SafecomLink for Pactor V16 is here! Automatic Gear-Shifting, a Safie you write yourself, DCD Sensitivity control, antenna rotator control, GPS off the modem, and much more!
Hello SafecomLinkers and PACTOR users!
V16 is out, and this one goes straight into the parts of the system you touch every day. How the modem behaves on a filthy band. How it picks its speed. Where your antenna points when a station calls. What Safie sounds like when she answers for you.
Almost everything in this list started as a message from one of you. A forum post, a field report, a "why can't it just do this by itself" email at two in the morning. Keep them coming. That is how this software gets better.
Ten new features, nine improvements, and a long list of fixes. Pour a coffee.
📢 First, a new sci-fi look
If you like a sci-fi look and feel, we've got you covered. Under Appearance Settings you'll find a new UI theme with futuristic elements and R2-D2-inspired sounds. HF and off-grid communication should be fun to use, not just operational.
📢 Introducing: Automatic Gear-Shifting
Until now, the PACTOR level you opened a link with was the level you lived with for the rest of the link.
V16 changes gear for you. During an active link you can move the PACTOR level (2, 3, or 4) up or down on demand. The other side is asked for permission, and once acknowledged the link performs a quick disconnect and reconnect on the same frequency. You stay on the same link and the same frequency, just operating at a higher or lower PACTOR level.
Use the PACTOR Level dropdown above the CONNECT button while in an active link, and SafecomLink will guide you through the process.
📢 Introducing: Safie, in your own words
Safie has been answering questions over the air for a while now, and she has been answering them the same way for everybody. That ends here.
Add your own prompt and shape her tone, her expertise, what she knows about your station and your area, how short she keeps an answer when the band is marginal. A weather desk for a sailing net, a technical desk for an EmComm group, an operator who signs off the way you do. Same AI, your personality.
📢 Introducing: DCD Sensitivity, right in your hands
Every operator knows the band that is never quiet. Constant noise, and a carrier detector convinced the channel is permanently occupied.
V16 opens up the CBDetector so you can set the sensitivity yourself and tune it to the noise you actually have, instead of the noise the default assumes. Supported on the DR series, and available as a new setting under the PACTOR tab in the Settings menu.
📢 Introducing: Your rotator, under SafecomLink control
SafecomLink now talks to PstRotator. Turn the antenna by hand from inside the application, or let it point itself the moment you start a connection and swing back to a default standby azimuth when the link is done.
One less window on the desktop, and one less thing to forget before you hit connect.
It can auto-rotate on outbound connections only, or on both inbound and outbound, and you can set a default azimuth where the antenna parks once the link ends. You have full control over whether to use it manually or fully automatically, including for unattended operation.
📢 Introducing: GPS straight off the modem
Plug a GPS dongle into the PACTOR modem and SafecomLink reads your position from it directly. Nothing else to install, nothing else to wire up on the PC side.
Under GPS Settings, set the port to MODEM and SafecomLink will read your GPS dongle data directly through the modem.
📢 Introducing: A virtual panel for the DR-9400
DR-9400 owners get a dedicated control panel inside SafecomLink, on a new button at the bottom left corner. The modem front panel, on your screen, without reaching behind the desk.
It gives you a much more convenient way to view live monitoring data, including connection requests and raw UNPROTO data.
📢 Introducing: Ask a station for its Email Gateway address
A new inquire option retrieves the email gateway address for you, in-link or over broadcast.
Also new in V16
Use Last Link Settings
SafecomLink loads the long-path setting and PACTOR level you used last time with that station, before it even starts the connection attempt.
Always send the welcome message
Callers get your welcome message even when you are away from the radio. Set it under canned messages.
Please note: the welcome message will be sent only after moving away from the calling frequency.
PACTOR modem exit commands
Your own modem settings are restored automatically when SafecomLink closes, so the modem is left exactly the way you want to find it. A new setting is available under the PACTOR Modem section in Settings.
Improvements
Maximum VMail size raised to 1,000 in normal mode and 10,000 in EmComm mode.
New installations now read the frequency every 2 seconds by default.
AI Gateway operators can now choose which Gemini model to use.
The BBS module opens while disconnected and has a new button for your shared BBS files.
A version inquiry (<VER>) now includes the modem firmware version.
You can switch off the popup that warns you a new VMail was queued while disconnected.
Most PACTOR settings can now be changed while you are connected to the modem.
BOX, MAIL and TRX S are now disabled on the modem at startup to prevent conflicts.
For DR-9400 users, RUP Beacons are now sent before the UNPROTO beacon.
Get V16
Upgrading takes about a minute.
Download the installer and run it.
Point it at the folder where your SafecomLink already lives.
That is it. Your settings and your history stay exactly where they are.
And as always, we are around if you need us. Come and say hello on the forum, the Facebook group, Telegram, or the Groups.io community.
Bug fixes
PTC modems: completed links are no longer logged to the database more than once.
New lines in hobby profile elements are no longer transmitted as literal "\n" characters.
Triggering a one-time beacon while another beacon is already running no longer risks a crash.
RIG CAT configuration stays editable under settings even when rig control is set to MODEM.
Beacon attempts no longer continue after you disconnect from the modem.
Beacons now pause properly while a connection attempt to another station is in progress.
The beacon button no longer blinks abnormally when several message-queue threads compete.
Illegal characters in application launcher file names no longer cause a crash.
Resolved an AI integration issue involving newly generated API keys.
Deleting a relay notification no longer causes a crash.
The bottom of the image shrinker screen is no longer cut off on certain display settings.
Settings checkboxes now render correctly under Linux and Wine.
Scheduler: the frequency scanner can be toggled and activated manually when only scanners are configured and there are no scheduler frequencies.
Cluster: senders now get a proper <ER> tag when sending email through the gateway from a node other than the connected one.
A VMail-to-Email between two Email Gateways is no longer relayed back, which had caused both sides to send the same email twice.
The frequency test under settings now correctly tests the SafecomLink calling frequencies.
Disabled interface buttons are easier to read.
The SafecomLink team