-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Jan 1996 News for NTIA/ITS HF Propagation Models (WINDOWS version) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Jan 1996 1. This is the first release of the Windows version of the NTIA/ITS HF Propagation models. It has been tested and seems to run on: Windows 3.1 Windows 3.11 Windows-95. Functionally, everything should work except: a.) output to color printers. Black & White works. b.) calculating SSN from vertical incident sounder foF2 data. 2. For the graphics to look good on the screen, it is suggested that your display support a minimum of 256 colors. If you use the standard default VGA display driver, some of the colors are performed with dithering and crosshatching. It is also suggested that a minimum display size of 800x600 pixels be used. The standard 640x480 does work, but is not as visually pleasing. The larger your display size, the better it will look. 3. Possible printer problems may include not enough memory in your printer. I have a very basic HP IIp with 512K bytes of memory. I can only output at 150 dots/inch without a border drawn around the plot. I have used other printers with more memory and can output at 300 dots/inch resolution. 31 Jan 1996 1. Further compatibility with Windows-95 has been tested. Some minor problems have been solved. 2. This software should now work for both SMALL and LARGE text for screen sizes (480x640 600x800 768x1024 1024x1280). If you notice any problems, let me know. 3. Output to color printers seems to work. If it does not work, it may be due to a problem in the driver. I have problems with the HP PaintJet driver. It displays the border around each cell when color shading is plotted. I do not have that problem when using a Tektronix Phaser. It has not been tested on HP 500C series printers. They may not have the driver problem that the PaintJet has. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Feb 1996 1. The Point-to-Point programs now produce real graphs for Methods 11 (MUF-FOT-EsMUF) and 28 (MUF-FOT-LUF). Previously, these were "line printer" graphs. These are accessed by setting METHOD to 11 or 28 and selecting CIRCUIT (not GRAPH). Remember, GRAPH always produces contour plots of parameters. 2. The Point-to-Point GRAPH output now has the ability to allow the user to point to a location with the mouse, and the UT, FREQ, parameter value at that point will be displayed. If the LEFT mouse button is used, the point location will be interpolated to the exact point selected. If the RIGHT mouse button is used, the nearest grid point (integer UT and FREQ) will be selected. 3. Also, while re-writing the Point-to-Point graphing, the program PERFORMW.EXE was incorporated into POINTWIN.EXE. Thus the program file in ..\BIN_WIN\PERFORMW.EXE is no longer necessary. This saves about 700,000 bytes of disk. 13 Feb 1996 1. Some problems were discovered in HFANTWIN when changing data parameter values. If the program said the range was [.1 to .9], and you changed the parameter to .9, you would get a protection fault, or some such fatal error. If you changed it to .1, it would say not in the range. These problems have been corrected. 2. Selecting Transmit Antenna in Point-to-Point models has been changed so that you may choose 4 different antennas for frequency ranges. This makes it the same as the DOS version. 3. A lot of progress has been made in the HELP/CONTENTS for the Point-to-Point programs. Take a look. It is not yet complete. They will be added as they are created. 20 Feb 1996 1. A problem was discovered in Worldwin when plotting Lat/Lon projections. That has been fixed. 2. Point-to-Point HELP should be almost complete. Also, Area Coverage HELP is 90% completed. 3. An error was corrected in VOACAPW.EXE (the propagation module for VOACAP) that corrected the last line in the All Modes output (METHOD 25) that reads: SPROB = xx.x yy.y zz.z The output for yy.y was wrong. It represents a variable named D50S which represents the Median Signal-to-Noise ratio deviation of the BEST mode, with BEST defined as the mode with the highest Service Probability. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Mar 1996 1. An error in ICEPAC was corrected. Setting the SYSTEM variable Multipath Power tolerance to zero (to not consider multipath) actually set it to 10dB. That has been fixed. The only parameter this affects is MPATH. 2. A correction was made to the Windows COMBINE module so that the BIN operation would work correctly. Look at the HELP information under COMBINE for a rather lengthy example. It demonstrates an analysis that can be performed in a matter of hours now, that organizations previously did in months. 3. The WORLDWIN plotting program was modified so that it will Color BINned maps (an output from COMBINE). 4. All on-line HELP should be "reasonably" complete. Enhancements (and corrections) will always be made. 14 Mar 1996 1. In HFANT, the ability to set the DESIGN FREQUENCY for Type 12 (NTIA Report 87-215 Curtain Arrays) was lost. That has been repaired. 2. You can now specify Longitude coordinates >180 degrees. Thus, 340 = -20 = 20 West. -340 = 20 = 20 East. 3. REC533 (ITU Recommendation 533) is now available for Windows. It is obtained from: elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/hf_prop/Windows/PKZIPed/recwind.exe It does not require USERNAME and PASSWORD to execute. 4. On certain size displays (1024x768 with LARGE text) all of the data in a TRANSMIT.??? file was not visible. That has been fixed. (Also for RECEIVE.??? files). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 May 1996 1. A new implementation of ICEPAC/VOACAP has been added. The ability to perform Signal-to-Interference calculations in Point-to-Point mode has been added. Essentially, you specify all the inputs you do for Point-to-Point mode, with the addition of specifying the interferer data (location, Method, antenna, path, FPROB). The HELP information will eventually contain a detailed description of the S/I algorithm used. 2. The COMBINE program has been modified to use the same S/I combine algorithm as the new Point-to-Point S/I algorithm. This required the addition of some new input parameters to allow S/I Probability to be calculated. This also allows the output parameters SIPGN (S/I power gain), SIREL (S/I reliability), and SIRxx (S/I at required probability) to be plotted. 3. Repairs were made to HFMUFES antenna calculations. There was an incompatible COMMON block in the source code so that results for VOACAP calculations may have been in error. 4. Several documents have been added that may be of interest to the users. They can be found under the HELP/GENERAL option. Then select the line: Helpful documents on using the propagation models. 15 May 1996 1. This represents the first official release of the Windows version of the software. All previous versions may be considered to be Beta versions. If you have installed a previous version, you MUST re-install the DBOS device driver. Unfortunately, if you do not re-install it, you probably will not see this message! 2. The current version has solved some long standing problems of printing color maps to print devices. You must make sure you have obtained the most recent device driver for your printer. Look under the WORLDWIN/HELP/CONTENTS for more information on Printer Problems and Solutions. 3. As funding for HF propagation studies has ended at NTIA/ITS, technical assistance can only be given to those users who have registered their software. Anyone interested in contributing to further enhancements, are encouraged to contact me. 4. The software has been tested on a variety of display sizes: 640x 480 small text 800x 600 small text 800x 600 large text 1024x 768 small text 1024x 768 large text 1280x1024 small text 1280x1024 large text If you encounter problems of text not being visible, let me know what display size you are using, and where in the program the problem occurs. The software detects your display size and some of the displays will be optimized for the higher resolution displays. 21 May 1996 1. VOACAP METHOD 24 did not work. That has been fixed. 2. Selection of Transmitter/Receiver locations has been slightly changed so that now to accept the city selected, you either select the ACCEPT button, or DPUBLE CLICK on the city name. You can also now use the PAGE UP, PAGE_DOWN, HOME, END, and arrow keys. Also, typing in the first letter will position you at the first city that begins with that letter. 28 May 1996 1. A slight problem with Windows-95 systems on specifying contour levels in AREA Coverage was observed. This should now be corrected. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Jun 1996 1. In HFANT, some of the HFMUFES antennas would create math errors that would cause the program to about. That has been fixed. 2. The ITSA-1 IONCAP antenna types 23 & 24 had continuity problems at high elevation angles. At 90 degress elevation angle, you would get different gain at different azimuthal angles. There appears to be a problem in the equations that were developed 20 years ago. Continuity has been forced with an interpolation procedure. Use these antennas at your own discretion. 3. A problem with the Rec 705 Crossed Dipole antenna (Type 9) was also fixed. The design frequency was extracted wrong from the data file and the calculations were wrong. 4. Antenna Types 5 & 6 (Horizontal & Vertical Log-periodic) allowed the number of elements to be 1. That caused math errors. The number of elements MUST now be 2 to 30. 5. Because of the above problems, the new version will replace data files in the ..\ANTENNAS\SAMPLES directory. If you changed any of these files (which you should not change because they are MY samples), they will be changed. 6. The Sanson-Flamsteed projection to view the full antenna pattern now works in HFANT. 7. A problem running REC533 Point-to-Point BATCH was fixed. 20 Jun 1996 1. When using the Lat/Long grid type (not Great Circle) in Area Coverage, the RED HELP information was incorrect. It was still referring to the Great Circle inputs. Also, if you just switched from Great Circle to Lat/Lon, the Xmin/Xmax, Ymin/Ymax values from the Great Circle were still there, even though they were really invalid for the Lat/Lon grid type (e.g. Xmin=-4000 when for Lat/Lon Xmin is the Longitude of the West plot area boundary). This has been fixed. 2. The HELP file for AREA has been updated to reflect the above correction. 3. The WORLD map plotting did not work when plots covered the Longitude 180 line. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 July 1996 1. Minor changes occurred with this version that affected almost all of the executable programs. Some were required to solve some problems for Windows-95 systems. Most were done to incorporate a new option requested by a sponsor and will be unnoticed by other users. 2. A feature implemented that will be of benefit to all users is in the Area Coverage plot program (WorldWin). After the plot is displayed, you may now point to a location with the mouse and retrieve information about the location selected. Information includes: (x,y) relative to plot center, (x,y) in Latitude/Longitude Parameter value at point Distance from point to plot center Azimuth from point to plot center (and reverse) Using the LEFT mouse button, will return the interpolated value at the exact location selected. Using the RIGHT mouse button, will return the value at the nearest calculated grid point, and the mouse cursor will be placed at that location. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Aug 1996 1. A new feature has been added to the ICEPAC Point-to-Point model. Under Run, there is now a Distance option. This will cause the path from the transmitter to the receiver to be broken into 51 segments. The propagation parameters are calculated at these segments and may be plotted. The advantage to this type of plot is that you may observe how the most reliable mode changes with distance along the path. If your type of operation allow the transmitter or receiver to move, this will give you additional useful information. 2. Some minor changes have been made to solve some more Windows-95 problems that have been identified. 19 Aug 1996 3. The BATCH calculation in Area Coverage has been fixed. A previous change caused the user to not be able to select any files. 26 Aug 1996 4. Another Windows-95 incompatibility was found and corrected in the HFANT program. Sorry about that. 27 Aug 1996 5. In AREA COVERAGE, if you plotted MAP ONLY and then used the mouse to obtain coordinates from the plot, a divide by zero would cause the program to abort. That has been fixed. 6. In AREA COVERAGE, if the maximum calculated output variable was below what was considered unusable, a divide by zero could occur. For example, if the maximum calculated DBU for a map was -10, the automatic scaling will not plot DBU below zero (this is set in ..\DATABASE\???AREA.GPH). This would cause a problem during plotting. This has been corrected. 28 Aug 1996 7. A new feature has been added to the ICEPAC Point-to-Point model. Under Run, there is now a Time option. This will allow any of the output parameters to be plotted versus UT time for any of the frequencies specified. The advantage to this type of plot is that you may observe how the most reliable mode changes with time of day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Sept 1996 1. A rare division by zero was discovered (and fixed) in ICEPAC. This would occur when a control point was very close to the North or South pole. This would manifest itself with a COPROCESSOR FAULT. 2. Version 4.12 of WDBOS.386 is supplied. The previous version was 4.09, and you should not notice any difference. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Dec 1996 1. A detailed HELP page was added to the Point-to-Point HELP/CONTENTS to explain the LUF problems in VOACAP. This is relevant to VOACAP users and does not affect ICEPAC. Any value of LUF from VOACAP should NOT be trusted. 2. The first beta version of the propagation programs that can be run on Windows-NT systems is now available. Its version is 96.11W32. This stands for Nov 1996 Windows-32-bit version. It should be valid for Windows-NT and Windows-95, but for now, I recommend it only be used for Windows-NT. Everything seems to work EXCEPT ICEPAC Area Coverage calculations. I hope to have that problem solved by January 1997. It is available from: ftp://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/hf_prop/Windows/PKZIPed/hfwin32.exe or via my HF home page at: http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/hf.html 06 Dec 1996 3. A minor problem was corrected for ICEPAC plots versus Distance and Time. If you printed the results and selected a scale factor < 1.0, shaded polygons would not have lined up. 10 Dec 1996 4. An error in ICEPAC for Effective SSN was corrected. Only the Win32 version noticed this problem, although it was also in error in the 16-bit version, but did not cause any problems. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- End of 1996 ---------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------