OVER 2 YOU, 140 (29/07/03)

DISTINCTIVE NUMBER

Since I can’t afford to pay BT for a distinctive phone number I was wondering if I could make my existing number more memorable by concocting a word from the number/letter associations on a telephone keypad (i.e. 2 = ABC, 3 = DEF and so on), so my first name Dave, would be represented as 3283. To save me the effort of churning through the permutations with pen and paper I wonder if anyone has devised a program that will let me enter my phone number and generate a list of words or phrases?

Dave D., via email

One solution would be to use the T9 ‘Predictive’ text input capability of many recent mobile phones. T9 is used to 'guess' words from the keys pressed. For example if you press 228, T9 will suggest Bat and Cat. So Dave could type his number in and see what words are suggested.
Steve Haines

Your correspondent should visit the Phonetic.com web site where he will find a phone number translator. Simply type in your number and it comes up with the possible word combinations, the only limitation is that it will only process up to seven digit numbers, but you could easily split the number and combine the results. You’ll find it at:

http://www.phonetic.com/

Katie Millard, via email

I discovered a free phone number converter on the Internet at: http://www.phonespell.org/phoneSpell.html, just key in your number, it can be up to 10 digits long and it displays a list of words and phrases.

Jeff Stanley, via email

SAILING SOFTWARE

For sailing races, and maybe other events, finishers are awarded points in ascending order. In a series of races, not all entrants take part in all races, so I need to compare the list of finishers with the list of entrants, so that those who did not start or finish are awarded maximum marks. Is there a way in Excel, or other spreadsheet, to compare the two lists of
entrants and finishers so that these can be identified. Boat sail numbers do not follow any sequence.
Stephen Green, via email

There is an excellent sailing results program written by Bob McPherson. It is a completely free Excel based utility, which can cope with almost all aspects of yacht/dinghy racing. It is available from many sites including that of the Royal Temple Yacht Club in Ramsgate, Kent. Go to www.rtyc.com and click on the Links button.
Ian Braithwaite, Royal Temple Yacht Club

I suggest Stephen tries "Sailwave Sailing Scoring Software" available from www.sailwave.com. This free software has been written by Colin Jenkins who is himself a sailor. In my opinion it is the best answer to producing sailing results, it does everything you need. Colin regularly updates the software to take account of the latest changes to RRS as well as adding new features. The program produces printed reports and can be customised to generate HTML allowing you to publish results on your club web site. Colin responds very quickly to requests for assistance, there is also an active user group the members of which are very helpful. All this for free.
Hugh Davies

Create a table with yacht details, finishers, and results. In finishers only place the final position such as 6 or 15 otherwise leave it blank. At the foot of the finishers column create a single cell with the formula =MAX(finishers) having named the column up to that point but not including it “finishers”. Name the cell “Maxscore”. In the results column enter the formula in the first cell =IF(B2>0,B2,Maxscore) where the first yacht is in A2, the result is in B2, and the formula is in C2. Copy this formula down the table to the row above Maxscore. You can the use Data Sort and the results column to sort your table for you.

John Hooton

One simple way round this problem would be to create a spreadsheet for the series of races.  The first sheet should be called Overall Series and would contain a list of all sail numbers in Column A, and then a further column for each race in the series (e.g. columns B,C,D,E,F,G for a 6 race series) with two final columns for total points and an overall position.  Then add a single sheet for each individual race in the series.  On each race sheet, there should be two columns: Sail Number and Position. 

In the column on the Overall Series sheet corresponding to the race, use the following formula: =IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(A4,Race1,2,FALSE))

=TRUE,(MAX(Race1Points)+1),VLOOKUP

(A4,Race1,2,FALSE)) where A4 is the cell with the sail number, Race1 is the range of cells showing the sail number and position for the first race, and Race1Points is the range of cells only showing the positions.

This compares the sail numbers that finished and their positions, transfers them to the Overall Series sheet and adds in the maximum points for all other sail numbers that did not finish, i.e.: number of finishers +1.  The total points for each sail number can then be added up for the series, and ranked in position order.

Neil Douglas

I have written a program that does all the calculations for sailing results using Access.  It is used by dozens of clubs in the UK and is acclaimed for its reliability and user friendliness.  Details are available on www.halsraceresults.com where you can order a free CD of a demonstration version.  The full thing, which can calculate and store the results of all races sailed by several fleets of boats over an entire season, is available for £40 per year licence fee.
Peter Hopford

ACCESS TO EXCEL

Does anyone know how to convert or transfer an Access database to Excel?

Derek Jones, via email

Open up a new Excel workbook. Select 'Data', then select 'Get external data' and choose 'Create new query'. From the databases tab select the correct version of Microsoft Access and press 'OK'. This will then prompt you for the location of the database file. It will then either prompt you for a password or bring up the query Wizards dialog box. Simply follow the
steps to get the data you require.
Tim Peachey

Exporting an Access database to Excel couldn't be easier.  Just choose File > Export > Save as type > Excel (then choose your version: 3.0, 4.0 etc.).  You'll need to tell the program where you want to store the Excel version. 

Dr Robin Hendy, via e-mail

Open the Access database you want to transfer. Go to the table view and open it.  On the menu bar, click Tools, Office Links, Analyse with Excel.  It automatically opens an Excel Worksheet with all the data in it.  (Incidentally, as you will see when you get to Office Links, you can also use this to send stuff to Word etc.)

If your data has something like addresses in it, in Excel, you might think only the first few words are there, but if you click in the cell, it all appears.  You can make it all visible by altering the properties of that cell. 

Alison Winks

CAN YOU HELP?

I have just contracted rheumatoid arthritis.  Is there software I can use to chart symptoms, pain levels, dosage rates etc against a calendar? I have a weather forecast radio controlled clock.  Is there software to record data from it?

Charles Carmichael, via email

I am involved with an "amateur dramatics" group in my local village and we are struggling to find a computer software program, which will drive our lighting rig. It is a very simple rig of 3 fixed spots, three or four floods, four sets of footlights and two rows of fixed coloured backlights. We would like something that we can run on a PC, which would give us on-screen sliders and switches that could be operated with a mouse. Preferably low cost or no cost.

Can anyone help???

Andy Grout, via email

I am a Philatelist and wonder if anybody knows of a software package that would enable me to compare two stamps of the same design by overlaying one on top of the other and hence 'spot the difference'.
Ian Pooley, via email