SafecomLink for Pactor V17 is here: New map interface, Mobile app, AI-ALE and much more
Hello SafecomLinkers and PACTOR users!
V17 is out, and it changes how SafecomLink feels to use. The map is now the screen you run your station from. Your station fits in your pocket, on an Android phone. Other programs can talk to it through a new API. And AI-ALE now works on PACTOR, picking the frequency for you before it calls.
Twelve new features, fifteen improvements and nineteen fixes.
First, the map is now your station
Open V17 and the map is the first thing you see. A side panel holds the frequency, live activity and chat, and broadcasts run along the bottom. Beacon, scheduler, scanner and ALE switch on and off right from the map, and a status strip at the bottom shows VMail, alerts, relay, the modem and mute.
Chat now works like the messenger on your phone: bubbles, send and receive progress, times and date markers, pictures inside the conversation, hearts and replies.
Click a station and the map flies to it. Double-click and you are calling it. Once the link is up, the map zooms out just enough to fit you and the other station on one screen.
Every tile can be moved, resized, collapsed or swapped, and SafecomLink remembers your layout. The activity list has its own columns too (tags, type, band, SNR, services) and shows time as UTC, local or "time ago".
Want to use the good old console? It is still there. Open the Settings panel on the left and turn on Show console. Keep in mind that from the next release on, all new features will be added to the new map UI only, so we strongly recommend taking the time to get familiar with it. There is a short learning curve, but it is worth it, and once you are over it you will find the new UI simpler and more intuitive to use.
📢 Introducing: SafecomLink Go, your station in your pocket
SafecomLink Go is a new Android app that runs your station from your phone over your local network. Four tabs: Activity, Chat, Broadcasts and Station.
Think of a field deployment. The radio and the laptop stay in the tent, dry and out of the way, while you are outside fixing the antenna, briefing the team or refuelling the generator. Your phone keeps you on the air. See who is calling, connect, chat, like and reply, send broadcasts, change frequency, switch the beacon or scheduler on and off, and answer frequency change requests, all without walking back in.
Link quality is displayed as familiar signal bars, along with connection speed and real-time reports of how well each side hears the other.
Your phone tells you about incoming calls, messages, link changes and broadcasts meant for you. There is a "Mute all" option, and it respects Do Not Disturb.
Pairing takes one QR code scan. The app talks only to your own station. No WWW internet needed.
SafecomLink Go is not on Google Play or the other app stores, so you install it by hand. Grab it from the download link at the bottom of this post, next to the installer, and when your phone asks, allow it to install an app from outside the store.
📢 Introducing: The SafecomLink API
Other programs you write can now control your station. Fifteen calls cover status, connect and disconnect, chat (send, read, like, reply), the activity feed, broadcasts, beacon, scheduler, scanner and ALE, the frequency list and frequency changes, and link speed and signal.
It is locked down. Every call needs an access token, the connection is protected by an SSL certificate, and more safeguards sit behind those. SafecomLink Go is built on this API, which is why a phone pairs with a simple QR scan.
📢 Introducing: AI-ALE on PACTOR
ALE stands for Automatic Link Establishment. Switch on ALE mode and SafecomLink scans and beacons across several frequencies, building a live propagation map from everything it hears. When you call a station, it picks the best channel for you.
AI-ALE does the picking. For each frequency it looks at the beacons heard from that station: the average SNR, how many there were and how recently they came in, giving weight to the last hour and to the same hour over the past three days. The ALE window shows the candidates ranked best first, with the reason for each, and tells you which attempt and which call it is on.
📢 Introducing: VMail attachments
Attach files to a VMail. SafecomLink packs them into one compressed file and sends it with the message. An attachment travels like any other VMail: straight to the other station, or parked with a mediator station when the recipient is not around.
It works through the Email Gateway too, in both directions. Send a VMail with attachments to someone's email address, and files that arrive by email reach you as part of a VMail. Your existing limit for automatic incoming files still applies, so a larger attachment waits for your OK before it downloads.
📢 Introducing: Live cluster view
A new window shows your whole cluster at a glance. Every node and its state (listening, connected, on air or offline), its roles such as email gateway or GPS, and its PTT lock state.
You also see the traffic moving inside the cluster and each node's activity over the last 24 hours.
📢 Introducing: One GPS for the whole cluster
Plug one GPS dongle into one PC or modem, and every node in your cluster gets your position from it. No second dongle, no extra cable on the other machines.
Open Settings → Cluster on each node and set GPS sharing mode: PUBLISHER on the node that has the GPS, CONSUMER on the others.
📢 Introducing: A waterfall on the DR-9400 virtual panel
The DR-9400 virtual panel gets a live waterfall, so you can see the signal under the modem's display. It needs a firmware update from SCS, which will be released soon.
The panel also shows the modem's LEDs now. Hover over one to see what it means.
📢 Introducing: A sharper map
The map can now be drawn as vectors. Zoom in as far as you like and coastlines and borders stay crisp.
Make sure to pick one of the vector-based maps under Map in the Settings panel on the left.
📢 Introducing: Fixed-width font for VMail
Tables and ASCII art finally line up. Sailors reading Saildocs weather and other text services will feel the difference first.
Turn it on under Settings → Appearance and sounds.
Also new in V17
Cluster mode on the map
Filter the map by cluster node and see what each instance is hearing.
Active links on the map
Links that are live right now stand out, so you can tell at a glance who is talking to whom.
Improvements
SafecomLink warns you if you try to connect while you are already in a link or already calling someone.
Messages carrying SNR or GPS data no longer go back into the queue after you disconnect. This matters most in verbose SNR/GPS mode.
The modem is checked twice as often, so the app reacts faster.
The wait before a PACTOR level change went from 30 to 60 seconds, so there are fewer needless level changes.
When you reply to a VMail, the cursor jumps to the end of the message so you can start typing right away.
VMail attachments get their own default folder, separate from other files and the BBS.
Attachments you open now come up on top of all other windows.
The DR-9400 virtual panel shows its LEDs. Hover over one to see what it means. Some LEDs are estimated, because the modem does not report them live.
The DR-9400 virtual panel can be resized and remembers its size.
You can switch the antenna rotator on and off from the main console.
Mute has moved to a speaker icon in the lower strip, on the right.
The map adds 3, 6 and 12 hour time filters.
When an Elecraft radio returns a bad frequency reading, the log now tells you what to do about it.
Your own callsign is no longer sent when you answer a "Last heard peeking" request.
Dutch has been added to AI Translate.
Get V17
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.
VMail attachments need V17 on both stations. Older versions will not receive them. SafecomLink Go is installed by hand, not from an app store, so allow your phone to install an external app when it asks.
Bug fixes
Powering off the modem while SafecomLink is running no longer freezes the screen.
Frequency change sniffing no longer locks up the app.
The idle-time disconnect now waits while a slow, long message is still coming in, instead of cutting it off.
Heavy GPS data over a slow (Bluetooth) connection no longer blocks commands to the radio.
Radio control works properly again with Elecraft and some other radios.
One UNPROTO packet that fails to decode no longer stops the next RUP beacon from being decoded.
Pathfinder answers Pathfinder requests again. Note: PACTOR still reports no SNR, which limits what Pathfinder can do there.
Opening the VMail box while the database is busy no longer throws an error.
Linux/WINE: opening an attachment with no default program set no longer throws an error.
A locator received in lower case is now processed.
The last tune level (FSKA/PSKA) now loads every time.
The "My information" form no longer accepts an empty callsign.
The data stream stays where you left it when a station connects, instead of jumping to the top.
PSK Reporter lookups open the right page.
Statistics show the correct product name.
The update indicator no longer overlaps other items.
Mailbox buttons line up properly.
The attachment folder icon is anchored to the bottom right.
That folder icon now appears only when the VMail actually has an attachment.
The SafecomLink team