v1.154 released: New user interface, Navtex extension

jksjks
in KiwiSDR Discussion
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v1.154  Jan 2, 2018
    New Navtex extension.
    Major user interface changes:
        New “option tab” user interface for lower right control panel.
        Removed lower left status panel. Replaced with the new "Users" and "Stats" option tabs.
        Next/previous history buttons next to frequency entry box.
            If using a keyboard press return key to select displayed frequency.
            Otherwise prior frequency will return after three seconds.
            Doesn't really work yet for mobile devices.
        Added numeric dBm value to S-meter.
        Added classic LMS denoiser and autonotch to audio tab. Filter controls on extension panel.
            The LMS filters are not a panacea for all filtering problems.
            They are tricky to adjust and don't work in all situations.
            The presets are a work-in-progress.
        Added audio mute icon/button to right of spectrum button (renamed "Spec" to fit).
        WF option tab
            Number after "WF" on option tab button is current zoom level, e.g. "WF10"
            "Auto Scale" button: automatically sets WF min/max.
                Best when there are a range of signal levels.
            "Slow Dev" button: Use when you have audio drops on slow mobile devices (e.g. old iPad).
                Uses single color in spectrum and slower waterfall speed.
            "colormap" & "contrast" menus: beginnings of waterfall colormap control. Work-in-progress.
            "spec filter" menu: variable spectrum time constant so decay time can be varied.
        Add URL parameter to set initial waterfall speed:
            wf={0, off, 1, 1hz, s, slow, m, med, f, fast} e.g. kiwi:8073/?wf=1hz
        Fixed problem with NDB database lookup not working.
        Removed “less buffering” and “compression” buttons from Audio tab until they are working.

Comments

  • KA7UKA7U
    edited January 2018
    Jon,
    This is very nice! I love it.  Great way to start the New Year!
    Ron
    KA7U
  • sv1btlsv1btl
    Extremely Good!!!!!!!
    Congratulations and a Happy New Year!
  • jksjks
    I've had a report of the iPad browser freezing with v1.154 when the screen is rotated. Does anyone else see this?

    It was okay on my old iPad gen3 running iOS 9.3.5 using Safari and Firefox. I won't have access to a newer iPad until tomorrow.

    In case you didn't know, to quit a misbehaving iOS app: double-click the home button, swipe the app into view, then "flick" it toward the top of the display until it disappears. Press the home button to return. The next time you start the app you'll launch a fresh copy.

  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    a New Year, a new UI... thanks 
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi John,

    Wow really good and the Navtex decoder works well too :-)

    Another bonus is that I've found that the LMS denoiser works on Fax transmissions. I realise that this is a new feature and is still under development, but as the LMS sliders are currently the extension tab rather than on the Audio tab, it's a pity that it's not possible to adjust the LMS parameter whilst the Fax decoder is actually running.

    A couple of other observations.

    Could the Waterfall Auto Scale have an option to be permanently on, so that it resets the levels when you zoom in or out ? 

    When a different colour or contrast scheme is chosen, the auto Scale colours may no longer be optimal. So could the max and min sliders also be used to set the upper and lower 'auto' thresholds, so that the auto colour scheme could be adjusted to the users personal 'taste' ?

    Good Job - Well done John :-)

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ


  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hey,

    I just discovered that the new Navtex decoder works with other (very common) 170Hz 100bd FSK signals too :-) :-)

    I wonder how difficult it would be to add some adjustments for other shifts and Baud rates ?

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    "I've had a report of the iPad browser freezing with v1.154 when the screen is rotated. Does anyone else see this?"

    Works OK for me on my fairly temperamental old iPad Mini.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • HuubHuub
    My ipad 2 freezes when turned from landscape to portrait. After pressing home button and restarting safari it doesn’t start. Killing the safari app as described and a reload does work.

    Not a big problem, I love the new UI. Thanks!

    iPad version: iPad Air 2
    Os: 11.2.1

    Huub
  • N3LGAN3LGA
    Really amazing... I'm seeing some waterfall lag on Chrome on the mac, but it could be my connectivity today... Really like the new interface!

    Thanks!

  • jksjks
    edited January 2018
    "I just discovered that the new Navtex decoder works with other (very common) 170Hz 100bd FSK signals too  
    I wonder how difficult it would be to add some adjustments for other shifts and Baud rates ?"

    Should be possible of course. I had a specific request for a Navtex extension. I've always wondered about it myself and then found the very well written, open source JNX program. It was straightforward to translate the relevant parts from Java, in which it was written, to Javascript and wrap it in a little bit of user interface.

    Navtex is an extension where all the processing is done on the browser in Javascript using the existing 12 kHz real (non-IQ) audio stream. So there is no additional load placed on the Kiwi Beagle. I'm not sure how it will work on "underpowered" browser hosts (mostly mobile devices).

  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi,

    Three other signals I've decoded (so far)

      6322.5 CW FSK 170Hz shift 100bd, Murmansk, Russia
    12603.5 CW FSK SVO, 170Hz shift 100bd, Athens, Greece
    12622.5 CW FSK XSQ, 170Hz shift 100bd, China

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
    WA2ZKD
  • jksjks
    "I wonder how difficult it would be to add some adjustments for other shifts and Baud rates ?"

    I started an "fsk" extension and quickly discovered a few things. I used the German DWD weather radio signal DDK2 on 4583 kHz. In modern notation it sends "5N1.5" -- 5 data bits (using the ITU2 version of Baudot), no parity and 1.5 stops bits. The use of a start bit is implicit. 7.5 bits in total. A baud rate of 50 is used. The shift is 450 Hz.

    The "1.5 stop bits" causes an interesting issue. The bit synchronizer in the software I use tracks zero-crossings. But the half bit throws it out-of-balance since it occurs in the middle of an expected bit time. So instead I doubled the baud rate to 100 to catch all the edges. Tracking is now fine. But this means two output states are produced for each bit. The 1.5 stop bits are now represented by 3 output states. So instead of 7.5 there are now 15 "bits" to deal with. It looks like:

    TTT D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 SS    time -->

    Where each character is a bit: TTT= stop bits = 111, SS = start bits = 00, Dn = data bits = 00 or = 11 (D0 = lsb).

  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi John,

    Since I originally suggested adding different baud rates I have discovered that NAVTEX uses SITOR-B and a CCIR476 a character set. I had not realised this and had assumed it was just the standard baudot format typically used for most RTTY transmissions. So you have my apologies for suggesting something that may not be as simple to implement as I had originally imagined.

    I understand your method it's not really 15 bits is it, as several of the new bit values will pair match ? Or do you intend to process them as 15 bits and use the two new bits to 'double check' on the status of each original 'single' bit  ?

    Maybe you could use the three new 'stop bits' to automatically determine if a transmission is using a 1 / 1.5 or 2 stop bit format ?

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ







  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    NAVTEX in the HF portion apparently is not really designated as NAVTEX



  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    related info


  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Another signal from XSQ China decoded today on 8425.50KHz

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
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