[CQ-Contest] World Contest Station Database -- new and improved

[Mike Gilmer - N2MG]

I appreciate all the work on this thankless project. 
It's a fun database to look through - I would hope 
that its capabilities would improve with time, but 
without some very regimented data entry format it'll 
be what it'll be.

Think about it, say you want to search for TS-940 and 
some guys enter TS-940, others TS940, others 940, 
etc.  The problem with towers/heights/antennas (fixed 
vs. rotating, stacks, etc) is worse.  Not only would 
creating that kind of data entry page be daunting, who 
would want to take the time to enter all the data?  
People make a living dealing with this kind of 
stuff...

Good choice on not having logging in and passwords, 
etc.  It's amazing how much of a time sink 
administering passwords can be!

73 Mike N2MG

On Sun, 09 December 2001, Pete Smith wrote:

> 
> 
> At 09:44 AM 12/9/01 -0000, EI8IC wrote:
> >
> >The database entry-form may be fixed, but what about the output ??????????
> >
> >If I want to see what other stations are doing, I have to (a) know their
> >callsign, and (b) enter it into to the 'Query Database' box. One station at
> >a time ! Quite frankly, this is stone-age computing, Pete !!
> 
> >From a stone-age Web programmer, Tim.  I'm working right at -- some would
> say beyond -- the edge of my current knowledge.  As I learn, I'll improve
> things.
> 
> >
> >If you want to make this database useful, you, or your database-guru, might
> >like to think about a variety of display options, such as:
> >* List all stations in a specified country
> >* List all stations in a specified CQ or ITU zone
> >* List all stations with antennas on, say, 160m.
> >* List all stations with towers over 100' high
> >* List all stations using the xxxxx transceiver or amp
> >
> >etc. etc. etc.
> >
> >This shouldn't be too difficult with today's software tools..
> 
> A lot of folks feel the database is very useful as is, Tim, but I'm well
> aware it could do a lot more.  I'm exploring adding some of the tools you
> describe.  For example, listing stations with antennas on 160 (and what
> they are) is easy.  Specifying the country and zone would require building
> in a cty.dat file to perform that lookup, which may be doable.  It will
> probably never be possible to do quantitative searches like "towers over
> 100 feet high" because the data are not in the database in sufficiently
> consistent form.  I can do searches for make of transceiver or amp, or
> model number, but only if the data are in there in the form sought.  If
> you've been exposed to SQL you'll appreciate the complexity of the problem.
> 
> My "database guru" has, out of sheer kindness, written a utility for me to
> do the upgrading.  He can doubtless be helpful with some of the other
> issues, and I'm sure he will be, but he doesn't get paid for this...
> 
> Thanks for the ideas, Tim.
> 
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> www.qsl.net/n4zr

________________________________________________
PeoplePC:  It's for people. And it's just smart. 
http://www.peoplepc.com 


--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com