
                              Ham CAP 1.5


              HF propagation prediction tool fo Amateur Radio

               Copyright (c) 2004 Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA


                               FREEWARE


                      http://www.dxatlas.com/hamcap

                          hamcap@dxatlas.com




1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1.1. Hardware:

  - 600 MHz Pentium II CPU;
  - 64 Mb RAM;
  - 16-bit or 32-bit color video card.


1.2. Software:

  - MS Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP;
  - VOACAP v.3.827 or above.




2. INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION

  - Download HamCAP.zip from the web address above, unzip and run Setup.exe.
    Follow the on-screen instructions;

  - download the VOACAP (ITS HF Propagation) setup program, itshfbc.exe,
    from http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/hfwin32.html ;

  - install VOACAP by executing itshfbc.exe. You will never have to run VOACAP
    directly, HamCAP will use it behind the scenes;

  - run Ham CAP from the Windows Start menu, click on the Settings tab,
    and enter your latitude and longitude;

  - click on the Ant tab, select the appropriate antennas, verify antenna
  patterns.

You are now ready to use Ham CAP.





3. UNINSTALLATION

  - Click on Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel;
  - find Ham CAP in the list and click on Remove;
  - find ITS HF Propagation and click on Remove.





3. PROPAGATION PREDICTION

3.1. Point-to-Point Prediction

  - Enter the DX latitude and longitude on the Params tab;

  - if you do not have the coordinates at hand, enter the callsign or prefix.
    The coordinate lookup function in Ham CAP is based on the DX Atlas
    prefix list and resolves correctly even the most unusual prefixes;

  - click on the Chart tab. After a short delay, then SNR chart will be
    displayed.

  - move your mouse cursor over the chart and read the predicted parameters
    on the status bar.


3.2. Area Prediction

  - Click on the Map tab, select the UTC time and band. After a brief delay,
    the map will be displayed;

  - move the mouse cursor over the map to read predicted values at any
    geographic location;

  - change UTC and band and see how the propagation conditions change;

  - for faster browsing, right-click on the map and click on Pre-build Maps
    in the popup menu. The pre-built maps will be valid until you change any
    prediction parameter.


3.3. Notes on Prediction Parameters

  Ham CAP has a built-in database of historical and predicted SSN values.
The SSN field is populated from this database whnever you change
the Year and Month field. Of course, you can override this value
with you own one. VOACAP requires a smoothed SSN number that is available from
many sources. Click on the button to the left of the SSN field to download SSN
off the web.

  VOACAP does not use Kp as an input parameter. Ham CAP employs an empirical
algorithm that takes the Kp value into account. This option can be
toggled using the check box. Kp data from the web are also available
via the button.





4. INTEGRATION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS

4.1. If you have IonoProbe installed on your system, go to the Settings tab
in Ham CAP and press the IonoProbe button. IonoProbe will provide real time
ionospheric indices to Ham CAP, and the prediction will be automatically updated
when the indices change.

IonoProbe is my space weather monitor. The program is shareware,
a 30-day free trial is available at http://www.dxatlas.com/ionoprobe .



4.2. DX Atlas adds even more power to Ham CAP. Make sure you have
DX Atlas installed, then press the DX Atlas button on the Settings tab. The area
prediction data will be superimposed over the DX Atlas map, and you will be
able to magnify and scroll the map, and view it in the Azimuthal
and 3D projections.

DX Atlas is my electronic World atlas for Radio Amateurs.
It is shareware, the 30-day trial is at http://www.dxatlas.com .



4.3. Ham CAP provides an Automation interface that 3-rd party programs can
use to start Ham CAP, to set prediction parameters, and to run predictions.
In a typical application integrated with Ham CAP the user will right-click
on a callsign, and Ham CAP will pop up and display the point-to-point
propagation chart.





5. ANTENNA MODELS

Ham CAP comes with a variety of antenna models for Yagies, dipoles
and verticals. The Ants tab allows you to specify the RX and TX antenna for
each band. Click on the button to the left of an antenna seletion combobox
to view the antenna pattern.

If you create or download models for other antennas, put them in the
HamCAP\AntBkup\ folder so that Ham CAP can pick them up. Use model type 14 for
omni-directional and rotated directional antennas, and type 13 for fixed
directional antennas. No other model types will work (except for type 0,
isotropic). For the description of the antenna model types, please see
the VOACAP documentation.





6. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE
MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE AUTHOR FURTHER
DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
THE ENTIRE RISK   ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT
AND DOCUMENTATION REMAINS WITH RECIPIENT. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY
APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL  THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER  (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS,
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING
OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT,
EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.





END OF DOCUMENT
