Greetings,

I have new beta releases of WinQuake and SDR ready for people too try out.
You can download the new release of WinQuake here
http://www.seismicnet.com/software.html and SDR here
http://www.seismicnet.com/sdrdocs/sdr.htm. The main purpose of these
releases is support the new PSN Type 4 format. See
http://www.seismicnet.com/psnformat4.html for information on the new format.
The zip files have readme.txt files on how to upgrade to the new versions.

Please download the current WinQuake file. I just fixed a bug in the beta
release available for a few days on my web site. You should run beta release
2 with a release date of 02/02/2001.

As far as documentation what follows is all I have at this point, sorry
about that....

This is what's new with SDR version 3.0, my data logging software;

SDR now outputs event files in the new PSN Type 4 format. Do to limited room
to add new code this release only outputs the new format. The channel
settings screen has a few new fields that station operator should fill in.
Please use the PSN Type 4 format web page as a reference when filling in the
new fields.

The main new fields that should be filled in, if known, are the sensor
elevation, output type (acceleration, velocity or displacement), sensitivity
and description. If the sensor output is acceleration then sensitivity is in
cm/sec/sec per bit, if the output is velocity them it's cm/sec per bit and
if the output is displacement then it's in cm per bit. The description field
should be a short string describing the sensor. This should include the make
and model # if the unit is made by a company. Also new is the sensor
location field is no longer limited to 15 characters. Please keep all text
fields as short as possible.

Besides the reading and writing of the new PSN format, WinQuake has a few
new features. They are:

From the DOS command line prompt, or some other process like a batch file
WinQuake can generate a GIF image file of an event file and then exit.
Here's the format:

winqk32 /g input_filename output_filename

The output_filename is optional. If it's omitted then the output file will
be the input_filename with .gif appended to the name. You can also just
supply a directory and the output file will be placed in the specified
directory.

Each of the main windows now has a floating menu with common used menu
items. Use the mouse's right button to bring up the menu.

The Event Report process has a new feature. The user can now access a
historical database located on a server at binghamton.edu. This database
goes back a few years and is the one Alan Jones developed for his SeisVol
program. When I get some time I will be creating my own database server that
will go back further in time and use the historical data provided by Council
of the National Seismic System (CNSS).

There is two ways of using the data from historical database server. First
go to the Event Report dialog box and then select the Load Network Report
button. In the Network Service list select the
"data@........................... (Historical Data)" item. If you are
viewing an event file and select the Connect button, WQ will use the start
time of the event file and download all events near that time.

You can also search for an event by selecting the Historical button in the
Network Event Report dialog box This will bring up a new dialog box. After
entering the start, end and magnitude limit press the Ok button. If the
server is up and running you should get back a list of all events within the
time and magnitude specified. The binghamton.edu server gets its info from
dmc.iris.washington.edu.

Here are some new things in the Event Display Window:

FFT Windowing. If this option is selected the data will be windowed before
the FFT is performed. If you are going to filter the data in the FFT window
make sure this option is turned off. This option is turned off and on under
the Calculate / FFT / Window FFT menu items.

Data can be filter in the time domain using a IIR (Infinite Impulse
Response) filter. This removes the need to do an FFT to filter the data set.
Use the Calculate / Time Domain Filtering menu items or the "F" tool bar
button.

The Ml magnitude calculation now uses hypocenter instead of epicenter
distance.

Operations on the data like integrating and filter the data are now saved as
a string in the event file, if the file is saved in the Type 4 format. You
can view what the list using the Display/Modify / Data Operations menu
items.

You can undo filtering and integration operations. Use the View / Undo or
Undo Integrate menu items.

In the Save File dialog box, and if the Save Format is set to "PSN Type 4",
you can have WQ save the data in different formats. The data set can be
saved as a 16 bit integer,  32 integer, float (4 bytes) or as a double (8
bytes). If you have the Auto button selected, WQ will choose the best format
for you.

The PSN Text file format that WQ can save and read has been changed to
reflect the new fields in the binary Type 4 format.

What's not complete yet is the Y scale display. Even if the sensor output
type and sensitivity are known, WQ displays the scale in A/D counts. The
mouse location is displayed in the status bar in actual units based on the
sensitivity and the Y location of the mouse pointer.

Not much has changed in the FFT window except the right button floating
menu. Again, remember to turn off the FFT windowing if you are going to data
filtering.

The Map Window as one new feature. As you move the mouse around on the map,
WQ will do a region name lookup based on the latitude and longitude of the
mouse pointer. The region name is displayed in the status bar. The region
name display can be turned on or off using the Options / Region Display menu
items.

There is a new file called sensor.dat that comes with the beta release. This
file is used to fill in information about a sensor not present in the PSN
Type 3 event file. Information that this file supplies includes the
elevation, sensitivity, description etc of the sensor. The sensor.dat file
as a short description of each field. You can use any text editor to view
and modify the file. WQ uses this file when viewing a PSN Type 3 file. If
the station ID (the file extension) matches one in the sensor.dat file WQ
will read in the additional information.

That's it for now. Please report any problems you encounter. My event file
archive system should be ready to except the new format so station
operations can send in PSN Type 4 event files.

-Larry Cochrane
Redwood City, PSN


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