Ubuntu Manpage: voacapl - HF propagation prediction program

NAME

       voacapl - HF propagation prediction program

SYNOPSIS

       voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir --absorption-mode] voacap_directory [inputfile]
       voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir --absorption-mode] voacap_directory [inputfile outputfile]
       voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir --absorption-mode] voacap_directory area calc [areafile]
       voacapl [-s] voacap_directory batch
       voacapl -v

DESCRIPTION

       An  implementation of VOACAP, the NTIA/ITS professional HF propagation prediction program,
       originally developed for the Voice of America (VOA).   VOACAP  reads  an  input  file  and
       writes  point-to-point  path  or area prediction data to an output file(s). 'voacapl' is a
       version of the original  source  that  has  been  modified  to  enable  compilation  using
       GCC/GFortran.
       Only  changes  required  to  enable  compilation  using GCC have been made, the underlying
       prediction algorithms remain unchanged.
       Voacapl input/output files follow exactly the same format as VOACAP and are not  described
       here.  Details of these file formats may be found at www.voacap.com.

OPTIONS

-s

--silent
Silent processing. Reduces the number of messages printed to the screen while
running.

-v Version. Prints the version number and exits.

--run-dir
Used to specify a location for the input and output files. All other volatile
files (gainxx.dat etc.) will be saved in this directory. This option is of most
use in server environments where multiple users may be running the application
concurrently and to facilitate clean-up after performing a prediction.

--absorption-mode
Used to specify the absorption mode that should be used for the prediction,
overriding the value defined in version.w32. Valid values are 'W' (normal), 'I'
(IONCAP), 'A' (Alex's modifications with normal absorption) and 'a' (Alex's changes
with IONCAP absorption).

voacap_directory
Specifies the path to the itshfbc directory, e.g. '~/itshfbc/' or
'/usr/share/itshfbc'. Read/write access is required to the sub-directories below
itshfbc. This parameter is required for program operation.(Note: See 'Bugs'
section below for guidance on specifying the location of the itshfbc directory.)

inputfile
Filename of the input file to process which should be located in the itshfbc/run
directory. If only the inputfile is specified, the default output filename
(voacapx.out) will be used for program output.

outputfile
Filename of the output file produced by the program. Due to a limitation in the
way in which command arguments are parsed, an input file must first be specified if
an output file is to be specified, it is not possible to specify an output file
only. Input and output files are located below the "itshfbc/run" directory.

area Used to perform a VOAAREA calculation. The original version of VOACAP permits the
additional arguments CALC, SCREEN or PRINT to define the operation of the VOAAREA
operation. voacapl currently only supports the 'calc' option.

areafile
File containing the input data for an area calculation. The path to the areafile
must be given relative to the 'itshfbc/areadata/' directory.

EXAMPLES

voacapl ~/itshfbc
Reads the default input file (~/itshfbc/run/voacapx.dat) performs a prediction calculation
and saves the results in the default output file (~/itshfbc/run/voacapx.out). In this
example, the itshfbc directory is defined as a sub-directory of the users home folder.

voacapl ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out
Reads infile.dat and save the results of the calculations in the file outfile.out. Both
of the files should be located in the directory '~/itshfbc/run'.

voacapl --run-dir=/tmp/myrunndir ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out
Performs a prediction defined by infile.dat and saves the results of the calculations in
the file outfile.out. The input file should be placed in the directory defined by the
run-dir parameter.
voacapl --absorption-mode=a ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out
Sets the absorption model used by the prediction to 'a' (Alex's changes with IONCAP
absorption). Reads infile.dat and save the results of the calculations in the file
outfile.out. Both of the files should be located in the directory '~/itshfbc/run'.

voacapl ~/itshfbc area calc testfile.voa

Performs an area calculation using the file 'testfile.voa' as input. The output file(s)
will be saved as testfile.vg_ in the same directory as testfile.voa.

voacapl ~/itshfbc batch

Performs a batch calculation using the file voacapw.asc as a template file to which the
modifications defined in the circuit file (voacap.cir) are applied.

FILES

       itshfbc/
              Voacapl requires access to a number  of  data  files  found  within  the  'itshfbc'
              directory structure.  Input and output files are written to itshfbc/run.

ENVIRONMENT

       VOACAP does not make use of any environmental variables.

BUGS

       Performance  is  unpredictable  if the path to the itshfbc directory contains spaces or is
       more than 52 characters long.  This is a limitation of the legacy DOS based file  handling
       procedures and will be addressed in future versions of voacapl.

AUTHOR

       This  program was ported to GFortran by James Watson <jimwatson at mac dot com> using code
       that was originally developed by the NTIA/ITS and is currently maintained by Greg Hand.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

       VOACAP is an improved and corrected version of IONCAP, retaining all of the theory as  put
       forth  by  John Lloyd, George Haydon, Donald Lucas and Larry Teters in the 1975-1985 time-
       frame with modifications which were  suggested/approved  by  George  Lane,  Donald  Lucas,
       George  Haydon  and A. D. Spaulding.  Major improvements in efficiency, coding corrections
       and ease of understanding the IONCAP program were made by Franklin Rhoads of the U.S. Navy
       Research Laboratory under the sponsorship of the Voice of America (1985-1996). Many of the
       newer features in VOACAP and VOAAREA were designed and implemented by Gregory Hand at  the
       Institute  for  Telecommunication  Sciences  who created VOAAREA and made many significant
       improvements to VOACAP.

       Porting this program to GFortran would not be  possible  without  the  generous  help  and
       assistance of Gregory Hand.

       Portions  of  this  man  page have been reproduced with permission from the www.voacap.com
       website, maintained by Jari Perkiomaki.