README for the "SpecLab/frequencies" directory ------------------------------------------------ This directory may contain frequency lists, which will be read by Spectrum Lab. To keep the installation archive small, frequency lists are *not* contained in the original Spectrum Lab installation. Instead, you need to download (or write) frequency lists yourself. The files 'default.txt' and 'local_fm_radio.txt' are small test databases with a few VLF- and LF-transmitters, which will most likely be outdated; and a few 'local' FM radio stations near the location of SL's author. A list of suitable file formats, and where to find them, follows further below. http://www.vlf.it/trond2/list.html -------------------------------------------------------- A wealth of information about ELF, VLF, and LF transmitters. Some of Trond's info was copied into the file default.txt but only those transmitters which could be received in Germany with an indoor loop antenna in 2009. http://ik4hdq.net/doc/0to5MHz.htm -------------------------------------------------------- A quite complete list from, as the name says, 0 to 5 MHz with almost all active VLF, LF, and MF 'utility' stations. Can be loaded into Spectrum Lab when saved as ANSI-8-bit 'plain text' file, after inserting the header line from 'ik4hdq_0to5MHz_Header.txt' which is contained in the SL installer (in the frequencies folder). The complete list is about 1.2 MByte large; of course it is not included in Spectrum Lab . http://www.eibispace.de/ -------------------------------------------------------- A list of shortwave broadcasters, with time schedules . Look for the frequency list in text file form, SORTED BY FREQUENCY. The original file was freq-a09.txt, size about 700 kByte. Spectrum lab can parse any file which uses the same format, for example: kHz Time(UTC) Days ITU Station Lang. Target Remarks ================================================================================ 198 0600-0630 POL Polskie Radio D Eu http://www.hfcc.org -------------------------------------------------------- A similar shortwave "operational schedule". The format is totally incompatible (compared to EiBi's), but it can also be loaded into Spectrum Lab. However, SL only reads a few of the many data columns; most columns (for example the operational schedule itself) is completely ignored in the current version (07/2009) . http://hfradio.org.uk/html/beacons.html -------------------------------------------------------- Non Directional Beacon list of Europe, copied from http://hfradio.org.uk/Eu_NDB_list.txt . By courtesy of Sean, G4UCJ, this medium wave frequency list (or a slightly modified descendant) is now included in the Spectrum Lab installer . Spectrum Lab can parse / load this list format, with TAB-separated columns as in the following sample from Sean's NDB list: kHz: Call: Location: Country: 267.0 FNO Foyno Norway 270.0 FLO Flores Azores If you are interested in NDB hunting, or in the 630 meter band which has been allocated to radio amateurs in Germany in June 2012, you can download the above list from Sean's site and save it in Spectrum Lab's 'frequencies' folder. Note that some NDBs in the list, may not exist anymore, or have not been on air for some time due to maintenance, or have moved to other frequencies. If you have a source for a more recent list of NDBs on medium wave, please report it on the Spectrum Lab User's group (which used to be at yahoo in 2012). Users of the group can upload modified copies of the EU-NDP-list to the group's "Files" section. Please use the folder named "Frequency_Lists" for this purpose, located at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SpectrumLabUsers/files/Frequency_Lists/ The contents of this folder is checked occasionally, and if modified entries contributed by NDB hunters will eventually find their way into Sean's list (and into SL's copy of the file 'Eu_NDB_list.txt'). Note that the frequency (in kHz, MHz, or Hz) may contain fractional values (using a DECIMAL POINT, never a DECIMAL COMMA... not even on a German PC). Depending on what can be loaded from the file, Spectrum Lab will attempt to show the stations callsign (as in default.txt), or (if the database doesn't contain a callsign or similar) the ITU country code, etc. For plain text filed with space-padded data columns, it's very important that the "headline" (which begins with the string "kHz" or "MHz") is precisely aligned with all following "data lines". Spectrum Lab tries to analyse the headline, and looks for tokens in that line to parse the numeric data later. Because of this, the column sequence doesn't matter too much (except for the frequency column, which must be the first). Recognized tokens (with double quotes only for clarity) : "kHz" : Frequency column; all frequencies in kHz "MHz" : Frequency column; all frequencies in MHz "Freq/Hz" : Frequency column; all frequencies in Hz ";FREQ " : Frequency column; HFCC style "Call" : Callsign or station ID, shown in the spectrum screen "ITU" : ITU country code, like "D"=Germany, used in the EiBi lists. "ADM" : Similar(?) for the HFCC database . "Act" : Short string indicating the activity. If the fist letter is an 'N', Spectrum Lab will hide the Station Frequency Marker (very handy, you don't need to delete an entry from the database just to hide it). "Station" : Short descriptive text, or station name "Locator" : Maidenhead grid locator ("square"), loaded but not used yet. "LOC" : Transmitter location ID in the HFCC list format. Ignored. "Remarks" : Information like "last heard by xyz on 2009-06-30" "Time(UTC)" : Speciality for the EiBi databases: activity times (of day) "Days" : Speciality for the EiBi databases: activity days (of week) "Lang." : Speciality for the EiBi databases: Program language "Target" : Speciality for the EiBi databases: Target area like "Eu" How to load one (or more) frequency lists into Spectrum Lab to have the frequencies displayed in the spectrum is described in the help system, which is also available online at http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/speclab/freqlist.htm . < ... -.- >