[HCDX]: radio-portal

[Willi Passmann <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear OMs,

herewith I am sending you a pre-announcement for a new service on the
Internet, starting October 1st, 1999.

<http://www.radio-portal.org> is online since Sept. 2nd, 1999 on a test
basis, offering a portal site with search engine especially for amateur
radio, DXing, SWLing, Clandestines/Pirate/Satellite/Scanner. Further
features will be added during this month. Regular operation starts on
October 1st, 1999.

Why a new search engine - aren't there enough already?
There are several reasons for a special search engine which covers
selectively a special field of interest:

Usual search engines will bring only a small part of the URLs, as the
database may not cover certain items adequately. In August 1999, a well
known search engine brought exactly one hint for the search "longwave"...

Articles as in the the Los Angeles Times, on July 8th, 1999, confirm that
all search engines together only cover 42 per cent of the Web's content -
the best single engine (Northern Light) covers 16 per cent. So a
specialized search engine could work better.

But sometimes the problem of a search engine ist just the other way round:
The number of results, many of them without any connestion to the search
cause a bad "signal-to-noise ratio" that makes it nearly impossible to find
what you one is looking for. If you are looking for "radio" for instance,
you will not need any manufacturer of medical X-ray or radioastronomy
equipment. So a high number of scores does not necessarily need to mean
quality.

Radio-portal is going a new way. All data will have a close connection to
the field of interest, the URLs had been checked manually and are being
updated permanently.
The search engine has been developed especially for radio-portal, and it's
fast! No frames are used, so every page can be boomarked and saved on HD as
a personal address book, which, of course, can be updated any time.

The search engine may be operated in a very intuitive way. You may search
in broad by combining different categories, you may search in depth by
searching for words of your choice, or you may choose a combination of both
methods. All descriptions are available both in English and German, and the
language of URLs of interest may be choosen for searches. Within the result
pages you are also getting information about when radio-portal checked that
site the last time, and with which result.

It is my hope that, due to a special newcomer section, new hobbyists can be
led towards our common hobby. This is necessary, as memberhips numbers of
Amateur Radio and SWL/DX Clubs are declining worldwide.

Beside that, the various mailing lists will be relieved of several standard
questions like what receiver - what antenna - what address - what
schedule... well, you got the idea.

Other services, as an archive about "How I started DXing/Amateur Radio", or
the Postal Rates Worldwide - Page will be built up in the coming weeks.
As a special service for newcomers, more than 100 FAQs will be available!
Some pages may not be available before Oct. 1, 1999.

You are invited to send any comments and suggestions by email.

Best Regards,
Willi Passmann, DJ6JZ

--
     Shortwwwave and more linked to you:
     _/_/   http://www.radio-portal.org
    _/_/  Willi H. Passmann Media Consulting
   _/_/  Oberhausener Str. 100
  _/_/  45476 Muelheim, Germany
 _/_/  Tel./Fax: ++49-208-779399 (Nat: 0208-779399)
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