Two new windows on the View menu show receive antenna patterns overlaid on the great circle map image and terminator. These windows specifically support my antennas and the hardware I use for selecting the antennas. The new menu items are disabled unless you have the relevant hardware — Green Heron Everyware wireless cable — and you manually specify its USB address in your SkookumLogger preferences file. The receive antenna pattern preferences have been removed from the Great Circle Map preference pane, which now shows only a nominal (60° main lobe) pattern associated with the antenna rotator.
The call sign parser has a new special case: when the call string has a single / character and there is a single digit following the /, then the first digit in the string before the / is replaced by the trailing digit and the last two characters of the original string are discarded. For example, UAØIT/6 becomes UA6IT. The modified call string is used only to deduce the multiplier for the call. For example, K5ZD is the "K5" multiplier in WAEDC inside Europe, while K5ZD/1 is the "K1" multiplier. The implementation is simplistic but I think adequate: it does not do what you might expect if the call has multiple digits.
SkookumLogger was reading all exchange-guessing files at startup. Now, an exchange-guessing file is loaded only when a log is opened for a contest type that uses that file.
The Winkeyer gap character ("|") was being ignored instead of inserting a half-dit space. Thanks K1ESE.
In WAEDC, countries that aren't ARRL DXCC entities but are WAE entities were not being recognized, even though they were present in the Region Multipliers Checksheet for outside-Europe entrants. Thanks JH5GHM.
Utility windows are hidden when the Preferences window is open, so that they do not obscure the larger preferences panes.
Grabbing SSB spots on bands where LSB is the normal mode was alternately setting the radio to USB mode. Thanks G6NHU.
Utility windows are hidden when the Log settings sheet is open, so that they do not obscure the sheet on small monitors. Thanks GØDVJ.
The "Do you want to close the log" confirmation dialog buttons are now labeled Yes and No, and No is the default. Thanks GØDVJ.
Utility window positions were being lost across Log close/reopen cycles when more than one utility window was open as the log was closed. Thanks GØDVJ.
The QTC Series number for the next transmitted QTC Series wasn't always one greater than the last-sent QTC under various circumstances. Thanks JH5GHM.
Log ▶ Reset now also removes all QTCs from the log for WAEDC logs.
Support for the New York QSO Party for entrants in New York. This contest has two kinds of multipliers: region, which are US states (including New York) and Canadian provinces, and other, which are New York counties. Text completion in the Info field (option-escape) lists codes from both multiplier lists. Needs testing!
A "Do you really want to do that" alert before closing a log. This saves a bit of frustration if you happen to use command-W to close the Morse Keyboard window, for example, when the Log window has keyboard focus. The default is No, so you can tap the return key to quickly get back to contesting.
Removed too-clever code that attempted to reuse the custom text entry fields for QSO data entry in the Sent Exchange fields of the Log Setttings sheet. That code was fighting against the framework in numerous ways that interfered with expected behavior in the settings sheet. Now, tabbing from field-to-field behaves as expected: changes in the current field are applied and keyboard focus moves to the next field in the sheet's tab order. Similarly for shift-tab, to navigate in the reverse order. Pressing enter applies changes but does not change keyboard focus. Four of the sent exchange fields, Call, Club Status, Info, and Precedence are forced to uppercase; otherwise the content of these fields is accepted as typed. It is the user's responsibility to enter information that makes sense. Also, it remains important to tap return or tab to apply changes in a text field before clicking the Done button. Thanks JH5GHM.
Revised appearance and behavior for all utility windows, again. A utility window has a narrow title bar, a subtle shadow, and is always in front of non-utility windows. Utility windows are opened via items in the View menu. Opening an already-open utility window brings it to the front in window-layering order. Most Utility windows do not grab keyboard focus when opened, as indicated by grayed-out title bar. To close a utility window, click the close button, or press command-W or escape if the window has keyboard focus. To focus a utility window, click its title bar.
In the YODX contest, the Info field was being auto-filled with a hypen instead of being left empty, ready to accept either a Romanian district code or a serial number. The corresponding help tag was also incorrect.
Added YODX HF Contest, for entrants outside Romania.
WD7K has contributed support for ICOM radios, models IC-756 Pro and IC-9100.
Each of the four Type popup menu buttons in the Serial preference pane now has a help tag. Hover over the button to see the tag, which presents the serial port properties that SkookumLogger expects for the selected device.
The QTC tables now use the Menlo font, to show slashed zeros.
Sent QTCs are identified in QTC tables by changing the text color from black to gray.
The Notes section of the SkookumLogger web site is gradually accumulating pages of the "hints-and-kinks" ilk.
When you press the escape key, in addition to stopping any Morse message sending, SkookumLogger resets the Magic Message phase to begin for both run and pounce modes.
When you navigate into the call field using keyboard keys (tab or spacebar), SkookumLogger resets the Magic Message phase to begin for the active mode (run or pounce).
Note: In general it is a Bad Idea to use the mouse to choose which data entry field has keyboard focus.
The Morse ▶ Keyboard Mode item has moved to View ▶ Morse Keyboard. The menu item is disabled unless a Winkeyer is connected, and the window title has changed to Morse Keyboard. The window itself now behaves like a standard Mac OS X main window. That is, choosing the the menu item opens the window if necessary and makes it the key window, meaning that the window is in front and handles keyboard key presses. Closing the window (use File ▶ Close or click the window's close button) makes the previous key window the current key window. So, you can toggle between the Morse Keyboard window and either the Log window or a QTC window and have keyboard focus end up where you want it to be.
Support for QTCs in the WAEDC contest has been massively modified. Consult WAE QTCs for details.
QTC series in Cabrillo export are now chronologically ordered.
The shortcuts for items on the Morse Menu have been removed because they interfered with text-editing behavior expected by experienced emacs users. Thanks JH5GHM.
The source of mode and frequency information for QTC series has been changed internally to the same source used for QSOs, to avoid a possible inconsistency when operating with a misbehaving radio interface. Thanks JH5GHM.
When selecting radio types for either ICOM or Kenwood radios in the Serial preferences pane, the change request was being ignored if the previous selection was a radio of the same manufacture, due to a PMO.
When grabbing a phone mode activity, the radio mode was sometimes being set improperly. Thanks, G6VHU.
WAEDC Cabrillo output had the sender's call in the received-by call field of QTC records.
The token {3 in the pounce continue message caused his call to be sent unconditionally when the Correct mode preference was active. Thanks GØDVJ.
The ***INCOMPLETE*** status message was being overwritten by QTC information, caused some consternation when the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs preference was active.
The change in 1.2.4 to accept 0 as a valid serial number caused undesirable side-effects, such as displaying a serial number for contest types that have no serial numbers. The change has been reverted. You can enter 0 as the serial number, and it will be exported as zero to Cabrillo files, but it will not be displayed in the Log table.
As of this release, the K1GQ web site has been rebuilt and rehosted. If you are downloading from the old site, choose SkookumLogger ▶ Check for Updates… to be sure you have the latest version.
The WAEDC contest has an odd rule that requires you to set the serial number to zero if the station you worked didn't send you a serial number. Of course, 0 is not a valid serial number, and SkookumLogger had validation code to that effect. I've changed that code to accept serial number values of zero or greater to accomodate. Thanks JH5GHM.
The radio mode for the Pounce data entry box wasn't being initialized, exposing the possibility of creating a log entry with no mode. Thanks GØDVJ.
The QTC window is now available after setting up a WAEDC log without restarting SkookumLogger. Thanks JH5GHM.
Construction of the list of QTCs to transmit was confused, sometimes missing available QSOs not yet sent as QTCs. Thanks JH5GHM.
Activities created from internet spots now infer mode from frequency using a table of phone sub-band lower edges for the 10 bands supported by SkookumLogger. The built-in table is based on the ARRL “US Amateur Radio Bands” chart. You can override the table with a plain-text file named PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt in the application support directory.
When you grab an activity, the radio mode is now changed if the radio mode is different from the activity’s mode. When changing to phone mode, LSB is set if the frequency is less than 14 MHz, otherwise USB. When changing to CW mode, UCW is set. If you change the radio mode yourself, the changed mode applies to the active QSO data entry box only. A manual mode change when Pounce is active does not affect the inferred mode for an activity that might have been transferred into that box.
Added support for Elecraft KPA500 amplifier (on/off and standby/operate).
Added support for the North American QSO Party, requested by K5ND.
The Internet preference pane has a new checkbox, Ignore band-edge DX announcements. The preference is checked by default to match prior behavior, which prints such announcements to the Console log and otherwise ignores them.
Revised internet “DX de” announcement parsing to handle the case of a missing colon after the source call. DX Spider nodes seem to omit this delimiter when the source call has 7 characters. SkookumLogger now digests the announcement normally instead of discarding it.
The Windows menu is gone, the “open...WithLog” Logging preferences are gone, and nearly all utility windows are now toggled open and closed using items on the new View Menu. The View menu has four sections. The top section lists windows that are always available. The next section lists windows that are available only when a Log window is open. The third section, listing multiplier checksheets, also requires an open Log window, and only items pertinent to the Log’s contest are enabled. Finally, the last group lists contest-specific items.
The positions, sizes, and visibility states of utility windows are remembered and restored when you quit and restart SkookumLogger. The positions, sizes, and visibility states of Log-dependent utility windows are remembered when you close a Log window, and pertinent utility windows are restored when you open another Log window.
Don’t update the QSO Information string when the received call field is empty, to prevent spurious displays like “Excluded Multiplier.” Thanks GØDVJ.
The content of the Info data entry field is now unconditionally validated before logging a QSO, possibly causing the content to be refined. For example, an empty Info field is converted to a hyphen in the IOTA contest, and an IOTA reference with less than three digits is converted to canonical form. Previously, there were scenarios involving Magic Message that failed to perform the validation. This change also allows you to enable the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs preference and successfully log QSOs with initially-empty Info fields.
The Morse exchange message corresponding to the sent exchange defined in Log Settings now excludes the hyphen character. The hyphen is used in the Info field of sent exchanges to indicate “not applicable” in contests where the field applies for some entrants and not for other entrants, like IOTA.
In some circumstances, SkookumLogger was retrieving an empty string as the sent call, making it seem that Morse messages containing the sent call token, “~”, were not being sent.
The Run data entry box is now unconditionally the initially-active box when SkookumLogger starts running.
State management for both Beacon CQ mode and for Morse keyboard mode was getting confused in some usage scenarios.
The support for Kenwood TS-590S radio added in 1.2.2 broke support for the TS-850SAT radio. Thanks JH5GHM.
The time stamp for QSOs entered in paper logging mode wasn’t be set from the UTC picker. Thanks N6GQ.
Customizations to the Morse message template made in the Log settings sheet were being discarded each time a log was reopened. Thanks GØDVJ.
In the IOTA contest, if the iota reference field is empty when you hit return, SkookumLogger substitutes a hyphen character, so that you can quickly log non-island QSOs with the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs preference enabled.
Added support for the IOTA Calls.txt file used with N1MM logger. Place a copy of that file in your Application Support/SkookumLogger file. The file has both specific callsigns and iota references by DXCC country code for single-island countries like FM.
Added support for the Kenwood TS-590S radio. Tested by G6NHU.
In the IOTA contest, QSOs with malformed iota references, such as activities, caused silent errors in computing QSO points that caused subsequent bizarre behavior. Thanks G6NHU.
Added support for WAEDC, including QTCs. See the updated Guide for details. Special thanks to GØDVJ for quite a bit of interactive (via iChat) testing as we developed workable QTC user interfaces for both sides.
Added support for QRP-ARCI QSO Party contest. The contest has report, location, and member fields. Type state or province code into the location field, or skip over it to accept the pre-filled country code. Type ARCI member number or power in the member field. Member numbers are distinguished from powers by the presence of a “W” in the latter case. Scoring lacks application of the entrant’s power-level multiplier; do that yourself when you submit the log. Use File ▶ Export Cabrillo to get a text file listing your QSOs. Requested by WF4I.
Added Support for RSGB 2m and 70cm Low Power Contests, under the label RSGB Low Power Contest. Requested by GØDVJ.
Added IOTA reference exchange-guessing for the IOTA contest, using a database provided by GØDVJ.
For a QSO on 4m, 2m, or 70cm, the locator for a call now excludes lookup in cty.dat. When a locator cannot be determined for a call, the bearing, distance and locator fields are omitted from the QSO Information string, and SkookumLogger does not try to turn your antenna when the Automatically turn rotator option is checked. Thanks GØDVJ.
Messages ▶ Magic Message now behaves differently depending on which data entry well is active. Associated with this change, the definition of Morse messages has been modified substantially. See the updated Guide for details. Thanks GØDVJ.
Many, but not all, contests supported by SkookumLogger use the “Info” data entry field to capture part of the exchange. The expected content for this field varies from contest to contest. SkookumLogger now displays a customized help tag when you hover the mouse cursor over an Info entry field. For example, for the RSGB Low Power contest the help tag is “District Code,” while for the IARU HF Championship the help tag is “ITU Zone/IARU Society.” The Info data entry field always accepts a hyphen character, indicating that the information does not apply for that QSO, so that you can use the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs option (which blocks on any empty data field). For example, in the RSBG Low Power contest, QSOs with stations that do not have UK district codes are valid.
Previously, highlighting of the Run and Pounce buttons was your primary clue for identifying the active QSO data entry well. Now, the buttons are replaced by text labels and the background color of the active well is the indicator. Thanks, W2RU.
Several keyboard shortcuts have been changed. As always, look at the menu items to see their shortcuts, and modify them to suit yourself in your System Keyboard Preferences.
The Morse Keyboard window now shows WinKeyer version number.
The Automatically turn rotator feature now tests whether or not the rotator has already been instructed to turn to a particular heading, and if so does not repeat the instruction. This prevent quite a bit of relay clatter with the SARTEK controller. Thanks GØDVJ.
The computation of Morse CQ message duration, used when Beacon CQ is active, was confused when the token for sent call (‘~’) was present in the message definition.
The Morse message token for sent signal report (‘^’) was always expanded to ‘5NN’. Now it is expanded to the content of the active QSO data entry sent report field, with ‘9’ characters replaced by ‘N’ characters.