What's New in QRZ Volume 5
What's New in QRZ Volume 5 	May/June 1995

By Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ       e-mail: aa7bq@qrz.com

Greetings and welcome to the fifth edition of the QRZ Ham Radio CDROM.

New Features

Under the Options->Settings menu, there's a new category called Approximate Matches.  This options allows matches in both the Name search and the City searches to be approximate instead of exact.  Although this functionality was previously available by using the star (*) character, we now make it the default.  If you want exact matches on your searches, then just turn the Approximate Matches item off.

A new button, called Quick Print is found on the main display.  Quick Print sends the contents of the current record buffer to the DOS PRN: device.  This can be handy if, for example, you are printing on 1-wide tractor feed mailing labels and you only want to print an occasional label.  Be sure and set the Lines Per Mail Label item on the Options->Settings menu to reflect the number of lines you wish each label to occupy.  Note that using the Quick Print feature you will have no control of the Font used for the printer as the PRN is a raw print output device.  If possible, you may be able to preset your printer to a particular font, but to do so you'll have to consult your printer documentation.

If you're using a laser printer, you will notice that clicking on Quick Print seems to do nothing.  Don't worry, this is normal.  A laser printer will print only upon receipt of a full page or a Form Feed character.  If you're using a laser or ink-jet printer and you want to print a partial page of data, select Flush Printer from the Options->Printer menu.

Callsign Database Update

QRZ Volume 5 now includes the names of the FCC registered club and recreational stations, listed listed in the main database.  For most, but not all club stations, the FCC lists a trustee, which is the person responsible for the station/callsign.  If your club does not list a trustee, then you may want to appoint one and contact the FCC to have the database entry changed.  On some displays, you'll notice that a license class of 'C' is indicated.  This is a QRZ data tag which means that the listed call belongs to a club station.

The FCC now lists a class "P" in the database which stands for Technician Plus.

We now have the Austrian (OE) and Cuban (CO) callsigns in the database.

The Cuban and Austrian callsigns do not separate the first and last names in the database.  This should pose problem to users however developers should take note.

And speaking of names, the US callsign database as supplied by the FCC no longer separates the middle initial from the first name.  Because of this, you'll see the operator's middle initial printed next to their first name, without a comma in between.  In addition, the same suffix (such as JR, SR, III, etc.) will be printed as part of the last name.

We have been constantly trying to obtain callsign databases from other countries but have not been encouraged by the result.  For example: We made an attempt to obtain the callsign database from Germany, but were told that the "exclusive publishing rights" to the information had already been sold to another firm.  We're truely sorry that other countries around the world (and Germany is only one of many) consider the names and addresses of their radio amateurs to be a private property which may be sold to the highest bidder.  It is for this and other technical reasons that QRZ does not anticipate expanding our international coverage in the forseeable future.  QRZ will continue to publish only callsign data which is in the public domain, so that costs will remain affordable to the greatest number of amateurs.

Note: The makers of QRZ do not edit or update the FCC data files.  If the information contained in the QRZ Ham Radio CDROM is incorrect for your callsign, then you must contact the FCC to get the information changed.  The best way to do this is to fill out a 610 form and mail it in to the FCC.  If the changes are received in time, the corrected information will be on the next edition of the QRZ CDROM.

Shareware, Info and Mod Files Update

We've made a major effort to improve the quantity, quality and freshness of our shareware data files.  With this edition we're now shipping over 7,000 files with all new index files.

One the reasons that we''ve made such an improvement in the shareware contenet is that we've now put up an FTP Server on the Internet (ftp.qrz.com).  If you would like to contribute shareware and/or demonstration software to the next edition of QRZ, you are encouraged to FTP your material to ftp.qrz.com. You should login with user id anonymous while using your e-mail address as the password.  The shareware material is all located in the /pub directory.

If you're into one of the World Wide Web (WWW) browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape,  you'll want to check out  http://www.qrz.com for an on-line catalog and access to the FTP Server as well as an on-line, interactive version of the QRZ Callsign Database.

Coming Attractions

As the QRZ Callsign database grows, we're constantly looking for ways to make it better.  Here are a few of the thing which you'll probably be seeing on future editions of the QRZ Ham Radio CDROM:

E-Mail Addresses - As more and more people get connected to the various networks, the list of amateurs with valid e-mail addresses grows ever larger.  E-Mail addresses will be gathered from Internet news groups and from those who correspond with QRZ.  If you don't frequent the usenet news systems, send an e-mail to email@qrz.com and ask that your e-mail address be added. This includes packet radio, BBS and internet e-mail addresses.  Please do not send e-mail addresses via postcards or letters - if you can't reach us via e-mail then your e-mail address can't be used.  If you have more than one e-mail address, send only two at most.  If you send us more than two e-mail addresses, then we'll pick the ones to use.  Your e-mail address registration message should look like this:

AA7BQ	aa7bq@qrz.com

AA7BQ	flloyd@off.com

If you don't include your callsign in the message, it will be discarded.  Please don't expect a personal response from the email@qrz.com address.  You will receive a confirmation that your message arrived.  If the confirmation bounces, then we won't use the address.

Macintosh Support -  This edition contains an experimental Macintosh program, qrz_mac.hqx, which may be used with a macintosh to lookup callsignsl.  It's still under development by a volunteer programmer, but we thought it important enough to include as a sample in this version.

Other News

The QRZ Ham Radio CDROM is now the official callsign database for GENIE online information service.  Look for us in the Radio Rountable disussion

QRZ.COM continues to grow.  We now offer an FTP Server (ftp.qrz.com), a WWW Server (http://www.qrz.com) with an online callbook server.  We're always looking for cool programs and data files, so if you're on the internet, check us out!

Again, thanks for buying the QRZ Ham Radio CDROM.

73,  -fred    AA7BQ