WA6CDO's Software and Operating Aids


HowFar2.exe

This is a simple DOS program which calculates Great Circle bearing and distance between any two locations. It was written in the "C" language, and compiled under DOS on a Windows XP computer. It should run well on any "PC" type computer with DOS and/or Windows.

Just download the program into where ever you keep such things on your computer. There is no installation necessary. However, for convenience I recommend you make a "shortcut" from the program to the desktop. To do that, locate the program with ""My Computer", right-click on the program, select "Create Shortcut" and then drag the shortcut to the desktop.

You can install the program in such a way as to automatically set the "source" location to your QTH, or you can install it so that you can enter the source each time. The automatic version is usually the most useful if you are using the program to record beacon distances, or to set your beam, etc. To use the "Automatic" version download the file called HowFar2.dat into the same folder that contains HowFar2.exe. When you click on the "Download" for the howfar2.dat your browser might just display the file, rather than download. It that case ( in NetScape) click on "File" and "Save page as" to save it to your disk.Use NotePad or some such text-only processor to personalize the file to your own QTH. When you download it the file will contain the information for my station. Just replace the three variables with your own information.

The first line of HowFar2.dat can be any text you want. The second and third lines must be the latitude and longitude of your QTH. You can enter these either in decimal form or degrees and minutes, as specified below. If you do not want the source coordinates to always be set to your QTH, just rename HowFar2.dat to something else, like HowFar2.sav, and you will be able to rename and use it at a future date, if you wish.

You can enter source and destination latitudes and longitudes in either decimal format or in degrees and minutes. For example:
My QTH is at 37 degrees 48 minutes North. That can be entered as 37.8 N, or as 37d 48m N, using d for "degrees" and m for minutes. The "m" is optional, as long as the "d" is in place. Likewise N and W for North latitudes and West longitudes are optional, but S and E must be entered for South latitudes and East longitudes.

Download a copy of HowFar2.exe.

Download a copy of HowFar2.dat.




NCDXF-BN.EXE

This is a simple DOS program, written by me in "C" which displays call sign the IARU / NCDXF beacon as each becon is transmitting. It is linked to the computer's clock, so the clock must be set correctly if the program is to work properly.

Just download the program to where ever you keep such things. No set up is necessary, but you might want to make a short-cut as is describe above.

Download a copy of NCDX-BN.exe.




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Last update 6/29/06