The latest update(version 1_02_006) addresses the following (sourced from the QRPLabs groups.io site):-
1. Bug fix: CAT IF command incorrectly shows VFO B when in TX and in VFO A mode
Reported on this group recently.
2. Bug fix: When changing band up/down the RF Gain doesn't get changed properly
I
noticed this; when you change band by using CAT, the "Gain" in the Band
Configuration is properly applied. But when you change band by using
the front panel, the gain did not get changed according to the Band
Configuration table. Most people may leave the gain in the Band
Configuration table unadjusted so may not have noticed this issue. I
don't recall it having been reported.
3. Bug fix: On the LCD, SWR tool now operates correctly at the displayed VFO frequency
Several
people noted that the SWR tool on the LCD operated at the "band center
frequency" shown in the Band Configuration screen, not the current VFO
frequency. I believe I have fixed this bug.
4. Bug fix: TX indicator always under A, even in VFO B and Split modes (means not displayed at all in B)
Now the TX indicator comes under the correct VFO (A or B) depending on the VFO mode (A, B, Split).
5. Change "Audio gain (dB)" row name in Band Config to "RF gain (dB)", a more accurate description
There
are two gain controls in the QMX. One is the gain defined in the Band
Configuration table, per band. It was called "Audio gain (dB)" but this
is not really an accurate term for it. More accurate is "RF gain (dB)"
because this gain is applied at the Intermediate Frequency, not at
audio. The gain is defined before the AGC function and the S-meter
(which is related to the AGC function). The purpose of this gain
specification in the Band Configuration table was to be able to equalize
gain across the bands. There are some variations in sensitivity, due to
variations in response curves of LPFs and BPFs, and even due to
increased insertion loss in the mixer at the top end of HF. This "gain"
parameter should allow the perfectionist to equalize everything; it
should be possible for example, to set it up such that an S9 signal
generator injected at the RF port, would read S9 on the S-meter, the
same across all bands.
The separate control of
"Volume" controlled by the Volume knob on the front panel, applies only
to what you hear; it does not affect the audio passed to the USB Sound
card, nor the AGC or S-meter.
Therefore I renamed the row in the Band Configuration table from "Audio gain (dB)" previously, to "RF gain (dB)" now.
6. New CAT RG command now gets/sets RF Gain (used to be called Audio gain, and command AG)
This
RG command now returns the RF Gain from the currently selected Band
Configuration screen. This was previously the function of the AG
command.
7. CAT AG command now gets/sets AF Gain, which is Volume, in steps of 0.25 dB e.g. AG083; is 20.75 dB.
So
now the AG command, instead of Get/Set of the gain specified by band in
the Band Configuration table, returns the VOLUME. It is specified as a
number from 0 to 799 and is expressed in units of 0.25 dB.
8. System wide update to config handling of boolean parameters to prevent accidental enabling
This
is an important improvement to usability. A boolean configuration
parameter (such as DISABLED/ENABLED, NO/YES, OFF/ON) is stored in the
EEPROM as a Byte. Normally the value should be 0 or 1. However in some
cases where the user is performing a firmware upgrade and the EEPROM
mapping had changed, or the parameter is a new one, and it has not been
initialized to zero, then it could be left at some other number.
The
issue here was that some of these "Boolean" type parameters were
interpreted differently by the radio systems, than by the configuration
menu editing system. Imagine for example that the memory location
contains a number such as 5. This is invalid, since boolean parameter
locations should either be 0 or 1. The menu system would recognize the
invalidity and default that to 0 (which would be displayed as DISABLED,
NO, or OFF for example, depending on the specifics of the parameter).
The operator may therefore think that the feature is turned off. However
the rest of the system would interpret the 5 as being non-zero and
therefore "TRUE" and would behave as though the feature is turned ON,
which is absolutely NOT the desired outcome - and could lead to a lot of
confusion.
Note that this same problem can
also apply to many other parameters having only two values, such as
USB/LSB (for Digi mode) etc.
Some of the
configuration parameters contained, on a case by case basis, logic to
default them to FALSE (Off, Disabled etc) if the number was invalid.
What
I have done now is made everything consistent system-wide, so that ALL
the configuration menu parameters having only 2 possible values, are now
always set up so that they are only set to TRUE if the actual stored
value is 1. Any other value, defaults the setting to being FALSE / Off /
Disabled etc. Therefore the behaviour always matches what the operator
sees in the configuration menu, with no nasty inexplicable surprises.
9. New CAT ML and MM commands provide complete CAT accessible configuration menu interface
These
new CAT commands provide complete access, including discovery mode for a
host application to discover and replicate the entire QMX menu
structure, and Get/Set commands for every configuration parameter in the
whole QMX configuration settings menu. Whereas most of the CAT commands
Get/Set parameters live, which are valid only for the current operating
session, the MM command stores the saved parameters to EEPROM.
To
celebrate - and to prevent the operating manual expanding too much with
things which 99% of users won't care about, I have moved the CAT
command specification, including the new MM (Menu Manager) command into
their own document, "CAT Programming manual" see https://qrp-labs.com/images/qmx/manuals/cat_1_02_006.pdf
10. System config submenu "Experimental" for polar modulation SSB experiments (you can't touch this)
Like
I said, you can't touch this. This is for very limited users for
experimental purposes, and it is only enabled via a secret access key.
So just don't even bother.
11. Bug fix: CAT Q2 command Set did not work as described (sets VFO A, same as FA command)
I
found that the Q2 CAT command, which is for legacy purposes for
backward compatibility with QDX, and is actually the same as the FA
command, worked only for Get not Set. So I fixed this while there.
As always, all comments and feedback are welcome.
73 Hans G0UPL
This was well worth the wait!
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