[You can view this FAQ on the WWW as:
http://ve7tcp.ampr.org/mailing-lists/ct-user.html
73 - Jim AD1C]
Last revised: June 26, 1995
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This FAQ list is posted at the start of each month and covers the following
topics:
1. What is CT-USER?
2. How do I join CT-USER?
3. What are the suggested "operating practices" for CT-USER?
4. How do I obtain CT?
5. How do I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
6. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
7. How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
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What is CT-USER?
CT-USER is an electronic mail reflector for discussions relating to the CT
contest logging software and DVP (Digital Voice Processor) by Ken Wolff, K1EA.
This is the place to ask questions, report bugs and suggest new features. In
addition, updates to CT are often announced here, as are updates to the country
lists ("CTY" files). Ken himself even reads these messages, and might just
reply to you once in a while. This list was started to off-load some of the
CT-specific traffic from the CQ-CONTEST@TGV.COM reflector run by Trey Garlough,
WN4KKN.
Each message you send to ct-user@eng.pko.dec.com will be sent out to all the
other subscribers. Therefore, it's important to think about what you're going
to say, and how you're going to say it, before you send the message.
Also remember that many subscribers receive their EMAIL through commercial
services such as CompuServe and MCImail. In essence, many people are paying for
each byte of every message sent to CT-USER. In order to minimize spurious
messages, please follow the operating hints detailed below.
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How do I join CT-USER?
There is no charge or fee for being on the mailing list, apart from any charges
your particular system might impose for reading and/or sending Internet mail.
Subscription management is handled automatically by a program (MajorDomo) that
answers mail sent to ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com. To join the group, send a
message to ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com with the following text in the BODY
of the mail message:
subscribe
To remove yourself from the list, send a message to
ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com with the following text in the BODY of the mail
message:
unsubscribe
The Subject: line is ignored.
Please do not send "SUBSCRIBE" requests to CT-USER! They will be returned to
you anyway.
MajorDomo provides other functions like getting a list of subscribers, or an
archive of past messages. To find out about these features, send a message to
ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com with the following text in the BODY of the mail
message:
HELP
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What are the suggested "operating practices" for CT-USER?
* Include your name and callsign with every message you send. We don't all
know everyone by just a call or a nickname. Furthermore, some user names
(part of your electronic mail address) make it almost impossible to
identify the sender, especially those from CompuServe, MCImail and
Prodigy.
* Use a subject line that accurately indicates the content of your message.
If you are asking a question, end the subject line with a "?". If you are
reporting a bug, use the word BUG somewhere in the subject line. It makes
it easier to find these messages later.
* When answering someone's question, reply to that person directly, rather
than to the whole list, unless you know the answer will benefit everyone.
Users are encouraged to solicit answers, then post a summary of the
received replies back to the reflector.
* Many people pay $$$ when they receive messages. Some people pay per
message, some per byte. Therefore, please take this into consideration
when writing a response. Ask yourself if you would have paid $0.50 to read
the message that you just wrote.
* Praise in public, criticize in private. If someone posts something
objectionable, respond to the poster directly, not to the whole list. If,
however, someone does something especially wonderful, feel free to tell
everyone about it!
* Make sure there is something of value in each message you send to the
reflector. Avoid messages that are a complete reprint of someone else's
message, with nothing but "I agree" or "Me too" added to the bottom -- not
much value there.
* Some people pay by the byte, so when following up to someone else's
message, be sure to include only the essential pieces or thread of the
note. Don't include those 20 extra header lines that your mail gateway
added onto the original message.
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How do I obtain CT?
CT Version 9 was released at the 1994 Dayton Hamvention. It is available from
K1EA Software:
K1EA Software
A Division of Harvard Radio, Inc.
2 Mount Royal Avenue
Marlborough, MA 01752-1935
Orders: 508-779-5054 FAX: 508-460-4099
Support: 508-460-8873 BBS: 508-460-8877
The current revision of Version 9 is 9.24 as of June, 1995. CT Version 9
supports DXpedition mode and 15 contests:
* ARRL DX Competition (both W/VE & DX)
* ARRL VHF QSO Party
* ARRL Sweepstakes
* ARRL Field Day
* ARRL 10 Meter Contest
* ARRL 160 Meter Contest
* WAE European DX Contest (Europe & DX)
* CQ World Wide DX Contest
* CQ WPX Contests
* CQ 160 Meter Contests
* JARL All Asia Contest (Asia & DX)
* IARU HF Championship
* California QSO Party
CT Version 8.53 was the last to support 8086/80286 PCs. You can still order
this version from K1EA Software. CT Version 9 runs only on PCs using an 80386
or better. CT Version 9 added many new features including:
* 50-line VGA display mode
* Window position/color control
* Built-in mouse support
* Automatic "installer" program
* Color-coded band map
* Sunrise/sunset tables
* Band switch support
* Beam headings & rotor control (Yaesu & HyGain)
* Increased CW speed range
* Variable CW weighting
* Single op/Multi TX support
There is also a shareware version of CT available by anonymous FTP from
oak.oakland.edu:/SimTel/msdos/hamradio/ct626.zip.
Note that this version is several years old, has very little in the way of
documentation, and there is NO support from K1EA.
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How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
The country files are updated regularly, usually starting a month before each
major contest (CQWW, ARRL DX, WPX, IARU, WAE). The updated files are announced
on the reflector and are posted on the CT BBS (508-460-8877) and the DX BBS
(502-898-8864). You can always obtain the latest files by sending a message to
ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com. Here is a sample message:
GET cty.dat
GET arrl.cty
GET history.cty
Note that file names must be in lower case.
The files are also available on the Internet via anonymous FTP from
gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/misc/hamradio/cty.zip.
There may be a day or two between the time new files are announced and when
this FTP site has those files.
John Zapisek K2MM also has an FTP site where he keeps CT-related files,
including the CTY files: maspar.maspar.com:/pub/k2mm/ct-files.
Finally, users who download CT updates from the CT BBS will automatically
receive the latest CTY files posted there.
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How do I obtain other CT-related files?
The mailing list server also contains a repository of CT-related files. You can
obtain a list of available files by sending message to
ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com with the following text in the body of the
message:
index
This file repository includes the ASCII .CTY and .DAT files, the release notes
for version 8 and version 9, and some text files associated with CT. It does
NOT contain the actual CT program itself.
There are also a number of binary files which the server will UUencode (convert
to ASCII) before mailing them. If you do not have a program that will UUdecode
files, you will need to:
GET uud.com
in order to convert then back to binary. uud.com is actually a binary program
whose instructions are only ASCII codes, so it can pass through the mail.
BEWARE: The files can be large! For example, masall.exe is almost 350K bytes,
BEFORE encoding in ASCII. The server does NOT split large files up into smaller
messages before mailing.
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How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
MASTER.DTA is a list of known-good callsigns that CT can look up using Super
Check Partial. This file is maintained by Scott Jones, WR3G (WR3G@aol.com).
Please send your .BIN files to his callbook address! He uploads the latest
master file to the CT BBS.
Ed Parsons, K1TR (es@mvuss.att.com) has created a similar database of callsigns
found in VHF contests.
The following master callsign databases are currently available from
ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com:
masall.exe November 17, 1994
masusve.zip February 11, 1995
masnous.zip February 11, 1995
masvhf.zip April 4, 1995
There are also a couple of files (mas_tool.exe and mas_k2mm.exe) for creating
and managing your own MASTER.DTA files. You can obtain from the file server,
K2MM's FTP site and the CT BBS.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact
me directly.
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73 - Jim Reisert AD1C (reisert@eng.pko.dec.com)
* CT is a copyright of K1EA Software, a division of Harvard Radio.
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--
Submissions: ct-user@eng.pko.dec.com
Administrative requests: ct-user-request@eng.pko.dec.com
Problems: reisert@eng.pko.dec.com
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