Introducing Wave-Flex-Integrator – Enhance Your FlexRadio Experience!

SA6TUT · October 2

Dear FlexRadio Community,

I'm thrilled to introduce Wave-Flex-Integrator, a new application I've developed to significantly enhance your FlexRadio experience. As a passionate ham radio operator, I've been immensely impressed with my FlexRadio setup, and I wanted to create a tool that complements it with modern features and seamless integration.

What is Wave-Flex-Integrator?

Wave-Flex-Integrator is designed to bring augmented DX spots directly to your SmartSDR panadapter. Here's how it enhances your operation:

Augmented DX Spots: The application connects to a DX Cluster of choice, and processes incoming spots. These spots are enriched with additional information and sent directly to your FlexRadio server, appearing in the SmartSDR panadapter.
Seamless Logging with WaveLog: Clicking on a spot in the panadapter will automatically open a logging window in WaveLog for that specific callsign, streamlining your logging process.
Eliminates Need for CAT Software: Wave-Flex-Integrator manages the integration between your radio and logging software, removing the necessity for separate CAT (Computer Aided Transceiver) software.
Real-Time Updates: The application ensures that frequency, mode, and other essential data are synchronized in real-time.
User-Friendly Interface: Built using modern technologies, the application offers an intuitive and responsive user experience.

Why is Wave-Flex-Integrator Great for FlexRadio Users?

Enhanced Operating Efficiency: By integrating DX spots directly into your panadapter and simplifying the logging process, you can focus more on operating and less on managing software.
Modern Integration: Utilizing current technologies, the application provides a smooth and efficient workflow that aligns with today's standards.
Open Source and Community-Driven: Hosted on GitHub, Wave-Flex-Integrator is open for community collaboration. Your contributions can help shape the future of the application.

Why WaveLog is the Ultimate Logging Program for Ham Radio Operators

In addition to Wave-Flex-Integrator, I want to highlight WaveLog, an exceptional logging program that complements your FlexRadio setup perfectly. Why don't you try the demo? (I have no personal connection to Wavelog, no connection what so ever even if it might sound so) Here's why WaveLog stands out:

Easy and Intuitive Logging: WaveLog offers a user-friendly web interface that allows you to log your contacts directly from your browser. It's compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Powerful Mapping Tools: The application includes robust mapping features, enabling you to export your QSOs as various types of maps. You can showcase these maps to friends or even embed an automatically generated map in your QRZ.com bio. The maps are highly customizable to suit your preferences.
Comprehensive Statistics: WaveLog provides in-depth analytics of your activity. You can track metrics like the number of grids you've worked, your operating days per year, and the furthest distance you've reached on specific bands.
Award Tracking: The software helps you monitor your progress towards various amateur radio awards. With support for over 20 awards worldwide (and more on the way), you can easily see how close you are to achieving your next certificate.
QSL Management: WaveLog fully supports integration with common third-party services like eQSL, LotW, HRDlog, QRZ.com, and QO-100 Dx Club. It allows for automatic confirmation of QSOs and even lets you view eQSL cards directly within the web interface. You can also upload scanned QSL cards for your QSOs.
Multi-Language Support: WaveLog is available in multiple languages, thanks to contributions from the community. If your language isn't supported yet, you can join the translation platform or request its addition.
Accessible Anywhere: As a web-based application, WaveLog can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Whether hosted on a professional server, rented web space, or a Raspberry Pi at home, you can manage your logbook anytime, anywhere.
Open Source and Community-Driven: Developed by radio amateurs for radio amateurs, WaveLog is an open-source project driven by passion for the hobby. It's non-profit and non-commercial, ensuring that improvements are continuously made for the benefit of the community.

Seeking Beta Testers and Collaborators

I'm currently looking for fellow enthusiasts who are interested in:

Beta Testing: Try out Wave-Flex-Integrator and provide feedback to help improve its functionality and usability.
Development Collaboration: If you have skills in JavaScript, Git, or general software development, your expertise would be highly valuable. Collaborators can help enhance features, fix bugs, and contribute to the application's growth.

No Commercial Interests

Please note that I have no commercial intentions with Wave-Flex-Integrator. My goal is to share useful tools that benefit the entire ham radio community.

Interested in Joining?

If you're excited about enhancing your FlexRadio experience and would like to be a beta tester or collaborator and have the technical skills, I'd love to hear from you! Please reply to this post or by PM.

Let's work together to bring modern, efficient tools to our ham radio operations!

73,

SE6S

Technical Overview of Wave-Flex-Integrator

For those interested in the technical aspects, here's a brief overview of what the application does:

Electron-Based Application: Wave-Flex-Integrator is built using Electron, allowing it to run as a cross-platform desktop application.
DX Cluster Integration: It connects to a DX Cluster to receive real-time spot information, which is then augmented with additional data.
FlexRadio Communication: The application communicates with your FlexRadio using a custom client, sending the augmented spots to appear in SmartSDR PAnadapter.
Spot Interaction: Clicking on a spot in SmartSDR triggers the application to open a logging window in WaveLog, pre-filled with the callsign and other relevant information.
Configuration Management: User settings are managed efficiently, with default configurations and the ability to save custom settings.
Error Handling and Stability: The application includes robust error handling and logging to ensure a stable experience.
Open Source Code: The code is well-documented and structured to facilitate community contributions and collaboration.

How to Get Involved

Beta Testing: Simply reach out, and I'll provide you with the application package and instructions on how to set it up.
Development Collaboration: The GitHub repository is not yet public but it will soon be public, where you can access the code, report issues, and submit pull requests.

I'm genuinely excited about the potential of Wave-Flex-Integrator and WaveLog and believe they can make our FlexRadio experience even better. Your participation and feedback would be invaluable.

Looking forward to collaborating with you!

KD0RC · October 2

Wow!! You have come a long way from asking about the API to a fully functioning app! Nicely done!

EMIL-DL8JJ · October 2

Great! I will test it!

dl8jj@yahoo.com

Please let me know!

de DL8JJ

Emil

N6OIL · October 2

Sign me up! One less program I'd have to launch and I will give a WaveLog a spin. de N6OIL

Martin Boroff · October 2

sure why not? I worked as a programmer for 42 years before retiring. I have quite few node-red servers running in multiple locations on Raspberry Pi’s. That said I’m not real strong in JavaScript but pretty good at QC testing and my Pi’s are underutilized. And my test Pi5 just freed up.

73, Marty WD9GYM

Andrew O'Brien · October 3

I would be happy to help beta test it.

Andy K3UK

VE2HEW · October 3

I would like to test this as well!

Anthony VE2HEW

Chris DL5NAM · October 3

Sign me up!

Chris DL5NAM

fabianomoser · October 3

Hi,

As a huge fan of Flexradio and his all features and possibilities I whish to test it if possible please.

73 de CT7ABD
ct7abd@gmail.com

SA6TUT · October 3

Dear all,

I am truly overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm from everyone! It's heartwarming to see so many eager to participate in both beta testing and co-development of the Wave-Flex Integrator. I want to personally thank each of you:

Len (@KD0RC): Thank you for your kind words! It's been quite a journey from those initial questions about the API to having a working app, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.
Emil (DL8JJ): I’ll definitely keep you updated, and I’m grateful to have you as a tester! I’ll send you the invite shortly.
N6OIL: I’m thrilled to have you on board! I think you’ll really enjoy giving Wavelog a spin, it's been a game-changer for me.
Marty (WD9GYM): Thank you for offering your expertise! Your experience with programming and Raspberry Pi setups will be incredibly valuable for quality control testing.
Andy (K3UK): Thank you for volunteering to help with beta testing. I’ll add you to the organization and send the invite.
Anthony (VE2HEW): I’m happy to hear you're interested in testing. I’ll be sending you an invite soon.
Chris (DL5NAM): Thanks for signing up! I’ll make sure to send you the necessary details and add you as soon as possible.
Fabiano (CT7ABD): Welcome aboard! I’m glad to have another FlexRadio fan on the team. I’ll send over the invite to get you started!

GitHub Organization Setup and Next Steps

Today, I’ve officially set up a GitHub organization named TNXQSO for the Wave-Flex Integrator project. The project has been added to the organization, though it remains a private repository for now. I use the app daily without serious issues, but we’ll keep it private until we all agree it's ready for public release.

How You Can Join

To join the organization, I need your GitHub username and the role you're interested in (e.g., beta tester, developer, etc.). If you don’t want to share your GitHub username or email address publicly, you can send me a private message using this link: Send SA6TUT a Message. Once I have your details, I’ll send you an invitation to join.

After you join the organization, we can assign roles. These roles will include contributors, beta testers, or others depending on how you'd like to participate. Let me know what area you’re most interested in, and we’ll get it sorted!

Project Status & README

Please note, the README.md file with installation instructions is still being worked on. I kindly ask you to hold off on trying to install anything until it’s ready. Once the README is finalized, installation should be straightforward, but I'll keep everyone posted on its progress.

A Huge Thanks to Wavelog

The team over at Wavelog has been exceptionally supportive and proactive in adding modifications to allow this integration. However, those changes haven’t yet been merged into the main repository, they’re still in the development branch as pull requests. If you’re familiar with Git and can handle pulling PRs into a local repository, you’re welcome to proceed, but for everyone else, I recommend waiting a few more days until everything is finalized.

Strong Recommendation: Check Out Wavelog!

It’s important to note that using Wave-Flex Integrator assumes you're also using the Wavelog logging program. I strongly recommend everyone starts by checking out Wavelog. When I first tried it, uploaded all my QSOs, and got familiar with it, there was no going back - my old logging software became a thing of the past! It’s the same experience I had with FlexRadio - once I tried it, I knew I had found my permanent solution. Anyway, if you happen to not fancy Wavelog, then you won't have any use for the wave-flex-integrator.

Wavelog runs on a web server, and I’ve set it up on my own homelab. If you have a server, you can do the same, or there are hosted alternatives available. This way, you’ll have access to your logs from anywhere, whether you're using a PC or a mobile device. That’s exactly how we want it, isn’t it?

Next Steps

While I continue working on setting up the GitHub organization and assigning roles, I recommend giving Wavelog a look. If you’ve already provided me with your email address or GitHub username, I’ll start sending out invitations right away.

Finally, I’ll also look into enabling discussions in the repository so we can have more structured conversations and collaborate efficiently.

Thank you all once again for your support! I’m truly excited about what we can accomplish together.

73,

SA6TUT

F4BPO · October 3

Hi,

Very nice to see a new project for the Flex. I have been developing a program for personal use which also connects to a cluster and send them to smartsdr after checking sqlite database of my contacts to put colors for worked, new band new mode new dxcc and so on.

Would live to test your program and help if I can or be a beta tester.

Thanks

Greg XV9Q

SA6TUT · October 3

Great @F4BPO

I will need your GitHub username for the invitation. If you don’t want to share your GitHub username or email address publicly, you can send me a private message using this link:

Send SA6TUT a Message

Once I have your details, I’ll send you an invitation to join. 😀

SA6TUT · October 3

I mention you all here since the mention-links did not work in my previous message. Just so that you will get notified about my answer. Thanks! @KD0RC, @EMIL-DL8JJ, @N6OIL, @Martin Boroff, @Andrew O'Brien, @VE2HEW, @Chris DL5NAM, @fabianomoser

73 de SA6TUT

Martin Boroff · October 3

Mikel

I am at this point in the install on a Pi 5 using DietPi

5. Run the Wavelog Installer

You need to run the installer. At this point, please open <url-to-wavelog>/install and follow the guide.

I can not find the install guide. Do you have a url?

And should I email you direct for these kinds of questions?

73, Marty WD9GYM

Martin Boroff · October 4

Please disregard my previous post. I have it running. Stumbling around I pointed my browser to 10.0.0.127/html/install or something like that and I went through the installation. I made on FT8 QSO and logged it into the database.

Automatically logging is the next challenge. When using N1MM I define the broadcast ip WSJT-X 127.0.0.1 port 2333. Any suggestions?

F4BPO · October 4

@SA6TUT my nick on github:

GregTroar

I installed Wavelog on one of my Debian server, testing it now.

I have never heard about this log while I am almost trying all the logbook I have found, nice to try a new one !

F4BPO · October 4

It looks very much like cloudlog, is there any relationship between both ?

SA6TUT · October 4

@Martin Boroff: Wavelog has a Wiki, there is an install guide in there. About logging ADIF broadcasts, there is since yesterday a request for enhancement (currently only visible for repository members). It shouldn't be hard to implement sinve Wavelog has the API to receive such a logging request. You can add comments to that request if you wish. About specific questions about wave-flex-integrator while testing or developing there is a private Discussions tab on the organization level. You can also post your questions here of course if it's of interest for the Flexradio community. 😀There will be a lot of info on that Discussions on how to collaborate.

@F4BPO you have been sent an invitation. 😀Yes, Wavelog is a fork of Cloudlog. I believe the main developers Cloudlog migrated to Wavelog. I'm not 100% sure though… I read it somewhere.

vk2yi · October 4

@SA6TUT Would like to give it a try this weekend with the Oceania Contest. :)

SA6TUT · October 4

@vk2yi

I'd be happy to send you an invitation to beta test Wave-Flex-Integrator! However, since I haven't made the repository public on GitHub yet (I plan to once it's been further tested), I would need your GitHub username to send you an invitation. Feel free to send it to me via PM, and I’ll add you to the beta testers group.

In the meantime, I recommend getting familiar with the logging software Wavelog followed by Wave-Flex-Integrator, before relying on it in a contest scenario. Also, we’ll need to wait for the team at Wavelog to merge the new API into their main repository. If you’re comfortable with Git, you could use the dev repo and merge the pull requests yourself.

For now, I suggest exploring Wavelog (Try their demo) and if you like Wavelog, becoming part of the beta testing team for the Wave-Flex-Integrator. I’ll be working on updating the README today to ensure the installation instructions for Wave-Flex-Integrator are up to date.

73 and good luck in the Oceania Contest!

SA6TUT · October 4

For your information, I had to make the Wave-Flex-Integrator repository public today due to technical reasons. I will fix the README file today so that it's installation instructions will be accurate. Until it's done, don't try to follow it.

DJ7NT · October 4

A huge tu from the WL-Team to SA6TUT for building that "Flex-Plugin".
The DXCluster-Feature is already part of the latest dev-Branch at Wavelog
The seamless-logging will be merged within a few days.

vy 73, DJ7NT

Mick W8BE · October 4

I loaded the Wave-Flex Integrator and I can connect to the DX cluster and the radio but no spots are showing up. Seeing this error:

[2024-10-04T14:28:51.041Z] - ERROR: Error in sendActiveSliceToWavelog: request to https://wavelog.example.com/index.php/api/radio failed, reason: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND wavelog.example.com

Maybe I need to delete the install and wait for the upgraded instructions.

SA6TUT · October 4

@Mick W8BE

Thanks for trying it out

You need to configure the Wavelog API URL in configuration tab to point to your own Wavelog server.

Wavelog API Configuration —> API URL

Please also check out the very very latest README.md regarding that we are waiting for the guys at Wavelog to commit the seamless-logging API that @DJ7NT mentioned above. Meanwhile if you don't want to wait for that, you could check out the a fork of Wavelog (dev branch) where I already have applied the required pull request which allows early testing. This will result in a non official version though, just for testing.

git clone --branch dev https://github.com/besynnerlig/wavelog.git wavelog-dev This will clone the repository into a new folder named wavelog-dev

Otherwise, just wait a few days and when they have merged the PR it will work on the vanilla version of Wavelog. 😀

Mick W8BE · October 4

@SA6TUT

Thanks for the info. I loaded the new branch and ran npm install. However it did not create the same files as in the ga version.

Mode LastWriteTime Length Name

d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM .github
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM application
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM assets
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM backup
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM images
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM install
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM src
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM system
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM updates
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM uploads
d---- 10/4/24 11:22 AM userdata
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 27 .dockerignore
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 691 .editorconfig
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 430 .gitignore
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 1921 Dockerfile
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 15406 favicon.ico
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 516 htaccess.sample
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 11374 index.php
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 1144 LICENSE
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 12469 manifest.json
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 3802 po_gen.sh
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 4864 README.md
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 89 robots.txt
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 254 SECURITY.md
-a--- 10/4/24 11:22 AM 2503 update_wavelog.sh

To me it looks like it did not install.

Regards

SA6TUT · October 4

@Mick W8BE

The command git clone --branch dev https://github.com/besynnerlig/wavelog.git wavelog-dev should replace the original command git clone https://github.com/wavelog/Wavelog.git [output_directory] found in Wavelog Wiki installation to get the unofficial version of Wavelog with the full API already installed. (The wavelog installation says nothing about running npm install)

Wavelog must be installed, up and running before installing Wave-Flex Integrator.

Installing Wave-Flex Integrator should use it's default commands.

I hope this is helpful, otherwise just ask!

SA6TUT · October 6

Good news!

The two key features needed to ensure the Wave-Flex Integrator works properly are now in place in Wavelog’s development (dev) branch.

That makes things easier! More about that in https://github.com/tnxqso/wave-flex-integrator

SA6TUT · October 8

Wave-Flex Integrator is now available as a binary install for both Windows and Linux, making installation a breeze! Mac users will still need to follow the manual installation process for now, but I'm working on a solution to simplify that too.

Good news from the Wavelog team as well, they've included all the necessary API features in their latest public release, which makes integration much smoother.

For more details, check out the README.

73 de SA6TUT

SA6TUT · October 10

Update: WSJT-X Integration Now Available!

In response to user enhancement requests, the latest release now includes WSJT-X integration:

Active QSO Detection: Detects active QSOs and displays details of the current callsign being worked in Wavelog's live logging tab. This feature is fully configurable and optional.
Automatic Logging: Automatically logs completed QSOs from WSJT-X ADIF broadcasts directly into Wavelog. This feature is also fully configurable and optional.

Call for Assistance: Mac Binary Builder Needed

I need help from a technically skilled person to build binaries for Mac, as I don't have access to that hardware. If you can contribute by doing this, please let me know.

EMIL-DL8JJ · October 10

Hey Mikael & all,

big thanks for this oppertunities to be an tester.

I'm using this software and its definitely on of the best features for Flex, that i was using.

Im keep testing and as usual will give you feedbacks.

Cheers

Emil

SA6TUT · October 14

I’ve worked on automating the build and release process for the Wave-Flex Integrator application, ensuring that it’s now being automatically built, packaged, and ready for users across multiple platforms—Windows, Linux, and macOS.

The build system I set up supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring that users on all these platforms can easily download and install the application from the GitHub Releases page.