Release Notes

v0.99.08 release notes

  1. Increased the high end of the dial’s scale from 300 to 325.

Discovered when the current Solar Flus was 306. The reason for the update. As a side not when you hover over any of the gauges, you should see a tooltip that shows its exact value.

v0.99.07 release notes

  1. Added support for FT4 and FT8 modes in spots (often seen from Aggregator). This should resolve an issue where spots with those modes were being ignored.
  2. Fixed a bug related to a change in NOAA’s feed for Kp, so the Kp meter on the Solar tab is working again.
  3. Removed a call to http://www.reversebeacon.net/skimmers/detail_json.php that was being used to obtain an initial set of Skimmer calls and locations. The URL no longer exists. If anyone knows of a replacement, please advise.

v0.99.06 release notes

  1. Disabled the close button and the context menu for the Properties panel
  2. Added support for 6-digit grid squares
  3. Moved 0 dB spots toward the outer edge of the SNR polar plot (49 dB) to make them more visible
  4. Changed the Skimmer detection algorithm to look for “-#” instead of non-zero SNR and WPM
  5. Disabled a feature that was preventing lines on the map to spots with certain DE calls

With the recent X-ray flares, has anyone has managed to leverage the desktop notifications from VP to get on the air during or shortly after the flare? As you may know, a large flare can cause 10 to 30 min of noise bursts, followed by a higher MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) until local sunset. Geomagnetic storms don’t happen until 50 to 55 hours later, although their effect on propagation is also worth observing.

I should mention that although X-ray data is normally updated by NOAA every minute, their feed can be delayed by several minutes or more at times. You can see the latest timestamp by hovering your mouse over the graph.

v0.99.05 release notes

  1. Disabled the experimental built-in map due to bugs in the underlying library that can cause VP to crash
  2. Disabled the “SNR” checkbox in the “Route matched spots to:” section of the Configuration dialog, since the feature isn’t implemented yet
  3. Changed the Configuration window to no longer be Topmost
  4. Improved grid square validation logic for Skimmer locations reported by the RBN
  5. Increased historical solar flux graph to 30 days
  6. Improved error messages when callsign or home lat/lon aren’t set when entering Run mode