Show on Map'. The selected tab will change to 'Online Mapping', and as long as you have an internet-connection, a Bing Map will show with a marker indicating the callsign that you have just clicked on. Move your mouse over the marker, and see a ToolTip open with the callsign-value. Right-click on the Marker and you will see a number of ways that you can perform spatial queries using the position of the callsign as a base-reference. For now, choose 'Query Shires Table'. The 'Tables' tab will then be shown, listing all of the 544 VK Shires, listed in order of distance from the position of the previous callsign. Note that the bearing is also included.
Right-click on any line in the table and choose 'Show on Map'. The Shire will be indicated by a Shire marker-type, positioned at the center-point of the selected Shire. Right-click on that Marker, and as before, you can query any of the data tables with relation to the position of the entity that you selected.
Click the 'Overlay Mapper' tab on the main screen. This shows a different type of map: an Overlay Map, that is similar to the Overlay Maps in my Global Overlay Mapper (Link will open in your Browser) programme. It consists of a number of different overlays that can be stacked on top of each other in any order. The buttons above the Overlay Map turns the overlays on and off. They change to a lighter colour when their overlay is turned on. The button text for the overlay that is currently on the top of the stack changes to white. Experiment by clicking the buttons above the Overlay Map to see the different way that you can create new views and learn new things by stacking the overlays in different orders. The Markers that you added earlier always stay on top of all the map overlays, and can be right-clicked as before to perform new spatial queries.
The next tab, to the right of the 'Overlay Mapper' tab, is 'Great Circle Map'. This shows a great-circle map, centred on a specific VK call-area. You can change which call area the great-circle map is centred on by clicking 'Help > Options' on the upper-Menu-Bar, then selecting the 'Mapping' tab on the 'Options' window and changing the prefix in the 'Great Circle Map' selector. Click 'Save'.
The next tab is the 'Main Log' tab, which shows a stored ADIF log that can be plotted on the Online and Overlay Maps. When first supplied, the Main Log contains a fictitious sample-log, to show you some of the things that can be done with a saved log, but this log can easily be deleted and replaced with your own log. The Main log has its own upper menu-group, on the top line of the window. Click 'Main Log > Plot All Calls', and then select one of the maps. Each QSO in the log has been plotted. Different colours are used for each band that are easily changed. Click 'Main Log > Plot Calls By Band' and you will see an additional menu-item for each of the bands currently represented in the log. The same applies to Mode. Plotting calls by band will show only those calls worked on a specific band. The Log table will also show only the selection requested.
The Auxiliary Log can also be plotted in a similar manner. Whilst the Main Log is meant as a permanent record of your QSOs, the Auxiliary Log is designed to be temporary, and can be used to examine a different log without affecting the Main one. You can also add calls from the Auxiliary log to the Main log by selecting one or more lines, and then right-clicking to choose 'Merge Selected with Main'. The Auxiliary Log accepts imports of ADIF or Cabrillo log-files.
The final 'Grid Squares' tab shows all of the unique grid-squares present in the Main Log, and the bands that they were worked on. You can count the number of times that any square has been worked by right-clicking on it.
On the upper Menu-Bar, click 'Markers > Clear All Markers', to make the following action a little clearer. Then, still on the upper Menu-Bar, click 'Grid Squares > Plot All Grid Squares'. Look at either the Online or Overlay Maps, and see that each grid-square is plotted as a filled box on the map. This is an excellent visual record of all your worked grid-squares. Although on both maps you can hover over a square to see its name, the Overlay Map makes square identification even easier: just click the 'Grid' button on the row of buttons over the map.
You can right-click on any grid square shown on a map, and the same query-menu appears that was present when right-clicking a marker, but the action when clicking a grid-square is very different. This time, the Spatial Query will return all of the entities contained WITHIN the box!
There is another type of box that can be shown on the maps: an IOTA bounding-box. IOTA groups, as you are probably aware, don't refer to a specific island or islands, but rather the islands contained within specific boundaries, subject to qualification. You can show these boundaries on the maps, and then perform a Spatial Query just like the Grid Squares, that will return all entities contained within the IOTA bounding-box.
Has there been a Field Day or Special Event recently? If so, there might be some entries on the ContestRadar.com (Link will open in your Browser) website that have been posted during the last 7 days. This site, developed by Lou (VK3ALB) and Andrew (VK3MIX), allows operators to create a real-time listing of station positions that are being used in a contest or field-day event. The lists are cleared after a specified time, meaning that you will never be left with a list of old and stale operator positions. You can plot all the positions in the current lists, and perform Spatial Queries on the results too, to get an instant table of mobile beam-headings and distances.
Finally, lets look at the Plot Box, in the upper-right corner of the programme-window. This box lets you enter a latitude/longitude position, or a VK grid square, or a VK amateur callsign, or a VK postcode, or a VK IOTA group, or a Suburb name. If it can identify it, the entity will be shown on the maps with the correct type of marker. Try typing 'Cook' and pressing the adjacent 'Plot' button. There is more than one place named 'Cook' in Australia, so a box opens to let you chose the one that you want. Click 'Cook South Australia' - it is a very small town of only 4 people, a stop on the Indian Pacific railway, and is officially 'The Middle of Nowhere' !! You might have to zoom right in to see the railway lines on the Online map.
That completes the introduction to the 'VK Callbook Mapper' programme. For more in-depth information on all features of the programme, please select individual topics in the menu on the left of this Help-Guide.