[TowerTalk] TA or HFTA

[Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com>]

I think there is some confusion afoot here.  TA was DOS software written 
and marketed by Brian Beezley, K6STI.  It was a rough contemporary of, and 
quite similar to YT, (Yagi Terrain) which N6BV wrote and the ARRL bundled 
with the Antenna Book from about the 18th Edition on.  HFTA is the new, 
Windows version which is bundled with the 20th edition of the Antenna 
Book.  Aside from the much nicer Windows user interface, HFTA (HF Terrain 
Analysis) also incorporates a new figure of merit for evaluating the fit 
between antenna patterns and arrival angle of signals from target areas, as 
estimated by IONCAP.  It also uses terrain data derived from the National 
Elevation Database which has been made available on the web by USGS.  Much 
more accurate than pencil lines on a topo map, and easier to do.

For the sake of full disclosure, I was a beta tester for HFTA and helped 
write some of the documentation, but I wasn't paid for it....



73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database
was updated 13 December 2004
2843 contest stations at
www.pvrc.org/WCSD/WCSDsearch.htm  

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