
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All     2008    News for NTIA/ITS HF Propagation Models (WINDOWS version)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

03 Jan  2008   1. It has been discovered that if the install directory 
                  is more than about 27 characters in length, the software
                  would fail. An example of this would be installing the
                  software in the directory:
                     e:\swl\propaga\hfwin32\itshfbc
                  This has been increased, to at least 46 characters.
                  Please do not get carried away with the length of your
                  directory names. This affects almost all of the executables.

21 Jan  2008   1. It appears that while running ICEAREA for Lat/Lon projection
                  in the western hemisphere (longitude < 0) the noise calculation
                  could be wrong. This has been fixed.
                  It does not appear that this was a problem with VOAAREA or REC533.

10 Apr  2008   1. A result of the previous version (08.0121W) was that the
                  longitude in the grid file for Lat/Lon calculations could have
                  looked confusing. I had modified the Longitude so that it would
                  always be in the range [0 to 360] (as required by ICEPAC).
                 . 
                  I have changed this so that if you specify the range to be
                  [-180 to 180] the output will be that.  This will center the
                  world plot at Longitude = 0.

                  If you specify the range to be [0 to 360], the output will
                  also be in that range.  This will center the world plot at
                  Longitude = 180.

                  This affects all of the area coverage programs.

23 Oct  2008   1. Someone pointed out that while using VOACAP or ICEPAC
                  Point-to-Point that Method=23 had a problem.
                  Method 23 (in the original IONCAP) was used to specify different
                  different output variables in the RUN/CIRCUIT option.
                  But with the development of Method 30 (Short/Long path smoothing),
                  certain problems occurred. Thus, Method 23 allowed you to
                  specify which calculation model to use:
                         20 = default (<10,000km=short  >10,000km=long)
                         21 = forced long path model
                         22 = forced short path model
                         30 = <7,000km=short  >10,000km=long  smooth in between
                  Now, if you had selected Method 23 and then 30 for the model,
                  RUN/CIRCUIT was fine.
                  But RUN/GRAPH, RUN/DISTANCE, and RUN/TIME used 20 for the calculations.
                  This has now been fixed to use the calculation model selected.

                  This was never a problem with REC533 because its short/long path
                  calculation model is fixed.

                2. Let me know if there are any problems with Windows Vista systems.

                3. This is a minor change from the vewsion 081022 that had an install
                   problem.

15 Nov  2008   1. This change should only affect the ability to install the software
                  on Windows Vista 64-bit systems. Hopefully I have selected the
                  proper options to allow this.

26 Nov  2008   1. Let's see if this version solves the installer problems on Windows Vista systems.

02 Dec  2008   1. There was a strange "divide by zero" problem in the Worldmap
                  plotting program. This was noticed if the plot was a Lat/Lon
                  projection with the coordinates (-90,-90) to (90,90).
                  This has been fixed.

19 Dec  2008   1. If you create your own VOACAP/ICEPAC input files and
                  execute the propagation programs yourself, there can be
                  a possible problem. Jari Perkiomaki (who maintains
                  www.voacap.com) discovered this problem while doing some
                  special analysis. This is ONLY a problem if you change
                  the ANTENNA card after an EXECUTE card.
                  To fix this problem, I have written a program to parse
                  the data file and iteratively execute the propagation
                  program. To see how to do this, select the icon NEWS,
                  and view the file hf_parse.txt. This can also be found
                  directly as the file ..\news_win\hf_parse.txt.
                  Simply, from a DOS prompt, you would do:
                    c:\itshfbc\bin_win\hf_parse.exe c:\itshfbc voacap inp out
                  Where:
                    c:\itshfbc = directory where sofware was installed.
                    voacap = process with voacap (use icepac for icepac model).
                    inp = input data file located in c:\itshfbc\run.
                    out = resultant output file created in c:\itshfbc\run.

27 Dec  2008   1. A change was made to VOACAP for Method=25.
                  If more than 10 modes are found, the output used to 
                  be on multiple pages. But since no one prints the results
                  anymore and Jari Perkiomaki was doing an analysis that
                  required the results on one page, he asks for this to be done.
                  I hope he appreciates it, as I am doing this on my BIRTHDAY!
