v1.1.6

OscarWatch Tracker v1.1.6 Release Notes

A massive thank you to our newest supporters: Javier EA1AAP, Chuck W9GSS, and Lucky VU2LBW! Your support keeps this project moving forward.

Welcome to version 1.1.6! This update introduces a brand-new view to help you visualise satellite coverage, major enhancements for digital modes, refined radio control, and key fixes for cross-platform stability.

🌍 All-New Earth View

We have added a standalone Earth View window, offering a view of the globe centred directly beneath the focused satellite as it moves along its track.

• Perspective Projection: Displays true ground distance, ensuring footprints match the coverage seen on your main map without distortion.
• Overlays & Tracking: Includes a dashed minimum-elevation ring, ground track direction arrows, labelled satellite and home station markers, and smooth zoom controls via mouse wheel or keyboard shortcuts.
• Accurate Coverage: Correctly accounts for horizon angles and orbit height to reflect precise footprints and line-of-sight boundaries.
• Full Accessibility & Localisation: Complete support for screen readers, enhanced status panel layouts, and translations across all ten supported languages.

Access it anytime from Window → Earth View.

📻 FT4 & Digital Modes

• Faster FT4 Transmit Start: Transmissions clicked within the first two seconds of a period now start immediately on-clock rather than missing the turn and waiting for the next full sequence.
• Transponder-Specific Doppler Hold: FT4 Doppler holds are now strictly limited to active FT4 transponders (including custom variants like FT4 Asia). Linear transponders continue tracking continuously without unwanted pauses.
• Improved Frequency Capture: Mode changes (such as switching from FT4 to a downlink-only row) now wait for valid rig feedback before capturing tunes, preventing unintended frequency overrides.
• Per-Transponder Echo Trim: Custom FT4 echo trims are now retained per transponder row rather than defaulting to satellite-wide values.

🖼️ SSTV Decoding Enhancements

• Smart Mode Matching: The decoder now prioritises known SSTV modes broadcast by specific satellites (such as ISS PD120/PD180/Robot 36, or UmKA-1/SakhaCube Robot 36), helping decode passes even with damaged VIS headers.
• Partial Capture Placement: Pictures intercepted mid-transmission are now properly aligned to the bottom of the frame where they belong.
• Noise Reduction & Merging: Automatically repairs up to three consecutive noisy lines using neighbouring good lines and combines repeat copies of the same picture into a single _combined output file.
• Manual Slant Fix: Click the top and bottom of any edge in the SSTV window to manually correct picture slant.
• Reprocess Last Session: Easily re-decode saved session audio using updated satellite settings.

🎛️ Radio Control & CAT Tracking

• ICOM CI-V Protection: If an ICOM frequency poll fails (such as on a busy IC-9700), CAT state is held to prevent writing stale frequencies back over your radio's dial.
• FlexRadio Optimisation: Status capture for Flex rigs no longer waits on dial-match holds, ensuring instant feedback and smoother operator tuning.
• Keyhole Pass Tracking: Flip routines now remain active across the entire pass (mirroring elevation, handling pre-positioning, and updating sky plot representations seamlessly from AOS down to exit elevation).

🎨 Visual & System Updates

• Consistent Satellite Colours: Satellite colours remain consistent across the map, sky plot, and pass timeline based on their order in your enabled list.
• Earth View Palette Matching: Earth View markers now share the exact colour scheme set for your map and timeline.
• Linux Compatibility Fix: Fixed a compatibility issue on Linux distributions (such as Raspberry Pi OS and Linux Mint) by pinning builds to Ubuntu 24.04 and enforcing compatible glibc symbol dependencies.

Full Changelog: v1.1.5...v1.1.6