PropView Configuration

Online Help Index

PropView's Configuration window provides General and Prediction tabs.

General tab

If the Display information in title bars box is checked, PropView displays status information in window title bars.

If the Use multiple monitors box is checked, PropView windows that resided on a secondary monitor during the previous session will be restored to the same secondary monitor on startup; when not checked, all windows are restored to the primary monitor on startup

Checking the Log Debugging Info box directs PropView to record diagnostic information into the file errorlog.txt in PropView's folder.

The Distance Units panel determines whether distances are displayed in miles or kilometers. 

The Guidance panel controls the action of explanatory popup windows and specifies the web browser use to display online documentation:

show control explanations when checked, explanatory information appears in a small popup window when the mouse cursor lingers over a textbox, button, checkbox, display pane, or setting.
Browser pathname if this setting is blank, PropView displays online documentation using your PC's default web browser; if this setting contains the pathname of an web browser, PropView displays online help using that web browser.

Clicking the Display Errorlog button displays diagnostic information into the file errorlog.txt in PropView's folder.

Clicking the Display License button displays PropView's License.

Prediction Tab

Frequency-dependent Settings

The Frequency-dependent Settings panel specifies a Takeoff Angle and RF output Power for each amateur band. When this panel's Enable box is checked and Commander is running, PropView will ignore the Takeoff and Power settings specified on the Main window's Parameters tab and instead use the values specified in this panel for the transceiver's current band.

The mapping from frequencies to bands is established by a band definition file. At startup, PropView checks its folder for the file Bands.txt ; if found, the contents of this file are interpreted as user-defined band definitions in the format shown below.  If Bands.txt is not found, then PropView checks its folder for the file DefaultBands.txt, which is included with each release of PropView and contains:

160M, 1.800, 2.000
80M, 3.500,4.000
60M, 5.3305,5.405
40M, 7.000,7.350
30M, 10.100, 10.150
20M, 14.000, 14.350
17M, 18.068, 18.168
15M, 21.000, 21.450
12M, 24.890, 24.990
10M, 28.000, 29.900
6M, 50.000, 54.000

Each line in a band definition file contains three parameters, separated by commas: the band name, the band's lower edge in megahertz, and the band's upper edge in megahertz.

User-defined band specifications can alter default frequency ranges, but cannot introduce new bands
 

Mode-dependent Settings

The Mode-dependent Settings panel specifies the Required SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) for each of several popular modes, thereby making it easy to specify the Required SNR by selecting the mode to be used. Each mode's Required SNR is specified in decibels, in the range of -30 to 99. Default values are

Mode Required SNR
FT8, JT65, JT9 0
CW, RTTY, PSK31, PSK63, PSK125, Olivia 10
SSB, AM, FM, SSTV 20

 

Prediction URLs

The Predicted Sunspot Numbers box specifies the URL from which PropView obtains the current SSN (Smoothed Sunspot Number) .

The Current Solar and Geomagnetic Conditions box specifies the URL from which the current SFI (Solar Flux Index) and Geomagnetic K-index are obtained.

The Predicted SFI and A-index box specifies the URL from which the predicted SFI (Solar Flux Index) and Geomagnetic A-index are obtained.

 

Forecasting Engine

PropView includes three different HF propagation forecasting engines for generating propagation forecasts: IONCAP, ICEPAC, or VOACAP; the IONCAP engine is not available when PropView is running on a 64-bit version of Windows. All three engines can generate predictions using the LUF & MUF technique, which forecasts the Lowest Usable Frequency (LUF) and Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) at each hour of the specified UTC day. The VOACAP engine can alternatively generate predictions using the SNR & Prob technique, which forecasts the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and the fraction of days of the month on which the specified Required SNR will be achieved for each band at each hour of the specified UTC day.

The Forecasting Engine panel specifies which engine and technique is used to generate propagation forecasts.