V-Soft Communications Newsletter: 08/25/08

In this Newsletter:

V-Soft to Exhibit at NAB Radio Show in Austin

V-Soft Offers Internet Security as Missing Key Protection

Conductivity Version 1.05 Released

AM-Pro 2 Features

FMCommander Gets More New Features

Class A TV Freeze Lifted

Companion Channel Auction Date Set

V-Soft Tutorial: How to do a Path Analysis Using PlotPath

V-Soft to Exhibit at Radio Show in Austin

Doug Vernier and John Gray will be showing V-Soft Communication's software at the NAB Radio Show in Austin, Texas September 17-19. V-Soft will be located in booth #416. For a free pass to the exhibit floor, you may use our V-Soft VIP guest passcode of TX1010. To register, click on the NAB Radio Show link above and "Enter your special code!"

V-Soft Communications will be offering a show discount on all V-soft products. Remember to ask for the "show discount." The 7.5% show discount will be valid for the period of the show and for 7 days after and is open to all customers whether or not you were able to attend the show.

V-Soft Offers New Internet Security Option

Do you take your lap-top and security key into the field? For those who may be concerned about a lost or stolen hardware key, V-Soft has developed a system that allows a user to gain authentication through an online web server, in addition to the physical local or network key. With this option, if a key were to be stolen or lost, V-Soft would disable the missing key on the web server and issue a new key with a new number. The replacement cost in this situation would be ONLY the cost of the key (plus shipping and handling) as opposed to the purchase of an additional site license for each program assigned to the misplaced key.

It is important to note that this option requires an internet connection in order to open the software, which means this option may not be completely appropriate for those who use the software in the field without internet connectivity. However, the new system does offer a "grace period" where one can authenticate before leaving the office and the program will continue to work for a few days without new internet authentications. V-Soft has taken additional measures to increase the stability of the internet authorization option by implementing two backup servers, in cases where the primary server may not be unavailable.

For more information on how to migrate to this new security option call V-Soft (1-800-743-3684) or email Adam.

Conductivity Update Posted

V-Soft has recently released version 1.05 of its program Conductivity. A number of features and enhancements have been made to the program since the last update more than a year ago. A partial list of the updates is below. For a complete list of the revisions, tech support subscribers may view the readme.txt file by clicking the link.

Added selection for radial to be included with measured pattern calculations on a radial by radial basis. This is to allow for all measured radials to exist for the Non DA case, but then only consider a subset of those radials for the other data cases (DAD, DAN, etc.).
Added export of station record with calculated pattern data to XPT output format.
Added the ability to add 'correction' values to be used in measured pattern calculation. This allows the user to force the measured pattern to a certain field value at given azimuths.
Updated measured pattern window to show custom data labels instead of 'Data 1', 'Data 2', etc.
Updated pattern plotting to allow for selection of "None" pattern (in which case only the measured pattern will be plotted.)

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AM-Pro 2 Added Features

For those who have yet to upgrade to AM-Pro 2 and as a reminder for those who receive the updates through technical support, here is a partial list of features that have been added to AM-Pro 2 since its release in December of 2006. Many of these these features have been requested by AM-Pro 2 users on the technical support plan. For more information on purchasing AM-Pro 2 or how you can upgrade, give us a call (1-800-743-3684) or email Adam. Top

Added database cull feature to coverage study (allows you to cull multiple stations from the FCC database at once).

Added the "Add Multiple Contours" option to the "Coverage Study" menu. This tool allows for a given contour to be added to several transmitters at once.

Added automatic program update feature that checks for, downloads, and installs program updates.

Added the ability to edit border widths for interference contours in day allocation study when in field strength coloring mode.

Added the ability to show the RSS for a protection in a night study using the proposed reference station instead of the existing facility. The "P RSS" (for Proposed RSS) button in the RSS protection part of the window can be used to show this.

Made it so that the existing facility (or proposed facility depending on what you are looking at) is highlighted in bold in the RSS contributor list (on RSS Study window).

Added "Rad Limits on Pattern Plot" report to night allocation study. Use this to generate a pattern plot using the reference station parameters as entered (plotting from the interactive pattern editor uses the configuration with the 'calculated' theoretical RMS instead of the one entered by the user or in the database).

Added selection for number of radials to plot in interactive graph editor.

Revamped coverage study window to include transmitter color selection and sorting transmitter list capability (also appearance changes).

Added the ability to export all contours in a coverage study to a MIF file at once.

Added "Distance & Bearing" option for cross hair map tool that shows the distance and bearing from transmitters in the study to the point location of the cursor.

Added the ability to edit the list of transmitters considered when performing a critical hours study (allows user to add ground conductivity measurements if desired).

Added the ability to show the percentage of each individual area in an overlap area where the overlap exists.

Added ability to import contour data from a .DTC file.

Added "Detailed Report" for AM daytime study radiation limit generation. This generates a detailed report that has information about protected points and will apply protection ratios for points that are 'clipped' at the border.

Added a field to report the number of nulls in the current pattern in the interactive AM pattern editing window.

FMCommander Gets More New Features

V-Soft has added a couple of new features to the latest version of FMCommander (ver. 6.3.0.32). Those who have opted for FMCommander's Internet Mapping module are now able to open Microsoft's TerraServer web-application and view the topographic map of the selected site (see below). Pressing the Esc key on your keyboard will return to the Find Information screen. (Check with the MS TerraServer USA web site for TerraServer licensing requirements.)

There has been a new menu item added to the Functions menu on the Separations Mapping screen called "Assign 73.215 Short". When this option is turned on, the user has the option to short space any one station considered in the study. Stations that have been selected to be short spaced will have a dollar sign ($) next to the call letters in the drop-down list. Multiple stations may be short spaced simply by clicking on the respective station's call sign one at a time. Clicking the call sign a second time will cause the program to return the separations circle to the standard FCC rules section 73.207 spacing. Pressing the Esc key will hide the list of stations from the left side of the map, and turning the feature off (under the Functions menus) will return all stations to the standard minimum spacings.

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COMMISSION LIFTS THE FREEZE ON THE FILING OF CERTAIN CLASS A TELEVISION APPLICATIONS

On August 3, 2004, the Media Bureau imposed a freeze on requests from full power and Class A television stations to maximize facilities or change DTV channels. With respect to Class A television, the Media Bureau froze the filing of Class A station displacement applications and applications for coverage changes that would serve any area that was not already served by that Class A station’s authorized facilities (Class A expansion applications). As an exception to this freeze, on-air Class A stations demonstrating that they faced imminent disruption of service were permitted to request Special Temporary Authority to continue operations. The Media Bureau also stated that displacement applications filed by out-of-core LPTV stations that were deemed Class A-eligible requesting to move to an in-core channel where Class A authority could be granted would not be acted on during this freeze. For such stations, immediate non-Class A LPTV displacement relief could be requested through an STA.

Beginning August 4, 2008, the Commission has begun accepting Class A displacement and expansion applications on a “first-come, first-serve” basis and such applications will be treated for cut-off purposes on the date they are filed. In addition, Class A displacement and expansion applications that were filed prior to August 4, 2008, and that requested a waiver of the filing freeze, have been treated for cut-off purposes as being filed on August 4, 2008.

Class A displacement applications and Class A expansion applications must be filed using FCC Form 301-CA. FCC Form 301-CA must be filed electronically using the Commission’s Consolidated Database System (“CDBS”) Electronic Filing system via the Internet from the Media Bureau’s Web site at:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/cdbs.html or http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbs_ef.htm.

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AUCTION OF LPTV AND TV TRANSLATOR DIGITAL COMPANION CHANNELS SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 5, 2008

On July 17, 2008, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Media Bureau announced an auction of construction permits for Low Power Television (LPTV), including Class A Television, and TV Translator digital companion channels (Auction 85) scheduled to commence on November 5, 2008, and sought comment on procedures for conducting Auction 85. Top

V-Soft Tutorial: How to do a Path Analysis Using PlotPath

A veteran among the V-Soft software line-up, PlotPath continues to be a key tool in today's broadcast engineering work. This tutorial provides a step by step description of how to perform a radio path analysis between two points in order to achieve line of sight and Fresnel zone clearance:

You will notice from this screen, this tutorial is using the USGS, National Elevation Datum (NED) 3 arc second terrain database. The best terrain elevation database for doing path analysis is the V-Soft 30 meter NED database. This database provides a measured elevation point every 30 meters or approximately 100 feet. When doing this type of analysis, it is imperative that the highest resolution terrain database is used. Peaks that block line-of-sight paths must be identified and the antenna heights set so a direct path with Fresnel clearance can be achieved. Terrain elevation database of lower resolution may be okay for general propagation prediction over larger areas, but for specific paths using the highest resolution database will avoid problems. Although the 3 arc-second terrain database, used above, is a good one, it may miss important peaks because the resolution allows some 300 feet between the data points. For an example of how the resolution of the database can affect a terrain profile click on this "Database" link.

The next step is to pick your starting point. For the end point, you may either enter a set of coordinates, or specify an azimuth distance from the starting point. In the case above, we have specified an end point at a specific set of coordinates and the use of the NAD 27 datum. The datum is selected on the setup screen where you can also select whether the Latitude is North or South and the Longitude is East or West.

3. Next input the transmitter height and the receiver height. You can enter height as above ground or above mean sea level.

4. Then input the frequency and the Fresnell zone you wish to clear (0.6, or 60%, is the default value.) The program will calculate the transmit and the receive antenna elevation angle.

5. Now click the "Process" button and the program will display the radio path with the underlying terrain. If you see that the terrain intrudes into your Fresnel zone or perhaps the direct path itself, you can increase the height of either the transmit or the receive antenna to achieve a good path. Height can be adjusted by typing new values in the antenna height boxes or by clicking the screen at the point where you wish to increase the antenna height. The program will calculate the path loss in dB.

6. If you are using a lower resolution database you can check peaks shown on the graph with a topographic map. To do this, check the "Coordinate Screen Tool" check box and place your cursor on the terrain profile graph line over the peak. The program will display the coordinates of the point as a tool-tip. You can then use the coordinates to identify the elevation on the topographic map. When the check box is not selected you can determine the specific elevation of any point on the graph by holding your cursor over the point.

7. You can then print out the graph and, if desired, and you can save the project using "File--> save to disk file" menu item.

8. From the "View" menu you can open the link budget screen and calculate the available fade margin provided by the path and configuration you have selected.

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