Howdy Folks,
We’ve sure come a long way in the past few weeks. Thanks for sticking with me and enjoying the ride! This release is a pretty big one and I’m very excited to share it with you. Cut to the chase, and head over to the downloads page to grab your copy: https://groups.io/g/js8call/wiki/Download-Links
So, what’s new in 0.7? First of all, like I said in my last email, the app is now called JS8Call and the mode is called JS8. The primary reason for the name change is because the designers of FT8 (Franke and Taylor) asked me to. It was a stressful time, but water under the bridge. We have a new app and a new mode and their “blessing” 😉 I’ll be petitioning to the ADIF group for inclusion in their mode tables now that 0.7 is out in the world.
Unfortunately, because the name changed, you’ll have to recreate your configuration. But, you can also copy your old one (FT8Call.ini) to the new location (JS8Call.ini). Those are usually stored in ~/.config on Linux and C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\ on Windows.
Next up…I designed a pretty neat message compression for standard QSO text. This is HUGE, in my opinion. It will allow most messages to be sent in much less time. There’s a counter that displays in the bottom your words per minute. Here’s an example:
Yes…that’s right. This message compression allows us to transmit at up to >20WPM on some sentences! Some will transmit slower, some faster. But, it seems that 15WPM is about average. I can definitely have a conversation at 15WPM (I do on CW all the time :P)… can you?
Next up, there’s a new “selective calling” (SELCALL) mode that you can enable. When enabled, it basically acts like a filter, preventing ALLCALL and BEACONs from being displayed in your RX text area. When enabled, only directed messages to you will be displayed. Along with this, is a new GROUPCALL callsign you can transmit to. It works like ALLCALL, except it will only be printed at stations that are within 100Hz of you. So, if you want to create a round table discussion with a few of your friends, QSY to within 100Hz from each other and send: “GROUPCALL HEY FRIENDS!”
I mentioned this a few emails ago (and posted a video about it), but I’ve also created a way to manually synchronize your clock time (an adjust your clock drift, if necessary). It’s not designed to be used as your primary means of synchronization (you should use NTP or GPS for that if you have it available). But, if you’re portable and do not have an accurate time reference, you can use it to sync your time to a station you can hear (or a watch, or wwv, or …):
Another interesting change in 0.7 is this next one,,. I have created a new automatic “BEACON ACK” reply to be sent when you have BEACON mode enabled. It basically works as an automated “ALLCALL?” when you BEACON. This allows you to not have to send “ALLCALL?” manually any more. Just BEACON instead.
With this… stations who reply to you are now marked specially in the heard list so you can find them easily:
That’s the benefit of BEACON ACK. All of that happens without intervention from you while you’re BEACONing. Very cool.
A couple other things:
* Macros are renamed to Saved Messages.
* You can now save a message you’ve typed into the TX textbox without having to go into your settings.
* The TX watchdog is renamed to idle watchdog to be more clear with it’s intent (and a few bugs with it fixed). If turned on, it’ll prevent transmissions when you’ve been idle for more than N minutes. Useful if you don’t want your station transmitting after you step away.
* Better buffering of messages while a station drifts more than a few Hz during message transmission.
* And a ton of bug fixes!
Overall. I’m really excited to provide this release to y’all today. It’s my present to you on my birthday today 🙂
Anyway. I hope to see y’all on the bands. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you in the meantime.
Cheers!
Best,
Jordan / KN4CRD
—
Full changelog from 0.6.5 to 0.7.2:
Jordan Sherer (109):
Fixed split rig offset bug during restore freq
Added new CQ parsing to be more intuitive
Initial commit of manual clock drift syncronization
Added menu item to show time drift controls
Bump to 0.7.0
Fixed show/hide default for time drift
Updated costas to actually be a costas array. See 7x7 array enumeration here:http://jameskbeard.com/jameskbeard/Files.html#CostasArrays
Added methods to grab default huff tables
Renamed macros to saved messages. Added menu and buttons for quick access to all messages configured
Added automatic BEACON acknowledgment and BEACON REQ commands
Fixing some APRS packet structures
Removed aprs.py
Started basic selcal functionality
Ripped out a bunch of fox mode crap
Fixed bug in synchronizer with empty audio frames (hopefully)
Cleaning up stopTx
Renamed Runaway Tx to Idle Watchdog
Added drift offset to UTC label
Removed legacy UDPExamples
Removed WSJT-X executables that are not needed
Turned off SELCAL until I can figure out an operating pattern
Added column hiding for band and call activity
Labeling
Disabled menu item for ALLCALL SNR query
Added callsign to directed button
Added Joe
Added indicators for callsigns who can hear you
Added ack sorting
We do not need these null checks
Allow ini overide
Turn off tx before remembering our tune settings
Added directed menu to the edit context menu
Bump EOL and message
Deselect callsign after 1 hour
Do not have the palette button as the default
Fixed packet format for APRS
Woops. Extra class qualifier.
Initial commit of SCDC compression
Added static built data list
Working through compression implementation for data frames
Only update count for send button if the text box is dirty
Added background thread to compute message frames
Add Tuple struct with precomputed inverse index
Updated jsc list and map definitions
Updated JSC list
Tweaking list and map
Optimizing list and map
Optimizing list and map
Removed debounce comment
Added better debounce logic for text counting
APRS call cache
Fixed color of the send button when issued a directed cmd
Added fallback huffman table for basic text packing
Buffer all directed free text
Added QRZ short command
Added menus to the context menus
Do not start at < 1000Hz
Don’t buffer if its a directed command and its the last frame (unless it’s a compound call)
Hide allcall when selcal enabled
Do not transmit if callsign isnt selected in selcal mode
UI Tweaks for sanity:
Merge branch ‘ft8call-costas’ into ft8call-develop
Removed CRC mod
Beacon between 500Hz and 1000Hz
Removed block for lower frequencies, but keeping the orange caution
Draw warning on the upper edge of the band
Add beacon option to transmit anywhere
Extracted function to write messages to log file
Mode name is now JS8
Updated README
Cleanup old files, documentation, samples, and other remnants
Rename INSTALL
Remove extraneous files
General cleanup
JS8 Mode
Rename to JS8Call
Rename in JSC codebooks
Window title
Fix revisiontag target
Remove foxcom for OSX
Remove foxcom
Remove UDP_EXPORT
Remove UDP_NO_EXPORT
Fixed bug with send button not disabling on text clear
Default to 2 bins per pixel
Make sure costas is completely updated
Turn off counting to start…
Smaller dictionary. Realtime text computation
Fix button label
SELCAL should restore band activity
Mark beacon sub-channel in waterfall
Fix beacon grids
Fixed send button highlight
Widen grid column
Added drift protection in message buffers. Up to 10Hz per 15-second transmission cycles
Bump to v0.7.1
Don’t close the app when expired…just keep reminding
GROUPCALL easter egg
Fix SELCAL button band activity table restoration
Added a groupcall row while in selcal mode to replace ‘allcall’
Added save directory. Tweaked groupcall Hz
Changed SELCAL label to SELCALL
Fixed truncated grid issue
Only one beacon ack per frame
Added groupcall to compound parsing.
Bump to 25Hz buffer
Bump to 0.7.2
Move EOL to Oct 31
Fixed window frame on windows
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