[600MRG] WSPRnet database

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

I replied in private to the OP. I have made a start by looking at the 
data available on the site that was linked. I was a database 
administrator for a while before I retired a few years ago. After a 
quick size-up I decided to dust off a computer I have here and install a 
new hard drive(s) and and then install MySQL server on it. It will take 
me a little while to get all of that done. At the moment I'm in a race 
with hard winter to get buttoned up here. All of this is a *hobby*.

"Database* can mean a set of data records or it can mean the "engine" 
used to build, maintain, and process those data records. I will be 
building and tuning up the engine. Then processing the data.

While I was DBA I did some things like pull related info from several 
different databases that had been built with different engines and had 
different record formats and different indices/keys. I also cleaned up 
messes that some of the end users had made of their data by cramming 
things into the wrong places or the wrong things into the right places. 
So now I'm probably shopping for a new power supply and some *fast*, 
large capacity disk drives. That will give me the horespower to make 
passes at the data in short time. Bogus records can be removed and 
perhaps repaired and replaced.

Once upon a time my bride worked on genealogy books and there were 
thousands of pages of text that required an index. DOS on an XT 
(remember those?) took some time. I started the index function for her 
and we went to lunch. When we came back it wasn't very long until the 
index was finished. A month later I acquired a brand new, 
state-of-the-art 386 based computer (remember those?). I moved her books 
and the software to that machine. I started the familiar index job and 
it completed before we could walk out of the room! Regarding hammer size 
- go big! You can shred a huge maple tree with a pocket knife but an 
industrial chipper-shredder will be much more satisfying.

73,

Bill  KU8H