Slice Master 6000 v0.10.5 is now available

K1DBO

I'm happy to hear it's working the way you'd expect.  I'm not much of a DXLabs user but know just enough to extract data from Spot Collector.  I wouldnt think that running Commander would change the way the database look-ups  work, but I cant argue with success!

K1DBO

When Slice Master displays spots from Spot Collector it doesnt  take any slice frequencies into account.  The idea I was shooting for was to watch for additions to the Spot Collector window and simply add them to radio as they arrived.  This is, at least, what I see happen.  Like I said though, there's a lot I dont know about DXLabs.  I'd imagine that Dave's implementation for sending spots to the radio would be more tailored to the subtleties of his application.

K1DBO

Which program are you closing in task manager?

Pat N6PAT

I still cannot get Slice Master to apply the filters from Spot Collector. It's almost like it's completely ignoring Spot Collector and pulling the spots directly from CW Skimmer.

I have this selected as the spot source in Slice Master.

dxlab://localhost/spots


Is this correct for Spot Collector? If so how can I get it to use the Spot Collector filters?

K1DBO

Ah... that's because it is pulling spots directly from CW Skimmer!  That's what it's supposed to do.

Now you do make an interesting point... when using a logger with filter capabilities as good as Spot Collector it would make sense to not display from internal sources but to still send them out the local cluster server.  This way, a program like Spot Collector could filter and color them then send just the ones that pass back into the radio.  

The model I chose to implement is a bit simpler.  Slice Master gathers spots from both internal (launched programs) and external (spot sources) sources and displays them in the radio.  The internal spots are made available to any program that wants them and in many cases, they are send back into Slice Master with color and "needed" status applied.

My plan has been to apply a simple scoring system to the spots and then let the user decide, based on the score, which spots to display.  I'm trying to keep the Slice Master user interface as simple as possible.  Adding a complete spot filtering system is outside the scope of what I'm trying do.  However, providing other programs with the information they need to get the job done is exactly what I am working towards.

--Don

Tom N5MOA

Slice Master.
After I close it on the screen, the pop up is still there, and slice master still shows in task manager.

Pat N6PAT

OK. Then it's not going to work for me. I need to be able to filter spots to display only states and DXCC that I need. Otherwise the screen quickly becomes completely cluttered with many spots. Filtering would be a major plus during contests where there could be an insane number of spots all over the panadapter.

Your approach is good for ops that want to see everything even if they don't need a lot of the spots.

For the time being I'll have to be satisfied with only one slice for filtered spots as that is all Commander will do at the moment. It has the option to use Spot Collector's active filter and works fine but again is limited to a single VFO at a time. Hopefully it will be changed in the near future.

K1DBO

Pat,

Commander might still be the thing for you, but I just made a couple of changes to Slice Master that you might find interesting. 

K1DBO

Slice Master 6000 v0.10.5c is now available.

This is minor release with a couple of bug fixes and a minor enhancement to help support loggers and other spot sources that can act as filters. 

In the Bandmap section of the settings tab there is a new option to 'Show internal spots'.  This was the default behavior in prior releases.  So, when disabled, spots from internal sources will not be sent to the radio or the overlay bandmaps.  The spots will, however, still be sent to the telnet aggregation server.  This way, any spot source with filtering capabilities can choose which spots to return to Slice Master and which to filter out.

Note also that the 'Send spots to radio' option has been removed.  It's no longer needed.

--Don

Pat N6PAT

Do I need to uninstall the previous version first?


Jay Nation

Pat 
I don't I just extract each release to the same folder, and let them overwrite the last release.

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Tom N5MOA

Don't know what changed, but 10.5c is working. thanks

K1DBO

Pat,
Just like Jay said.  Slice Master doesnt use an installer.  It's a self contained executable.  Just unpack on top of the old one, or into a new folder.  Your choice.

Tom,
Great to hear.  

--Don

Pat N6PAT

Doesn't look like its working for me with Spot Collector.

I see the spots from port 7300 displayed in SC but nothing on the panadapter unless I check Show Internal Spots which then ignores the SC filtering and displays all spots or if I start up Commander and then I'm limited to just a single VFO just like before

Maybe I'm not specifying the source correctly.



I have dxlab://localhost/spots for the spot source. Is this correct?

K1DBO

In Spot Collector, enable its HTTP server.  If you run it on something other than port 80 make sure to adjust the URI in Slice Master.  The filtering available to you comes from Spot Collector and is quite flexible.  If a spot shows in Spot Collector, it will appear in the panafall.

--Don

Pat N6PAT

Where do I enable the server in SC? I don't see an option for that

K1DBO

In Spot Collector, hit the config button, then the 'Spot Database' tab.... halfway down to the right.

Pat N6PAT

ok. I'm seeing the spots now.I'll exexperiment some more
Thanks for your help.

73

N8SDR

I see your up to Slice Master 6000 v0.10.5D now.
https://github.com/K1DBO/slice-master-6000/releases

Don, Thanks for all the recent updates and fixes.

Rick Hadley - W0FG

Don, can you add a radio chooser to Slice Master? When I have both radios running it often connects to the wrong one, requiring me to shut down the second radio until I get everything back in sync.

K1DBO

Rick, 

Scroll to the bottom of the Settings tab.  I havent had much opportunity to test it, but it's there.  Worst case... you might need to change it and then restart Slice Master. 

As is, only one copy of Slice Master can run per computer.  It wouldnt be terribly difficult to support multiple instances or to add a start up option to specify which radio to connect to.  So far I havent had either request.

--Don

K1DBO

The "small letter" changes are usually just bug fixes that I want to get out but usually are not worth an announcement.  I prefer a "rapid" development methodology.  Things will slow down when I feel Slice Master is "feature complete" and version v1.0.0 is released.  Right now, Slice Master is still very much in development.

Pat N6PAT

Don,

Version v0.10.5c is working very well now. I really like it.

The only issues I've seen are the occasional access violations when Skimmer is launched and some +0 that are displayed and remain after the linger time.

One suggestion I have for an additional feature is the ability to immediately update the spot display whenever the filter changes. Right now the display only updates when the linger time is triggered. Commander changes the display immediately whenever the filter is changed.

Thanks for all the help and a great product

K1DBO

Pat,

You're welcome.

The +0 thing is an SSDR bug that Flex is working on.  

CW Skimmer access violations are often caused by a zombie skimmer hanging around.  Check your task manager when you think CW Skimmer is not running, you might find one there. A full reboot every now and then can help too.

Spot Collector does not provide any notification of filter change or API to access their settings.  If the information was available I'd gladly make use of it.  Remember too, Slice Master is not specific to Spot Collector.  It's specific to Flex but does its best to support as many loggers as possible.

Your suggestion to let the internal spots first leave Slice Master before finding their way back to the radio display was a good one.  

--Don

Rick Hadley - W0FG

OK, I see it now, thanks.  I'd forgotten it was there.  A start-up option would be nice though, as in my particular configuration it tends to grab my older secondary radio first and I don't notice it until I click on a Cluster spot and it QSY's my Maestro instead of my main SSDR screen.

Rick

K1DBO

As is, it's supposed to remember the last radio used.  But like I said, it's not well tested.  Of course if anyone wants to lend me a second radio for a year or two...

Ronald, KW3S

So I've missed something basic....just installed Slice Master, but under the launch tab - it is blank!  I have wsjt-x, HRD, and cwskimmer loaded.   I do save all ham radio sw in a separate folder.  Any help would be appreciated, since this seems like great software.

Lucas - W6AER

I actually have also noticed this brief audio dropout as well. I thought it might have been something else and just tested it again. With slice master .5 running I do get this also. The minute I turn it off, the issue goes away. Not a big deal with digital modes as it does not seem to effect the waterfall, etc. but in a contest this can be an issue.

Jay Nation

Ronald

"I do save all ham radio sw in a separate folder"
That's the problem.
Slicemaster looks for software "only" in the default install locations. if it doesn't find them there, the Launchtab will be blank, possibly other tabs too.

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Ronald, KW3S

Thank you - I will uninstall & reload.
Ron, KW3S