Wednesday, September 14, 2022

FMSuite 2.3 for SDR# is now available

FMSuite 2.3 can be downloaded from the link to the right.  The following changes are in this version:

All Plugins

  • Themes are now as good as I can get them, within the limitations of Microsoft's user interface controls.
  • All plugins now request scrollbar support from SDR#/Telerik.
  • Minor changes to various controls' captions to make their usage clearer.
  • Lots of "under the covers" changes to improve speed and reliability.
  • Upgraded to .NET Core 6.x

Frequency Manager + Scanner

  • The scanner now runs up to 5 times faster than recent previous versions, depending on your computer.
  • An integrated scanner for VHF Air/Ground Communications Band of 118 MHz to 137 MHz is now included.  It correctly identifies and tunes to ICAO frequencies with both 8.333 and 25 KHz channel spacing.
  • When scanning, and there are multiple stations on a frequency in your database, and "Show a signal's description, strength, and timers above the spectrum" is enabled in Preferences, the letter "M" is displayed adjacent to the dBFS value to indicate multiple stations are present.
  • You can now selectively choose whether a specific station's description appears on the spectrum window when "Show descriptions of frequencies in the spectrum" is enabled in Preferences.  This will permit you to remove less important database records from the spectrum thereby reducing the visual "noise" that happens when you have thousands of records in your database and use a large sample rate in SDR#.
  • The tuned frequency’s Description, if in the database, will now be displayed above the spectrum even when the scanner is not running.
  • Sometimes when scanning a radio will not tune to a requested frequency.  The source of the issue is unclear; I send the frequency change request to SDR# but the radio sometimes doesn’t tune to the requested frequency.  To indicate that this problem occurred, a note will be shown in Scanner Decisions for that frequency.

Frequency Data Display

  • When there are multiple stations on a frequency in your database, and "Show a frequency's description on the spectrum" is enabled in Preferences, the legend "Multiple stations are on this frequency" is displayed next to the frequency description.

Frequency Entry

  • The plugin has been redesigned to make changing the Center and Frequency easier and simpler.

 Scanner Decisions

  • To reduce visual "noise" in the decisions list, the frequency of a found station appears only on the first line of the reception detail.
  • Tooltips now appear on Decision info when the plugin is too narrow to show a complete line of text at one time.  Just hover the mouse over the line you want to read.
  • Scanner Decisions font size is now persisted between SDR# sessions.

Scanner Metrics

  • When creating a report from Scanner Metrics data, the reception starting date and time are automatically entered for you based on when the recording session started.
  • Report graphs are now in colorblind-friendly colors.

Activity Log

  • Activity logs now have the time of day that the log was created as part of their filenames, in addition to the date.

Data Tools Wizard

  • The Wizard is now an SDR# plugin instead of a standalone program.
  • The number of records imported is now displayed when an import finishes.
  • Import data now supports Gigahertz-range frequencies.
  • URLs for various internet lists have been updated.
  • Import routines have been updated to work correctly on the latest downloadable lists.
  • The FMList download has been removed due to data quality issues from its provider.

 

Monday, July 25, 2016

24 July 2016 - FMSuite for SDRuno is now available

I now have a version of the Frequency Manager Suite for use with SDRuno v1x.  This is a subset of FMSuite for SDR#; it includes the Frequency Manager plugin (but not the Scanner), the Frequency Data Display plugin, the Scheduler plugin, and the Data Tools Wizard.  It runs in its own window separately from SDRuno.  The Frequency Manager uses the same database as the SDR# and SDR Console versions so you can share databases between the applications.

Because SDRuno v1x was never intended for this purpose its only communications with other applications is through a virtual serial port.  This communication channel can be slow, which makes scanning impractical.  So this release does not include a scanner or related plugins.

But you can still send and receive frequencies with SDRuno and enjoy the other advanced features of the Frequency Manager and the Scheduler, and the Data Tools Wizard's ability to import and export radio station databases.

As development of SDRuno proceeds I hope to add complete functionality to this version of FMSuite.  Download the SDRuno v1x version from the link at the right; and I hope you enjoy it.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

25 June 2016 - FMSuite for SDR Console is now available

I now have a version of the Frequency Manager Suite for use with SDR Console v2.3.  This is a subset of FMSuite for SDR#; it includes the Frequency Manager plugin (but not the Scanner), the Frequency Data Display plugin, the Scheduler plugin, and the Data Tools Wizard.  It runs in its own window separately from SDR Console.  The Frequency Manager uses the same database as the SDR# version so you can share databases between the two applications.

Because SDR Console v2.3 was never intended for this purpose its only communications with other applications is through a virtual serial port.  This communication channel can be slow, which makes scanning impractical.  So this release does not include a scanner or related plugins.

But you can still send and receive frequencies with SDR Console and enjoy the other advanced features of the Frequency Manager and the Scheduler, and the Data Tools Wizard's ability to import and export radio station databases.

As development of SDR Console v3 proceeds I hope to add complete functionality to this version of FMSuite.  Download the SDR Console v2.3 version from the link at the right; and I hope you enjoy it.