Contents - Index

Updates

The 'VK Callbook Mapper' programme generates its callbook pages from the downloadable Spectra dataset, supplied by the A.C.M.A. For more information on the dataset, and what you are allowed to do with it, click here  (Link will open in your Browser). The dataset contains information on many different types of licences, but we are only interested in the Amateur Radio entries. The programme is supplied with a recent version of the Spectra dataset that has already been processed, so there is no need for you to download a new version straightaway. You can use the included dataset to get to know how the programme works, and experiment with some of its capabilities.

When you wish to update the callbook, use the buttons in the 'Updates' section to first Download the latest Spectra dataset, and then process it. Clicking the 'Download Latest Spectra Dataset' will check to see if a newer callbook dataset is available. You can then choose to download the dataset, which arrives as a zipped archive with a number of files, not all of which are needed for Amateur Radio purposes.

Once downloaded, the dataset must be processed to add it to the correct relational-tables and cross-reference the data to make it useful to us. The callbook entries then need to be geocoded. Processing the dataset is quite a complicated matter involving a number of related database tables, and thus will take quite a few minutes, dependant on the speed of your computer, but you will only need to process the dataset once though, whenever you download a new version. To process the dataset, click 'Process the Spectra Dataset'. After the dataset has been processed that one time, it is available straight away whenever the programme starts up, just like any other callbook.

This programme is about more than just the Spectra dataset, though: its two internal databases hold 9 other external tables that are used to geocode the Spectra tables or to provide useful spatial data that can be referenced from the callbook. You can be check online to see if each of these tables is up-to-date with the latest version on your computer by clicking 'Check for Other Updates': if not, the newer table-version is downloaded and installed automatically. You can also check for a newer version of the 'VK Callbook Mapper' programme.