2.6.x Release Notes

2.6.5 2020-08-24

An updated Guide has been provided by GØDVJ.

New features

SkookumLogger now supports the World Wide Sideband Activity Contest.

Changes

ADIF export of the COUNTRY tag has been simplified for interfacing with MacLoggerDX ADIF import. Thanks GØDVJ.

Misfeatures fixed

SkookumLogger was setting the WinKeyer serial port data bits property to 9 instead of 8. Thanks DL1YCF.

SkookumLogger was computing the WAEDC score incorrectly due to a change in the previous update. Thanks KA1IS.

2.6.4 2020-08-10

Several topics have been added to the Hints page.

New features

The Distribute Score option in Logging preferences enables sending your score to online scoreboards during a contest. See the Hints page for some remarks about this feature. Thanks N9SE, WA1Z and WA7BNM.

File ► Adjudicate CWT Log checks the QSOs in your CWT log against a copy of the CWOps roster and reports errors in the Notes field. SCP and pre-fill from your Exchange database are now disabled to force you to enter all of the QSO information yourself. This provides on-air practice for improving your logging accuracy. See the Adjudicating CWTs topic in the Practice section of SkookumLogger Help.

Window ► Show Device Name Editor supports editing or removing a custom device name associated with a serial port name. Click the Help button in the window for details about port names and device names.

The Automatically rescore logs smaller than option in Logging preferences provides user control over if and when SkookumLogger automatically performs the compute-intensive rescoring function. Rescoring is needed when you do something that changes an already-logged QSO. Set the option to zero to never rescore automatically. Use the Log ► Rescore Log (was Log ► Rebuild Checksheets) command to manually cause a rescore. See the elaborated discussion of rescoring in the Editing Log Table Entries topic of the Log Window section of SkookumLogger Help.

Changes

Code has been added to support the YCCC SO2R Box and the XK-24 keypad on macOS 11.0 Big Sur.

The obsolete Help topic “Serial Device Drivers” has been deleted. See the new Hints topic “About Serial Ports” on the Hints page.

Score updating is now performed only when the Score window is open. This reduces a user interfaces stall on a underpowered SkookumNet peer when another peer adds a QSO. This check is bypassed when the new Distribute Score option is enabled.

The SkookumLogger Help discussion about QTCs has been improved. Thanks W2RU.

The SkookumLogger Help discussion about Correct Mode has been, ummm, corrected. Thanks N9SE.

Misfeatures fixed

Polling for P3 information in radio configurations with no P3 caused timeouts. In this case, always uncheck the “Radio Has P3” option before enabling a radio.

SkookumLogger was ignoring the content of the PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt file. See the related topic on the Hints page.

Practice mode failed to trigger listenToCallers in some cases involving the call stacking message. Thanks JH5GHM.

Reset Log was sometimes failing to set the correct next Start Date for CWT contests. Thanks W2RU.

Polling Elecraft radios for decoded text was broken. Thanks GØDVJ.

Cabrillo QSO records for the ARRL 222 MHz & Up contest were including signals reports, which caused grief for the ARRL robot. Thanks KX6A.

2.6.3 2020-07-14

This release has an important bug fix for KX3 radios.

Changes

When a K3 radio timeout occurs and the port is still open, SkookumLogger now reinitializes communication and restarts polling the radio. That tactic has always succeeded here, but has the danger of endlessly restarting if timeouts continue to occur. In that case, try disabling (to close the port), then enabling again.

The “Merge WSJT-X ADIF” function has been updated to handle fields added by the WSJT folks for ARRL FD. The new format fails to identify the sent section, so you must set that correctly in your SkookumLogger log before merging the WSJT file. Thanks K7HBN.

PSK has been added to the list of modes for ARRL FD.

The Check entry field was used for “first licensed date” for three contests, and for class in ARRL FD. Previously, the Exchange database stored one value for both types of content, with logic that attempted to prevent replacing a first licensed date with a field day class when updating the database from an ARRL FD log. That logic also prevented pre-filling the check entry field with FD class for a call found in the current log. Now, there is a new database field named fieldDayClass. When you start SkookumLogger, your exchange database is loaded, and then scanned to find Check data fields that contain FD class values and silently convert them to fieldDayClass data fields. So now, pre-fill for the class fieldworks as it should in ARRL FD. Thanks KX6A.

Misfeatures fixed

Setting KX3 radio mode caused a crash, and setting radio frequency caused a timeout. Thanks GØTPH.

Toggling P3 into “Track subreceiver” mode caused a radio timeout. Thanks W2RU.

In SSB mode, changing the band for a K3 was choosing USB or LSB for the “from” band instead of the “to” band. Thanks WA1Z and W6FB.

YCCC SO2R Mini was setting its transmit focus to Radio 1 instead of Radio 2 when SkookumLogger transmit focus was changed to Radio 2. Thanks CT1DRB.

YCCC SO2R Mini was ignoring the “Use Mini instead of Box” option at startup.

The YCCC SO2R Mini keyer stops working when the Mini is disabled, then enabled again without restarting SkookumLogger. There is no reason for a user to do that, but SkookumLogger was doing that as part of handling macOS Sleep/Wake events. Thanks CT1DRB.

SkookumNet, when adding a QSO from a peer station, was adding the QSO’s operator to the list of operators without testing whether or not the operator was already in the list. Thanks WA1Z.

When using the SkookumNet merge feature, the final step is to replace the current log with the master log. The replace step was not erasing the current log, so the effect was to combine the current log and the master log, generating a plethora of duplicates. Thanks WA1Z.

When you ask SkookumLogger to send the other station’s call (F5) and the call field is empty, SkookumLogger sends the call of the most-recently-logged QSO for whichever entry field has transmit focus. It should have also conditioned the choice on “… for the station name of the current computer”, to avoid sending a call logged by a SkookumNet peer. Thanks W6SX.

FSK, PSK, and FM were represented as “(null)” in the Statistics report score breakdown table. Thanks WA1Z.

2.6.2 2020-06-23

This release has an important bug fix for K3 radios without an attached P3.

New features

SkookumLogger now allows you to specify a “device name” associated with a serial port name. Device names appear in the port choosers. See the External Devices section in SkookumLogger Help.

SkookumLogger has a new utility panel, Grid Information, listed in the Window menu. The panel shows additional information for a Maidenhead locator entered into a QSO grid entry field (directly or via prefill), or for a locator typed into the Target Grid field. Optionally you can ask for the grid to be reverse geocoded to show geopolitical information like state and county. See the Grid Information topic in the Other Windows section of SkookumLogger Help.

Changes

K3 now allows direct frequency entry for all bands supported by SkookumLogger. Before, entry was limited to bands 2m and below. Thanks K2QO.

Port choosers now list all serial ports discovered by macOS, with ports that are in use disabled (greyed out) so that you cannot try to use the same port for more than one device.

If a remembered port is not available (because, for example, you are using it for another device), SkookumLogger posts an alert when you try to enable it.

The “Autoset Sent Grid” option has been relocated from the Sent Exchange Editor to Logging preferences.

When the “Autoset Sent Grid” option is enabled, SkookumLogger periodically updates your own grid using information from macOS Location Services. SkookumLogger now compares extended square representations to determine whether or not your grid has changed significantly. The extended square (8 characters) is roughly 1 km wide and 0.5 km high at the equator. Thanks K2QO.

Misfeatures fixed

K3 was timing out waiting for poll responses from a P3 when there was no live P3 connected to the radio. The fix requires that the user not enable the “Radio Has P3” option in the Radios window. Thanks CT1DRB.

In hard-to-describe cases, SkookumLogger was mistakenly changing the adornment of a call in a partials list when changing keyboard focus. This happened for both contains matching and fuzzy matching. Thanks JH5GHM.

Changing the Grid in the Sent Exchange Editor wasn’t updating the sent grid prompt or the sent exchange morse template until after a restart. Thanks K2QO.

Changing the “Adjust pitch differences” option in Practice preferences while Practice mode is enabled caused a crash. Now, that option is disabled (doctor says Don’t Do That) when Practice mode is enabled. Thanks VA7GL.

Some Amplifier and Rotator preferences were interacting with some Radio preferences.

K3 can respond with packets that are correctly terminated but too short, causing a crash. Thanks N9SE.

Crash when changing P3 center frequency or span when radio transmit frequency is zero.

2.6.1 2020-06-15

New features

Added DVR playback support for the KX3. Thanks W8JJ.

The Radios Window has new options for the Elecraft K3 & P3 combination, described in the updated Radios Help topic.

Added support for the Yaesu FT-818, identical to FT-817 except for baud rate. Thanks K7YEM.

Added Toggle Transmit Mode, Transmit Mode, and Receive Mode commands to the Radio 1 menu. These support simulating a foot switch by tapping a keyboard shortcut. Similarly added Increase RF Gain and Decrease RF Gain commands to the Radio 1 menu. These are experimental commands for Field Day operation with SkookumLogger running at a host station controlled remotely via desktop sharing. In this release the new commands are supported only for K3 radios.

Changes

The scoring rules for ARRL Field Day have been modified for 2020 to allow non-zero points for class D to class D QSOs.

The list of ARRL Sections has been updated to include Prince Edward Island (PE), VY2. The W2RU Section Checkoff shows this new section as “PEI.”

K3 IO now sets RIT/XIT offset instead of SPLIT mode when the difference between transmit and receive frequencies is less than 10 kHz. This addresses a complaint that SPLIT was being turned on “silently” and “unexpectedly” when toggling transmit focus between run and pounce with an offset in the “to” frequencies. SkookumLogger now turns SPLIT off and on depending on the size of the offset, but does _not_ change the on/off state of RIT and XIT.

When grabbing a spot, SkookumLogger now offsets the transmit frequency down 50 Hz from the spot frequency. That positions your transmit frequency halfway between the 100 Hz quantization steps of spot frequencies, so you won’t be exactly zero-beat with others grabbing the same spot.

Misfeatures fixed

The command for merging WSJT-X ADIF into an existing SkookumLogger log was deleting all the QSOs in the original log. Thanks AF8A.

The YCCC SO2R Box radio mapping buttons for Radio 1 were not functioning. Thanks GØDVJ.

2.6.0 2020-05-25

This release has numerous internal changes along with significant changes to the user interface. In particular, there is a new Window ► External Devices menu ► with items that open windows with settings and displays for your external hardware. The windows consolidate settings for each type of device, and replace the Serial and Keyer preference panes. Considerable effort has been made to improve dealing with serial devices, including showing only those ports in Port choosers that are not already in use. All of this is documented in SkookumLogger Help.

New features

The Radio 1 and Radio 2 menus now show Increase RF Gain and Decrease RF Gain commands when the enabled radio is a K3. You can assign keyboard shortcuts and hold down the shortcut keys to “scroll” the gain, approximating the effect of twirling the knob. Thanks WA1Z.

Changes

Bad calls in the SCP database can be deleted by listing them in a text file named BadSCPCalls.txt, located in the SkookumLogger support folder. Thanks JH5GHM.

The start dates for the HQP series of events have been updated. Sorry I wasn’t able to get this release ready before series 2 began. Thanks GØDVJ.

Misfeatures fixed

SkookumLogger crashed when a known call with more than 9 characters appeared in a list of fuzzy matches. Thanks JH5GHM and AF8A.

The version date was not updating in the Database Versions window after downloading a new Countries file. Thanks GØDVJ.