[Dxbase] 4O - Montenegro : changes that will be made totheRefdata and Logbook mdb files

Mon May 21 20:56:23 EDT 2007

Hi Guys,
Well guess its that time again when we see some significant country prefix 
changes mandated. And, just like years gone by, I see that once again I 
must comment.... Maybe I should keep a copy of this message for the 
future... hihi...
One of the aspects that we were "yelled at" by a vast number of customers 
about going back to the beginning of DXbase ( hmmm some 22 years 
ago...wow! ) was to allow users to be able to make changes to the prefix 
databases. There are many good reasons for this and therefore we do that. 
But additionally, we were asked to make prefix lookups as accurate as we 
possibly could. We do that too.
So, our code is structured to achieve both objectives. And, if I might say 
so myself, I think the lookups that DXbase can perform are probably more 
accurate than anything else out there. And, if something pops up where it 
is selected wrong, there is a pretty good chance that it can be made 
accurate by simply making an adjustment in the alias or callmap prefix 
tables by the user within a minute or two. But, like most "wants in life", 
there is a price. In this case, the price is that the changes we now face 
are somewhat tedious. That's not to say difficult. It is pretty 
straightforward as Joe's step by step instructions list. By the way, Joe's 
instructions are exactly what we would do and so yes, we can say that his 
description does represent the "official" suggestion in the sense that if 
one follows it, it works just fine. Power users will quickly realize that 
there is more than one way to skin a cat and with the flexibility built into 
the database, there are other ways to arrive at the same end result.
The reference database contains a lot more than just prefix information. It 
contains for example IOTA, States, Manager addresses, Manager mapping, 
etc.... So, there isn't a distribution of a new prefix database because 
there isn't any such animal in DXbase. If you were to use a reference 
database table from someone else, you would lose any other information that 
you may have added to your own reference database, such as manager info.
I'm sure someone reading this might be tempted to say something like, "Well 
ok, but why don't you provide some kind of utility to make this totally easy 
for us users?" The short answer is that its a heck of a lot of work and in 
the end there is no guarantee it will work completely accurately because we 
have no knowledge of what changes a user may have made to their own versions 
of the database. Some years ago when we were covered up with enhancement 
requests including this one, we attempted to contract the utility work out 
despite our knowledge that we probably couldn't get things right all the 
time. When we saw the price tag we were quoted and realized how much that 
would add to the price of DXbase, we decided that very few people would be 
willing to pay for this, particularly when it is usually within their own 
power to make the changes themselves with a little coaching such as the 
instructions that Joe posted.
So, there you have it. Personally, I don't like having to make changes to 
the reference data tables either. I also wish I didn't have to pay so much 
for an oil change because of the way my car was built ( but I like 
everything else about my car ). O well, I'll be quiet now and go back into 
the woodwork. Let's not beat this to death.
Cheers,
Jack
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Heger" <n3xx at charter.net>
To: <dxbase at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Dxbase] 4O - Montenegro : changes that will be made 
totheRefdata and Logbook mdb files
>I can't recall ever seeing an updated country file when country (entity)
> updates were necessary. I'm pretty sure you will have to make the changes
> yourself. It's really not very hard - just be sure to do the backups 
> first,
> so you have something to go back to if necessary.
>> 73, Tim - N3XX
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Greg" <n8tdlgreg at gmail.com>
> To: "Joseph Glockner" <jglock2 at airmail.net>
> Cc: "DXBase Reflector" <dxbase at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 5:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dxbase] 4O - Montenegro : changes that will be made to 
> theRefdata and Logbook mdb files
>>>>I will wait for the updated country file !
>>>> N8TDL
>> Greg
>>>> Joseph Glockner wrote:
>>> To all:
>>>>>> I am going through the steps to make the modifications for the
>>> NEW Montenegro (4O) prefix callsign change ... wow! what a mess!
>>>>>> I will hopefully issue another email later on today with the
>>> STEPS that I took/did to get the changes made.
>>>>>> I hope to make the instructions as full-blown/understandable
>>> as possible..
>>>>>> More later on.
>>>>>> 73 Joe wa6axe
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