[WT-support] Recorder files naming

[Bob Wilson, N6TV]

On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 1:44 PM, Tõnno Vähk <Tonno.Vahk at gafm.ee> wrote:

>   I was trying to figure out what is the system of naming the MP3 files by
> Recorder and how to assign a recording to a STN. There is no info on that
> anywhere as much as I see.
>
The station name (e.g. "STN1", or "Shack") is recorded in the header of the
MP3 file itself.  If you open filename.WT4, Win-Test looks at
filename-000.MP3, filename-001.MP3, etc..  *Contest *name (not file name)
and year are also recorded in the MP3 header, and everything must match or
Win-Test use it (mode, year, station name).

I wrote a program to dump the contents of the MP3 header.  Here is what I
found:

mp3File        = sprt1002-000.mp3
ID3size        = 48145
Callsign       = N6TV
Contest & File = NA Sprint CW 000
Station        = Shack
Year           = 2010
Publisher      = http://www.win-test.com
Owner          = id3v2-timesync at win-test.com
PRIV data size = 48028
                 Layer: Layer III
                 ID3v2: True
                 Frequency Sampling Rate: 32000
                 Channel Mode: Joint Stereo
                 Copyright: True
                 VersionID: MPEG Version 1
                 Emphasis: None
                 Bitrate: 96
                 Original: True
1265500168 2010-02-06 23:49:28 02
1265500468 2010-02-06 23:54:28 3593465
...

The last two lines represent a timestamp (Unix time) and an offset within
the MP3 file; it is recorded by Win-Test every 5 minutes.  Without this
header info., Win-Test won't use the MP3 file.

> Can someone explain the system of the names. What are the obligatory parts
> of the MP3 file name? How does WT link a certain file to a certain station?
>
Station name is recorded in every QSO of the .WT4 file, and also the header
(once) of the .MP3 file.  The suffix -001.mp3, -002.mp3, etc. is added to
contest file name form the name of the .MP3 file.

> I need this when I use separate computer for recording and want to assign
> to the MP3 file to QSOs of a particular station later.
>
You cannot merge the recordings from two different stations into a single
.MP3 file.  But Win-Test records station name on every QSO (in the .WT4
file), so it can find which MP3 file (-000, -001, -002 etc.) recorded that
QSO.

>  With my testing I found that in order for WT to accept existence of a
> recording the minimum name is – 1_000.MP3. Can’t leave out any of the zeros
> or “_” and first sign has to be number! What does this mean?
>
It means the the files are created in sequence, -000.mp3, -001.mp3, etc., or
if you only have one .mp3 per station you can rename them -002.mp3, -003.mp3
etc. and Win-Test will open them.

For example if STN1 created cqww09-001.mp3 and STN2 also created a different
file with the same name, and both computers were networked so the log has
QSOs from both stations, just rename cqww09-001.mp3 to cqww09-002.mp3 and
copy it to the other computer, and locate it in the same directory.

> And secondly – the log file has to be named then 1_.wt4 (whatever is before
> 000!), otherwise the sound file will be recognized and played but as soon as
> you try to rewind or forward WT crashes.
>
If you can you make Win-Test crash without renaming any files, please
describe step by step how to do it, and open a bug report at
http://bugs.win-test.com.

>  I had recordings on two stations and both are located in the same log
> directory and if I name log file 1_.wt4, STN1 recording 1_000.MP3 and STN 2
> recording 2_000.MP3 then I can nicely play from one log both files
> respectively to which station had the QSO and I can rewind and forward.
>
You could use more reasonable names like cqww09cw.wt4, cqww09cw-001.mp3,
cqww09cw-002.mp3.

>  When I change the names of recordings or log file, WT recognizes still
> files (but crashes at rewind or forward attempt). And even if I swap the
> names it sill knows which recording is for STN1 and STN2 – how does he know
> that??? In other words – can I take any MP3 file and assign it as recording
> of one station or not?
>
No, because the station name is recorded in the MP3 file header, *once*.
Make the first part of the file name the same, and let the suffix be -001,
-002 (not an underscore, but a dash).  Win-Test should use the correct .MP3
file to play back each QSO.  But it is understandable that rewinding may not
work if it has to jump back and forth between .MP3 files recorded on two
computers when QSOs at a multi are interleaved in the log.  So it's safer to
jump to the QSO rather than to rewind and fast forward when you have two
.MP3 files to play back from one log.

73,
Bob, N6TV
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