VOACAPL(1)

📦
version 0.7.7 · 2 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

👑 VOACAPL(1) — the HF propagation tea 💖

okay bestie, sit down, grab a boba, because this is the User Manuals page for voacapl and it's genuinely iconic ✨

🌈 NAME 🌈

voacapl — HF propagation prediction program 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir=directory_path --absorption-mode=mode]
voacap_directory [inputfile]
voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir=directory_path --absorption-mode=mode]
voacap_directory [inputfile outputfile]
voacapl [-s --silent --run-dir=directory_path --absorption-mode=mode]
voacap_directory area calc [areafile]
voacapl [-s] voacap_directory batch
voacapl -v

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So basically 💖 this is an implementation of VOACAP, the NTIA/ITS professional HF propagation prediction program — and no, it wasn't made for random vibes, it was originally developed for the Voice of America (VOA). Main character origin story fr fr 👑

What it does: VOACAP reads an input file and writes point-to-point path or area prediction data to an output file(s). 📡

Now, voacapl is a version of the original source that has been modified so it can be compiled using GCC/GFortran. And before you panic: only the changes REQUIRED to enable compilation using GCC have been made — the underlying prediction algorithms remain unchanged. The math is untouched, she just got a glow-up so she'd build on modern compilers 💯

Voacapl input/output files follow exactly the same format as VOACAP and they are not described here (sorry bestie, different doc, different day). Details of these file formats may be found at www.voacap.com. 🔗

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -s, --silent — Silent processing. Reduces the number of messages printed to the screen while running. aka she stops yapping at you while she works 🤫
  • -v — Version. Prints the version number and exits. Just a quick "hi, this is who I am" moment 💁♀️
  • --run-dir — Used to specify a location for the input and output files. All other volatile files (gainxx.dat etc.) will be saved in this directory. This option is of most use in server environments where multiple users may be running the application concurrently, and to facilitate clean-up after performing a prediction. Translation: when everyone's sharing the same machine, this keeps y'all's mess separate and makes cleanup a breeze ✨
  • --absorption-mode — Used to specify the absorption mode that should be used for the prediction, overriding the value defined in version.w32. Valid values are:
    • 'W' — normal
    • 'I' — IONCAP
    • 'A' — Alex's modifications with normal absorption
    • 'a' — Alex's changes with IONCAP absorption
not me capitalizing one and not the other, that's literally how it is. A and a are DIFFERENT modes bestie, don't get cute 😭
  • voacap_directory — Specifies the path to the itshfbc directory, e.g. '~/itshfbc/' or '/usr/share/itshfbc'. Read/write access is required to the sub-directories below itshfbc. This parameter is required for program operation. (Note: See the 'Bugs' section below for guidance on specifying the location of the itshfbc directory.) 🫶
  • inputfile — Filename of the input file to process, which should be located in the itshfbc/run directory. If only the inputfile is specified, the default output filename (voacapx.out) will be used for program output. Default behavior, slay 💅
  • outputfile — Filename of the output file produced by the program. Due to a limitation in the way in which command arguments are parsed, an input file must first be specified if an output file is to be specified — it is not possible to specify an output file only. Input and output files are located below the "itshfbc/run" directory. Yeah the parser's a little rigid, she's got rules 🙈
  • area — Used to perform a VOAAREA calculation. The original version of VOACAP permits the additional arguments CALC, SCREEN or PRINT to define the operation of the VOAAREA operation. voacapl currently only supports the 'calc' option. So CALC, SCREEN, PRINT are the legacy trio, but right now we're riding with calc only 🔥
  • areafile — File containing the input data for an area calculation. The path to the areafile must be given relative to the 'itshfbc/areadata/' directory. 📁

🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

🍓 the classic

voacapl ~/itshfbc

Reads the default input file (~/itshfbc/run/voacapx.dat), performs a prediction calculation, and saves the results in the default output file (~/itshfbc/run/voacapx.out). In this example, the itshfbc directory is defined as a sub-directory of the user's home folder. 💖

🌸 in and out, the simple way

voacapl ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out

Reads infile.dat and saves the results of the calculations in the file outfile.out. Both of the files should be located in the directory '~/itshfbc/run'. 🦋

✨ run-dir mode activated

voacapl --run-dir=/tmp/myrunndir ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out

Performs a prediction defined by infile.dat and saves the results of the calculations in the file outfile.out. The input file should be placed in the directory defined by the run-dir parameter. 🎀

💫 picking your absorption flavor

voacapl --absorption-mode=a ~/itshfbc infile.dat outfile.out

Sets the absorption model used by the prediction to 'a' (Alex's changes with IONCAP absorption). Reads infile.dat and saves the results of the calculations in the file outfile.out. Both of the files should be located in the directory '~/itshfbc/run'. 👑

🌈 area calc, let's map it out

voacapl ~/itshfbc area calc testfile.voa

Performs an area calculation using the file 'testfile.voa' as input. The output file(s) will be saved as testfile.vg_ in the same directory as testfile.voa. 🔥

💜 batch era

voacapl ~/itshfbc batch

Performs a batch calculation using the file voacapw.asc as a template file, to which the modifications defined in the circuit file (voacap.cir) are applied. 🧚

📁 FILES 📁

  • itshfbc/ — Voacapl requires access to a number of data files found within the 'itshfbc' directory structure. Input and output files are written to itshfbc/run. 💾

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

VOACAP does not make use of any environmental variables. That's it, that's the whole section. Zero env vars, no cap 😌✨

💀 BUGS 💀

Performance is unpredictable if the path to the itshfbc directory contains spaces or is more than 52 characters long. 🚨

This is a limitation of the legacy DOS based file handling procedures, and will be addressed in future versions of voacapl.

bestie please, I'm begging you: no spaces, keep it short-ish. She's carrying around some 1990s baggage and she's doing her best 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

This program was ported to GFortran by James Watson <jimwatson at mac dot com>, using code that was originally developed by the NTIA/ITS and is currently maintained by Greg Hand. 🫶

🌟 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 🌟

VOACAP is an improved and corrected version of IONCAP, retaining all of the theory as put forth by John Lloyd, George Haydon, Donald Lucas and Larry Teters in the 1975-1985 time-frame, with modifications which were suggested/approved by George Lane, Donald Lucas, George Haydon and A. D. Spaulding. 💜

Major improvements in efficiency, coding corrections and ease of understanding the IONCAP program were made by Franklin Rhoads of the U.S. Navy Research Laboratory under the sponsorship of the Voice of America (1985-1996). 🌈

Many of the newer features in VOACAP and VOAAREA were designed and implemented by Gregory Hand at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, who created VOAAREA and made many significant improvements to VOACAP. 👑

Porting this program to GFortran would not be possible without the generous help and assistance of Gregory Hand. 🥹

Portions of this man page have been reproduced with permission from the www.voacap.com website, maintained by Jari Perkiomaki. 🎀

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

www.voacap.com

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially a voacapl girlie now 💅✨

signing off — this one's from the Linux crew, dated SEO 2013. go forth and predict some propagation 🦋💖🌸

📦 where this page comes from