DRM-Log Plotter 3.52 Web Help How To . . .

THE DRM-LOG PLOTTER MAIN WINDOW

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Click in the field above the plotting area. The following window opens:

You may enter as many as 99 different Profiles. Your profile will show up on the main window in DRM-Plotter.
The Profiles which you already have can be edited and removed if you so wish, or you can delete the whole list.

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After you have entered a Profile, you should think of a Nickname. The Nickname can be max. 10 characters long. You can change the Nickname whenever you like. The Nickname is used to put a signature to your Screen Dumps.

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When you run the DRM-Log Plotter for the very first time there are no data files loaded. This is indicated by the two red fields above the "Update" command button. The programme needs two files:

• DreamLog.txt
• DreamLogLong.csv

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If there are more than one logfile, they will be sorted in time order, that means the latest logged transmission appears first in the window. Simply scroll down to get a previously logged transmission.

Click on the entry you want to plot. Depending on the size of the file, there will be a slight delay until the plot appears.

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If there is only one Site for this transmission, the Transmitter Site will be included in the Main Window under "TX Location". However, if there are several Sites using the same frequency you have to click in this window on the Transmitter Site. Otherwise the field "TX Location" will alert you to Select a TX Site. If the text in the Sites window reads "No Record", you can look for updates by clicking on the text "No Record" 1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet 2. Click "Yes" to update 3. If the update was successful, the TX Site will appear in the list 4. If the message "No Record" remains, the frequency was not yet uploaded. Please try at a later occasion

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A Grid will be present as default. You can de-select the plotting of a grid if you think it disturbs your eye. Doppler is plotted as default. Sometimes, when the reception is unstable, the Doppler plot may disturb the picture. If this is the case there are two options: You get a messy Doppler plot. It is possible to limit the maximum plot level by just clicking on the Doppler tags on the right. Valid tags are 0.25 Hz to 1.5 Hz. Restore by clicking on "0" in "Doppler" If the Doppler still is a mess, de-select this option to hide the trace completely. Delay is plotted as default. Sometimes, when the reception is unstable, the Delay plot may disturb the picture. If so, de-select this option. SNR is plotted as default. If you don't want to plot SNR, de-select this option. Audio is plotted as default. If you don't want to plot Audio, de-select this option.

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The Audio Plot is drawn as a smooth curve as default. If you select the "Rough" option, the plotter will show the Audio in more detail, but the overall impression is a bit messy.

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The thickness of the Audio line is drawn as a thin line as default. If you select the "Thick" option, the plotter will show the Audio a bit more clearly.

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If the logged transmission was unstable or had interrupts, the Doppler plot often looks messy with large swings like in the left picture. It is possible to de-select the Doppler plot, but it is also possble to limit the maximum of the Doppler curve. The maximum value can be chosen by clicking on the Doppler value, in this case 0.75 Hz in the right picture. Valid clicks are 0.25 Hz - 1.5 Hz. Press "0" in "Doppler" to restore the Doppler plot.

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The Zoom Function is practical to cut off the spill at the end of a log. Further, the Zoom Function is useful to zoom in to parts of interest. The more you zoom in, the more details will be plotted. You have the choice of writing the time either as " 12:25" or just " 1235" . The program will automatically adjust the format. Be sure to input 9h45m as "0945" with the "0" in front. You can only start with a digit 0, 1 or 2.

To Zoom In, press Enter, press the "Zoom" Command Button or ALT + Z.
To Restore, press the "Restore" Command Button or ALT + R.

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The Trim Tool is practical to cut off one minute at the beginning and the end of a log. Repeated clicks cut further one minute off at both ends.

To restore the log, select the log again in the "Select Log" List.

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To compare two logs, first activate this function by clicking on the Compare button. Then select another log to compare with.

The two plots are identified by their different colours. The Doppler and Delay checkboxes are automatically deactivated to avoid too much clutter when comparing two logs. It is possible to activate these functions manually if one so wishes.

By clicking in the field above the plotting area it is possible to toggle between the Main Log and Compared Log data. The data for the compared log is limited to Max. SNR and Decoded Audio. The Audio Plot can be suppressed by clicking on the words Audio, Main or Compare in the upper left corner of the plotting area. A warning will sound if the logs do not overlap.

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Dream must be logging if you want to use Auto Plot . First Update the Log Files. Then select the first log in the "Select Log" list. This activates the Auto Plot command button. In the Autoplot window you can set the following parameters: Select a Scroll Interval Select the Refresh Rate During a running log with Dream it is possible to follow the logging in DRM-Plot. The plot can be viewed from the start or in segments. You may select from the following options: Scroll from the Log Start Scroll 5 minutes Scroll 10 minutes Scroll 20 minutes Scroll 40 minutes Scroll 60 minutes The refresh Rate can be set to: 30 seconds 1 minute 2 minutes 4 minutes Select how you want to plot. Click OK. The caption of the Auto Plot command button changes to "Stop". To change the Auto Plot settings, click Stop, wait a second, then click Auto Plot again. The best refesh rate is one or two minutes. The larger the csv file gets, the longer it takes to prepare and perform the refresh. NOTE FOR WINDOWS VISTA USERS: When the DreamLogLong.csv file is less than about 2 MB, Windows Vista causes an error message "Dream is not logging" when pressing the command button "Autoplot". To be able to start Autoplot, a workaround has been included.

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If you want to would want to print a hard copy of the Plot on your local printer and save on ink or toner, you may want to change the Background Colour of the Plot Area to white instead of the default black.

In order to do so, just click once in the plot area and toggle between black and white backgrounds.

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To add a New Site you must fill in the Service Name, Transmitter Location and the Frequency before you can add the new Transmitter Site.

• Write a Service Name, i. e. "A new DRM Service"
• Write the Transmitter Site, i. e. "The Transmitter Site"
• Type the Frequency in kHz. Note: The frequency must be higher than 100 kHz

If you know the coordinates of the Transmitter Site, then

• Type the Latitude in Degrees and Minutes
• Type the Longitude Degrees and Minutes
• Change the fields "N" and "W" to "S" or "W" if necessary

The Command Button "Clear Fields" erases the contents in all the fields except for "N" and "E"

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To see the properties of a Transmitter Site:

1. The list of frequencies appear in the window when the window opens. Scroll down until you find the frequency you are looking for and click on it.

2. The corresponding TX site(s) will be shown in the field below. You must click on the site you want to see the properties for.

3. The data for the Transmitter Site will be listed in the fields to the left. If there are more DRM stations operating on one frequency, you would see a multiple choice in the lower field. The details will only show up if you click on the site that corresponds to the DRM station.

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If there is new frequency for this Transmitter Site, this option makes possible to simply open up the TX Site and add the new frequency. Click the Sites button. Select an existing Frequency and the Service Select the Site from the list that is shown below Write the new Frequency. Note: The frequency must be higher than 100 kHz Click the button Add Site Press OK to save or Cancel to exit

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To delete a site from the list, first perform the 3 steps in How to View Details of a Transmitter Site above.

Before the entry is removed, you can decide to proceed or cancel the operation.

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You can update your TX Sites file from the web by pressing the "Update" button. You will be prompted to proceed or quit. If you proceed, DRM-Plotter will download the latest TX Sites file from a web server, compare it to your local TX Sites file and add the entries it could not find on your computer. The entries you might have added yourself will be left as they are. No TX Sites will be deleted.

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The automatic recording of Signal Levels is not implemented, but if you take note of the Signal Levels during the logging period, you can enter those readings manually and present it in the log as dots or as a gray line with dots. A scale in dBµV appears in the main plotter window to the left. The scale spans from +80 dBµV (10 mV in 50 Ohm) to -10 dBµV (0.31 µV in 50 Ohm) at the bottom. Levels exceeding +80 dBµ will be diplayed as red dots at the +80 dBµV level. The same happens for levels below -10 dBµV, which will be displayed as blu dots on the 0 dBµV level. Red or blue dots indicate that the plot is actually outside the limits of the the plotting window. You can choose from writing the levels in dbµV dBm S-Meter readings

The 17 fields correspond to the Time Axis in the Plotting Field. When you note the S-Meter levels during the logging, you will find that one of the times in the "Plot Antenna Input Levels" will correspond to or be near the time of your notes. Please note that the plotted curve is always displayed as dBµV in the plotted area, even if you wrote dBm or S-Levels. Each plotted dot gets a label with the calculated dBµV to the right of the dot. Input Levels as dBµV Write the levels as numbers Positive values are written as "34" (without "+" in front) Negative values are written as "-6" (with "-" in front) The max. level within the plot area is: 80 dBµV The min. level within the plot area is: -10 dBµV Input Levels as -dBm Write the levels as numbers Normally values are written as "-54" (with "-" in front) Positive values are rather unlikely and will be outside the limits anyway. The max. level within the plot area is: -27 dBm The min. level within the plot area is: -117 dBm Input Levels as S-Meter readings Write the S-Meter values as numbers between 1 and 9 Valid entries above S9 is: +5 dB, +10 dB, +20 dB, +30 dB, +40 dB, +50 dB and +60 dB S Values above S9 must be written as "+30" (with "+" in front) Please do not try to enter "9+5". The program won't like it! The maximum S-Meter level within the plot area is: S9 +50 dB (+84 dBµV ) The minimum S-Meter level within the plot area is: S2 (-8 dBµV) Notes: You MUST add the RX Levels as the last step. Any zoom or restore operations will then place your input level values in the wrong position! It is not necessary to fill in all the 17 fields. The S-Meter levels written to the list will remain until you erase them manually with the button "Erase Levels". That means, the values were not lost in case you accidentally looked at another log in the meantime. Any changes, like deleting Doppler or applying zoom will hide your levels! Then go to "S-Levels" and click on the "Plot" Button to show the comments. The plotted curve is always displayed as dBµV, even if you wrote dBm or S-Levels.

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It is possible to add up to 6 comments to the log. The text will always be placed above the SNR curve. The comments will appear at the time you enter in the "Time" field. The comment may be up to 32 characters long. First write the time, then write the comment. The text will appear in the plot as soon as you write. When you write a comment towards the end of the log, note that the text will automatically stop at the end of the plot. Long notes may collide with each other. A 7:th comment up to 90 characters long can be added to the plot. The time stamp for this comment is hidden. If you are not satisfied how the comments look, you can either clear them one by one with the button on the right to the text field, or you can erase all with the button "Clear All" Important: The Comments written to the list will remain until you erase them manually with the button "Clear All". That means, the Comments were not lost in case you accidentally looked at another log in the meantime. Applying "Zoom" or "Restore" will automatically bring your text to the correct position.

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Logfiles can be saved under a file name. The logs can be saved either as the complete log from beginning to end, or you could save a zoomed part of the log. The saved files are saved in the directory "C:\drmplot\logfiles\" To save a log, press the command button "Save Log" (or press ALT + V). Before the log is saved you will be asked whether you want to save this log or not.

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To load a logfile, press the command button "Load Log" (or press Alt+L). If a logfile already was loaded, you will be warned that this log will be overwritten. Navigate to the drmplot directory and double-click on the directory " Logfiles". Select a log and doubleclick on the file name or press the command button "Open". The selected log opens in the DRM-Plotter Main Window.

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	You can save the log as a Screen Shot. The format of the screen dump is a PNG File (*.png). To make a Screen Shot of the Log, press the command button "Screenshot" (or press ). The Screen Shot will be saved in the C:\DRMPlot\screenshots
	Before the Screen Shot is saved you may cancel the operation. Note: The PNG files are about 35 kb. Be sure to download freeimage.dll to your C:\DRMPlot\ directory.

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	Click on the text SYNC, FAC, MSC to open the Bit Error Log
	Click in the frame to see a detailed list of all errors
	A complete list of errors including the time they occurred

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Under Summing Up you get: All data from the log plot in plain text Note: Azimuth is NOT implemented in V3.4LE

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You may log up to 300 entries in one DreamLog.txt file, but the DreamLogLong.csv will grow very large. Therefore, when the number of logs exceed 280 you will see the following warning message:

This message warns you that your files are growing too large. You can press "OK" and go on with your session, but after you finish working with DRM-Plotter you should look for the DreamLog.txt and the DreamLogLong.csv in the Directory where Dream puts these files and rename them.

A simple renaming to "DreamLogA.txt" and "DreamLogLongA.csv" lets you select them with the "Update" command button.
When you start Dream, new DreamLog.txt and DreamLogLong.csv are automatically created.

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Use this Button to get to the DRM Forum in www.

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ALT + A	About this software
ALT + B	Opens the Set-up (drmplot.ini) (V5.60 or higher)
ALT + C	Capture the screen as a Screenshot
ALT + D	Toggles the Doppler on / off
ALT + E	Opens the Signal Level screen
ALT + F	Opens the DRM Forum Home Page
ALT + G	Selects the TX Site
ALT + H	Plot Rough (and the Help button)
ALT + I	Plot Audio as a Thin line
ALT + J	Erase the Dream Mode Change Screendump files (V3.47 or higher)
ALT + K	Plot Audio as a Thick line
ALT + L	Get a saved Log
ALT + M	Opens the Summary Screen
ALT + N	Plot or hide the SNR
ALT + O	Plot or hide the Audio
ALT + P	Opens the Receiver Profiles screen
ALT + Q
ALT + R	Restores the screen Full Plot after a Zoom
ALT + S	Opens the TX Sites screen
ALT + T	Plots Smooth Audio
ALT + U	Opens the Update Data files window
ALT + V	Saves the current log to a log file
ALT + W	Shows the Logs
ALT + X	Opens the Input Text window
ALT + Y	Toggles the Delay on / off
ALT + Z	Performs a Zoom

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It is recommended: ... not to log more than 280 transmissions in one single CSV file. ... not to log more than 24 hours for one transmission. ... not to let the CSV file be larger than 100 MB. (Larger files may, depending on your computer's CPU speed, cause problems with Auto-Plot). It is not possible: ... to run more than ONE DRM-Plot on your computer. In DRM-Log Plotter V 3.2 (Build 944.2) and higher, an alert makes this impossible. Lower versions will cause (harmless) data loss. ... to enter TX Sites with a frequency lower than 100 kHz.

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DRM-Log Plotter shows:

• Decoded Audio, absolute or relative
• SNR
• Doppler
• Delay
• Decoded Audio
• SNR from a second log when using the "Compare" function

• Maximum, minimum and average SNR
• Maximum, minimum and average Delay
• Maximum, minimum and average Doppler
• Decoded Audio in percent
• Distance to the Transmitter in kilometers
• The runtime of each log

Other DRM-Log Plotter features:

• A choice of a smooth Audio Plot or a Rough Audio Plot
• A zoom function lets you study segments of the log in detail
• Shows a list of DRM Modes used during the transmission and the time of Mode change
• Select the transmitter site for a given frequency
• Shows the Bandwidth and the Bit Rate at the time of the log start

Under Profiles you can:

• Enter a Nickname for the Screen Dumps
• Write up to 99 different receiver and antenna configurations
• Edit a configuration entry
• Remove a configuration
• Delete the whole list of configurations

DRM Transmitter Sites:

Under DRM Transmitter Sites you can:

• List the frequencies in the data base
• Select a site or sites for a frequency
• Look up the coordinates for this site
• Add a custom site to the data base
• Delete a no longer used site from the data base
• Update the latest available TX Sites Data from the Web

Summing up Under Summing Up you get:

• All data from the log plot in plain text

Additional features:

• Save a log with Label and Site information
• Save a zoomed part of a log with Label and Site information
• Look up a saved log from your saved logs
• Save a Screen Dump of the log, which saves the form as a Bitmap File

  Download the newest version of DRM-Plot

Feel free to download the programme, the Transmitter Sites data and the readme file (drmlogplotter.zip) for Windows.
The software is supplied as is and Omnirep GmbH and IBIS (Consultants) will not be held responsible for any loss of data or any other problems that might occur from using this software.
The current version of DRM-Log Plotter is V 3.4LE (Build 951) Rev. 43 (?).
Comments and suggestions are welcome. The e-mail address is included in the Readme File.

DRM-Log Plotter V 3.4LE is known to have been been tested with the following versions of Dream:
1.6.1cvs
1.7.9cvs
1.10.3cvs
1.10.4cvs

DRM-Log Plotter has been tested on the following platforms:
Windows 2000 SP4
Windows XP
Windows Vista Home Edition

Another version of DRM-Plotter, V 1.10.31 (Build 102 Special Edition) from 24th October 2007 with an automatic RX Level plotter is available upon request.

This HELP File was amended on 17th August 2009.

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