I've overhauled the code that supports the Network Grid as well as the layout and content.

For the layout and content, I've changed the pages so there are more networks included overall, and they are spread across more pages. That means there are now 8 pages of networks instead of 4, but fewer stations per page, so hopefully it's easier to read. There are now five pages of English-language networks, two pages of Spanish-language networks, and one page of other foreign-language networks.

On the code side, suffice it to say that it's much neater and tidier on the back end, and it means updates to the layout and content should be a LOT easier in the future. To give a sense of the improvement, the size of the code shrunk from 76KB to 25KB, even with more networks included overall and double the number of available pages of networks.

Additionally, a few weeks ago, I did an optimization that improved the load time on the Network Grid from 15-90 seconds (depending) to about 1 second. Suffice it to say I'm a lot happier with it now than I've ever been.

Let me know if you have questions, comments, or suggestions.

I'm sure this is the update everyone was waiting for--I've added three more Rush quotes to the rotation at the bottom of the pages.

For those who want to see the full set, here they are.

"Bright antennae bristle with the energy..." - Rush "The Spirit of Radio"
"Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand..." - Rush "Witch Hunt"
"If I could wave my magic wand, I'd make everything alright..." - Rush "Presto"
"Everybody got to deviate from the norm..." - Rush "Vital Signs"
"In a world where I feel so small, I can't stop thinking big!" - Rush "Caravan"
"Cruising in primetime, soaking up the cathode rays...!" - Rush "Between the Wheels"
"Art as expression, not as market campaigns, will still capture our imagination." - Rush "Natural Science"
"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice!" - Rush "Freewill"
"He picks up scraps of conversation, radio and radiation..." - Rush "Digital Man"
"And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them..." - Rush "The Weapon"
"The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect..." - Rush "The Garden"
"Clockwork angels, the people raise their hands... as if to fly..." - Rush "Clockwork Angels"
"Invisible airwaves crackle with life..." - Rush "The Spirit of Radio"

This is a note that I will be out of town and away from my keyboard until the middle of next week. I may find a bit of time here and there to work on things, but spent yesterday on a plane and am now several time zones away from home. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while.

While I moved most of the underlying FCC database-driven things on RabbitEars from CDBS to LMS about a year and a half ago, the CDBS facility table had remained in place rather than the new LMS facility table. That has now been remedied. It's not 100% finished, as particularly the Network Grid and the Statistics pages need a lot of work that I've yet to do. I'd say I'm more than 80% there, across the board, on the move to LMS. Some things definitely need some more polish, and if you come across something that doesn't work properly, please either comment here or e-mail me with a link to the page in question and a brief description of what's wrong. (I'm aware of the problem with the TSID page, just haven't done anything about it yet.)

I'm also working toward a new TVFool-like search function. I've shown a few people a new map-driven search page, and after some thought, I've decided to rewrite the actual search code as well, in an effort to speed it up. I don't know how long this will take, but I have the basic code design figured out, and it should help. I just need to implement it, which is of course the hard part.

On a semi-related note, are there people who use the Statistics page, or the various Advanced pages? I'm trying to figure out if there are things I can discontinue, as some of the maintenance is pretty hard on some of these things, and I don't really use them. So if nobody else does... (For the record, I am definitely keeping the Network Grid, just that it needs a complete overhaul as it is one of the slowest pages on the site. I want to do a complete overhaul and upgrade at once rather than upgrade it and then overhaul it.)

As you may have noticed, with the exception of the Live Bandscan which I didn't code, pretty much every map on the site is now off of Google Maps except for the main set of coverage maps designed for individual stations. Unfortunately, I have to reproject all 57,000+ (that's 25+ GB) Longley-Rice coverage maps for display in the new format. As such, I'm currently packing them up to download to a powerful local computer, where I intend to do the reprojection offline. I expect to start that reprojection later today, and anticipate it will take at least two days, probably more. When that is finished, I'll upload them back up to the server and make the move.

I considered reprojecting the maps on the server, but a test case took 29 seconds, during which the server was sluggish. When I ran it on the local computer, it took less than 10 seconds. Suffice it to say, I concluded the local computer was the superior option.

While packing and unpacking are in process, the server may be slow as the tar command is/will be hogging the hard drive. Additionally, I plan to make no new coverage maps (or move existing ones from permits to new licenses) while the reprojection is occurring, lest I have to make modifications to a handful of individual map files after the fact.

The good news in all of this is that I've been planning to make a backup of the maps for several months anyway.

EDIT (November 3, 2018 at 5:26PM ET): And, it's done. All the maps, except for the Live Bandscan, should now be off of Google Maps. If you come across a map that still uses Google Maps, please let me know so I can correct it.