OVER 2 YOU, 094 (20/08/02)

CELLPHONE  RATES

Attempting to fathom the real rates I pay each month for my mobile phone, I have scanned a few months' bills into my PC, run OCR (optical character recognition) on them, and have come up with some data MS Excel should be to handle.

However, the duration of each call is written in a Mins: Secs format - i.e. '2 mins 37 secs' as 02:37. I have tried every function I can think of to render this value into decimal minutes or seconds, including TIMEVALUE(), MINUTE(), SECOND(), CONVERT (integer or cell value, "min", "sec"), etc. but with no joy at all.

If I am to be able to make a meaningful comparison between my current service providers' rates and a competitor I might wish to switch to, the only way it seems, through the morass of "Confusion Marketing" and small print, is to know exactly how and when I run my mobile phone bill up, and on what sort of calls. Living on a boat, my mobile is my only telephone, and also has to cope with email, faxes and graphic free surfing.

John Keyes, via email

I believe I have the answer. Assuming a phone bill has been scanned using OCR and saved into an Excel spreadsheet, proceed as follows:

Create the following entries in adjacent columns, along the first row containing call data from the phone bill, ensuring the call time data is in the format 00:00:00 (hours:minutes:seconds).

Column 1:  Insert formula =TIMEVALUE(cell address) e.g. =TIMEVALUE(A1), if the first call time data is in cell A1. The value created will now be in cell A2

Column 2:  Insert formula =HOUR(cell address) This cell address is the one containing the timevalue just created: i.e. A2.  The value created will now be in cell A3.

Column 3:  Insert formula =MINUTE(cell address) As above.  The value created will now be in cell A4

Column 4:  Insert formula =SECOND(cell address) As above.  The value created will now be in cell A5

Column 5:  Insert a formula to sum the contents of the three previous cells into seconds: e.g.:  =((A3*3600)+(A4*60)+(A5)). This value is now in cell A6.

Column 6:  Insert a formula to convert the total seconds to a pence per minute value by dividing the call cost in pence or £0.00 value, by the total seconds from cell A6 divided by 60; e.g. call cost*(A6/60).

The above cell formulas can be copied down the worksheet to calculate the pence per minute for each call entry.

It would be useful to create a master worksheet into which the phone bill data can be pasted after OCR scanning each time a bill arrives.

Don't forget to rename the calculated worksheet to preserve the master file.

Mike Blomeley

I use this method for recording programming time. Set the format of your time cells to "custom format" and enter "h:mm" as the required format, set the format of your decimal cells to "number" with 2 decimal places. Insert the formula "time x 24" (e.g. H4*24) in the decimal cells. Thus 2hrs 15 mins entered as "2:15" becomes 2.25 hours.

Alan Hawkins

If cell A1 contains a time (e.g. 02:37), then the formula below, formatted as a number, will display it as a decimal

=A1/0.04166667

Darren Jones

GRID REFERENCES

I can store the National Grid References of up to 250 waypoints (positions) in my GPS, but manual entry is very time-consuming.  Alternatively, I can download a table of waypoints from MS Excel into the GPS, which is much quicker, but they have to be entered in columns of latitude and longitude.  Is there a program that will convert a batch of Grid References into separate columns of latitude and longitude?

Geoffrey Adams

There are two factors to consider when talking about using GPS systems

and mapping systems: the map datum and the co-ordinate system. GPS units work in degrees using a map datum called WGS84 (World Geodectic System, 1984). OS maps work in metres using a datum called OSGB36 (devised in 1936 I believe).

Converting lat/long degrees into the metres of the National Grid system

is relatively easy, but what is more problematic is the spherical geometry required to transform the co-ordinates from one map datum to another. You might be anything up to 200 metres out if you use the wrong one.

The Ordnance Survey themselves used to publish a very interesting document in PDF format on their web site describing this. They also used to have a few Excel spreadsheets to handle the OSGB36/Grid Reference to WGS84/degrees conversion. Sadly I can't find them today, so I can't

provide a link.

The program I use to handle this conversion is at http://www.gpsu.com  and allows you to work in whatever co-ordinate system and map datum you want, and talks to several makes/models of GPS. It is the best I have found, and works on Windows.

George Bunting

DOMESDAY BOOK

Whatever happened to the 'Domesday Project' where an updated version of the Domesday Book - compiled I believe in the late 1980's - was put on to the now defunct laserdisc format for use in schools and libraries. Was it ever made available on CD-ROM, and if so where can I obtain a copy?

T. L. Simmonds, via email

I tried to access the Domesday project info last year but I have only been able to trace copies of the discs (here in the north east of England). There's a group in Norwich who were seeking funds to 'transcribe' the data onto CD-ROM but no one knows of a working machine, which will play the discs. As a matter of interest I also received the following message from the BBC History Site Team.

'At the moment the 1986 BBC Domesday Project data only exists on the two laser discs that were produced at the time. They are driven by a BBC Master Computer, a laser-disc player and a monitor - all of which are now largely obsolete!  We are currently examining the possibility of extracting the data from the discs and repurposing it on a more accessible platform - though this is likely to be the web rather than a CD.  For more details on the project try: http://www.atsf.co.uk/dottext/domesday.html

Ken Blackwood, via email

PC MICROSCOPE

Having taken up geology in my retirement, I want to branch out into petrology, which involves using a polarizing microscope to examine thin sections of rock. However, failing eyesight (AMD) is an increasing handicap, albeit a slowly growing one.  Has anyone experience of using an optical microscope with a PC? I have Windows 95 PC with a 21-inch monitor, what other hardware would I need, apart from the microscope?  Being able to show the angular direction of the polarizer on screen with the magnified section is the dream, but not the expectation! If the idea is technically/financially beyond reach of anyone outside a well-endowed laboratory, is there a program simulating a range of rock sections?

Douglas Hague, via email

The Open University is developing a programme simulating a polarising petrographic microscope, called the Virtual Microscope.  For further details see http://met.open.ac.uk/vms/vms.html or contact D.J.Edwards@open.ac.uk

Kevin Privett

TALKING NEWSPAPERS

We produce a talking newspaper for the blind and currently record these on cassettes. However this technology is rapidly being phased out and we need to establish a viable alternative as we are led to believe that tapes will cease being available in 2004.

Does anyone know have any experience of using CDs for newsletters or similar? Any help would be appreciated including the best way of getting the recordings onto the PC for editing and subsequent distribution.

Geoffrey Thomas, via email

The recordable MiniDisc is supposed to be the replacement for the standard audio tape cassette although it does not appear to have caught the general public's attention as yet.  This is superior in many ways to the tape cassette and behaves as a CD with the following additional features: It is smaller than a CD making it ideal for use in portable players and has the abilities of being able to join, split move and erase individual tracks. The only disadvantage of MiniDisc, compared to a tape cassette (as with a CD) is that one cannot stop the machine partway through a track, switch off then switch on again later and carry on from the same point, one is obliged to start again from the beginning of the track.

For editing recordings on a PC, Audio Cleaning Lab (from Fastrak Software Publishing in Watford) is quite good. The computer must be fitted with a CD writer and a sound card with an external audio input, preferably a microphone input (or line input with an external amplifier to boost the output from the mic.)  The audio source is fed in, recorded and can then be edited as desired, then recorded on to a recordable audio CD. If software such as Nero Burning Rom is also installed on the PC the edited audio recording can be converted to a WAV file then burned onto a computer recordable CD (these are approximately half the price of the audio type and will play on a standard domestic CD player after burning as above.)

As many copies as required can be produced, although burning in Nero Burning Rom is much faster than in Audio Cleaning Lab.

Michael Dewhurst

INTERNET RADIO

Having recently discovered that I can listen to Radio stations on my PC, I would like to know if it is possible to 'time-shift' these programmes, onto the hard disc, like a video recorder, for replay at a future date?

Roger Warwick, Stockport

It is possible to record all "streamed" audio files for listening to later or copying to CD with a program called "sound capture" which is available from www.magicsofts.com. Even better the demo version, which is downloadable from a number of sites, Tucows for example, is totally free!

Paul Farley

TABLEWARE

Does anyone know of a program that helps in the preparation of a table plan for formal dinners for large numbers without the need to cut up little pieces of paper to move people around until you get it right and then having to write it down?

Richard Hopkinson-Woolley, via email

We have developed a program specifically for this purpose.  It allows the planner to enter the names and details of the guests and then to place them around the tables.  The program automatically works out the spacing between guest names around the tables, it allows the planner to easily move and swap guests and delete guests at the last minute and it will print the plan, place cards and labels. Table shapes are catered for include Round, Square, Horseshoe, Oval, U, single-sprig and multi-sprig.  Different table shapes can be included on the same plan.

The program, called PlacePlanner 2000 is used by many London Livery Companies, a number of Palaces and various other dining establishments. It requires a computer running Windows 95,98,2000,NT or XP. The program is easy to operate by using the keyboard and mouse "drag and drop" operations. For more information and to request a trial disk send an email to Enquiries@abbotswood.co.uk

John Pearson

CAN YOU HELP?

The restoration of my listed home involves laying a flagstone floor using reclaimed flags. These are squares and rectangles whose sides vary in length from 1 foot to 3 feet. Does anyone know of a program that will create a layout to fit the available stones into the room so as to minimise the number of flags that need to be cut?

Ian Middleton, via email

Can anyone recommend a good phone dialler program for Windows 98? I simply want to store phone numbers, look them up alphabetically and dial out from my computer. The Phone Dialler in Windows would be ideal if it could store 100+ numbers rather than just 8.

Michael Glover, Gerrards Cross

Is there an application for computer-based fax for Broadband Internet?I used to have a good one but it only works on a dial-up connection.

Steve Jones, Yarm

A simple question no doubt but please how do I obtain valuation in euros for shares, which were once quoted in sterling. I have Money 2002 financial suite and while every other currency is shown euros appear to be absent.

Brian A. Holland, via email