Slice Master 6000 v0.10.1 is now available

K1DBO

Gary,

Have you tried connecting to the SC web server with your browser?  If that works, and Slice Master is running on the same computer as SC, just enable the default "dxlab" spot source.

But, I have to say that I've had some problems with the SC web server.  After about 12 hours or so it usually stops working.  Some times SC stops working for me too.  When that happens I just re-open the spot database and everything comes to life.  

I'll admit to being a newbie SC user though, so it could all just be me.

If you're just looking for a filtering aggergator, I've also tested with CC User.  But if you use DX Labs for logging, you really cant beat SC's ability to color the spots to show you what's needed.

K1DBO

Peter,

First shut down Slice Master.  Then in 

In C:Users<your name here>AppDataLocal

Try removing the WSJT-X folders that have the word "slice" in their name.  Then, give Slice Master another shot.

--Don

W2PP

No soap.  Same result windows error 183 same error message. 

W2PP

Check out dropbox, I just uploaded the slice B folder
that was just created

ctate243

The dream of the api is being realized due to contributions like this.  These features will not only make alot of flex community members happy, but takes a huge burden off the programming team.  and I would venture to guess made some folks at FRS happy as well.

Well done.

Gary NC3Z

Forgot to include the port of 8080 in the config, now it works.

K1DBO

Yup, that will do it.  SC uses port 80 as the default so I made the config default port 80 to match.  Making things easy is really hard

Gary NC3Z

I had never used SC web server and it was defaulted to 8080 on mine. Easy enough to discover and fix. I like having SC fill in as well as a Telnet cluster as I may have SC on another radio, so best of both worlds!

W2PP

Don so where do we go from here??  
can you teamviewr in to noodle around or is their more data i can get you on ths error 183??
peter

K1DBO

Peter,

Send an email to the address on the splash screen.   I have a few more things for you to try out.  

--Don

W2PP

Done should be there now

AA0KM

I guess I should have held off on my $200 donation to flexradio and waited for all this fancy secondary software and stayed on 1.0 version.

K1DBO

Nah... your $200 was well spent.  It's because of the hard work that Flex has done and keeps doing that fancy stuff like this can even happen. It's like Chris just said, the dream of the API is being realized.

Besides... I was just reminded that pop-out panadapter are only available in 2.x, and so far at least Slice Master only supports the bandmap in pop-out panadapters.

AA0KM

Awh Ok . It is working nicely with 2.1.33 ssdr I might add all though only for few minutes that I have so far used it. Keep up the good work. Trying to find my need of all this automation at this point. Got to keep notes on putting it all together.

ctate243

Don I have got this running and as I stated before, I cant emphasize enough that this is really important work you are doing here.  can I PM you?  I have some feature suggestions, and would like to chat with you a bit about this.

Ed - W2RF

Great work, Don!

On my high resolution screen (4500 x 3000) the spot tags are very small.



Hovering does make them readable in the status line.

Keep it up!

73 Ed W2RF

K1DBO

Hi Ed.  

Thanks for the report.  I'm working on a fix.

--Don

K1DBO

Hi Chris,

Feel free to use the email address on the Slice Master splash screen... or any other one for me that you can find.  I'm happy to discuss features as well as bugs.

--Don

WK2Y

OMG, this is sooooo cool.  Sorry if I sound like a teenager, but this is great.  I must say that I feel like I am cheating somehow.  Don, I am sorry about the long term for you, however, because you must  have made a deal with the Devil to make this work. Great stuff.

So far the only issue I have run into is that if I have the panadapter popped out and I pop up an email message, spreadsheet, or some other window, the flags are still visible on top of the other window. I have to pop the panadpter back in to make them disappear. 

My other issue is not with the program but myself.  I am naive when it comes to using DX clusters and Telenet.  I got the VE7CC working by copying the template in the email, but how do I find out about the specification for other clusters.  For example, I have yet to get the DXLab connection to work, and despite searching on their pages I can't seem to find what the Telnet command should be. Anyone have some good background references they would suggest for me?

Thanks to all and big big thanks to Don.

73,
Bob, WK2Y

K1DBO

Hi Bob.. thanks for the kind words.  I'm pretty excited about this too.  Right now I'm watching the RTTY contest on 20m, normally, I'd be participating.  But it's a great oppertunity to tune the graphics, etc.  And really, it's just fun to watch... hopping around with GRITTY to tune into the action is really painless.  

I did use use an early version of this feature in the EARTTY contest a couple of weeks ago.  With N1MM Logger+ coloring the spots and RTTY Skimmer Server providing only the spots I could hear, it really was like cheating.

I run with four monitors, so stuff popping up in front of my panafalls isnt much of problem.  But sadly, that's the trick that makes all of this work.  For me at least, it's a small price to pay for the feature.  You've probably noticed the small dot up near the "pop back in" button on the panafall. That will at least hide all the spots for you if they get in the way.  I'll probably make so UI changes to get the rest of the title bar overlays out of the way too, but making it automatic is more trouble than it's worth.

As for learning about spotting software, yeah, that another challenge.  It's a big world out there.  Slice Master has ways of getting them in and a way to get them out. So, looping your locally found WSJT-X spots out through Spot Collector works great, and on the way back in they are all colored nicely to indicate their needed status.  The same goes for say CW Skimmer spots and N1MM multiplier coloring.  Problem is, I have to split my time between writing code and writing documentation.  I really like writing code, documentation, not so much

Spot Collector makes it's own connection to the clusters.  Their documentation is well maintained and they have a great user base.  Once it's up and running for you, Slice Master connects to it using a web server that's provided locally by Spot Collector.  There's a sample URI include in Slice Master's default config that should work fine but  other have suggested that the default port number might have to be changed.

W2PP

OK so THIS is how ya Flex.  Not seen, two more monitors with PSK 31 copying away and Packet radio on 30 meters packeting away!!!!  Its almost criminal. 
Peter
W2PP

W2PP

Their ya go, three monitors all copying stuff. ....

Gary NC3Z

What is the persistence of the spots on the overlay? I notice that some spots slide off the bottom of the panafall after a short period of time. Will there be a setting to control how long they stay visible? Currently I am using CC User as my source.

K1DBO

Gary,

Spots expire 10 minutes after the last time they were  spotted.  But some spot sources will send spots that are already 10 minutes old or older.  The sweep to remove old spots happens only once a minute.  So some times, right at start up, or when a new spot source is connected, you might see some spots that are removed shortly after they are added.  Right now, I'll call it fun to watch but in the next release or so, spots wont be added unless are under the age limit.  

I've tested with CC User quite a bit and it works great.  If you have it connect to Slice Master's aggregation server then it will add background colors to your internal spots  (CW Skimmer, GRITTY, WSJT-X) when it sends them back.  The colors are derived from CC User's added eQSL and LoTW status.

This trick works just as well with Spot Collector.  But with Spot Collector you can choose both your background and foreground colors depending "needed" status as determined by DX Keeper as well as the eQSL and LoTW status.

N1MM Logger+ can also color your spots for you based on the spot's status as a multiplier.  But it only accepts one cluster connection.  Sometimes, depending on the contest and the rest of your set up, this is all you need.  Just point it at Slice Master's aggregation server and you are done.  But more likely you'd want to have N1MM connect to something like CC User and have that connect out to other sources and to Slice Master's aggregation server.

And dont worry, more spot and "color" sources are in the works.  HRD Logbook is up next. The user interface for all of this will evolve too.  So, yes, you will be able to control the timing.

Juan TG9AJR

Hello Don, great work and thank you very much for this great add on !!!

73
Juan
TG9AJR

Andy - KU7T

Very cool. Played with the panafall labels, but I guess this is in beta. When panafall is minimized the labels stay. I had hoped the Flex API allowed to send these spots, but it seems you may be screen scraping. That may be challenging. Anyway, good luck. it is a killer application to show the call signs...

Couple of things that do not work:
1. I started to play with WSJT-X. It launches correctly, but always defaults to Ham radio delux and a port number that is wrong for CAT. When I change it, it does not stick next time I launch it. (I do runas admin if that matters per batch script)

2. CQ Skimmer spots for some reason seem to be reformatted in slice master now. RBN aggregator does not forward the CQ skimmer spots if they are being fed through the slice master. If I go direct from aggregator to CQ skimmer, they are recognized as CQs. This used to work in an older version. 

See illustration:


Thanks and 73
Andy
KU7T

K1DBO

Hi Andy, 

Thanks for your comments.  And yes... Slice Master in general and the bandmap in particular are in beta.  I cant code, test, and write documentation all myself.  I'll let you guess which parts fall on the users of Slice Master

The technique used here is more like the opposite of screen scraping.  Slice Master is putting it's own window on top of the panafall and doing it's best to keep track of the panafall window and its contents. 

The Flex API provides plenty of information for tracking the contents and the windows API provides plenty of information for tracking the window.  The challenging bit is knowing which window has which panafall. For the most part it works well enough, but as you noticed, some things could be better and some other things will never be better. 

Usually if you pop the panafall back into SSDR, the bandmap window will close.  Every now and then, the bandmap will attach to the wrong panafall or lose track of its window.  The condition is easy to correct manually.  Just drag the 'SM6K' label and drop it on a panafall.  Slice Master will figure it out from there.

For WSJT-X the behavior you are seeing is correct.  You're not the first to ask about it though.  Any time Slice Master launches an application, it will be fully configured and ready to run.  There's no need for you to configure anything but user preferences and operating modes.  

Slice Master implements the HRD Rig Control protocol and tells WSJT-X to use it to talk to the radio.  That port number you are seeing is one that Slice Master is listening on.  Not only does this make configuration of multiple instances easier for the users, but it gives Slice Master the ability to tweak the commands sent by WSJT-X to the radio.  So, for example, you dont have to worry about making sure the DAX button is pressed before responding to an FT8 CQ.  Slice Master knows that for WSJT-X to work, the DAX must be pressed.  Slice Master also implements the CAT over TCP for similar reasons but to talk to other programs, like fldigi.  But even more importantly, there's not need to allocate COM ports.

So if WSJT-X isnt working for you as soon as Slice Master launches it, let me know, I'd like to figure out why.  

The change to the RBN Aggregrator was not intentional.  CW was added to the front of the comment to aid in mode guessing when a spot in the bandmap was selected.  That seems to be confusing the Aggregrator's parser.  You might want to hang back a version while I investigate alternatives.  It is my intention, however, to keep the RBN Aggregrator happy.  Let me know if you need a copy of an older version.

...and please, keep the bug reports coming.


--Don

Gary NC3Z

Thanks for the explanation on the aging and timing.

K1DBO

Hi Juan, you're very welcome!

Mike Sonn KF9AF

I loaded SM6K on my machine this weekend.  SM6K immediately recognized my Flex, and the "Mix" tab controls were active.  The bottom of the program window indicates my radio correctly.

I enabled Bandmap Overlays, entered the Telnet connections, which indicate are "Connected", yet not call outs on my panafall, and the SM6K Header is not there.  All I'm interested in is the overlays.

• Launch Tab  Lists DM780 (Don't use it), and WSJT-X (I use).  Both are set to "Never".
• Sync Tab - I've changed nothing.  "Slice -" has only "Frequency" box checked.
• Mix Tab - Shows "A", "TX", "P", and "M" as active.
• ... Tab - Bandmap; Enabled Overlays, with 3 different telnet addresses, all indicate as "Connected"

Is there something else in "..." tab that needs to be enabled?  I feel like "Telnet" needs to be enabled, and tried several different ports, but am unsure what port to use, if any.

  I do see two error messages at bottom:

• Cannot Find Default CW Skimmer configuration file: CwSkimmer.ini
  
• Cannot Find Default GRITTY configuration file. Path= 'GRITTY.ini'
• I do not have either of these programs...never have.
  

I feel I'm missing something simple.  Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Mike  KF9AF