WSJT-X 2.3.0 General Availability release adds the new modes FST4 and FST4W along with many defect repairs. See summaries below and for the prior release candidates (2.3.0-rc1 through -rc4) of this version for details.
FST4/W: Disable envelope shaping at start and end of transmission when environment variable FST4_NOSHAPING=1. Works for fst4sim too.
Add time stamp to error message boxes to aid diagnosis.
Repair a defect that caused crashes at start up for some macOS Big Sur users.
Repair a defect that could cause the jt9 slow mode decoder process to exit incorrectly with a failure status.
Updated CTY.DAT file.
Release: WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc4
Jan 26, 2021
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WSJT-X 2.3.0 Release Candidate 4 is a stop-gap release while some recent important Hamlib changes are being verified. Also included are the following regression and defect repairs.
The wsprd command line tool uses the current working directory for the data file directory if it is not specified.
Updates to the language translations of the WSJT-X user Interface.
Release: WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc3
Jan 6, 2021
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WSJT-X 2.3.0 Release Candidate 3 adds an improved FST4W decoder and fixes several defects and regressions discovered since the second release candidate.
FST4W uses 50-bit messages and a 24-bit CRC. The 74-bit message+CRC is encoded into a 240-bit codeword. Received messages are decoded by two different decoders: (i) a “belief propagation” (BP) decoder and (ii) an ordered statistics decoder (OSD). The ordered statistics decoder has a knob that allows any or all CRC bits to be treated as additional parity bits rather than as part of the message+CRC field. Thus, the OSD decoder can decode the received message as a (240,50+Nc) code, where Nc is any integer between 0 and 24. In the RC1 and RC2 releases the OSD decoding attempt treated the code as a (240,64) code (14-bit CRC). This release uses 2 OSD decoding attempts that treat the received word as (i) a (240,66) code with 16-bit CRC and code rate 0.308 and (ii) a (240,50) code with no CRC and code rate 0.208. Codewords returned by the (240,50) CRC-less decoding attempt are unpacked and the decode is printed only if it contains a callsign/grid pair that have been previously decoded by the belief propagation decoder (which treats the code as a (240,74) code with 24-bit CRC) or the ordered statistics decoder configured for (240,66) (16-bit CRC). The callsign/grid memory is stored in file “fst4w_calls.txt” which resides in the data directory.
FT8: Fixed a crash triggered by double clicking on the waterfall to invoke a decode of a signal in the preceding T/R interval.
FST4W: Do not save .c2 files.
FST4W: Correct a bug that could cause incorrect operation when using negative noise blanker (NB) percentage to trigger looping over a range of NB percentages.
fst4sim: Added simulation of Lorentzian fading spectrum, invoked by negative fspread values.
Color highlighting scheme window fixed in dark mode.
Reports sent by QSO partners to other stations no longer logged in error.
UDP Status(1) message now includes the current Tx message.
Example diagnostic logging configuration files included.
Use system localization for date fields in Log QSO dialog.
Improvements to audio input and output buffer sizes.
wsprd: Fails gracefully if data directory does not exist.
wsjtx_app_version: new utility to print application version string.
Regression causing incorrect working frequency selection when changing modes repaired.
Regression with QSO initiation with "Best S&P" repaired.
Updated installation instructions for macOS covering M1 hardware.
Improved compatibility is Debian 9 required distribution packages.
Repair regression with missing time-stamps in the ALL.TXT journal.
Allow hamlib_settings.json to work with PTT only configurations so that optional PTT sharing on RTS or DTR can be enabled.
Several improvements to main window sizing and layout.
Repair regression with OpenSSL libraries being required when LoTW highlighting is not enabled.
Repair a defect that caused 2 by 1 callsigns to be incorrectly parsed as non-standard.
Several updates to international UI translations.
Release: WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc2
Nov 16, 2020
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WSJT-X 2.3.0 Release Candidate 2 fixes issues found in RC1 and includes some new functionality that missed the RC1 cut off deadline.
Dropped audio samples message box removed, warnings and errors for these are now sent to the WSJT-X system log.
FST4W spots to WSPRNet.org will be augmented such that the server can distinguish the mode being spotted. Spots to WSPRNet.org will no longer be restricted to WSPR sub-bands.
A new internal system and data logging facility used to provide trace, debug, information, warning, error, and fatal error messages. The verbosity and filtering of messages is user definable via a configuration file. Without a configuration file a basic log is written with information, warning and error messages only. Log files are automatically rotated to limit disk usage.
Due to some users using inappropriate multicast IP addresses for their interoperating severs the default behaviour now is to only send multicast UDP datagrams to the loop-back network interface. Users who require WSJT-X UDP Message Protocol datagrams to reach other hosts will now have to configure WSJT-X to send on an appropriate network interface, and use an appropriately scoped multicast group address for their server applications. If you are not sure then 224.0.0.1 (or ff02::1 if IPv6 is desired) is a safe choice.
Release: WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc1
Sept 28, 2020
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WSJT-X 2.3.0 is a program upgrade offering two new modes designed especially for use on the LF and MF bands. FST4 is for 2-way QSOs, and FST4W is for WSPR-like transmissions. Both modes offer a range of options for T/R sequence lengths and threshold decoding sensitivities extending well into the -40 dB range. Early tests have shown these modes frequently spanning intercontinental distances on the 2200 m and 630 m bands. Further details and operating hints can be found in the "Quick-Start Guide to FST4 and FST4W", posted on the WSJT web site:
https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FST4_Quick_Start.pdf
WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc1 is a beta-quality release candidate for a program upgrade that provides a number of new features, capabilities, and defect repairs. These include:
New modes FST4 and FST4W targeting LF and MF bands.
Improved noise baseline discovery for more reliable SNR estimates.
On the waterfall and 2D spectrum a tool-tip shows the frequency offset under the mouse pointer.
The On Dx Echo Doppler compensation method has been modified in response to feedback from Users. Basic functionality is unchanged. See the User Guide (Section 8.1) for more information.
Improved user_hardware script or program initiation for WSPR band-hopping mode.
Decoded QSO mode message display narrowed to make appended information easier to view without scrolling the window.
Option to record the propagation mode in logged QSO records.
ADIF v3.1.1 compliance.
Option to connect to PSKReporter using TCP/IP for those with very poor Internet connections.
Major rewrite of the PSKReporter interface to improve efficiency and reduce traffic levels.
Removal of the Tab 2 generated messages.
Accessibility improvements to the UI.
Tweaked decode speed options for a better user experience with lower powered single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi.
Updates to UI translations in Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Danish, and Japanese.
Audio devices only enumerated when starting up and opening the "Settings->Audio" device lists.
Option to select the default audio device removed to minimize the likelihood of system sounds being transmitted.
Better handling of missing audio devices.
Improved and enhanced meta-data saved to .WAV files.
More reliable multi-instance support.
Included CTY.DAT file moved to installation share directory.
The bundled Hamlib library is updated to the latest available which fixes several regressions, defects, and adds new rig support.
Fixed some edge-case message packing and unpacking defects and ambiguities.
Fix a defect that allowed non-CQ messages to be replied to via the UDP Message Protocol.
Fix a long-standing defect with Tx start timing.
Repair a defect with style sheets when switching configurations.
Repair defects that made the astronomical data window an several main window controls unreadable when using the dark style sheet.
Repair a regression with setting WSPR transmitted power levels.
Repair a regression with newly created ADIF log file's header.
Many other defects repaired.
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This update has been submitted for testing by hobbes1069.
This update's test gating status has been changed to 'ignored'.
This update's test gating status has been changed to 'waiting'.
This update's test gating status has been changed to 'ignored'.
This update has been pushed to testing.
This update has been obsoleted by wsjtx-2.3.0-2.fc32.