LIVE MUF Calculator

The idea behind this was for live calculating the possible sporadic-e MUF on VHF during es season from spots received via a DX-cluster. There are a number of MUF calculators available for download but all of them required the manual input of the spot locators to calculate the MUF. So the program was born! This is collaboration between a number of HAMs with the same interest DX on VHF :-) The program connects to a DXC via a telnet gateway link and processes the spots that you see. Then the program decides whether the spot is a valid sporadic e spot and calculates MUF from the spot info, centre locator and where you should be beaming to work DX. It also calculates frequency of traffic (which is the highest frequency that is possible for you towards the calculated destination). This is meant as a guide to where to beam to and on what frequency but always remember that many hams don't spot all qso's so some of the qso's that take place will show a higher MUF but are never spotted, also remember that sometimes the MUF can be high but due to low amateur activity there is no way to find out where the MUF is. In other words you need to be watching the lower bands and cluster etc etc to guess on whats happening! Note: I take no responsibility for any kind of damage or problem caused directly or indirectly by you downloading and installing this software. The program is installed at your own risk. If you need assistance or are unsure about anything then please email livemuf@g7rau.co.uk and we will try to assist you as best I can. Please visit the forum on my website for help / tips etc. Go to my website: http://g7rau.demon.co.uk/ and create a login. There you will find the forum.

Program installation:
Files needed are LIVE_MUFV7.EXE (the main program) First you will need the .net framework 2 and MDAC installed on your machine (d/l framework 2 from windows update and the MDAC from http://www.microsoft.com/data , the 64 bit exe does not require MDAC but will not run MS Access database on a 64 bit PC), without these it will not run. Download and run LIVE_MUFV7.EXE.

This will extract all MUF files to Live MUF V7 sub directory. To run the app you will need to click on live_muf.exe in the Live MUF V7 directory. If you want to force 64 bit because you are running on a 64 bit operating system and are using MySQL, SQL SERVER or SQLite database systems then 1st start live_muf.exe and configure the database settings then quit Live MUF and run lm_updater. exe in the Live MUF V7

directory and choose 64 bit mode but beware - you can only do this once (or start from scratch again.) so if in doubt leave as is!! If the app wont run or freezes have a look in

Muf_errors\muf_errors.log in the live MUF V7 install directory or email me the file and I will have a look. Normally the problem is MDAC or jet updates needed (See MDAC) or you are running the 64 bit exe for MS Access which requires the 32 bit exe. MDAC.ZIP (This is the Microsoft data engine needed by the program, if you have windows 2000 or higher or MS Office 2000 or higher then you should not need this) If needed you can download and extract the zip file to a folder on your hard disk. run the program MDAC_TYP.EXE to extract the data engine install the data engine with the setup file. Note: MDAC v2.8 (at least) is available for download on Microsoft's site, the version is 2.5 on my web for D/L but you might find the program runs better on 2.8. V2.8 is an update for win2k and XP (they use 2.7 which has some bugs, especially when using ADO and IIS), this is available from www.microsoft.com/data. 98 users: you might need to update the MS jet components as the version supplied with the OS is no good, this is also available on Microsoft's site. OK, the program should now be installed! On 1st install Live MUF by default installs the 32 bit version. As soon as the app is upgraded then the 64 bit version becomes accessible. If you require 64 bit before this (i.e. you can't wait for me to update the application) then do the following: 01: Quit Live MUF. 02: Go to the root of the application (Where Live MUF.exe lives) 03: rename System.Data.SQLite.dll to System.Data.SQLite32.dll 04: rename System.Data.SQLite64.dll to System.Data.SQLite.dll 05: rename Live_MUF.exe to Live_MUF32.exe 06: rename Live_MUF64.exe to Live_MUF.exe 07: Restart Live_MUF.exe. The Live MUF application should now be in pure 64 bit.

Running Live MUF Calc

To run the program or click on live_muf.exe from C: \Live MUF V7\ (or wherever you installed it to) If you encounter errors during program start-up then these will mean that you may need to

install mdac.exe as you do not have the necessary database components on your PC. If you have done all this and still errors on install then please contact livemuf@g7rau.co.uk with a full description of your windows version / office version. When the program is first run it does not know about you so you will need to complete some basic info to get up and running.

On the left hand menu you will see general options \ User Details; this should be your first port of call! NOTE: In User Details, Live MUF DXC spots and Call / Loc Search the application will attempt to update the user Call / Locator to my central database therefore increasing the accuracy of the Locator database. Also the application will update calls / locators on application start-up (This will be the second time the app starts AFTER you have set your user details as the app does not know who you are until you have updated your details.). INITIALLY THE 1ST DOWNLOAD COULD BE ~2MB TO SYNCHRONISE THE CALL DB WITH THE CENTRAL DB! If you are really unhappy with this then I advise using Live MUF V6. Without these updates to the central database from other users this means that I personally have to keep track of all Calls / Locators and the accuracy level will diminish considerably. The advantages of the users updating the Db are considerable; with the auto update option in V7 this will mean users will all be in sync with the same Locator data. NOTE: on 1st time use there will be a full database sync with the central server so CPU usage will be pretty sustained for ~15 minutes. This is to ensure you are running with the latest calls and locators. The telnet connections for DXC/WWC etc rely on an Internet connection so for any thing to have a chance to work you need to be connected to the Internet! The right hand text boxes in the user detail form are normally left as is but just in case you need them;

User forum: If you go to my website http://g7rau.demon.co.uk/ and login to users area you will see User forum key. Make sure you use the same Callsign you use in v7! You will need to copy that and put it in user details and update. Then you can access the forum from the file menu in V7 without logging in. Web Browser path: you put in the path to your web browser if it is not internet explorer like: c:\program files\netscape\communicator.exe or whatever browser you use. If you use internet explorer then LEAVE AS iexplore.exe! If in the error log you see: START_INTERNET_EXPLORER_ETC(The system cannot find the file specified) then recheck the path you entered! You can alsao use the internal web browser; To use this put its name in the path (Web01, Web02 etc). Proxy settings: These are for configuring the web updates via a proxy server. If your proxy only requires a path and port then only fill these two boxes in. If you have to go through a secure proxy i.e. ISA server then you will need to include a user name, password and the domain name. These are only included to assist with the web updates and Callsign / locator updates. Throughout live MUF you will see the maximise button there on the inner windows, my advise is do not maximise any of the inner windows but only the main application window. Resize manually the inner windows so you can have them positioned / ordered however you like. OK, it takes a little time but it is worth it. Look on my download page for screen shots how I set V7 up.

Menu Options (Top Menu)

File

Version: Shows your current version Help: Help Shows this basic help screen (F1 key) History: Shows the update history in descending order Desktop Shortcut: Creates a shortcut on the desktop Save Settings: Saves your current settings

Windows

Tile Windows: You can tile / cascade the windows but the best option is for you to configure the windows how you want them. Enable / Disable Tabs: This will show an additional menu at the top with a line of selectable tabs relating to the windows you have opened in the application. Load Windows State: This will load your windows that should be open on app start as defined in Form / Date Options side menu. Windows Order: This will load your windows that you have defined in General Options / Form Date Options / Windows Order menus (see further down). Windows Menu: This is a menu of all the available windows that are present in the left menu, click on an item to load the window. Current Windows: This is a list of current windows open, just click on then to set the focus on them.

Misc

Database tools Recreate indexes in SQLite: If you want to change the indexes in SQLite then open the file indexes.dat (use notepad) in the mapping sub folder. This enables you to change the way the searches work in V7. Database tools Compact main DB: After a while the spot and Callsign database can become fragmented. This allows you to compact them but beware, this could render your databases trashed! Make a backup of spots.mdb before you do this. A better option is to use the compact repair option in MS Access. Before selecting this CLOSE ALL WINDOWS! Note: This is only for MS Access databases; all other types dont need this J After you have performed this it is wise to restart Live MUF. Database tools Compact DDE DB: After a while the DDE/AGW databases can become fragmented. This allows you to compact them. Make sure you have DDE and AGW disabled while doing this.

Database tools Delete rubbish Callsigns: This tool gives you the ability to remove rubbish calls from the call/loc database. Usage is simple; Open up the text file rubbish_calls.txt in sub-folder mapping and add in calls you want to (one per line) and then click on this menu item. Database tools Archive data: After a while the databases can become too big. This allows you to archive them off. Note that this is only for SQLite and MS Access databases. Database tools Increase Announce text / Create Beacon table / update data-types to double precision: This fixes bugs in early Live MUF databases Database tools Upgrade from Access to SQLite database: If you are running the Access version you can change to SQLite using this. The spot and MUF data is not passed across but you can still re-link to access if needed for historical data. This can take a while as the upgrade download is ~10Mb and the upgrade routines on top of this take 10 minutes so in total it can take a long time if the download is slow. Make sure that you click OK on the upgrade popup when it prompts for extracting files or you will be starting again as it fails. Database tools Import old Access data: After upgrading you can import your old access data. This is quite slow and the instructions below are based around a one off hit. Due to Access not been 64 bit compatible you need to do this in 32bit. Please drop me a mail if you need help with this. Go to general options / DxSpider and click on DXSpider importer. Leave this open so you can see progress of the import. Go to general options database type. Check that you are set for SQLite as you cannot import from MS Access into MS Access. In the options bottom right, Tick use pools, and all below pools untick and click update. This will take the gloves off SQLite but can corrupt if the PC dies but it is MUCH QUICKER. Now go to menu misc / database tools / import old Access data. Browse for the access file with your old data in and click open. On the next screen select NO on the dupe check the query screen (if you choose yes it will take hours!) Next is an option to select min frequency of data, enter min freq or leave as 0. Finally if you are happy click yes to start the import. The import will send messages to the live MUF error file so check on that if you are wondering what is happening. You will see it is super-fast at importing as no checking is being done. For a 1 off hit this is the best way. Hide Average MUF: This will hide / show the average MUF. The average MUF appears in the top menu like ***avg MUF=77mhz***. This average calculation based on the time span you have set in the MUF map, this will update every 60 seconds (or when you click it). Hide Left Menu: This will hide / show the left hand menu. When this is hidden you will see a thin yellow bar on the left hand side, if you double left click this the menu will open again (or drag it to the right). Likewise when the menu is open you can double left click the thin bar on the right of the menu and hide it (or drag it to the left). View Error File: This will allow you to view and clear the error log. To clear the error log 1st click on this menu then right click in the log file window and choose the option empty log file. NOTE: for win2k/winXP users the log will now live in the Windows event viewer. To access this go to control panel / admin tools and open it from there. You might want to set the log to overwrite as needed in the event viewer. Change Clock display: Added an option in the misc menu so you can swap between minutes and seconds for the clock at the top of the application. Hide Clock: This will hide / show the clock in the top bar. Hide MUF box: This will hide / show the MUF / general box just below the clock in the top bar. With this hidden the MUF summary will appear in the main window title.

Menu Options (Left Menu)

These are also available in the windows top menu item Windows Menu.

DXC

This will load up the DXC window. You will need to setup your DXC access in settings first then connect to the DXC.

Note that the initial connect up is threaded and the timeout for the thread is set to your live MUF web update settings to give the connection a chance to be established before giving up. There are two ways to spot the DX on the CLX: 1) Use the command box (hit return key to submit spot) 2) fill in the relevant boxes on the bottom and click Add Spot (or hit the return key in the RST / Info box). If you use the 2nd way with the spot tool and if the retrieved locator is wrong for the Callsign you typed in then CHANGE IT! It is pointless submitting the spot with crap data Crap in = crap out! If you are confident that it is accurate click the cfm button to confirm as accurate and this will be submitted to the central database when you add the spot to the cluster so all users get the accurate locator. I use the second way now, this means I am using a standard for spotting which gives the spot observer the info required to see the propagation mode that is being used and from where to where; i.e. DX de G7RAU: 144300.0 HA5OV IO90IR<ES>JN97NJ 59+! 1927Z As you can see this way of spotting gives the required info! To the right of the Submit spot button is the QTF/QRB of the station you are spotting. Note, recommended for Aurora and FAI ALWAYS spot QTF 1st like: DX de G7RAU: 144300.0 HA5OV IO90IR<AU>JN97NJ QTF064 57A Or DX de G7RAU: 144300.0 HA5OV IO90IR<FAI>JN97NJ QTF064 57F The application calculates the optimum scatter point so it is important to get that 1st (even more so than a signal). Put the QTF into the RST / info box. Also in the DXC window is an option where if you highlight a Callsign and then right click the application will attempt to retrieve the locator and DXCC entity for the station. Also if you highlight a DX spot (3 clicks of the mouse) and then right click this you have a menu option to add the DX of the spot directly to the spot tool (Use with care! Crap in / Crap out etc.). In settings you have the option of two drop down boxes, one small grey one and a larger white one. This is meant for commands that need to be sent with every input; i.e. If you put T G7RAU in DXC then whatever you type in the white box will be directed at g7rau as a cluster talk Show / Hide Talk Window: On right click on the DXC/KST/WWC window you can choose this option. This splits the screen so you can view chat/talk/personal messages in a separate window. Note this still appears in the main window but with the split it makes it easier to read. DXC Simulate Spots: On the top menu is an option to simulate an incoming spot. When you click the menu item you are in simulation mode and data is passed to livemuf from within the application. You can set all relevant options for the spot and click submit spot. This will be passed to the telnet buffer and treated as a standard incoming spot and therefore NOT spamming the worldwide DX Cluster. Note, this is treated as any other incoming spot and it will be added to the database etc, you have been warned! I use this to add a spot from another ham to livemuf as the original spot was erroneous.

So if you want to do a test spot use the simulate tool and you wont get yourself in the badspotter category on the DXC.

DXC / DX2 to DX5 (Running multiple DXC connections)

In the menu you will see an additional 4 DXC connections. As so many users asked for this I have added it in. I advise running only one. If you do run more than 1 DXC I advise making the DXC the main connection and in the others (in their settings) configure them for not updating to db (un-tick the add data to db flag). If you do want to attempt to process 2 DXC to the db then I advise: 1. There is some basic dupe checking, keep time at 5 or higher. The dupe checking is not really intended for multi-threaded connections and potentially will miss some dupes and could loop lock the app. Saying that I have run on MySQL no problems. 2. Do not use Access database, set up MySQL or SQL Server as Access struggles with fast inserts of data. 3. Make sure you use a different ID i.e. g7rau-2, g7rau-3 so you are unique on different DXCs. 4. A better option is to run 2 instances of Live MUF (in separate folders). 5. All DXC use the same alarms and DDE passed from any window, dont ask me to change! 6. Use the DXCs filtering, this will drastically reduce the incoming data and therefore reduce dupes.

DXC / Bad Spotters

In the DXC menu there is a form called bad spotters. A number of V7 users have requested a way to remove spots by certain callsigns. This enables you to block DX spots and DX announces from a Callsign. If you add a call in here and the call is read in text from a DXC (i.e. DX DE G9XXX or ANN DE G9XXX) then the data will be thrown out and no processing will take place on the call. USE WITH CAUTION!!!

DXC / Settings

By default the DXC list is empty so you can either add your own or you can import my list (via a web pull). To import you will need to put your Callsign / password for DXC access into the boxes on the right side of the form. After you click import you will see the list populate. Select the DXC you require to use from the list and click update. On the bottom of the DXC settings window is some other options, hover on them for a description of their purpose. An important tick box is located on the bottom right of the telnet settings window. This is called update list on import. If you have this option ticked then it will compare all your current telnet connections (inc BBS/WWC/KST) with the central database held at G7RAUs server and change the host name and port number to the values held on the central database of any that differ. If you email me any of the clusters where the address / port are wrong then I will update it centrally and all users will benefit from the updated info. If you dont want your current connections to be modified then do not tick this when performing an import. I will update the telnet list once (if) people notify me that things need changing.

On DXC (and WWC and KST) you have the option to save all chat (in DXC this is all other traffic including chat, local announces etc) traffic to the database. WARNING this could be many gigabytes of data and you could clog your hard disk and slow up the application.. Do not use this option unless you feel it is REALLY NEEDED! If you do use the option then you can retrieve the saved data from the analysis window (DXC GENERAL). TNX to AD1C Jim for supplying the telnet DXC list (import). Please note that the tabs (if enabled) use the friendy name you use in settings as the displayed text. DXC Dupe Check: Use this with care. This will stop most DX spot dupes appearing in the database but will not stop them appearing on the cluster. You can set the dupe check from 1 minute to 60 minutes. This searches the database for dupes so it has a performance hit. I use this for my AGW RF link when internet connection gets flaky. The announce dupe remover is hit and miss due to various output types. Most circumstances with duping in DXC it is best to chat to your sysop and see if he knows the reason. Most DXC have built in dupe checking but now and again the dupe file gets corrupted and the DXC has to be shut down to delete it. Once this has been done and the DXC is restarted (most times) then things are fine and dupe free again. On recent testing with Skimmer spots ~15 a second also feeding in I find that MySQL cannot keep up with the Live MUF application when setting the dupe time limit beyond 2 minutes. Eventually Live MUF dies with 1000s of threads waiting to clear and memory all consumed. Setting to 1 minute is fine. The MySQL server here is not that slow so it shows you need to be careful! Use spot time: Use this with care. This will use the time in the spot instead of the time the spot arrives at Live MUF. Most times now the spots arrive pretty well as they are spotted but some late spots can arrive and if you use the DXC command sh/fdx this looks back in time. Wipe frequency: When ticked this will wipe the frequency in the spot tool after submitting a spot. This is useful if you are regularly changing bands and making bad spots. Show Skimmer: If you connect to a cluster with skimmer spots (or my web pull) you can hide them in the displays but the data is still stored in Live MUF for mapping etc. Note if you choose not to show skimmer spots none of the triggers for the mapping and ES alerts will show but the data will be stored in the database and skimmer spots will be available in the maps as soon as a normal spot triggers the map to refresh. This switch makes no difference to the telnet server; the server will pass on all the skimmer data based on the standard filtering. I might change this at some point but as most telnet server users are Live MUF clients and this is mainly used in contesting to feed data then this can be dealt with on the client if its not required. Skimmer offset: This is if you use CW skimmer and you transvert. The skimmer server will just use the local oscillator so data will be wrong when entering the Live MUF database. Note, the frequency in the DXC window remains the same as this is just a display of the incoming data but the database and therefore maps and analysis windows will store the frequency with the offset. The option is in MHz so transverting from 28MHz top 50MHz use an offset of 22 (or -22 if visa-versa) If you are not using cw skimmer for transverting then LEAVE SET TO 0!

Also on DXC (and WWC and KST) you have the option to pause incoming data. This stops data being appended to the DXC window. This enables you to scroll up and read other data. To resume incoming data click on resume. The paused data will be added to the window as soon as new telnet data arrives. NOTE: in DXC data is not calculated until it is read from the buffer so if you have DXC paused then the data is not calculated until you resume. All DXC spots time are on TIME OF ARRIVAL from the buffer.. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED If you use keep alive in the telnet windows the keep alive is disabled when you click disconnect. After you click connect again the keep alive will be active again. In the DXC settings are two options for direct packet linking; 1. Enable AGW. With this checked live MUF will attempt to connect to the sv2agw packet engine. Note you need to install the sv2agw packet engine. Currently this is a read only link. 2. AGW Packet Data. With this enabled you will receive all the packet chit chat (not really needed??) To enable AGW you will need to 1st go to the DDE settings and install driver; This will install the database driver for storing incoming data before it is processed by Live MUF. When you enable AGW a separate app will pop up, this is the link between V7 and AGW

You can minimise this unless you really want to watch all the chatter between nodes. As stated you need to download the AGW packet client to do this. Here is a step by step guide how to setup AGW on your sound card. 1. Download AGW engine. 2. Unzip the contents to the folder you want to use it in. 3. Run AGW Packet Engine.exe, agree to the terms. 4. Right click on the AGW icon in the tool tray (bottom left) and select properties. 5. Select new port and setup like below, you will be required to restart AGW for the port

to initialise:

6. Connect your radio audio to the PC via the line in or microphone; most radios have a constant volume audio out socket for this. 7. Find a packet node on your radio and hopefully you will receive data. If the port does not receive data please look at the AGW sound card tuning aid, maybe the sound card is not set up correctly, a common one is AGW is saturated by the incoming volume being to high or it is set to listen on the wrong line.

DXC / Filters

8. Here you can choose your DXC filters, hover on them for a description of their purpose. 9. You can also change the colours for the DXC window. I personally prefer the plain look but it is up to you. Note, the DXC back colour will not be applied until you reopen the DXC window. 10. Note the two check boxes at the bottom left of the DXC filters screen. These if checked will perform the calculations for HF/VHF+ locators based on the call signs prefix if no locator is available, USE WITH GREAT CAUTION! 11. The bottom left check box Derive missing locators on 10m+ from spot info? attempts to get locators from the spot info and then writes the data to the database so spots are drawn in maps and data is calculated. The tick box to the right of that one allows locs to be stored inm your local database, use this with extreme caution as crap spotting will mean your call/loc database will become full of rubbish...... 12. The bottom right + 1 is ignore self spot. When ticked this will ignore spots where the DX call is like the spotter call or is exactly the same i.e. DX DE G7RAU 144300 G7RAU and DX DE G7RAU 144300 HB9/G7RAU/P will both be ignored. By ignored I mean not in DXC window, database or anywhere! You have been warned. The bottom right is ignore late spot. When ticked this will ignore spots where thethere is a time value in the DX spot detail i.e. DX DE G7RAU 144300 G4RRA Worked 2235z will be ignored. By ignored I mean not in DXC window, database but an entry is written to the dumped spots file in the MUF errors folder. You have been warned as the spot could be DX de G7RAU 144300 OX5XX 2min ago 17:00z 59+++.

DXC / Alarms

13. Here you can set the audio alarms in live MUF, note that the ES alarm is based on the MUF settings (ES alarms minimum MUF), the other VHF+ spots are based on calculated propagation modes and the DXC alarm type is purely related to your DXC window (TEP is where freq >27.999MHz). 14. If you use windows 2000 or Win-XP (or greater) then you can use the speak spots alarm (also with win98 by installing the speech engine from my webpage link, note: you DO NOT need to activate the reader app, but you must install it to be able to install the text to speech agent). This will speak the DX being spotted and the frequency of the spot. You will need the windows text to speech toolkit (for W98/W_ME) which you can download from my website in the V7 area. If you want to configure the phonetics spoken then please read phonetics.txt in the mapping subfolder. To change the voice (usually a male / female choice) then go to Windows control Panel / Speech option and change it there. When you enable Speak spots you will have an option to also include the spotter in the speech. NOTE: Speech will not keep up if you are looking at every band on the DXC on a contest weekend, dont bother emailing me as you have 3 choices; turn it off, speed up the voice or enable filters so you only see the bands you are interested in. 15. SOUNDS IN LIVE MUF NOTE: You can use your own wav files if you do not like the supplied files; i.e. If you want to use your own sound for DXC Chat then put your own wave file in the sounds sub folder and name it DXC_CHAT_ME.wav, make sure you include the underscore ME or next update your file will be overwritten with the standard sound file. When using your own wave file make sure these are small sized and short sound files or this will have an impact on Live MUF. NOTE and WARNING: the bottom option Kill all sound will do just that, this is an override for removing all sounds / alarms in live MUF!

DDE

To enable DDE you will need to 1st go to the DDE settings and install driver; This will install the database driver for storing outgoing data before it is processed by the logging program. DDE Enabled?: With this ticked live Muf will pass spots onto a Log. Use DXC Filters?: With this ticked it forces only to pass spots that have passed through Live MUF DXC filters (freq, mode etc). This means if you already have filters set up in live MUF of the spots you want to see it saves passing all the spots to a logger. Only pass when logger blank?: With this ticked live Muf will only pass spots onto a Log if the Logs DDE server text box is empty (This should be a feature now in the latest VQ Log) . DXC to push DDE?: Select the DXC window that pushes the spots to DDE. You will need to set the EXE, Link topic and link item exactly as your logging program says. VqLog is EXE= VQLog20 Topic= VQLog Item= DXTelnet . Swisslog is EXE= SWISSLOG Topic= SWLPACKET Item= PACKET . NOTE THE DDE LINK IS CASE SENSITIVE.. Swisslog has telnet functionality so you can see below for a better way to connect to a logger:

DXC Telnet Server

Live MUF DXC connection can also be accessed remotely using telnet as a replacement / option to DDE for connecting to logbooks. To configure the server you need to look in the menu DXC/Telnet Server. The settings are quite self explanatory but one thing to be aware of is this connection is accessible across a network including the internet so make sure you know what you doing regarding security! Once you have configured the telnet server you will need click Enable TNS in the DXC window menu. The telnet server is activated by the top menu-item Enable TNS and Disable TNS. The settings in your logbook program will be explained in their own help guides. I have tested TNS with Winlog32, Swisslog and Ham Radio Deluxe and all these work OK. Please note the two options Push MUF data and Use pipe in push; these enable you if you wish to push calculated MUF data out to clients in pipe or carriage return format. Note: If you want to send a message to clients from the telnet server but dont want it passed through the DXC then use /V7TNS in front of the message (put the /V7TNS in the additional message box). Telnet server now has IPv6 option. Note, in the DXC telnet windows you can force an IPv4 address by using an IP rather than hostname. This is useful if you feed a logger on your machine with the TNS and use the connection from another part of the LAN/WAN. The telnet server is very useful for multiple clients to 1 DXC connection. It enables you to have 1 database but have many clients. Make sure that the clients do not have add data (or chat) to db ticked in the DXC settings. I already know of 2 stations that run with this method, myself and a US contest group.

DXC Call Watcher

The DXC Call watcher is as it says. Input a call you want to watch for (DX spots only), the band range you want to look in and optionally you can enable an audible alarm by ticking the Alarm check box. The DXC window will display the alarm in the colour you set in the colour like !!CALL ALARM: DL1AAA on 2m!!. The call watcher is related to the DXC window you use so say you are in DX2 then DX2 call watches are applied. Note 1: To disable the watch remove the text from the first Callsign box (or click the clear all button then the update button), if this is empty then Live MUF will not look any further. Note 2: you can use partial calls i.e. G7RA and the spot will be searched for this text. The search looks at the whole spot (apart from characters beyond character 27 in the info) so you could also use say an award you are looking for like EU120. Note 3: This WILL override your band filters so even though you dont see the spot you will get the warning (why?). Note 4: To remove an alarm just remove the text from the Callsign box (remember removing the first Callsign will disable the watch!). Note 5: you can include a leading and trailing space in the text box; i.e. NY (For example: maybe with DL8YE to stop DL8YEH spots being included in the call watch) with a leading and trailing spaces will stop false alarms. Note 6: the colon : is replaced with a single space in the search so dont include that character in your Call watcher text!

DXCC Lookup

In this form you can lookup DXCC entities. Enter the 1st few letters of the call or full call and click lookup

OIRT and VOR Menus

From the DXC window you have VOR and OIRT menus. These are pick lists for spotting VOR beacons and OIRT radio stations during sporadic E season. Some DX clusters will not accept these spots but I do know DX spider clusters are OK with these. To use you click the menu, find the station you can hear in the list and double left click it. This will fill in the custom DX spot boxes for you. And all you need to do is add a report and click add spot. Thanks to G4FUF, G8IZY, YO2IS, SP8AOV, LZ2CC and others for compiling / verifying the OIRT list. Thanks to DL1EAP and G4FUF for compiling the VOR list.

WWC / KST / BBS

Follow the same pattern as you did for DXC (but sorry, the colours are not customisable). Note that the initial connect up is threaded and the timeout for the thread is set to your live MUF web update settings to give the connection a chance to be established before giving up. On all telnet windows you have the option (disabled/enabled in settings) of two drop down boxes, one small grey one and a larger white one. This is meant for commands that need to be sent with every input; i.e. If you put /msg g7rau in the grey box in WWC or you put T G7RAU in DXC then whatever you type in the white box will be directed at g7rau. On WWC and KST you have the option to save all chat traffic to the database. WARNING this could be many gigabytes of data and you could clog your hard disk.. Do not use this option unless you feel it is REALLY NEEDED! If you do use the option then you can retrieve the saved data from the analysis window. There are multi KST windows (KST, KS2, KS3 etc) so you can configure the different channels on each instance for quick access to the other channels.

WWC / KST / BBS Telnet watch

In the WWC and KST top menu you have a menu item called Text Watch. This gives you the option of 10 lines of text that the application will actively look for on incoming data. You can

set an alarm on text arrival and/or change the colour of the text in the window. If you leave the top text item blank then the feature will be disabled.

WWC / KST / BBS Bad Spotters

In the WWC/KST/BBS menu there is a form called bad spotters. This enables you to remove ALL messages from a Callsign in KST (the one bad spotter settings covers all KST instances) and to IGNORE LINES containing a Callsign in WWC/BBS. If you add a call in here and the call is read then no data will be displayed but the data WIILL STILL be entered into the chat database. USE WITH CAUTION!!!

MUF Data

This is the MUF window for processed MUF Data. The settings sub menu is where you set your criteria for MUF processing; hover on them for a description of their purpose, if in doubt leave as default. Note that MUF text for ES that is greater on MUF than the ES Alarm MUF frequency you set in MUF settings will be coloured red. You also have a hand MUF calc for when all else fails.

AURORA/SOLAR

Once you click this in the menu it will bring up the AU window, in here you will see WCY/WWV data and any DXC spots that resemble an aurora spot. The Aurora Settings is a placeholder for future aurora / FAI development. Watch this space J

VHF and Up

Once clicked this will bring up the 50 MHz and up spots window

HF

Once clicked this will bring up the HF spots window

Mapping

This is live MUF mapping; see the mapping help file for a summary of functions

ANALYSIS
This window gives you a chance to search the DXC/WCY/WWV/KST/WWC data by date/time/freq/mode/call etc. Note that in analysis the font is fixed to courier, this is to keep the DXC spot analysis in a readable format. You can also get data in spider format so you can export spots from 1 live MUF database into another using the app instead of the backend database (use LOG SPIDER to export the Live MUF logger in a spider format, this then enables you to import the logbook into Live MUF as if it were a DX Cluster spot file).

MISC TOOLS
This menu holds things that cannot be categorised into other menus. Beacons: The beacons window is a collection of data from various sources. It is NOT linked

to the call/loc database. To import the listing supplied with the app click IMPORT. You can search by call, band and mode. If you have updates for this then let me know and I will update the list so everyone can get the updated data. Please note that the VOR and OIRT data in here are wildly out of date, if you are going to spot OIRT or VOR then use the tools in the DXC window and not from here. Please note that if you update (not ADD) data then the next time you run import it will overwrite the updated data with the original data hence the send updates to me so I can update the central database.

QRA Calc: This enables you to work out a 12 character grid locator from lat / long or visa versa. You can also work out QRB / QTF between 2 grids. Usage: 1: Put a locator into the Locator A box and click calculate, this will give you lat/long for the inputted locator. 2: Input a locator into Locator A and B box for QRB/QTF calculations 3: Input latitude and longitude into the relevant boxes and click calculate for working out a locator. Note that the format for a 12 char loc is: A to R x2, 0 to 9 x2,A to X x2, 0 to 9 x2,A to X x2, 0 to 9 x2 i.e. IO90IR09AX09

Web DXC: If you are behind a firewall then this might help. This allows you to pull a
webpage of DXC data and Live MUF will process it.

Simply make sure you have a DXC window open of your choice click the disabled button and it will run. NOTE, this is read only, you cannot post spots. Make sure you have use spot time ticked in DXC settings otherwise you will get a lot of duplicates! New option skimmer: to change to mixed pull change the string to skimmer=y rather than skimmer=o and skimmer=n equals no skimmer data.

Astro: Astro is a tool for looking at astronomical objects azimuth and elevation. Usage is
quite simple; Select objects (planets / noise sources), set your location and the date/time and click calculate. Data will be shown in the grid (see image below). The sun and moon are always shown. You can also adjust azimuth start position and maximum magnitude to display. Note magnitude shown in the drop down needs to be divided by 10 so mag 15=1.5 etc. The higher the value selected the dimmer stars are visible. You can also load up a custom file with your own objects. The format is critical: Astro objects in here comma delimited i.e. Cygnus-A,19h58m12.0s,+40d36m00.0s,6.5 Structure is like: 1st title of object My distant object in space (1 to 254 characters long) Next RA in exact format: 00h58m12.0s (11 characters long) Next Dec in exact format: +00d00m00.0s (12 characters long) Magnitude. This is optional Finally is object colour (html format i.e. FFFFFF is white, 000000 is black). This is optional So the file would look like: My deep space object 1, 09h30m00.0s,+40d01m00.0s,6.2,FFF7F5 My deep space object 2, 09h30m00.0s,+40d01m00.0s,6.7,FFFFFF And so on. One source for this data is http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu where the source right ascension and declination are nearly in this format (declination is missing the decimal value so just add . 0 to the text). If you want a rough set of common meteor showers and stars to load into the astro tool the download from http://g7rau.demon.co.uk/soft/downloads/astro_ms_showers.zip With this set (a snip of data from the Hipparcos Catalog,the Yale Bright Star Catalog 5th Edition, and the Gliese Catalog of Nearby Stars 3rd Edition from http://astronexus.com/node/34 ). To load these files, tick store file, click on the open file. Browse to the required file and select it. To display the data tick file data and click the calculate button. Note the magnitude; this is true object magnitude when divided by 10. As a guide the best I see here with light pollution from Southampton and Portsmouth cities is ~35 selected (3.5 magnitude).

The lunar phase (i) is the % of the earth facing lunar surface illuminated by the sun. This is a very rough calculation but this should be within 1 day for +-20 years. When I have more time I will refine this. Astro Author: Keith Naylor G4FUF. Translated into .net by Dave Edwards. This program is made available freely to the scientific and radio amateur communities. No charge may be made for copies. The author(s) retain their original copyright. Users do so on the understanding that there is no guarantee, nor any support provided. Many thanks to Keith G4FUF for supplying all the routines and maths for the Astro screen.

Web01 to Web10: These are very simple web browsers. You type the web address in
the box. To set as home page or go to home page just right click in the form.

General Options (Left Menu)

User Details
Set your personal details in here. These need to be done before you import DXC/WWC settings. When these are set they will update your locator / call on the G7RAU central database located on my server in my shack via the internet.

Database Type

By default the database will use SQLite database supplied with the app. MS Access used to be the default but it is only available as 32 bit whereas all other databases can run in 64 bit improving the performance of the application considerably but the choice is yours. Live MUF V7 will also run with MS SQL Server 2000, MS SQL Server 2005 (SQL Express), MS SQL Server 2008 and MySQL databases (available on website, please read the website for database schema downloads). The file paths are for SQLite and MS Access databases. By default the paths used are the root folder of Live MUF but these paths can be modified by clicking on the buttons. There is also an option to put parts of the database in read only mode (DXC, WWC data etc), please dont use this mode unless you have a good reason to as NO DX SPOTS ARE ADDED TO THE DATABASE!

Buffers

You can set the system wide buffers in here. Keep the window / command box buffers as small as possible if you run a low spec machine or you are low on memory. If the windows seem jumpy when DXC data arrives then you have the buffers set too high for the specification of your machine. Also here you can force windows to open maximised. I would not recommend this but if you do this I advise you enable tabs at the top..

Form / Data Options

Here you can scroll off and save last settings off. Normally both of these are left on. Also you can force the app to accept DXC spotter callsigns with 12 characters. Although not standard some clusters now support bigger user callsigns i.e. EA3/DF0ZZZ. When Enable DXC 30 character spot info? is ticked then Live MUF will use 30 character DXC spot info instead of 27. Warning, some DX Clusters use the last 3 characters for DXCC info so when calculating the prop mode a spot with the DXCC of ES = false spots! Note, if you use minimize to tray then you will not get a taskbar icon as the app is run from the system tray (to enable this you tick the box and save then restart Live MUF).

Call / Loc Search

You can search / update the Callsign Database. Note that when you update a DX CALL that the update will also be sent to the G7RAU central database located on my server in my shack via the internet. You can also search QRZ.com, HAMCALL.net, HamQTH.com and DL8EBW for the call in the Callsign text box; this will open your web browser on the appropriate web search page and show the results of the search.

MUF Updates

You can update the propagation filter / Call database and the DXCC file from in here directly from my central database server. You can also choose a time to automatically do this (the app will need to be running to perform the update). It is a good idea to keep up to date with at

least the Callsign database as the calculations rely purely on these entries to do the calculations. NOTE: Please only use the Callsign/Locator full database update If you have not updated for greater than 4 weeks, a much better option is using the update above this for the last 1 to 4, 8, 26 and 52 weeks or to set the time in the auto update at the bottom. I would advise once a year running the full loc update but please not every week!

You can also choose to semi-automatically update the EXE. This will download a compressed exe to your PC of the latest version; follow the text guide in the update itself, the main rule is after stage two and you have a box as per below here make sure live MUF has fully quit before running the extractor or the update will fail. Choose the 1st option (32 bit) if you run 32 bit operating system or run MS Access database or the 2nd option (64 bit) for a 64 bit operating system, if in doubt choose the 32 bit option!. If you prefer to do this yourself you can download the update file from my website. NOTE: this is a manual process to start and you will have to rename the file LiveMUF64.exe to LiveMUF.exe if you do use a 64 bit operating system after completing the update manually. If you have updated the exe and for some reason you need to go back to the last version then exit live MUF and browse to your live MUF folder. There you will find live_muf.bak, delete Live_muf.exe and then rename the .bak to .exe and you will be back on the previous version.

WARNING!!!! DO NOT STORE ANY OF YOUR FILES IN THE SUB FOLDER web_updates AS THESE ARE PERIODICALLY DELETED BY THE APPLICATION!

Propagation Filter

This allows you to adjust the propagation filter which determines what type of propagation is occurring. This is derived from the info contained within the spot. Ordering is 0 to 9 and A to Z. Every spot that arrives has the spot info check to see if any of the spot detail you included in the spot filter exists within it. If so then the spot propagation mode becomes the propagation type you assigned in the spot filter. You can also add your own propagation type; this is limited to 6 characters (A to Z). This will add an entry to the list called CHANGE ME at position 000 with your new prop mode, you will have to change the spot detail to whatever info that you want to search for in the dx spot. Note: you will have to delete the CHANGE ME entry after finishing.

Priority Settings

Live MUF is a multi-threaded application. What this means for you as a user is that many tasks can be performed at (seemingly, not strictly true) the same time. This window allows you to change the priority of these tasks (threads) if you feel they are too low or too high. Application tasks: This includes base app tasks like saving settings, writing files to disk, analysis and populating arrays for holding the spot filter etc. Network tasks: This is all network related traffic; i.e. telnet, updates, call lookups etc. Calculations: This is all the radio related calculations like QRB, QTF and MUF. Maps and drawing: This is all mapping including the maths behind drawing the maps and memory based data-tables for drawing the maps.

By default Live MUF sets all the tasks at a normal priority. Under most circumstances this is more than adequate (actually the lowest setting is fine on my system here) but sometimes you need to up the priority of things if you run lots of applications at the same time and Live MUF is constantly been beaten to the CPU. One circumstance is with the network tasks, if you download a lot from the internet and find your telnet connections get dropped then try putting the priority to Above Normal. You have a choice of 4 settings: Above normal, normal, below normal and lowest. WARNING: SETTING ALL TO ABOVE NORMAL COULD LEAD TO SYSTEM INSTABILITY, BE SENSIBLE!

Spot Importer

In the menu general options / DX Spider lives a part of the application that has some use to a few hams. The spot importer gives you the ability to process .dat files from DX Spider cluster software (also you can use the custom import explained later). This means if you have access to cluster files you can import the data from previous ES seasons into V7 (the app actually imports all DX spots from the files). DX cluster spots are in the format like: 50290.0^KB9ZTF^1101513900^psk 599^W5TFW^226^226^W4LEE^ Going through this; The separator is ^. Column 1 is the frequency (50290 = 50 MHz) Column 2 is the DX being spotted (KB9ZTF) Column 3 is the time in UNIX format which is 1st January 1970 at 00:00:00 plus 1101513900 seconds Column 4 is the spot info (psk 599). When I imported my log into Live MUF I used the propagation mode column from my logger for this data. Column 5 is the DX spotter (W5TFW) There are a number of other columns after this. These are not used for the import by Live MUF. If you run a DX cluster then you will already have files ready for importing. To use: browse to the folder containing the .dat files, select a dupe check level, leave the custom spots un-ticked and click import.

If you wish to say create your own files from your logbook and import these into Live MUF you can. Custom spots are in the format like: 144.300^I8MPO^2003-06-29 14:01:11^IO80BS<ES>JN70FP OPEN!^G4RRA^ Going through this; The separator is ^. Column 1 is the frequency (144.300 = 144 MHz) Column 2 is the DX being spotted (I8MPO) Column 3 is the time in standard SQL format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:SS i.e. Year 4 digit, month 2 digit, day 2 digit, 24hr 2 digit, : separator, minute 2 digit, : separator and second 2 digit. Note the format; it will either fail or be extremely unpredictable if you vary from this standard. Column 4 is the spot info (IO80BS<ES>JN70FP OPEN) Column 5 is the DX spotter (G4RRA) To import do the same as a DX Spider import but make sure you have the custom import ticked and make sure you used the .dat extension on the file. Also dont forget the final ^ on your custom spot or it will fail! The spots will be processed at around 1 per second (MySQL / SQL server users should see ~5 per second). Do not try and import hundreds of files at a time or your PC will go slow. Once the dat files have been imported the data is available for mapping / analysis in the application. Note the SQL text in the form, this shows you the last SQL statement that was used to input the data into live MUF. Make sure the data processing has completed before you close Live MUF.

RAU LOGGER
There is a built in mini logbook in Live MUF. To enable it you need to go to general options / database type and enable logger. Once in the log (Windows / RAU Logger / Logger01) read the help file in the file menu of the log.

ARCHIVING YOUR SPOT DATABASE

After a number of years the spots database can become slow to access data hence this option. Use with care, there is no need to archive every day or re-accessing data in the future will be a nightmare. In the top menu Misc / Database tools there is an item called archive data. This only works with Access data files, other database types you can email me for recommendations on how to archive them. This will create a folder called archive and dump a copy of your spots database into a file with the date-time as the name. The routine after making a copy will empty all your data from Live MUF but will leave your telnet connections data intact. If the database is large then this routine will take sometime, note it will lock you out until it has finished so be patient and DONT kill the app while this is running! If your data is really important to you I would recommend you manually make a copy of spots.mdb before attempting this as it is pointless emailing me and asking for the data back as I cannot help! If you want to access your data again in the future to look back then I recommend you install a second version of Live MUF and in database connections point the spots database path at

the archive file.

REPAIRING YOUR DATABASES

If you use Microsoft Access you might find that the database becomes corrupt after a while. You can use the ODBC manager on your PC to compact it and this also improves the performance of your database. Make sure you are not using Live MUF and you have made a copy of your spots.mdb so you have a backup in case it all goes horribly wrong! METHOD 1: In ODBC Manager (Control Panel in Win98 and Control Panel/Administrative tools in Win2K/XP) go to User DSN and click new. Click Select and browse to your spots.mdb file. Click Repair and your database should be accessible by the application again. METHOD 2: Open the spots.mdb file in Microsoft Access. Go to menu Tools/Database Utilities/Compact and repair database. Note 1: that it might offer the repair before you even get it open as it might need to repair it 1st. Note 2: it might offer to convert it to a later Access version. If you choose to do this you will need to rename the new file and you will need to make sure that the application is pointing at the correct database (In Live MUF general Options / Database type you may point the location of the database at the new file). METHOD 3: Use the database tools in the misc menu.

CHANGE YOUR DATABASE PRECISION

If you have been running Live MUF for a while then you missed the change to double precision for all numeric types in the database and your database will be set to single precision. Double precision will mean calculations performed on the database will be more accurate. This update can render the database useless if it crashes so to be on the safe side make a copy of spots.mdb before continuing. After this go to menu Tools/Database Utilities/ Update data-types to double precision and run this. You will only need to run this once. After this has been run all data will be stored with double precision (old data will be left as double precision). FYI for existing users: 457) [06/06/2008 13:00:00] I HAVE RERELEASED THIS AS SOME HAD PROBLEMS IF UPDATE DATATYPE TO DOUBLE PRECISION CAUSES ERRORS LET ME KNOW This will be the last update available for Live MUF in its current state, please visit the Live MUF forum on my wesite for more info (section general). IMPORTANT: Run menu Misc/Database Tools/ Update datatypes to double precision. If you do not then live MUF will cease to run on future updates! To save recalculating things I have increased storage precision. SQL LITE USERS email me as you will need to alter the databases yourself or download a new set (Archive / backup your old!!). ACCESS USERS: RUN Database tools/Compact main databases afterwards as the database will have bloated to double its size! If you have been running live MUF for many years you might want to consider

archiving your data. Access has a finite limit on the number of data rows it contains and will stop working after this is reached. A better option is to use MySQL or SQL server Express, these are both free and the former has no limits!

FINALE
OK, hopefully you are now connected to the cluster and with some luck you have some sporadic e spots on your DX cluster coming through and you are getting an idea of MUF and where you should be beaming, the rest now is down to the e layer to provide us with some 2m DX :-) Many thanks to G4FUF, EA6VQ, G3NAQ, G0AEV, G0GJV, SM3GSJ, G3USF (I believe the beacon list was partly built using this) for their help with the maths to Jim AD1C who supplies and maintains the DXCC and telnet connection files, To VE7CC-Lee who supplies the skimmer base feed and all the hams who have contributed invaluable input / ideas to the project! Please comments and bug reports to livemuf@g7rau.co.uk