eHam.net FAQ
Below are some of the frequently asked questions we
receive about the eHam.net site. If your question is not answered below,
please email the webmaster at the address at the very bottom of the page.
Last update: 22-APR-2007
My eHam
DX Spots
Classifieds
Product Reviews
Using the Forums and other Features
Banner Ads
Using eHam material on other sites
Other issues
The DX spots page doesn't seem to be working/updating properly. What could be wrong?
Are you a paying subscriber?
Much of the functionality for the DX spots page has been reserved for our paying subscribers.
This was necessitated by the sheer amount of bandwidth that the spots pages consume. In
approx August 2002, after much consideration, we decided to insist that users would have
to be paying subscribers in order to access the full-featured DX spots page
(with filtering and auto-reload). For unpaid users, the filter area appears grayed-out; to
paid members it appears fully functional.
To become a paying subscriber of eHam, click the "Support the site"
link in the left menu area.
If you are unsure if you are actually subscribed, be sure to be logged in, then look in the dark
highlight bar across the top of all the eHam pages for "Subscribed since..."
Have you made some changes to the filter settings?
If you are subscribed, and are still having trouble, most likely your settings in the filter area
are causing the appearance of reduced or no updates. Be sure there is nothing in the "callsign"
field - this is a filter callsign, not your callsign. Clear all the fields
with a "reset".
When finished modifying the filter parameters, be sure to click the "update" button - do not use
your "ENTER" key.
The network is having problems
Last but not least, it's possible that one or more of the sites feeding us spots, or our system
has had difficulty. Feel free to make us aware by contacting the site at the contact email
address at the bottom of every page.
How do I filter DX spots?
First, realize that the "Filter Callsign" field is generally
NOT for your callsign. It is there to allow you to filter
the spots for specific callsigns. You can enter your own callsign there,
however, that will have the effect of filtering out all spots except
those with your callsign.
Generally, users enter a specific call, such as K5K, in the
"Filter Callsign" field of the Customize area, then click "Update". Only exact
matches will be found (K5K only).
To view
a broader range of callsigns, such as all N2M* stations, use the
multiple character symbol, % (percent sign) in the following
format: N2M%
This would get hits on calls like N2MG, N2MM, N2MFZ, etc.
To filter on a single character, use the _ (underscore) symbol in this format:
N2M_
This would find calls like N2MG, N2MM, but not N2MFZ.
You can use multiple symbols as in N%M% or N%M_. Try it out.
Why is the DX spots format so ugly?
The information presented on the eHam.net DX spots page is done so in a standard
format that has existed for many years. Some background information might help...
On a spotting network, the spots might appear in real-time like
this:
DX de N2MG: 28430.0 HC8N CQ 2114Z
and if you ran the SH/DX command, it might appear like this:
28430.0 HC8N 27-Feb-2004 2114Z CQ <N2MG>
So you can see on the regular spotting networks, the format changes a
bit between spots in real-time and spots shown via the "SHOW" command.
In real-time, the date is somewhat superfluous - not so when showing
historical information.
The same spot on eHam always looks like this:
N2MG 28430.0 HC8N CQ 02/27 2114
The first column is the station doing the spotting (the spotter), the next
is the frequency (in kilohertz), followed by the station being spotted
(the spottee). Next are the comments, then the date and time.
How do I delete, edit or mark sold my Classified ad?
When you placed your Classified ad, you were emailed instructions for
editing it; you kept that, didn't you? If not...
First be sure you are logged in. Then find your ad. (see just below if needed)
Click the "subject" of the specific ad to get its complete listing and
near the bottom center of the ad will be a link for editing. If you wish
to remove the ad, you can change the "status" to sold/remove.
Finding your ads
Go to the Classifieds main page (click the
Classifieds link in the left menu area).
Then search for your ad using the "Search" link at the top and your
callsign as the search criteria. You should then be served a list of your ads.
What's with the old ads; don't they ever expire?
When we set up the classifieds we thought we'd do something differently from
other online swap pages. We decided that leaving the old ads up on the site as
a reference and allowing users to mark them "sold" was better than automatically
deleting old ads after some arbitrary time (like 90 days). This way, our
visitors could browse older ads, looking at prices, descriptions, etc. We felt
our visitors would easily realize the obvious fact that old ads were indeed, "old".
We have received numerous "thank you" notes for this unique feature. However,
like most things, there are trade-offs. Visitors to the site need to realize that
months-old or year-old ads are indeed stale and not expect them to still be valid.
Why did I have a Product Review deleted or edited?
Our Product Reviews manager takes care of maintaining the integrity of the reviews.
Our Product reviews rules are described in
detail on the far right of main reviews page.
The most common violation is when users drift off the topic of reviewing
the product and instead start talking about the manufacturer or its
customer service.
I have a radio-related question. How do I post to the Forums?
If you have a ham radio-related question, feel free to post it to one of our Forums.
First, be sure you are logged in, then click Forums in our left
menu area, then choose a forum (say Elmers, or
Towertalk) and then look for the
"Create a new topic in..." link near the top.
How do I edit my post in the Forums?
We believe that threads on eHam.net should be like discussions in real
life - one can't change what one has already said, only attempt to clarify by
saying more. Deleting or modifying words already posted would interrupt the
natural sense of the thread. So there is no way for users to delete or edit
comments already posted; one can only make another post and
attempt to clarify what's been said.
In other words, you should think twice before you click that 'Submit'
button because once you click it, you won't be able to Undo it.
eHam.net, however, reserves the right to summarily, without warning or
notice, delete any posts we deem inappropriate.
How do I edit text from a preview page?
I entered a comment into Speakout/Articles/Strays/Forums and I clicked "Preview".
Now I see an error - how do I edit it?
Normally, this is a common web operation - and one would simply click the "Back"
button in one's browser and be taken back to the previous page. However, often (depends
on the OS, browser, settings) when one does this with a form, the text disappears (can
anything be more frustrating?). We recommend a cut-and-paste operation: save the text
first, then do the browser "back" operation, then paste the text back in and edit.
I submitted an item (Article, Spotlight, Shacks
or Strays) and I received an email confirming this and yet it's not appearing
on the home page. Where's my submission?
The email acknowledges that we have received your item. Although many of our
features allow "instant gratification", some require manager approval before
items appear on the web site. Many
submitted items must be edited before they can be published. It will take time
to edit, categorize, and publish them. Should there be any question about the
originality of the material, research may be mandatory and permission to use the
material obtained prior to publishing. Some items may be inappropriate for
publishing on eHam.net or may be similar to another item. Also note that some
items (e.g., Spotlight) appear on the homepage in a random fashion and there is
no way to predict when your entry will be displayed. Please be patient.
How do I print an article?
Here's what seems to work using MSWord 2002 and IE6.
(Different word processors, browsers or versions will work differently, but newer one should behave similarly.)
1)Select the entire article
Move the mouse cursor to the exact start of the
article (just to the left of the first letter) and
click the left mouse button (you won't see anything
happen). Then scroll the page down using the wheel
mouse or the scroll bars until you get to the end of
the article (above hte comments). Then press the SHIFT
key, hold it down and move the mouse cursor to the
exact end of the article and click the left mouse
button. This should highlight the entire article.
Then copy it to the Windows "clipboard" (press CTRL-C,
or right click the mouse and choose "copy")
2)Paste (copy) into MSWord
Open MS Word to a new document. Paste (using your
favorite method - CTRL-V or "Paste" from the edit menu
or right-click the mouse and choose paste). This will
paste the entire article into Word
3)Resize the page (optional usually)
In Word, choose "File" then "Page setup" and look at
the margin settings - you may want to change it to
have 0.5" on left and right margins. This is up to
you.
4)Resize any large diagrams
On any diagram that seems too large, either a) Left
click your mouse on the drawing and grab the drawing's
"border" to resize, or 2) right-click the drawing and
choose "Format picture", then choose "Size" from the
tabs and change the size.
5)Save the file
Some of those banner ads are really annoying. What can I do?
We at eHam.net actively pursue only radio-related ads. These
currently do not generate enough revenue to "balance the books", so we are also
asking for your support.
If you find flashing ads truly bothersome, try hitting the "escape"
key after the page has finished loading. This will stop all current
animations. For a more "permanent" fix, in IE5/IE6, for example, go to:
Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
then scroll down to the "Multimedia" section and un-check the item, "Play
Animations". If you have multiple browsers open, you may have to close them
down and restart for this to work.
For Netscape4, there seems to be no way to permanently prevent animations. One
can click on menu item "View" then on "Stop Animations", but this acts like
the "escape" key.
Why am I nagged to install Flash player?
eHam.net, like many other sites on the the Internet, uses flash, mostly
for animated advertisements. If you do not have the flash player
installed and your browser encounters an animation that requires flash,
it will generally ask you to install it. Some browsers (e.g.,
Firefox) and IE6 on
WinXP handle the missing player elegantly (perhaps only asking you once if
you wish to download) - others (e.g., Internet Explorer running on Win2K,
and Win98) are quite rude: they nag you to download the player every time
another flash animation is encountered - sometimes several times per page.
Workaround to squelch the "nag"
Look for (or create if needed) a file called "hosts" (no extension). In Win98
it's located in C:\WINDOWS; in Win2K it's in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
It's likely to have
127.0.0.1 localhost
as an entry.
Add this line to the file (on its own, new line):
0.0.0.0 download.macromedia.com activex.microsoft.com active.macromedia.com
After saving the file, close all browser windows and open a new browser. If you still have trouble, reboot.
That should do it.
I've heard that the Adobe Flash player was spyware. Is this true?
In a word, no. Please see Adobe's website for their Privacy Policy FAQ:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/security/privacy_policy/faq.html
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/security/privacy_policy/faq.html#item-2-1
I'd like to reprint some of the information on eHam.net. I may use it
in my club newsletter or my web page. What's your policy?
On your website
All material found on eHam.net may be linked to from your site without any
special permission required. You may not, however, copy the material itself on
to your site. Don't worry; the links won't change.
In your newsletter
If you wish to reprint in a written format (such as in your club newsletter) you
may do so if you receive permission from us.
I love your site and want to include a link to it on my own website. Is this allowed?
Non-commercial users may create a textual link to any page and/or use our logo on their website. Spread the word!
Commercial customers wishing to place links or advertise on eHam.net should visit
our advertising info page.
Many of eHam.net pages, especially the homepage, are dynamic pages, changing
each time they are viewed. After clicking on an item and seeing it, I want to go back
to the original page - but it has changed and I can no longer find something I wanted
to read. What can I do?
There is a standard browser operation using the "right-click" features of your
mouse that will "solve" your dilemma.
After the page fully loads, select the link you want by RIGHT-clicking on it. In
the pop-up menu, LEFT-click on "Open in New Window". This will cause the new page to
open in a new instance of the browser, leaving the original browser with the original
page. After reading the new page, close the new window - your original browser
window is still there with the original page. For a Mac, use the "Options" (Apple)
key when clicking.
Note: This trick is a powerful tool for web browsing. Try it the next time you
run a search (e.g., Google, Yahoo).
Does eHam.net cost me anything to use?
The site is completely run by volunteers. We do have bills to pay, of course,
and work hard to pay them with revenue from our advertisers. Still, nearly
everything about the eHam.net site is free to our users. Only the
Classifieds and the bandwidth-hungry
DX spots page requires one to be a paid
member to fully utilize. We do, however, ask all our members to pay what they
can to help support the site.
Why do I see black areas on some of the pages?
If you are using Netscape, it could be because you do not have support for
style sheets turned on. You can enable them by going to Edit, Preferences,
Advanced, and checking the box "Enable Style Sheets". The default setting is
to have style sheets enabled. There is no danger to using style sheets and you
will find that they will dramatically improve your web browsing experience! If
you insist on no style sheets, then your only choice is to manually select a
specific text color (see Edit, Preferences, Appearance, Colors). Pick a color
that would show up on both a black and a white background, e.g., light blue or
light green.
If you are using an older browser (version 3.0 or below) or WebTV, these
browsers do not support style sheets. We encourage you to upgrade to a newer
version if possible while we look for a solution.
Sometimes I see what appear to be old, outdated pages. What causes this?
The earlier versions of eHam.net used to allow your browser
to "cache" pages. This resulted in a "stale pages" problem that some of our
users have found. We spent a lot of time fixing this, but unfortunately the
old pages in your browser are still there, cached.
In order to get rid of these old pages, please do the following:
For Internet Explorer, go to Tools, select Internet Options, and click "Delete Files"
under "Temporary Internet Files". Alternatively, for Netscape, go to Edit, choose Preferences, then Advanced, then Cache, and clear the cache(s). We don't expect that you'll ever have to
clear your temporary files again, as we now specifically prevent the browser
from storing old pages.
Why do the pages load so slowly?
Please read the instructions immediately above for getting rid of
outdated pages. Sometimes older, cached pages cause loading to stall.
This seems especially true with Netscape.
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