[UDXF] IPS' HF Digital Propagation Tools (and much more), online & free
To: UDXF@yahoogroups.com
Hi - Australian IPS now offer their near real-time online prediction tools
in a re-designed version (Java-based, free):
http://www.ips.gov.au/HF_Systems/7/1 Most interesting for Utility DXers is the "Digital HF Prediction" tool,
which takes also into account the degrading by multipath propagation.
I you follow their software for years (as I do), this approach reached the
threshold of (relative) "intuitive control" ;-)
I can also recommend their tools:
* Air Route Chart with "Base to Aircraft HF communication Prediction" (here
you can specify a route, departure & arrival, a ground station, and it comes
back with an hourly table/graph of best frequencies)
* Local Area Mobile Prediction, where you specify a base station and
frequencies available (ALE!). The software comes back with a chart of
recommended frequencies for communications within a circle of about 1.000
kilometers.
* Min-Max (Area of Coverage) gives you the coverage from a base station at a
specific hour on a specific frequency.
My first impressions and comparisons show that from a DXer's point of view
these models outperforms the results from VoACAP. They seem to have an eye
also on short openings, associated with greyline enhancement (if not too
short).
These tools can be used from at least two perspectives:
* Take the view of a frequency manager and try to plan a net by
time/frequency bands/reliability
* Take the view of the DXer: Whatregions of the world can be received in a
specific band?
If you combine both perspectives, this gives even added performance of
DXing.
Some data input of the software still seems a bit rough. I made the best
experiences e.g. just clicking the locations for base, RX and TX from the
map. Also framing the interesting region of the world can sometimes lead to
unexpected small and distorted regions. Just repat that step, and all works
fine.
---
73, Nils, DK8OK
Topic: [UDXF] IPS' HF Digital Propagation Tools (and much more), online & free (Read 1592 times)
