REPORTING NET PARTICIPATION TIME USING MARSTIME ----------------------------------------------- DATE: June 5, 1998, revised September 7, 1999 This document was prepared to give net control stations (NCS) an overview of the MARSTIME program, which is used at the end of each quarter to record participation times for 2S1 and other nets within the region. I will make distribution of this document via email to all 2S1 net control stations and Region 2 officials. This paper will be in three parts. Part I will cover the MARSTIME program, Part II will cover in detail how to prepare AND how to enter the data from the log sheets which have accumulated over the last three months. The backup scheme will also be discussed. Part III will help you through each step of the data entry process. Since the 1st Quarter 1998 we have used the program, with a few minor changes. Most stations are able to use the program without any problems, a limited few have some trouble but nothing major, and a few remaining stations just can't seem to cope with the program. I have a little bit of trouble understanding this but guess we all are not at the same skill level with computers. I wrote these instructions in 1998 and in reviewing my copy recently I made the decision that I should edit and save the document to send out to newly trained NCSs. If you are a new user, make a dummy file of four or five call- signs and follow the process to the end, i.e., writing the file out to disk and checking that file. Test the DELETE command. Does it work? Get a good feel for what the program can and can not do before you devote hours to the real data entry. Feel free to contact me if you need help or have any questions. Email at kf4sp@aol.com ***************************************************************************** * * * TIP OF DO NOT, REPEAT DO NOT USE THE COMMANDS: 'IMPORT' or 'EXPORT.' * * THE DAY! If you are using an earlier version of MARSTIME (before 126) * * ALWAYS answer 'NO' to the question concerning packet. * * * ***************************************************************************** PART I ------ Use the DOS command MD (make directory) and establish a sub-directory for the MARSTIME program. Some name suggestions: MTIME, MTIME126. I would NOT use MARSTIME, since there is a program name of the same title. It won't bother anything except your brain waves. Enter CD < directory name.> At the prompt copy (I use xcopy) all the files to the subdirectory. You can use W95 or Win 97 to do these tasks. On the MARSTIME diskette you received from me, there are some readme files. Read and print out the files, especially MARSTIME.TXT. This file will give you an excellent overview of the MARSTIME program. I will discuss most ot the commands in Part III. Use version 125 or 126. Let me know if you need a copy of version 126 (125 and 126 are basically the same). Version 126 defaults the packet question to NO. I also think 125 will default but I am not sure. PART II ------- Because of the nature of this material, this part may be a bit on the verbose size. Be patient with me! SCENARIO: The end of the reporting quarter has arrived and you have ten (10) log sheets of data to be entered. FIRST STEP: Mark you log sheets as LOG1, LOG2, LOG3......thru LOG10. Devise your own system if you don't like mine. Doing it my way you should have your log sheets nummbered LOG1 thru LOG10. STEP TWO: Enter on your log sheets the time for each station. Remember that net control stations, frequency monitors and alternate net controls get double time e.g., for daytime 2S1, normal time is 2 hours. For the net officials they are credited with 4 hours. For nighttime 2S1 EVERYONE gets 1 hour of credit. The net officials get 2 hours. STEP THREE: The next process is to enter the data from LOG1, check it, WRITE it to a file, and then continue entering the data from LOG2 to the file. This procedure will be followed until the data on all log sheets has been entered. This file you build is a summation of the l0 logs. At any time you may use the PRINT (S) command to review what you have inputted so far. You now have 10 files saved. I save my files are AFA2SJ01.TXT, AFA2SJ02.TXT, etc. The next paragraph will explain more about this FILE SAVE routine. MURPHY (we know him, don't we?) comes along and throws a big monkey wrench at us. We have a power failure, the computer goes down (no UPS). For this example, assume you were entering data from LOG10 (the file being written has data from nine (9) log sheets,) plus what you had entered from LOG10. GUESS WHAT? Your file is GONE, GONE, GONE. But not to worry. Use the RESET command to ensure the memory is cleared out and then use the ASCII command to reload the LOG9 file. The ASCII command will ask for the file name to be reloaded. Indicate the file location, file name and file extension. The only data lost is that from Log10. I guarantee this is much easier than retyping in ALL of the previous logs. Some of you may not follow my advise regarding backing up. Fine if you get through all the data entry OK - chances are you will have problems. So remember about backing up. We need to go easy with the stress levels. I can't remember the number of times I had to start over FROM THE BEGINNING before I wised up. I had to learn the program and then teach it. EXPERIENCE IS A WONDERFUL TEACHER. PART III -------- SCENARIO: The end of the quarter has arrived and the quarterly participation report has to be prepared and forwarded to AFF2N. What do we do? The following will be the steps to follow. Assume that you have not entered any data for the quarter. 1. Number all your net logs, commencing with LOG1, LOG2, etc. Use any numbering scheme of your choosing, just so a numbering sequence is used. 2. From the MAIN menu, highlight RESET and enter. This command removes all data from the file. Use the PRINT (S) option (print to the screen.) If no data is in the memory file, the master MENU will go back to ASCII. 3. Go to TIMES. Enter the data from LOG1 until all entries have been made. If you make an obvious error, write the callsign down and you can correct it later. 3a. A time entry can be corrected directly without using DELETE. The program can handle negative numbers and will treat the HOURS field as an arithmetic entity. Re-enter the callsign of the station where an improper entry was made. An example: 20 hours is entered for a station -- this was an error, only 2 hours were to be credited. Enter -18 with the negative sign and the total hours field will be corrected (reduced by 18.) 4. Using the PRINT (S) command, check your output on the screen for correctness. About the only thing you can see would be a wrong callsign (too many letters) or an entry with excessive hours. E.g., the individual had 2 hours of credit due, but the entry shows 20. Probably a data entry error. See paragraph 3a. 5. WRITE the file at least once....I do it twice. I WRITE the file to my 'A' drive, THEN I WRITE the file to the sub directory where the MARSTIME programs are located. As I said previously, I use the format: AFA2SJnn.txt Another example: 2S13q019.TXT -- this translates to 2S1 time, 3d quarter, number 01,and the year 9. Again, use any file naming system you desire. 6. The file from LOG1 is still in memory. Go back to paragraph three (3) and enter the time from LOG2. Log2 will be merged and/or added to the file. 7. Print out the data. Ensure you have the file SAVED to the MARSTIME sub directory AND to the 3 1/2" floppy drive. Review the data and make any corrections if necessary. Use the DELETE command. Ensure you regenerate the two files and the printer list AFTER the DELETE is used. Go back to paragraph 3 and continue data entry from your next log sheet. When no more data is to be entered, go to paragraph 8. 8. Forward the final file to AFF2N or AFF2C. You will be given instructions as to where to send your email or disk. For ease of operation, email or disk are the preferred way to forward the report. JUNO users will have to copy the data file into their email ...most other users can ATTACH the file OR include the data file into their email. I DO NOT WANT NOR DO I HAVE TIME TO TAKE YOUR PRINTED REPORT AND INPUT THE DATA TO MY CONSOLIDTED FILE. SEND me the file on a 3 1/2" disk or via email. If you send in your data file on disk I would like a printed copy of your report. Your disk will be returned via mail if you desire. 9. DO NOT use the PRINT command to send a copy of the report to me. I need a copy of the report you generated and saved. The system report is not in the proper format for what I need. I need to check the RAW data from your file. Prepare the file both ways and you will see the differences. 10. The following is a sample of the report generated with the PRINT command. The file is stored in memory and is formatted to print the following report. This file, generated using the PRINT command, is NOT in the proper format to merge files. DO NOT SEND ME THIS FILE!! MARS Call HF VHF BST MTS OTHER ====== ======= ======= ======= ====== ======= AFA2SJ 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 AFA2TO 4.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 AFA2WJ 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 AFF2N 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 NNN0EWZ 2.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 TFC 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 11. The following is a sample of the report generated FROM the data file you saved, the file which you named when you invoked the WRITE command. THIS IS THE FILE I NEED TO MERGE YOUR DATA INTO MY TOTAL FILE. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS. Media is email or 3 1/2" disk -- I will edit your email report so that only the data remains. If your file doesn't look like this, you have done something incorrectly. Exit out of MTIME126, go to the disk where you wrote the data file and use the DOS command: --->[ MORE < Your file name & extension ]<---. Try to figure out what you did. Use the PRINT (S) command -- the report should be similiar to that shown in the example (paragraph 10). Use the MORE command to look at the file you wrote out to disk. See the format in paragraph 12. 12. TFC is the number of formal written traffic handled (routine or morale.) DO NOT COUNT administrative discussions or informals. "AFA2SJ",2.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 "AFA2TO",4.5,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 "AFA2WJ",3.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 "AFF2N",4.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 "NNN0EWZ",2.5,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 "TFC",2.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0 ************************************************************************** * * * A REMINDER: DO NOT, REPEAT DO NOT USE THE COMMANDS: 'IMPORT' OR * * 'EXPORT.' Always answer 'N' to the question concerning * * packet. MTIME126 defaults to 'N.' * * * ************************************************************************** Any comments on how to improve this document would be appreciated. /s/Larry Jones, AFF2N Kf4sp@aol.com FILE: mt126tut.txt