v1.515: control panel changes, mobile device improvements
From the CHANGE_LOG file:
v1.515 April 30, 2022
Modified the main control panel (user page, lower right):
Moved cursor frequency sub-display (the one under the frequency entry box).
Now it appears under the cursor while shift is held when mousing over the waterfall.
This gives back substantial space in the panel for the new features described below.
VFO A/B: Allows quick switching between two stored frequencies, including the mode and
zoom settings. Updates to the current frequency/mode/zoom also updates the currently
displayed VFO. This is an old ham radio concept.
Memory menu: The aqua/orange frequency memory up/down buttons to the right of the
frequency entry box have been replaced with a white, 3-bar icon that pops up a proper
scrolling menu. The most recent frequency used is at the menu top aging downward.
A "clear all" entry is at the bottom. The "m" keyboard shortcut key now toggles the menu.
This key was previously "mute". But so was the "space" key which now remains for muting.
Eliminated the short burst of audio heard when "&mute" is specified in the URL.
Mobile device improvements:
URL parameter "mobile" or "m" forces mobile behavior (e.g. my_kiwi:8073/?m)
Use when the Kiwi code doesn't properly detect your mobile device.
Stretch control panel width for 7" tablets (<= 600 pixel width in portrait mode).
To help declutter the second line of the control panel:
Remove the 9/10 kHz step button when not in the LW/MW bands.
Don't show frequency link icon (green arrow) since it's fairly useless on mobile.
For mobile Chrome give menus a white background to match the other browsers.
Admin page, status tab: Show connecting browser info as a debugging aid.
Comments
Hi John,
An excellent set of improvements to the GUI, the frequency display is now much easier to see and the A/B vfo and memory options are great additions.
Maybe also include the cursor frequency readout on the spectrum display, as I tend to use the peak hold to spot where transmissions have occurred whilst away from the screen.
Being able to use the spectrum display cursor to quickly set a squelch threshold value with a mouse click (and maybe another key combo) would also be handy as it's more intuitive than moving the squelch slider, especially when the peak level of a signal can be observed if the peak hold is in use.
Now that the frequency display digits are larger. How about being able to step up / down individual digits by placing the cursor over the desired decimal and either left / right mouse click or scroll wheel to increment.
This would also facilitate a limited form of mouse / scroll wheel tuning, which has been discussed on previous occasions, by myself and a few others.
Regards,
Martin
Fantastic new features, just the one´s I missed but had not said out loud. You read my mind!
I am so happy I am living and hearing to see and hear the developement of KiwiSDR here and now.
Thank´s John for your work.
BR, Pekka
I just discovered the AFO A/B moments ago! :D Awesomeness! I already have a use for it, too! The recent frequency list is also McNifty!! I like when GOOD "new features" pop up and surprise me like this. :) Nicely done!!
Great improvements indeed, thanks!
I am mostly using KiwiSDR to monitor CW segments of HAM bands. Would it be possible to streamline that?
First, would you please make the order of items in the band combo box selectable, so HAM bands could be at the start?
Second, would it be possible to assign default initial frequency and mode to a band? Maybe it is already doable, but I did not read the manual carefuly?
The last, however the most tricky one: The waterfall does not pull very weak CW signals from noise. Especially with wider bandwidth, there are strong and weak signals heard, where the waterfall scaling is set based on the strongest signal. I always admired the way the waterfall is displayed by Rocky and CWSkimmer
Somehow Alex seems to modulate FFT bins adaptively based on background vs. maximum amplitude in a given FFT region, amplifying frequency regions of weak signals. His algorithm pulls CW signals from the noise so neatly that one can even read CW signals from the screen.
Thanks for your work. As a SW engineer and now a team leader I can very well appreciate the amount and quality of the work you put into this project.
73, Vojtech OK1IAK, former AB2ZA
Hello John! I think the frequency labels should be left in portrait mode. Because the waterfall is long. And in landscape mode, the waterfall is very small. The frequency labels and the top-bar make it even smaller.
First, would you please make the order of items in the band combo box selectable, so HAM bands could be at the start?
I think you can already do that by editing the order of the frequencies in the 'band bars' list featured on the new the DX page of the admin control panel.
Regards,
Martin
I think you can already do that by editing the order of the frequencies in the 'band bars' list featured on the new the DX page of the admin control panel.
Thanks
Hi
I have two ideas
1 (useful in mobile mode). I would like to propose to change the name of the OFF button to View, because this way of changing the display to press it repeatedly, is known only by a small number of users of mobile devices and from my own experience I know that a novice can quickly discourage it, some ask but many simply do not come back to Kiwi because they do not know basic operation.
2. Left collapsible pane, if editable, could serve as a quick tutorial with prompts for complete novices, such instruction manual only in native language depending on the location. In fact, he is for it, but a huge amount of it does not read it and does not follow the forum, such Q&A for visitors attracts more attention.
Regards
@ArturPL I like these two ideas. Added to the infinite list.. lol
You're doing so many surprising things here so it's obvious the wait has to be, thanks 👍️
@ok1iak Part of the Rocky FFT algorithm is already built-in to the Kiwi! (lol) It isn't generally known (and not fully documented 🙄), but the "IIR" averaging setting of both the waterfall and spectrum are taken directly from the Rocky "advanced topics" page.
The IIR filter is the default for the spectrum and works especially well. For the waterfall you have to enable it (the default is no averaging). I just tried it on a busy 40m CW band of a low-noise Kiwi and it works okay. But it needs higher range in the gain slider. I will fix that in the next release.
The Kiwi waterfall doesn't update fast enough to observe keying in most cases. And this would only get worse when averaging was applied.
I don't do a polyphase FFT as Alex mentions. I don't fully understand what that means. I just use whatever the FFTW library does.