Report

The "Report" button displays a drop-down menu of the three prediction types. The reports function basically the same therefore this is a somewhat generic description.

Additionally see the Contest-Plan SmartReport topic.

#1 The area below the window title bar is a "selector" grid that displays circuit information for “prediction sets”. Directly below the selector grid is a “prediction-set-navigation control”. Select a prediction set, to view in report form, by clicking in the grid or using the navigator.

#2 These are buttons and controls to adjust the way the report is viewed and select the "page" of multi page reports. The first button is a "print report"; see next area description.

Exporting

All reports, except for the first three point-to-point type reports, provide a special export function. Reports can be exported to three file types: RTF - rich text format, HTML - for use as web pages, and PDF for sharing.

To use the export function, while a report is displayed, click the print icon/button. The "Print" dialog window will appear.

#3 This area is part of the "Print Control" dialog window. It's similar to most such print controls in windows. Of special interest is the marked area. Note the check box labeled "Print to File". When Print to File is checked the drop-down list is enabled. Here you control the format for output of a report. Our favorite print to file format is "Adobe Acrobat Document", commonly known as a PDF file. Select your desired file type and then provide a file name in the edit box named "Where". Note the button beside the "where" box.

Near the bottom of the report window is the status line. The status line provides additional information for the display area, or control, under the mouse cursor. This information is often very useful while operating the report controls.

Reports require about 2 or 3 seconds to be created. However, after a page has been viewed the first time returning to it is reasonably fast. The primary purpose for reports is as a printed reference. However, interactive use is reasonable.

Each report window size is adjustable to suit the user.

Prediction Batch Best-Times Report

The best times report actually provides two slightly different type reports, a DX and a "Sked" (Schedule). The difference between the two may be subtle but is surely logical. For a DX contact we probably just want to know when there is going to be a path good enough to exchange a signal report. For a schedule contact we usually want to know when the path will be most reliable.

For the "DX Type" report, each available frequency is checked by hour. For each hour, if the frequency is predicted to have a "signal level" of about 17 dB greater than 1 microvolt, dB > µV (s-unit = about 5) "and" the MUFDay (fraction of the days of the month that the operating frequency will be below the mode MUF) is greater than or equal to 50% then a usable path is expected.

For the "Sked Type" report, each available frequency is checked by hour. For each hour, if the SNR, MUFDay and Reliability are greater than or equal to our selected minimums we expect a usable path. This type report has mode options of CW or SSB and required "quality" options of good, fair, poor and "custom". The default custom values are very low.