Please keep a copy of this message. Changes since the last version will
have "|" in front of them. Pay particular attention to the section at the
end regarding files.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
CT-USER@eng.pko.dec.com
| Last revised: December 1, 1994
This FAQ list is posted at the start of each month and covers the
following topics:
1. What is CT-USER?
2. How do I join CT-USER?
3. What are the suggested "operating practices" for CT-USER?
4. How do I obtain CT?
5. How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
6. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
|
| 7. How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
1. What is CT-USER?
CT-USER is an electronic mail reflector for discussions relating to
the CT contest logging software and DVP (Digital Voice Processor) by
Ken Wolff, K1EA. This is the place to ask questions, report bugs and
suggest new features. In addition, updates to CT are often announced
here, and I regularly post updated countries lists ("CTY" files).
Ken himself even reads these messages, and might just reply to you
once in a while. This list was started to off-load some of the
CT-specific traffic from the CQ-CONTEST@TGV.COM reflector run by Trey
Garlough, WN4KKN.
Each message you send to CT-USER will be sent out to all the other
subscribers. Therefore, it's important to think about what you're
going to say, and how you're going to say it, before you send the
message.
Also remember that many subscribers receive their EMAIL through
commercial services such as CompuServe and MCImail. In essence, many
people are paying for each byte of every message sent to CT-USER. In
order to minimize spurious messages, please follow the operating
hints detailed below.
2. How do I join CT-USER?
There is no charge or fee for being on the mailing list, apart from
any charges your particular system might impose for reading and/or
sending Internet mail. Subscription management is handled
automatically by a program ("MajorDomo") that answers mail sent to
CT-USER-REQUEST@eng.pko.dec.com
To join the group, send a message to CT-USER-REQUEST with the
following text in the BODY of the mail message:
subscribe
To remove yourself from the list, send a message to CT-USER-REQUEST
with the following text in the BODY of the mail message:
unsubscribe
The Subject: line is ignored.
Please do not send "SUBSCRIBE" requests to CT-USER!
MajorDomo provides other functions like getting a list of
subscribers, or an archive of past messages. To find out about these
features, send a message to CT-USER-REQUEST with the following text
in the BODY of the mail message:
HELP
3. What are the suggested "operating practices" for CT-USER?
* Include your name and callsign with every message you send. We
don't all know everyone by just a call or a nickname.
Furthermore, some user names (part of your electronic mail
address) make it almost impossible to identify the sender,
especially those from CompuServe, MCImail and Prodigy.
* Use a subject line that accurately indicates the content of your
message. If you are asking a question, end the subject line with
a "?". If you are reporting a bug, use the word BUG somewhere in
the subject line. It makes it easier to find these messages
later.
* When answering someone's question, reply to that person directly,
rather than to the whole list, unless you *know* the answer will
benefit everyone. Users are encouraged to solicit answers, then
post a *summary* of the received replies back to the reflector.
* Many people pay $$$ when they receive messages. Some people pay
per message, some per byte. Therefore, please take this into
consideration when writing a response. Ask yourself if you would
have paid $0.50 to read the message that you just wrote.
* Praise in public, criticize in private. If someone posts
something objectionable, respond to the poster directly, not to
the whole list. If, however, someone does something especially
wonderful, feel free to tell everyone about it!
* Make sure there is something of value in each message you send to
the reflector. Avoid messages that are a complete reprint of
someone else's message, with nothing but "I agree" or "Me too"
added to the bottom -- not much value there.
* Some people pay by the byte, so when following up to someone
else's message, be sure to include only the essential pieces or
thread of the note. Don't include those 20 extra header lines
that your mail gateway tacked onto the original message.
4. How do I obtain CT?
CT Version 9 was released at Dayton. It is available from K1EA
Software:
K1EA Software
A Division of Harvard Radio, Inc.
5 Mount Royal Avenue
Marlborough, MA 01752-1935
Orders: 508-779-5054 FAX: 508-460-6211
Support: 508-460-8873 BBS: 508-460-8877
|
| The current revision of Version 9 is 9.14 as of December 1, 1994.
The last revision of Version 8 is CT 8.53.
There is also a shareware version of CT available by anonymous FTP
from:
oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/hamradio/ct626.zip
Note that this version is several years old and has little in the way
of documentation.
5. How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
I update the files regularly, usually starting a month before each
major contest (CQWW, ARRL DX, WPX, IARU, WAE). The updated files are
announced on CQ-CONTEST and posted to the CT BBS (508-460-8877) and
the W6GO BBS (916-992-0923). You can always obtain the latest files
by sending a message to CT-USER-REQUEST.
Here is a sample message to obtain the latest CTY.DAT:
GET cty.dat
Note that file names are case-sensitive, and you should always use
lower-case file names.
The files are also available on the Internet via anonymous FTP from
the following site:
gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/misc/hamradio/cty.zip
However, I can not post to this area directly, so there is some time
lag (a day or two) between the time I announce the new files and the
time they're available at the FTP site.
Finally, users who download CT updates from the CT BBS should
automatically receive the latest CTY files posted there.
6. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
I maintain a CT file repository on the same system that runs the
CT-USER list manager. You can obtain a list of available files by
sending message to CT-USER-REQUEST with the following text in the
body of the message:
index
This file repository includes the ASCII .CTY and .DAT files, the
release notes for version 8 and version 9, and some text files
associated with CT. It does *NOT* contain the actual CT program
itself.
|
| There are also some BINARY files (i.e. TRUNC_BI.EXE) which the
| server will UUencode (convert to ASCII) before mailing them. You
| will need to "GET uud.com" in order to convert then back to binary.
| BEWARE: The files can be large (i.e. MASALL.EXE is almost 350K
| bytes, *BEFORE* encoding in ASCII) and the server does *NOT* split
| them up into smaller messages.
|
| John Zapisek, K2MM also keeps some CT-related files available at his
| anonymous FTP site:
|
| maspar.maspar.com://pub/k2mm/ct-files
|
| 7. How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
|
| MASTER.DTA is a list of known-good callsigns that CT can look up as
| part of Super Check Partial. This file is maintained by Scott Jones,
| WR3G (WR3G@aol.com). Please send your .BIN files to his callbook
| address! He uploads the latest master file to the CT BBS.
| MASALL.EXE dated November 17, 1994, which includes both DX and US/VE
| callsigns, is available from CT-USER-REQUEST.
|
| There are also tools for creating your own MASTER.DTA files from .BIN
| files. They are available from CT-USER-REQUEST, K2MM's FTP site, and
| the CT BBS.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to
contact me directly.
73 - Jim Reisert AD1C
reisert@eng.pko.dec.com
* CT is a copyright of K1EA Software, a division of Harvard Radio.
|