Flex Repeater Spots Utility

Martin Bérubé

Hi Len,

Do you have any plans to add a color specification for a manual spot?

KD0RC

Hi Martin, I hadn't thought of that, but let me take a look at it. I am guessing that it would not be too difficult.

KD0RC

Hi Martin, thanks for the suggestion! I am nearly done with the code to specify spot color and spot background color. I have overall spot colors working and will now code up the ability to control each spot individually.

So for those who want all their spots to look the same, they just set the default. Any individual spots can then be set to override the default for those who want a more custom look (red on yellow for band-edges, for example).

I should have something ready later today or maybe tomorrow.

The available colors are from the Windows .net palette (see link, below). There are 141 named colors available, so I am not going to include the complication of a color mixer.

Colors Class (System.Windows.Media) | Microsoft Learn

You will specify them by name. For example to set the default:

SpotColor: YELLOW
SpotBackColor: Transparent

On individual spots:

SpotColor=RED SpotBackColor=YELLOW

Let me know if you have any other thoughts on this.

KD0RC

Well, that was easier than I expected... I have a bit more testing to do, but I should be able to put this new version on GitHub later today. Here is my first test:

Alan

Len

How about a "Spot Life" setting?

Oh, and a "Clear All Spots" button.

Another approach for building the necessary spot data. Instead of pulling the data from the memory backup file, issue the "sub memory all" command. The command's response will be a list of all memories, along with all memory settings. Build your spot commands from this list.

Send the sub memory all command on startup of the spot application, to update the memory data.

Alan. WA9WUD

KD0RC

Hi Alan, These spots are designed to be "permanent". They are not DX spots, but instead, are intended to mark repeater frequencies, nets, band edges and that kind of thing so spot life is not really appropriate here.

Clear All Spots is already taken care of on the Flex Spot Settings page, so I won't duplicate it here.

My app does not pull data from the backup file, it comes directly from the radio. Since I am using C# and FlexLib under .net, the "sub memory all" command is done on my behalf when I execute the following statement:

radio.MemoryAdded += new Radio.MemoryAddedEventHandler(_thisRadio_MemoryAdded);

_thisRadio_MemoryAdded is a subroutine that I wrote that populates my data array of spot info so that I have the everything necessary to change mode and/or repeater options as spots are clicked. The full source code is on my GitHub site if you are interested in how this works.

Martin Bérubé

Hi Len,

You're very efficient.

Thanks you very much for taking my suggestion.

73, Martin VA2PX

KD0RC

FlexRepeaterSpots V1.06 is now available on GitHub:

https://github.com/KD0RC/FlexRepeaterSpots/releases/tag/FlexRepeaterSpots_V1.06

    // ***********************************************************************
    // V1.06
    // Increased the max number of spots from 100 to 400
    // Added code to be sure max spots is not exceeded
    // Added ability to set default spot color and spot background color
    // Added ability to set text and background colors on individual spots
    // ***********************************************************************

Thanks to Martin, VA2PX for the spot color suggestion!

The default colors can be set using these Config.ini entries (default is Yellow and Transparent):

SpotColor: YELLOW
SpotBackColor: Transparent

Each Spot: line in Config.ini can have either, both or neither of SpotColor= and SpotBackColor=.

SpotColor=RED SpotBackColor=YELLOW

On all of these parameters, case is not important.

KD0RC

I finally finished the FlexRepeaterSpots user manual. It is on the GitHub site shown in the previous post, above. I also updated the V1.06 release to include it there.

Here is the intro from that document:

KD0RC

FlexRepeaterSpots V1.07 is now available on GitHub:

https://github.com/KD0RC/FlexRepeaterSpots/releases/tag/FlexRepeaterSpots_V1.07

    // ***********************************************************************
    // V1.07
    // Added SpotMemColor: and SpotMemBackColor: (Thanks Bret, WX7Y!)
    // ***********************************************************************

Bret, WX7Y suggested that memory spots have their own color scheme. Good idea Bret! Just add the following lines to your Config.ini file.

SpotMemColor: Yellow
SpotMemBackColor: Transparent

Make the colors anything you like from this list:

Colors Class (System.Windows.Media) | Microsoft Learn

The default colors are the same as for regular (non-memory) spots, so if you leave these lines out of your Config file, you will get Yellow and Transparent.

Thanks again for the idea Bret, and I hope this is what you were looking for.

WX7Y

Great Job Len and works great.

Once I got the Color combinations I like and could see without straining my eyes

Anyway Thanks Len for all your hard work

73

Bret

WX7Y

KD0RC

Thanks Bret, I appreciate it!

WX7Y

Hi Len, just have a question, Is there a limit to how may Spots you can have?

If there was a limit I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting close.

73

Bret/WX7Y

KD0RC

Hi Bret, as of V1.06 you can have up to 400 spots. DX spots or spots from any source other than FlexRepeaterSpots don't count toward the 400.

If you find that you are getting close to that maximum, let me know and I will make it bigger. It is a very easy change to implement.

If you are asking about limits, you must be getting some good use out of the utility!

WX7Y

Ok I think that should be plenty for about everyone I imagine

KD0RC

@Rich McCabe Hi Rich, just checking in to see if you were able to get FlexRepeaterSpots downloaded and working.

WX7Y

KD0RC

Are there any alpha/beta testers testing the 8000 series that can try Flex Repeater Spots? I don't need an exhaustive test, I just need to know that the executable runs and that the basic functionality is there.

https://github.com/KD0RC/FlexRepeaterSpots/releases/tag/FlexRepeaterSpots_V1.07

I doubt that the API and FlexLib changed much, but I would feel better knowing that it still works.