[TRLog] Mult Map

[lrod@pobox.com]

<Lot's of snips>

> FUTURE UPGRADE WISHLIST:
> 
> The SSB station was running  [Brand] C and I noticed that their display of 
> sections was arranged differently.  It had 11 vertical columns and in 
> each column the ARRL sections associated with that call region were 
> listed vertically in alphabetical order.  This was very handy and it 
> gave me a quick summary of which areas of the country I needed to 
> concentrate on. 

I had a friend over for SS last fall who was (horrors) TR challenged. He got 
along pretty well with it (so much for "steep learning curve"), though. One 
thing he did bring up was a desire of listing the sections in a geographical 
array. He's a world class operator, so I listen when he talks.

I started to play around with the ARRLSECT.DOM file and discovered that
regardless of how you insert spaces or line feeds, TRLog reads it as a serial
array with a single space between each section. Fortunately, Tree has included
a variable that treats the display in different ways depending on how it is
set. It is almost as if he was waiting to see if someone would do this.

If the REMAINING MULT DISPLAY MODE is set to ERASE, the display compresses
towards the top and left as each one is worked, rendering any arrangement
useless after the first QSO. However, if it is set to HILIGHT, the display
remains static, with the worked mults changing color (subdued, depending on
color choice). If you set it to NONE you don't get the mults displayed at all.

Amazingly, he has included another variable that allows you to select the
SUBDUE color. Thus, with the proper variables, the mult display remains static,
and the mults disappear as you work them, giving a dramatic display of what you
need.

For the next step, I experimented with the ARRLSECT.DOM file, and came up with
a way that displays the mults sort of geographically; good enough to give you
an idea of where you need to be pointing the antenna.

In order to make use of this feature, you need to do the following: 

    REMAINING MULT DISPLAY MODE = HILIGHT (this is a <CNTRL J> function,
    but it makes sense to put it into the LOGCFG.DAT file to hard code
    it). 

    REMAINING MULTS WINDOW SUBDUE COLOR = xxxxxx has to be set (also in
    LOGCFG.DAT) to the same color as your Remaining Mults Window.

    Finally, rework the ARRLSECT.DOM file to approximate the geographic
    location of the sections. 

If you don't want to do the work on the .DOM file, I can e-mail you not 
only the ARRLSECT.DOM file but also all of the State/Province (didn't know what 
the S50P10 meant? Me either for quite a while) files that I reworked, as well.

Tree, since you ship all of the .DOM files in each release, would it be 
worthwhile to include both the original versions and these geographic versions 
as well so people don't overwrite their hard work when they unZip the latest 
version. Yours for the asking.

A few caveats: 

    because of the way the TRLog displays the Remaining Mults window, there
    are limitations on what I could do. Don't expect to be able to travel
    (or point beams) with this display; it's just an approximation. And
    yes, I know that CO isn't south of MN, and AZ isn't near KS; there are
    limitations

    I have one computer that for some reason doesn't subdue the colors
    properly; your mileage... 

    I took some license with a some mult names to get everything to
    fit in a couple of the files. It doesn't matter unless you need the
    list to type in the mult properly; most experienced contesters won't.
    Just don't be put off if you see SoD, or something like that; SD will
    still work.

And don't worry if you have a favorite that you don't see (SAN instead of SDG,
for example), because it's not what's displayed that's important, it's what's
in the file after the ";" that counts. And by the way, that's where to add
your favorites to make them work. 

73, Rod N4SI                                                                                       |  It's pronounced
    The DXer formerly known as N9AKE   |  "jig-a-byte" 
         (c) 5 November, 1996                       |  Look it up.

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