﻿ShackAssistant - Release notes
==============================

What changed for you: what is new, what got better, what was fixed.
Newest release first.

  Website     https://www.shackassistant.com
  Author      Björn Pasteuning - PA5DJ

This is the short read: what you can see and use. The detailed
engineering log lives with the source code, not in this download.


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v1.0.300    10 October 2026
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* Your settings can no longer be wiped. Sometimes ShackAssistant
  started with every setting back at its default: when the computer
  went to sleep or the program was stopped at the moment it saved,
  the settings file was left empty. The file is now written to a
  temporary copy first and only then put in place, so a save that is
  cut off leaves the old file whole.
* A spare copy of the previous settings is kept next to the file
  (ShackAssistant.ini.previous). Should the file ever be empty or
  damaged, ShackAssistant starts from that copy and notes it in its
  log.
* Saving also works when another program (a backup tool, a virus
  scanner, an editor) has the settings file open.


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v1.0.295    9 October 2026
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* The Web Logbook can read your radio through ShackAssistant: switch
  on the rigctld server (Settings -> Rig Control), connect the radio,
  and on the Radio tab of the Web Logbook choose "Hamlib rigctld".
  No extra program is needed. The browser only gets to READ the
  frequency and mode - it can never tune the radio or key it.

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v1.0.294    9 October 2026
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* A logbook on the server can be renamed: File -> Network Logbook ->
  Rename. The new name holds for every machine that uses it; nothing
  is copied. It is refused while another machine has the logbook
  open. The one you have open yourself is closed, renamed and opened
  again under its new name.


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v1.0.293    7 October 2026
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* RTTY-AFSK: choose the data mode the radio goes to - PKTLSB or
  PKTUSB (Key Master Settings -> RTTY -> Radio). A clicked RTTY spot
  uses the same choice when you send AFSK. On PKTUSB Key Master
  swaps its tones itself, so the signal on the air stays the same.


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v1.0.292    5 October 2026
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* The DARC RTTY-Kurzcontest definition now also comes in a version
  for stations in Germany: you send RST and your DOK.


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v1.0.291    5 October 2026
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* A contest definition for the DARC RTTY-Kurzcontest (outside
  Germany) is available in the CTD collection.


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v1.0.288    4 October 2026
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* RTTY-AFSK on a radio without a data mode (Rig Control set to USB
  for data) now puts the radio in LSB instead of PKTLSB.


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v1.0.287    4 October 2026
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* RTTY over a serial port (FSK) no longer stops with "Collection was
  modified" while sending. The same timing fault could also hit
  AFSK; both are fixed.


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v1.0.286    4 October 2026
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* Choosing RTTY-AFSK in Key Master now puts the radio in PKTLSB
  instead of PKTUSB - the lower sideband, where the mark tone sits
  above the space tone, as AFSK RTTY expects. CW-AFSK still goes to
  PKTUSB.


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v1.0.285    4 October 2026
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* Key Master on a screen scaled to 200%: the Add Log fields no
  longer lie on top of each other, the macro list in the macro
  editor no longer squashes its rows together, and the waterfall
  gets its full height back.

* The waterfall height can now be dragged: grab the line just above
  the squelch bar. The height you choose is remembered; double-click
  the line for the starting height.


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v1.0.284    4 October 2026
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* Clicking a column header in Statistics to sort no longer shows
  "Object must be of type Int32". Every column sorts both ways; the
  flag column simply does not sort, and the alternating row colours
  stay alternating after a sort.


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v1.0.283    4 October 2026
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* Key Master Settings now has Apply and Close instead of Save and
  Cancel, the same as the main Settings window. Apply keeps the
  window open, so you can try a setting and adjust it again without
  reopening - which is what that window is for: baud, shift and the
  colours are found by trying them.

* A line beside the button says Applied., so you can see it did
  something.

* Enter still does NOT apply. Baud and shift are typed in and
  confirmed with Enter, and that key belongs to them. Esc closes.


====================================================================
v1.0.282    4 October 2026
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* PTT is now set PER TRANSMITTER instead of once for the whole
  station. The voice keyer, CW and RTTY each have their own method,
  their own port and their own Test button - because they are not
  always the same wire: a voice keyer can sit on CAT while an FSK key
  pulls a serial line.

* Where to find them:
      Settings -> DVK                  the voice keyer
      Key Master Settings -> CW        CW, with its delay and tail
      Key Master Settings -> RTTY      RTTY, with its own values

* RTTY now has its own PTT delay and tail. Until now it used the ones
  set for CW.

* Your current PTT setting is copied into the two new ones the first
  time you start this version, so nothing changes until you change it.

* The Audio tab in Settings is now called DVK - it holds the voice
  keyer, and nothing else. Key Master has carried its own sound cards
  since v1.0.168.

* Rig Control now sits right next to General in Settings.

* The Test button keys the rig for a moment over the line of THAT
  transmitter. Nothing is sent - no tone, no characters - so it only
  proves the wiring.


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v1.0.281    3 October 2026
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* When somebody spots YOU, that spot now stands out in purple - in the DX
  Cluster list and on the band map. It beats every other colour, because
  being heard is the one thing in that list you did not go looking for.

* Your station callsign and your operator callsign both count, so it also
  works when you are operating a club station. A suffix is fine too: a
  spot of your call with /P or with a country prefix is still you.

* The legend under the spots has a sixth swatch for it, and its labels are
  shorter so the row still fits.


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v1.0.280    3 October 2026
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* The author's name is spelled Björn. The About box and the copyright
  line in the program said it without the umlaut.


====================================================================
v1.0.279    3 October 2026
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* The download carries these release notes. They sit in the ZIP next to
  the setup, so you can read what changed before you install anything.


====================================================================
v1.0.278    3 October 2026
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* ShackAssistant looks for a newer version at EVERY start. Until now it
  did that at most once a day, and that got in the way of the one thing
  you want to be able to do: install a new setup, restart, and see that
  it arrived. No internet still means it says nothing at all.

* Help > Check for Updates... asks at any moment and always answers,
  also when you are already running the newest version.

* The checkbox for it is on Settings > General, under Updates. A check
  no longer writes anything to your settings file.

* The download page reads the version from the name of the file, so a
  release shows up as the version its file name says it is.


====================================================================
v1.0.237 - v1.0.278    29 September to 3 October 2026
====================================================================

Everything below arrived after v1.0.236, the setup that was on the site
before this one. Grouped by subject instead of by version number.


NEW - Transverter and QO-100

* A transverter offset works as a translation layer. Above the layer you
  see, type and log the real frequency - entry window, logbook, a clicked
  DX spot, the UDP broadcast and WSJT-X all agree. Below it the radio gets
  the IF. One offset, set with the rig profile in Settings > Rig Control.

* With an IF band chosen the band is locked and nothing is ever sent that
  would put the radio outside a band. A refused command says which of the
  two reasons it was, and where to switch the layer off.

* A marker next to the frequency - TRV +2156.000 - says a layer is in
  between, and the title bar repeats it. It follows the checkbox, never a
  left-over number.

* QO-100 mode next to it: you choose the IF start frequency and the offset
  follows by itself, up to 2400.500. The downlink is shown on its own row
  under the frequency and is stored with every QSO inside the transponder,
  together with Satellite and Propagation. Connecting parks the radio
  inside the IF window; in this mode the frequency field reads TX (MHz).

* The received frequency and band can be corrected in Edit QSO and in
  Bulk edit, and an imported ADIF brings them in.


NEW - Contest exchanges in their own fields

* The state or province of the other station has a field of its own, and
  so does the ARRL section. They export and import as the ordinary ADIF
  fields, so other programs and LoTW can read them.

* A box that a contest definition asks for now fills the logbook field it
  belongs to, instead of being pasted into one exchange string. The CQ
  zone is what the other station sent you, not what a prefix table makes
  of his call.

* The previous QSO with the same station prefills the exchange boxes, and
  it wins over the call history file - what you worked this weekend beats
  a list from last year. A received serial number is never prefilled.

* Your own ARRL section is stored with each QSO as you log it, so a log
  from last year keeps saying what you really sent.

* Importing an ADIF no longer asks which tag holds the exchange and no
  longer moves values between fields: a tag lands in the field that
  belongs to it, or it does not come in. Please note the other half of
  that: where a foreign file keeps its exchange somewhere unexpected, you
  now get an empty field instead of a value quietly taken from elsewhere.

* Scoring was checked against N1MM on a real 2300-QSO contest log, QSO by
  QSO and not just on the total: same points, same multipliers, same
  score.


NEW - Cabrillo export

* Your own section goes into the header and into every QSO line.

* The sent exchange comes from the contest itself when that contest does
  not send serial numbers.

* A received CQ zone keeps its leading zero, the way the organiser prints
  it.

* MULTI-ONE and MULTI-TWO get their transmitter column. Which transmitter
  this machine is, is asked once and then stored per machine and stamped
  on every QSO you log; a log that already exists can be filled in
  afterwards.

* A contest that wants two received columns gets them, each from its own
  field.


IMPROVED

* The Settings window is wider and puts its frames in two columns, so no
  single tab decides the height any more.

* Every QSO in a contest log records which machine logged it and on which
  radio - useful afterwards in a multi-operator log. They are two columns
  in the logbook, switched OFF by default: turn them on with Customize
  Layout. Searchable, and correctable in Bulk edit.

* The logbook display filter can show or hide contest QSOs.

* Contest definitions are called CTD now: the files end in .ctd and they
  live in Documents\ShackAssistant\CTD. What you already have is moved
  and renamed for you the first time you start, and a contest log keeps
  finding the definition it was made with. You lose nothing.

* The author's callsign is PA5DJ.


FIXED

* A restart could hang on the splash screen. A question about the
  transmitter was asked before the main window was on screen, so it came
  up behind the splash with nothing to click.

* A contest log imported from N1MM scored too low - one multiplier was
  never counted, because the imported exchange ended up in no field at
  all.

* The web dashboard kept showing a contest after you had opened an
  ordinary logbook. Needs Web Dashboard Feeder v1.6.4 or newer.

* The transverter frame in Settings > Rig Control is there again whatever
  kind of rig is selected.

* A tooltip in the entry window still gave the author's old callsign as
  an example.
