Slice Master 6000 v0.10.6 is now available

K1DBO

Mark_WS7M

Awesome work Don!

Andy - KU7T

Sergey KN7K

Andy - KU7T

Sergey, 

This sounds like something is preventing or not allowing it to run. Virusscanner off? Is this a corporate computer with group policy?

Check your Windows Event log for anything meaningful also. 

Andy
KU7T

John K0TG

K1DBO

Hi John,

I just tested with WSJT-X 2.0.1 and have confirmed that Slice Master is not processing the spots correctly.

I'll have a bug fix release available soon. 

--Don
 

John K0TG

Hi Don,

Thanks for confirming that.  I was on Slice Master 10.5e and upgraded WSJT-X and had the issue.,  It is good to see you tested and  found the same thing.

Thanks for writing Slice Master!


73, John  K0TG

K1DBO

You’re welcome John, I just uploaded v0.10.6b. Spots from WSJT-X 2.0.1 are now supported. This version also includes support for DM780’s KY command’ mode for sending CW. —Don

SP7IDX

Sergey KN7K

Hi Don,
I could not installed previous version as discussed before.
Yesterday tried 10.6a with no luck, but today succesfully installed ver 10.6b and seems like working fine.
Old problem still there (at least for me) - any time CW Skimmer opens, i have to go to the settings and change  "MME" to "WDM".
Sergey, KN7K

John K0TG

I just loaded the new version and it works great.  Thanks Don!


73, John  K0TG

Andy - KU7T

Sergey,

I think you need to launch CW Skimmer once before without Slice Master and configure WDM. Then, the automatically launched instances will re-use that settings. Works great for me. 

Andy
KU7T

Sergey KN7K

K1DBO

Sergey,

Slice Master prefers MME and sets it that way first time around. But, if you change it to WDM after CW Skimmer starts, Slice Master won’t change it back. You might need to make the change for each slice. I don’t recommend using WDM. I find it to be less stable. If MME doesn’t work for you, it’s very likely your DAX drivers have been corrupted by a Win10 update.

If Slice Master can’t connect to your radio, it is almost always either a firewall problem (Slice Master needs permission to access your network), or a remote operation issue (Slice Master does not support Smart Link).

—Don

Sergey KN7K

Hi Don,
I checked Windows Defender Security Center, I had about 10 lines for Slice Master, some checked as Public, some checked as Private, some did not have checkmarks. I removed all lines and 10.6b started fine. Will check tomorrow again after PC restart.

About MME vs WDM.
Here is what I see in each of them, seems like a WDM is a winner

Is there anyway to tell Slice Master to use WDM automataically? I have to swich it manually every time.


Thanks for your help.
Sergey, KN7K

K1DBO

Sergey,

Thanks for pointing out the multiple firewall rules.  Windows creates one each time Slice Master is run from a different folder.  It's not obvious which of the many is the one that is currently in use.

Once you select WDM in CW Skimmer, Slice Master will preserve that change for the next run.  Since Slice Master maintains a CW Skimmer config file for each slice, you'll probably need to make the change once for each slice.

--Don

John K0TG

K1DBO

Hi John,

I dont have a Maestro so I'm not sure what options are available there.  But in SSDR, you can choose to override the spot foreground and background color.  Maestro might have a similar option.  The colors that Slice Master chooses are loosely based on the colors observed in the spot source.  Of course not all spot sources supply good colors, though some do.

I use VE7CC's CC User program as well.  Be careful about the port choice though.  By default Slice Master uses 7300 for it's built in spot aggregation server.  So if you start Slice Master first, CC User might find that port 7300 is already in use.  

--Don

John K0TG

Hi Don,

Is the spot source from Slice Master?  Or are you referring to something else?

Thanks for the tip on port 7300.  I remember seeing that now that you mention that.

Is there any information on the spot aggregation server?  I'm not quite sure what it does.  So I have not tried that yet.


73, John  K0TG

K1DBO

John,

Slice Master can get spots from many sources.  As you have noticed, CC User is just one example and that's an example of a external spot source.  DXLab's Spot Collector, N1MM+, even DX Summit, are others.  HRD Logbook isnt exactly a source, but more of a colorizing filter.  External spot sources are all configured on Slice Master's settings tab in the bandmap section. 

Internal spot sources are the programs that Slice Master launches for you.  CW Skimmer and WSJT-X, for example are both great sources of spots.  Internally sourced spots can be fed to telnet cluster clients by having them connect to Slice Master's aggregation server.  Slice Master takes care of gather all of the internally generated spots and putting them together into a single telnet cluster like stream.

I use the telnet client in N1MM+ to connect to Slice Master's aggregation server.  N1MM+ can then see all of the spots gathered by the CW Skimmers that Slice Master has launched for me.  N1MM+ can then be configured to send those same spots back to Slice Master, but with multiplier information attached.  Slice Master turns the multiplier information into the familiar red, green, blue color scheme that N1MM+ uses and then send the colored spots to the radio for display in the panafall.  

Of course the spot source doesnt have to be CW Skimmer and the logging program doesnt have to be N1MM+.  WSJT-X and HRD Logbook can be configured in a similar way.  Logger32 and DXKeeper/Spot Collector can all get in on this too.

There's not much in the way of "how to" documentation out there for these kinds of configurations but the README file that's included in the Slice Master zip and available on github give the basic information necessary to put the pieces together.  

--Don

John K0TG

Thanks Don,  I'll read up on that.  I have not played with Skimmer locally yet.  Will be doing that soon!

Thanks again for a great program.


73, John  K0TG

KF4HR

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

KF4HR

Thanks for the reply Neal.  I got that far previously.  Downloaded the "Slice-Master-6000-master.zip"  compressed file (1.5mb).  After extracting this zip file I end up with two files, a Directory called "screenshots" and a readme file.  The screen shots directory has 70 items in it, all PNG Files except one Readme file which I can't open.  And that's as far as I got.  I don't see any .exe file.  What am I doing wrong?

Butch KF4HR

LZ2BE

KF4HR