On Mon, May 08, 2000 at 09:33:16AM +0000, Richard Adams wrote:
> On Mon, 08 May 2000, Hamish Moffatt wrote about, Re: [log project] schema:
> > On Mon, May 08, 2000 at 03:59:55PM +0000, Wilbert Knol wrote:
> > > The CTY.DAT list of DX entities is available and regularly updated:
> > > http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/
> >
> > All the links under /ct are broken?! :-(
>
> Not quite all.
>
> http://www.contesting.com/ct/files.kr6x
I'm sure I checked there earlier and it was empty -- but I see the files
now! There is a newer version of CTY.DAT on the www.k1ea.com web site.
However, they have gone to some trouble to compile this data so I think
there would be copyright problems with pinching it.
It IS very comprehensive, although not as comprehensive as it might be --
for example, for each entity it allows additional prefixes. Additional
prefixes may optionally override the zone numbers. However, this facility
isn't used to correctly determine the zones for Australia. (We are spread
between CQ zones 28, 29 and 30.)
So the question is: do we want that facility in our schema? ie having
the ability to subdivide an entity, with overridden zone numbers.
I think it could be useful. Possible modified schema:
create table country (
name text PRIMARY KEY,
deleted bool,
timezone int2,
latitude float4,
longitude float4,
adifnum int2,
subentity bool,
parent text
);
In this case, if the user enters a callsign 'VK3SB', we cut this
down to VK3, and find a record in the prefix table with the country
name "Australia - Victoria". We look up "Australia - Victoria"
and find that it is a subentity, so we look up it's parent.
There are a few advantages to dividing an entity -- mostly, for big
countries the data is not accurate for the whole entity. Australia
covers many CQ zones, and many time zones, and several degrees of
latitude and longitude. We might even be able to calculated the
US 'Worked All States' award if we divide the US into 50.
They even allow particular callsigns to be exceptions. Like U8MIR
is a space station, as was R0MIR, as was VK5MIR (not in South Australia!)
4U1UN is in New York, but 4U1?? is in Switzerland (from memory). We could
put whole callsigns in with parent pointing to the parent entity.
However, I don't think we should pinch this data. If we can find
a free source, terrific; if not, develop it ourselves over time.
Hamish
--
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
