V-Soft Communications Newsletter: 07/05/2005

In this Newsletter:

A New Face at V-Soft Communications

V-Soft Releases World Shuttle Terrain

FMCommander Map Features

New FMCont Now Available

New Probe 3 Polygon Tool Options

Help Us Welcome Adam Puls

We are very pleased to welcome Adam Puls to V-Soft Communications as our new marketing and technical support specialist. Adam is a 2003 graduate of Luther College, majoring in Management Information Systems. He comes to us from BP (British Petroleum) where he was a computer system trouble shooter for the company. He brings with him tech support/help desk experience, training in numerous software programs and a desire to learn the broadcast engineering industry. We know you will all join us in welcoming Adam to the V-Soft staff.

But where's Jake? Jake Byers will be moving on to employment with a company in Cedar Rapids that specializes in marketing for non-profit organizations. In addition to his technical support duties at V-Soft Communications, Jake also served as marketing director. His new work will focus more on marketing and writing which is his strong interest. I know you all will join with the other V-Soft staff in saluting Jake for his great work at V-Soft and wish him the best in his new endeavors.

New Shuttle Terrain Available for the World

V-Soft Communications, L.L.C.® released its newest terrain database at the NAB convention in Las Vegas. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) terrain database is a 3 arc-second database for the United States , Mexico , Central and South America, the Caribbean, the lower two thirds of Canada, Asia and Europe.

V-Soft has implemented this data for use with all of its programs. This terrain is the most accurate elevation dataset to date for the locations outside of the United States. The database is a “real world” interferometric scan, so it also includes buildings that may appear along with the topography.

The SRTM is a joint project between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). The data was collected using interferometry by the Space Shuttle Endeavour during February of 2000. Call us for more information. You can visit our price list for information on costs.

FMCommander Separations Map Allows for Mapping Flexibility

The new FMCommander frequency search program has considerable flexibility when it comes to mapping functions compared to its predecessor FMCont. This allows the user to create better looking, more professional separation maps. Below is a description and example of some of the new features.

Adding Labels

Adding labels is a simple task with then new label functions in FMCommander. Simply go to ‘Labels’ on the tool bar. Here you can choose what type of label you would like to place on the map. The program allows you to choose boxed or unboxed labels (see figure 1). Once you have selected the label you want, a hand-like cursor will appear on the map. Click where you would like to place the label and a text box will appear in which you can type (see figure 2). Once you click "OK" on the text box, your label will appear on the map After your label is on the map, (with labels still turned on) you can move it by right-clicking at the beginning of the label's text and dragging the label. Text can be edited in the label by left-clicking the label when you have turned "labels" on. You can undo the text by clicking ‘Labels’ and then clicking 'undo' or 'erase all.'

Figure 1

Figure 2

Adding Coverage Contours

FMCommander makes it easy to add FCC contours to the separations map. To add a coverage contour to the map, go to Functions, Draw Contour and select the dBu signal level you wish to apply. (Figure 3) When you run your cursor over the map, you will see a circle icon. Place the center of this icon over the spot where you want to create the transmitter site for the contour and then click the map.. This will create the coverage contour that you chose. (Figure 4) This function is very useful when trying to determine if the station’s signal will cover the city of license. Note that contours added to the separations mapping screen are non-persistent so when you move to another channel, or otherwise refresh the screen, the contours will be erased. If you are using the "Information Mapping" screen you can place a contour by going to 'Functions' and clicking on Coverage Mode and then select a protected contour value. This will create a coverage map of the selected station . For commercial channels, as a default, FMCommander will plot the city grade contour unless another contour value is selected from the list under the 'Functions', 'Coverage Mode', 'Protected Contours' section. The size of the contour will be defined by the maximum ERP and HAAT of the class of station selected for the reference. If you select "Use Ref ERP and Height" as is shown in the screen capture below the program will use the exact HAAT and ERP used for the reference station.

Figure 3: Coverage contour selection

Figure 4: Coverage contour

Printing tip:

Printed maps will look best if you use a higher resolution for your video monitor and then enlarge the map as much as possible. The map shown above was printed from FMCommander when the computer was set at a monitor resolution of 1280 X 1024 pixels. You can adjust the resolution of your computer by left-clicking on your desk top and then select "Properties" from the drop-down menu and then select the "Settings" tab. Move the "Screen resolution" slide bar to one of the higher settings. The size of the main text and graphics screens of FMCommander are adjustable simply by dragging the lower right corner of the screen to the desired location.

Connect Directly to the FCC Website

The FCC’s CDBS database search website is a useful tool when doing a frequency search. FMCommander allows you to directly connect to this website, saving you time when searching for a station. To find the station on the FCC website using FMCommander, go to the "Find Station Information screen" and click on the station in the list you would like to look up. Then click on the clockwise facing, rounded, arrow icon in the tool bar (Figure 5). This will automatically connect you to the FCC’s website and bring up the station information for the selected call sign. For faster browsing you can use the built-in V-Soft browser or another of the leading browsers of your choice. The browser type is set up on the defaults screen. (Figure 7)

Figure 5: Selecting the station to show in the FCC CDBS Database

Figure 6: The FCC FMQuery record appears with all the appropriate links below.

Figure 7: Choose your preferred Internet Browser from the options listed under Browser Type.

New Version FMCont Available to Technical Support Subscribers

A new version of FMCont is now available to current FMCont users who subscribe to our technical support program. The new FMCont uses the same boundary line mapping data as AM-Pro and Probe 3. This significantly improves land, ocean, state and county boundaries which is particularly noticeable on shorelines and the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands.

Current FMCont clients on technical support can call V-Soft Communications to get access to the new version of the program. The program requires a portion of the files of the VMap folder, used with AM-Pro and Probe 3. Therefore, clients who also currently own AM-Pro or Probe 3 simply need to point the 'Map Path' of FMCont to the VMap folder. For FMCont users who do not own AM-Pro or Probe 3 and wish to upgrade to the new FMCont version, the price for the VMap files is $295.

Please contact V-Soft Communications at 800 743-3684 to order the latest version of FMCont.

Polygon Tool Gets a New Addition

The polygon tool in Probe 3 and AM-Pro now offers the ability to fill the specified polygon. Once the polygon has been placed on the map (and the right-click is used to tell Probe the polygon is complete) and the polygon tool has been de-deselected (Click the northwest pointing arrow on the tool bar), double-click the polygon line and the properties page will be displayed. (Figure 8) You may then select whether you want your polygon to be filled over or above the underlying map layers.

Figure 8, Polygon Tool Properties Menu

Click to Enlarge Map showing a polygon that has been filled.

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