J8Call

“Howdy Folks,

We’ve sure come a long way in the past few weeks. Thanks for sticking with me and enjoying the ride! This release is a pretty big one and I’m very excited to share it with you. Cut to the chase, and head over to the downloads page to grab your copy: https://groups.io/g/js8call/wiki/Download-Links

So, what’s new in 0.7? First of all, like I said in my last email, the app is now called JS8Call and the mode is called JS8. The primary reason for the name change is because the designers of FT8 (Franke and Taylor) asked me to. It was a stressful time, but water under the bridge. We have a new app and a new mode and their “blessing” 😉 I’ll be petitioning to the ADIF group for inclusion in their mode tables now that 0.7 is out in the world.

Unfortunately, because the name changed, you’ll have to recreate your configuration. But, you can also copy your old one (FT8Call.ini) to the new location (JS8Call.ini). Those are usually stored in ~/.config on Linux and C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\ on Windows.

Next up…I designed a pretty neat message compression for standard QSO text. This is HUGE, in my opinion. It will allow most messages to be sent in much less time. There’s a counter that displays in the bottom your words per minute. Here’s an example:

Yes…that’s right. This message compression allows us to transmit at up to >20WPM on some sentences! Some will transmit slower, some faster. But, it seems that 15WPM is about average. I can definitely have a conversation at 15WPM (I do on CW all the time :P)… can you?

Next up, there’s a new “selective calling” (SELCALL) mode that you can enable. When enabled, it basically acts like a filter, preventing ALLCALL and BEACONs from being displayed in your RX text area. When enabled, only directed messages to you will be displayed. Along with this, is a new GROUPCALL callsign you can transmit to. It works like ALLCALL, except it will only be printed at stations that are within 100Hz of you. So, if you want to create a round table discussion with a few of your friends, QSY to within 100Hz from each other and send: “GROUPCALL HEY FRIENDS!”

I mentioned this a few emails ago (and posted a video about it), but I’ve also created a way to manually synchronize your clock time (an adjust your clock drift, if necessary). It’s not designed to be used as your primary means of synchronization (you should use NTP or GPS for that if you have it available). But, if you’re portable and do not have an accurate time reference, you can use it to sync your time to a station you can hear (or a watch, or wwv, or …)

Another interesting change in 0.7 is this next one,,. I have created a new automatic “BEACON ACK” reply to be sent when you have BEACON mode enabled. It basically works as an automated “ALLCALL?” when you BEACON. This allows you to not have to send “ALLCALL?” manually any more. Just BEACON instead.

With this… stations who reply to you are now marked specially in the heard list so you can find them easily:

That’s the benefit of BEACON ACK. All of that happens without intervention from you while you’re BEACONing. Very cool.

A couple other things:

* Macros are renamed to Saved Messages.

* You can now save a message you’ve typed into the TX textbox without having to go into your settings.

* The TX watchdog is renamed to idle watchdog to be more clear with it’s intent (and a few bugs with it fixed). If turned on, it’ll prevent transmissions when you’ve been idle for more than N minutes. Useful if you don’t want your station transmitting after you step away.

* Better buffering of messages while a station drifts more than a few Hz during message transmission.

* And a ton of bug fixes!

Overall. I’m really excited to provide this release to y’all today. It’s my present to you on my birthday today 🙂

Anyway. I hope to see y’all on the bands. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you in the meantime.

Cheers!

Best,

Jordan / KN4CRD”