SkookumLogger Changelog

What's new in SkookumLogger 1.11.13 Build 11726

Jun 2, 2016

New features:
The Great Circle Map window is now scrollable. You may not notice this feature if you use the OS X default choice in General Preferences that hides the scroll bars. Do not try to drag the map to pan it; that will turn your rotator instead. Antenna ► Center Map will — you guessed! — center the scrollable area in the window.
Added Contests:
His Majesty The King of Spain CW Contest
His Majesty The King of Spain SSB Contest
Portugal Day Contest
RSGB 2m May Contest
RSGB 4m CW Contest
RSGB 4m Trophy Contest
RSGB 6m AFS Contest
RSGB 6m April Contest
RSGB 6m Trophy Contest
Changes:
The characters for identifying match sources in the Partials lists have changed to increase visual contrast with alphabetic characters. Thanks JH5GHM.
The names of all RSGB contests have been scrubbed to be consistent while easily associated with the “official” contest names, and to succumb to rational organization by alphanumeric sort. Thanks GØDVJ.
The Score window now shows only the relevant mode column for single-mode contests instead of always showing both CW and SSB columns.
Misfeatures fixed:
Attempting to sort the Prefix checksheet on the Country column was forcing SkookumLogger into an unrecoverable state of undefined behavior. Thanks WA1Z.
Sending the serial number for the previous QSO was broken in the 2T2R configuration. Thanks JH5GHM and WA1Z.
SkookumLogger was hogging the CPU when flooded with new spots with the Activities Update Interval preference set to 0. For contests with many spots, you should set the interval to at least a few seconds and use a filter at your DX Cluster site to avoid receiving uninteresting spots. SkookumLogger now postpones spot processing for any value of the Update Interval when the log is in an unstable state such as opening the log or rebuilding checksheets. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 1.11.11 Build 11360 (May 5, 2016)

New features:
SkookumLogger now supports the ICOM IC-7300 radio. Thanks WD7K (implementation) and KF5JRA (testing).
The new Antenna ► Hide Map Controls command toggles the display of the controls in the Great Circle Map window to prevent obscuring the map display when zoomed in. The controls are now grouped into boxes with translucent backgrounds so that they are more readable when overlaying dark areas of the map. Thanks GØDVJ.
Calls in the Partials list are now enclosed in parentheses when matched in the current log or in a list of calls you have added to an activity table, or in square brackets when the partial call was matched in your exchange database. Otherwise, the partial call was matched in the SCP database. The Partials panes have help tags describing these cases for those of us with poor memories.
Support has been added for displaying a Maidenhead Locator Map image instead of the azimuth equidistant world map in the Great Circle Map window. See the Maidenhead Locator Maps section in the Overview : Great circle map topic in Help.
SkookumLogger now handles contests with a mandatory off period. For example, the Florida QSO Party spans 30 hours, with 10 hours on, 10 hours off, then 10 hours on. Other SkookumLogger-supported contests that are affected: Georgia QSO Party, New England QSO Party, RSGB HF Low Power. When you log a QSO during a mandatory off period, SkookumLogger alerts you in the Information Messages window and marks the QSO as Suspect so that it does not contribute to your score.
Support has been restored for the World Radiosport Team Championship, using the same rules as for the 2014 event. The contest name has changed, but SkookumLogger can open existing logs for WRTC2014.
The Log table has a new column title Rover. See the During a contest : Identifying rovers topic in Help.
Time Tracker now has a status message area that describes why it ignored a new QSO. Sometimes SkookumLogger guesses wrong for the Start Date; the status messages should help you detect this situation and make an appropriate change to the Start Date.
The View ► Clear Focused QSO Entry command now supports Undo and Redo. Thanks JH5GHM.
Changes:
SkookumLogger now removes "/P" from calls for USA stations received in spots.
Misfeatures fixed:
SkookumLogger was aborting on an unhandled exception caused by a slightly corrupted Antenna Configuration file. Now, SkookumLogger detects and repairs that corruption (a nil string instead of an empty string for the antenna switch Command field). Thanks GØDVJ for patiently helping to narrow down where the exception was happening and supplying a copy of his Antenna Configuration file for debugging.

New in SkookumLogger 1.11.10 Build 11068 (Apr 17, 2016)

New in SkookumLogger 1.11.7 Build 10600 (Mar 7, 2016)

New in SkookumLogger 1.11.2 Build 10069 (Dec 29, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.17 Build 9911 (Nov 16, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.16 Build 9861 (Nov 9, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.14 Build 9697 (Oct 12, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.8 Build 9325 (Aug 20, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.7 Build 9188 (Aug 10, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.6 Build 9161 (Jul 28, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.5 Build 9111 (Jul 20, 2015)

New Features:
The new Radio ► Toggle SubRX command turns the subreceiver on and off for radios that support this capability. The command is hidden when not available.
The new View ► Focus Run Transmit and View ► Focus Pounce Transmit commands change transmit focus to specific states, augmenting the View ► Toggle Transmit Focus command. The default shortcut keys for the new commands are home and end, respectively. Default shortcut keys have been added for the View ► Focus Run QSO Entry and View ► Focus Pounce QSO Entry; they are page up and page down respectively. These commands and shortcuts support efficient operation in one-transmitter configurations when using the Apple USB keyboard, which has dedicated home, end, page up, and page down.
The clear button on the Apple USB keyboard now performs the View ► Clear Focused QSO Entry command when a QSO entry field has keyboard focus. The default keyboard shortcut, F11, remains in effect. Shift-clear similarly performs the View ► Clear Unfocused QSO Entry command.
Changes:
SkookumLogger now disambiguates IARU society multipliers that have the same abbreviation using the country of the QSO’s call.
”CRAC” is now accepted as an alias for the “CRSA” IARU society abbreviation. Similarly, “OVSV” is accepted as an alias for “OEVSV”.
Duplicate status is now tracked for QSOs marked as suspect unless they are incomplete. For example, if SkookumLogger marks a QSO as suspect because it cannot determine the multiplier, it will now show up as a duplicate instead of as needed.
Amplifier management for all suuported amplifiers except the Alpha 87A has been scrubbed and tested. SkookumLogger stores (in your preferences file) four tables of drive powers: standby powers for each radio, and drive powers for each amplifier. You will need to create new tables if you have been using the drive power management feature in previous versions of SkookumLogger. When you change a radio type or an amplifier type, you will need to update the corresponding table.
SkookumLogger now commands an ACOM 2000A amplifier to change band-segments if necessary when the associated radio changes transmit frequency. This feature is incompatible with (but smarter than) the ACOM 2000A CAT feature; disconnect any CAT cable between the RCU and the the transceiver when using SkookumLogger to manage the amplifier.
Misfeatures fixed:
The zones table in the statistics report was displaying row number instead of zone number in the Zone column.
The date for the July RSGB SSB Club Championship was corrupted by a typo. Thanks GØDVJ.
SkookumLogger was crashing when attempting to create a QTC series in the WAEDC contest.
QTC messages were being sent without spaces between the message components. Thanks WA1Z.

New in SkookumLogger 1.10.0 Build 7911 (May 8, 2015)

New Features:
SkookumLogger uses message number 0 to keep track of how many times a message with “CQ” in the label has been sent. The Morse Message column for this message displays the count, and the count is also printed in the Statistics Report. The count includes messages sent indirectly via Beacon CQ. You can edit the count, perhaps to reset it to zero. The count is reset when you reset your log.
Internet Spot Filters now support a second token, . This token expands to a list of the calls in your activities blacklist, for use in filtering those calls at the DX Cluster to reduce spot traffic. See the About DX Cluster topic in the Overview section of SkookumLogger Help.
Support has been added for the Yaesu FTdx-1200, duplicating FTdx-2000 support with speed changed to 38400. Also, the names for FTdx-series radios have been regularized in the Radio Type menu of Serial Preferences.
The Generic QSO Party contest type now provides more complete support for typical QSO party rules, for use when SkookumLogger doesn’t explicitly support a particular event. See the new About Generic QSO Party Rules topic in the Overview section of SkookumLogger Help. Use this module, for exmple, to operate NEQP and 7QP and INQP concurrently. You can submit the same Cabrillo file to all three event sponsors.
The ARRL Field Day contest now includes the Region and Country checksheets, so you can impress visitors with the reach of your radios. The Score window will show tallies for these “multipliers” but the score computation ignores those tallies.
SkookumLogger now supports “call stacking” — a feature for advanced operators designed by GØDVJ. See the Call Stacking topic in the Operating section of SkookumLogger Help.
Hint:
Do not use the 1T2R radio configuration together with the K3 diversity receive mode. When K3 diversity is on, the subreceiver tracks VFO A instead of VFO B and as a consequence 1T2R will set the Pounce frequency equal to the Run frequency each time VFO A (Run) changes frequency.
Changes:
For contests with ITU or CQ zone in the exchange, SkookumLogger prefills the zone using the call and the Countries database. If you log a different zone, as may happen when you work someone who sends you a serial number for example, some contest sponsors will penalize you for logging the “wrong” zone. SkookumLogger now tags QSOs with logged zone different from expected zone with the SQ (Suspect QSO) flag, so that you can quickly find them in your log. If you determine that an SQ-tagged QSO should not be altered, turn off the “Export SQ as X-QSO” option in Export preferences before creating your Cabrillo file.
The changes in serial I/O and K3 timeout handling introduced in 1.9.15 have been removed.
ORSSerialPort 1.8.0 with SkookumLogger customizations has been merged into the code base. Thanks AC7CF (ORSSerialPort) and WD7K (customizations for microHAM protocol).
Misfeatures fixed:
In the ES-Open HF Championship Contest, SkookumLogger was failing to identify calls outside Estonia as zero-pointers. Consequently they showed up as needed in activity windows.
In the Yuri Gagarin DX Contest, all QSOs were being marked as suspect, the email address for submitting the log was malformed, and the list of special stations was outdated.
In several contests, including Manchester Mineira, some QSO parties, and some events with ITU zones in the exchange, exchange information was be stored in your exchange archive incorrectly.
In some case the partials list was not being cleared when the active QSO entry field was empty.
Frequency and mode control and display for the Yaesu FT-817 radio was dysfunctional.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.16 Build 7816 (Apr 21, 2015)

New Features:
Internet Spot Filters now support a second token, . This token expands to a list of the calls in your activities blacklist, for use in filtering those calls at the DX Cluster to reduce spot traffic. See the About DX Cluster topic in the Overview section of SkookumLogger Help.
Added support for Yaesu FT-1200, duplicating FT-2000 support with speed changed to 38400.
The Generic QSO Party contest type now provides more complete support for typical QSO party rules, for use when SkookumLogger doesn’t explicitly support a particular event. See the new About Generic QSO Party Rules topic in the Overview section of SkookumLogger Help. Use this module if you want to operate NEQP and 7QP and INQP concurrently. You can submit the same Cabrillo file to all three event sponsors.
Changes:
For contests with ITU or CQ zone in the exchange, SkookumLogger prefills the zone using the call and the Countries database. If you log a different zone, as may happen when you work someone who sends you a serial number for example, some contest sponsors will penalize you for logging the “wrong” zone. SkookumLogger now tags QSOs with logged zone different from expected zone with the SQ (Suspect QSO) flag, so that you can quickly find them in your log. If you determine that an SQ-tagged QSO should not be altered, turn off the “Export SQ as X-QSO” option in Export preferences before creating your Cabrillo file.
The changes in serial I/O and K3 timeout handling introduced in 1.9.15 have been removed.
ORSSerialPort 1.8.0 with SkookumLogger customizations has been merged into the code base. Thanks AC7CF (ORSSerialPort) and WD7K (customizations for microHAM protocol).
Misfeatures fixed:
In the ES-Open HF Championship Contest, SkookumLogger was failing to identify calls outside Estonia as zero-pointers. Consequently they showed up as needed in activity windows. Thanks GØDVJ.
In the Yuri Gagarin DX Contest, all QSOs were being marked as suspect, the email address for submitting the log was malformed, and the list of special stations was outdated.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.15 Build 7552 (Apr 3, 2015)

New Features:
Special Keys in Logging preferences has two new items, Begin QSO and End QSO. When you are in run mode, Begin QSO sends messages 5 and 2, and End QSO sends message 3 and logs the QSO. When you are in pounce mode, Begin QSO sends message 4 and End QSO sends F2 and logs the QSO. In 2T2R, the run/pounce decision is tied to the yellow gumdrop for each radio (pounce when you see the gumdrop). Thanks JH5GHM.
Changing the Operator for a logged QSO (via the popup menu in the log table) now also sets the current operator to that choice. So, a new operator who forgot to “login” can fix a QSO that he just logged and not have to also choose himself in the Log ► Operator ► menu. Thanks GØDVJ.
In 2T2R, a receive frequency change of the radio with transmit focus creates an activity and clears the QSO entry fields if the submode is Pounce and the call field is not empty. Enabled by a new checkbox option in Configuration preferences. Thanks JH5GHM.
In 2T2R, logging a QSO creates an Activity table entry when the submode is Pounce. There is no preferences option (1T1R and 1T2R already do this). Thanks JH5GHM.
Changes:
The minimum sizes of all checksheet windows have been changed to prevent clipping of the controls above the tables. Thanks GØDVJ.
Exchange guessing now happens when you navigate out of the call field, instead of on every call character typed. Thanks JH5GHM.
Experimental change to a Serial IO parameter. I’ve not found the change to have any effect in SkookumLogger, but please be alert for changed behavior with serial devices.
K3 radio module now reports timeouts to the Information Messages window and does not post an alert and disconnect. Instead, it keeps to polling the radio, which will either succeed because the timeout was a spurious event, or will report more timeouts. In the latter case, disconnect and reconnect yourself; maybe it will recover, maybe not, let me know. And let me know if you can identify what you were doing when the disconnect happened.
Misfeatures fixed:
SkookumLogger was pre-filling serial numbers in the RDXC contest. Thanks WA1Z, JH5GHM.
SkookumLogger was failing to create two off periods when separated by one QSO. I've also observed bad off-period data. TimeTracker code has been scrubbed, rinsed, and hung out to dry. Bad off-periods could affect also affect the last-100 rate computation; if you see that then use Log ► Rebuild Checksheets to reconstruct the off-periods table.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.14 Build 7550 (Mar 16, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.13 Build 7414 (Mar 4, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.12 Build 7131 (Feb 10, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.11 Build 7030 (Feb 3, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.10 Build 6581 (Jan 19, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.9 Build 6444 (Jan 13, 2015)

New features:
SkookumLogger now supports more than 100 contests. As a user convenience, each contest has a link to the sponsor’s web site page containing the contest rules. Keeping those links current has been a constant annoyance. This release replaces many of those direct links with links to appropriate contest summary pages at the WA7BNM web site. Bruce does an excellent job of keeping that information current (including links to the sponsors’ sites), in spite of sponsor indifference. These links are accessed via Help ► WA7BNM Contest Rules Summary. Bruce doesn’t have summary pages for some contests; for those cases the original scheme remains in place — the WA7BNM menu item is replaced by Help ► Open Rules Web Site. If you find a broken link or a better URL for those cases, let me know.
Tapping up or down arrow keys with keyboard focus in a QSO data entry field steps radio 1 frequency as determined by Wizardry preferences. Now, tapping control-up-arrow or control-down-arrow similarly steps radio 2 frequency. As noted earlier, radio 1 is always used for the SO2V operating scheme and radio 2 is additionally available in the SO2R operating scheme. Thanks JH5GHM.
Activities ► Tables ► Open Recent is a new command that reopens all of the activity windows that were open when you last chose the Activities ► Tables ► Close All command. Thanks W2RU.
The Export preferences pane now has two tabs. The Cabrillo tab provides defaults for all of the Cabrillo category items when you create a new log. As before, you can change the item choices for each log in the Log Settings sheet. You can also a define default soapbox comment.
SkookumLogger Help has a suggestion for how to use Grab Partner Call via a single key, in the Using Partner Mode page.
JH5GHM provided code supporting the DATA mode feature introduced in 1.9.8 for Kenwood radios and the FTDX3000. Katsuhiro also fixed an issue with RIT/XIT for the TS-590.
Misfeatures fixed:
Somehow the SkookumLogger author determined that WA7BNM had changed his call to K7WA. Wrong. The relevant menu items have been changed and information added to credits.
Serial I/O for the ACOM 2000A has been changed to avoid errors during amplifier warmup. Typically, set up serial I/O and connect once in Serial preferences, then turn amplifier power on and off as desired using the RCU button. There is no device time-out for the 2000A.
Logic that avoids sending mode commands to the K3 when the K3 mode is already set properly has been corrected. Sending mode commands causes stalls in P3 sweeps.
The SO2R scheme for automatically switching transmit focus now works for both CW and SSB modes. Thanks WA1Z.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.8 Build 6375 (Jan 8, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.7 Build 6124 (Jan 3, 2015)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.6 Build 5900 (Dec 30, 2014)

Note:
GØDVJ noticed that toggling between QSO entry boxes cleared all the other fields in the new entry box when the call field was empty. After quite a bit a trial-and-error, we found that this behavior is a consequence of choosing the “Backspacing to erase call clears QSO entry fields” Wizardry option. This is an example of an unexpected and mysterious side-effect — that is why they are named Wizardry choices. As a rule, do not enable options that you do not really need for your style of operating. Then, enable them one at a time and use SkookumLogger to ensure that you haven’t created a configuration with “odd” behavior.
New features:
Each of the Generic contests has an Info field. The content of that field is now saved in the log’s internal exchange archive when you log a QSO, and is used in guessing the exchange for subsequent QSOs with the same call. Thanks WD7K.
Logic for setting the sent serial number for each QSO has been changed to ensure that the logged serial matches the transmitted serial when interleaving QSOs in the two QSO entry boxes. The logic relies on your using SkookumLogger to play a message containing the serial number token and applies for both CW and SSB. If you fail to play such a message before logging a QSO, SkookumLogger will behave as before. See “About Serial Numbers” in SkookumLogger Help.
Message labels are now editable in the Sent Exchange and Messages editor. The Messages menu displays these labels. Any message with label containing “CQ” will be recognized by the “Automatically change QSO entry box focus” SO2V Wizardry option. Thanks W2RU.
The received call token may now appear anywhere within a CW message, and may appear multiple times. However, call sign type-ahead applies only when the token is the first character in a message chain.
Misfeatures fixed:
Disable the + and – buttons for adding and deleting items in the Buddies list when there is an active DX Cluster connection. Thanks WA1Z.
When opening the Morse Keyboard in the SO2R operating scheme, ensure that the transmit radio corresponds to the focused QSO entry box. Thanks WA1Z.
When toggling the focuses QSO entry box while a message is playing, the transmit radio no longer switches in the middle of the message. Thanks WA1Z.
When beacon CQ is active and the “Typing stops Beacon CQ” option is checked, the option is applied only when the transmit radio matches the focused QSO entry box in the SO2R operating scheme. Thanks WA1Z.
The Bump Transmit Frequency command appears in the Radio 1 menu in the SO2V operating scheme. As before, it appears in the SO2R menu in the SO2R operating scheme. Thanks JH5GHM.
The scheme for inserting spaces between chained CW messages has been revised to prevent spurious spaces surrounding the F5 messages and following the last message. The changes have also corrected re-ordering of chained messages containing the F5 message. Thanks WA1Z.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.5 Build 5599 (Dec 22, 2014)

New features:
Contest rules for RSGB UKAC and 80m SSB AFS have been updated, including a drastic modification to the multipliers for UKAC which required adding a second check sheet (Other) in SkooumLogger. The Locator check sheet shows all locator multipliers; the Other check sheet shows UK locators that are now “double mults”. Thanks GØDVJ.
The choice checkbox for enabling the SO2R operating scheme is now located in the Logging preferences panel.
The Scheme menu has been renamed SO2R and is hidden when the SO2V operating scheme is enabled.
The Radio 2 menu is hidden when the SO2V operating scheme is enabled. You must use Radio 1 for this scheme; SkookumLogger ignores Radio 2.
Radio menu items that apply only for SO2R are hidden when the SO2V operating scheme is enabled. Thanks W2RU.
Logged activities are not added to activity tables in SO2R mode.
Misfeatures fixed:
1.9.4 had a nasty bug discovered by WA1Z. The symptom was that the Messages menu failed to appear when you clicked on it. It is unlikely that most users will have encountered this bug, as it is the result of corruption of the SkookumLogger preferences file when choosing to play Message 19. Thanks WA1Z.
The invert step direction preference was broken.
Some users have had problems with their K3 radios disconnecting for no apparent reason. This version has additional logic for that radio type which watches for apparent stalls in communication with the radio and stops polling until either the stall clears or the 60-second no-response time-out occurs. Thanks W2RU and WA1Z.
Serial devices that were successfully connected and then disconnected sometimes failed to reconnect until SkookumLogger was restarted. Thanks W2RU.
Two notes have been added to the Trouble section of SkookumLogger help, describing what to do if the Sent Exchange and Messages Editor window fails to open, and why you may not be able to add entries to your Buddies list. In each case, these are misfeatures, but I’m documenting easy workarounds rather than making the code more complex.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.4 Build 5510 (Dec 18, 2014)

New features:
SkookumLogger now supports 20 messages. The six new messages, numbered 15 through 20, are available only in new logs. F15 through F19 are the default shortcut keyboard assignments. As always you can use System Preferences to assign different shortcuts, but first set the Menu Titles in your Messages preferences to something more interesting than the defaults.
Bump Transmit Frequency is a new command on the Scheme menu. Its purpose is to change your run frequency by just enough to cause skimmers to spot you again. It works like this:
First time: step up 1 delta, show “up” indicator: ⬆︎
Second time: step down 2 deltas (one delta below starting frequency), hide up indicator off, show “down” indicator: ⬇︎
Third time: step up 1 delta (back to starting frequency), hide down indicator.
The bump indicators appear adjacent to the right end of the radio frequency display in the relevant QSO entry box, showing which delta is in effect so that you know what will happen next. In the SO2R scheme, the command applies to the transmit radio — the one with the red gumdrop — and the delta is remembered separately for each radio. In the SO2V scheme, the command applies to the frequency in the Run QSO entry box and is ignored when the Run box isn’t active. The delta is remembered for Radio 1.
“Stepping” changes the radio to transceive on the new frequency. The size of the step is 100 Hz.
In the SO2V scheme, if the “Automatically change QSO entry box focus” Wizardry option is checked the radio transmit frequency change will toggle keyboard focus from Run to Pounce. The workaround is to turn off that option if you want to use the Bump Transmit Transmit frequency command with the SO2V scheme. Also, unexpected behavior ensues if SPLIT is on and the two VFOs have different frequencies when you trigger the command. Workaround: do not use SPLIT while running on CW.
Misfeatures fixed:
The yellow gumdrop indicating that arrow keys step VFO A instead of RIT was in the wrong QSO entry box for the SO2V scheme.

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.3 Build 5484 (Dec 17, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.2 Build 5349 (Dec 16, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.1 Build 5342 (Dec 13, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.9.0 Build 5175 (Dec 9, 2014)

Notes:
A reminder: SkookumLogger no longer automatically rescores your log when you edit a Log table field. You must cause the rescan yourself using the Log ► Rebuild Checksheets function. There is no default shortcut for this menu item; I assign ⌘R.
Another reminder: If you use multiple monitors with SkookumLogger and want to preserve window positions on all screens, turn off the “Displays have separate Spaces” option in your Mission Control preferences. Otherwise, OS X gathers all open SkookumLogger windows onto the same screen as the main window; that is an OS X “feature.”
There have been many behind-the-scenes changes in SkookumLogger which have likely introduced new bugs. Please let me know if you encounter a reproducible problem.
You can control the sequence of columns visited by pressing the tab key in the Log table by dragging the column titles to rearrange the columns, then quitting and restarting SkookumLogger. Thanks JH5GHM.
If you experience too-frequent time-outs with a K3 radio, check whether or not you are using the latest production firmware in your K3. If you have a P3 between your computer and K3, also check the P3 firmware version. Thanks WW4B.
New features:
SkookumLogger now changes Alpha 87A tune settings when band changes only when the amplifier is in operate mode. Thanks W2RU.
The “Invert frequency step direction in LSB” Wizardry option now has an additional option, “Only in SSB mode”. Thanks JH5GHM.
Many changes have been made to clarify and expand SkookumLogger appearance and behavior for the two “operating schemes”, SO2V and SO2R. In the SO2V scheme, you operate with one radio, possibly with a sub-receiver. In the SO2R scheme, you operate with two radios, with the restriction that you cannot transmit at the same time with both radios.
SkookumLogger now has two Radio menus labeled Radio 1 and Radio 2, and another new menu labeled SO2R. The Radio menus are identical, but may have different items enabled depending on the capabilities of the transceivers selected in Serial preferences. SkookumLogger also now supports two amplifiers, each associated with the corresponding radio and controlled through the Radio menus.
Radio ► Save Drive Power now remembers radio power settings separately (per-band) for each transceiver type in standby mode and for each amplifier type in operate mode. Existing settings are lost; you will need to create new ones. If there is no saved power setting when Radio ► Autoset Drive Power is enabled and band or operate mode changes, 25W is set for operate and 100W is set for standby.
The SO2R menu has these commands:
Switch Transmit Radio determines which of the two radios is the active radio. The background color of the radio mode label (in one of the QSO entry boxes) for the active radio is bright green. When you switch the active radio, SkookumLogger configures your WinKeyer to use the corresponding KEY1/PTT1 and KEY2/PTT2 ports; it is your responsibility to cable these ports to the correct radio. SkookumLogger also changes WinKeyer speed to the setting that was last used with the newly-active radio. Typing a number or mode into either Call entry field changes the active radio.
Enable SO2R Mode changes SkookumLogger between the SO2V and SO2R operating schemes. The easiest way to see which scheme is active to note the labels at the lower right corners of the QSO entry boxes. Run and Pounce indicate the SO2V scheme, Radio 1 and Radio 2 indicate the SO2R scheme.
Listen to Both Radios configures your YCCC SO2R Box to deliver Radio 1 audio to your left headphone and Radio 2 audio to your right headphone, with optional blending.
Listen to Radio 1 and Listen to Radio 2 configure your YCCC SO2R Box to listen one or the other radio in both headphones.
There are many new menu items. They all have unique names and no shortcut keys. You can use Keyboard System preferences to define shortcuts for the commands you use frequently. Most existing menu item names and shortcuts have not been changed.
The items in the SO2R preferences pane have been moved to the Wizardry preferences pane, and the SO2R pane has been deleted. The Wizardry preferences pane now has three tabs. The General tab has options that apply in both operating schemes, while the SO2V and SO2R tabs have options that apply only for their respective schemes.
Misfeatures fixed:
An unusual combination of the hide signal report entry field options was preventing navigation out of the call field with the space-bar.
The source call for activities created internally is now always the current operator call. Previously it was sometimes the call for the sent exchange. Thanks W2RU.

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.18 Build 4982 (Dec 4, 2014)

New features:
Activity table Needed Multipliers filters now include calls of entries with unknown multipliers.
Great circle maps have been added to the web site, for Alaska (thanks AB8XX/KL7) and Iceland (thanks TF4M).
The Yaesu FT-857 radio is now supported. Thanks AB8XX and GØDVJ.
The ACOM 2000A amplifier is now supported for use with radio 1. SkookumLogger optionally sets drive power and antenna per-band. See the Controlling an Amplifier topic in the Operating section of SkookumLogger Help. Thanks W2CS.
SkookumLogger 1.8.18 has two new options in Logging preferences:
“Guess exchange from Logged QSOs” is a checkbox that enables searching the log for previous QSOs with the call of a spot. Exchange guessing still uses other information sources, such as your Exchange database, when this choice is disabled. The default is enabled, the present behavior.
“For logs less than xxx QSOs” sets a threshold beyond which log searching is disabled. The default for xxx is 10000.
These options address delays in handling keyboard key presses when you log has many QSOs and you are receiving many internet spots. Advanced users might want to leave log searching enabled via the checkbox, then set xxx to the current number of QSOs in a contest when they notice keyboard delays becoming bothersome.
Deleted features:
The K3 SPEED control no longer affects CW sending speed in SkookumLogger. There was some evidence that the feature was causing spurious speed changes. Not polling for the speed setting also increases the update rate for other information (frequency, mode) without increasing the polling rate. Thanks TF4M.
Misfeatures fixed:
Corrected the fix in 1.8.17 for RSGB Sprint Cabrillo format. Thanks again M1ACB.
Resolve a crash when adjusting SO2R blend when there is no connected SO2R Box. Thanks JH5GHM.
Correctly fixed the K3 timeout issue associated with stalled K3 poll responses, claimed to have been fixed in 1.8.17.
The Mode and Band choices in the Log Settings sheet were being reset each time the sheet was opened. After the end of a contest, the Mode choices were also improperly disabled after the log's contest had ended. Note that if you change a setting, such as Band, that affects how your score is computed, then you must choose Log ► Rebuild Checksheets after closing the Settings sheet.
The URL for AR-Cluster DX Spots Guide led to a defunct site and has now been changed.
Under some circumstances, the P3 sweep was stalled for many seconds after changing bands.

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.17 Build 4769 (Nov 21, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.16 Build 4712 (Nov 12, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.15 Build 4494 (Nov 10, 2014)

Notes:
When SkookumLogger suddenly begins to act strangely, it is usually best to quit and restart. If you can, let me know what you were doing just before the problem arose. One example of strange behavior: typing into a call entry field doesn’t do anything after frantically pounding many different keys.
If you force-quit SkookumLogger, changes that you made to preferences will be lost so you will need to change them again when you restart.
A very rare hang deep in serial port communications has reappeared, perhaps only in Yosemite. This release attempts to prevent that hang, but it is difficult to test because I don’t know how to cause the hang. The symptom is that SkookumLogger stalls trying to connect to a serial device. Force-quitting and restarting SkookumLogger doesn’t help, nor does logging out and logging in. Worse, OS X hangs forever when you attempt to restart; the only solution is to power-cycle your computer.
Some operators like to truncate the acknowledge-and-log message after the TU by tapping the esc key. This is convenient when you are running and you know there is another station ready to call you. As your log grows, the time required for SkookumLogger to process the newly-logged QSO increases and the esc key tap isn’t recognized until that processing completes. Instead of tapping the esc key, tap your paddle; that aborts sending immediately without adding an extra dot or dash.
New features:
The Great Circle map now has crosshairs. The color of the lines is the same as the stroke color for the target point. Set the opacity of that color to 0% if you don’t want to see the crosshairs.
The status string for calls with unknown multiplier status is now *** POSSIBLY A MULTIPLIER *** instead of *** MULTIPLIER ***.
Activities created from DX Cluster spots are now tagged with the time in the spot message instead of time that the message was received. If the age of a “new” spot is greater than the Entry Age Threshold preference, then the spot is ignored. Thanks WA1Z.
Misfeatures fixed:
Editing items in your Buddies list in Me preferences works again. Thanks GØDVJ.
The log table column widths for the two suspect columns has been increased slightly so that the SQ and SM titles fit when running SkookumLogger on Yosemite.
The OK-OM DX Contest configuration was incomplete, with the side effect of disabling some popup menus in Log Settings. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.14 (Nov 10, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.13 (Nov 10, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.12 Build 4350 (Oct 21, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.11 Build 4310 (Oct 11, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.10 Build 4289 (Oct 7, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.9 (Oct 7, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.8 Build 4199 (Sep 25, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.7 Build 4152 (Sep 15, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.6 Build 4004 (Sep 2, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.5 Build 3893 (Aug 18, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.3 Build 3831 (Aug 16, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.2 Build 3819 (Aug 14, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.1 Build 3615 (Jul 29, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.8.0 Build 3564 (Jul 24, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.26 Build 2975 (Jun 10, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.25 Build 2934 (May 28, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.24 Build 2904 (May 15, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.23 Build 2891 (May 10, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.22 Build 2842 (May 1, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.21 (May 1, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.20 Build 2503 (Mar 25, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.18 Build 2315 (Feb 25, 2014)

Notes:
If you find that SkookumLogger isn’t computing a score while operating a contest, open Time Tracker and check that SkookumLogger has guessed Start Date correctly; change it if not. Thanks K3DCW.
Here is one among possibly many Wizardry option side-effects: if you grab a spot and fill in the exchange, then toggle to Run and back to Pounce, the exchange will be cleared when the ”Autofill Pounce from Activities” option is enabled. This happens because SkookumLogger notices the change of radio frequency and replaces the contents of the Pounce entry fields with data from an activity.
New features:
The QSO table in the main logging window now has a context menu:
The items on the menu perform the same functions as the corresponding items on the Log menu. To apply a context menu function, first left-click on a table row to select it, then right-click on that row to show the menu and choose the function.
The Internet preference pane has a new set of three radio buttons:
Manually-generated DX Cluster spots have no reliable mode information, while skimmer spots do have that information. SkookumLogger guesses the mode for non-skimmer spots using one of these three options.
Changes:
Elecraft K3 radio control now turns both XIT and SPLIT off when changing bands, and sets the state of RIT on/off to whatever it was before the band change. I recommend that CONFIG:SPLT SV be set to “no”, and CONFIG:VFO OFS be set to “OFF”. Thanks W2RU and W2CS.
The Set Pounce function (available in the context menus of Activity tables) no longer sets subreceiver frequency as a side-effect. This prevents a premature band change when setting up to grab a spot on another band.
The File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Mail menu item title is now File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Apple Mail, to emphasize that the function uses Apple's Mail application to (electronically) send your log. Thanks W2RU.
The Internet preferences pane has been revamped. SkookumLogger now supports one connection to a DX Cluster node instead of two, because there are now many choices for nodes that provide “aggregate” spots — both traditional manual spots and skimmer spots from the Reverse Beacon Network. The pane has a new button, Edit List, that opens a window for modifying your list of nodes:
You can use any name that you like for a node. The address value must be a valid internet URL, optionally followed by a colon and a port number. The DX Cluster Web Site button opens a web page with a large list of these addresses. Look for sites running ARCluster 6.x software (like N1EN, W9PA, and WC2L in the example list), for aggregate spots and for Spot Filter support in SkookumLogger.
The User Interface for manipulating the date and time for the terminator plot in the Great Circle Map window has been revised:
When the Automatic box is checked, the date picker is disabled and the date picker value is set to the value for the terminator each time the terminator is drawn (which happens at least every 5 minutes). When the Automatic box is not checked, the date picker is enabled and its value is used for computing the terminator. Changing the date picker value cause a redraw. Thanks W2RU.
When the KPA500 amplifier is switched to OPERATE mode by SkookumLogger, a Clear Fault command is sent first.
Misfeatures fixed:
The release note for 1.7.17 failed to mention corrections made for RSGB events that require six-character grids. Thanks GØDVJ.
The CATEGORY-BAND Cabrillo record was being written with the value “HF” instead of the correct value of “ALL” for the ARRL DX contest. Thanks W2CS.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.17 Build 2242 (Feb 15, 2014)

New features:
The top-right corner of the Great Circle Map window has two new controls:
When the Use Current UTC choice is checked, the terminator overlay is drawn as before. When it is unchecked, the overlay is drawn for the UTC date and time set by the date picker. Select one of the picker components, by clicking on it, and either type over the value or click the up-down arrows to change it. Note that changing the year will have no effect. Thanks W2RU.
Activity tables now have a Mode column. The three modes in SkookumLogger are CW, SSB, and Data.
The Activity table context menu (right-click on a row in the table) has three new items for setting the mode of the row that you clicked on. If you click on the or rows, the radio mode will be set. SkookumLogger often has to guess the mode for an internet spot; now you can fix the mode when SkookumLogger guessed wrong.
Activity windows have a new mode filter chooser next to the “needed …” filter chooser. The two chooser choices are combined. For example, "Needed Multipliers” together with “CW & SSB” limits the table to new multipliers on either CW or SSB.
Calls for which SkookumLogger cannot determine the multiplier are now distinguished by applying the Needed Multiplier color with reduced opacity. The effect is that “might be multipliers” are slightly faded out. The don’t know case happens for contests where the multiplier depends on information in the received exchange that hasn’t yet been entered.
The PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt file may now specify just bands that need to be overridden; bands not specified will use the USA sub-band edges.
Transmit antennas are now sorted by name. The default antenna when changing bands is the first on the list, so clever naming can now determine the per-band default choice.
Misfeatures fixed:
A programming error caused the first component of the sent exchange for the ARRL DX contest from the DX side to be Name instead of Call. Thanks KH6CW.
K3 radio control had some small bugs. When changing both band and mode, the radio frequency was wrong by the value of PITCH. Changing bands sometimes left QRQ mode disabled when it normally should have been enabled.
SkookumNet is now much more robust in handling computers joining and leaving the network, thanks to considerable assistance in testing with large configurations by JH5GHM.
The Cabrillo Mode category popup menu in the Settings sheet was improperly disabled for mixed mode contests.
The Information Messages window now displays status lines in descending chronological order, so that you can see the most recent messages without scrolling the text field. Thanks JH5GHM.
Attempting to create a statistics report failed at the Score step.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.16 Build 2084 (Feb 4, 2014)

New features:
Setting radio frequency using the Radio ▶︎ Set Frequencies… window or by typing a number into a call entry field now infers mode from the transmit frequency and changes the radio mode if necessary. As for activities, phone subband edges are defined in your PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt file and default to USA phone bands when that file doesn’t exist.
SkookumLogger prepares a list of contest start dates within the next year and chooses the first item on the list for new logs. The list was chronologically ordered beginning with the next start date after “now” — where “now” is the current date when creating your new log. This befuddled users who created a log after a contest started. The date logic has been changed so that an in-progress contest is now the first item on the list.
The new Wizardry option “Copy Run fields when focusing Pounce from Run” automates SO2V operation by allowing you to enter a call sign that you hear on the sub-receiver in the Run call entry field for duplicate checking, then switch focus to the Pounce QSO entry box to work that station without retyping the call. Any other exchange information that you enter is also copied.
The new Wizardry option “Clear Run fields when focusing Run from Pounce” further automates SO2V operation by erasing information in the Run field that you copied to Pounce using the above feature, when you return to your run frequency.
The new Wizardry option “Autofill Pounce from Activities” populates Pounce QSO entry fields with information from an activity in the current band’s Activity table that is near the current receive frequency. The tolerance for ‘near’ is set by your Activities preference for Frequency Matching Tolerance. When Pounce has focus, the feature matches near the main receive frequency. When Run has focus and the “Pounce pane tracks SubRX” option is enabled, the feature matches near the sub-receiver frequency. The Pounce fields are cleared when the receive frequency changes and there is no activity table entry within the matching tolerance.
Misfeatures fixed:
Do not print misleading WARC band titles in Statistics Reports tables. SkookumLogger does not track multiplier data for WARC bands. Thanks W2CS.
The special list of Canadian “provinces” for CQ160 was broken.
Code for guessing an entrant’s location to determine sent exchange for CQ160 was broken, resulting in zone being the default for all entrants.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.15 Build 1891 (Jan 25, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.14 Build 1789 (Jan 22, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.13 Build 1768 (Jan 15, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.12 Build 1676 (Jan 14, 2014)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.11 Build 1627 (Jan 11, 2014)

Note:
When SkookumLogger starts up and needs to reconnect to a cluster node, it pings my web site to determine whether or not you have an internet connection. In late December, the data center hosting my web site was off-line for most of a day. In this case, the ping succeeded but subsequent connection steps failed in an unexpected way, resulting in a rather long SPOD before abandoning the connection attempt. My service provider (MacHighway) assures me that this will be a rare event, so I won’t try to handle it in SkookumLogger. Bottom line: if you see an unusual stall while starting SkookumLogger, be patient.
New features:
File ▶︎ New now opens a window with a popup menu listing all contests supported by SkookumLogger. After you choose one and click the Done button, SkookumLogger posts the standard Save panel with the contest name as the proposed file name. When the new log file is saved the log is ready to go. The new log is set up with defaults from your preferences and the rules for the contest. Check the sent exchange prompt shown in the log window; change it if necessary in View ▶︎ Sent Exchange and Messages Editor. The start date for the new log is the closest future event date. Review that choice and your Cabrillo choices in Log ▶︎ Settings…. In particular, your choices for Mode and Band in the Cabrillo Category Items box will affect how SkookumLogger colors QSOs.
It is no longer possible to change the contest type for an existing log. To prepare for a contest, use either the File ▶︎ New command or the Log ▶︎ Reset command. To use the Reset technique, which preserves custom Morse Messages, open a previous log for the contest, do File ▶︎ Save As… to make a copy with a new file name, then use Log ▶︎ Reset to remove all the QSOs from the copy and change the start date to the closest future event.
The new File ▶︎ Submit Log Via Mail command simplifes the steps for sending your log to the contest sponsor. After you have reviewed your log (resolve suspect QSOs and check Cabrillo choices in Log ▶︎ Settings), choose the new command. In a few seconds you will hear the sent mail sound; you’re done. Normally you will soon receive an email from the sponsor acknowledging log receipt.
The to email address is taken from the contest rules for the log’s contest; if there is no such address then the menu item is disabled. Some sponsors do not support email submittal, and a few do not accept Cabrillo format.
Here is how it works. First, SkookumLogger quietly exports a Cabrillo file. Then it creates an email from you to the sponsor with that file as an attachment. Then it sends the email. The from email address is the Email item in your Me preferences. The email subject is the call that you used in the contest. The attachment file is ~/Library/Application Support/.cbr and is overwritten each time you run the command.
The command assumes that Apple’s Mail application exists somewhere on your computer. It also assumes that Mail is configured to send and receive email using the email address specified in SkookumLogger Me preferences. If not, you can always submit your log the hard way.
This release adds support for the RSGB RoPoCo (Rolling Postcodes) contest. This event was “interesting” to program, because the sent exchange depends on the received exchange value (UK postcode) for the previous QSO. No other contest among the 94 supported by SkookumLogger has that “feature.” Thanks GØDVJ.
Changes:
The contest name chooser that was in the Log Settings sheet has moved to the New dialog as described above. The Sent Exchange box has moved from the Log Settings sheet to the Morse Messages Editor window. That window is now named Sent Exchange and Messages Editor. Log Settings now has just two kinds of controls, one for choosing the contest event date, and all others for setting Cabrillo items.
Some of the contest types in SkookumLogger have been divided into two or more contest types. For example, CQ WW has been replaced by CQ WW CW and CQ WW SSB. If you open a log that uses one of the old contest types, a warning dialog will alert you to beware. In particular, and you should not use Log ▶︎ Reset to create an empty “new” log.
Spent a couple of days updating and testing the contest rules web site URLs for every contest supported by SkookumLogger (we are approaching 100 of them). That was a lot of mindless work, and isn’t likely to happen again unless I lose the rest of my mind. So, I need your help with maintaining these data. Please let me know if you encounter a bad URL or find a better one. Note that I’ve sometimes chosen to point to a page at the sponsor’s web site rather far away from the page containing the rules, because some sponsors change where they locate the rules every year.
Misfeatures fixed
It is now possible to change the info field value for the sent exchange. Repairing this issue led to many, many changes to the source code. Please do let me know if you discover something that doesn’t seem right. Thanks WW4B.
Several issues associated with contest start dates have been exterminated. A possible issue remains for the case where a start date is defined relative to a previous start date and the current date lies between them. When creating the list of start dates shown in Log Settings, SkookumLogger compares the current date with the start date of each event and bumps past dates by one year. As a consequence you will not see the date for an in-progress contest in the list, not a bug.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.10 Build 991 (Jan 4, 2014)

New features:
The Exchange preferences pane has several new items. These items are used to pre-fill your sent exchange when you create a new log. Most have a help tag — hover your cursor over the text input field to see it. It is OK to leave fields empty that do not apply; for example, the IOTA field for those of us not operating from an official RSGB island. Note that it is still vital that you check the pre-filled sent exchange in the Log Settings sheet and make corrections before you log any QSOs.
The Wizardry pane has a new option named “Pounce pane tracks SubRX”. When enabled and the Pounce pane is not focused, the transceive frequency of the Pounce pane tracks the radio’s subreceiver frequency.
The Wizardy pane has another new option named “Monitor SubRX”. When enabled, then when switching focus between Run and Pounce the main receiver frequency is copied to the subreceiver frequency before switching. The consequence is that the subreceiver monitors the frequency that you just switched away from. This is an existing side-effect behavior that could not be disabled before this release. You might want to turn it off for two reasons. First, it is likely to confuse things when you enable the Pounce pane tracks SubRX option. Second, the additional radio commands involved result in stalling updates of the Elecraft P3 Panadapter display for several seconds. (A similar stall occurs when you change bands by selecting an activity table entry; that stall is reduced by using the Radio ▶︎ Band ▶︎ menu items or the buttons on the radio to change bands.)
The Radio menu has two new items, Turn SubRX On and Turn SubRX Off. These commands are disabled when the connected radio does not support them. At present the list of radios that do support them has one member, the Elecraft K3. Thanks W2RU.
Help ▶︎ Logbook of The World Web Site opens the login page for your LoTW account.
Changes:
The source of data for the CWops Database has changed, again. SkookumLogger now downloads and parses the N1MM call history file.
SkookumLogger now uses the W9ZRX ARCluster node for the Reverse Beacon Network connection.
The Logging preferences pane now has separate options for hiding the sent and received signal report fields. Thanks JH5GHM.
Start time and duration for RSGB 70cm AFS contest have been updated to track changes made by RSGB. Thanks GØDVJ.
Misfeatures fixed:
The 80m bar in the Cumulative Rates box was missing for some contests. Thanks JH5GHM.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.9 Build 895 (Dec 27, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.7 Build 726 (Dec 17, 2013)

New features:
When a QSO entry field has keyboard focus, the up and down arrow keys now step the radio RIT/XIT offset up and down, respectively. Hold the key down to step repeatedly. The size of the step is determined by the radio module. For the Elecraft K3, the step is 100 Hz in SSB mode and 20 Hz in other modes. Use this feature, for example, to tune near your run frequency without moving your hands away from your keyboard. I redefine the shortcut for Radio ▶︎ RIT/XIT ▶︎ Clear to be ⌥← so that I can manage the RIT offset with one hand.
In the new Immediate Morse Mode, when a QSO entry field has keyboard focus and caps lock is on, anything you type is sent by WinKeyer instead of being added to the entry field. The new Logging preference “Immediate Morse Mode” enables this feature; it is initially disabled. Immediate Morse Mode supports sending brief custom messages without moving your hands away from the keyboard. The mode has several effects on normal SkookumLogger behavior:
SkookumLogger will seem to be ignoring keystrokes when caps lock is on unless you are in CW mode and monitoring transmissions.
All letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols, and spaces are intercepted. So, with caps lock on, you cannot use the spacebar to navigate among QSO entry fields (tab still works for that), and Special Key characters are sent by your WinKeyer instead of triggering their functions. Other keys, such as escape, tab, return, function keys, and arrow keys, have their normal behavior.
Once you type a character it cannot be edited even if it hasn’t been sent yet.
If WinKeyer is already sending something, such as a CQ message, typed characters are appended to the end of the message.
The Logging preference “Hide Sent Report Entry Field” is now “Hide signal report entry fields.”
The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) DXSpider node has been changed to an ARCluster node. According to N4ZR, DXSpider cannot handle the volume of spots generated by skimmers in popular contests, and so direct RBN access must now interact with ARCluster syntax. The RBN node type chooser has been removed from SkookumLogger Internet preferences, and a text field has been added for defining your spot filter using ARCluster syntax for the “set dx filter” command. A special token, , is embedded in the example filter shown in the new text field; that token is replaced by the list of your buddy calls when constructing the command. As before, the node remembers your spot filter (associated with your login call), so you only need to choose the Update Spot Filter button after you have edited the content of the text field.
Misfeatures fixed:
The Log menu commands for copying radio frequencies and mode from one QSO entry panel to the other were not copying the transmit frequency correctly.
Edits made to the sent signal report were not reset for subsequent QSOs after logging the QSO. Thanks GØDVJ, W2CS.
Sometimes the most-recently logged call would show up as a dupe in the Partials panel, now the panel is properly cleared. Thanks GØDVJ, W2RU.

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.6 Build 592 (Dec 12, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.2 Build 327 (Oct 8, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.1 Build 277 (Oct 4, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.7.0 Build 213 (Sep 19, 2013)

New features:
The SkookumLogger Guide has been updated. It should be current as of this release and has quite a bit of new information; you should read it. Thanks GØDVJ and W2RU.
A few commands and preferences were created or renamed to improve support for SO2V. Log ▶ Insert In Activity Table is now Log ▶ Create Activity. Log ▶ Insert SubRX In Activity Table is now Log ▶ Create Activity At SubRX. The Activities preference “Insert in Activity Table clears entry fields” is now “Create Activity clears QSO entry fields”. Log ▶ Create Activity At SubRX And Pounce adds a new activity to the table for the band of the sub-receiver, copying the information from the active QSO entry box, copying the radio mode, and setting sub-receiver frequency as the new activity’s receive and transmit frequencies. Then, after creating the activity, pounces on it (equivalent to double-clicking the new entry in the activity table). Please read to the section titled “Using Run and Pounce QSO Data Entry” in the new guide for additional information.
Added limited support for ARRL VHF contests in January, June, September. SkookumLogger support is limited to 6m, 2m and 70cm, and the same point value scheme (1 point for 6m and 2m QSOs, 2 points for 70cm QSOs) is used for all three events. Thanks W2CS.
Tested with soon-to-be-released TQSL version 2 software for uploading to Logbook of the World.
Misfeatures fixed:
The tooltips for the info lines in the QSO entry boxes have been updated again to make them consistent and correct., along with other cosmetic changes accompanying general clean-up while updating the user guide.
Some Pounce QSO entry fields were not being filled when pouncing on activities that were created with a Log ▶ Create Activity … command.
The “All” choice for band in the Antenna Configuration dialog was not being recognized, so all-band antennas never showed up on the menu listing available antennas.
The event date for 2013 CWOpen was incorrect. Investigation led to a change in the “last weekend” rule to mean “last weekend with start and end in the same month.” However, the date for the 2014 event is still wrong, because the sponsors keep changing the rule. SkookumLogger doesn’t prevent you from logging outside what it believes to be the contest period, but you can correct the event data for your log in the Time Tracker window if you want to. Thanks W2CS.
Sometimes QSO entry fields for signal reports were not being initialized with the mode-dependent defaults. Badness ensued. For example, there is no way to edit the report fields, but SkookumLogger will not allow saving an edited QSO that has an empty report field.
Fixing the signal report issue may have fixed a crash observed by GØDVJ, W2CS, and me. “May have” because I could not reproduce the crash so I cannot test the solution.

New in SkookumLogger 1.6.22 Build 117 (Sep 3, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.6.21 Build 57 (Aug 13, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.6.20 (Aug 13, 2013)

New in SkookumLogger 1.2.4 (Aug 11, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.2.3 (Aug 6, 2011)

New features:
Activities created from internet spots now infer mode from frequency using a table of phone sub-band lower edges for the 10 bands supported by SkookumLogger. The built-in table is based on the ARRL “US Amateur Radio Bands” chart. You can override the table with a plain-text file named PhoneBandLowerEdgeFrequencies.txt in the application support directory.
When you grab an activity, the radio mode is now changed if the radio mode is different from the activity’s mode. When changing to phone mode, LSB is set if the frequency is less than 14 MHz, otherwise USB. When changing to CW mode, UCW is set. If you change the radio mode yourself, the changed mode applies to the active QSO data entry box only. A manual mode change when Pounce is active does not affect the inferred mode for an activity that might have been transferred into that box.
Added support for Elecraft KPA500 amplifier (on/off and standby/operate).
Added support for the North American QSO Party, requested by K5ND.
The Internet preference pane has a new checkbox, Ignore band-edge DX announcements. The preference is checked by default to match prior behavior, which prints such announcements to the Console log and otherwise ignores them.
Revised internet “DX de” announcement parsing to handle the case of a missing colon after the source call. DX Spider nodes seem to omit this delimiter when the source call has 7 characters. SkookumLogger now digests the announcement normally instead of discarding it.
The Windows menu is gone, the “open...WithLog” Logging preferences are gone, and nearly all utility windows are now toggled open and closed using items on the new View Menu. The View menu has four sections. The top section lists windows that are always available. The next section lists windows that are available only when a Log window is open. The third section, listing multiplier checksheets, also requires an open Log window, and only items pertinent to the Log’s contest are enabled. Finally, the last group lists contest-specific items.
The positions, sizes, and visibility states of utility windows are remembered and restored when you quit and restart SkookumLogger. The positions, sizes, and visibility states of Log-dependent utility windows are remembered when you close a Log window, and pertinent utility windows are restored when you open another Log window.
Misfeatures fixed:
Don’t update the QSO Information string when the received call field is empty, to prevent spurious displays like “Excluded Multiplier.” Thanks GØDVJ.
The content of the Info data entry field is now unconditionally validated before logging a QSO, possibly causing the content to be refined. For example, an empty Info field is converted to a hyphen in the IOTA contest, and an IOTA reference with less than three digits is converted to canonical form. Previously, there were scenarios involving Magic Message that failed to perform the validation. This change also allows you to enable the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs preference and successfully log QSOs with initially-empty Info fields.
The Morse exchange message corresponding to the sent exchange defined in Log Settings now excludes the hyphen character. The hyphen is used in the Info field of sent exchanges to indicate “not applicable” in contests where the field applies for some entrants and not for other entrants, like IOTA.
In some circumstances, SkookumLogger was retrieving an empty string as the sent call, making it seem that Morse messages containing the sent call token, “~”, were not being sent.
The Run data entry box is now unconditionally the initially-active box when SkookumLogger starts running.
State management for both Beacon CQ mode and for Morse keyboard mode was getting confused in some usage scenarios.
The support for Kenwood TS-590S radio added in 1.2.2 broke support for the TS-850SAT radio. Thanks JH5GHM.
The time stamp for QSOs entered in paper logging mode wasn’t be set from the UTC picker. Thanks N6GQ.
Customizations to the Morse message template made in the Log settings sheet were being discarded each time a log was reopened. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 1.2.2 (Jul 30, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.2.1 (Jul 29, 2011)

New Features:
Added support for WAEDC, including QTCs. See the updated Guide for details. Special thanks to GØDVJ for quite a bit of interactive (via iChat) testing as we developed workable QTC user interfaces for both sides.
Added support for QRP-ARCI QSO Party contest. The contest has report, location, and member fields. Type state or province code into the location field, or skip over it to accept the pre-filled country code. Type ARCI member number or power in the member field. Member numbers are distinguished from powers by the presence of a “W” in the latter case. Scoring lacks application of the entrant’s power-level multiplier; do that yourself when you submit the log. Use File ▶ Export Cabrillo to get a text file listing your QSOs. Requested by WF4I.
Added Support for RSGB 2m and 70cm Low Power Contests, under the label RSGB Low Power Contest. Requested by GØDVJ.
Added IOTA reference exchange-guessing for the IOTA contest, using a database provided by GØDVJ.
For a QSO on 4m, 2m, or 70cm, the locator for a call now excludes lookup in cty.dat. When a locator cannot be determined for a call, the bearing, distance and locator fields are omitted from the QSO Information string, and SkookumLogger does not try to turn your antenna when the Automatically turn rotator option is checked. Thanks GØDVJ.
Messages ▶ Magic Message now behaves differently depending on which data entry well is active. Associated with this change, the definition of Morse messages has been modified subtantially. See the updated Guide for details. Thanks GØDVJ.
Many, but not all, contests supported by SkookumLogger use the “Info” data entry field to capture part of the exchange. The expected content for this field varies from contest to contest. SkookumLogger now displays a customized help tag when you hover the mouse cursor over an Info entry field. For example, for the RSGB Low Power contest the help tag is “District Code,” while for the IARU HF Championship the help tag is “ITU Zone/IARU Society.” The Info data entry field always accepts a hyphen character, indicating that the information does not apply for that QSO, so that you can use the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs option (which blocks on any empty data field). For example, in the RSBG Low Power contest, QSOs with stations that do not have UK district codes are valid.
Previously, highlighting of the Run and Pounce buttons was your primary clue for identifying the active QSO data entry well. Now, the buttons are replaced by text labels and the background color of the active well is the indicator. Thanks, W2RU.
Several keyboard shortcuts have been changed. As always, look at the menu items to see their shortcuts, and modify them to suit yourself in your System Keyboard Preferences.
The Morse Keyboard window now shows WinKeyer version number.
Misfeatures fixed:
The Automatically turn rotator feature now tests whether or not the rotator has already been instructed to turn to a particular heading, and if so does not repeat the instruction. This prevent quite a bit of relay clatter with the SARTEK controller. Thanks GØDVJ.
The computation of Morse CQ message duration, used when Beacon CQ is active, was confused when the token for sent call (‘~’) was present in the message definition.
The Morse message token for sent signal report (‘^’) was always expanded to ‘5NN’. Now it is expanded to the content of the active QSO data entry sent report field, with ‘9’ characters replaced by ‘N’ characters.

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.13 (Jul 12, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.2 (Jul 4, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.11 (Jun 30, 2011)

Changes:
Renamed Category class to ContestCategory in order to avoid clash in the forth-coming Lion with a new Objective-C declaration of a struct named Category.
Revamped export code (Cabrillo, ADIF, CSV) to avoid using deprecated Cocoa methods.
Changed function key binding for Log ▶ Grab Pounce Frequencies from ⇧F9 to ⌥F9 to remove conflict with Radio ▶ Band ▶ 2m.
The Reverse Beacon Network connection now uses the AR-Cluster port instead of the telnet (DX Spider) port. The consequence is that the commands for filtering spots are much different. The new Window ▶ Reverse Beacon Network Filtering menu item opens the relevant web page; study the Set DX Filter section. Also see the “A New Way to Access the RBN, and Why You Should Care” blog entry at http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/ for examples that include filter items not documented on the web page. My motivation for doing this is the ability to select only spots from specific skimmers, which can significantly reduce the processing load in SkookumLogger as it tests each spot to detect duplicates.
New Features:
Reinstated support for IARU HF Championship, on request of JH5GHM, N5ND.
In contests that have Maidenhead locators as part of the exchange, tabbing out of the locator field now updates the QSO entry status text, in order to provide distance and bearing to the entered locator whether or not there is a valid entry in the call field. If the locator itself is incomplete, the default of JJ00AA is assumed. Requested by GØDVJ.
QTC logging for WAEDC entrants in Europe is now supported, including Cabrillo export. The user interface for this facility is encapsulated in the Receive QTCs window, and has quite a few subtleties. Documentation will be addressed after the facility has been more thoroughly evaluated.
Added Logging preference: Automatically rebuild log. The preference is checked by default, so that SkookumLogger behavior is unchanged. A log needs to rebuilt when first loaded, when the contest rules choice is changed, and whenever a logged QSO is changed or deleted, in order to maintain correct data structures for duplicate testing, multiplier checksheets, and known calls. The process can block SkookumLogger with larger logs. For example, rebuilding an ARRL Field Day log with 1900 QSOs blocks for 7 to 10 seconds. To avoid this delay while contesting, turn off the new preference, and manually execute Log ▶ Rebuild when you can tolerate the delay. The function is always run when loading a log, regardless of the preference setting. Thanks W2CS and W2RU.
Misfeatures Fixed:
Toggling between data entry wells was forgetting K3 RIT on/off state. State is now preserved unless the offset is zero. In that case, RIT is turned off so that QRQ mode is enabled. Thanks W2RU.

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.10 (Jun 6, 2011)

Changes:
Activity needed flags are now updated only for bands where the corresponding activity windows are open. If you sense that the SkookumLogger UI is being bogged down by many Reverse Beacon Network spots, try closing Activity windows for bands you don’t really need to monitor. In any case, you should use DX Spider filter commands to limit the traffic between RBN and SkookumLogger.
By the way, I noticed rather substantial backlogs in spots from RBN during WPX. Nothing would be received for sometimes several minutes, then a massive number of spots would arrive. Often, at least one of the spots in the batch would be malformed with a spurious line break in the middle of a spot record, probably due to a buffer size limit somewhere. SkookumLogger simply discards such records and carries on.
Attempted to regularize the appearance of all SkookumLogger windows.
New Features:
Added support for ARRL Field Day. This is not a contest, and SkookumLogger doesn’t try to deal with the bonus points, but QSO entry and Cabrillo generation are implemented. The QSO entry fields are “check” for the entry class, and “info” for the ARRL section.
Beginnings of Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) support. Inside/outside Europe entrant status is inferred from the Sent Exchange call in the Log Settings sheet. Duplicate and multiplier tracking should be working, along with scoring and Cabrillo output, sans QTCs. QTC support remains (SMOP) accompanied by thorough testing.
Misfeatures Fixed:
When starting SkookumLogger and reopening Activity windows, the log window is made key after all windows are open.
Subordinate window titles show their purpose instead of their parent log, now that there can be only one open log.
Log ▶ Show Locator Checksheet is now disabled when the log’s contest doesn’t have locator multipliers.
Activity needed status for new activities is updated by asking the current log for that status. If the log is in the midst of being rebuilt, perhaps because you just edited a QSO, then the status is likely to be wrong. Worse, query-while-rebuilding appears to sometimes cause very long stalls. Now, SkookumLogger blocks the queries while rebuilding, and updates status for all activities (as before) when the rebuild is complete.
When an edited QSO is committed, the log table is now scrolled to the end.
The exchange-guessing feature for the check field was broken.
When a QSO commit was aborted by the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs Logging preference, the content of the active data entry field was selected. The behavior has been changed to leave the selection untouched. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.9 (Jun 3, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.7 (May 24, 2011)

Changes:
The code for building the list of partial-match callsigns has been, I think, made somewhat faster, and now begins displaying matches after two characters are entered in the call field (was three). I’ve been bothered by sporadic cases where callsign type-ahead was failing to notice characters typed after the first two. With this change, an hour of running in CQ-M at 35 WPM had zero misses.
In Morse Keyboard mode, typing the character assigned to the Acknowledge + Log special key now clears the keyboard buffer and closes the keyboard window as soon as sending reaches that character.
Added a new contest for W2RU: CWops CW Open Competition. Needs testing.
Revived support for California QSO Party entrants both inside and outside of California, for KH6CW/K7GQ. There is one Log Settings menu item for entrants from both sides. SkookumLogger assumes that if the contest call is in the United States 6th call area and the sent exchange info matches a California county code, then the entrant is inside California. Needs testing.
Revived support for Salmon run entrants both inside and outside of Washington state, for WD7K. There is one Log Settings menu item for entrants from both sides. SkookumLogger assumes that if the contest call is in the United States 7th call area and the sent exchange info matches a Washington county code, then the entrant is inside Washington. Scoring doesn’t handle bonus. Needs testing.
Revived support for Scandinavian Activity Contest entrants both inside and outside of Scandinavia. There is one Log Settings menu item for entrants from both sides. SkookumLogger assumes that if the contest call is a Scandinavian country, then the entrant is inside Scandinavia. The multiplier list for outside Scandinavia is formed by appending 0, …, 9 to the Scandinavian country prefix (except OHØ and OJØ), irregardless of whether or not the result is a legitimate Scandanavian call area. Worked multipliers are listed in the Other Checksheet. Definitely needs testing.
Misfeatures fixed:
The serial number input field now automatically converts these cut-number characters in either uppercase or lowercase: a e n t u. Helpful to CW operators who type what they hear.
The Log Settings Sheet wasn’t being opened by File ▶ New.

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.6 (May 12, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.5 (May 3, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.4 (Apr 26, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.2 (Apr 6, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.1 (Apr 4, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 1.1.0 (Mar 29, 2011)

This release is not able to read log files created by prior releases.
Changes:
SkookumLogger keeps track of any combination of six kinds of multipliers: Country, Locator, Other, Prefix, Region, and Zone. The log table has columns for each kind of multiplier; only the relevant columns for a contest are shown. Country multipliers are determined from the cty.dat database, for the ARRL DXCC list, the WAE Country list, or both. Locator multipliers are Maidenhead “grid squares,” determined by an intricate lookup scheme involving the QSO locator entry field, possibly a user-supplied list of calls and their locators, and the cty.dat database. Region multipliers are contest-specific lists of multipliers like states, counties, oblasts. Other multipliers are like Region multipliers, for handling contests that have two multiplier lists, such as states and counties. Prefix multipliers are formed from call signs using the CQ WPX definition of prefixes. Finally, the Zone multiplier is either CQ zone or ITU zone depending on the contest.
SkookumLogger displays checksheets for each of the six kinds of multipliers. A checksheet lists all of the possible multipliers, with checkmarks for bands and modes where you have worked them. Exception: the prefix checksheet lists only prefixes that you have worked at least once. Checksheets for multiplier types that do not apply for a contest are disabled. Exception: the Locator checksheet is useful in contests where locators are not multipliers but are part of the exchange; in those cases the checksheet shows worked locators.
SkookumLogger keeps track of a sent exchange and a received exchange for every QSO. An exchange has some combination of these fields: call, check/age, club status, club name, info, locator, name, power, precedence, report, serial, zone. The QSO data entry wells have text-entry fields for the received exchange components relevant to the chosen contest. The Log Settings sheet similarly shows fields for the sent exchange components. The Log Settings sheet also shows the Morse exchange message derived from the sent exchange components with placeholder tokens for report, serial number, and so on.
The Log Settings sheet has a popup list at the top, next to the contest name popup, that lists event information for the chosen contest. The event information includes contest dates in the current calendar year, and the mode(s) and band(s) for each date. Choosing one of the events sets up information for the Time Tracker, and defines the available mode and band choices in the Cabrillo Category popup lists.
Double-clicking on a log table row, in any column other than Notes, transfers the information for that QSO to the Pounce data entry well and changes that well to Edit status. Any changes made in the data entry wells are immediately reflected in the log. You can also change the mode and/or frequency of a QSO by changing the radio mode and/or frequency while the Edit well is active. When you press return or choose Log > Clear QSO while the Edit well is active, the Edit well reverts to Pounce and the log is rescanned to pick up the possible effects of edits on dupes and multipliers. You can toggle back-and-forth between the Run well and the Edit well (Log > Toggle Active Entry Well) to interleave making new QSOs and correcting old ones. You can edit Notes for logged QSOs directly in the table, as before.
The QSO Information window has been replaced by the Pass window. The title of the Pass window shows the call for the current QSO and a matrix of checkmarks showing the bands where you have worked the call and the multiplier(s) for that call. Use the empty cells in the matrix to decide whether or not to ask the station to QSY to another band or mode.
Morse messages recognize new token, the tilde character (~), as a placeholder for “my call.” Message preferences now use this token for the F1, F3, and F4 messages.
The calls of activities arriving from the internet are cleaned up using an algorithm provided by K1EA. The algorithm discards useless /suffixes and repairs obvious typos involving oh and zero.
The display of serial numbers in the log table is padded on the left with zeros as needed to show at least n digits, so that exchange information is vertically aligned. The number of digits, n, is determined by the Serial Number Precision item in the Logging preferences panel.
The code related to implementing contest rules has been massively revised to simplify maintenance and ease adding new contests. Only a subset of the prior rule sets have been migrated to the new scheme. The others have been removed from the contest names list until their time arrives.
Internal changes:
Updated the ICOM radio module. Thanks WD7K.
Updated the Kenwood radio module. Thanks JH5GHM.
The Log > Show QTC Window is a never-enabled placeholder for WAEDC.
Misfeatures fixed:
Modified FT-847 module to work reliably with microHAM USB II/III interfaces. Thanks GØDVJ and G6NHU.
Improved extraction of prefixes and duplicate detection for calls containing suffixes like /P. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 1.0.4 (Mar 22, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.8 (Jan 27, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.7 (Jan 25, 2011)

Notes:
You might want to invest $11 in the new Winkeyer IC (version 23) if you like to twirl the Speed knob while you are sending. The new chip firmware is much more responsive. It also claims to abort sending more promptly, although I’ve not noticed an issue there.
Changes:
Per request by GØDVJ, the Rate Tracker window has been slimmed down by removing explanatory text, adding quick-help, and relocating the Averaging Interval parameter to Logging preferences.
The Reverse Beacon Network node changed its login dance; SkookumLogger has changed to adapt.
Added alerts that intercept attempts to connect to a DX Cluster node or a CW skimmer node without first defining a non-empty login call in DX Cluster preferences.
New features:
Added Dutch PACC contest.
Added ICOM IC-7600 radio type. Code provided by WD7K.
The Log window now has two QSO data entry wells, for the Run QSO and the Search QSO. You edit fields in the wells as before. You populate the Run QSO fields as before. You populate the Search QSO fields by grabbing an activity. To grab an activity, you double-click on a row in an activity table. You activate the Run QSO or the Search QSO well by clicking the buttons at the left side of the corresponding well, or via the Toggle Active Entry Well command in the Log menu. The Swap Run and Search command, formerly in the Radio menu, is gone. Changing wells stops message sending, changes the radio mode and frequencies appropriately, and moves the keyboard focus to the last-used field in the new well. The subreceiver frequency is set to the the receive frequency of the inactive well. The partials list applies to the call in the active well. Each well shows the radio mode, receive frequency, and transmit frequency for the QSO. Note that frequency displays account for possible RIT/XIT offset from VFO frequencies. The active well follows the mode and frequencies of the radio. The prior displays of these data (at the top right area of the log window) are gone, and some other items have been relocated to clean up the Log window layout. Each well also shows information about the call, previously shown in the QSO Information panel. The entry status text, if any, appears at the end of the QSO information. Every item in the well has quick-help (tooltip). If you hold down the shift key while grabbing an activity, the Search QSO fields are filled but the well is not activated and thus the radio doesn’t change state. At present, SkookumLogger doesn’t try to guess the mode for externally-generated activities. Instead, it uses the radio mode at the time it is received.

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.6 (Jan 19, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.4 (Jan 12, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.3 (Jan 11, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.11.2 (Jan 10, 2011)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.27 (Dec 29, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.26 (Dec 28, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.25 (Dec 27, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.23 (Dec 22, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.22 (Dec 20, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.20 (Dec 17, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.19 (Dec 15, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.18 (Dec 14, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.17 (Dec 13, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.15 (Dec 11, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.13 (Dec 4, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.10 (Nov 29, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.9 (Nov 25, 2010)

Note: There are quite a few changes in this release. You may want to hold off on updating until after CQ WW CW. The only change that you might consider important for that contest is the fix for the Countries database, which will provide more reliable CQ zone guesses.
Changes:
BulletRemoved menu items and code having to do with loading contest files in CT format into a SkookumLogger log.
BulletBegan adding support for additional bands: 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm. Changed the shortcut keys for items on the Radio>Band menu to shift-command-Fn, and similarly for showing Activity windows via option-command-n.
BulletThe Score window now shows only rows for applicable bands, plus an All row if the contest has more than one applicable band. Applicable bands may be any combination of 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, 6m, 4m, 2m, and 70cm. The set of applicable bands is a property of the contest; it does not depend on the entry category.
BulletThe Multipliers checksheet now displays worked columns only for applicable bands. For example, in ARRL Sweepstakes only one column is displayed since multipliers are not per-band. This makes it more convenient to group worked (or not-worked) multipliers by sorting on the worked column. Thanks K6LE.
BulletThe QSO Information window now has rows for each the 10 contest bands supported by SkookumLogger.
BulletThe QSO Information window now displays Maidenhead locator determined from the geographic coordinates associated with the call in the Countries database. Note that these data are typically rather coarse.
BulletThe QSO Information window now shows QSO points, and version information for the Countries and SCP databases.
BulletThe Log Settings sheet now has a Cancel button. The button is bound to the escape key.
BulletItems on the Band popup list in the Log Settings sheet are enabled/disabled according to the applicable bands for the selected contest. Additional work will be needed here to accommodate odd-ball things like the “Three Bands” category.
BulletARRL changed the multipliers for their 10m contest; instead of one Mexico multiplier there are now 32 Mexican state multipliers. Thanks W2RU.
BulletThe skimmer network logic now assumes that the connection is broken if nothing has been received recently and attempts to reconnect.
Misfeatures fixed:
BulletWhen a Log window closes, SkookumLogger now also closes related Rate Tracker, Time Tracker, and Zone Checksheet windows. Also, their window titles are set from the related Log window title and prevented from appearing on the Windows menu. Thanks GØDVJ.
BulletChanged the URL for the countries database file to get the detailed version with many specializations for call areas within countries, etc. Also removed wired code that attempted to determine CQ zones for some call areas, in favor of relying on the database.
BulletEdits of the Ratio setting in WinKeyer preferences were not applied unless you pressed return with keyboard focus on the text field. Now clicking the up/down arrows changes ratio immediately, even while the WinKeyer is sending. Thanks W2RU.
BulletThe Skimmers preference table listing skimmer nodes had no effect. Instead SkookumLogger was using an immutable list containing one node.

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.8 (Nov 18, 2010)

New Features:
BulletThe Log > Delete Last QSO command removes the chronologically most recent QSO from the log and decrements the serial number. The shortcut for the command has lots of keys to reduce the likelihood of invoking the command accidentally, and there is no “Do you really want to do that” alert. This command is intended to make it easy to clobber bogus QSOs created by those of us who do not use the Refuse to log incomplete QSOs preference. Thanks W2RU.
BulletSkookumLogger now keeps track of data entry field content for a run QSO and a search QSO. Grabbing an activity defines or replaces the search QSO and fills the log data entry fields appropriately. Radio > Swap Run and Search (renamed from Toggle Spot/Run) swaps the data entry field content, so that, for example, toggling from search to run restores whatever was present when you last toggled from run to search. Logging a run or search QSO resets the respective QSO memory.
BulletSkookumLogger now tags each logged QSO as run or search. The Export to Numbers command writes an additional column, titled Search, containing x for search mode QSOs and nothing for run mode QSOs.
BulletThe Rate display in the Log window has been replaced by a Rate Tracker window. The new window shows the rate as before, with the new ability for you to define the averaging interval. In addition, it shows the rates for the last 10 and the last 100 QSOs.
Changes:
BulletSkookumLogger now ignores requests to send the CQ message when Beacon CQ is active. This avoids an apparent reduction of the repeat to zero when you hammer F1 in the interval between CQs because you forgot that beacon mode is active. Thanks W2RU.
BulletSkookumLogger no longer pre-fills the serial number data entry field with information from a previous QSO. If you need that information, press F12.
BulletThe serial number component of the received exchange field is now padded to 4 digits instead of 3, to make the exchanges line up nicely in W2RU’s SS log next year.
BulletSkookumLogger was changed to allow mixed-case content in the exchange field for the RSGB Club Calls contest instead of forcing to uppercase. That has broken string comparisons in an unknown number of places throughout SkookumLogger code. For example, in ARRL SS, if you edit a section string and fail to enter the edit as uppercase, SkookumLogger will tag the edited QSO as suspect because the lowercase section name isn’t matched in the list of section names. That one is fixed, but I need feedback to help me find other bugs like this one.
One motivation for this change is that, previously, grabbing an activity irrecoverably clobbered whatever was in the data entry fields, perhaps including a QSO that you forgot to commit before switching to search mode.
BulletSkookumLogger now retains the info field as received, without tagging activities as “Not in SCP.”
BulletAll text in a selected row of an Activity table is now colored white, so that it shows up well against whatever highlight color you define.
BulletThe logic behind Activity windows has been reworked. Each table now shows at most one occurrence of a call sign, corresponding to the most-recently received activity for that call sign. Automatic removal of “nearby” activities has been abandoned.
BulletThe radio buttons for selecting which types of activities to show has been replaced by a popup button, allowing the minimum width for the window to be substantially reduced. Alternate-row shading in the activities tables has been turned off to reduce visual clutter and confusion with the selected row in an inactive window.
BulletThe on-time display in the Score window has been removed. It presented essentially the same information as now show in the On Time Used item in the Time Tracker window, but using wired parameters in the computations.
BulletThe name of the command that interchanges VFO A and VFO B has been changed to Exchange, to disambiguate from Reverse for interchanging RIT and XIT. Thanks GØDVJ.

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.7 (Nov 9, 2010)

Note:
Bullet0.10.6 was a during-contest quick-fix for the serial number entry field issue.
Changes:
BulletThese shortcuts have changed: Radio -> Announce Spot is command-F3, Log -> Insert In Activity Table is option-command-F3, Radio-> Toggle Spot/Run is command-F4.
BulletWhen a CQ message is played, the internal radio Run state is set using the current radio frequencies. When the radio changes bands, the internal radio Spot state is cleared, and the internal radio Run state is set using the new radio frequencies. These additions should reduce the occasions where the Toggle Spot/Run command jumps to unexpected places. Still, give the radio time to report its state to SkookumLogger after a toggle. In testing with the K3K3 radio type, I see the logic get confused if I hammer command-F4 too rapidly.
Misfeatures fixed:
BulletNormally, when you enter a QSO data entry field by pressing tab or space bar, the existing content is not selected. When pre-fill was introduced, this behavior was changed for the serial number field so that the pre-filled number is selected, so that you can overwrite it without extra keystrokes to select it. The unfortunate consequence is that if you cycle through the exchange components after entering a serial number, using space bar to exit the serial number field clobbers what you entered unless you take care to deselect the content first. It is a bad idea to have inconsistent behavior across apparently-relating user interface elements, so I have restored the original behavior for the serial number field. Use command-A to select a pre-filled value. If this becomes a bother, it may be reasonable to not pre-fill the serial number field, at the cost of additional code complexity. Thanks W2RU.
BulletCabrillo export for ARRL Sweepstakes had a too-strict test that was causing an unnecessary program termination. I’ve relaxed the test, and replaced the abrupt termination with a message to the Console log. Thanks KD4ICT.
BulletFixed (lack of) memory for the location of the Time Tracker window, and made some cosmetic changes to its content.
BulletThe needed QSO filter for activities in ARRL SS was passing zero-pointers (DX).

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.6 (Nov 8, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.4 (Nov 5, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.3 (Nov 4, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.2 (Nov 3, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.10.1 (Oct 29, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.27 (Oct 28, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.25 (Oct 27, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.23 (Oct 26, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.22 (Oct 25, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.21 (Oct 22, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.20 (Oct 19, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.19 (Oct 4, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.17 (Sep 25, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.16 (Sep 23, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.15 (Sep 21, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.14 (Sep 15, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.13 (Aug 2, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.12 (Jul 23, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.11 (Jul 22, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.10 (Jul 7, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.9 (Jul 5, 2010)

Note: For technical reasons (i.e., programmer convenience), SkookumLogger is now a 64-bit-only application.
New Features:
Added a Rate display at top center of Log windows. The value is the number of QSOs you made in the last 5 minutes multiplied by 12; i.e., QSOs per hour. The value is recomputed every second so you can watch the rate change as you add new QSOs and old ones fall out of the 5 minute averaging window. With this averaging interval, the minimum non-zero rate is 12 QSOs per hour. I’ll make the averaging interval accessible via preferences if anyone wants it.
Modified Activity table behavior so that the entry is hidden when an activity is selected. A selected activity indicates the frequency of the radio, and the prior behavior was annoying as the item jumped above and below the selected item with slight changes in radio frequency. Also made several other internal refinements to this code, trying to manage selections and scrolling more cleanly. When an activity window has keyboard focus, additions to that table no longer clobber the selection. However, when the table is scanned for over-age items (once per minute), the selection is lost; sorry about that.
Added Log>Focus Log command. This moves keyboard focus from wherever it may be in SkookumLogger to the last-focused QSO data entry field. The escape key does that as well, but escape in Mac OS X means “cancel” and thus has other effects, such as aborting CW messages.
Added All Asian DX Contest (outside Asia).
Modified “is needed QSO” algorithm to answer no if the qso would be a zero-pointer according to the contest rules. Now, for example, non-asian calls in an Activity window are never highlighted as needed in the AA contest.
Added QSO entry field pre-fill. When you tab or spacebar out of the callsign entry field and the call has been worked before in the current log, SkookumLogger fills empty exchange entry fields using corresponding values from a previous QSO.
Misfeatures fixed:
Rarely, SkookumLogger would loose comm with my K3 and refuse to reconnect without restarting the application. I believe that was a side-effect of an error (reported in Console) having to do with modifying an array (of activities) while iterating over its content. That error might be fixed. It is difficult to reproduce; please let me know if you see it.
Enabled Radio->Band commands for None radio type. Thanks GØDVJ.
After loading an Activity table from a saved file, immediately discard old entries instead of waiting for the one-minute timer to fire.
When spots received from a DX cluster connection have time-tags in the future, set the activity time-tag to now so that activity age is never negative.
Cleaned up multiplier hash code for all contests. Some corner cases were not handled properly due to unprofessional programming, resulting in mis-identified multipliers.

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.8 (Jun 21, 2010)

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.7 (May 18, 2010)

New Features:
BulletAdded Correct mode. If the Correct mode logging preference is checked in the General pane, then, on CW, if the call that was sent is different from the call entry field content when you trigger the Acknowledge and Logit command, the call entry field content is sent before the acknowledge message. If the call entry field is empty, the logic uses the call for the most recent QSO. This sounds more complicated to use than it is: the idea is that if you edit the call after it is sent, the edited call will be sent automatically when you ack the exchange. The default preference value is off.
BulletThe Score window now shows On time. The value is computed only when Log > Rebuild runs, which happens automatically when you open a log. Choose the Rebuild command at the end of a contest to get a number for 3830 reports. The algorithm assumes that any two QSOs separated by less than 15 minutes are part of the same on-air interval. In other words, gaps larger than 15 minutes are considered off time.
BulletGeneralized the hasMultipliers contest rule to couldBeMultiplier, handling contests where some stations are multipliers and some aren’t but are valid QSOs. Example: NA stations in Manchester Minera can work other NA stations for QSO points, but only SA stations for multiplier credit.
BulletAdded validation of location QSO location entry for Manchester Minera, because I could. Invalid QSOs are marked suspect and explained by Log > Explain Suspect.
Misfeatures fixed:
BulletTyping into the call entry field while beacon CQ is active now turns it off and aborts sending. I thought it always worked this way…
BulletTapping the WinKeyer paddle now turns off beacon CQ mode.
Changes:
BulletNow track the current log better when more than one is open, so that punching F2 while in keyboard mode sends the correct exchange. This change also does a better job of associating the Activities windows with the current log.
BulletThe Message Repeat Interval preference in the Messages pane now specifies the interval between the end of a CQ (F1) message and the start of the next one when beacon mode is active. Before, the preference specified the interval between message starts. Implementing this change wasn’t as easy as you may think. There is no way to know when a CQ message has ended, so SkookumLogger can only know when it starts. Now, SkookumLogger computes the duration of the CQ message by summing the CW speed-durations of all its characters each time the message repeats, adds on the repeat interval, and creates a timer for starting the next CQ message. Note that this algorithm won’t notice a speed change until the next time a CQ message starts.

New in SkookumLogger 0.9.2 (May 3, 2010)