CT-USER: Frequently Asked Questions
Last revised: 21 November 1997
This FAQ list covers the following topics:
1. What is CT-USER?
2. How do I join (subscribe to) CT-USER?
3. How do I leave (unsubscribe from) CT-USER?
4. Is there a digest format of CT-USER?
5. How do I read old messages sent to the reflector?
6. How do I obtain CT?
7. How do I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
8. How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
9. How do I obtain other CT-related files?
10. How can I find out more about CT, the DVP, CT Secrets, etc.?
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What is CT-USER?
CT-USER@CONTESTING.COM is an electronic mail reflector for discussions
relating to the CT contest logging software and DVP (Digital Voice
Processor) by Ken Wolff, K1EA. This is the place to ask questions, report
bugs and suggest new features. In addition, updates to CT are often
announced here, as are updates to the country lists ("CTY" files) and
callsign database ("MASTER.DTA"). This list was started to off-load some of
the CT-specific traffic from the CQ-Contest reflector run by Trey Garlough,
N5KO (ex-WN4KKN).
Each message you send to CT-USER@CONTESTING.COM will be sent out to all the
other subscribers. Therefore, it's important to think about what you're
going to say, and how you're going to say it, before you send the message.
Also remember that many subscribers receive their E-mail through commercial
services such as CompuServe and MCImail. In essence, many people are paying
for each byte of every message sent to CT-USER. So please follow the
following simple rules:
* Sign EVERY message you send with your NAME, CALLSIGN, and E-mail
address! Many people do not see all the mail headers, so they can not
determine who sent the message.
* Make sure every byte of your message adds value to the reflector!
Don't quote an entire message, only to add "I agree" to the end.
* If you want to reply to the original sender only, PLEASE make sure to
remove the mailing list address from your mail header! Otherwise
everyone on the list will see your private comment.
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How do I join (subscribe to) CT-USER?
Simply send a message to ct-user-request@contesting.com with the following
text in the BODY of the mail message:
subscribe
A better way, however, is to include your name and callsign in the message
to ct-user-request, for example:
subscribe AD1C@contesting.com (Jim Reisert AD1C)
This can also be helpful if you want your mailing address to be different
than your usual REPLY address. For example, if you log into multiple
workstations that are all in the same domain.
Use your own E-mail address, name and callsign -- not what's in the example
above!
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How do I leave (unsubscribe from) CT-USER?
Send a message to ct-user-request@contesting.com with the following text in
the BODY of the mail message:
unsubscribe
If you subscribed with an address that was different than your usual REPLY
address, you will have to include that address in the request, for example:
unsubscribe AD1C@contesting.com (Jim Reisert AD1C)
Please do not send "SUBSCRIBE" or "UNSUBSCRIBE" requests to CT-USER! They
will be returned to you anyway.
Please note that there is no SET NOMAIL command for the list manager. If
you want to temporarily stop mail, you MUST unsubscribe, and then
re-subscribe when you return.
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Is there a digest format of CT-USER?
The CT-USER messages are also distributed in digest form. This means that
all messages posted to CT-USER on a given day will be bundled together and
resent as a single message, nominally at 11:45 p.m. EST. This is useful for
people with Internet providers that place a limit on the number of messages
you can have in your mailbox at once. This is the case for many of the JA
subscribers.
To subscribe to the digest, send a message to
ct-user-digest-request@contesting.com with the following text in the BODY
of the mail message:
subscribe
To unsubscribe from the digest, send a message to
ct-user-digest-request@contesting.com with the following text in the BODY
of the mail message:
unsubscribe
If you are subscribed to the digest, you will still be able to post
messages to CT-USER. You do not need to be subscribed to CT-USER.
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How do I read old messages sent to the reflector?
All messages sent to the reflector are archived.
If you have a World Wide Web browser, point to:
http://www.contesting.com/_ct-user/
Or you can send a message to ct-user-request@contesting.com with the
following text in the BODY of the mail message:
index
The mailing list archives are in the archives subdirectory and have file
names like ct-user.YYMM where YYMM is the year and month of the archive.
You can then send a message to ct-user-request@contesting.com to download
them, for example by putting:
get ct-user.9512
in the BODY of the mail message. The example above would get all the
messages from December, 1995.
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How do I obtain CT?
CT Version 9 was released at the 1994 Dayton Hamvention. It is distributed
by XX Towers, Inc.:
K1EA Software
Distributed by XX Towers, Inc.
814 Hurricane Hill Road
Mason, NH 03048
Orders: 603-878-4600 FAX: 603-878-1102
Support: 603-878-4200 BBS: 603-878-1900 (28.8K, 8N1)
The current version of CT is 9.32 as of November, 1997.
Updates to the CT software are available only via the telephone BBS. There
is presently no way to get updates via the Internet.
CT Version 8.53 was the last to support 8086/80286 PCs. You can still order
this version from K1EA Software. CT Version 9 runs only on PCs using an
80386 or better. Registered users of Version 9 can obtain Version 8 for a
modest fee. Contact K1EA Software.
A very old version of CT 6.26 is available by anonymous FTP from:
ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/simtelnet/msdos/hamradio/ct626.zip
Note that this version is several years old, has very little in the way of
documentation, and there is NO support from K1EA.
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How can I receive updates for the country (CTY) files?
The country files for CT Version 8 (ARRL.CTY, CQWW.CTY and IARU.CTY) and CT
Version 9 (CTY.DAT) are updated regularly by Jim Reisert, AD1C, usually
starting a month before each major contest (CQWW, ARRL DX, WPX, IARU, WAE).
The updated files are announced on the reflector and are posted on the CT
BBS (603-878-1900) and the DX BBS (901-641-0230). You can always obtain the
latest files by sending a message to ct-user-request@contesting.com. Here
is a sample message:
GET cty.dat
GET arrl.cty
GET history.cty
These commands go in the BODY of the mail message. You can include as many
lines as you wish. Note that file names must be in lower case.
The files are also available on the Internet from the CT web page:
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/cty.zip
ftp://ve7tcp.ampr.org/software/ct/cty.zip
ftp://ftp.jzap.com/pub/ct-files/cty.zip
Finally, users who download CT updates from the CT BBS will automatically
receive the latest CTY files posted there.
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How do I receive updates for MASTER.DTA?
MASTER.DTA is a list of known-good callsigns that CT can look up using
Super Check Partial. Jim Reisert AD1C recently took over the maintainence
of these files.
Ed Parsons, K1TR has created a similar database of callsigns found in VHF
contests.
The following master callsign databases are currently available from the CT
web page:
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/masall.zip October 16, 1997
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/masterdx.zip October 16, 1997
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/masterss.zip October 16, 1997
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/masusve.zip October 16, 1997
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/masvhf.zip June 2, 1996.
There are also a couple of files (mas_tool.exe and mas_k2mm.exe) for
creating and managing your own MASTER.DTA files. You can obtain them from
the WWW page, or via anonymous FTP to ve7tcp.ampr.org or ftp.jzap.com.
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How do I obtain other CT-related files?
The mailing list server also contains a repository of CT-related files. You
can obtain a list of available files by sending message to
ct-user-request@contesting.com with the following text in the body of the
message:
index
This E-mail file repository only includes the ASCII .CTY and .DAT files,
the release notes for version 8 and version 9, and some text files
associated with CT. It does NOT contain the actual CT program itself, or
any binary files.
Binary files (not the CT program itself) can only be obtained from the CT
web site:
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/
or by anonymous FTP to:
ftp://ve7tcp.ampr.org/software/ct/
John Zapisek K2MM also maintains an FTP site for CT-related files:
ftp://ftp.jzap.com/pub/ct-files/
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How can I find out about more about CT, the DVP, CT Secrets, etc.?
The WWW home page for CT has this information and more:
http://www.contesting.com/ct/
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Jim Reisert AD1C <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>
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CT is © K1EA Software, a division of Harvard Radio.
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--
Jim Reisert AD1C <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu> http://jjr.ne.mediaone.net/
--
Submissions: ct-user@contesting.com
Administrative requests: ct-user-REQUEST@contesting.com
WWW: http://www.contesting.com/ct/
Questions: owner-ct-user@contesting.com
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