> http://www.country-files.com/dx4win-cty-18.14-20-november-2018/
In addition to the usual stuff, this was a big release for "Islands on
the Air" (IOTA) chasers who are using DX4WIN 9.0x. Users of older
DX4WIN versions can stop reading at this point unless it encourages
you to upgrade!
Until Paul updates some things on his end, "Help | Check for Updates"
may not get you the latest files for DX4WIN 9.0x. But you can go to
the URL above and click on the word "download" next to this text:
[download] DX4WIN 9.01 and later
Once you have downloaded the file, and exited DX4WIN, extract these three files:
country.dat
islands.txt
prf2iota.tx
to your DX4W90x SAVE directory, then start DX4WIN.
I added over 1000 callsign to IOTA mappings. You can scroll down the
Relase Notes to the IOTA section to see the changes. The majority of
these were Africa and Asia stations from 2010 and later, as found in
DX spots. Because I created the list by hand (and DX spots can be
unreliabale), there are likely to be errors. I have already checked
the new database against the logs of three different active IOTA
chasers and fixed several problems, but I know there are more (for at
least a couple of callsigns, I deferred the research until the next
release).
I wrote a preliminary application note about IOTA about a year ago.
Despite getting some feedback from reviewers (thanks!), I have not yet
incorporated their changes into the document (crazy busy at work for
the last year). You can read the whole note, but please pay attention
to this section:
http://dx4win.ad1c.us/appnotes/iota.html#Check
I would appreciate other active IOTA chasers to check their log
against the new database. The easiest way is this:
0. Save your log!
1. F8, put '*' (asterisk or star, without the quotes) in the IOTA
field, then Enter
2. QSO | Multiple QSO Operations | Check IOTA
3. F8, put IOTAMSG in the "Notes for this QSO" field, then Enter.
This will filter to only the QSOs with IOTA mismatches.
4. There are two types of mismatches you may see:
Bad IOTA - this means that the IOTA is not valid for the DXCC
entity indicated by the callsign (Prefix field).
For USA stations, it may mean the IOTA is not valid for the State
shown for that QSO.
Unique Island - this is the IOTA that the DX4WIN country database
believes to be correct for that QSO.
5. If you feel comfortable reviewing the differences and making
corrections yourself, please do so! It will save me time. Don't
assume that the Unique Island message is always correct. This is one
kind of error that I am trying to expose and fix.
Bad IOTA messages may also indicate a problem in the database.
Some islands have changed DXCC entity over the course of time, and
it's possible that the old DXCC entity does not think the IOTA is
valid. Once example is Ducie Island, which used to be part of the
Pitcairn Island DXCC entity until it was split off into a separate
DXCC entity.
6. To send me the listing for review, bring up a Logbook Report
window with these fields (right-click to use the Report Editor),
preferably in this order (with the IOTAMSG filter still in place):
- Callsign
- Date
- Time
- Band
- Mode
- Prefix
- IOTA
- QSO Notes (note: *not* Callsign notes)
7. Right-click in the Logbook window and select "Write to File".
Give the file name with both your call and the word IOTA, like
AD1C_IOTA.csv
8. E-mail me that file as an attachment.
9. You can discard the log changes by closing your log and opening it again.
I will review the mismatches and let you know if your logbook needs
any corrections. And I will make database corrections as needed. The
goal is for you to be able to "Check IOTA" and get *zero* IOTAMSG
errors.
I will be working on OC IOTA next, then probably EU, SA and NA (in
that order). I'm hoping to be done with this by the end of the year,
for QSOs made in 2010 and later. Next year, I may go back and try to
extract IOTA callsigns from DX spots made before 2010.
73 - Jim AD1C
--
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreis...@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us
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