Openslot v0.2.5

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64), Mac (Apple silicon and Intel) and Android (openslot-v0.2.5-android.apk, Android 10 or later; installs over 0.2.4). iPhone and iPad: the public beta on TestFlight, https://testflight.apple.com/join/2PtZDBsA (0.2.4, build 5, in Apple's beta review; this release changes nothing on iPhone).

New in this build (Android only; the desktop builds are the same as 0.2.4):

• CAT over the phone's USB-C: plug the radio straight into the phone (or through a USB serial cable) and Openslot tunes it and keys it, no computer in between. Works with Kenwood-style radios (QMX, QDX, (tr)uSDX, TX-500, Kenwood), Elecraft, Icom CI-V, Xiegu, and old and new Yaesu CAT, or RTS/DTR keying on a cable. Test CAT reads the frequency back. The (tr)uSDX runs on one cable, with its audio in the CAT stream.
• Finds the radio by itself: plugging a radio in asks it who it is at each speed, turns CAT on, and remembers it for that cable. The Modem tab offers "Use it".
• The CAT code is tested against Hamlib 4.6.3's simulators for the QMX, (tr)uSDX, Kenwood, Elecraft, Icom, Xiegu and Yaesu radios.

Openslot v0.2.4

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64), Mac (Apple silicon and Intel) and Android (openslot-v0.2.4-android.apk, Android 10 or later). iPhone and iPad: the public beta on TestFlight, https://testflight.apple.com/join/2PtZDBsA (0.2.4, build 5, waiting for Apple's beta review; until it is approved the public link installs 0.2.0).

New in this build:

• Clicks show they were taken:
  • Whatever you click lights up and fades out over half a second. The pointer becomes a hand over anything that takes a click (buttons, checkboxes, tabs, list rows).
  • BBS LIST reads WAITING... from the click until the list or a refusal comes, the link ends or 2 minutes pass. Refresh in the list window shows the same, with a spinner.
  • The BBS file list has a Download button on each file (before, a single click did nothing). The file you asked for shows Requested..., then Receiving..., until it is saved, refused or aborted.
  • The BBS file list no longer grows past the bottom of the screen and hides Refresh and Close. It is as tall as its files, up to 360 px.
• No modem running: SEND BEACONS, CALL CQ, TUNE, PING, CONNECT and Connect from the station lists and chat menu now open a "Modem not connected" box telling you to start the modem first (the XARA tab, or VARA). Before, they silently did nothing. The automatic beacon and Auto-CQ still wait quietly for the modem.

Openslot v0.2.3

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64), Mac (Apple silicon and Intel) and Android (openslot-v0.2.3-android.apk, Android 10 or later). iPhone and iPad: the public beta on TestFlight, https://testflight.apple.com/join/2PtZDBsA (0.2.3, build 4).

New in this build:

• Map:
  • The desktop apps have a Map tab between Openslot and Modem. The map fills the window while the station keeps working, and its pop-ups come up over it. Tools > Map... still opens it in a window.
  • Borders and state lines stay readable on the night side. Before, the night shading darkened them too.
  • Hover over a station to see who it is (callsign tag, name and QTH when known). It also shows when it was last heard or worked, its SNR, band and frequency, and how many times it was heard. Distance and beam heading are shown as before.
• QSY:
  • FREQUENCY SNIFFER and SLOT SNIFFER now stay on after a click until you click again. Before, they only listened while held. Holding works as before.
  • After a retune the station knows its new frequency at once. Before, it took up to 3 s. In that time the sniffer button stayed greyed out and a QSY could pick the wrong calling frequency.
  • "Still waiting for your partner" no longer comes up mid-QSO on a slow link once the partner answers on the new frequency. A speed change or SNR report from the modem now counts as hearing them.
  • While the frequency sniffer is held, the auto-stay countdown pauses. The TX light now lights only when the radio is actually keyed.
• Rig controls: the Power slider shows watts on Yaesu and Kenwood CAT and on FLRig. Icom and rigctld still show a percentage. The remote page matches.
• Remote: the station acts on a remote's input at once, so dragging the map from a remote no longer lags.
• Alert tags window: its columns line up with their headings.

Openslot v0.2.2

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64), Mac (Apple silicon and Intel) and Android (openslot-v0.2.2-android.apk, Android 10 or later). iPhone and iPad: the public beta on TestFlight, https://testflight.apple.com/join/2PtZDBsA (0.2.2, build 3).

New in this build:

• A real map (Map... on the desktop). Before, it was a blank grid. Everything is built in and nothing is fetched:
  • Land and sea, lakes, shaded relief with the mountain ranges named, country borders, and state and province lines once you zoom in.
  • The night side of the earth and the grey line, redrawn each minute.
  • Great-circle paths to every station heard, and distance rings in miles or km.
  • Hover over a station to see its distance and beam heading. Hover anywhere to see the locator and position there.
  • Scroll to zoom, drag to move, and double-click for the whole world. The Maidenhead grid gets finer as you zoom (fields, then squares, then subsquares), with your own square lit up.
  • Stations are placed at the centre of their full locator. Before, only the first 4 characters were used, which could be up to about 70 km off.
• Built-in XARA modem (Modem tab): help for setting the receive level.
  • The RX meter is coloured: amber when it's too low (below -45 dBFS), green when it's right, and red when it's too hot (above -15 dBFS).
  • CLIP stays lit for a minute after the input clips, so you don't miss it.
  • Check RX level listens for 5 s on a quiet frequency and tells you whether to raise the input, lower it or leave it. It names where to change it: the radio's data/USB out level, or the computer's input volume.
• iPhone and Android: a banner on every tab while a ping or call is going out, with Cancel. Before, Abort was only in the Chat menu.
• Chat commands such as /help run with or without a QSO, and with a space or line break around them.
• Windows install.ps1 closes a running Openslot the way its X does, so the radio is let go of and unkeyed. It waits for it to exit before copying the new version. Before, it force-killed Openslot and the copy often failed.
• VMail relay notices say "35 min ago" instead of "0 hours ago".

Openslot v0.2.1

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64), Mac (Apple silicon and Intel) and Android (openslot-v0.2.1-android.apk, Android 10 or later). iPhone and iPad: the public beta on TestFlight, https://testflight.apple.com/join/2PtZDBsA (0.2.1, build 2).

New in this build:

• Encryption and signing between Openslot stations (Settings → Security; off by default). ⚠ Encryption is not allowed on amateur radio frequencies (FCC §97.113(a)(4) and most countries' rules): use it only where it's permitted, such as MARS, SHARES or other licensed services.
  • Encrypt links: an X25519 key exchange for each link, ChaCha20-Poly1305 or AES-256-GCM. Encrypted chat lines show 🔒; with encryption on, nothing you write goes out unencrypted (if the other station can't encrypt, it comes back to the message box).
  • Shared keys: a key you and the other operator arranged beforehand, so the link is encrypted from the very first frame.
  • Signing: Ed25519 signatures on your messages and VMail, marked ✔ (from the key saved for that station) or ⚠ on the other side.
  • A lock beside SEND turns encryption on and off for the QSO.
  • A station's NEW key isn't trusted until you accept it: the link is still encrypted and you can read what it sends, but nothing you write goes to it until then.
  • Two stations of one operator (N5XX-1 and N5XX-7) get separate keys in each direction.
• Sharing keys by QR code or text: Show QR beside your key and beside each shared key, plus the same thing as text to copy or write down. The phones scan a QR code with the camera, read one from a photo, or paste copied text; every app pastes text. Nothing is saved until you confirm, and a station key added this way, or one you mark as checked, shows ✔ checked.
• iPhone and Android have everything above, the same as the desktop.
• Phones send files and photos, and every file transfer shows how long it will take.
• Phones run VARA FM as well as VARA HF (with XARA on the phone or VARA on the network).
• New PTT choice for the built-in XARA modem (Mac Modem tab, iPhone, Android): "Tone on the right channel (Digirig Lite)". XARA's audio goes out on the left and, while transmitting, a 1 kHz tone on the right, which a Digirig Lite or another VOX-by-tone cable turns into PTT. It keys and unkeys with XARA, so it doesn't hang on like a radio's own VOX (Yaesu handhelds hold VOX for half a second and miss the start of the reply). New and not yet tried with every interface: tell us how it goes.
• Calling: another SSID of your own call is another station (KE7ERQ can call KE7ERQ-2; only your exact call and SSID counts as your own). A complex call sign links with the plain call in it (KE7ERQ/P calls KE7ERQ), since VARA takes no "/". A call sign VARA can't take gets a message instead of hanging at "Connecting".
• Radio sharing: an unkey from another program always reaches the radio, even while the radio link is down; if the link drops while keyed, the radio is unkeyed when it comes back.
• Tune AUTO stops after the 25 s PTT safety cut instead of keying the carrier again.
• XARA: incoming audio is no longer cut when playback runs dry, which held VARA FM links at low speed (much faster VARA FM transfers with the built-in modem).
• Terminal version: a VMail stays in the Outbox until its receipt comes.

Openslot v0.2.0

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64) and Mac (Apple silicon and Intel). iPhone/iPad and Android builds come later.

New in this build:

• Remote operation: run your station from another computer on your network. At the station: Remote → Let other computers and phones control this station…, give a password and press Apply. On another computer (Windows, Mac or Linux): Remote → Control another Openslot…, Find stations, the password, CONNECT. The window then shows the station's own screen exactly as it looks there (modem bar, menus, frequency card, beacons, CQ calls, broadcasts, chat, VMail, logs, settings and every window), and whatever you click or type is done at the station, on its radio and logs. Everything the station heard before you connected is there too. LISTEN plays the station's receive audio. A phone's browser gets a simpler page at the address the station shows. The password is never sent, only proof of it, but the link isn't encrypted: use it on your home network or a VPN into it, not the open internet.
• Rig controls window (RIG CONTROLS on the frequency card): meters, mode, power and gains, NB/NR, preamp, attenuator, AGC and the tuner, for rigctld, FLRig and Yaesu/Kenwood CAT. Only what your radio answers to is shown.
• Share the radio (Settings → RIG): a rigctld-compatible server, so loggers, WSJT-X and other programs can use the radio alongside Openslot. They transmit only when you allow it, and never unkey a VARA transmission.
• Calling a station now shows CONNECTING while the modem calls, and a second connect, CQ or beacon is refused meanwhile. The connect timeout only ends a call once VARA has stopped retrying, so weak-signal calls aren't cut short.
• Broadcasts: after a queued broadcast goes out, the status line says "Broadcast sent" instead of staying on "queued". Other stations' VMail relay notifications are no longer listed as broadcasts.
• rigctld: an unkey gets through even if the link to rigctld dropped just before (the radio used to stay keyed until the 180 s PTT watchdog).
• Windows: the app no longer crashes at start when the built-in modem is set up.
• Starting Openslot no longer rewrites its settings file (a moment's read failure, such as OneDrive holding the file, could lose it).

Openslot v0.1.21

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64) and Mac (Apple silicon and Intel). iPhone/iPad and Android builds come later.

New in this build:

• Tune: with a radio whose ALC meter can be read over rig control (Yaesu, Icom or Kenwood CAT, or rigctld), the Tune window shows the ALC, and AUTO keys the tune carrier and steps the drive level until the ALC barely moves. While the carrier is on, TUNE turns into STOP.
• Downloads: a card above the chat shows a file as it comes in: how much is here, the speed and the time left; it turns green when the file is complete (red if it stopped).
• Chat: the 📌 button in the chat's header pins it in place, so it no longer grows over the broadcasts while the mouse rests on it (click again to let it grow).
• Locator: Settings asks for all 6 characters (e.g. EM12KP), warns about a 4-character one or one over 6 (beacons and typed CQs can't carry it), and stores it upper case.
• Broadcasts never vanish: squeezed by the drag bar, or in a smaller window, they keep their header row (count, Pop out).

Openslot v0.1.20

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64) and Mac (Apple silicon and Intel). iPhone/iPad and Android builds come later.

New since v0.1.17 (the last build with a Mac download):

• Queued frames no longer stall: a frame from your partner during VarAC's 1 s pause left our next one "In queue" for minutes (after a QSY, for one).
• CQ: END CQ now goes off once the wait on the slot is over (Return now or the timeout) and after a CQ that names no slot; Auto-CQ keeps calling from the calling frequency. END CQ between the two transmissions stops the second one. The slot selector gives the frequency to the Hz (slot 11 reads 14.105.750, not 14.106).
• Away: a call to you on a calling frequency now gets the 5-minute away limit and , instead of always being cut at 240 s.
• VMail: the reader has its own window and scrolls, so Reply / Forward / Delete stay on screen. Clicking a draft opens that draft (it opened the Inbox VMail on the same row, and its Delete deleted that one). Reply on a Sent or Outbox VMail goes to the other station, and the reader's Reply uses VarAC's "RE:" and quote. Copy callsign and the QRZ lookup use the callsign the row shows. Forward keeps line breaks and starts from an empty compose box.
• QSO row: CLR stays on one line, LOC shows all 6 characters and START / END keep the seconds.
• A call that never linked names the station ("COULD NOT CONNECT TO ...") and offers Retry; /connect alone shows its usage.
• A station beaconing again updates its time and TΔ; broadcast times follow "Use local time".
• rigctld and FLRig swap their default ports when you switch between them.

Openslot v0.1.19

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64) and Mac (Apple silicon and Intel). iPhone/iPad and Android builds come later.

Openslot v0.1.18

Test build for Linux (x86_64), Windows (x86_64) and Mac (Apple silicon and Intel). iPhone/iPad and Android builds come later.