4.x Release Notes

4.6 2024-04-26

New

• Voice Keyer for sending SSB messages. See updated Guide, Advanced Operating > Messages > Synthesized Voice Messages.
• Getting Started window that appears when a user runs SkookumLogger and hasn't changed the My call field in New Log settings, Cabrillo tab to something other than "K1CX".
• Control-click in Panadapter window sets transmit frequency without changing receive frequency, for split pileup.

Changed

• Handle the situation where a radio may or may not have a DVR. Before, SkookumLogger assumed all radios of the same type either did or did not have a DVR.
• Modified K4 Mini-Pan appearance and behavior; see updated Guide, Advanced Operating > Panadapters > K4 Mini-Pans.
• K4 TCP Gain menu items increase or decrease Main or Sub receiver gain in 3 dB steps using a combination of attenuation and DSP gain, to simulate analog radio RF gain control.

Fixed

• K4 Mini-Pan windows were drawing the receive bandwidth rectangle at an incorrect horizontal position for large bandwidths.
• SkookumLogger was incorrectly displaying "Invalid call" for certain valid callsigns, such as TX7W.
• Clearing the RIT/XIT offset for K3 radios was also silently turning off RIT and XIT states.

4.5 2024-03-13

New

• Vermont QSO Party Outside. Thanks N9SE.
• New England QSO Party exchange format has changed from county-state to state-county, all Connecticut county names have changed, and a new Connecticut county has been added. Thanks K1KI.

Changed

• Moved "TS2000Tcp" to new Flex group in Radios group.
• CW text encoding now prefers an enabled hardware keyer; was always using radio encoder when the Text Encode/Decode window was open.
• Removed UK countries from list of European Union countries as defined for UBA contest. Thanks CT1DRB.

Fixed

• Crash when attempting to connect to Flex bridge app with a TCP address that does not respond. Thanks K3UK.
• WinterFieldDay QSOs weren't per band. Thanks KB6NTW.
• Scoring was wrong for RSGB 2m FM Activity Contest.
• RSGB AFS Data QSOs weren't per digital mode. Thanks G0DVJ.
• EuropeanUnionDXContestInEuropeanUnion was assigning 3 points instead of 10 points for QSOs with European Union stations. Thanks CT1DRB.
• New bug in 4.4 was causing missing report in sent exchanges.

4.4 2024-01-10

New

• When changing XK-24 backlights, do nothing when the keyIndex is negative. Minor optimization.
• Display special key values as key equivalents for MagicMessage BeginQso and EndQso menu items.
• Added Speak Status and Speak Status Changes to the Log menu. The first menu item speaks the QSO status string for the QSO entry box with keyboard focus, using the system default voice. The second menu item is a toggle, when checked the status string is automatically played when it changes. Thanks AI7SK.
• Added guessRunPounceFlagAndStationName to Cabrillo import for KC1XX M/M log.
• Added experimental K4MiniPanB by duplicating K4MiniPanA and revising RadioElecraftK4Tcp. More to do, including refactoring classes, and dealing with "doesn't work" cases such as SUB must be on before opening window the first time.
• Added option-click to Panadapter cursor for setting subreceiver frequency.
• Added message tokens &1 ... &5 for sending elements of sent exhange in CW and Data messages
• Set the shortcuts for user1...user5 message menu items to option-F3...option-F7.
• Set the default message definitions for user1...user5 to &1...&5.
• Added tooltip to & token to explain the &n variants.

Changed

• DX Cluster: set skimmerquality extension when updating spot filter, and do not log rejected spots.
• Flip shortcuts for bumping K4 attenuation so that shift-control-up-arrow increases gain.
• Log+Report: use save a panel completion handler to get url for saving and opening a report html files. Was saving to app support folder which led to a permission issue on Ventura.
• Removed Unstack QSO from Messages menu. AI6W.
• Updated Guide with edits by AI6W.
• Fuzzy matching updates to improve which of many matches are displayed. JH5GHM.

Fixed

• Rework handling of DoNotDelayLogging preference in didEndTransmittingMessage and unqueMessage. Was failing to log QSO on MagicPounceEnd message.
• Crash (ActivityController): Synchronize access to ivars that can be accessed from more than one thread at a time. Thanks W6FB.
• Protect against corrupted OperatingMode and Magic Message Version preferences at startup (during applicationDidFinishLaunching).
• ARRL 10 was decutifying sent info for all entrants instead of just DX entrants. Thanks W6FB.
• Deleted a hack intended to reduce calls to checkPartials when logging a QSO, which broke QSO unstacking. Thanks 9M6NA.
• Replace / in AudioRecorder paths with _. Thanks W6FB.
• Removed GMHGuzzyMacther.shared instance; replaced with GHMFuzzyMatcher.new. Prevents race when used by more than one thread concurrently to check partials. Issue discovered by Thread Sanitizer.
• Increase MAX_AVERAGE in K4MiniPanPacket to match max tag in window's context menu. Else index out of bounds warning discovered by Undefined Behavior diagnostic.
• Consecutive defend messages could be buffered to the same radio. Thanks JH5GMH.
• Fix in YcccSo2RMiniKeyer: a message which interrupts ongoing message is not sent properly (only first character is sent). It worked for Practice mode, but not for SO2R Neo at least. Thanks JH5GHM.

4.3 2023-11-14

New

• The Status buttons for DX, Net, R1 and R2 open their windows when command-clicked, without changing status.
• An italic version of the macOS monospace system font is now used for worked-before and zero-point call adornment.

Changed

• Partial Call Matching
  • The time needed to perform partial call matching has increased noticeably as the size of the Super Check Partial (SCP) database has grown to nearly 100,000 different calls. The effect is that each time you type a character in a call entry field, the character appears immediately, while the content of the partials pane updates a fraction of a second later. Changes to the Fuzzy similarity matching algorithm have made it about three times faster than before.
  • The delay was also affecting the call field background highlighting, which has been almost entirely eliminated by reordering the steps in the algorithm.
• Audio Recording
  • Resume event recording at startup if it was enabled when last quit and the current time is within the log's contest period.
  • Handle user edits in Time Tracker that affect whether or not event recording can be enabled.
  • When recording a QSO, the recoding indicator begins animating when the QSO is logged and stops animating after Trailing seconds.
  • SkookumLogger now posts an alert when you try to enable audio recording and it discovers you haven't authorized access to the "microphone".
• QSO Parties
  • Changed the start date template for Illinois QSO Party from "Third Sunday in October" to "Sunday in Third full weekend in October". Thanks N5EP.
  • Added PA counties for Pennsylvania QSO Party Outside and removed support for Pennsylvania QSO Party Inside.
  • Clarified SQ explanations for Inside QSO parties.
• Magic Message
  • The Magic Message Protocol Version is now determined only by the choice in Messages setting.
  • The title and shortcut for the Magic Message menu item in the Messages menu now indicate the active protocol which keyboard key is recognized by the protocol.
• The informational text in the Change Rules Chooser has additional detail about the limitations on the rules for the source and destination contests.
• Special key definition fields now accept any punctuation or symbol character except those reserved for QSO entry fields: & * , . / ? ° - _

Fixed

• Quitting SkookumLogger while event audio recording was active sometimes corrupted the the recording file.
• Sending an empty PounceEnd message when logging a QSO in 2T2R failed to log the QSO.
• Entering a call that was not a dupe and was not a multiplier and was zero-point (as can happen in CQ WW) was displaying status as needed instead of zero-point. Thanks AI7SK.
• AZ, FL, GA, ID and Prairies Inside QSO Parties were incorrectly treating counties as multipliers.
• Repaired obtuse issues for California QSO Party Inside, including a bug in limiting the maximum multiplier count to less than size of the available multiplier pool, and a requirement to log correct county code, not CA.
• Typing an unrecognized character, like '(', into a QSO entry field was causing a crash when a special key definition was malformed. Thanks JH5GHM and AI6W.

4.2 2023-10-02

New

• Yaesu FT-710 and Tx500 radios.
• Allow § (option-6) as a Special Key.
• Version 2 of Magic Message uses the return key as trigger, enabled when return is assigned as the Special Key for Magic Message. See the Guide.
• Audio Event recordings now include a .cue file.
• Click on the Audio Recording status indicator opens the window.
• QSO Status Information displays in the Log Window are selectable so that they can be defined as Voice Over hotspots. Thanks AI7SK.

Changed

• Added device ID to Audio Source names. Thanks W6FB.
• Time Tracker "not in contest period" status is cleared when in the contest period.

Fixed

• Magic Message was logging twice when the MagicMessagePounceFinish message was not empty.
• Audio recordings for QSOs were sometimes corrupted.
• QSOs weren't per-mode in the RSGB 80m Autumn Data contests.
• Crash when changing logs when Audio Recording was enabled and the window hadn't been opened.

4.1 2023-09-03

New

• SkookumLogger now has a presence on groups.io.
• Added Memorial OK1WC (MWC) Contest, in the Other I-O group.
• Built-in Audio Recording, with three kinds of recorders for capturing contest QSOs, capturing an entire contest, and capturing arbitrary snippets. See the revised Audio Recording chapter in the Guide.
• Added a bottom bar to the Log window, with status indicators for important items like radios and SkookumNet, and an animated recording indicator.
• Added list of default shortcuts to Guide.

Changed

• Concealed UI and code related to WRTC 2022 QSO Broadcast.
• Clarified documentation in the Guide regarding SQ and X-QSO. Thanks W6FB.
• Revised the Guide discussion of WinKeyer and emulations, and updated the Log Window Components discussion in the Log Window chapter to cover the new bottom bar.

Fixed

• Sending QTCs was causing sporadic crashes. Thanks KA1IS.
• Multipliers weren't per-band in Hawaii QSO Party Outside. Thanks W2RU.
• KPA1500 Wake-on-LAN wasn't waking the amplifier.
• Practice mode search and pounce with Phantom radio was changing RIT offset. Thanks AI6W.

4.0 2023-08-01

• SkookumLogger now requires macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer.
• SkookumLogger now has a groups.io mail reflector.

New

• All documentation has been merged into the updated SkookumLogger Guide.
• Kentucky QSO Party In Kentucky. The Other multiplier type is KY-county-per-call-per-mode qsos. KY is not counted as a state multiplier.
• "Log > Append to Last QSO Notes" transfers keyboard focus to the Notes cell in the log table row for the most recent QSO. Keyboard focus returns to the log when you finish editing.

Changed

• Font & Color settings now use the System monospaced font.
• The size of QSO Entry field text has increased from 14 to 16 points.
• The Grid Information window Target Grid field now tracks the Target Point coordinates, and the reverse geocode lookup happens automatically.
• Editing a special character now takes effect immediately, no need to tap tab or return. The special character entry fields now ignore characters other than ` [ ] \ ; ' : " < and >
• Changing a log's rules to an incompatible new rules set now generates a warning in the Status Messages window.
• California QSO Party Inside rules now use standard Canadian provinces and territories, and limit the maximum number of multipliers to 58.
• The Rate Breakdown Report now creates separate tables for each operator.
• The window for interfacing with a radio's decoding and encoding capabilities is now named Text Decode/Encode.
• Text encoding now supports sending CW messages when the Text Decode/Encode window is open. Call type-ahead is not available in this case.
• Users are now responsible for turning on a radio's decoder when they want to use it for decoding CW, FSK, or PSK.

Fixed

• Some special characters could not be reassigned. Thanks W2RU.
• The "His Call + Acknowledge + Log QSO" message was failing to send HisCall. Thanks W2RU.
• All Asian DX Cabrillo output was missing ages. Thanks VE3MM.
• Opening the Panadapter window with no available video capture device was causing a crash.
• Changing a log's contest rules wasn't changing the visible log table columns when necessary. Thanks AI6W.
• Cabrillo export for the UBA DX Contest was filling the received info field for ON stations with "--" instead of UBA sections.
• North American QSO Party wasn't limiting country multipliers to countries in North America. Thanks AI6W.
• North American QSO Party wasn't properly guessing pre-fill for DX QSOs -- DXCC for stations in NA, 'DX' otherwise.
• Holding a menu open was stalling CW sending with the YCCC SO2R Box keyer. Thanks AI6W.
• County pre-fill wasn't disabled for rovers in Outside QSO Parties.