RadioBanter - New Call Sign Prefix Look Up Tool

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New Call Sign Prefix Look Up Tool

I am just getting my new web site back online and have now also added a new
tool to search for the country name by the call sign prefix. Please give
this a try.

http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

tnx es 73
Zed Zed

To reply to this message by email, please remove the X's.

http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

Not too good, I'm afraid.

All the following return "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland":

G3, M3, MI, MM, GD, MX, GW, GU, MJ, 2E, 2M, 2W, etc (There are 6
different DXCC countries here),
VP, VQ (which are several different countries in the Caribbean and
East African areas).

This is the first draft and the data is from the information that I found at
arrl.org.
Please list them for me and I'll add them to the database. I need them in
this format:
VHA-VNZ|Australia|VK

The following return "No trace":

ZB, ZC, ZD, ZF.

Please enter the call sign in lower case letters as instructed above the
search box. There is a bug in the script that does not like the capital
letter "Z". :)

Some more development work needed, I think. A good idea, though.

73 de G3NYY

--
Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com

I was going by the simple list. ;)

http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/itucalls.html

I don't think it will work that way.

Take a look here for the country list:

http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/list_g.html

Even this is not complete, because there are also new prefixes MX, MT,
MN, MH, MS, MP and MC which are equivalent to GX, GT, GN, GH, GS, GP
and GC.

The VK and VP series are even more complicated. VK9 can be any of 6
different countries ... none of which is Australia. VP8 can be any of
5 different countries.

http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/list_ua.html

73 de G3NYY

--
Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com

Zed Zed wrote:
http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

Not too good, I'm afraid.

All the following return "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland":
[...]

This is the first draft and the data is from the information that I found at
arrl.org.
Please list them for me and I'll add them to the database. I need them in
this format:
VHA-VNZ|Australia|VK

You might rather want to use the CTY.DAT file by K1EA. The data you are
using looks like the ITU allocations, and from those you cannot tell the
_DXCC_ country.

As I see, you are using Perl for the script; I wrote a parser and
algorithms in Perl to figure out the DXCC, Zone, Continent etc. from
any callsign (including calls like KL7/DJ1YFK/P) as a part of my
logbook program YFKlog. It's open source under the GPL, so you can use
the code if you like (subs 'dxcc' and 'wpx' in yfksubs.pl):
http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog/yfklog-0.1.0.tar.gz
or http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog.html for a general description of the
software, if anyone is interested.

73,
--
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

Sir Walter and others -- try URL:

http://ac6v.com/prefixes.htm

Most complete one I know of.
--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !

"Walt Davidson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 15:12:04 GMT, "Zed Zed"
wrote:

I am just getting my new web site back online and have now also added a
new
tool to search for the country name by the call sign prefix. Please give
this a try.

http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

Not too good, I'm afraid.

All the following return "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland":

G3, M3, MI, MM, GD, MX, GW, GU, MJ, 2E, 2M, 2W, etc (There are 6
different DXCC countries here),
VP, VQ (which are several different countries in the Caribbean and
East African areas).

The following return "No trace":

ZB, ZC, ZD, ZF.

Some more development work needed, I think. A good idea, though.

73 de G3NYY

--
Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com

I was wondering if you might be able to help me identify the fields used in
K1EA's cty.dat file?

The fields in the file are in this format.

Spratly Is.: 26: 50: AS: 8.80: -111.90: -8.0: 1S:
1S,9M0,9M6OO/P,9M6PO,9M6TCR,9M6TPR,BV9S,DU0,DX0;
Fiji: 32: 56: OC: -18.10: -178.40: -12.0: 3D2:
3D2;

1st field is country,
the 2nd: ?
the 3rd: ?
4th: continent
5th: longitude ?
6th: latitude ?
7th: UTC offset?
8th: Primary Prefix ?
9th: All Prefixes?

You might rather want to use the CTY.DAT file by K1EA. The data you are
using looks like the ITU allocations, and from those you cannot tell the
_DXCC_ country.

As I see, you are using Perl for the script; I wrote a parser and
algorithms in Perl to figure out the DXCC, Zone, Continent etc. from
any callsign (including calls like KL7/DJ1YFK/P) as a part of my
logbook program YFKlog. It's open source under the GPL, so you can use
the code if you like (subs 'dxcc' and 'wpx' in yfksubs.pl):
http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog/yfklog-0.1.0.tar.gz
or http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog.html for a general description of the
software, if anyone is interested.

73,
--
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

Zed Zed wrote:
I was wondering if you might be able to help me identify the fields used in
K1EA's cty.dat file?

The fields in the file are in this format.

Spratly Is.: 26: 50: AS: 8.80: -111.90: -8.0: 1S:
1S,9M0,9M6OO/P,9M6PO,9M6TCR,9M6TPR,BV9S,DU0,DX0;
Fiji: 32: 56: OC: -18.10: -178.40: -12.0: 3D2:
3D2;

1st field is country,
the 2nd: ?

CQ Zone

the 3rd: ?

ITU Zone

4th: continent
5th: longitude ?
6th: latitude ?

other way round. 5th is latitude, 6th is longitude.

7th: UTC offset?

r

8th: Primary Prefix ?

r

9th: All Prefixes?

Yes. Always the longest matching prefix counts for determining the
DXCC. For example EA6ABC would match for EA (2 characters mathcing)
and EA6 (3 characters matching), so it is EA6, Balearic Is..
For some countries there are even full calls given, like for FO0s,
where callsigns like FO/DL1AWI are not unambiguously assigned to a
certain DXCC.

Polynesia: 32: 63: OC: -17.60: 149.50: 10.0: FO:
FO,FO0FRA,TO8K;

Using the cty.dat file has the great advantage that you don't have
to mainain your own database, but simply can download the actual
version every now and then...

At http://fkurz.net/ham/dxcc/ you find a little Perl script which
asks for callsigns and then returns their data from the country file.
Should be a task of a few minutes to turn this into a CGI for web
access..

73,
-
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

Thank you for all the help. :)

The updated version is now running.
http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

tnx es 73
Zed Zed

To reply to this message by email, please remove the X's.

Fabian Kurz wrote:
As I see, you are using Perl for the script; I wrote a parser and
algorithms in Perl to figure out the DXCC, Zone, Continent etc. from
any callsign (including calls like KL7/DJ1YFK/P) as a part of my
logbook program YFKlog. It's open source under the GPL, so you can use
the code if you like (subs 'dxcc' and 'wpx' in yfksubs.pl):
http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog/yfklog-0.1.0.tar.gz
or http://fkurz.net/ham/yfklog.html for a general description of the
software, if anyone is interested.

Thanks for posting that!

I've done a similar project. (http://www.w9wi.com, scroll about halfway
down for the link) Mine uses Apache as a user interface instead of
curses. Guess I was lazygrin. Otherwise it's similar, written in
Perl and logging to a MySQL DB.

I have my own routine to determine the DXCC entity of a callsign - seems
to work pretty well but has missed a few. Basically, I have two
additional tables and a routine that parses the CTY.DAT file to fill
those tables. One table references a "country_id" (the "main prefix"
for a country, for example "DL" for Germany or "G" for England) to a
list of valid prefixes from the CTY.DAT file. The other contains
information about each country - zone, name, etc...

I'll be taking a close look at your routine, might well work a lot better!

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Howdy Doug,

You indeed have a great page with lots of good info, seen it before. What is
the link name for call search? G I didn't find.

Regards,
Jim
www.taborsoft.com
--
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Howdy,

Good work. That is a tough project. I also recently took the challenge. Took
lots of frustration and a few days. Not yet released.

Yours somehow does return extra results. Looks like "perhaps" the first one
found is incorrect? Try for example "sm".

Regards,
Jim
www.taborsoft.com
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"Zed Zed" wrote in message
. ..
Thank you for all the help. :)

The updated version is now running.
http://www.onlinehamfest.com/search.htm

tnx es 73
Zed Zed

To reply to this message by email, please remove the X's.

Howdy Fabian,

Great work. Most impressive, especially since I don't speak perl. G Is
your script running somewhere?

A question please? When a prefix is typed to be searched, do you search both
the "primary" and the "all prefix" lists?

Just curious. I note, in the list, the primary is not "always" included in
the "all" lists. Also there are a couple of entries where - apparently - the
listed primary is not the generally accepted primary. For example North
Korea, if I recall. Yes, I experienced brain cramps on this a couple of
weeks ago.

Jim indeed does good work with the cty.dat files.

Regards,
Jim
www.taborsoft.com
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J Tabor wrote:
Great work. Most impressive, especially since I don't speak perl. G Is
your script running somewhere?

I just quickly put it online:
http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/cgi-...pl?call=DJ1YFK
Just a quick and ugly hack -- I am not very keen on designing websites :)

A question please? When a prefix is typed to be searched, do you search both
the "primary" and the "all prefix" lists?

No, only the all prefix list.

Just curious. I note, in the list, the primary is not "always" included in
the "all" lists. Also there are a couple of entries where - apparently - the
listed primary is not the generally accepted primary. For example North
Korea, if I recall. Yes, I experienced brain cramps on this a couple of
weeks ago.

The primary prefix is not neccesarily included in the list for all
prefixes because it might be a subset of the 'all prefixes' list. For
example for Germany, only "D" is listed in the all-prefixes list. Other
countries like Cape Verde also start with D, but their list shows "D4".
The algorithm is to look for the longest matching prefix; D44BC matches
1 character for Germany, 2 for Cape Verde, so it counts as D4.

73,
--
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

J Tabor wrote:
You indeed have a great page with lots of good info, seen it before. What is
the link name for call search? G I didn't find.

Mine's not accessible from the Internet. (I'm running Apache on an
intranet, firewalled from the outside world)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
J Tabor wrote:
You indeed have a great page with lots of good info, seen it before. What
is the link name for call search? G I didn't find.

Mine's not accessible from the Internet. (I'm running Apache on an
intranet, firewalled from the outside world)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Sounds familiar!
Very similar setup here ... oh my ...

--

... Hank

http://home.earthlink.net/~horedson
http://home.earthlink.net/~w0rli

J Tabor wrote:
Hi,

Sorry, guess I misread your original message to say "look about halfway
down".

Ah, I understand...

About halfway down the page is a link for downloading my program.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Hi Fabian & Group,

Very interesting indeed and works FB. Noticed an "Internal Server Error"
when prefix is not found. But realize you put it working quickly. Thanks.

The primary prefix is not neccesarily included in the list for all
prefixes because it might be a subset of the 'all prefixes' list.

FB, understand about the "D" and even Eu Russia. Here are the ones I was
thinking about:
below do not include "primary prefix" in alts list, as others
Easter I.: 12: CE0Y:
Malpelo I.: 09:
Argentina: 13: LU:
Macquarie I.: 30: VK0M:
Norfolk I.: 32: VK9N:
South Shetland: 13: VP8/h:

BELOW doesn't have either primary in alts list
Antarctica: 13: CE9:
----

The algorithm is to look for the longest matching prefix;

So am guessing this is how you handle the entire call in the cty.dat file
when the call is not in "home" area.

The full calls in the list, of course, serve very well for its intended
purpose - contesting and loggers. However, they work not at all for a true
"prefix search". i.e. when a user types prefix then there is a conflict
between the true country prefix and the call not in home area.
For example:
France: 14: F: 4U1SCO...
--
user types 4U1, -- and no more -- does he get ITU or does he get France?
Yes, he would want ITU, but of course depends on how code is written?

OK, I admit it, I've been working on how to do prefix lookup for years. ;)
Many, many folks on here more capable than me. G

It seemed the real best prefix search would be using the international
allocation list. But that isn't so good either. Thus the cty.dat type lists
of active prefixes is superior in many ways.

Thanks,
Jim - KU5S
--
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J Tabor wrote:
The primary prefix is not neccesarily included in the list for all
prefixes because it might be a subset of the 'all prefixes' list.

FB, understand about the "D" and even Eu Russia. Here are the ones I was
thinking about:
below do not include "primary prefix" in alts list, as others
Easter I.: 12: CE0Y:

Well, here the list only has
3G0,CA0,CB0,CC0,CD0,CE0,XQ0,XR0;
_but_ any CE0-call is a priori Easter Island, _except_ when the first
letter of the suffix is X (CE0X, covered by San Felix I.) or Z (CE0Z,
Juan Fernandez Isl.). So it enough to assign CE0 to Easter Island and
for the exceptions, CE0Z and CE0X there are special entries which match
with more characters.

Malpelo I.: 09:

Malpelo I.: 09: 12: SA: 4.00: 81.10: 5.0: HK0/m:
5J0M,5K0M,HJ0M,HK0M,HK0TU;

Well, all calls from Malpelo Isl. have a M as the first letter of the
suffix; I am not sure why the primary prefix is HK0/m and not HK0M.

Argentina: 13: LU:

Same thing as with DL: the list includes "L", and all L*-calls, except
those covered by other entries (like Norway, LA, LB, ..., LN) count as
Argentinia.

Macquarie I.: 30: VK0M:

Same as CE0. The list contains VK0 only, so any VK0 is Macquarie,
except when it's covered with more letters by another entry (in this
case VK0IR/HI for Heard Island).

Norfolk I.: 32: VK9N:

Ditto, but VK9 instead of VK0.

South Shetland: 13: VP8/h:

Well, that is because South Shetland is not a political country and it
doesn't have an ITU allocation. So the full callsign must be known to
tell that it is from VP8/h. In the list there are only full callsigns;
for example DP1KGI. DP = extraterrestian German station, it does not
indicate the locaton (except that it is not on German territory).

BELOW doesn't have either primary in alts list
Antarctica: 13: CE9:

Same thing.

The algorithm is to look for the longest matching prefix;

So am guessing this is how you handle the entire call in the cty.dat file
when the call is not in "home" area.

Actually first the prefix after the WPX rules is determined by the wpx
subprogram, in case there is a "/" in the callsign. If so, only the
DXCC of the prefix will be searched for. Otherwise the full callsign.

The full calls in the list, of course, serve very well for its intended
purpose - contesting and loggers. However, they work not at all for a true
"prefix search". i.e. when a user types prefix then there is a conflict
between the true country prefix and the call not in home area.
For example:
France: 14: F: 4U1SCO...
--
user types 4U1, -- and no more -- does he get ITU or does he get France?
Yes, he would want ITU, but of course depends on how code is written?

Well, 4U1 alone will not match, because it is tested against 4U1ITU,
4U1VIC etc, and the callsign to be tested has to be longer or of equal
length as the minimum prefix which it is tested against. 4U1 will not
match against either of the given full 4U1-calls.

And I think this behaviour is just right, because 4U1 could be ITU, UN
HQ, USA (4U1WB) and so on.

OK, I admit it, I've been working on how to do prefix lookup for years. ;)
Many, many folks on here more capable than me. G

That is why I make my programs open source and publish it under the
GPL, so anyone can take advantage of it by using the code for own
projects (provided the source is kept open), or just take ideas and
inspirations...

It seemed the real best prefix search would be using the international
allocation list. But that isn't so good either. Thus the cty.dat type lists
of active prefixes is superior in many ways.

The international allocation list of the ITU doesn't help for figuring
out the DXCC entity, because that is just an invention of the ARRL.
The ITU only knows political countries, and for example UA, UA9
are the same for the ITU list.

An option would be to use the official ARRL DXCC country list,
maintained by K2DI. It is actually about as easy/difficult to parse as
K1EA's list, and also contains deleted DXCCs.. However I sticked with
K1EA, mainly becuase it knows a lot of exceptions.

Thanks,
Jim - KU5S

73,
--
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

Greetings Fabian,

FB, thanks for the excellent comments. Much appareciated.

Good fortune with study of electrical engineering at the University.

Regards,
Jim - KU5S
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