Documentation for Afloat Dialer Version 1.1
By NNN0TWT Ernie
NNN0TWT@navymars.org
01/01/2004

1. Setting up the program for the first time.
Click on Comport or hold the ALT key down and Hit C.
This will bring up the com port settings form.

Select the comport your modem is connected to.
If you are using an older model modem you may
have to change the maximum speed to a lower value like 2400. I recommend
using an external modem with a speaker so you can hear what is happening
on the phone line while the call is being processed or connect a larger
external speaker to the internal modem. Echo should be checked off.
Preferences should be set to 8 NONE 1. Flow control should not matter
I usually use hardware (RTS) or none. Now click the OK button to save
the settings and return to the main form.
Cancel will discard any changes and return to main form.

Now you need to set the Numbers and other properties of the program.
Click on the Properties button and select Numbers to dial. This will
bring up a screen with all the access numbers and other settings.

Letting the mouse pointer hover over some of the boxes will show a little
help hint. Click in the box where you see my call sign at the top left of
this page and change the call sign to your own call sign.
Now look at the access numbers section. The first column I have is for
a Sprint pre paid card. You may change any of these to meet your needs i.e.,
if you have a prepaid card that has an 800 number and pin number ect.
The program will dial the Number entries with the following rules.
These rules apply to all lines marked as access number, Num1, Num2,
 Num3 and Num4. If the field contains a number regardless of number of digits
it will dial those numbers. If the field has a letter N in the block the
program will dial the number you get from the station to dial. If the
Field has the letter Z the program will append a 0 (Zero) in before the
number i.e. the number you get from station is 9041231234 the number dialed
will be 09041231234 use this for MCI and Sprint calls ect. If the field
Has a letter O (Not zero) the number will be preceded with a 1 ( one).
If the field has an X in it that field will be skipped.

The wait times are the hardest values to set with this program
because all phone systems are different. The only way is to put a value
in and try dialing. While listening to the progress of the call determine
if the wait time is too long or needs to be shortened. Enter in 0 (zero)
for all wait times in any fields after the last figures are sent.
If you look at the first coulomb I call Sprint Card
(Pre paid card).
1. the aces number 18007980747 is dialed
after a short time the recording comes on "for English press 1
for Spanish press 2"
2. On my phone system this takes 8 seconds so the first wait time
is 20 seconds. After the 20 seconds the programs dials a 1.
after another short time the recording says something like "Enter
you PIN number"
3. This takes about 4 seconds for this message to start so the second
wait time is 4 the program dials the PIN number
after another short time the recording says to make a USA call
dial 1 for over seas dial 2. This take about 17 seconds
for the recording to start so the wait time is 17 seconds
4. The next message is dial your number. This message takes 5 seconds
so the wait time is 5. The program then dials the number you got from the station.

You will have to edit the card numbers for MCI and SPRINT and put valid
numbers in before this calls will go through.

The AT commands at command sent to the modem at start up. and if
you click the save button the settings will be saved and the port is
closed and reopened and commands are resent. These setting are used
to disable the DTR line and speed the dialing speed ect
check your modem manual for other settings you may need to change.

The dial command is the standard ATDT that is sent to the modem to
tell it to dial using tone.

Time Wn: is not used at this time but I intend to have the computer
Beep or alert you when a call length reaches this setting.

DEF Mode: is the Dialing mode to use for the very first call by
default if no dialing mode button is clicked prior to dialing.
The number 0 (ZERO) is the left most Coulomb (Sprint Card) 1 is the next
coulomb and so on. so if you wanted the default to be SPRINT calling card
you would put a 3 in this box.

Pause Char is not used at this time. Modem timing can be any number from
.001 to 100. I had problems with one computer I tried the program on and had
to use .8 but you should not have to change this value.


Wow if you made it through all the above you are ready to start
making patches with this program.



Using the Afloat Dialer to make calls

The main form will come up with the cursor blinking in the frequency
field, this is where you enter the working frequency you will be using.

Enter the Dial frequency. the program will add the 1.5 for your
report. All frequency entries are to be dial and in KCS, even in the report portion
of the program.


The display area made up of 13 coulombs by 7 rows is where you see any
calls you have done will be displayed. Unlike the MS-DOS version when all
fields are filled a scroll bar will appear at the right of the display and
allow you to see past calls that have been scrolled off the screen.
From left to right each row will contain the following:
Call Num Call sign Phone Number 1st party 2nd party Status and length of call
        
Just below the display area is a display of the current call to be worked
with. these are:
Call sign phone number to dial 1st party 2nd party

Below this is a grayed out box. This the area where all the action is
going to occur: Input of data, cal sign, phone number ect. start dialing.
start stop timer and log the call ect.

Below this area are the mode and change freq buttons. If you change Frequency
just click the FRQ CHG and enter the new frequency
What ever mode you choose to place the first call with will be recorded
and this mode will be used for tat station for all other calls. you can
change the mode just prior to dialing the number but the next call will revert
back to the default mode for that station. This way if you have several
station in rotation you can set MCI for one and Sprint for the other ect.
800 and 888 numbers are dialed as 1800------- so no worry.
If the call happens to be local just click the local key and the last 7 digits
are dialed

At the bottom of the form is a status bar to let you know what is going
on and that the program is alive and well. The left most Next Sta: shows the
next station to have a call made for if more that one station is in rotation. The Dialing: shows
what number is being dialed at the time.
The last block at the right will at times show the modem response
usually OK so you know the modem is communicating. When a patch is in
progress and you have started the timer this block will display the time the
call has been on going.


PLACING A CALL

O.K. you have entered the dial frequency and are ready to make a call.
The cursor will be blinking in a field and waiting for the call sign of the
station you are working... This field can take several commands, besides call
signs.
        
Note hitting the enter key without typing anything in the field keeps
what ever is in the field corresponding to the entry you are on, from the
four boxes above the entry fields.

1. Call sign of the station being worked. Enter the call sign and enter
the ships name and any info you have added to ships.dat file for that
station will be displayed.
2. If you have already made a call hitting the enter key will use the call sign
in the boxes just above ( the four boxes below the display area)


3 . A number between 1 and 900. If you have run patches awhile and the station
wants you to dial a number that was tried before. Say the 5th patch you
attempted for them ( the number in the left most boxes in the display
area). Just type a 5 and enter. The four boxes above will be filled with
the info from call # 5. and the dial button activated ready to dial.
4. You accidentally typed the phone number in this field when you started to
take the next listing. Just hit the Enter key and the call will stay the
same and the number will be entered into the phone number field and you
will be asked for the 1st party.

Next you enter the phone number as the station gives it to you. when
you hit the enter the State or location being called is displayed below the
ships info.
The other entry you can make to the phone number field is a routine I made for testing the scroll bar but found it might be useful to you too.
This command will load a log file into the program, but does not modify the
log files in any manner. you type in LOAD in the phone number..... the
filename i.e. 1298 (test file included with program) in the 1st party field ,.... and the number of records to read into the program in the 2nd party field. If you enter in a number larger than the log file the entire log is loaded for 1298 use number Greater than 400 will load all the file. 1298 is my Dec. 1998 log file. ( all log files created by this program uses the format MMYY.DAL where MM=Month and YY= Year.
If you have a call entered in the Call sign field when you use the LOAD command on log entries matching that call will be loaded. If the Call sign field is blank the entire file will be loaded. :)

The next two entries are the party's names to be phone patched.

After all the information has been entered the Dial command button is
displayed. This is the place you should click the Mode you want to use for
the call if different from the one displayed below.
Pressing the letter E will cause you to return to the call sign field and
you can reenter the info or make any changes. Pressing any other key or
clicking on the button will start the dialing process.

You will now have a prompt to Pickup the phone and any key to continue

BE SURE TO ALLOW THE DIALING PROCESS TO FINISH BEFORE
PICKING UP THE PHONE.

When you hit any key the program will send the command for the modem to
disconnect from the phone line and another set of options appear.
Pressing a D will log the call as DNA (Did Not Answer)
Pressing a B will log the call as BSY (line was Busy)
Pressing R will redial the last number good if line busy and you wont to
try again before logging the call.
Pressing E will take you back and let you re enter the listing if you got
the wrong number or another error (without logging the call)
Pressing any other key not listed will start the timer. I usually just use
the space bar to start the timer.

The next set of prompts will stop the timer.
Pressing an A will log the call as A/M (Answering Machine)
Pressing an O will log the call as OK
Pressing an E will not log the call and return you to the Enter listing point.
Pressing any other key does nothing.... :)
        

Making a report

        Click on Report in the menu or hold the ALT key down and press R

You will now see the area where you add information to the report file
Change the Heading to suit your needs you will need to change the Date-Time-
Group for each report you generate.

Just below the Heading area is the Comments area. If you have comments
you need to include in you report Enter the text in this area. This will
be added to the report as 3. Remarks:

To the right you will see the area where you put the calling frequencies
you use and the number of days the frequency was used. Again input Dial
frequency.

Below this is the field you use if you want to use a different log file.
It will normally use the current month / year as the file names. Try changing
the input file to 1298. then click Make RPT button. You will now see the
report and have the option to save the report for transmission. The Header
information is saved to a file called header.cfg and the report is saved to
a file called MMMYY.TXT where MMM = Month abbreviation i.e. JAN FEB ect.
YY= year. These files are stored in the directory where the program resides...

I think everything else is self explaining.. play with the program some
and get familiar with it...

The following files can be changed with you favorite text editor as calls
and area codes change.
area.dir = area code data base format NNN , description where NNN= area code.
Ships.dat = Station data base format CCCC , description comments.
be sure to use the comma between 1st and second entries of data base files.
Do not use any commas in the call, area, or description areas the comma is
only to be used to separate the different fields.
The last entry in the ships.dat file will be your call sign a comma and
your name. this is to make the file usable by the program ships.exe (program
to look up call signs) also on the page. If you have installed Adialer all
you need is the ships.EXE program. put is same
directory as afloat.exe is.

Another way to add or change the ships data base is: When you enter the
call sign you see unknown station or you want to change what is displayed
just click on the area where the information is displayed. If the Station
is not in the data base it will be added to the data base and stored. if
you change the information it will be updated and saved.
Almost forgot that feature. I haven't made that function for the
area code data base yet. You will have to use a text editor...

In version 1.1 I have added a file edit commands in the menu section for the Ships.dat and Area.dir files. It is still a little rough, but does work.
To delete a record (Ship or Area code) click the mouse on the left most field where the call sign or arecode Num. is located. erase the contents of the field. click on the save file button then the reload button. You probably wont see any changes till you move the scroll bar at the right.
To add a record Enter the information in the fields at the bottom of the form. Then click on the add record field. Again changes may not be seen till you move the scroll bar. use the sort button to sort the records and the save file button to save all changes. You Don't have to sort the file for the program to use the file correctly. Also entries maybe in upper or lower case.

I changed the FONT to a command Font so hopefully no one will have garbage on the forms now.
Enjoy! 73's Ernie NNN0TWT



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