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