Happy Holidays - Electronic Version of ER Index FREE!

[Don Buska]

Here is an early holiday gift to my fellow BA'ers.  I've spent the last
month or so creating a computerized version of the Electric Radio
magazine article index.  The current release covers all issues up to
number 103 (Nov-97).

How to get it?

Well first off I'm not about to personally send it to every BA'er on the
net.  So here's how I want to get it done.  I will email (attachment) a
copy of the self-extracting version (see below) ERIDX103.EXE to those who
can redistribute the same file via their web page or via a list
processor.  So if you don't operate a web-page or list processor that
supports file transfers don't bother contacting me, please.

I will leave the final distribution and whatever promotion of this ER
Index to respective web-page/list processor owners.

Below is a copy of my text file which is included in the current
ERIDX103.EXE file.

Hope those ER reader out in BA-land find this index useful.

Have a great holiday season folks es 73

Don N9OO





Electric Radio Magazine Index  by Don Buska N9OO
------------------------------------------------

If your like me you've grown tired of searching through the
yearly Electric Radio (ER) magazine indexes to find that long lost
article you think you remember reading.  As a personal project
I decided to create a computerized index of all my ER's.  The
associated files are a result of over 100 hours of my time.

The files:
----------

ERIDX***.EXE    Compressed Self-extracting version containing all files
                listed below.
ERIDX***.XLS    Excel 5 Spreadsheet of ER issues through issue ***
ERIDX***.CSV    A Comma-Separated-Value version of the Excel Spreadsheet.
ERIDX***.PRN    A Printable version of the Speadsheet.

Where *** is a number representing the last issue of ER supported by
these files.  I do plan on periodically updating these files so expect
to see higher numbers in the future.

If you do not have Excel with the above version or later you may still be
able to load the CSV type file into your favorite speadsheet or database.
CSV is a generic means for transfering files from
spreadsheet-to-spreadsheet or database-to-database.  However, give the
Excel a try first as many other spreadsheets or databases can read these
XLS files directly.  I have read this file using Mesa2 Version 2.0 on one
of my OS/2 based computers and into Excel-95 on a WIN95 computer with no
problems.

If you do not use any spreadsheet or database application then try
viewing the PRN file as it is just a formatted ASCII text file.  If you
want to print out the PRN file I'd suggest using the landscape mode.
However, I was able to print it out using the portrait mode, but was
forced to use a 6-point font as there are alot of characters per line.
Also, always use a non-proportional font, such as courier, when printing
or viewing this PRN file.

The advantage of using the spreadsheet for creating this index is that
you have the ability to sort the file by any column item you desire.
Thus, if I want to see it sorted by author it takes only a few clicks of
the mouse and away we go.  Currently, the released version is sorted by
category first and then by title of the article and last by date.

Structure of this Index
-----------------------

I have expanded the listing beyond that which has been provided in the
yearly ER issues.

Here is a list of index columns:

Category -  This is an expanded category list from what you may be used
to
            in the published ER issues.  For example, ER magazine has a
            category titled Transmitters, Transceivers and Amplifiers.  I
            have these three items broken down as individual categories.
            You will notice several others have been added as well.
Thus,
            the General-Miscellaneous is not as long and searching for
            an article should be faster.

Title -     This is the title of the article.  I have at times added
comments
            between brackets to further describe the article when the
title
            leaves to much to the imagination.

Author -    The last name of the author is provided.

Issue -     Number that appears on issue cover.

Date -      The month and year of this issue.

Page -      The beginning page number for the associated article.


The Future
----------

My plans are to periodically update this ER Index and distribute it
free-of-charge to specific web-page owners or list process owners
who have file transfer abilities.  I don't want to get in the business
of transfering these files to everyone who wants them.  It would be
just to time consumming.  I will leave it to these people to spread
the word about the existance of this index.

My thanks to Barry Wiseman for publishing such a fine magazine addressing
the
Boat Anchor enthusiast.  His yearly indexes have provided me with a base
for creating this computerized version.

I am always open to suggestions for improvement, but please don't request
the files from me.  Hopefully your favorite web-sight or BA related
mailing
list will keep this index available for download.

Use it in good health es 73

Don Buska N9OO
d.buska at aaiate.com

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