v1.694 [hopefully a working version of the failed v1.691,692 update]
From the CHANGE_LOG file: (part 1/3)
v1.694 July 20, 2024
New passband adjustment methods:
If you scroll the audio tab down a bit you'll see it now has passband adjustment sliders.
This is especially useful for mobile devices where most of the desktop mechanisms for
passband adjustment don't apply. Very small screens, like phones, are difficult sometimes
to touch the round part of the slider if two of them are close together. What you can do
instead is touch the line part of the slider to make it jump to that position. Now it'll be
easier to touch the round part and begin sliding the control smoothly.
The spectrum passband marker (if it is being shown) now allows you to click-drag its outer
edges to adjust the passband. Just as you would click-drag the sloping parts of the
green passband graphic on the frequency scale. Hover over the outer edges of the passband
marker. The cursor shape will change and the passband edge value and bandwidth will be
shown. Now click and drag to adjust the passband.
Mouse wheel tuning: (thanks PSO, G8JNJ, et al)
The mouse wheel can now tune the frequency as well as adjusting the zoom.
The right-click menu has a new entry controlling whether tune or zoom is the default.
This setting is remembered in browser storage for the next time this Kiwi is visited.
Depressing the wheel button while moving the wheel will temporarily select the opposite
action, e.g. zooming if the wheel is set for tuning. This also applies to laptop trackpads
that been configured for mouse wheel emulation, e.g. two finger up/down swipe.
Frequency tuning step size: When wheel tuning the same modifier keys work as with the
tuning shortcut keys (i.e. 'j', 'i', left-arrow, right-arrow). Namely, of the three tuning
rates as shown by hovering over the - - - + + + buttons the slowest rate (typically 10 Hz)
is selected by using no modifier key. The middle rate with the shift key and the fastest
rate using the control or alt/option key.
In lieu of the modifier keys there is also a simplistic two-speed detection of the wheel
velocity. If the wheel is moved quickly enough it "locks" into moving at the fastest rate.
It continues at that rate, even if the wheel is moved more slowly, until some time after
the wheel stops. The passband color turns orange until the fast rate unlocks.
If "snap to nearest" from the right-click menu is enabled then the fastest tuning rate is
always used.
Refinement of the two-speed algorithm is going to take some effort. Unfortunately there is
no way for Javascript code to determine the characteristics of the actual wheel/trackpad
device (DPI, sensitivity etc). So the control panel user tab has some presets and fields
where you can alter some parameters. We can add new presets as experience is gained with
various mouse wheel types.
There are currently two presets and a "custom" menu entry
All of this assumes the cursor is positioned in the waterfall or spectrum. As before the
mouse wheel modifies the passband if the cursor is on the frequency scale (in combination
with the modifier keys mentioned above).
Right-click menu:
When the right-click menu is opened, and you decide you don't want to make a menu selection,
the menu can now be dismissed by right clicking again (or single clicking) anywhere.
Previously the most convenient way was to use the escape key. But this of course doesn't
exist on mobile devices.
WSPR extension spots will now upload again to wsprnet.org (thanks Nate, et al)
Operating Information document: (kiwisdr.com/info)
A description of all the query/control URLs has been added: kiwisdr.com/info#id-urls
A few more of the available mobile gestures are described: kiwisdr.com/info#id-user-mobile
(continued next post)
Comments
From the CHANGE_LOG file: (part 2/3)
User names composed of certain UTF-8 characters and lengths: (thanks OZ6F, RZ3DVP)
1. Can no longer cause the admin users tab to stop displaying.
2. Are now correctly shown in the admin log and system log.
Antenna switch: (thanks S57RM, N8OOU, SM0OHC, et al)
Arduino Netshield backend script: Increased curl timeout value from 2 to 4 seconds per
suggestion by N8OOU. Note that until recently the timeout value had always been 1 second.
It was changed to 2 seconds when the antenna switch code was integrated into the Kiwi server
to match all the other backend script curl timeout values.
Implemented queued delivery of commands to backend scripts. Should help with switches that
are slow to respond. Tested by introducing an artificial 5 second delay into the Beagle-GPIO
backend. Seems to work including with antenna mixing.
Added a new admin setting: "Ground antennas when no users connected?" This is opposed to the
previous behavior where if none of the "Default antenna" checkboxes were ticked then
grounding of the antenna was performed when there were no users. But the first user to
connect had to select an antenna (assuming users even had permission to do so).
Now the grounding of antennas when there are no users and the specification of a default
antenna are decoupled. If no-user grounding is in effect the default antenna will be
selected when the first user connects. This is useful for example if you have a Kiwi where
you'd like to keep the antennas grounded when the Kiwi is not in use
(for lightning/static protection).
If the user page needs to be reloaded because a selected antenna specifies a new frequency
offset (e.g. going from HF to 2 meters) then the user page will be reloaded without
requiring a confirmation. I.e. the notification box shown no longer has an "OK" button.
The page simply reloads after a few seconds.
Fix bug causing value of "Deny antenna mixing?" setting not to be saved across page reloads.
Install netcat utility needed by kmtronix-UDP switch backend script.
New shell alias "aah" to see all antenna switch frontend script aliases.
(continued next post)
From the CHANGE_LOG file: (part 3/3)
Admin config tab: (thanks Tremolat, G8JNJ, Ben, et al)
New checkbox "Show user names to user connections". When checked will show "(private)" in
place of usual user name displayed in the user tab of the main control panel. The user name
is still shown on the admin status tab and /users URL query.
New "initial value" menus for audio compression, display setup and option bar.
(thanks HB9TMC, N6GN)
By special request: Checkbox below WF cal slider to disable the automatic correction
that is applied to the WF-min slider (3 dB per zoom step). It is not recommended that you
set this option as it causes undesirable results. But it also provides a good learning
opportunity why 3 dB correction is needed every time the WF bandwidth changes by 2x.
Think SSB vs CW filters and why a narrower filter has a lower noise floor.
Admin webpage and public tabs: (thanks ZL2LD)
In an effort to simplify things there has been a general rearrangement and elimination of
duplicate fields on the webpage and public tabs:
1) The lat/lon, grid square and altitude fields have been removed from the public tab.
When publicly registering a Kiwi these values are now taken from the webpage tab where they
were duplicated. So there is now only one place where you need to set these values.
See below for an explanation of the new "continuous update" feature.
2) The admin email and antenna fields have moved to the webpage tab where they more
properly belong.
3) There remain two separate "location (name)" fields on the webpage and public tabs.
Because you may want different location content to appear on the user page top bar
versus what's displayed on your rx.kiwisdr.com public listing.
Marine mobile grid square and lat/lon tracking: (thanks S50SVM/MM)
All of the lat/lon and grid square fields now have the ability to be continuously updated
by the GPS. So this includes the fields on the admin webpage tab as well as the FT8 and WSPR
extension tabs. Previously this only existed for the WSPR tab. Although all the grid and
lat/lon fields had (and continue to have) a button to do a one-time update from GPS.
Setting continuous update will cause the values displayed on the user page top bar,
rx.kiwisdr.com public listing, /staus query etc to update as the GPS returns a new location.
In addition the updated values are used for FT8 and WSPR spots.
For FT8/WSPR autorun when continuous update is active the grid is added to all the user
lists where the decode count is shown. So for example in the user tab the previous
"(N decoded)" becomes "(N decoded, GRID)". And when preemption is enabled for an autorun
"(N decoded, preemptable)" becomes "(N decoded, GRID, pre)".
SNR measurement:
Measuring SNR on-demand will now work even though the periodic "SNR measurement interval"
setting on the admin control tab is set to "disable". On-demand means the "Measure SNR now"
button on the admin control tab or use of the "/snr?meas" control URL.
Fixed the anti-HFDL monitoring countermeasure so it does not exclude the 80m ham band.
(end of document)
So there's some kind of strange issue where certain public Kiwis register themselves a few times but then stop doing so and eventually drop off the listing and map. They're still working fine and contactable. Just not on the public list/map.
Investigating..
Hello, this morning on the map, many KiwiSDRs are purple or gray in color (especially in the United Kingdom). Many receivers in France have disappeared from the map too.
If it helps you, I did update 1.691 last night (around 1:00 GMT) and I put my receiver back public (because now we can hide user names and I thank you very much for that). My receiver works well and it appears normally on the map and in the list. The automatic update option is disabled. I update them manually.
Good luck researching this problem and thank you again. Best regards, Philippe
photo at 5:27 GMT
Photo at 5:50 GMT
Since last night, the number of receivers online has only gone down (visible here http://kiwisdr.com/public), 10 kiwisdr fewer every 30 minutes. currently 413 online
photo at 6:00 GMT
Well, we seem to have a complete disaster. I tested this stuff for weeks. Guess it wasn't enough.
For now I'm going to revert everything. This will take a little while..
Here, version 1.691 works very well on my two KiwiSDRs, version 1 (private) and 2 (public). For what ? I have a fixed IP address, a track.
Europe, especially Spain and France, seem particularly affected by the disappearance of the Kiwi. The Portugal receiver (1,691) has just returned Online.
The number of KiwiSDR online seems to stabilize around 416, 420.
If I can help you, with pleasure.
Another observed problem with v1.691. Maybe it's related to the dropping off the list issue.
Overall the old list of Antenna Switch issues seem to work properly. However, I find the Antenna Extension on the control panel is not being updated. No buttons are turning green following being clicked, The buttons do communicate to the switch, but the status reply does not seem to make it back to the panel. By using the test scripts in the console, all seem to work and interact with the switch hardware properly. I am using the Arduino-netshield extension.
M.Meek
JOHN, Thank you!!!
Great job renewing the firmware again and again with user input and requests, but so much more respect for your quick response when things did not go quite as planned today!
Returning back to 1.690 did not go all well for me, but 1.693 has solved all.
Very well done!!! Wish you a good nights sleep after this!
I trust we all want to support you in your efforts.....how may we help?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
BR
Henrik
How did you "return back to v1.690"? Did you do a git checkout of an earlier commit SHA and rebuild?
Does it mean that I can happily stay on 1.690 for a while?
Yes, if you're still on 690 because you had automatic updates turned off, or whatever, that's fine.
Okay, let's try this update again. Hopefully it won't cause your ATM machine to stop giving you cash.
@n8oou Well, that's unfortunate. You'll probably see the same failure in v1.694
I can only debug this on a Kiwi with the actual Arduino netshield hardware present. If you don't mind, please email your Kiwi's admin password to support@kiwisdr.com and I'll have a look (set a temporary password if necessary). Thank you
@ JKS
How I returned to v 1.690?
As I recall, I went to the Admin interface, update tab, and checked for updates….and again as I recall, 1.692 and 1.690 were avaílable, so I checked 1.690 and forced a build of that.
Today I do not see the posibility to downgrade, but I am quite sure it was available at the time…and I am certainly not clever enough to have grabbed it from Github.
After the downgrade, the users were still reported with IP-adresses being 127.0.0.1…..(and that was corrected with the automatic update to 1.693)
BR
Henrik
Hi John,
Thanks for persevering with this, but I definitely think it was worth the effort.
I particularly like the ability to tune using the mouse, but I wondered about a couple of things.
I don't quite understand if or how to change the default tuning step size, I've tried using the + & - buttons, but the values don't seem to stick. I don't know if this is how it should be, or if I'm misinterpreting the instructions.
I also thought that perhaps the default tuning step could be made to change with mode, so that it is more appropriate for the bandwidth of the signals that are likely to be received. For example, retain the current 5KHz for modes like AM and FM, but maybe change this to 1kHz for SSB and 100Hz for morse ?
Just a passing thought.
Once again, you have superposed yourself, in rolling out a cracking set of new features.
Thanks again,
Martin
You can't change the default step sizes for wheel tuning.
Like the step sizes assigned to the ---+++ buttons, the sizes vary depending on the band of the current frequency. The "fast" tuning rate is the fastest rate (the outer -+ buttons). So 5 kHz for SWBC bands and 1 kHz for everything else. The slow rate ends up being 10 Hz in all cases I believe.
There is an exception though: in the SWBC bands the fast rate is reduced to 1 kHz if you're not in an AM mode.