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WHAT's NEW ?
CHECK OUT THE W7ECA FORUMS &
DISCUSSIONS !
The Great Falls
Area Amateur Radio Club has developed a new resource for exchanging
information, ideas, comments.
There are sections pertaining to many
different aspects of Amateur Radio as well as "FOR SALE / TRADE /
WANTED" section.
It is open to EVERYONE interested in Amateur Radio,
regardless of club affiliation or license status. We have extended
an
invitation to other Montana Ham Radio clubs to use this space to
develop their own local club's separate forum section.
Like
most other sites of the same nature, you DO need to register to be
able to post comments, but registration is as simple
as entering
your name and selecting a password.
Click Here, to
visit W7ECA's "MONTANA HAM FORUM".
WEBSITE UPDATE: (Fall 2009)
Sometime in November, this website will be moved
lock, stock, and links to it's new webhosting provider.
The move is
being made to consolodate our domains W7ECA dot ORG, and W7ECA dot
NET. This will make for easier
updates to the website, and the
forums, as well as reduce the paperwork involved with billing
etc.
To the
casual web surfer, this change should be totally transparent.
However, there may be a few small problems arise, and we
will address as we find them. Be patient as we transistion to our
new digs, the end result will be worth
it.
The new startup page (www.w7eca.org) now
presents the visitor with a choice to enter the main website, or visit the forums and
discussions website. Also included on that same page is a brief
welcome message with
links to the
Great Falls area and Montana in general.
As always, if you
encounter problems, please let me know via E-Mail.
Thanks
CAM
Website Problems ?
One Problem I've heard a lot about is some of the features on the website do not work (but only for some people): (like the local weather window, certain menus, etc.) Today, computers come pre loaded with popup blockers, firewalls, and a host of other applications that block the computer from accessing web based content without the user's knowledge. Added to that, many Internet service providers (ISPs) also limit the content presented to their customers. While these can be (and ARE) a good thing where harmful content is involved, it also can seriously limit the useful information presented by this, and many other useful web sites. If you are not receiving some of the content you think you should, first check the firewall, popup blocker, and other Internet security settings on your local computer. If you are still experiencing difficulty, perhaps adjustment of your ISP's user settings may be necessary. Your ISP can assist you with both of these issues. .
"Features are missing" Another problem seems to be with JAVA applets (applications) that cause problems due to some web browser settings. This site, and many others routinely use JAVA to enhance the web browsing experience. Your browser should be set to accept and use JAVA applets. Other settings within your browser, security and options menus can limit the extent of "access" JAVA has on your computer, helping to protect against harmful content, so you should not have to worry.
"Pages are not updated" seems to be another frequent complaint.. I'll have to confess that sometimes this IS the fault of your web master. However, sometimes, to make the computer or the Internet connection "appear" to work faster, computers often "store" web pages in memory. When you visit the website again, the page is loaded from your computer's memory, rather than actually going out on the Internet and retrieving the page. Make sure your browser is set to "check for new version every time a page loads"
"Forms / Newsletters don't print" Reports of the computer "doing nothing" after clicking on a feature to print out the Newsletter or various forms has been reported to me. Another problem I've heard about is the newsletter or other content doesn't appear to load. All checks seem to indicate all is well on the file server. Both of these problems may be due to what goes on after you click on one of these options. After you click on this feature, the website must first check to see if your computer has a program that will properly load and display a PDF file. Next, your computer must load your PDF reader program, and then "request (download) the PDF file's content from the website. A number of factors may slow down this process: 1.) your computer's speed, 2.) the number of other applications your computer is running at the moment, and 3.) your Internet connection speed. If you don't HAVE a PDF reader installed on your computer, you may experience "NOTHING HAPPENING", as there is no reader program to load the required files. Install a PDF reader (a free download) available from many sources on the web.
THANK YOU to those of you who have contacted me about this website. As with any project of this size and scope, there are bound to be small problems that creep in. If you feel you have a valid problem with something here, I want to know about it so I can attempt to correct it. E-Mail: web master @w7eca.org.
Also a BIG THANKS to all of you who have helped provide content and information for me to post here. I can't be everywhere at once, so if you hear of club events or news of any kind, send it my way so that it may be added to our website.
73
Cam - N7NBB
