1.7.x Release Notes

1.7.26 2014.06.08

Note

This will be the last release until after WRTC 2014 in July, excepting bug-fix releases.

New features

Activities created by yourself (“spotted by me”) are added to a list that is searched by the check partials function. Now, calls that you type into a call entry field are matched against calls in the current log, calls in the spotted-by-me list, and (except for WRTC 2014) calls in the SCP database. The list is transient; it is empty each time you start SkookumLogger. Thanks JH5GHM.

Changes

The SCP database is now reloaded after downloading. Previously, the downloaded file wasn’t used until SkookumLogger restarted.

Support for CWops “call history file” and for the special “UBN” report has been removed.

Credit for SCP in the About window have been updated to show the new maintainer.

The “Main receive frequency change creates activity” Wizardry option now also clears the QSO entry fields. As before, this option applies only when the Pounce QSO entry box is active. Thanks JH5GHM.

SkookumLogger no longer strips “/P” from calls before adding them to activity tables.

Misfeatures fixed

The Locator checksheet wasn’t showing counts for single-band contests. Thanks GØDVJ.

1.7.25 2014.05.27

New features

The new command Log ▶︎ Merge With Peer ▶︎ <other station name> adds QSOs from the peer’s log that are not already in your log into your log, then rescores your log. For example, you can use this command to make two logs the same by running the command on one of the pair of computers and then on the other computer. Of course the command requires that you have at least two computers running SkookumLogger and communicating via SkookumNet. The command typically takes about 3 seconds to complete for logs with 1500 QSOs.

Changes

The special case for identifying the USA HQ station in the IARU HF Championship (and WRTC 2014) looks for the call W100AW instead of W1AW.

Misfeatures fixed

Radio ▶︎ VFOs ▶︎ B Down had no effect. Thanks WD7K.

The xml message for posting scores in WRTC 2014 was broken by recent code “improvements".

A very unusual malformed call was causing a crash in string handling.

1.7.24 2014.05.14

New features

ICOM updated firmware to support some RIT/XIT functionality. This releases enables toggling RIT and XIT on and off, and clearing the offset. Thanks WD7K.

SkookumLogger now supports the IC-756ProII radio. Thanks JH5GHM and WD7K.

Changes

MicroHam support code has been edited to remove unnecessary console messages. Thanks WD7K.

Misfeatures fixed

Tests for malformed messages from FT950 radios now prevent SkookumLogger crashes when another application tries to use the same serial port. Thanks GØDVJ.

SkookumLogger wasn’t disconnecting WinKeyer before quitting, improperly leaving WinKeyer in host mode. Thanks W6UB.

1.7.23 2014.05.08

Misfeatures fixed

Typo in 1.7.22 release notes; the TS-590 (not TS-950) no longer uses hardware flow control. Thanks JH5GHM.

Code for checking duplicates in the case of a rover entrant in a QSO party was dysfunctional. At present only New England QSO Party In New England has this feature.

Editing a QSO in a SkookumNet configuration with two or more instances of SkookumLogger was incorrectly incrementing the next serial numbers for all network members except the member that performed the edit. Thanks JH5GHM.

Notes Regarding Serial Numbers

SkookumLogger has a simple scheme for keeping track of your next serial number which works well as long as only one instance of SkookumLogger is logging QSOs. When two or more instances are adding QSOs to the same log, then:

In principle, log-checkers should care only that your log contains the information that you actually transmitted, so duplicate sent serials numbers shouldn't matter. I have, however, encountered anal robots which insist that sent serials start at 1 and increase in steps of one for every QSO.

To be sure you are sending the right serial number when replying to a request for fill, make the sent exchange column of your log visible and send the number for the appropriate QSO.

Some categories in some contests have more complex rules regarding serials numbers. For example, multi-transmitter categories in CQ WPX require separate serial number sequences for each band. That level of complexity is not supported in SkookumLogger.

1.7.22 2014.04.28

New features

SkookumLogger now presents a Service named Focus QSO Entry on the standard OS X Services menu. Choosing this menu item makes SkookumLogger the active application and focuses the most-recently-focused QSO data entry field. The effect is the same as Log ▶︎ Focus QSO Entry, except that it works whether or not SkookumLogger is the active application.

You can assign a shortcut for the new Service menu item in your System Keyboard preferences, Shortcut tab. Select the Services item in the left-hand list and the Focus QSO Entry item is the right-hand list. I use F10 as my shortcut.

If SkookumLogger finds a file named clublog.scp in its Application Support folder at startup, it will add the calls in the file to the internal SCP database. Calls longer than 10 characters are ignored. Using this feature will significantly slow down SkookumLogger startup, as the clublog database has more than 200,000 calls.

Changes

When Immediate Morse Mode is active (caps lock is on), typing a message-related special key now send the message instead of the morse character. Thanks W2RU.

Generic QSO Party now has “multiplier” tracking, where a multiplier is whatever you type into the received exchange Info field. These multiplier codes show up in the Other check sheet. QSOs are per-band and per-mode, multipliers are per-band. QSOs with the same call and different multiplier code are not duplicates.

SkookumLogger no longer uses hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) for the TS-590 radio. Thanks JH5GHM.

Misfeatures fixed

WinKeyer Preferences was setting PTT delays too large by a factor of 10. This bug has existed since the very first public release of SkookumLogger.

Call sign parsing has changed to extract correct calls from garbage spots like W1AW/4/SC. 

1.7.21 2014.04.09

Changes

Internal efforts to discover the cause of mysterious radio comm failures are on-going. Please send me email if you discover a reproduceable issue with radio control.

Processing to drop old activities is now performed in a background thread to prevent stalling UI and serial comm.

OS X 10.9 has a built-in kernel extension for FTDI-based USB-serial adapters. Information about this has been added to SkookumLogger Help.

Misfeatures fixed

SkookumLogger now correctly determines prefixes for portable calls that start with a digit. Example: prefix for 8N1FUJI/1 was 1N1, is now 8N1. Thanks JH5GHM.

At startup, the radio mode for both Run and Pounce are now set from the radio mode. Thanks JH5GHM.

When the Pass Information window is first opened, the mode chooser is set to the mode of the active QSO entry box. If the logging window hasn’t been set up yet (which can happen when you restart SkookumLogger after quitting with the Pass Information window open), then the mode chooser is set based on the mode category in the log’s Cabrillo settings. Thanks JH5GHM.

The RIT/XIT Up and Down commands for the TS-950SDX were broken. Thanks W2RU.

The poll rate for the TS-950SDX has been reduced to prevent sluggish response to some commands. Thanks W2RU.

The “to” pane in the DX Cluster window was broken; typing was accepted but not displayed.

SkookumLogger now has added logic for Region multipliers that accounts for the “can’t be a multiplier because I’ve worked them all” case. Thanks GØDVJ.

The Regions check sheet now remembers column sizes across restarts. Thanks GØDVJ.

The Statistics report now has an added line below the Off Times table that prints the total on time. Thanks GØDVJ.

1.7.20 2014.03.23

Misfeatures fixed

Prevent a crash at startup on some versions of OS X. Thanks HB9CEY.

1.7.19 2014.03.21

Notes

The changes to DX Cluster in 1.7.18 have confused some users. The Notes page here has been updated to provide more details.

New features

Help ▶︎ SkookumLogger Help opens a standard Help book in Apple’s Help Viewer. It isn’t pretty and probably lacks important information, but it’s a start.

The terminator boundary overlay on the great circle map now has a fuzzy region on each side depicting the extent of a “grayline” spanning 30 minutes on each side of the terminator. Thanks W2RU.

The rate bars in Rate Tracker now have overlays showing their numerical values. Thanks GØDVJ.

Changes

The WinKeyer speed pot limits are now honored when setting sending speed via SkookumLogger commands.

The custom version of ORSSerialPort has been merged with version 1.0.2 of the public code. 

The Delete item in the logging table context menu has been moved to the end, where it is less likely to be accidentally selected. Thanks W2RU.

The partials list is now updated when SkookumLogger autofills Pounce from activities.

The Generic Serial and Generic Grid contest types now have an Info field that you might be able to use to participate in contests not directly supported by SkookumLogger.

When SkookumLogger starts and the Recent Items list is empty, SkookumLogger now do not force you to create a log. This is primarily for new users, who should set up some basic preferences before creating their first log.

Processing of DX announcements has been revamped to prevent disrupting CW message sending. In particular, with no spot filtering during the RDXC to maximize the number of received spots, the character-by-character sending of a received call was no longer subject to noticeable variations in character spacing. 

The Rate Tracker window no longer grabs keyboard focus when it is opened.

The default spot filter for your internet connection has been simplified. You won’t see this change if you have editing your spot filter.

The DX Cluster window now hides DX announcements by default, and has a new counter showing how many DX announcements have been received.

The station ID field in Cabrillo export is now determined automatically using the Station field of each QSO. Thanks JH5GHM.

The “Automatically change QSO entry box focus” option now transfers mode along with frequency. Thanks JH5GHM.

The “Main receive frequency change creates activity” option now works for assisted as well as non-assisted categories. Thanks JH5GHM.

Misfeatures fixed

The Find item in the logging table context menu was non-functional. Thanks JH5GHM.

Adding an activity was sometimes using a very old time stamp, so that the activity timed out immediately. Thanks JH5GHM.

The grid entry field is now wide enough to accomodate six-character locators. Thanks GØDVJ.

SkookumLogger was sometimes crashing when new data arrived while updating activity tables. Thanks GØDVJ.

1.7.18 2014.02.25

Notes

If you find that SkookumLogger isn’t computing a score while operating a contest, open Time Tracker and check that SkookumLogger has guessed Start Date correctly; change it if not. Thanks K3DCW.

Here is one among possibly many Wizardry option side-effects: if you grab a spot and fill in the exchange, then toggle to Run and back to Pounce, the exchange will be cleared when the ”Autofill Pounce from Activities” option is enabled. This happens because SkookumLogger notices the change of radio frequency and replaces the contents of the Pounce entry fields with data from an activity.

New features

The QSO table in the main logging window now has a context menu:

The items on the menu perform the same functions as the corresponding items on the Log menu. To apply a context menu function, first left-click on a table row to select it, then right-click on that row to show the menu and choose the function.

The Internet preference pane has a new set of three radio buttons:

Manually-generated DX Cluster spots have no reliable mode information, while skimmer spots do have that information. SkookumLogger guesses the mode for non-skimmer spots using one of these three options.

Changes

Elecraft K3 radio control now turns both XIT and SPLIT off when changing bands, and sets the state of RIT on/off to whatever it was before the band change. I recommend that CONFIG:SPLT SV be set to “no”, and CONFIG:VFO OFS be set to “OFF”. Thanks W2RU and W2CS.

The Set Pounce function (available in the context menus of Activity tables) no longer sets subreceiver frequency as a side-effect. This prevents a premature band change when setting up to grab a spot on another band.

The File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Mail menu item title is now File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Apple Mail, to emphasize that the function uses Apple's Mail application to (electronically) send your log. Thanks W2RU.

The Internet preferences pane has been revamped. SkookumLogger now supports one connection to a DX Cluster node instead of two, because there are now many choices for nodes that provide “aggregate” spots — both traditional manual spots and skimmer spots from the Reverse Beacon Network. The pane has a new button, Edit List, that opens a window for modifying your list of nodes:

You can use any name that you like for a node. The address value must be a valid internet URL, optionally followed by a colon and a port number. The DX Cluster Web Site button opens a web page with a large list of these addresses. Look for sites running ARCluster 6.x software (like N1EN, W9PA, and WC2L in the example list), for aggregate spots and for Spot Filter support in SkookumLogger.

The User Interface for manipulating the date and time for the terminator plot in the Great Circle Map window has been revised:

When the Automatic box is checked, the date picker is disabled and the date picker value is set to the value for the terminator each time the terminator is drawn (which happens at least every 5 minutes). When the Automatic box is not checked, the date picker is enabled and its value is used for computing the terminator. Changing the date picker value cause a redraw. Thanks W2RU.

When the KPA500 amplifier is switched to OPERATE mode by SkookumLogger, a Clear Fault command is sent first.

Misfeatures fixed

The release note for 1.7.17 failed to mention corrections made for RSGB events that require six-character grids. Thanks GØDVJ.

The CATEGORY-BAND Cabrillo record was being written with the value “HF” instead of the correct value of “ALL” for the ARRL DX contest. Thanks W2CS.

1.7.17 2014.02.14

Note

If you intend to operate in ARRL DX from the DX side, you need the fix in this update for the bug discovered by KH6CW. Otherwise you might want to wait until after the weekend to do the update.

New features

The top-right corner of the Great Circle Map window has two new controls:

When the Use Current UTC choice is checked, the terminator overlay is drawn as before. When it is unchecked, the overlay is drawn for the UTC date and time set by the date picker. Select one of the picker components, by clicking on it, and either type over the value or click the up-down arrows to change it. Note that changing the year will have no effect. Thanks W2RU.

Activity tables now have a Mode column. The three modes in SkookumLogger are CW, SSB, and Data.

The Activity table context menu (right-click on a row in the table) has three new items for setting the mode of the row that you clicked on. If you click on the <rx> or <subrx> rows, the radio mode will be set. SkookumLogger often has to guess the mode for an internet spot; now you can fix the mode when SkookumLogger guessed wrong.

Activity windows have a new mode filter chooser next to the “needed …” filter chooser. The two chooser choices are combined. For example, "Needed Multipliers” together with “CW & SSB” limits the table to new multipliers on either CW or SSB.

Calls for which SkookumLogger cannot determine the multiplier are now distinguished by applying the Needed Multiplier color with reduced opacity. The effect is that “might be multipliers” are slightly faded out. The don’t know case happens for contests where the multiplier depends on information in the received exchange that hasn’t yet been entered.

The PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt file may now specify just bands that need to be overridden; bands not specified will use the USA sub-band edges.

Transmit antennas are now sorted by name. The default antenna when changing bands is the first on the list, so clever naming can now determine the per-band default choice.

Misfeatures fixed

A programming error caused the first component of the sent exchange for the ARRL DX contest from the DX side to be Name instead of Call. Thanks KH6CW.

K3 radio control had some small bugs. When changing both band and mode, the radio frequency was wrong by the value of PITCH. Changing bands sometimes left QRQ mode disabled when it normally should have been enabled.

SkookumNet is now much more robust in handling computers joining and leaving the network, thanks to considerable assistance in testing with large configurations by JH5GHM.

The Cabrillo Mode category popup menu in the Settings sheet was improperly disabled for mixed mode contests.

The Information Messages window now displays status lines in descending chronological order, so that you can see the most recent messages without scrolling the text field. Thanks JH5GHM.

Attempting to create a statistics report failed at the Score step.

1.7.16 2014.01.30

New features

Setting radio frequency using the Radio ▶︎ Set Frequencies… window or by typing a number into a call entry field now infers mode from the transmit frequency and changes the radio mode if necessary. As for activities, phone subband edges are defined in your PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt file and default to USA phone bands when that file doesn’t exist.

SkookumLogger prepares a list of contest start dates within the next year and chooses the first item on the list for new logs. The list was chronologically ordered beginning with the next start date after “now” — where “now” is the current date when creating your new log. This befuddled users who created a log after a contest started. The date logic has been changed so that an in-progress contest is now the first item on the list.

The new Wizardry option “Copy Run fields when focusing Pounce from Run” automates SO2V operation by allowing you to enter a call sign that you hear on the sub-receiver in the Run call entry field for duplicate checking, then switch focus to the Pounce QSO entry box to work that station without retyping the call. Any other exchange information that you enter is also copied.

The new Wizardry option “Clear Run fields when focusing Run from Pounce” further automates SO2V operation by erasing information in the Run field that you copied to Pounce using the above feature, when you return to your run frequency.

The new Wizardry option “Autofill Pounce from Activities” populates Pounce QSO entry fields with information from an activity in the current band’s Activity table that is near the current receive frequency. The tolerance for ‘near’ is set by your Activities preference for Frequency Matching Tolerance. When Pounce has focus, the feature matches near the main receive frequency. When Run has focus and the “Pounce pane tracks SubRX” option is enabled, the feature matches near the sub-receiver frequency. The Pounce fields are cleared when the receive frequency changes and there is no activity table entry within the matching tolerance.

Misfeatures fixed

Do not print misleading WARC band titles in Statistics Reports tables. SkookumLogger does not track multiplier data for WARC bands. Thanks W2CS.

The special list of Canadian “provinces” for CQ160 was broken.

Code for guessing an entrant’s location to determine sent exchange for CQ160 was broken, resulting in zone being the default for all entrants.

1.7.15 2014.01.24

Note

SkookumLogger uses the caps lock key to toggle Immediate Morse mode. Apple keyboards have a deliberate delay for that key which interferes with the purpose of Immediate Morse Mode — quickly sending CW snippets from the keyboard. Here is a way to defeat that delay. I’ve found that I have to reapply the trick each time I reboot OS X.

New features

The statistics report rate breakdown now includes per-band number of pounce-mode QSOs.

Statistics report generation now includes progress messages written to the Information Messages window.

Uploading a log to LoTW now happens in the background, with additional progress messages written to the Information Messages window.

The Sent Exchange and Messages Editor now has a Save button. There are some cases where SkookumLogger is unable to detect that a message edit has been made and then do the save for you; this button ensures that edits are preserved.

Changes

Updated ICOM and MicroHam support code. Thanks WD7K.

Misfeatures fixed

Log ▶︎ Reset Log was resetting possibly-edited sent exchange fields back to values defined by preferences. Thanks W2CS.

ADIF export was stuffing the OPERATOR field with the wrong call. That has been fixed, and OWNER_CALLSIGN and STATION_CALLSIGN are added. Thanks W2CS (OPERATOR), W1AW/2 (STATION_CALLSIGN), W2CS (OWNER_CALLSIGN).

1.7.14 2014.01.22

Misfeatures not fixed

SkookumLogger guessed the date incorrectly for ARRL January VHF this year. To quote the ARRL web site: “… third or fourth weekend …”; hence the need to guess. Rational contest sponsors specify predictable dates, like “fourth full weekend”.

Misfeatures fixed

Morse Keyboard mode was confused by the apostrophe/double-quote key when typed with Smart Quotes enabled. Thanks W2CS.

Contests with “VHF” as the band type wasn’t enabling the relevant items in the Bands popup menu in Log Settings. Thanks K2QO.

Messages ▶︎ Abort (esc) wasn’t stopping DVR message play. Thanks K2QO.

Confusion abounds regarding beacon mode, so elaborated the labels and help tags for the CW Beacon Delay in Messages preferences and the Messages ▶︎ Set SSB Beacon Interval menu item. Thanks K2QO.

1.7.13 2014.01.15

New features

Support GA QSO Party for entrants in Georgia. Thanks KW4E.

Misfeatures fixed

Repaired the rate computation in statistics report for table rows with less than 60 minute duration.

The Last 100 QSOs rate computation now excludes off time, to puff your ego.

The Last 5 minutes rate label has changed to Current. This rate is the number of QSOs made between now and N minutes ago divided by N, where N is set by your Rate Averaging Interval preference in the Logging pane. The default for N is, you guessed it, 5 minutes.

The “Automatically change QSO entry pane focus” mode was failing to change from Run to Pounce when transmit frequency was bumped slightly. Thanks W2RU.

Kenwood radio support has been specialized to support TS-950SDX sub-receiver frequency control. Thanks W2RU.

Support for rover entrants in QSO parties had a bug that caused new QSOs to be flagged as duplicates.

The info field in the Sent Exchange and Messages editor is no longer case-sensitive.

1.7.12 2014.01.11

New features

When editing a Notes field in the Log table and the table content has been filtered using the search field, the escape key simulates clicking the search field cancel button and returns keyboard focus to the most-recently-focused QSO entry field.

Immediate Morse Mode is now functional when the WAE QTCs window is active and no table cell in that window has keyboard focus.

Misfeatures fixed

The Bedford (BEX) multiplier has been removed from the Virginia QSO Party multiplier list. Thanks W6SX.

Updated the NAQP rules web site URL for very recent changes made by the NCJ folks.

Repaired truncated text in the Wizardy preferences pane. Thanks GØDVJ.

Sent signal report entry field is again properly initialized, instead of “59(9)”. Thanks GØDVJ.

Log ▶︎ Reset now also resets the Rate Tracker bars to zero. Thanks GØDVJ.

1.7.11 2014.01.10

Note

When SkookumLogger starts up and needs to reconnect to a cluster node, it pings my web site to determine whether or not you have an internet connection. In late December, the data center hosting my web site was off-line for most of a day. In this case, the ping succeeded but subsequent connection steps failed in an unexpected way, resulting in a rather long SPOD before abandoning the connection attempt. My service provider (MacHighway) assures me that this will be a rare event, so I won’t try to handle it in SkookumLogger. Bottom line: if you see an unusual stall while starting SkookumLogger, be patient.

New features

File ▶︎ New now opens a window with a popup menu listing all contests supported by SkookumLogger. After you choose one and click the Done button, SkookumLogger posts the standard Save panel with the contest name as the proposed file name. When the new log file is saved the log is ready to go. The new log is set up with defaults from your preferences and the rules for the contest. Check the sent exchange prompt shown in the log window; change it if necessary in View ▶︎ Sent Exchange and Messages Editor. The start date for the new log is the closest future event date. Review that choice and your Cabrillo choices in Log ▶︎ Settings…. In particular, your choices for Mode and Band in the Cabrillo Category Items box will affect how SkookumLogger colors QSOs.

It is no longer possible to change the contest type for an existing log. To prepare for a contest, use either the File ▶︎ New command or the Log ▶︎ Reset command. To use the Reset technique, which preserves custom Morse Messages, open a previous log for the contest, do File ▶︎ Save As… to make a copy with a new file name, then use Log ▶︎ Reset to remove all the QSOs from the copy and change the start date to the closest future event.

The new File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Mail command simplifes the steps for sending your log to the contest sponsor. After you have reviewed your log (resolve suspect QSOs and check Cabrillo choices in Log ▶︎ Settings), choose the new command. In a few seconds you will hear the sent mail sound; you’re done. Normally you will soon receive an email from the sponsor acknowledging log receipt.

The to email address is taken from the contest rules for the log’s contest; if there is no such address then the menu item is disabled. Some sponsors do not support email submittal, and a few do not accept Cabrillo format.

Here is how it works. First, SkookumLogger quietly exports a Cabrillo file. Then it creates an email from you to the sponsor with that file as an attachment. Then it sends the email. The from email address is the Email item in your Me preferences. The email subject is the call that you used in the contest. The attachment file is ~/Library/Application Support/<call>.cbr and is overwritten each time you run the command.

The command assumes that Apple’s Mail application exists somewhere on your computer. It also assumes that Mail is configured to send and receive email using the email address specified in SkookumLogger Me preferences. If not, you can always submit your log the hard way.

This release adds support for the RSGB RoPoCo (Rolling Postcodes) contest. This event was “interesting” to program, because the sent exchange depends on the received exchange value (UK postcode) for the previous QSO. No other contest among the 94 supported by SkookumLogger has that “feature.” Thanks GØDVJ.

Changes

The contest name chooser that was in the Log Settings sheet has moved to the New dialog as described above. The Sent Exchange box has moved from the Log Settings sheet to the Morse Messages Editor window. That window is now named Sent Exchange and Messages Editor. Log Settings now has just two kinds of controls, one for choosing the contest event date, and all others for setting Cabrillo items.

Some of the contest types in SkookumLogger have been divided into two or more contest types. For example, CQ WW has been replaced by CQ WW CW and CQ WW SSB. If you open a log that uses one of the old contest types, a warning dialog will alert you to beware. In particular, and you should not use Log ▶︎ Reset to create an empty “new” log.

I spent a couple of days updating and testing the contest rules web site URLs for every contest supported by SkookumLogger (we are approaching 100 of them). That was a lot of mindless work, and isn’t likely to happen again unless I lose the rest of my mind. So, I need your help with maintaining these data. Please let me know if you encounter a bad URL or find a better one. Note that I’ve sometimes chosen to point to a page at the sponsor’s web site rather far away from the page containing the rules, because some sponsors change where they locate the rules every year.

Misfeatures fixed

It is now possible to change the info field value for the sent exchange. Repairing this issue led to many, many changes to the source code. Please do let me know if you discover something that doesn’t seem right. Thanks WW4B.

Several issues associated with contest start dates have been exterminated. A possible issue remains for the case where a start date is defined relative to a previous start date and the current date lies between them. When creating the list of start dates shown in Log Settings, SkookumLogger compares the current date with the start date of each event and bumps past dates by one year. As a consequence you will not see the date for an in-progress contest in the list, not a bug. Thanks W2RU.

1.7.10 2013.12.31

New features

The Exchange preferences pane has several new items. These items are used to pre-fill your sent exchange when you create a new log. Most have a help tag — hover your cursor over the text input field to see it. It is OK to leave fields empty that do not apply; for example, the IOTA field for those of us not operating from an official RSGB island. Note that it is still vital that you check the pre-filled sent exchange in the Log Settings sheet and make corrections before you log any QSOs.

The Wizardry pane has a new option named “Pounce pane tracks SubRX”. When enabled and the Pounce pane is not focused, the transceive frequency of the Pounce pane tracks the radio’s subreceiver frequency.

The Wizardy pane has another new option named “Monitor SubRX”. When enabled, then when switching focus between Run and Pounce the main receiver frequency is copied to the subreceiver frequency before switching. The consequence is that the subreceiver monitors the frequency that you just switched away from. This is an existing side-effect behavior that could not be disabled before this release. You might want to turn it off for two reasons. First, it is likely to confuse things when you enable the Pounce pane tracks SubRX option. Second, the additional radio commands involved result in stalling updates of the Elecraft P3 Panadapter display for several seconds. (A similar stall occurs when you change bands by selecting an activity table entry; that stall is reduced by using the Radio ▶︎ Band ▶︎ menu items or the buttons on the radio to change bands.)

The Radio menu has two new items, Turn SubRX On and Turn SubRX Off. These commands are disabled when the connected radio does not support them. At present the list of radios that do support them has one member, the Elecraft K3. Thanks W2RU.

Help ▶︎ Logbook of The World Web Site opens the login page for your LoTW account.

Changes

The source of data for the CWops Database has changed, again. SkookumLogger now downloads and parses the N1MM call history file.

SkookumLogger now uses the W9ZRX ARCluster node for the Reverse Beacon Network connection.

The Logging preferences pane now has separate options for hiding the sent and received signal report fields. Thanks JH5GHM.

Start time and duration for RSGB 70cm AFS contest have been updated to track changes made by RSGB. Thanks GØDVJ.

Misfeatures fixed

The 80m bar in the Cumulative Rates box was missing for some contests. Thanks JH5GHM.

1.7.9 2013.12.26

Changes

GØDVJ remarked that the new Rate Tracker window consumes more than its fair share of screen space. I’ve redone the layout to reduce whitespace within the window, and made the bars in the Cumulative QSOs Per Hour box adapt to the bands for the current log’s contest. When you are operating a single-band contest, or a single band entry in a multiband contest, you can drag the bottom of the Rate Tracker window up to hide all but the topmost bar in the Cumulative QSOs Per Hour box, which is now the “All” bar.

W2RU remarked that the Rate Tracker window insists on staying in front of other utility windows, like the Morse Message Editor window, causing consternation when the Rate Tracker completely covers them. That bossy behavior has been moderated.

The new option for using arrow keys to step VFO A frequency uses the UP and DN commands for the Elecraft K3. These commands change VFO A in 10 Hz steps, which yields smooth but very slow frequency scanning when you hold down an arrow key. Now SkookumLogger uses UP2 and DN2 to match the 20 Hz step size of the RIT/XIT offset stepping. Also note that settings in your System Preferences Keyboard pane determine the Key Repeat rate and the Delay Until Repeat.

JH5GHM reported that the Phantom radio is not usable on his system, with an alert claiming that a Bluetooth device is unavailable. SkookumLogger no longer uses a Bluetooth serial device behind the scenes for the Phantom radio.

1.7.8 2013.12.23

New features

The Rate Tracker window has been substantially modified, as shown in this example for a CQ WW CW log:

Each of the three boxed groups has a “Maximum” number entry field that sets the maximum value for the bars in the group. Type tab or return after editing a number to apply the edit. There are ten divisions on each bar, so you can still estimate the numerical value if you want to, but the intent of this visualization is to provide real-time “at-a-glance” “how-am-I-doing” information.

The bars in the top two boxes are updated every second. The “Last 5 Minutes” rate was named Instantaneous Rate in the previous Rate Tracker; otherwise the QSOs Rates Per Hour are the same items as displayed numerically before. The “Minutes Elapsed Since Last QSO” item is new — it is the single rate metric I use myself, and until now I had “observed” it by watching the time-stamp for the QSO at the top of the log table.

The bars in the bottom box are updated whenever the content of the log changes (QSO added or deleted). The processing for these items involves visiting all of the log’s QSOs, so it is done in a background thread to avoid stalling the user interface. Here is what W2RU says about the usefulness of the Cumulative QSO Rate display:

“It's generally true (if you ignore multipliers -- a big caveat) that you optimize your score by _driving_ your per-band Rates (down) to the same level.  That is to say, if my overall Rate on 15 is 10 QSOs/hour better than all the other bands, I didn't spend enough time on 15. And/or I spent the _wrong_ times on the other bands.”

The bands for the cumulative rate level meters are fixed to those shown. It’s rather more UI work than I want to tackle at the moment to make them adapt to the bands for the log’s contest.

SkookumLogger has a new preference pane named Wizardry, with tool button located between the Logging and the Export buttons in the Preferences window. This pane contains “advanced” options, relocated from the Logging preferences pane and the Activities preferences pane. These options are generally associated with side-effects. For example, enabling the “Typing stops Beacon CQ” option adds the side-effects of aborting sending and turning off Beacon CQ mode.

The Wizardry preference pane has a new option, “Arrow keys in Pounce fields step VFO A”. This option causes the arrow keys to change VFO frequency instead of RIT/XIT offset. Requested by JH5GHM.

The Wizardry preference pane has another new option, “Automatically change QSO entry pane focus”. When transmit frequency changes while the Run entry pane has focus, the Run radio information is copied to the Pounce entry pane and the Pounce entry pane is focused. When message 1 is played and the Pounce entry pane has focus, the Pounce radio information is copied to the Run entry pane and the Run entry pane is focused. This behavior is documented in the help tag for the option so you won’t need to RTFM to rediscover what it does. Requested by JH5GHM.

Misfeatures fixed

The Kenwood and FTDX-3000 radio modules have been updated to work well with the up/down arrow keys. Thanks JH5GHM.

The internet keep-alive scheme used by SkookumLogger wasn’t working with ARCluster nodes. TMI: ARCluster doesn’t respond with a prompt line (like DXSpider) when tickled by an empty string; a single space character works for both types of nodes.

Note

I suggest disabling the “Displays have separate Spaces” option in the Mission Control pane of System Preferences if you use SkookumLogger on Mavericks with multiple monitors. When it is enabled, the window locations remembered by SkookumLogger result in windows that were on separate screens reopening all on the same screen.

1.7.7 2013.12.16

New features

When a QSO entry field has keyboard focus, the up and down arrow keys now step the radio RIT/XIT offset up and down, respectively. Hold the key down to step repeatedly. The size of the step is determined by the radio module. For the Elecraft K3, the step is 100 Hz in SSB mode and 20 Hz in other modes. Use this feature, for example, to tune near your run frequency without moving your hands away from your keyboard. I redefine the shortcut for Radio ▶︎ RIT/XIT ▶︎ Clear to be ⌥← so that I can manage the RIT offset with one hand.

In the new Immediate Morse Mode, when a QSO entry field has keyboard focus and caps lock is on, anything you type is sent by WinKeyer instead of being added to the entry field. The new Logging preference “Immediate Morse Mode” enables this feature; it is initially disabled. Immediate Morse Mode supports sending brief custom messages without moving your hands away from the keyboard. The mode has several effects on normal SkookumLogger behavior:

The Logging preference “Hide Sent Report Entry Field” is now “Hide signal report entry fields.” 

The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) DXSpider node has been changed to an ARCluster node. According to N4ZR, DXSpider cannot handle the volume of spots generated by skimmers in popular contests, and so direct RBN access must now interact with ARCluster syntax. The RBN node type chooser has been removed from SkookumLogger Internet preferences, and a text field has been added for defining your spot filter using ARCluster syntax for the “set dx filter” command. A special token, <buddies>, is embedded in the example filter shown in the new text field; that token is replaced by the list of your buddy calls when constructing the command. As before, the node remembers your spot filter (associated with your login call), so you only need to choose the Update Spot Filter button after you have edited the content of the text field.

Misfeatures fixed

The Log menu commands for copying radio frequencies and mode from one QSO entry panel to the other were not copying the transmit frequency correctly.

Edits made to the sent signal report were not reset for subsequent QSOs after logging the QSO. Thanks GØDVJ, W2CS.

Sometimes the most-recently logged call would show up as a dupe in the Partials panel, now the panel is properly cleared. Thanks GØDVJ, W2RU.

1.7.6 2013.11.29

New features

If you manage to create a log with no sent call in each QSO, SkookumLogger will now substitute the sent call from Log Settings when exporting a Cabrillo file. This badness may happen if you had entered an invalid call in Log Settings (see Misfeatures fixed); enter the correct call there before exporting to Cabrillo.

SkookumLogger now tests the received call that you type into a QSO entry field against a set of rules and marks QSOs saved with that call which fail the tests as SQ. The rules are applied to the “root” call (with portable designators, /QRP, etc):

Misfeatures fixed

File ▶ New failed to open the Log Settings sheet due to a bug introduced in 1.7.5. Instead a default log was created, and the setttings sheet for that log was inaccessible as well. Thanks WW4B.

SkookumLogger was endlessly posting an alert advising you to download the CWOps database if the database had never been downloaded and you configured SkookumLogger to receive internet spots. Now SkookumLogger will post that alert no more than once each time it runs until you successfully complete the download; then it will never bother you again. Thanks W2CS.

The sent call entry field in Log Settings was accepting anything you typed with no processing other than conversion to upper case. Now SkookumLogger ignores any characters other than letters, numbers, and /.

1.7.5 2013.11.27

New features

W2RU stimulated several additions and changes to the statistics report.

SkookumLogger now remembers the Activity filter menu choice, separately for each Activity window. Thanks W2RU.

Time Tracker and Score now respect the Maximum On Time setting. The appropriate statistics in Time Tracker stop changing and a note is added to the Information window documenting the date and time that you ran out of on time. Score computation applies only for QSOs made between the beginning of the contest and that out-of-time date. These changes were made to support the new CQ WW Classic entry category. You must change some default Time Tracker settings: Minimum Off Period to 01:00:00, and Maximum On Time to 24:00:00; SkookumLogger will not do this for you. The statistics report, aside from the score breakdown, continues to applies to all QSOs in your log.

Changes

A change in OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) inserts an obnoxious comma between the date and time information in the UTC column of the log table. That comma appears to be unavoidable as long as that column uses system preferences for formatting, so I have changed the display be a fixed format that conforms to ISO 8601 (look it up in Wikipedia).

The UTC column displays QSO “time stamps” — the point in time when you added the QSO to your log. For ham radio purposes, UTC is the same as GMT (aka Zulu time). SkookumLogger uses UTC as the label because that’s the term that the Cabrillo format specification uses. You cannot edit a QSO’s time stamp. If you must change it, then use paper logging mode to create another QSO with different time stamp and duplicate exchange information, delete the original QSO, and rebuild the checksheets.

The time displayed in the exchange prompt above the log is also UTC, but the format remains controlled by the Medium time format in your system preferences.

Time representation seems to be a theme of this release. For reference, SkookumLogger uses the NSDate object to represent times and to do time interval computations. The precision of the calculations is well beyond what’s needed for contest logging — far less than one millisecond.

Misfeatures fixed

The Maidenhead grid displayed in the QSO entry box now has the proper mixed-case format (sub-square letters are lower case). Thanks W2RU.

1.7.4 2013.11.12

Misfeatures fixed

SkookumLogger crashed when starting up with a radio connected and no receive antennas defined. Thanks WD7K.

Tapping the A > B key on a K3 now auto-informs SkookumLogger in firmware version 4.68 or newer, so that the frequency displays in SkookumLogger update appropriately. Thanks N6KR.

1.7.3 2013.11.07

It’s been a long time since the previous update, for two reasons. First, it seems prudent not to be updating inadequately-tested software at the beginning of the contest season. Second, Mavericks (OS X 10.9.x) has introduced more things to be tested. SkookumLogger is now built on Mavericks, and should continue to function equally on OS X 10.7 or newer.

New features

The partial call matching feature now includes calls from your exchange archive, in addition to the current log and Super Check Partial. This is disabled for WRTC 2014 and CWT.

SkookumLogger now saves and restores receive antenna selections per-band.

Misfeatures fixed

Important: SkookumLogger will crash if your Buddies list has empty entries. This version will silently remove empty entries from the list. Thanks WC3Q.

The Phantom radio and Phantom amplifier pseudo-devices failed to connect on Mavericks, due to a change in serial device names made by Apple. Thanks 2E1EVK.

Incorrect retrieval of contest duration was affecting several components of the statistics report.

CWT statistics reports were testing calls against an empty SCP list, creating many “not found” listings.

Misfeatures not fixed

Copying one VFO to the other using the buttons on the K3 radio is not reported to SkookumLogger. As a consequence, the frequency displays in SkookumLogger may be stale until you bump one of the VFOs. N6KR has added this to his list.

1.7.2 2013.10.06

New features

Me preferences now has a table listing the calls of your buddies. Calls in this list are always visible in activity tables, regardless of which activity filter is selected.

Internet preferences now has a button labeled Update Calls Filter. If you are connected to the Reverse Beacon Network node running DXSpider, then clicking the button sends a command to the node that sets spot filter 0 to accept all of the calls in your buddies list.

The Yaesu FTDX-3000 is now a supported radio. Thanks JH5GHM.

Kenwood radios now support VFO ▶ Copy A to B and RIT/XIT ▶ Reverse. Thanks JH5GHM.

1.7.1 2013.09.30

New features

Self-spots (activities created by you) are added to the list of calls used for partials matching. That list includes calls in the current log, and calls from the Super Check Partial (SCP) list except for the WRTC 2014 and CWT events. Now partial matching also works against calls you have heard but haven't yet worked. Thanks JH5GHM.

Changes

The Logging preferences "Include worked calls in partials matching" and "Use SCP in partials matching" have been removed. The first option is now always on. The second option is automatically set by the choice of contest name. These preferences were added as a means to turn off computationally-intensive partial testing to improve logging responsiveness, but subsequent improvements in the code have made that unnecessary.

The event dates for CW Open changed, again.

Some too-complex code dealing with setting default values for sent and received reports has been cleaned up. Please let me know if you see odd behavior, such as empty report fields.

Misfeatures fixed

The hard-to-reproduce crashing bug mentioned in the previous release still existed. This release has another attempt to squish it.

The code for determining call area was wrong when the call began with a digit. For example, 5Q2T was thought to be OZ5 instead of OZ2, which matters in the Scandinavian Activity Contest.

1.7.0 2013.09.18

New features

The SkookumLogger Guide has been updated. It should be current as of this release and has quite a bit of new information; you should read it. Thanks GØDVJ and W2RU.

A few commands and preferences were created or renamed to improve support for SO2V. Log ▶ Insert In Activity Table is now Log ▶ Create Activity. Log ▶ Insert SubRX In Activity Table is now Log ▶ Create Activity At SubRX. The Activities preference “Insert in Activity Table clears entry fields” is now “Create Activity clears QSO entry fields”. Log ▶ Create Activity At SubRX And Pounce adds a new activity to the table for the band of the sub-receiver, copying the information from the active QSO entry box, copying the radio mode, and setting sub-receiver frequency as the new activity’s receive and transmit frequencies. Then, after creating the activity, pounces on it (equivalent to double-clicking the new entry in the activity table). Please read to the section titled “Using Run and Pounce QSO Data Entry” in the new guide for additional information.

Added limited support for ARRL VHF contests in January, June, September. SkookumLogger support is limited to 6m, 2m and 70cm, and the same point value scheme (1 point for 6m and 2m QSOs, 2 points for 70cm QSOs) is used for all three events. Thanks W2CS.

Tested with soon-to-be-released TQSL version 2 software for uploading to Logbook of the World.

Misfeatures fixed

The tooltips for the info lines in the QSO entry boxes have been updated again to make them consistent and correct., along with other cosmetic changes accompanying general clean-up while updating the user guide.

Some Pounce QSO entry fields were not being filled when pouncing on activities that were created with a Log ▶ Create Activity … command.

The “All” choice for band in the Antenna Configuration dialog was not being recognized, so all-band antennas never showed up on the menu listing available antennas.

The event date for 2013 CWOpen was incorrect. Investigation led to a change in the “last weekend” rule to mean “last weekend with start and end in the same month.” However, the date for the 2014 event is still wrong, because the sponsors keep changing the rule. SkookumLogger doesn’t prevent you from logging outside what it believes to be the contest period, but you can correct the event data for your log in the Time Tracker window if you want to. Thanks W2CS.

Sometimes QSO entry fields for signal reports were not being initialized with the mode-dependent defaults. Badness ensued. For example, there is no way to edit the report fields, but SkookumLogger will not allow saving an edited QSO that has an empty report field. 

Fixing the signal report issue may have fixed a crash observed by GØDVJ, W2CS, and me. “May have” because I could not reproduce the crash so I cannot test the solution.

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