English Version of Users Manual

adapted from Spanish by

Robert Felmly – MRAM 1500 kHz

Last Update - 17 February, 2006

I dedicate this translated version of the ZaraRadio Users Manual to all Part 15
Broadcasters and to my friend and neighbor, Thomas J. Carroll, who recently lost his
battle with cancer. Tom was a Ham Radio Operator. He was very proficient at CW.
Tom handled CW radio traffic for various Ham Radio Net operations. He was a Radio
Operator for the U. S. Navy in earlier days. We will miss you greatly Tom.

The process of producing this manual was rather time consuming. The actual translation from Spanish to
English was accomplished using Google Translate. Not only was the text translation one of cut-and-paste
to and from Google Translate, the resulting grammatical nightmare required a great deal of time to interpret
and correct.

Screen-shots of the English version of ZaraRadio were obtained using Software995. This is a printer driver
utility that converts printable files into graphical PDF files. The screen-shots were cut-and-paste from the
resulting graphical PDF file and inserted into the draft MS Word doc.

Enjoy!

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New features in version 1.4.4

• Temperature and humidity announcement, audio clips available on Internet.

• Menu items that allow opening sound mixers, log files, etc.
• Tracks can be inserted into playlist by drag-and-drop.
• Correction of bugs.

New features in version 1.4.1

• Correction of bugs.

New features in version 1.4

• Option to select if repeated items are recorded in the log file.

• Display the duration of the events.
• Format PLS. Recall of current location in playlist file.
• WinAmp DSP Plug-ins.
• Display the duration of a block of items in the playlist.
• New option in the events allows defining the Maximum delay of such.
• Buttons for "any" and "all" to select the days of the events.
• Provide selecting of sound card inputs.
• Auto-start is deactivated for repeat instances.
• The Cue window shows the name of the file.
• Choose which program items can be password protected.
• EVT (event files) can be put in the playlist as well as in the event program list.
• Random playback of files.
• Optimized list. Now, a list of 11,000 songs opens 5 times faster.
• Display info tags in the playlist.
• Play compatible streaming audio files.
• Arrows to move playlist items without having to drag-and-drop.
• Correction of bugs.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• I have inserted time files in the list, but ZaraRadio skips them and they never
play. Now what? Most likely the problem is that the MP3 time file does not
exist or is located in another place. The files must be located in the “Time” folder
(normally in c:\Program Files\ZaraSoft\ZaraRadio\Time). See the help file
regarding this function. There are websites that provide free downloads of the
time files. ZaraRadio.com also provides info for download of these files.

• I placed the time files in the Time folder and they don’t play. Now what?
Make sure the files follow the proper name format and are located in the correct
folder. Sometimes when unzipping a download, a new TIME folder may be
created within the correct TIME folder. If that’s the case, simply move the files
to the correct folder. Find the correct file name format in the help files.

• Why do I get an error message when I press the clock icon located next to the
current time? A time announcement is to occur when the clock icon is clicked.
For this to work, you must have the hour and minute files correctly installed. See
the previous question and the help files regarding time announcements.

• Can the overlapping of files be different for each? Yes. In order to do that, the
file is renamed to include the number of seconds to overlap (myfile˜n.mp3) where
n is the number of seconds to overlap. (see Options-Fade for more details).

• I added an overlapping ˜10 to a file, but ZaraRadio does not consider it.
Now what? When the silence detector is activated in options, the time indicated
with ˜ indicates when the detector begins to monitor the volume. So that the
overlapping is exact, it deactivates the detector for that time (see Options-Fade for
more details.)

• Can the above be done automatically by placing a file in a specific folder

location rather than renaming it? No. At present that is not possible.

• Can DirectX plug-ins be used with ZaraRadio? No, and at the moment there
are no plans to do this.

• When I use some WinAmp plug-ins, like SoundSolution, I hear tics during
the overlapping. Can that be fixed? Most WinAmp plug-ins do not support
processing more than one file simultaneously. The only solution is to not play
more than one file at a time. As such, overlapping is not possible with some plug-
ins without the tics.

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 User Manual Overview
Playlist
The playlist is the main element of ZaraRadio. It shows the sequence of sound files and/or commands
which are played or executed one by one. The elements that can appear in the list are:

• WAV Files. A sound file. ZaraRadio accepts any compression format. The audio file plays
normally.

• MP3 Files. A sound file. ZaraRadio accepts any bit-rate (constant bit-rate or variable). The audio
file plays normally.

• OGG Files. A sound file. The audio file plays normally.

• WMA Files. A Windows Media sound file. The audio file plays normally.

• PLAYLIST Files (lst, mu' and pls). This file is a command when it appears inside a list. Its
purpose is to load a new list and close the previous one. The new list will begin to play, beginning
with the first song.

• ROT Files. A list of sound files in rotation. It contains a list of tracks which play in the sequence
as created. The tracks repeat in sequence. If a file in the list fails to play, the sequence will
continue to the next file (failures noted in log file). The rotation file can contain any type of track
(wav, mp3, commands, rotations...).

• SEQ Files. Sequences sound files. It contains a list of tracks that play all followed when playing
the sequence. Like the rotations, the sequences can contain any type of tracks. They can be used
to program advertising blocks.

• STOP Command (files stop). Stops the playlist.

• PLAY Command (files play). Starts the playlist. The action is immediate.

• HUMIDITIY files. A sound file that says the humidity. In order to carry out this task, it is
necessary to have the files with the proper name format in the Humidity directory, located in the
folder ZaraRadio has created. The format of the files must be HUMXXX.mp3, where XXX is the
corresponding humidity. For example, HUM100.mp3 is an audio clip that states: "The humidity
is currently 100%".

• TEMPERATURE files. A sound file that says the temperature. In order to carry out this task, it is
necessary to have the files with the proper name format in the Temperature directory, located in
the folder ZaraRadio has created. The format of the files must be:

1. TMPXXX.mp3. This is a file that contains the audio clip for temperature XXX. For example,
TMP025.mp3 is an audio clip that will say "25 degrees".

2. TMPNXXX.mp3. This is a file that contains the audio clip for temperature XXX below zero.
For example, TMPN003.mp3 is an audio clip that will say "3 degrees below zero".

• TIME files. A sound file that says the time. Audio clips for hours and minutes must be properly
located in the TIME folder created by ZaraRadio. The name of the files must be:

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 1. MINXX.mp3. This file is an audio clip of minute XX. For example, MIN01.mp3 will contain
an audio clip that will say "one". These files are announced along with the audio clips for hours.

2. HRSXX.mp3. This file is an audio clip of hour XX. For example, HRS18.mp3 will contain
an audio clip that will say "6" for 12 hour format or “18” for 24 hour format. These files are
announced along with the audio clips for minutes.

3. HRSXX_O.MP3. This is an audio clip of hour XX o'clock. For example, HRS18_O.MP3 will
say "It’s 6 pm" for 12 hour format or “It’s 18 hundred hours” for 24 hour format. These differ
from the previous hour format in that these are for on-the-hour announcements.

• PAUSE (pause files). When playing, they cause a silence of a determined length. In order to
create pauses it is necessary to execute the command from the playlist menu. Its duration must be
specified between 0 and 3600 seconds.

• RANDOM TRACK (dir files). When played, a track is selected at random from the directory or
sub-directory thereof specified. The tracks are not repeated, that is to say, until they have all been
played. In order to create random tracks it is necessary to execute the command from the playlist
menu. If new files are added to the specified directory, they are automatically added to the
random list. The new files will be placed ahead of files already played.

• POST-IT (txt, htm and html files). Command that opens a window with a list of files as they play.
(haven’t figured out how this one works yet – may relate to “CurrentSong.txt” file found in the
ZaraRadio folder.)

• Executables and scripts (exe and bat files). Programs and subroutines placed in the playlist.

• LOAD EVENTS command (evt files). Loading another event file clears the current event list
replacing it with events specified by the event file loaded.

• Internet Streams (streaming files). Allows a compatible Internet audio stream in the playlist.

Create New Playlist

1. Press to create an empty list.

2. In order to add items to the list, press in the tool bar or click on Playlist>Add tracks...
This will open a window from which files can be selected. Standard Windows operations here
for selecting more than one file at a time by using either the Ctrl or Shift key.

3. It is also possible to Drag-And-Drop from the directory tree below the Upcoming Events list.
Simply select a file with the mouse and drag it to the desired position in the playlist.

Playlist Operation
• When the list is in STOP, there is always a track of green color. The green color indicates which
track is going to be played next. Therefore, pressing PLAY, the track marked in green color will
play.

• When the list is in PLAY, there is a track marked red in color. That is the track currently playing.
As above, the track green in color will be next.

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 • At any time it is possible to change which track will be next. To do this, double-click on a track
(unless the option is activated to play immediately with double-click, in which case it is necessary
to open the Media menu to make the change). Otherwise, you can right-click on the track with the
mouse and select “Mark as next”. Initially the track will be blue in color and then become green
in color indicating that it will play next.

• A track that is blue in color indicates that it is the object of the next selected action. Clicking on a
track will cause the track to be blue in color.

• Clicking on will stop the playlist after the current track (colored red) is finished.

Playlist Modes of Operation

The playlist can operate four different ways. These are selected from the drop-down box in the tool bar.

• Normal: The list plays sequentially and stops when the last track has finished.
• Repeat: The list plays sequentially and restarts after the last track has finished.
• Shuffle: Same as REPEAT, except it randomly rearranges the list before returning to play it.
• Manual: The selected song plays once. The list waits for the next command by the user.
• Random: It plays the list in random order, that is to say, the green marker moves to a track
randomly and plays it. It does not assure that the tracks are not repeated.

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Pop-Up Menu
The playlist has a Pop-up menu, which opens by right-clicking the mouse on the playlist. This is
basically a short cut to commonly used items from the Text bar and Tool bars. Simultaneously, the
track that is right-clicked is selected for the action selected in the Pop-Up menu.

Events
An event is a file that activates on schedule. Events are a useful way to play files or to execute
commands independent of the playlist. They can be used to program announcements, actions, etc.

This figure shows the list of upcoming events in the main window of ZaraRadio. The events display
15 minutes prior to activating.

Above the list of events are ICONS whose functions are:

1. PLAY: starts delayed events, that is to say, events that have not yet been started as they are
programmed to wait for a currently playing file to end.

2. DISCARD: removes an event held by a delay as described above.

3. ENABLE: activates or deactivates the loaded list of events.

4. SCHEDULE (clock): opens a window that allows defining, saving or loading events.

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In order to add events, click on the clock ICON. Doing this will open this window:

Each event has a check box that serves to activate or to deactivate the events individually.

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Create New Event
Click on NEW at the bottom of the event schedule to open this window:

The user defined parameters of an event are:

• Date and Time: Select the date and time at which the event will play for the first time. The
event will remain active until the date and time of expiration. If the expiration date and time
are left blank (default) the event will remain active.
• Periodicity: Setting date and time defaults to playing once per day. Selecting “Play every
hour” will do just that. Also, it is possible to program the event to play at selected hours.
Selecting “Other hours…” opens the following window:

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Here you can mark the hours desired. For any of the times (hours) selected, the minutes default to
whatever was selected for the start time.

• Event type: This can be a sound file, but also we can activate play or stop automatically, insert a
random track, a connection via satellite... the satellite command clears mute of the selected sound
card input for the amount of time shown in the field that is to the right.
• Delay mode: An event can be immediate or delayed. At the scheduled time of an event two
things can happen: if Maximum wait is selected, the event will not start until the currently playing
file finishes (if ZaraRadio is in stop, the event will not start until manually selecting Play); if
Immediate is selected, the currently playing file will be interrupted and the event will start (if
ZaraRadio is in stop, the event will cause ZaraRadio to play the event).
• Priority: Suppose the event is for a 30 minute program along with events every 5 minutes. With
this programming, after the 30 minute program there would be a backlog of 6 events. In order to
avoid this, ZaraRadio has a mechanism of priorities that discards events in these cases. An event
can have high or low priority. When an event is playing and it’s time for another event, two things
can happen:
o If the new event has a lower priority, the new event would be discarded and it would not
play.
o If the new event has higher priority or the same as the playing event, the new event would
be left in the list of next events until the conclusion of the present event.

• Maximum wait specifies how long an event can be delayed before being removed from the list of
events. For example, if a delayed event programmed to start at 13:15 has a Maximum wait of 5
minutes and cannot start by 13:20, it disappears from the window of next events and it does not
play this time.

Modify…
Click to modify one or more parameters of an event. It is necessary to have previously selected an event in
the list. The same action can be carried out by double-clicking on an event.

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Delete
Click to delete one or several events. In order to select several events, hold the CTRL key while events are
selected at random with the mouse. In order to select a block of events, click on an event and while holding
the SHIFT key, select the last event in the desired list.

Delete expirated
Events that have expired appear grayed out to indicate this fact. Clicking on Delete expirated will clear all
expired events from the list.

Open/Save
These two buttons are to open existing event files or to save the displayed event list respectively. In any
case, when closing ZaraRadio the current list of events is stored automatically by Windows and is restored
when ZaraRadio is restarted.

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Program Options

Clicking the Options ICON will open the options window. From here, you will be
able to manage:

• Fade
• Satellite port
• Sound Card outputs
• Logging
• Password
• Silence detector
• Mixer
• TTH
• Tags
• Talk Over
• General options

All users can view/modify these options unless password protected. Specific options,
located under “Password”, can be protected. As such, only un-protected options will be
viewed/modified unless the password is entered.

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OPTIONS-General

• Folder: allows changing the root folder displayed in the tree of files on the main
screen of ZaraRadio. Selecting “Special folder” checkbox provides a shortcut to
Windows locations.
• Station name: is the text that appears in the top tool bar of the main window.
• Language: Language of the user interface.
• Enable autostart: causes ZaraRadio to automatically PLAY the playlist when
the program is first opened.
• Enable AGC: automatic gain control that maintains output volume at a constant
level.
• Disable the events in secondary instances: when active it disables repeated
events.
• Open the last list at startup: if checked, Windows remembers the playlist that
was active when ZaraRadio was closed and reloads that list when ZaraRadio is re-
opened.
• Shutdown confirmation: when leaving the program, it asks the user if they
really want to quit the program. (Yes/No)
• Play tracks by double-clicking on them: by default, when double-clicking an
item in the playlist, the green marker moves to that item, indicating it is next up.
By activating this option, the track plays immediately when double-clicked, not
waiting for the currently playing track to end.

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OPTIONS-Talk over

Here you can set the level to reduce the currently playing track to when Talk over
is activated. Also, time to reduce the level can be set here.

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OPTIONS-Tags

By default, in the playlist are the names of the track files. Nevertheless, for MP3 files, it
is possible to show ID3 version 1 tags. In order to show them, simply check "Enable
tags". Type the desired info MACRO (listed below the box) into the Format box. The
tag info represented by the MACRO will appear in the playlist in the order listed in the
Format box.

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OPTIONS-TTH

Here you set temperature and humidity for announcement. ZaraRadio can import data
from the application "Weather Watcher" (requires version 5.6.6) or you can manually
enter values in the fields "Temperature" and "Humidity". Find it here:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/browse/Home&Personal/Weather

To use data from a weather application, check “Import from file” and type in the file path
to the data file generated by the weather application.

Select the appropriate Units (Celsius/Fahrenheit.) ZaraRadio will automatically convert

the weather data to this unit regardless of what unit the data currently is.

Configuring the application “Weather Watcher”

1. When opening the application you will see the following window:

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2. Click on the bottom ICON on the left side of the window.

3. The following window will be opened.

4. If the correct city is not listed in “Active City”, click on Add City.

5. The following window opens. Type in the desired city. In this example, we want to see data for Teruel,
so we type “Teruel” and click on "Search".

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6. Teruel is in the list and we click on "OK".

7. Back to the Weather Watcher Options window, click on the "Export" tab then click on “Enable
Exporter". We must also indicate the file path that ZaraRadio will use to look up the file.

Click "OK” completing the configuration. Now setup the file path to the file generated by Weather
Watcher as explained at the beginning of this section.

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OPTIONS-Mixer

You can use any Windows application audio sound card mixer. Type in the location of
the mixer program file or Browse for the location. When the mixer ICON on the top tool
bar of the ZaraRadio main window is clicked, the mixer application selected will open.

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OPTIONS-Silence detector

Detects periods of silence while playing tracks. When this happens, ZaraRadio jumps to
the next track. It does not activate in the case of a program crash, only when silence in
the playing track exceeds the time selected.

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OPTIONS-Password

Password allows the protection of common functions as well as events and plug-ins. If
“Enable protection” is checked and a password set, the user will be prompted for the
password when clicking on a protected item. Without the password, only a limited
number of items can be viewed and changed.

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OPTIONS-Log

Here you can enable logging and specify where the log files are saved. In these files,
ZaraRadio stores the time at which each file plays. Cued files are not logged. By default,
tracks that repeat are logged. Check “Log only when using the first instance” if you
don’t want repeated tracks logged.

You can type in the location for saving log files or browse for a location.

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OPTIONS-Outputs

Select the sound card to use for the Air output and Cue output. If you have only one
sound card output, both Air output and Cue output will be heard together.

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OPTIONS-Satellite

Here you select the sound card input for the "Satellite" audio. The selected input is
normally muted and un-mutes when a Satellite command is active. The input remains
un-muted for a time period specified when the command is set.

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OPTIONS-Fade

Affects overlapping and fading of tracks. There are two modes of operation:

• Detect the end of the song: In the last seconds of a track (value determined by the field to overlap
tracks) ZaraRadio will automatically detect volumes below the threshold indicated by the sliding
bar. At that point, the overlap will eliminate the end of a track that has a long fade out.
• Without detector. ZaraRadio will fade to the next song based solely on the selected time values.
This will permit the end of a track to play out regardless of the playback level.

By default, the value selected for overlapping applies to all tracks. Nevertheless, it is
possible to give a specific value of overlapping to each song. The file must be renamed
by adding ~n to the file name where “n” is an integer. For example, in the file
"Blues~1.mp3", one second will be the overlap value. “Detect the end of the song”
must be disabled for this to work. Decimal values normally can’t be used as part of the
file name. Exception- (Control Panel > Regional and Language Options - > Standards
and Formats - > Customize) change the decimal symbol to an allowed symbol.

Options "Fade on overlap" and "Fade on stop":

• Fade on overlap: When this option is active, ZaraRadio will fade the previous song whenever a
new one begins. When deactivated, the song overlaps but is not faded.
• Fade on stop: When activated, ZaraRadio will fade the playing track when STOP or NEXT is
clicked. Otherwise, playback simply stops.

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Text Buttons Menus
File

• New: creates a new empty list, closing the previous one.

• Open…: opens existing playlists previously saved.
• Save: saves the current playlist as named.
• Save as…: saves the current playlist allowing a new file name.
• Recent files: shows list of files opened recently.
• Exit: closes ZaraRadio.

Edit

• Copy: copy the selected tracks to the clipboard.

• Paste: places items on the clipboard into the playlist.
• Delete: eliminates selected playlist tracks. Remember that several can be selected simultaneously
using either CTRL or SHIFT.
• Delete all: eliminates all tracks from the playlist.
• Find…: opens a window that allows searching for items in the playlist.
• Find in folders: opens a window that allows file search for a given directory.

View

• Full path: shows the complete file path for files in the playlist.
• List font: allows changing the text font used in the playlist.
• Header in the list: select to show playlist column titles (song title, length).
• Song numbers: select to sequentially number the songs of the playlist.
• Update tree: refreshes the list of files below the list of next events. An update should be done
after changing the content of the hard disc.

Jingles

• 1 to 9: plays the selected audio clip.

• Time announcement: plays the current time (it is necessary to have the audio clips located in the
Time folder created by ZaraRadio).
• Temperature: plays the current temperature (it is necessary to have the audio clips located in the
Temperature folder created by ZaraRadio). Also, current temperature must be loaded manually at
the Tools>Options>TTH menu.
• Humidity: plays the current humidity (it is necessary to have the audio clips located in the
Humidity folder created by ZaraRadio). Also, current humidity must be loaded manually at the
Tools>Options>TTH menu.

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 o It is possible to automate the temperature and humidity changes by importing the values
from a weather service that provides compatible formats.
• Edit Jingles…: opens a window that allows changing Jingles assignments and lists. The actual
Jingle file is created with a sound recording program. Only the list or assignments are edited here.

Playlist

• Add tracks...: allows inserting new tracks into the playlist.

• Add stop command: adds the stop command below the selected (blue) track, or after the last track
listed if none is selected (blue.)
• Add time announcement: adds a time announcement below the selected (blue) track, or after the
last track listed if none is selected (blue.)
• Add temperature announcement: adds a temperature announcement below the selected (blue)
track, or after the last track listed if none is selected (blue.)
• Add humidity announcement: adds a humidity announcement below the selected (blue) track, or
after the last track listed if none is selected (blue.)
• Add random track...: opens a window that allows selecting a directory folder whose contents are
played randomly. ZaraRadio tracks which files are played to assure random, non-repeating play.
• Add pause...: adds a pause command (length selected in window that opens) below the selected
(blue) track, or after the last track listed if none is selected (blue.)
• Add satellite...: activates a sound card input by un-muting the input for a selected amount of time.
• Add internet stream...: starts an internet audio streaming file at the specified time.
• Shuffle: rearranges the list randomly.
• Cue: plays the selected (blue) track in a separate window player. This requires a second sound
card output to separate the Cue playback from the On Air playback.

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Media

• Play: begins to play the content of the playlist.

• Stop: stops the playlist.
• Next: plays the track marked in green and stops the track currently playing.
• Talk over: when clicked the local microphone input is un-muted and the playlist volume is
reduced to a preset level in a preset amount of time (fade) allowing you to talk over the program.
• Stop after current: The playlist stops after the current track is finished.
• Rename: allows changing the name of the file selected (blue) in the list. You can not rename a
file while it is playing.

Tools

• Mixer…: opens the mixer application specified in the options>mixer window.

• Plug-ins...: opens a window that allows adding and setup of DSP WinAmp plug-ins to ZaraRadio.
• Options…: opens a window allowing several ZaraRadio program options to be configured.

Programs

o Today’s log: displays a list of all items that have played from the playlist showing time,
date and file path. In the tools>options>log menu you can set the location for saved logs,
enable/disable logging and logging only the first instance of a track played.
o Log folder: opens the folder where logs are saved to allow quick access to log files.
o Edit: allows changing parameters that control logging functions.
1. $(LogDir): This macro obtains the directory where the log files are
stored.
2. $(NextFile): This macro obtains the complete path to the track marked green in
color.
3. $(LogFile): This macro is obtains the complete path to the current log file.

Help

• Contents…: shows this user manual (in Spanish) and links to 3 internet user sites.
• Tip of the day: how to suggestions of commonly asked questions.
• About ZaraRadio: shows ZaraRadio version, Authors, contact information and license.

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More Specific Help
The Jingles

The bottom tool bar has 9 buttons that allow quick access to Jingles (audio clips for immediate play.) In
addition, it is possible to store up to 10 different pages allowing quick access of 90 Jingles.

There are 3 ways to activate a Jingle:

1. The quickest way is to press a keyboard number. For example, to start the Jingle labeled
“Ham” (number 6 on the tool bar shown), simply press the number 6 on the PC keyboard.

2. Click on the number of the Jingle in the tool bar with the mouse.

3. Go to the menu Jingles and to choose the desired Jingle.

To modify the Jingle button assignments, there are two options. First, and simplest, is to drag with the
mouse a file from the file tree below the window of next events (or from Windows Explorer) to the button
you want to assign. The other way is to select Jingles>Edit Jingles…>. The following window appears:

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To change a button assignment, click on the desired button and click “Modify…” (or just double-click the
desired button.) A window opens that will allow selecting a sound file to assign to the button.

To save the current list of assignments or to open another saved list of assignments use the Open or Save
buttons. Each page of a list must be separately saved. Change active pages using the drop-down box at the
top.

Also, with the Cue button, you can preview the Jingles (remember a second sound card output is required
to keep the Cue playback separate from the On Air playback.)

The pages of the list can have text names also. Highlight the current name and type in a new one. Click on
Rename or press the ENTER key.

Jingles have two modes of operation, Normal and Loop. When Loop mode is selected the Jingle will
continue to repeat until the Jingle button is clicked a second time. To change the mode of operation, from
the Jingles>Edit Jingles menu you must right click on the desired button. A window opens to allow
toggling between Normal and Loop mode.

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Searching file folders

This allows you to look for files in a given folder or its subfolders.

• Find: In this field type the file you are looking for. If “Search in ID3 tags” is checked, you can
search by info included in these tags.
• Find now: starts the search process.
• Cancel: stops the search.
• Folder: file path of the folder to be searched.
• Browse: click to locate a folder if you don’t know the path.
• Search in ID3 tags: selects to search ID3 tags. The search is slower when this option is activated.

A list of files containing the search criteria will be displayed. You can drag-and-drop the files into the
playlist. You can preview the files by right clicking on a file which opens up a CUE BUTTON.
Remember, a second sound card output is needed to separate Cue playback from On Air playback.

The wildcard * is allowed to replace one or more characters in the file name or text to be searched.

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TTH announcements
ZaraRadio can announce the time, temperature and humidity automatically using pre-recorded audio clips.
These announcements are inserted into the playlist or event lists as commands. For this to work, the audio
clips must be located in the folders Time, Temperature and Humidity created when ZaraRadio was
installed. They are sub-directories of c:\Program Files\ZaraSoft\ZaraRadio.

Time Folder

This folder contains audio clips of the spoken hours and minutes. There are three types of files:

• HRSXX.mp3, where XX is the corresponding hour (from 00 to 23). These files must contain
audio clips that say something similar to "It’s XX". Example: the HRS02.mp3 file could say
“Time now, 2”. This will be followed by the minute file.
• MINXX.mp3, where XX is the corresponding minutes (from 00 to 59). These files must contain
audio clips that say only the number of the minute. Example: the MIN53.mp3 file would say
"53". When preceded by the hour clip you have “Time now, 2:53.”
• HRSXX_O.mp3 (the last character is the letter O, not a zero). This file must contain an audio clip
that says something like "It’s XX o'clock". Example: the HRS14_O.mp3 file would say “It’s
1400 hours” for 24 hour format or “It’s 2 PM” for 12 hour format. Minutes are omitted on the
hour when these files are present.

Temperature Folder

This folder contains audio clips of the spoken temperature. There are two types of files:

• TMPXXX.mp3, where XXX is the corresponding degrees (000 to 100, for example). You only
need to have audio clips for the anticipated range of temperatures. Depending on whether you use
Celsius or Fahrenheit the range of numbers will vary. For example, the TMP020.mp3 file could
say "We have a temperature of twenty degrees".
• TMPNXXX.mp3, where XXX is the corresponding degrees below zero (000 to 010, for example).
The TMPN002.mp3 file could say "We have a temperature of two degrees below zero".

Humidity Folder

This folder contains audio clips of the spoken humidity:

• HUMXXX.mp3, where XXX is the corresponding humidity (000 to 100). For example, the
HUM035.mp3 file could say "We have a humidity of 35%".

Several users of ZaraRadio have collaborated, providing these audio clips for us. At the websites listed in
the ZaraRadio Help file, you can locate User Forums where these pre-recorded audio clips may be found.

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The main window
The main window is divided in several parts:

• Bottom Toolbar:

PLAY: Starts the playlist at the current location.

STOP: Stops the playlist at the current location.

PAUSE: Pause the playlist at the current location.

NEXT: Advances the playlist to the next item.

REWIND: Moves the playback approximately 30 seconds backward.

FORWARD: Moves the playback approximately 30 seconds forward.

STOP AFTER CURRENT: Stops playback after the current item finishes.

TALK-OVER: Reduces the playback volume and opens the local microphone.
The amount of change in playback volume is set in the options menu as is the
time to fade the playback to that level. Look for “TALK-OVER” in the options.

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• Top Toolbar:

NEW: Clears the current playlist. The current track continues. Items can be added.

OPEN: Search for an existing playlist. Selected playlist replaces current playlist.

SAVE: Save the current playlist. Becomes active if current playlist is changed.

ADD: Opens file search box to add an item to the playlist.

DELETE: Removes playlist item currently highlighted in BLUE.

COPY: Copies the item currently highlighted in BLUE.

PASTE: Inserts the copied item below the item highlighted in BLUE.

FIND: Search the playlist for a specific item.

FIND IN FOLDERS: Search in folders to locate an item.

PLAYLIST MODE: Select how you want the playlist to operate.

MIXER: Opens the mixer program designated in the Tools>Options>Mixer window.

OPTIONS: Provides a means to select program options.

ABOUT: Provides info about the program version and online support.

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 • Playlist:

Displays tracks and other commands in the order to be played. Red-currently playing, Green-plays next,
Blue-selected for an action (not shown above.) The program length is shown for each item and the
complete program. Note that Random and other commands are not calculated as the exact file to play is
not known. Also, even where all items show a length, the total time will not be exact depending upon
overlapping of files if selected.

• Jingles:

Up to 90 Jingles are possible in one list. Click on Jingles in the Text bar for more details.

• Events:

This window will display events to occur in the next 15 minutes. Click the Clock ICON for details.

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 • Program Output display:

This display shows the currently playing track (red in the playlist) and the next up (green in the playlist.)
Bars L and R show the program stereo output levels. Also, a master level control located between the track
titles is available to adjust the program output level. Below the currently playing track title are two time
displays. The Remaining time counts-down time to end of the track. The End time refers to when the track
ends. Remember, this may not be exact due to overlapping of files if selected. The Clock ICON can be
clicked to manually output a time announcement. Current time is shown next to the Clock ICON.
Temperature and Humidity ICONS are also available to manually output those announcements also.

• Plug-ins

This window allows installing and enabling sound processing plug-ins. Currently, only WinAmp
DSP Plug-ins are compatible.

• Add…: opens a window that shows plug-ins located in the folder specified in the field
"Plug-ins directory".
• Configure…: opens the configuration window of the selected plug-in.

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 • Delete: eliminates the selected plug-in.
• Enable the plug-ins: activates or deactivates the plug-ins.

The order in which plug-ins process sound is from the top of list to bottom. To change this order,
use the arrows located on the right side of the window to move a selected plug-in up or down.

Warning:

Only plug-ins that do not alter the number of buffer samples are supported. In general, plug-ins
that do this will change the playback speed of a file. In addition, some plug-ins jeopardize the
stability of ZaraRadio. Finally, some plug-ins are not compatible with multiple file playback (more
than one file at a time.) This happens when files are overlapped or TTH announcements play
over a track already playing.

Comments:

The process of translating this document was time consuming. I have made best
guesses at grammatical errors that occurred from the translation in order to
produce text that made sense. As I could not test every option and feature as
explained in this document, there may be errors.

As you use this manual, if you encounter errors please email corrections to me at
[email protected] and I will correct them as time is available. When
blatant errors are corrected or after a sufficient number of minor errors are
corrected, I will make the corrected version available.

Thanks for you patience and I hope this manual is of benefit to all.

Robert B. Felmly - KA8FVW

MRAM 1500 kHz, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

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