I for one thank you for the info Dave!
73/Mike, N7ML
Dave D'Epagnier wrote:
> This is a bit off subject, but I think you'll want to know about this.
>
> Ever work that rare DX station and wish that you had more to say to the
> person on the other end who has already gone out of his/her way to speak
> english to you, but doesn't have much to say either (besides the normal
> working conditions and wx info)? Well, I thought a good way to break the
> ice would be to know something about their specific QTH (besides what
> country it's in), and maybe a phrase or two in their language.
> So, I went downtown to the biggest bookstore I could find to find the
> biggest atlas I could find so the country maps would be big enough so
> that I might find their little village on it. While purusing the $150
> elite Rand McNally version I noticed that for instance the country of
> Malawi was shown at a scale of about 1" = 100 miles with maybe only
> 10-20 of the largest cities shown. I was about to purchase this when I
> found out about the Microsoft Encarta Virtual Globe software. I bought
> this bundled with the encyclopedia and some other goodies for $70. I
> believe the globe program on it's own is about $40.
> I got home, fired up the program, and holy smokes this program is
> AWESOME! It shows that same map of Malawi at about 1" = 3 miles. I can
> find hundreds of towns and villages in Malawi now. I can zoom in and out
> in seconds and go any where on the globe nearly instantly. The program
> also includes useful information about the country (demographics,
> climate, geology, customs, music, etc.) that can be accessed with a few
> keystrokes. The program's stuffed full of other handy info about the
> countries including photos and a 3D flyby feature that allows you to fly
> over any country or continent you chose, and get an idea of the terrain.
> The only catch is that you need a fairly fast CD rom drive to run this
> thing, but hey they're cheap now.
> I would highly recommend this program because of its remarkable map
> detail and ease of use.
> Now if I could only learn a little Malawian tribal lingo...
>
> --Dave
> K0Qe
>
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