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.