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: Improve FST4W decoder sensitivity on fading channels and decrease false decode rate.

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.