Contextual Help

[Michael]

This area holds the contextual help pages for the OW Arctic data entry spreadsheets. The pages are accessed by the Question macro. The macro is run either by Alt-q, if the shortcut keys have been loaded, or by right clicking on a cell and clicking on the Question macro. If the cell is in the weather data area, the help page for the appropriate column will be opened in the browser. If the cell is in the Event area, the help page for Events will be opened. There is also a help if Alt-q is pressed on the Setup Page.

There are also instructions for:

• Adjusting Image Colours
• Resizing the Event Wizard
• Changing Fonts
• Control-Alt-Arrows

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

We have no dedicated page for your topic at this time.
Please look for an answer in the man Guide.

You can adjust the size and position of the weather grid using Ctrl-Alt-Arrows, and you can adjust the color of the image to make it more readable. You can also set the Crop parameters on the Setup Page to remove that annoying black strip at the left and/or top of the image automatically.

You can also change the colour of the border on the active cell. It's typically black. On the spreadsheet menu along the top, go to:

Options/Libre Office/Application Colors/Font Color.

Choose your color. I prefer Yellow, one transcriber prefers White. One note: if you use Libre Office for working in things other than the spreadsheet, your default font colour will be the one you have selected, so a white font on a white background will not be visible.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Course and Distance data entry is posted here.

What do I do with the Dec (tenths) column?

• Now you have the option to add the complete value of the distance in the Distance column (12.5), or the integer (12) and tenths (5) values separately in the Distance and Dec columns. The option to enter the tenths value separately is on the Setup sheet. By selecting this option, the UpAndOver macro will jump to the top of the Dec column. If this option is not selected, UpAndOver will jump over the Dec column. Testing by Gordon has found that entering the integer and decimal portions of the distance separately is much quicker. If you use this option, you do not need to enter the decimal point in the Dec column. When the XML file is converted to a spreadsheet, it takes the 12 and 5 in the two columns and coverts them to 12.5. If there is a 12.5 in the Distance column it is used as is.

How should I record two entries in one hour?
Whether you are using separate Distance and Dec columns or not, please enter the values in the Distance column separated with a vertical bar, a comma or a space slash space, like so: 3.4 | 3.6 or 3.4,3.6 or 3.4 / 3.6. The slash must be surrounded by a space, but spaces around the vertical bar and the comma are optional. If both distances are a whole number, Excel treats them as a date, so I prefer the vertical bar or a comma. An entry like 3 / 4 shows up as 44624.00. The directions are treated the same way: WxS1/2S | WxS or WxS1/2S,WxS or WxS1/2S / WxS. At Hour 5 they have entered a double quote. It is easier for me if you enter the last value for the direction: WxS. Entering a double quote implies there are two directions again for that hour, not just WxS. If you use CopyDown, it will insert just the last value.



Should I record the Patent Log?

• If there is no distance (Distance, Knots, Miles, Fthms), yes, otherwise no;
• If there is no Distance or Patent Log and there is By Revs, please record that.

What if there is no Course and Distance information.

• This is rare, but when it occurs there are usually synoptic reports that give their location each six hours. Please record those.

What should I about comments, such as Anchored, or underway 23 minutes, recorded in a Patent Log or Revs column?

• You can ignore them.

The tenths column on the log page is Fthms, but the column heading is Dec.
The fathoms usually take values 0, 2, 4 or 6. These are really eights of a nautical mile. A treatise on navigation and nautical astronomy. I have looked at the voyage of Omaha for 1873, and found that treating the fathoms as tenths instead of eighths gives an average error of about 0.06 kts. The average speed for Omaha, 1873, and five years of Kearsarge was 5.3 knots, so treating fathoms as tenths is reasonable. The largest error, 0.15 knots, occurs with a value of 6, which occurred 476 times when travelling for 3,459 hours.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

What should I enter if the log keeper neglects to enter a decimal: e.g. 3000 instead of 30.00?
If the AutoPuressreFill option is turned on, our software will automatically enter a decimal, as long as you enter four digits, otherwise if you enter 3000, the value will stay as you entered it. Philip is not concerned about whether the value is 3000 or 30.00.

What should I do if the log keeper enters only the decimal part?
TWYS. If the AutoPressureFill option is turned on, and if there aren't more than four hours between successive entries, the software will expand the entry to four digits with a decimal. If there are more than four hours between pressure entries, you will get a warning about not having four digits, but your value will stay as entered. If AutoPressureFill is turned off, your value will stay as entered. Philip has seen the AutoPressureFill at work and approves it.

Pressure AutoFill.
If you set the Pressure AutoFill option on the Setup Page of your spreadsheet to Yes, you can take advantage of this macro. You need to enter the full value for the pressure in the first hour with a pressure value. For successive hours, just add the value after the decimal point and the macro will expand the entry to the full value. The macro works only for successive pressure values up to four hours apart, e.g. if the full value has been entered at 1:00, pressure fill can be used to fill in a value at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 or 5:00.

If the values are every four hours, for given a value at 4:00 of 30.00
If the value is 30.20 at 8:00 just enter 20 and the macro will generate 30.20
If the value is 30.02 at 12:00 just enter 2 and the macro will generate 30.02

Note!
After much discussion, we changed the Pressure AutoFill option to work with a gap of four hours, up from the original two. The gap of two hours was chosen because the pressure will not change by 0.50 inches or more in two hours. It can, on rare occasion, change by that amount in three or four hours. If the pressure changes by 0.50 inches or more in a gap of three or four hours, AutoFill will generate in incorrect value! In that case, you will have to enter the correct value manually.

Two pressures per hour being recorded!
This is very rare, but the science team would like to see them.Even though it is a pain, please enter the two values, such as 30.23 | 30.03. Also, please enter a note with the Event Wizard; Type: Other; Subtype: Instruments when the double readings start and end. If there is any information about why there are two values, or just what barometers those values are from, it would be helpful.

A pressure is equal to something like 28, 29, 30 or 31 when the whole number is implied (like 30.00).
If you have a pressure that has no trailing digits, say it's logged just as 30, for 30.00, if you enter 30, you will get 30.30. In order for AutoPressureFill to generate 30.00, you can enter 30.00 or just 0.

Sometimes the log is vague, and the 30 may indicate that there are decimals but the log keeper didn't write them.
You might see a sequence like:
30.45, 30.48, 30, 30.62.
This is rare, but it happens. In this case, you can enter =30, or30 space and AutoPressureFill will give you 30, with no trailing .00

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

What should I do if the wet bulb temperature is higher than the air temperature?
TWYS (Type What You See). Under certain circumstances when the air temperature is close to 32^oF, 0^oC, the wet bulb temperature may be above the air temperature. Otherwise, it is some kind of error. Let the scientists sort it out.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here. More information about clouds can be found here.

Should I enter periods in the cloud form: e.g. a.s.?
You may enter it as written, or neglect the periods.

Is there a difference between AS and as?
No. There is no difference between capital and small letters.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Ice data entry is posted here.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Ice data entry is posted here.

What goes in these columns?
On occasion the log keeper will add ice data, thickness or coverage, in a hand-written column to the right of the weather table, or in the column or columns for sea data. Please add those data here.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

If there is no heading at the top of a column, feel free to ignore any data that may be there (For example, it might be Heel or Leeway.)

If you want to change the fonts in the Weather Grid, this may help.

If you are in doubt, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Event data entry is posted here.

Further information is available for the following topics:

• Date
• Time
• Time Zone Changes
• Locations
• Course and Distance
• Sea Ice
• Sailing Information
• Type What You See and Shortcuts

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Priorities. Is this important?
Main Type:

• People: Transcription optional. You could post the info to the discussion topic for your ship and year.
• Ships: Transcription optional. You could post the info to the discussion topic for your ship and year. It may be worthwhile to note if the ships are in ice.
• Flora and Fauna: Transcription optional. If you're enthusiastic, you could post a note here.
• Transcriber comment: You can add your own comments using this -- TWYS-free!

---

Subtypes under Other:

• Aurorae: Yes. Transcription optional. Please post a note here. Researchers monitor this post.
• Volcanic: Yes. Transcription optional. Please post a note here. We send the data to various scientists.
• Instruments: Yes. Transcription of comments requested.
• Astronomical: Transcription optional. For eclipses and other such events. You could post a note here.
• Ocean: Transcription optional. Big waves, phosphorescence etc. If you're enthusiastic, you could post a note here.
• Weather: Transcription optional. It may be worthwhile to note an exceptional event here.

The Event Wizard is much to big for my screen, and/or the font isn't right.

• You can adjust the size and font for the Event Wizard following the instructions here.
• You can adjust the size and font for the cells in the Event Areas following the instructions here.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main guide for Location Data Entry is here.

If a Latitude is given as Obs and the Longitude is DR, how should we log that?

• You could enter each one of them separately, or just enter them both and show them as DR.

If the noon entry has Obs Lat and Long and DR Lat and Long, should we record both?

• Please record the Obs values. You may also record the DR values. Michael has been using these to estimate errors in DR positions.

Should we enter locations in the Synoptic Reports?

• Yes.

Should we record locations, bearings and course changes on the Event page.

• Yes for locations;
• Yes for bearings;
• Not necessary for course changes. Michael will use these only on occasion.

Should we use the OW Tools to calculate positions given by bearings?

• You may, if you really feel like it and are curious as to how it works. In any case, Michael will re-do all the calculations himself.

When they've been in port for many days and there is only a date and a Noon Location and no ice do we need to save that page:

• If we are recording weather data, yes.
• If we are in the middle of a voyage, i.e. in Unalaska, yes.
• If we are sitting in a US main port, such as Seattle or Honolulu, we need to record only the day we arrive from the north or the day we leave for the north.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael

or post your question here.

[Michael]

Configuring the Setup Page

The main Guide setting up the spreadsheet is posted here.
A help sheet for configuring Libre Office Calc is here.

User Dir:

• Enter the full directory name where you want your transcribed data files to go.

Local Image Dir:

• Enter the full directory name where you want the downloaded images to go.

Scale

• This factor reduces the size of the log page image so it fits comfortably on your screen.
• A factor of 1 gives you the actual size. This is very large, typical values are around 0.35, but it depends on the size of your screen, the number of pixels etc.

Zoom Step:

• Sometimes you need to magnify the image to see a heard to read portion a little better. Alt-Z will zoom in and Alt-Shift-Z will zoom out. This value controls the amount of zoom with each step.

Angle Scale :

• This value controls the amount of rotation to an image when the blue Adjust Angle buttons are pressed.

Advisory prompts Yes/No/Beep:

• Some people like prompts, some don't. This will turn these two prompts on or off or replace them with a short beep:
  • Clear data?
  • Save complete.

• Warnings and advisories will always be displayed no matter the setting.

Pressure Data Auto-FIll

• Once the first pressure has been entered, this option allow you to enter just the decimal portion of successive pressure values and the Pressure Data Auto-Fill macro will expand your entry to the full four digits with the decimal point.

Go Block to Block

• For logs with two blocks, if you are using the macros, your UpAndOver macro can go from Hour 12 to Hour 13 instead of to Hour 1 of the next column. The typical option is No.

CopyDownTopMove

• Do you want CopyDown, when at the top of a column to go down one cell or over? The typical option is to move down.

Enter tenths separately

• If No, enter both values (miles.tenths) in the first column and leave the tenths column blank. UpAndOver will skip over the Dec or Tenths Column. If yes, you enter the two columns separately, and the spreadsheet combines the two values appropriately. Some people find it much faster to do the two columns separately.

Default Latitude

• When you cross the equator, you can re-set the default Latitude to N or S. This saves you from having to change it each time you use the Lat/Long Wizard.

Default Longitude

• When you cross the dateline, you can re-set the default Longitude to E or W. This saves you from having to change it each time you use the Lat/Long Wizard.

Lat/Long Wizard Horizontal Position :
Lat/Long Wizard Vertical Position :
Event Wizard Horizontal Position :
Event Wizard Vertical Position :
SeaSfcTmp Wizard Horizontal Position :
SeaSfcTmp Wizard Vertical Position :

• The values indicate the position, in pixels, of the top left corner of the three wizards when they open.
• It allows you have the wizards placed in a convenient position so as not to hide any location or event data.

Image Enhancements :

• Turn image enhancements on or off.

Brightness :

• Make the image brighter. A value of 8 is reasonable.

Contrast :

• Improve the contrast. 25 is a reasonable value.

Color Mode :

• Leave the color unchanged, or convert it to shades of grey. Sometimes Gray shades make it more readable.

Gamma :

• THis has the biggest effect on readability. values between 0.30 and 0.4 work best.

Note: you can adjust the values directly on the image in real time using the Image Properties method. Using this method, you can see what combination of values works best. However, you have to write down your preferred values and then enter them on the Setup sheet in order for them to be used for the next image.

Crop Image:

• If you are troubled by the excessively large black strip at the top or left side of the image, you can remove it by turning on the Crop Image option.

Left:
Right:
Top:
Bottom:

• Set these values to adjust the amount of the image to be cropped. There is usually no need to trim the bottom or right side of the image. These two values are here just in case.

---

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

Resizing the Event Wizard

Libre Calc resizes boxes and fonts in different ways, so sometimes the font will be too large for a box.
Also, depending on your operating system, Windox, Mac, Linux etc, a box may be too large for your screen.

This issue is most noticeable with the Event Wizard. If you need to resize the Event Wizard to make it fit on the screen better, or to make the font inside the Event Type box fit better, here's how:

• Select the Menu Tools/Macros/Edit Macros

• Click on the Plus sign beside your spreadsheet's name

• Click on the Plus sign beside Standard, which will become a minus sign and the sub menu will open.

• Then click on the Event Input line. You will see the Event Wizard open in the pane to the right. Hold your cursor over the left hand edge of the Event Wizard. You'll see your cursor change to a cross of arrows. Click and you'll see a list of options appear in the left hand pane.

To resize the Event Wizard, shift the window using the slider near the bottom of the screen so you can see the right hand edge of the Wizard. Put your cursor on the little square dot halfway up the edge of the box and drag it left to make the wizard smaller, or right to make it larger. Then, click inside the Event Text Box, and drag it left or right as you need.



To resize the font in the Event Text box, click in the Event Text box, and you will see the list of options in the window on the left. Click on the three little dots by Font, and you will get the font menu. Choose the font you need, and click OK.



When you're done, click on the X in the top right hand corner of the Macro Editor.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

You can control the Brightness, Contrast, Gamma values and change the Color mode from Color to Grayscale. However,
Calc allows you to change the colour balance Red/Green and Blue. Normally this is not needed, but for those who are colourblind, or need to move the image because part of it is under the buttons, here is how to do it:

Activate the Sidebar by going to View. The sidebar will appear on the far right hand side of the spreadsheet, and which is the right hand image below. Click on the Navigator Button, which looks like a small navigational compass. (In some versions of Calc, the icon may be a wrench.) In the Navigator box, open the Images menu and double click on Image 1. Then click on the Properties button, which is the icon which has two little horizontal arrows in it. The Navigator box will be replaced by the Properties box. You can now adjust the intensity of the three basic colours, and make other changes.

When you have made your changes you need to click on a column heading so as to get out of the image mode.

Note: The adjustments for Brightness, Contrast, Gamma and Color Mode will take on the values from the Setup Sheet the next time an image is loaded. If you want to keep those Brightness, Contrast, Gamma and/or Color Mode settings, you will have to enter them on the Setup Page.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

Some people find it easier to see their transcribed weather data if the font is a different size or colour. Changing the font in all the cells in the weather grid or event area is quite easy. Simply highlight the cells in the area you wish to change by clicking the cell in the top left corner of the area, hold down the shift key and click the cell in the bottom right corner. The area you have chosen will be blue. You can then do Ctrl+1 or Format/Cells to change the font size, colour, alignment etc. Depending the colour of the log page image, some font colours work better than others.

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If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here. A guide to how wind directions were coded is here.

Should I enter periods in the Wind Direction: e.g. N.?
You may enter it as written, or neglect the periods.

Should I enter Calm, North or Variable, or can I just enter C, N or V?
You may enter it as written, or just the first letter for Calm, North, South, East, West or Variable.
Also, there is no difference between capital and small letters, so feel free to enter everything in lower case. E.g. sexe1/2e.

How should I enter Baffling?
Baffling winds are confused, i.e. they are coming from many points of the compass. You can enter them as written, or enter just v for Variable. The term Baffling is seen only very rarely.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

Is ocr the same as ocR?

• No. The weather codes are case sensitive.
• ocr signifies overcast with light rain.
• ocR signifies overcast with heavy rain.

However, rare is the log keeper who sticks to this format. Some of them like to put all the letters all the time in capitals! In such a situation, just enter them all as either upper or lower case as you feel like it. If you see something that has a mix of cases, like ocR, enter it as written. The log keeper who did that was earning his pay.

Symbols used in recording the weather

• b: Blue sky, cloudless
• bc: Blue sky with detached clouds
• c: Sky mainly cloudy
• e: Wet air, without rain
• f: Fog, or foggy weather
• g: Gloomy, or dark, stormy-looking weather
• h: Hail
• l: Lightning
• m: Misty weather
• o: Overcast
• p: Passing showers of rain
• q: Squally weather
• r: Rainy weather or continuous rain
• s: Snow, snowy weather or snow falling
• t: Thunder
• u: Ugly appearance, or threatening weather
• w: Wet, or heavy dew
• z: Hazy weather.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

Moving the grid around with Ctrl-Alt-Arrows

The grid can be moved by dragging columns or rows, or by using Ctrl-Alt-Arrows. The Ctrl-Alt-Up, Down, Left and Right arrows move the entire grid in the direction of the arrows. Ctrl-Arrows, without the Alt key also being held down, moves just the individual row or column associated with the active cell. Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C will rotate the grid anti-clockwise or clockwise.

With some operating systems, such as Chromebooks, the Ctrl-Alt-Arrows do not work.

If you have an operating system other than Windows, and the Ctrl-Alt-Arrows do not work, you can use Ctrl-U, D, L or R to move the grid Up, Down, Left or Right. The Ctrl-Arrows for adjusting the width of just one column or the height of just one row should work with any operating system.

For Windows and some other operating systems, the Ctrl-Alt-Arrows may cause your entire screen to rotate. If this is the case, do Ctrl-Alt-Up to get your screen back to the way it was.

If you want to use Ctrl-Alt-Arrows instead of Ctrl-Alt-L,R,U and D, you need to disable the Graphics Hotkeys. How you do that depends on your operating system. With Windows:

1. Right click on the desktop;
2. Click on Graphics Options;
3. Click on Hotkeys; and,
4. Click Disable.

With Linux:

1. Go into System Settings;
2. Then Keyboard; and,
3. Find the shortcuts for rotating the display and unassign them.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

Enter the visibility as shown. The numerals used in recording the visibility for Coast Guard ships are:

• 0: Prominent objects not visible at 50 yards
• 1: Prominent objects not visible at 200 yards
• 2: Prominent objects not visible at 500 yards
• 3: Prominent objects not visible at 1/2 mile
• 4: Prominent objects not visible at 1 mile
• 5: Prominent objects not visible at 2 miles
• 6: Prominent objects not visible at 4 miles
• 7: Prominent objects not visible at 7 miles
• 8: Prominent objects not visible at 20 miles
• 9: Prominent objects not visible above 20 miles.

Some Navy ships have other codes:

• 0: Prominent objects not visible at 50 yards
• 1: Prominent objects not visible at 200 yards
• 2: Prominent objects not visible at 400 yards
• 3: Prominent objects not visible at 1000 yards
• 4: Prominent objects not visible at 1 mile
• 5: Prominent objects not visible at 2 miles
• 6: Prominent objects not visible at 5 miles
• 7: Prominent objects not visible at 10 miles
• 8: Prominent objects not visible at 30 miles
• 9: Prominent objects not visible above 30 miles.

or even:

• 0: Prominent objects not visible at 50 yards
• .1 to .9: Prominent objects not visible at 100 to 900 yards
• 1: Prominent objects not visible at 1000 yards
• 2: Prominent objects not visible at 2000 yards
• 50: Prominent objects not visible at 50,000
• 51: Prominent objects not visible beyond 50,000 yards

The actual values used are usually given in the first three or four pages of each logbook.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.

[Michael]

The main Guide for Weather data entry is posted here.

Enter the value as shown. The amount of Clear Sky is recorded in some older logs, while most logs record the amount of cloud cover. Values are in tenths. For logs with the heading Clr, 0 means overcast and 10 means clear. For logs with the heading Amt, 0 means clear and 10 means overcast.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please send a message to:

• Randi and/or
• Michael.

or post your question here.