Map Parameter Defaults
The Map Default Settings screen will allow you to set or change the following:
Selecting Default Geolayers
Check as few or as many check boxes as you wish to obtain the desired default overlays. As you operate the program, if you check no boxes at all and then hit the "Make" button, the program will flag you asking if you really want to create a map without any overlays (kind of an un-map.) If you respond "No" the program will use the default overlays that are specified by whichever boxes are darkened. If no boxes are darkened, the program will use the default settings that you set up using this screen. If you click the "Set" button atop the overlay frame on the Main Screen the default overlay values you chose on the "map default screen" will take effect.
Selecting the map scale
Specify a fixed standard scale such as 1:250,000 or 1:1,000,000 or select a user scale of your choice by using the slider or by typing in the value in kilometers per inch at the scale text box. If you choose "Automatic" the program will automatically adjust the scale so the contour you are making fills the complete screen and accommodates the extra room need if you overlay the cardinal radials.
Selecting tic marks
"Tic Marks" are the small cross-hairs marking the intersection of major lines of latitude and longitude. "Tic Labels" are latitude and longitude markings on the map (you must have the "Tic Marks" selected to get "Tic Labels").
Turning "Frame Lines" on or off
"Frame Lines" (the border around the map) can be turned off as well as the "Scale Label". The scale label reports the value of the scale in use and when activated can be found printed above the distance scale.
Selecting a scale in miles or in kilometers
You can program the scale to read in Kilometers or in Miles. (The FCC requires kilometers)
Contour population and area calculations
When you check the "Calculate Population/Area" option button INTERDLG will display the total population and area within a given station's signal contour on the "main screen" in square kilometers. If you desire to have the map show the population within the map's frame you must use the "Adding Text" feature of the edit since adding a population count to the map is not automatic.
Adjusting the elevations
If "Adjust Elevations" is checked, INTERDLG will immediately take you to the "Adjust Elevation Screen" where you can make adjustments to the elevation along each radial as derived from the NGDC digital database. Such adjustments would be made if you truncated a radial because of its advance over water or if you derived better terrain elevation information from say a 1:24,000 map.
You may change any elevation value on any of the three elevation listings. Choose to adjust the terrain in the reference #1, reference #2 or the "add contour" buffers. The change will remain active until the next occasion of digital terrain access which will reload the respective buffer with database values.
Setup INTERDLG Frames/Maps Plotting
If your system has an HP compatible plotter connected, these Radio Buttons will allow you to tell INTERDLG which Serial Port (a.k.a. COM port) to use. If you do not have a plotter, select "Off. "
NOTE: If you select any of the plotter ports, printing will be disabled. With plotter "off," you can print to your standard printer.
It should be noted that some ten colors are used on the screen to depict the various contours and layers of a frame. Since INTERDLG is designed to run an HP 7475A compatible plotter with a total of six pins, some of the video colors are doubled up when a frame is sent to the plotter. The following is the pen code assignment:
Pen # 1 - Frame, protected contours & cities
Pen # 2 - Call letters & transmitter site marks
Pen # 3 - Service (full circle) and F(50-10) contours
Pen # 4 - Shorelines, lakes & county lines
Pen # 5 - Cardinal radials, streams, railroads & state lines
Pen # 6 - County lines, minor roads, coordinate tics
Sophisticated users may want to change the default pen selections for plotting by using the PLOT parameter file. To do this, select the CONVTPEN.PAR file and use a text editor to reassign the pens. Remember that a comma separates each pen number in the file. The position of each number in the file represents the INTERDLG pen output number, while its value represents the pen number your plotter will use.
For example, the first pen number position in the CONVTPEN.PAR file matches with pen # 1 coming from the INTERDLG program. Therefore to convert INTERDLG's pen # 1 output to a plotter pen # 2 you must type a # 2 as the first # in the CONVTPEN.PAR file. To change INTERDLG pen output # 2 to plotter pen #6, change the second number in the CONVTPEN.PAR file to # 6 and so on.
INTERDLG is designed to operate an HP compatible plotter using the full set of HPGL commands. Your plotter should be configured for IBM PC, RS-232, 9600 Baud, 7 byte words and no parity. Remember to use the manufacturer's plotter cord to attach the plotter to your computer because regular RS-232 serial cords do not work properly with the HP plotters.