[Dx4win] Create VUCC Map from DX4WIN Award Listing

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

Hi Folks,

After playing with Excel for a couple hours this morning, I could not
get exactly what I wanted.

I'm going to keep the program the same as before (HTML output), but
I've made two changes:

1.  The program will print the 2-letter field abbreviation in the
background of each 10x10 grid.

2.  Three formats of output: Portrait 4R/3C (default), Landscape
3R/4C, 11x17 4R/8C

I could really use some help.  I wonder if someone can help me make
GIF files for the 2-letter field abbreviations (images) using
Microsoft Paint?  There are 324 images total (AA through RR).  I've
made about a dozen covering most of the USA.  I could continue to do
it, but it would probably be on an as-need basis.  Let me know if
you're willing to help, and I can tell you exactly what I want, as
well as sending sample files.

I'll release the updated program on Sunday, no matter how many field
images I have.

73 - Jim AD1C

On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 10:14 AM, Jim Reisert AD1C
<jjreisert at alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> I am going to try to do one relatively easy thing in the upcoming
> (non-Windows) release.
>
> I will add an option to generate a .CSV file instead of a .HTML file.
> The spreadsheet will have placeholders for all grids, starting at AR09
> (upper-left) and ending at RA90 (lower-right).
>
> If you have confirmed a grid, it will show up in the spreadsheet like
> "FN42" (UPPER case).  If you have only worked it, it will show up like
> "dn79" (lower case).  I don't know what do about non-worked grids yet.
>  If I leave the cells empty, the spreadsheet will be filled with
> blanks, and you don't have any idea what they are.
>
> At least this way, you can open the file in Excel and print any part
> of it you want.  Don't forget to turn on grid lines!
>
> I'm thinking about another approach, but it's very different from this
> utility.  Stay tuned!
>
> - Jim
>
> On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C
> <jjreisert at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
>> I started to work on this utility again (as I've been fairly active on
>> 6 meters lately, picking up new grids since moving to CO):
>>
>>  Create VUCC Map from DX4WIN Award Listing
>>  http://dx4win.ad1c.us/vucc.htm
>>
>> I believe John W9RPM may have asked about this in the not-too-distant
>> past.  John has worked all 488 continental US grid squares and I think
>> is one QSL away from completing the Fred Fish Memorial Award
>> (http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Fred%20Fish.pdf).
>>
>> I made some changes today so the utility works with DX4WIN8 (DX4WIN7
>> still works).  The utility also now treats submitted/approved credits
>> as confirmed.  I'm also going to improve the title bar so you know
>> what fields are being displayed.  Including the full name in each grid
>> square of the output prevents it from fitting on a single page.
>>
>> Unfortunately, it's still a command-line program, that I'll release
>> sometime this weekend.
>>
>> I'll create a Windows interface in the next release (after this one,
>> no timetable).  With the Windows interface, there will be a button so
>> you can see the output immediately in your web browser of choice (then
>> print it).
>>
>> Here are some ideas I've come up with, though I don't know how to
>> implement some of them:
>>
>> 1.  Overlay the grid data on top of a real map (don't know how to do this)
>> 2.  Print the field names in the background of each field (don't know how yet)
>> 3.  Rotate the page as landscape, so instead of 3x4 it's 4x3 (this
>> means text has to rotate also, which may not be supported in HTML)
>> 4.  Color-code the field backgrounds (maybe add a legend).  Is there
>> any value in this?
>> 5.  Larger output, i.e. print more fields on a 11x17 printer (everyone
>> has one of these, right)?
>>
>> Does anyone else have other ideas that I don't have time to work on?  :-)
>>
>> 73 - Jim AD1C

-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreisert at alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us