WB0TAQ Home Page

Dave Allen
5487 Caroline Village Rd
Woodford VA 22580

Hi. Welcome to my ham radio web page.
My main activity is with NTS (National Traffic System), handling messages across the country.
My favorite mode is CW. 73 from WB0TAQ
callwin
I have written a little callsign lookup program. It uses a small database that is right on your hard disk (or cd) so it's real fast and you don't have to be online to use it. I will provide weekly updates for your database, so you will only have to download the full database once.
It will look up callsigns, or search by Name, City, State, or Zip.
callwin is for Windows. Dos and Linux versions are also available.
For more information see the callwin help file

Changes 2/13/2018
The Canadian data download was changed to an https site, requiring OpenSSL (2 new dlls). autoupdt.exe rev 012 is able to update the Canadian database from the https site. Unfortunately the new dlls are now required for autoupdt.exe even if only used for US. But they are included in the callwin-all.zip and callwinplus.zip files.

Changes 3/20/2016
The US ham database has outgrown the max size i gave it 14 years ago. Progress, i suppose. To handle the larger number of hams, callwin+.exe and autoupdt.exe had to change. Thus you need to download the new versions. They can be found in callwinplus.zip or callwin-all.zip

Changes 7/12/2011
autoupdt.exe replaces autoupdate.exe and autoupdate+.exe
- renamed for win7/vista so the UAC doesn't ask you for permission to update your database
- it also works with or without zlib1.dll
- added help file
- You may continue to use autoupdate and autoupdate+
callwin/callwin+ has a new help file since win7 and vista no longer support the old help file
- and it was embarrasingly out of date

Full Database
For a new installation, create a folder on your hard disk, eg C:\callwin
Then download callwin-all.zip and unzip it into that folder.
This file contains a recent complete database and the tools you will need to use and update it (see below).
I suggest you create a shortcut to callwin.exe on your desktop. Click on the shortcut or 'callwin.exe' and you're off and running.
Note: You only have to download the full database once. After that, just use autoupdt.exe to do the weekly updates. They are much smaller files, so the download time is minimal.
Feel free to distribute it for as much as it cost you (ie, nothing).
Put it on CD for those who don't have web access, etc.
Or if you ask real nice, I will send you a CD.

Downloads
call.zip the US database (call.db) for 11/24/2024
callwin-all.zip Complete install file (24Mb) contains 11/3/2024 database, and programs:
callwin.exe US Callsign lookups
callwin+.exe US and Canadian Callsign lookups
callwin.hlp help file for callwin.exe
autoupdt.exe updates callwin databases on your drive (US and Canada)
autoupdt-help.html help file for autoupdt.exe
zlib1.dll required for updating Canadian calls
libcrypto-1_1.dll required for autoupdt 012
libssl-1_1.dll required for autoupdt 012
vcruntime140.dll required for autoupdt 012 (if not already on your computer)
callwinplus.zip Contains all the exe files above, but not the database (1.2Mb)
cancall.zip Canadian database from 11/24/2024 for use with callwin+.exe
cancall.db uncompressed Canadian database

Updating your database
The autoupdt.exe program will grab the updates you need and install them -- all with one click of the mouse. You do need to be connected to the internet - or download the update files ahead of time.
The autoupdt.exe can also update the Canadian data, but requires the the 3 dlls shown above
If you would like to receive a weekly update file via email, email me.
The latest database is 11/24/2024. The newest update file will be on the top row, right side.
A new autoupdt.exe (rev 012) now updates the Canadian database.
Download callwinplus.zip or callwin-all.zip to get it and the new dlls needed.
The raw Canadian data was moved to an https site which required help from OpenSSL.
October 2024 1027to1103.db 1103to1110.db 1110to1117.db 1117to1124.db
October 2024 0929to1006.db 1006to1013.db 1013to1020.db 1020to1027.db
September 2024 0825to0901.db 0901to0908.db 0908to0915.db 0915to0922.db 0922to0929.db
August 2024 0728to0804.db 0804to0811.db 0811to0818.db 0818to0825.db

    To update your database:
    The autoupdt program (see help file) will download any needed updates and update your database.
    If you have a computer that is not connected to the internet, you can run autoupdt on a computer that is connected and use the "sneakernet" feature of autoupdt to copy the files.
    But if you need to download the update files manually:
  • Run callwin and note the database date, eg 20051002. The format is yyyymmdd.
    Note: The newer version of callwin shows the date as mm/dd/yyyy.
  • The update files are named for the dates they update
  • Eg, MMDDtoMMDD.db
  • Each update file updates one week
  • Begin with the update file that begins with the MMDD (month-day) of your database
  • Download all the files from the first one to the most recent.
  • Put them in the same folder as your call.db file
  • Run autoupdt.exe. It will update up to 8 weeks at a time.
  • If you are more than 8 weeks behind, just run it again until you are up to date.
E-mail: wb0taq@reyware.us