CT-USER Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List - May 2, 1994
Jim Reisert AD1C 02-May-1994 1508
reisert@wrksys.enet.dec.com
Mon, 2 May 1994 15:03:57 -0400
[NOTE: Lines preceeded with "|" are different since the last release.]
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
CT-USER@MLO.DEC.COM
| Last revised: May 2, 1994
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. Why are messages sometimes returned to me as undeliverable?
| Shouldn't they go to the list maintainer instead?
5. How do I obtain CT?
|
| 6. How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
|
| 7. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
1. 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, and I regularly post updated countries 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@MLO.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.
2. 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
| MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM. To join the group, send a message to
| MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM with the following text in the BODY of the mail
message:
subscribe CT-USER
To remove yourself from the list, send a message to
| MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM with the following text in the BODY of the mail
message:
unsubscribe CT-USER
The Subject: line is ignored.
Please do not send "SUBSCRIBE" requests to CT-USER!
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 MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM with the following
text in the BODY of the mail message:
HELP
|
| Remember, MajorDomo is not itself a mailing list, but a robot which
| handles administrative requests.
Finally, if you are unsure how to subscribe or how to get help, you
can send an empty message to "CT-USER-REQUEST@MLO.DEC.COM" and it
will send you some hints.
3. 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 the asker 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 tacked onto the original message.
|
| 4. Why are messages sometimes returned to me as undeliverable?
| Shouldn't they go to the list maintainer instead?
|
| Good question! CT-USER is set up as a pure distribution list. Mail
| you send to the list is "reflected" to every other member on the
| list. Mail that can not be delivered is returned to the sender.
| Some list manager programs have the ability to intercept these
| messages and return them to the list maintainer so s/he can fix the
| list. However, they require more overhead, and are more prone to
| breaking. If you want, you can return the rejected messages to me
| and I'll look into it.
5. How do I obtain CT?
|
| CT Version 9 was supposed to be released at Dayton. It is available
| from K1EA Software:
K1EA Software
A Division of Harvard Radio, Inc.
5 Mount Royal Avenue
Marlborough, MA 01752-1935
Orders: 508-779-5054 FAX: 508-460-6211
Support: 508-460-8873 BBS: 508-460-8877
|
| The last revision of Version 8 is CT 8.53.
There is also a shareware version of CT available by anonymous FTP
from:
oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/hamradio/ct626.zip
Note that this version is three years old and has little in the way
of documentation.
|
| 6. How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
I update the files regularly, usually starting a month before each
major contest (CQWW, ARRL DX, WPX, IARU, WAE). The updated files are
| announced on CQ-CONTEST and posted to the CT BBS (508-460-8877) and
| the W6GO BBS (916-992-0923). You can always obtain the latest files
| by sending a message to "MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM". Here is a sample
| message to obtain the latest ARRL.CTY:
|
| get ct-user arrl.cty
The files are also available on the Internet via anonymous FTP from
the following site:
gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/misc/hamradio/cty.zip
|
| However, I can not post to this area directly, so there is some time
| lag (usually less than a day) between the time I announce the new
| files and the time they're available at the FTP site.
Finally, users who download CT updates from the CT BBS will
automatically receive the latest CTY files posted there.
|
| 7. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
|
| I maintain a CT file repository on the same system that runs the
| CT-USER list manager. You can obtain a list of available files by
| sending message to "MajorDomo@MLO.DEC.COM" with the following text in
| the body of the message:
|
| index ct-user
|
| 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, nor does it contain any binary files. I am thinking of
| providing some of the binary files (for example, MASTER.DTA) in
| UUencoded form in the repository - the details of this are still to
| be worked out.
Finally, please be gentle with me. I'm a hardware engineer - software is
just a hobby, and list maintenance is something new altogether. If you
have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact
me directly. My address is REISERT@MLO.DEC.COM.
73 - Jim Reisert AD1C
reisert@mlo.dec.com
* CT is a copyright of K1EA Software, a division of Harvard Radio.