Running v2.6.0-rc5 on a 64-bit Win 10 (21H2) PC, 3.0GHz i7-9700 CPU and 16G RAM.

Issue with the frequency/mode table when using certain configurations under v2.6.0-rc5.

I have multiple WSJT-X configurations defined for different operating scenarios; my configurations include one for FT8 Hound operation, one for 'normal' FT8 operation, one for FT4 operation, one for 6m MSK144 operation, one for 160m FST4 operation, etc etc etc. Each configuration has its own specific, limited set of frequencies defined, with only the mode relevant to that configuration assigned to each frequency in the set - for example the frequency table accessed via Settings > Frequencies for my 'Normal FT8' configuration includes (apart from a few FreqCal entries) only the standard HF and 6m FT8 frequencies with FT8 defined as the mode for each one.

When I run either the most recent GA release, v2.5.4, or the previous candidate release version, v.2.6.0-rc4, I can switch to a particular configuration and only the frequencies and mode previously defined for that configuration are shown in the frequency/mode table.

Now, with v2.6.0-rc5 I'm finding that in some configurations the expected set of frequencies isn't available and the frequency/mode table includes frequencies and modes that are not defined for that specific configuration - it's almost as though a default set of frequencies & modes is being picked up and used when some configurations are active. To give an example:

When I run v2.5.4 or v2.6.0-rc4 and I select my 'Normal FT8' configuration the frequency set includes 1840kHz and 3573kHz (plus all the other standard FT8 frequencies); these all have FT8 defined as the sole mode in the frequency set. Now, when I run v2.6.0-rc5 and activate that same 'Normal FT8' configuration the frequency set includes multiple additional frequencies, and modes other than FT8 - for example the frequency/mode list shown when using my 'Normal FT8' configuration under -rc5 includes WSPR and FST4W for 1836kHz, JT65 for 1838kHz, JT9 and FST4 on 1839kHz, etc etc etc. None of these are shown in the table when using the 'Normal FT8' configuration under v2.5.4 or v2.6.0-rc4. Furthermore...

When I select my 'FT8 Hound' configuration under v2.6.0-rc5 none of the frequencies, for example 28090kHz, that are available in that configuration when running v2.5.4 or v2.6.0-rc4 are shown in the frequency table, which again contains multiple other frequencies and modes (WSPR, JT 65, etc etc etc).

The issue of the specific frequency/mode set defined for a configuration not always being available when running v2.6.0-rc5 makes using that version a bit of a challenge so I've reverted to -rc4 for the time being.

Has anyone else who uses multiple configurations and has installed v2.6.0-rc5 observed any similar issues with the frequency/mode tables when activating different configurations?

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Martin G0HDB

Hi Martin, I worked on the frequencies table for RC5. I'm glad you were taking advantage of the tables, I'll be interested to see other comments that get added to this thread. With the new functionality of labeling, default tagging, and start/stop times for frequency validity, we had to move to an expanded format for the frequencies. While I spent a great amount of time implementing and testing the automatic move of existing frequency tables to the new format upon startup of rc5, the nuances of your particular use case with multiple configurations may have been overlooked.

What you might try is, for each of your configurations, export the frequencies to a file (labeling them in a way that you'll know which are which). Then start rc5, switch to the frequencies configuration tab, and remove all frequencies, then re-import from the previous version. You'll need to do that for each configuration. I believe that *should* bring your favorite frequencies into rc5. You should only need to do this once.

As you probably know, with all recent versions of WSJT-X, you are able to selectively (using shift-click or control-shift-click) export frequency rows , then import those again. That's also a potential way that a contest sponsor or DXpedition can make it easier to "add" non-standard frequencies for their events, then export the particular rows, and place that exported file of frequencies on their website for download. In rc5, a somewhat-human-readable JSON format is supported with a file extension of .QRG.JSON, in addition to the binary format with a .QRG extension.

-Brian N9ADG

On Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 03:09 AM, Brian Moran wrote:

Hi Martin, I worked on the frequencies table for RC5. I'm glad you were taking
advantage of the tables, I'll be interested to see other comments that get
added to this thread. With the new functionality of labeling, default
tagging, and start/stop times for frequency validity, we had to move to an
expanded format for the frequencies. While I spent a great amount of time
implementing and testing the automatic move of existing frequency tables to
the new format upon startup of rc5, the nuances of your particular use case
with multiple configurations may have been overlooked.

[Snipped]

Hi Brian, very many thanks for the exceedingly intertesting and helpful email.

Re: your suggestion of exporting the frequencies to a file while running an earlier version of WSJT-X and then re-importing them from the file while running 2.6.0-rc5, I'll give that a try with one of the configurations that -rc5 doesn't seem to like and will report back on the findings.

I guess that in extremis I could simply reset the frequency table in each of my configurations while running -rc5 and then go through each one and re-enter all the frequencies and modes for that particular configuration, but that sounds like a rather tedious and time-consuming process...!

73
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Martin G0HDB

I hope it doesn't come to manual entry of the frequencies and modes; I hope that exporting from the table and re-importing will work for you.

How many frequencies and modes do you estimate you've added?

On Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 03:09 AM, Brian Moran wrote:

[...]

What you might try is, for each of your configurations, export the frequencies
to a file (labeling them in a way that you'll know which are which). Then
start rc5, switch to the frequencies configuration tab, and remove all
frequencies, then re-import from the previous version. You'll need to do that
for each configuration. I believe that *should* bring your favorite
frequencies into rc5. You should only need to do this once.

Hi again Brian, I'm pleased to report that following your suggestion above seems to have overcome the issue with the frequency tables in some of my configurations not being correctly picked up when running 2.6.0-rc5.

While running -rc4 I exported the tables for all my multiple configurations to individual files; I then ran -rc5 and, for each configuration, completely cleared the frequency table and then imported the table from the file previously created under -rc4. Although I haven't yet done this for every one of my 17(!) different configurations, the process has worked for all the configurations I've tried so far; these include all my most-regularly used configurations, eg. normal FT8, FT8 Hound, normal FT4 etc etc. However...

The process has revealed another issue when using the FT8 Hound configuration...

Whenever WSJT-X is started using the FT8 Hound configuration the GUI comes up with the main window's frequency box in red and with no entries in the drop-down list. However, the frequency table for the FT8 Hound configuration that's shown via Settings > Frequencies is correct - it contains a set of frequencies, eg. 14090, 14095, etc etc, that are all tagged as FT8 mode. There are no entries in the table (apart from a few FreqCal ones) for frequencies that are tagged with modes other than FT8.

The only way I can get the FT8 Hound configuration to behave as expected, ie. to offer a set of frequencies in the drop-down list and for the main window's frequency box to appear as normal, is by clicking on the FT8 mode button on the GUI's main window (or selecting FT8 via the Modes menu), and then clicking on the 'H' button to re-enable Hound mode. Once this has been done the behaviour is exactly as expected - it's possible to select any of the frequencies in the drop-down list and operation as an FT8 Hound works perfectly.

While running -rc5 I've tried re-exporting the FT8 Hound configuration's frequency table and then, after clearing the table, re-importing the table from the file thus created but this has no effect - the errant behaviour when starting in FT8 Hound configuration is exactly the same as described above.

It seems to me that the initialisation sequence when starting WSJT-X in FT8 Hound mode isn't explicitly defining the mode as FT8, with the consequence that the frequency table that contains FT8 as the only mode isn't being picked up and made available via the GUI - the table only becomes active and available in the drop-down list when FT8 is selected either via the Modes menu or the FT8 button.

I hope this report will be of use to the developers.

73
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Martin G0HDB