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OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

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STEPHEN W BANKS

OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone on the list have suggestions for ways to quickly associate callsigns, country names, latitude and longitude and similar data? I think what I'm looking for is a well-permuted index of some kind. Seems like occasionally I see a post about such a service, but I've lost track of it/them.

Simple English names for country locations for unfamiliar callsigns would be quite helpful. Even better would be maps depicting the country's whereabouts, its longitude and latitude, and bearing and distance from my QTH. Frequently heard prefixes like Gs, Ms, Fs, Ds and other European countries are pretty easy to remember, as are Central and North American callsigns. But beyond those locations I get VERY ignorant VERY quickly.

My ProLog Call Master files do a good job of quickly determining beam headings and distance to a specific ham's QTH; they are fine. But less frequently heard DX callsigns are hard for me to visualize for beam headings and just general information about the names and whereabouts of countries, their ham populations and the like.

What I'm looking for is a way for me to be less geography-challenged. (No wonder my DXCC tally list is so sparce!) Not sure how I ever made it through elementary and high school geography classes.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks and 73,

Steve Banks

K0PQ

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Iain MacDonnell - N6ML

Re: OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

Steve,

Take a look at DXview:

http://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxview/

I think it does most of what you're looking for ...

~Iain

STEPHEN W BANKS wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> Does anyone on the list have suggestions for ways to quickly
> associate callsigns, country names, latitude and longitude and similar
> data? I think what I'm looking for is a well-permuted index of some
> kind. Seems like occasionally I see a post about such a service,
> but I've lost track of it/them.
>
> Simple English names for country locations for unfamiliar callsigns
> would be quite helpful. Even better would be maps depicting the
> country's whereabouts, its longitude and latitude, and bearing and
> distance from my QTH. Frequently heard prefixes like Gs, Ms, Fs, Ds and
> other European countries are pretty easy to remember, as are Central and
> North American callsigns. But beyond those locations I get VERY
> ignorant VERY quickly.
>
> My ProLog Call Master files do a good job of quickly determining beam
> headings and distance to a specific ham's QTH; they are fine. But less
> frequently heard DX callsigns are hard for me to visualize for beam
> headings and just general information about the names and whereabouts of
> countries, their ham populations and the like.
>
> What I'm looking for is a way for me to be less geography-challenged.
> (No wonder my DXCC tally list is so sparce!) Not sure how I ever made
> it through elementary and high school geography classes.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks and 73,
>
> Steve Banks
> K0PQ
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

Clark B. Wierda (N8CBW)

Re: OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 12:01, Iain MacDonnell - K6IAM <[hidden email]> wrote:

Steve,

Take a look at DXview:

http://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxview/

I think it does most of what you're looking for ...

~Iain

Also useful is the prefix lookup page at http://hfradio.org/prefix/.

73,
--
Clark Wierda, N8CBW

Ralph Tyrrell

Re: OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

In reply to this post by STEPHEN W BANKS

Steve:
I use Afreet Software, Inc.
Software created by Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA

DX Atlas 2.25

http://www.dxatlas.com/

The less frequently heard DX callsigns are a problem for me also. Many times they are a special call sign for an event or DX expedition. There are lists out there that tell what prefixes belong to what country. Sometimes that does not work either.

DX Atlas does a great job with maps, direction, distance, and gray line info. It gets frequent use here. Even if I only want the direction and distance to a state side station.

73, Ty, W1TF, K3 #696, K1 # 1423

--- On Wed, 10/8/08, STEPHEN W BANKS <[hidden email]> wrote:

> From: STEPHEN W BANKS <[hidden email]>
> Subject: [Elecraft] OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham
> To: "Elecraft" <[hidden email]>
> Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 11:41 AM
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Does anyone on the list have suggestions for ways to
> quickly associate callsigns, country names, latitude and
> longitude and similar data? I think what I'm looking
> for is a well-permuted index of some kind. Seems like
> occasionally I see a post about such a service, but I've
> lost track of it/them.
>
> Simple English names for country locations for unfamiliar
> callsigns would be quite helpful. Even better would be maps
> depicting the country's whereabouts, its longitude and
> latitude, and bearing and distance from my QTH. Frequently
> heard prefixes like Gs, Ms, Fs, Ds and other European
> countries are pretty easy to remember, as are Central and
> North American callsigns. But beyond those locations I get
> VERY ignorant VERY quickly.
>
> My ProLog Call Master files do a good job of quickly
> determining beam headings and distance to a specific
> ham's QTH; they are fine. But less frequently heard DX
> callsigns are hard for me to visualize for beam headings and
> just general information about the names and whereabouts of
> countries, their ham populations and the like.
>
> What I'm looking for is a way for me to be less
> geography-challenged. (No wonder my DXCC tally list is so
> sparce!) Not sure how I ever made it through elementary and
> high school geography classes.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks and 73,
>
> Steve Banks
> K0PQ

Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU

Re: OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

Administrator

If you're just an occasional user, you might try my Firefox extension.
As you type in the DX prefix, it gives you a dropdown list of bearings
from your QTH; you can stop typing as soon as you see the one you want.

1 Install the extension into Firefox 2 or 3:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/824
2. Visit this web page:
http://wa5znu.org/2007/05/dxqra/

It tries to guess your grid square, but you probably need to type in the
correct one.

Leigh/WA5ZNU

>> Does anyone on the list have suggestions for ways to
>> quickly associate callsigns, country names, latitude and
>> longitude and similar data? I think what I'm looking
>> for is a well-permuted index of some kind. Seems like
>> occasionally I see a post about such a service, but I've
>> lost track of it/them.

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

M0XDF

Re: OT guestion...Help needed for the geography-challenged ham

that appears to be Mozilla XForms?

I am told I talk in shorthand and then smudge it. - J.R.R. Tolkien
(1892 - 1973)

On 8 Oct 2008, at 18:59, Leigh L. Klotz, Jr WA5ZNU wrote:

> If you're just an occasional user, you might try my Firefox extension.
> As you type in the DX prefix, it gives you a dropdown list of bearings
> from your QTH; you can stop typing as soon as you see the one you
> want.
>
> 1 Install the extension into Firefox 2 or 3:
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/824
> 2. Visit this web page:
> http://wa5znu.org/2007/05/dxqra/
>
> It tries to guess your grid square, but you probably need to type in
> the
> correct one.
>
> Leigh/WA5ZNU
>
>>> Does anyone on the list have suggestions for ways to
>>> quickly associate callsigns, country names, latitude and
>>> longitude and similar data? I think what I'm looking
>>> for is a well-permuted index of some kind. Seems like
>>> occasionally I see a post about such a service, but I've
>>> lost track of it/them.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com