This program controls your FM Radio Card, permitting you to monitor any number of frequencies. The list of frequencies to be monitored are stored in a file named CHANNELS.HOP which must reside in the same directory as the FMSCAN.EXE program. The size of this list is essentially unlimited since it resides on disk.

The CHANNELS.HOP file contains pairs of numbers on each line. These numbers must be separated by at least one or more space characters. The file may be created or edited using any conventional text editor. The first number of the pair is the frequency (in MHz) and the second is the duration (in Seconds).

Frequency may be specified with a resolution of 25kHz (0.025 MHz), which is finer than the normal commercial FM radio station spacing of 100kHz. Therefore, you may tune between stations. You may also specify any frequency from 0 to 999 MHz, though the FM Radio Card is not capable of such range as it stands. See the file FMRANGE.TXT for a description of the tuning range of the FM Radio Card.

Duration determines how long FMSCAN will dwell on a given frequency before proceeding to the next one in the list. You may specify any number greater than zero. Time is rounded off to nearest 1/10 seconds.

FMSCAN presumes that the base address of the card has been set to 0x350 (address jumper installed). If you have removed the jumper to avoid address conflict with another card, you should use FMSCAN8 instead. This program presumes a base address of 0x358.

When first started, FMSCAN attempts to read the file CHANNELS.HOP and build a scanning list. Remember that CHANNELS.HOP must reside in the same directory as FMSCAN.EXE which must be set as the working directory if you are running this DOS program under Windows. If this is successful, scanning begins immediately.

At any time while scanning, you may also issue a variety of commands to control the operation of the program. Each commands is entered as one of the following single letters:

Some of these commands operate in pairs, such as Pause and Continue.

<P>ause will suspend frequency scanning. While paused, other commands may be entered. Scanning is resumed by hitting <C>ontinue.

<M>ute inhibits audio output by directly controlling your FM Radio Card not your sound card. <U>nmute enables audio again at the last volume.

<V>olume permits you to enter a setting between 0 and 3, with 0 being OFF and 3 being maximum volume (default when FMSCAN begins).

<T>op causes scanning to revert to the top of the CHANNELS.HOP list.

<F>requency is normally entered while in PAUSE mode. It allows you to enter any frequency manually. Frequencies outside the tuning range of your FM Radio Card may be entered, but of course will not result in valid reception. In general, entering too low or too high a frequency will simply result in a frequency at the minimum or maximum range of the card. See file FMRANGE.TXT for further information. If you have paused scanning to manually enter a frequency (or volume), you may continue scanning after the manual entry simply by entering Continue.

<L>ast will back up one entry in the scanning sequence.

<H>elp prompts you with the above list of commands.

<Q>uit terminates the program and returns you to the operating system.