Today I’m releasing Preview No. 4. It includes numerous code improvements and bug fixes, some of which are visible in the UI, but most are not. For example it’s now not possible to delete a Connection when it’s in anything but an ‘interface closed’ state! Work on SET mode support for the Expert 1k-fa has also advanced. The SET mode menu is now displayed and items such as Contest mode, Beep, Temperature scale and Start in Operate/Standby may be configured. There is no support for Antenna, CAT, Manual tune and Backlight yet but I’ll be starting to advance these soon.

In the coming weeks I’ll be creating several video’s that tour the features and operation of SPE Expert Controller Plus. Once complete I’ll upload them to my YouTube channel and link them from this website.

UI Changes

At the top of windows such as the LCD window, Buttons window, LED window and LCD+Buttons window a drop-down list permits selection of the Connection for which information is displayed in the window. That drop-down list now works, selecting the first active Connection if only one Connection exists or ‘None’ if there are multiple active Connections. It also now automatically returns to ‘None’ if the Connection is stopped.

A ‘Support’ page has been added to the Application settings window. This details the location of the log file and underlying database which will be useful in future support scenarios.

There are other minor changes such as adding the small coloured icon that represents the state of a Connection in more places.

Expert 1k-fa

All features are being implemented as per my reading of the SPE Communication Protocol Specification V2 as I don’t have access to a physical Expert 1k-fa. Implementation is being tested against my Linux Expert 1k-fa Simulator and that gives me confidence that code should work with a ‘real’ physical Expert 1k-fa. If anyone would like to try this Preview with their Expert 1k-fa please drop me a message.

Preview No. 4, includes support for the various warning messages that an Expert 1k-fa can display. The image below presents just one of those.

As mentioned above, in SET mode configuration there is no support for options Antenna, Cat, Manual tune or Backlight. Selecting these is not recommended and will likely result in a need to close and restart the application. Other options in SET Mode appear to work well and can be navigated using the -/+ buttons as expected.

If you try this Preview with an Expert 1k-fa, ensure you select the Expert 1k-fa when creating a Connection. See the circled area in the image below.