Thetis 2.9.0.7 x86 (4/23/22) MW0LGE pre-release (meters testing)

[w-u-2-o]

Some more progress. I have been busy + rather ill recently so not much spare time.

https://youtu.be/rB5HRvNXWEI

Get well soon, Richie!

The code in the video is not committed to git yet, correct?

[ramdor]

Some more progress. I have been busy + rather ill recently so not much spare time.

https://youtu.be/rB5HRvNXWEI

Get well soon, Richie!

The code in the video is not committed to git yet, correct?

no, not yet, perhaps in a few days

[KC1LKO]

Ok. Caught up on this thread.

Great post there Scott on the topic of source code mgmt. Great history/context.

I have been building the wip over the past few days and enjoying the latest progress.

1. The kenwood meter image in the zip is not as clean as the one from the latest youtube short... The cross needle one is clean. The short video shows this cleaner kenwood meter image very nicely.

2. The kenwood meter signal strength is a little less than the other signal meter. Perhaps because I am using a dated kenwood-s-meter.pgn ? (thanks orlando bob for pointing this out) I will create an issue in the repo to indicate this if I don't hear of an updated pgn
DISREGARD. WORKS GOOD on latest today.

3. This work of course opens up the topic of layout management of all the components in existing thetis... not sure what the intent/plan is there... obviously not everything fits in existing layout... works great when meter containers are out of the main thetis window... the current implementation is very nice and my thoughts are... wouldn't it be nice to extend this to the rest of the UI... create a container for say, the band buttons, another for the bw size buttons, etc... and be able to position them in a smart layout mgr... familar with the difficulties of doing this without some other underlying platform which is likely not there in existing thetis... Great work with the new items and glad you are having fun doing this Ritchie.

4. The CFC meter seems missing. Not sure if a known issue. Do you want github issues for things still under development?

Hope you are feeling better now Richie

73

miguel/kc1lko

[ramdor]

@miguel/kc1lko

1) oe3ide (Ernst) has been working on these extensively, including dark mode, but not public yet
2) kenwood meter now is able to display sig_avg/sig
3) in my next life perhaps
4) no, cfc_av, cfc_pk and cfc_gain (previously comp) now available, it was on my list todo

[ramdor]

For those testing pre-release meters by compiling the multimeter branch, you will need the new meter skins that Ernst OE3iDE has made. I have put them all into a simple exe, which when run will place them in the correct place. Thanks again to Ernst who has pulled out all the stops to get these images accurate. There are multi resolution versions which get switched in/out depending on the size of the meter, for all power ranges 1w through to 500w.

https://github.com/ramdor/MeterSkinInstaller

I am hoping to get a pre-release via a github release of 2.9.0.7 sometime this or next week, fingers crossed.

NOTE: I have concerns about the 8000mk2, with voltage, and power. We will have to address these issues when the 8000/2's start arriving.

[Joe]

Thanks very much - Richie and Ernst! Great Work, many hours for sure! Looks Great!

73's
Joe
WD5Y

[DH1KLM]

Amazing Job Richie and Ernst. I am very thrilled. The wait was really worth it.
I compiled the latest Multimeterbranch and also MeterSkinInstaller with all images. I found out that the Meters are ANAN model depended. But how can I switch to the ananMM-200 skin without having a ANAN8000? Is this possible?

[ramdor]

Amazing Job Richie and Ernst. I am very thrilled. The wait was really worth it.
I compiled the latest Multimeterbranch and also MeterSkinInstaller with all images. I found out that the Meters are ANAN model depended. But how can I switch to the ananMM-200 skin without having a ANAN8000? Is this possible?

we have ditched the various skins based on output power, and now the scale is rendered in code. You can specify power limit for the cross/ananmm. Tomorrow the hbar scaling will be reworked in a similar way.

Try out the new commit from this evening, clear out your meters folder, and run v1.1 of the meter skin installer.

[DH1KLM]

Thanks Richie,

just tried it. It works. Now I'm happy again.

[K4IBC]

Watched your video short demonstrating meter display. I would like to suggest to change the numbers about the bar graph numbers on the right side to something other than red. This way they will contrast with the numbers directly below them Yellow or Orange like the left side unless they are above the limit then turning Red is good.

https://youtube.com/shorts/z_BORrwSCdE?feature=share

[oe3ide]

Watched your video short demonstrating meter display. I would like to suggest to change the numbers about the bar graph numbers on the right side to something other than red. This way they will contrast with the numbers directly below them Yellow or Orange like the left side unless they are above the limit then turning Red is good.

https://youtube.com/shorts/z_BORrwSCdE?feature=share

It will be all configurable by user.

meters.jpg (58.24 KiB) Viewed 18469 times

73 de Ernst

[vu2mb]

Hello,

Last night I downloaded the meter skin file .exe from GitHub and installed it. It created a new folder. I could not change the default meter though using ANAN 200D. Everything was working as always. When I switched on the PC and ran Thetis this morning, I realised my TX Meter is not working. Power output is okay.

I have reset the database. No change
I have installed Thetis again after Uninstalling it and deleting the folder.

What I am doing wrong? Please suggest.
Thetis Version is 2.9.0.7 x64 91/21/23)
Thank you.

Bhanu
VU2MB

[ramdor]

@vu2mb The default top right meter in main thetis window has not been touched/changed other than fixing ADCL/R to use adc-pk/adc-av instead of returning the same value for L/R. You probably have the incorrect TX meter selected, or one that you are not expecting.

The new meter config is in Setup->Appearance->MultiMeters2.

[vu2mb]

Dear Richie,

Thanks for your response. Yeah, I know the main meter should not be affected.
Now, none of the meters (Main or Kenwood) shows TX output.
A screenshot is attached. In my version of Thetis Multimeter2 option is not there.
I am transmitting 25W on a random 12M freq in FT8 mode.

What I must have done wrong?
Thank you.

73
Bhanu
VU2MB

Thetis TX meters not working.png (335.74 KiB) Viewed 18424 times

[ramdor]

No clue, but it is an old build you probably got from somewhere dated (1/21/23) in the title bar. Could be any number of reasons. I certainly haven't released any compiled version. Did you build it?

edit: might be an incorrect version of wdsp.dll

[vu2mb]

Nope, I haven't built it.
Downloaded from a link in this forum.
Which one is your latest with the metering Richie?
I am going back to your last version 2.9.0.6

73

[ramdor]

@VU2MB I haven't released it in a compiled/installer form, as it is still being worked on. However, most days/nights there are updates to the github branch, if you want to download/compile/install then you can.

https://github.com/ramdor/Thetis-2.9.0/tree/mutliMeter

and images

https://github.com/ramdor/MeterSkinInstaller (which does have an exe released to install the images)

[vu2mb]

Update

I have uninstalled and deleted folders from the user folder.
Installed V2.9.6 and fresh wisdom files were created.
TX Meter is still not working while other features like leveller, Mic meter etc are working.

I have changed the radio to 100D and TX Meter is working. So there is something wrong with the hardware.
Any help will be appreciated regarding this issue - what might be the issue?

Thank you

73
Bhanu
VU2MB

[ramdor]

I have changed the radio to 100D and TX Meter is working. So there is something wrong with the hardware.
Any help will be appreciated regarding this issue - what might be the issue?

no idea, probably best start a new thread somewhere asking about it, as not related to the meters

[K1LSB]

@VU2MB, I've tried to make this clear before but apparently it needs repeating here:

This is not Richie's thread, and the Thetis version referenced in the subject line is not Richie's work! The "2.9.0.7" designation in the version name is not Richie's (even though that number strongly implies that it is a continuation of Richie's numbering system), and the use of Richie's callsign "MW0LGE" in the version name was used without his permission!

I've expressed my very strong concerns about this early on, as it was glaringly obvious to me that someone was eventually going to be caught up in the erroneous assumption that this is Richie's work. This is not Richie's work.

Mark

[vu2mb]

Sorry, Guys,

My posts except the last one were related to the topic till I found out that it's hardware and not software related and in the last post, I disclosed it.
Now I would request the moderator to move these to the appropriate place or else I will delete them.
Thank you, Richie

73

VU2MB

TX Meter is working now, Dont know how? Why it stopped working in the first place and why it's functional again? Happy it's working now.

[W1JA]

Hello Richie and Ernst,

Since the tuning eye is all about nostalgia, why not make it look like the 1930s, when the "magic eye" was first introduced? Consider adding the deco escutcheon below.

This image is adapted from this page on one of my websites, Radiophile.com. I took the pic myself many years ago, and you have my permission to use it if you wish to do so.

73, John W1JA

P.S. BTW these new customizable meters, both analog and edge meters, are almost unbelievably awesome. I should pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.

[w-u-2-o]

I built the latest that was posted yesterday. At least I think I did, I'm not fully up to speed on pulling down Git updates, etc. I spent a lot of time playing with the new metering to get it just the way I wanted it (so far) and posted the results here:



I'm not at all interested in the old school meters, but the magic eye came in handy to fill in some otherwise blank screen real estate

Everything is very usable as is and represents a major leap in metering just the way it sits right now. But what kind of post would this be without a wish list?

Wish list (in no particular order):

- User adjustable low/high threshold (for instance to set a lower SWR threshold, but might as well make it generic to any meter).
- Add low/mid/high threshold (for instance, mic level green below -5, yellow -5 to 0, red > 0, and user adjustable as per the previous wish)
- Allow horizontal/vertical stretch (override aspect ratio).
- Option to fade entire container to transparent on RX or TX (use case--place TX meter container over the spectral display but it only appears during TX, alternate use case--separate RX and TX containers inhabit the same screen real estate but only one is visible at a time, etc.).
- Not meter related, but dark theme for the Thetis title bar would be super-nice.

Things that might be bugs or might just be work-in-progress:

- Allow clicking the PBSNR meter to get S units or decibels (like the Signal and Signal Average meters).
- Peak hold/history doesn't seem to work (yet) on TX related meters.

Point of confusion:

- Not sure exactly how all the windoid controls work. I did figure out that tacked means "always on top"

[Tony EI7BMB]

Thanks for the video Scott, all looks very cool.

[w9ac]

I built the latest that was posted yesterday. At least I think I did, I'm not fully up to speed on pulling down Git updates, etc.

Hi Scott,

How difficult was the bar graph meter update? While we await a full installer version, do you have any tips to share or care to offer step-by-step instructions for the rest of us? Many thanks.

Paul, W9AC

[w-u-2-o]

I built the latest that was posted yesterday. At least I think I did, I'm not fully up to speed on pulling down Git updates, etc.

Hi Scott,

How difficult was the bar graph meter update? While we await a full installer version, do you have any tips to share or care to offer step-by-step instructions for the rest of us? Many thanks.

Paul, W9AC

Paul,

It's probably not fair to call it an "update". You are building the code from scratch, you are not doing a patch or file substitution of some sort.

There are a few hints and tips in this topic: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4517, but that is by no means a tutorial or step-by-step on how to use Github and Visual Studio.

For anyone who has never done any programming or used anything like Git or Visual Studio, I'd say this process ranks around 7 or 8 on the difficulty scale. Without a cookbook (which, honestly, I'm not inclined to create) there will be a very large learning curve. If you've done any programming and have a rudimentary grasp of these sort of tools but not these exact tools (I'd put myself in this category) I'd say it was around a 4 or 5 on the difficulty scale, mostly because you know enough to know what you want and get impatient learning the tools to get there.

What I found interesting was that the guidance I was getting in the other thread in nearly all cases represented inefficient use of the tools. People were telling me I had to download zip files and do all sorts of crazy stuff, none of which was necessary, because Richie's got his Git repo fairly well organized and Visual Studio has very robust Git integration features.

73,

Scott

[w9ac]

If you've done any programming and have a rudimentary grasp of these sort of tools but not these exact tools (I'd put myself in this category) I'd say it was around a 4 or 5 on the difficulty scale, mostly because you know enough to know what you want and get impatient learning the tools to get there.

I'm in the same category. Not sure I have the motivation at the moment to try so it's probably best to wait.

Paul, W9AC

[ramdor]

Wish list (in no particular order):

- User adjustable low/high threshold (for instance to set a lower SWR threshold, but might as well make it generic to any meter).
- Add low/mid/high threshold (for instance, mic level green below -5, yellow -5 to 0, red > 0, and user adjustable as per the previous wish)
- Allow horizontal/vertical stretch (override aspect ratio).
- Option to fade entire container to transparent on RX or TX (use case--place TX meter container over the spectral display but it only appears during TX, alternate use case--separate RX and TX containers inhabit the same screen real estate but only one is visible at a time, etc.).
- Not meter related, but dark theme for the Thetis title bar would be super-nice.

Things that might be bugs or might just be work-in-progress:

- Allow clicking the PBSNR meter to get S units or decibels (like the Signal and Signal Average meters).
- Peak hold/history doesn't seem to work (yet) on TX related meters.

Point of confusion:

- Not sure exactly how all the windoid controls work. I did figure out that tacked means "always on top"

Hey Scott,

Glad you managed to get it up and running to give it a look/see. Unfortunately most if not all of the wish list probably wont happen any time soon as I just don't really have enough spare time at the moment to rework a bunch of the scaling code which would be needed for configurable cross over points etc. Container transparency has been looked at and is probably a no go using windows forms. We make use of a usercontrol to target the directX renderer into. The usercontol's parent is re-assigned from the main console window to a sub form when docked/undocked. Transparency/alpha is something that is not very well handled by usercontrols in windows forms and is something that needs some more research.

Yes, the pin/tack is on top option. The dock/undock icon is also there. When docked the arrow defines the internal edge of the console window that the docked window tries to maintain distance from when the console is resized.

Regarding pbsnr sunits etc, yes on the list to do. Also, the peak hold stuff in your video on tx is getting disrupted by vox unkeying/keying between words. There is an ignore time when tx<>rx/bandchange happens before peak/history is gathered, and at the moment this is around 2 seconds. The reason being is that WDSP needs to settle and would otherwise show odd history where the whole meter bar may get filled with min/max. This delay/ignore time could probably be made configurable for the end user.

I am working on a couple of extra 'meter' bars at the moment, such as vfo display, clock, spacer, s-meter text only etc, and I really do hope to have this done by the end of weekend or early next week. A pre-release compiled version is on the cards for next weekend (17th March).

vfodisp.png (18.04 KiB) Viewed 17623 times

73 for now, need to get back to the code

[W3MMR]

Too friggin cool.

[w-u-2-o]

Also, the peak hold stuff in your video on tx is getting disrupted by vox unkeying/keying between words. There is an ignore time when tx<>rx/bandchange happens before peak/history is gathered, and at the moment this is around 2 seconds. The reason being is that WDSP needs to settle and would otherwise show odd history where the whole meter bar may get filled with min/max. This delay/ignore time could probably be made configurable for the end user.

...

73 for now, need to get back to the code

Hi Richie,

Thanks for the very comprehensive reply.

Roger, copy all on the UI complexities.

Please do make the delay/ignore time user configurable and allow it to go down to zero. Not sure what is going on with WDSP, perhaps if the averages/peaks can be reset in each new VOX/MOX cycle.

Cheers!

Scott