I heartily concur.
MicroDEM is real powerful, but is more of a poor man's GIS, with a lot of
disparate functionality, and I found it exceedingly difficult to manipulate.
It's really not aimed at "radio" applications.
RadioMobile has its share of oddities too, but the learning curve to get to
where you can extract useful information is much shorter.
It's oriented towards radio applications from the get-go, and readily
supports evaluations of terrain along a line from one point to another (or
from one point to lots of points in a fan). Furthermore, it directly does
all the VHF/UHF path loss calculations.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Tope" <W4EF@dellroy.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>; "KY1K" <ky1k@pivot.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Microwave path study
> I would like to add that it is fairly easy to export terrain profiles from
> Radio
> Mobile and the import them into HFTA. I tried using MicroDem the other
> night to get terrain data and it just gave me a headache. IMO, RadioMobile
> is a much more user friendly program.
>
> 73 de Mike, W4EF.....................
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "KY1K" <ky1k@pivot.net>
> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 6:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Microwave path study
>
>
> > Bill and others....
> >
> > You can do MUCH better than that. I started out using n2ckh software,
but
> > he suspended further development years ago.
> >
> > Today, it's Radio Mobile, which is free for non-commercial use and has
an
> > awesome email support group. You have to download your own digital
terrain
> > data, and store it. But, the 30 meter database files are 10 Megabytes
> > each,
> > or 2 mb if you zip them and cover a degree square. You can also use the
> > 100
> > meter database too, the files are much smaller to cover much larger
areas.
> >
> > The neat thing about it is that you can do your graphical analysis and
> > display the digital terrain map any way you want. After the digital
> > terrain
> > map display is finalized, you can call up a detailed street map or an
> > aerial photograph from the internet, all automatic and no hassle. I
> > learned
> > alot of stuff about my local geography from it. For a few extra dollars,
> > you can use any commercial image source via the internet, but 1 and 2
> > meter
> > resolution aerial photos are free for non commercial use.
> >
> > You can use any type of overlay, provided you know the longitude and
> > latitude of each corner of the image, which has alot of potential to do
> > some pretty awesome work.
> >
> > It is designed primarily to predict signal strength between 2 fixed
points
> > where you define radios, frequency of operation, feedline loss, antennas
> > and tower heights and press go. It gives signal strength is microvolts!
> >
> > I also use it for predicting optical line of sight for laser work-you
> > display 4 grids, define the transmitter location and then press go. It
> > illuminates all the surrounding area that has line of sight coverage to
> > that peak. After it's done with the display of the terrain data, you
press
> > 'get internet map' and it downloads and overlays a map showing roads and
> > cities (scaled to the same dimensions as the digital terrain map is).
> >
> > I don't want to start a ruckus, but, for me, the software confirmed that
> > there is no line of sight coverage between Pack Manadonock and Mount
> > Washington...despite some adamant claims that the los path exists from
> > some
> > very prominent microwave types. Ditto the alleged line of sight path
> > between Mount Washington and Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.
> > The
> > Maine Forest Ranger at Mount Katahdan (Baxter State Park) was very
> > interested to learn that there is no line of sight path to Mount
> > Washington-I showed him the actual peak he was seeing. He had been
telling
> > people for quite a few years that Mount Washington could be seen on a
> > clear
> > day:>: The software confirms the 109 mile line of sight path between
Mount
> > Washington and Mount Marcey in NY.
> >
> > It even has a mode to display the peaks visible from a given hilltop
> > (panoramic view), so you can compare the screen to the actual view and
> > tell
> > which little bump is which as you look off in a given direction.
> >
> > http://www.qsl.net/ve2dbe/
> >
> > Have fun, great email group. I've learned alot.
> >
> > Art
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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