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Index
Callsign is a program written for Amateur radio enthusiasts to record the contacts made during a session. This first version meets the basic requirements of the user with one or two enhancements to make recording of contacts easier. The software has also been written to meet the legal requirements of the licence. The logs stored on disc when full will be around the 300k mark.
There are no print facilities at present. However it is very simple to export the log and
use !edit to print it. If the log needs to be seen on a PC then you can export it as a PC
text file, for display in Word etc. There is only one display facility within Callsign. The logbook. Whilst this may seem restrictive it is in practice very flexible, you can generate a logbook based on your own parameters such as , last 250 records, all records, all occurances of a callsign, competition, or a specified range of the log. This enables you to produce very specific logs for you to do your own analysis, or check the frequency of a particular callsign. Logs can be generated on the fly based on the information displayed on screen in the main view window without affecting the data in the main window.
Searching which is covered in more detail later on also follows the concept. Locate an
instance of for example a Callsign, go to that record and generate a log based on that
record. You can then carry on with other searches or data input.
The software has been packed as a standard zip file, and so you will need either Sparkplug or Sparkfs from David Pilling to install the software.
To install simply drag !Callsign to a directory of your choice. You will also need to drag
!Call_res to a location where it will be seen by the filer before Callsign is run. An ideal
place is either the same directory as Callsign or within !Boot.resources. Currently my
preference is to install in the same directory as Callsign.This enables future upgrades to be made
quite easily.
To run the program double click on the filer icon or a Callsign file. As usual an Icon will appear on the Iconbar, and if a file has been double clicked the main window will open with the last record displyed. Clicking on the iconbar icon will open the main window showing a blank file. To add a record to the file simply click on the add record icon (+) in the toolbar. Before starting a logbook you may want to set the identity up in choices. You will notice that the computer automatically fills in the date and time for you. This action can be switched on or off using the clock icon (7th from left on the toolbar
To finish editing a record click eithr <discard changes> or <Log record>.
The main functions of the program can be controlled from the toolbar. In fact there is currently no menu associated with the main screen. The toolbar icons are from left to right as follows ;
The bump arrows allow you to move through the file. Clicking with adjust does the oposite to the normal select action. If you wish to move to a specific record then you can type in the records number directly into the field.
The final box in the top right of the toolbar shows you how many records are held in the logbook. You can have a
maximun of 1500 entries per log book.
The first section contact, relates to purely the date and time of the contact. If the clock icon is depressed the it will be completed by the computer. If you leave the finish field blank it will be automatically filled. If however you make an entry then it will not be altered. The Callsign field is mandatory, and without it you cannot log an entry. If you tab out of the Callsign field or press return it will initiate a scan of previous entries, and if it finds that Callsign will pop up a window which displays some basic information about the other user, such as name and location. As a consequence you can use the details from the previous entry to complete basic fields such as name, location, and country. Saving you the bother of typing. The search is very quick so it should mean that you will have the users name up on screen for reference. The remaining fields are not mandatory and can be filled in at any time. Callsign, Name Location and Country are all case sensitive. Callsign should be in upper case, with the others being leading letter Upper case rest lower case. The good news is that Callsign will automatically store them in the correct format. Remarks is a free form entry and is not case sensitive. Power, Frequency, Mode. If you wish you can set callsign up to carry these values forward from the last entry in the logbook, as they don not vary that much in a session. See the section in choices. QSL Sent and received are not mandatory and are left to the users discretion for completion. To either store the changes made or discard them click the relevant button. Please note that Logging a record does not result in the data being written to disc. For this you must use the save button. Clicking on Log record will also carry out checks to ensure that the mandatory fields are completed and that the case of the various fields is correct. When you intiate a scan (by using return or tabbing out of the Callsign field) the software quickly looks for a previous contact in the log. If it finds one it will open a window with a few brief details of the last contact. The details provided are : a. Callsign b. Date and time of last contact c. Contacts name d. The QTH e. Last report details. Note that items c-e assume that they were completed in the last log entry. The window allows the user to either simply close the window, or alternatively use the last record details to complete the current logbook entry. This has several advantages, it saves you from lots of typing, allowing you to get on with using the radio, and secondly allows a certain uniformity to be applied to the logbook as a whole. Nb Scanning currently looks at the previous 250 entries only. If you have less than 3 records Autoscan is disabled.
What is the logbook and why is it so important? At its most basic the logbook is a complete screen display of every entry in the logbook. However it can be set up to display a number of different formats, to aid in finding out dates when you have contacted a specific radio ham, or a limited selection of records. Or a complete compettion log. The logbook can also be exported from this window in either RISC OS text or Windows text format, so that it can be printed in your wordprocessor. Printing of the log is not supported in this version, but if you would like it added or other types of log added then contact me. The setting of the logbook is very straight forward. The only comment to note is that with competition selected it will produce a log of all entries for that competition it cannot be restricted.
Although the search set up window looks relatively simple the search facility is comprehensive and case insensitive. Once you have initiated search you can return to the search window to find the next occurance. The search always starts from the current record, whereever you are within the database. If you want to find all occurances of an entry then simply generate a logbook. There is no limit on the searches. However as the logbook gets bigger you will find that it is quicker and easier to do one search and generate a logbook based on the search results.
Clicking on the competition mode opens a window which allows you to either create a new competition or continue with an existing compettion. If you have competition mode switched on when you save the file, when you next load the file you have the option of staying in competition mode. This is also true if you have auto backup switched on and need to recover a file. If you select new competition the start date will be automatically filled in for you. All you need to do is enter the competition name. Note that this is mandatory, as the supplied name will be the subsequent menu entry used when searching or on the continue competition option. You are limited to 20 competitions per Logbook, but no limit to the number of entries per competition. The limit has been imposed, as menus longer than twenty items start to get very unwieldy. To leave competition mode simply click on the competition icon.
At some point you will want to either print out the logbook or export the data for official purposes. The current regulations mean that you are supposed to keep the log on a separate storage device. With this software the logbook with 2800 entries will occupy around 300k of disc space, although memory requirements are far higher. If your logbook is large there can be a longish pause, whilst the text file is generated, especially if being run under Aemulor on Iyonix.The Hourglass is supposed to come on whilst this is generated, however Wimpbasic and the Hourglass don't seem to mix. Hoepfully this will be fixed in future versions. To export the data generate a logbook and from the menu select to export either the whole log, or just the log displayed. You have the further option of saving the text in RISC OS or DOS format, This enables Windows users to review your log without any problems. When saving out as a DOS file remember to add /txt after the filename. The files generated from your log are simple text files, and best viewed in !edit, !Stronged, or !Zap or notepad on windows. If you use a fancy font in a wordprocessor then the display will get mucked up. However a font such as Corpus (Courier on Windows) will display the files correctly. If you want further export options please let me know.
This window allows you to enter your name and Callsign. These details then get carried through to the logbooks that you generate. Note if the logbook has a name/Callsign included it is locked from further amendment. The Callsign/Name in a logbook always overides the details loaded on startup. If the logbook does not have user details/Callsign then you can enter the details at any point. Once set or save have been clicked the details are locked. What is the difference between set and save? If you click on Set the choices are used for the current session only, and will be lost on shutdown. If you click on save the details will be saved into one of two places. If you have the new !boot with RO4 it will be saved in ^boot.choices.users.xxxxxxx. This means that if you have multiple users you can have just one copy of Callsign with all of the users having there own setup. If you have an older version of RISC OS then the choices will be stored within the Application Directory, and effectively becomes a single user program. It is strongly suggested that you upgrade to a newer version of !Boot and RISC OS so that the new features of the new OS can be utilised! The second part of choices is to do with the setup of the software. You can choose whether to a. Have Interactive help on or off : Default on b. Autofill date /time : Default on c. Auto save on/off and delay : Default off d. Autoscan for previous contact : Default on e. Keep data between entries : Default on f. Check for recovery file : Default off Further explanation b. Autofill will complete the date and time of a log entry from the UTC. This only happens when a new log is generated. It does not alter existing records that you may enter. A finish time will also be added when you click on log record unless you have already entered a time. c. Autosave. This feature has been added not because the software is unstable, but rather because (so I'm told) radios and computers do not mix at all well. If this option is turned on you have the option of selecting the period between delays. Personally I would not choose anything below 5 minutes as it could have an adverse effect on scanning/searching and log generating operations. The resultant recovery file is stored within !Call_res. The recovery file is deleted when the program is quit, or after a recovery. d. Autoscan for previous entry. This allows the program to scan for the last time a particular callisgn was encountered and will pop up a window, giving some basic details of the caller (if entered). This enables you to know who you are talking to and what part of the world they are from. You can also fill in the basic details of the user from this window by clicking on the fill button. To initiate the scan use tab or return to move from the Callsign field. e. Keep data between entries. This allows you to 'carry forward' data that does not change such as power Frequency and mode between the last record and the next new record. f. If you have got Autosave engaged, you can get the software to check to see whether a recovery file is in existance. If so you are given the option of loading. You can then save the file out as a normal file. Please note that autosave/recovery cannot guarantee that every record will survive a crash or other outage, at best it will rescue the bulk of your work. You should reguarly save your logbook in any case to be safe. Please note that recovery files are deleted when you save your file, so that an out of date recovery file is not used.
A W Wright. For his suggestions, help and comments during the lengthy development of the software. The folks on CSA.programmer, for there invaluable help when I got really stuck with search routines and methodolgy. To Clares and latterly APDL for producing Wimpbasic.
1.0 First public release of the software
Do you have a small application that you want written ? Why not email me with your idea.? I can be contacted via Email : john@jpeachey.co.uk Updates from https://www.jpeachey.co.uk/computing/indexc.html © J Peachey (Lakeland Software) 3 September 2025 |
