
TVFMSTNS 7.2            FM-TV Station Search Software                980902
                Copyright 1995-8 by Robert J. Carpenter, W3OTC
                 12708 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850-3713
                         301-762-5838  w3otc@amsat.org


CONTENTS:
=========
        1: Disclaimer
        2: Requirements
        3: Main Features
        4: Help in Using TVFMSTNS
        5: Use With DeLorme Street Atlas USA
        6: Installation
        6a: DOS Installation
        6b: Windows 3.1 Installation
        6c: Windows 95 Installation
        7: Downloading Data from the FCC
        8: Supporting Programs
        9: The Help Screen
       10: A Sample Details Box
       11: The On-Screen Command Line
       12: The Choices Screen
       13: Mexican States
       14: Canadian Provinces
       15: Files in this distribution

1: DISCLAIMER:
==============
The author disclaims all responsibility for any result of the use or 
misuse of this software and/or database. 

This version of TVFMSTNS is shareware.  You are encouraged to send the 
registration fee of US$20 to the above address.  This fee covers use of both 
TVFMSTNS 7.x and AMSTNS 3.x. TVFMSTNS may be freely distributed.

2: REQUIREMENTS: 
================
A PC with 386 (operation without a math coprocessor is very slow), a 486DX66 
or a Pentium is preferred, approximately 10 megabytes of free hard disk space, 
VGA display, MS-DOS 3.3 or more recent.  TVFMSTNS will run as a DOS program 
with Windows 3.1 or 95. When using DOS, 640K RAM is adequate; operation with 
Windows 3.1 requires eight megabytes of RAM; 16 megabytes of RAM are 
recommended if you are using Windows 95. If you wish to download an updated 
version of the database directly from the FCC, an additional 20 megabytes or 
so of hard disk space are temporarily required to import and convert the FCC 
data. You do not need to install the "support" software unless you will 
download data from the FCC.  You can always UNZIP these files later. 

This version of TVFMSTNS uses an enhanced TVFMSTNS.PRF file to carry settings 
over to the next time you run TVFMSTNS. Since you won't already have this 
version PRF file, my own PRF file will be installed. If you had a previous 
version of TNFMSTNS, the corresponding file was named TVFMSTN2.PRF. You will 
want to enter your home name and location as the SPCL location with the F10 
CHOICES screen. 

3: MAIN FEATURES: 
=================
TVFMSTNS allows display of the "interesting" data records contained in the 
FCC's FM and TV broadcast station databases in the following ways.  The FCC
engineering comments are displayed for FM stations.  Except for the call-
letter search, the display can be limited to FM, TV or both, or limited to 
show only Operating and CP stations, and/or elimination of on-channel boosters 
and FM Class D stations under 100 W and TV Translators under 1 kW.  Antenna 
directional patterns are shown.  Many FM station antennas are side-mounted on 
towers, so that their "non-directional" patterns are partly fiction. Remember 
that the terrain has a large effect on actual coverage. 

    1>  CITY - Stations within a chosen distance of the city/state are 
               displayed sorted by frequency, and subsorted by state/province 
               and city if there are multiple stations on a frequency.

    2>  FREQUENCY - Stations on the given frequency are displayed sorted 
               by state/province and city-within-state.  Filters are 
               provided for direction and distance. Distance is from the
               SPCL location you have entered, usually your home. Mexican 
               states and Canadian provinces are mixed in with US states.

    3>  CALL - All stations matching the given first 2, 3, or 4 call letter 
               characters you entered are displayed sorted by frequency, 
               and further sorted by state/province and city. 

The Street Atlas SA files produced by TVFMSTNS can be uploaded to (at least) 
Garmin GPS receivers as waypoints.  See G7TO.DOC for more information. 

TVFMSTNS operates much faster in full-screen mode. You will want to use 
<Alt-Enter> to switch TVFMSTNS to and from full-screen mode when using Street 
Atlas. 

The following installation will result in the "keep compressed" mode of 
operation. This saves about seven megabytes of hard disk space when TVFMSTNS 
is not running. The program will start faster if the "keep uncompressed" mode 
is used. To change to this mode, display the folder / directory containing 
TVFMSTNS.  Double click on (or type) UNZDATA batch file. To return to the 
"keep compressed" mode, use ZIPDATA instead. 

TVFMSTNS must be terminated by its Alt-F10 command.  Do not use Win95's "X" 
feature to exit TVFMSTNS.


4: HELP IN USING TVFMSTNS:
==========================
The command items across the top of the screen, plus the "Choices" and "Help" 
screens, should provide enough info to use TVFMSTNS.  Refer the end of this 
file for sample screens.  


5: USE WITH DELORME STREET ATLAS USA
====================================
TVFMSTNS automatically produces output files that for use by DeLorme Street 
Atlas USA 3, 4 and 5.  The directory will be called ATLSAn and outptu file 
SAn in the following description.  The ATLASn directory must be in the same 
disk partition as the TVFMSTNS directory to use this feature.  If TVFMSTNS 
finds an Atlas 4 (or 5 or 3) directory, "startup" (SAn) files will be 
produced in those directories.  The file produced by a "City" search is 
V_xxxxxx.SAn, where xxxxxx are the first 6 characters of the city name; the 
file produced by a call search is V_xxxxxx.SAn, where xxxxxx represent the 
call letters.  A separate file is created for each frequency searched: 
V1011.SAn V0971.SAn , etc.  The startup (waypoint) files produced by TVFMSTNS 
contain the "V" to differentiate them from similar files produced by the 
AMSTNS program. 

You can control the size of the text and place markers by means of parameters 
which can be set in the F10 CHOICES screen of TVFMSTNS.  The size values range 
from vs (very small) through s, m, and l, to vl (very large). 

The interface from TVFMSTNS to Street Atlas is by means of the G7TO.EXE 
3.02.12, a freeware program by Ron Henderson, WA7TAS.  A copy of this program 
must be in the same directory as TVFMSTNS, and is automatically loaded there 
in the normal installation.  Earlier versions of G7TO may give different map 
icons, or worse. You may download a more recent version of G7TO from Ron's 
site, but I cannot guarantee that TVFMSTNS will work with more recent 
versions. 
           //www.proaxis.com/~crh/gps/g7to/g7to.htm

The FCC requires that geographic coordinates be furnished to it in terms of 
the NAD27 datum.  TVFMSTNS converts this data while supplying it to Street 
Atlas, which operates on the NAD83(WGS84) datum.  While this conversion helps 
(especially in the West where the difference can be 100 meters or more), some 
stations now end up in the middle of roads.  Perhaps they furnished the FCC 
with data in terms of NAD83 instead of the required NAD27. 

The computer screen should be at least 800 by 600 pixels for Street Atlas. 

1- Street Atlas apparently locks access to the SAn file it is currently
displaying, therefor TVFMSTNS cannot write to a file which Street Atlas is 
displaying.  To allow TVFMSTNS to write a new version of the file that Street 
Atlas is displaying, have Street Atlas display ANY other SAn file.

2-In the unlikely event you find that TVFMSTNS does not write SAn files under 
Windows 95, you will need to run it from a DOS prompt. Go to 
Start|Programs|DOS Prompt.  Then change to the TVFMSTNS directory [cd 
\tvfmstns] and type "tvfmstns". I have encountered WIN95 installations where 
TVFMSTNS will not perform searches while in less than full-screen mode.  I 
don't know why. 

3- Start Street Atlas. With Windows 3.1, position and size Street Atlas so 
that the TVFMSTNS screen just peeps out from under an edge of Street Atlas. 

4- Do searches in TVFMSTNS and then click on the file "open" symbol in Street 
Atlas and choose the "V" file you want to display.  The Street Atlas screen 
will be centered and its scale adjusted to show all the stations in the V file 
you chose. [Sometimes the scale is set a bit too low, use PageUp if some 
stations are off the screen.] 

5- You may load other V files, and you may go back to TVFMSTNS by clicking on 
it.  Any operation may be done in TVFMSTNS, you just won't create a new 
version of the SAn file Street Atlas is currently displaying.  Setting the 
TVFMSTNS distance reference to STN can be used to resolve situations where 
more than six transmitters are co-sited and not displayed in SA.  Beyond six 
entries at a site, the site marker is written in red. 

6- TVFMSTNS must be terminated by its Alt-F10 command.  Do not use Win95's "X" 
feature to exit TVFMSTNS.


6: INSTALLATION
=============== 
TVFMSTNS must not be placed in the same subdirectory or folder as AMSTNS.

If you download over the Internet, the distribution is contained in 
TFSTNS72.ZIP.  Make a temporary directory/folder and download TFSTNS72.ZIP 
into it. Then unZIP it using PKUNZIP, WINZIP, or other standard tools.  You 
should have the following files: 

readme72.1st tfsetup.exe  pkunzip.exe
tvfmprog.zip tvfmsprt.zip tvfmdata.zip

If you obtained the program on diskettes, they will contain the above files. 
The TVFMDATA file will span onto diskettes 2 and 3.

You may now proceed with TFSETUP.EXE as outlined below.

6a: DOS INSTALLATION:
====================
 1- Change to the directory (or diskette) containing the above 6 files.
 2- Type TFSETUP followed by the Enter key. Answer the questions.

6b: WINDOWS 3.1 (r) INSTALLATION:
=================================
 1- Open the File Manager.
 2- Open the folder/directory (or diskette) containing the above 6 files.
 3- Double-click on TFSETUP.EXE. Answer the questions.

TVFMSTNS is a DOS program. You can run it from its own special WINDOWS 3.1 
icon if you follow these steps.   
 1-  Start Windows 3.1 .
 2-  Start the File Manager, found in Main.
 3-  Double click on the directory where TFSETUP has placed TVFMSTNS.EXE.
 4-  Expand the Group where you want to place the icon on the screen. Both the 
File Manager and the target Group must be visible, so you may have to resize 
them for the following step.                 
 5-  Find the TVFMSTNS.EXE file and drag it to a blank part of the Group where 
you want its icon to appear. 
 6-  Single click on the TVFMSTNS "MSDOS" icon which has appeared as the 
result of step 5.  Then click on File on the control bar. Click on 
"Properties...". 
 7-  Click on Change Icon. You will be told that no icon could be found. Click 
OK. Click on Browse. Click your way to the directory containing TVFMSTNS.EXE. 
Click on TVFMSTNS.ICO. Click on OK enough times to get you back to the normal 
windows screen. TVFMSTNS should now have its own special "tower" icon. 

6c: WINDOWS 95 (r) INSTALLATION:
=================================
 1- Open "My Computer".
 2- Open the folder (or diskette) containing the above 6 files.
 3- Double-click on TFSETUP Application. Answer the questions.
 4- Use "My Computer" to display the c:\TVFMSTNS folder, or wherever you 
    chose to have TFSETUP load TVFMSTNS.EXE. [TVFMSTNS Application]
 5- Single right click on the TVFMSTNS Application.
 6- Left click on "Make Shortcut".
 7- Drag the shortcut (icon) to the desktop if you wish.


7: DOWNLOADING DATA FROM THE FCC:
==================================
Instructions for downloading and converting data from the FCC are contained 
in the READSPRT.1ST file.

8: SUPPORTING PROGRAMS:
========================
Programs to expand and convert data downloaded from the FCC are contained in 
the TVFMSPRT.ZIP file.  TFSETUP will install the support programs in the 
directory/folder containing TVFMSTNS.EXE, or you can UNZIP them later if you 
want them. 

9:                          THE HELP SCREEN
        _______________________________________________________________

    To display FM stations in or near a city:
      Press F4 and enter two-letter state/province abbreviation.
      Press F3 if you are already in the desired state, then enter
           the first few letters of the desired city.
    To display all stations on an FM frequency or TV channel:
      Press F5 and enter the FM frequency or TV channel.
    To search for stations by call: 
      Press F6 and type the first 2, 3, or 4 characters of the call.

         Sample Display Item:   94.3A  +WFBR 102 MD Cambridge
                       Frequency Ù  ³  ³  ³  ³    ³    À City
                              Class Ù  ³  ³  ÀDistÀ State     
           CP or FCC action or request Ù  À Call or action  

    Use the cursor and 'page' keys to select any station to view
    more info in the lower DETAILS box. Use F10 CHOICES for another
    reference for distances, display filters, units of measure, etc
    
    When the distance reference is SELECTED STATION, pressing F10
    twice (in and out of CHOICES) resets the distance reference
    to the presently-selected (highlighted) station.
        _______________________________________________________________

10:                        A SAMPLE DETAILS BOX

106.3 272A  WCEMFM                      | frequency channel class call
MD Cambridge, MD                        | state locality
Max ERP 6 kW     Circ.  Beam-tilt       | power polarization tilt(down)
HAAT 325 f  Above MSL 335 f             | hgt above avg terrain & sea level
FM18XO  38-35-02 N 76-04-55 W           | grid location, geo coordinates
Modified CP         BLH951130DE         | this record and its file number   
Full Service                            | type of station (translator, etc)
MTS BROADCASTING, L C                   | owner
From:                                   | distances from reference locations
    MD Cambridge 2.4 miles  217 deg     | from the chosen "city"
    WERS         371 miles  227 deg     | from the station selected by F7
    W3OTC        66.9 miles 118 deg     | from the "SPCL" location
Updated by FCC: 951130                  | date of this file update by FCC

Most fields are obvious.  The three distances and directions are from: the 
"center of gravity" of all station data records for the chosen city, a special 
location, and a previously selected station.  FM18XO is the amateur radio 
Maidenhead grid location of the station. 
        _______________________________________________________________

11:                       THE ON-SCREEN COMMAND LINE

      F1HELP F3City F4State F5Freq F6Call F7RefSTN   F9Field altF10=EXIT

        F3  Brings up the box to enter a city for a search.
        F4  Brings up the box to enter a new state, and the asks for city.
        F5  Brings up the box to enter the frequency for a search.
        F6  Brings up the box to enter call letters for a search.
        F7  Sets the currently-highlighted station as a distance reference
        F9  Toggles the cursor to display field strength at any azimuth.
        _______________________________________________________________

12:                          THE CHOICES SCREEN

    In most cases there are multiple possibilities for each function key,
    with other possibilites in brackets in some cases.
                                        
  F1   Show only operating and CP station ............... SHOW ALL (entries)
  F2   Change Station Power Selection ................... NoLowPower  [All]
  F3   Change Display Mode .............................. FM [TV,TV&FM]
  F4   Increase City Search Distance..................... 25 [12-300mi]
  F5   Decrease City Search Distance.....................
  F6   Change Frequency Search Distance.................. All [Es,Tropo,Local]
  F7   Change Frequency Search Azimuth................... All [North,...,West]
  F8   Choose Reference Location.............  [one of the three possibilites]
  F9   Modify special location: [enter place name and geo coordinates]
         At the end of entire entry, press Enter
                         --------------------
  Ctrl-F1   Change to English measures .................. METRIC [English]
  Ctrl-F2   Change to minutes/seconds ............. is now decimal minutes
  Ctrl-F3   Plotting delay (to suppress plots while slewing).. 64 [0-4000]
  Ctrl-F4   Change Street Atlas(R) Text Size ............ m [vs,s,m,l,vl]
  Ctrl-F5   Change Street Atlas(R) Symbol Size .......... m [vs,s,m,l,vl]
  Ctrl-F6   Change FM Symbol Shape (TV always a star).... diamond

    F10  Save changes and return to main program
        _______________________________________________________________

13:                         MEXICAN STATES

     AG Aguascalientes       BN Baja CA Norte        BS Baja CA Sur
     CH Chihuahua            CI Coahila              CM Campeche
     CS Chiapas              DF Dist Federal         DU Durango
     GR Guerrero             GT Guanajuato           HG Hidalgo
     JA Jalisco              MC Michoacan            ML Morelos
     MX Mexico               NA Nayarit              NL Nuevo Leon
     OA Oazaca               PU Puebla               QE Queretaro
     QR Quintana Roo         SI Sinaloa              SL San Luis Potosi
     SO Sonora               TA Tamaulipas           TB Tabasco
     TL Tlaxcala             VC Vera Cruz            YC Yucatan
                             ZA Zacatecas
        _______________________________________________________________

14.                      CANADIAN PROVINCES

     AL Alberta              SC British Columbia     MB Manitoba
     NB New Brunswick        NF Newfoundland         NS Nova Scotia
     NT North Territories    ON Ontario              PE Pr Edward Island
     QU Quebec               SA Saskatchewan         YT Yukon
        _______________________________________________________________


15: FILE NAMES
==============
TVFMSTNS requires the following files in order to operate:

In TVFMPROG.ZIP Compressed file:
 README72.1ST   This file.
 READSPRT.1ST   Instructions for the Support Files
 TVFMSTNS.EXE   The main program.
 ZIPDATA.BAT    Script to compress the data to occupy less disk space between 
                times that TVFMSTNS is run. Operate TVFMSTNS in Keep 
                Compressed mode.
 UNZDATA.BAT    Script to uncompress all data. Operate TVFMSTNS in Keep
                Uncompressed mode.
 PKZIP.EXE      Shareware to compress data to require less disk space.
 PKUNZIP.EXE    Shareware to uncompress data. Also used during installation.
 TVFMSTNS.PRF   Stores preferences between times that TVFMSTNS is run.
 TVFMSTNS.ICO   [Optional] Icon for Windows installations.
 G7TO.EXE       Ron Henderson's freeware that transfers data to Street Atlas.
 G7TO.DOC       [Optional] G7TO documentation.
 G7TO.HST       [Optional] G7TO version history.
 TVFMANT.EXE    [Optional] Tabular display of TVFM directional antenna data. 

The TVFMDATA.ZIP contains the modified FCC data and indexes. You will probably 
**not** want to UNZIP TVFMDATA.ZIP. 
 TVFMSTNS.DTA   The main data file.
 *.IDX          Indexes of all data entries by frequency, call, state/city.
 STATELIM.LIM   Geographic limits of station locations for each state.
 TVDADB.DAT     TV directional antenna data.
 FMFXDA.DAT     FM directional antenna data.
 FMFXENGC.DAT   FM comments.
 NAD2783.DAT    [Recommended] Table of corrections from NAD27 to NAD83/WGS84. 
                This data file is not required, but it results in more 
                accurate plotting of station locations on Street Atlas maps. 
 NAD2783.REF    Same as NAD2783.DAT.

The following files are not required to run TVFMSTNS, but are required to 
convert downloaded FCC data to the TVFMSTNS format, and to create the index 
files and state limit file. 

In TVFMSPRT.ZIP :
 READSPRT.1ST   Instructions for the Support Files
 UNGZ.BAT       Script to uncompress FCC's GZIPped files before conversion.
 UNGZ95.BAT     Same for Win95 (long file names).
 FORMDATA.BAT   Script to convert, index, etc. FCC data for TVFMSTNS.
 FCC2TVFM.EXE   Converts FCC to TVFMSTNS data format.
 FORMIDX.EXE    Makes the index (*.IDX) files.
 MKSTATLM.EXE   Makes the STATELIM.LIM file from the STATE.IDX file.
 GZIP.EXE       The GZIP (un)compress program.
 GZIP.DOC       Documentation for GZIP
        ------------------------------------------------------------
Note: PKUNZIP.exe and PKZIP.exe are by this program and in its installation.  
The entire PKZIP distribution package is available from the various SIMTEL 
mirror sites as the self-extracting file PKZ204G.EXE.  Registration 
information is included in the PKZ204G.EXE package.  GZIP.EXE is used in 
extracting the FCC data.  The full GZIP124.ZIP package is also available on 
the SIMTEL sites.

