hamclock-next Files

The v1.4 release is one of the most significant updates in the HamClock-Next roadmap. It marks a foundational shift for core propagation modeling, replacing the simplified PropEngine approximation with a high-fidelity, native CCIR/VOACAP math engine. This is accompanied by a major UX overhaul for the map, featuring interactive zoom and pan, and the introduction of a centralized global timezone system.

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Highlights

Native CCIR/VOACAP Propagation

The propagation modeling has been completely rewritten to use a high-fidelity engine ported directly from VOACAP Fortran.

• VoacapEngine: A 100% C++ port of the CCIR ionospheric math (VIRTIM, VERSY, F2VAR, and PRBMUF). Replacing the previous simplified approximation.
• Antenna Gain (dBi): Users can now configure the target antenna gain (default 3 dBi) in the "VOACAP Options" submenu (both native and web). This tunes the path reliability model to the operator's specific equipment.
• Unified Engine: The Map Overlay (MUF/Reliability/TOA) and the DE/DX Point-to-Point widget now use the same high-fidelity engine.

🔍 Interactive Map Zoom & Pan

The dashboard map is no longer static.

• Mouse-Wheel Zoom: Zoom in/out (1x to 10x) centered on your cursor.
• Click-Drag Panning: Explore the world map when zoomed.
• Right-Click Reset: Double-click the right mouse button to instantly reset the view.
• Pane-Aware Clipping: Corrected masking ensures overlays (satellite tracks, borders, grids) never bleed behind semi-transparent widgets.

Global Timezone System

Standardizing time across the dashboard for operators using local offsets.

• Central Picker: Choose from common presets (EST/CET/JST) or set a custom offset in the Setup Screen.
• Deep Integration: TimePanel, Calendar, Big Clock, Greyline, and VOACAP charts now all respect the global default timezone instead of just UTC.

Administrative & Stability Fixes

• Deadlock Fix: Resolved a critical "Hard Lockup" during DX timezone lookups.
• Centralized Restrictions: Pane 4 (the small top-right pane) now enforces widget restrictions to prevent layout breakage.
• Live-Web: Restored mouse-click interactions for the web-based remote control interface.
• Application Uptime: Switched from system-wide uptime to process-specific uptime (hamclock-next) for more accurate session tracking.
• GPU Stability/Memory: Resolved critical per-frame GPU texture leaks and implemented resource capping in the FontManager to ensure long-term stability on low-memory hardware (RPi 3B / 1GB devices).

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New Features & Enhancements

Interactive Map & GUI

• Right-Click Panning Threshold: Implemented a 5-pixel threshold to distinguish between panning and selecting a DX location.
• Smooth Great-Circles: All paths (DX Spots, ONTA, Satellite tracks) now use 250 high-fidelity segments for perfectly smooth curves at high zoom levels.
• Path Color-Coding: Great-circle paths now adopt the band color of the selected spot (e.g., Purple for 20m).

Widgets & Layout

• Marine Auto-Setup: New Marine widgets automatically find and save the nearest NOAA tide station and NDBC buoy on the first use.
• DX Local Time: The DX Info panel now displays the target's local time (HH:MM UTC±N) via an asynchronous lookup.
• ONTAPanel Legend: Added a persistent band color legend to the "On The Air" widget in double-height mode for parity with the DX Cluster widget.
• LiveSpotPanel Optimization: Switched the "Live Spots" widget to a 1-column layout when in double-height mode to maximize side-panel space.
• Scroll Support Expanded: Mouse-wheel scrolling is now enabled for ONTA, Watchlist, Asteroids, DX Peditions, and DX Cluster panels.
• CallsignClock: Formally registered and available for selection in rotating panes.
• Prop Firehose: Restored as a first-class preset and fixed a font-rendering bug that made it invisible.
• VOACAP Timeline UX: The DE-DX propagation chart now uses a fixed UTC midnight-to-midnight axis with a "now" cursor, ensuring contiguous visibility of daily path openings.
• World Clock Widget: New widget displaying up to 4 labelled timezone clocks. UTC offsets are adjustable in 30-minute steps (1-hour steps with Shift). Configuration accessed via an in-widget gear icon; changes are staged and only saved on Done.

Internal Math & Reliability

• CCIR Scripting: Auto-generation scripts added to the repository for refreshing CCIR coefficients from raw source files.
• Antimeridian Wrapping: Fixed satellite track "streaks" when the map is centered on non-zero longitudes.
• UAF Fix: Resolved a Use-After-Free during application shutdown by ensuring the WebServer is joined before the Dashboard context is destroyed.
• Sensor Shutdown: LTR329Provider and DXClusterProvider replaced bare sleep_for loops with interruptible cv.wait_for waits, so application shutdown is no longer delayed by the full sensor poll interval.

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Full Changelog

Added

• DX Cluster Band Filter: Legend-based filtering for specific bands.
• ONTAPanel Band Legend: Colors identified at the bottom of the activity list.
• Marine Auto-Setup: One-click configuration for nautical monitoring.
• Map Zoom with Masking: High-fidelity overlays respect widget boundaries.
• Global Timezone Picker: Centralized offset management in Identity tab.
• VoacapEngine: Comprehensive high-fidelity CCIR HF propagation model ported from Fortran.
• DX Local Time: Async timezone lookup and display in DXInfo.
• Antenna Gain Config: D-Bi spinner added to both native and web UI for propagation tuning.
• CCIR Coeff Generator: Python script for rebuilding ionospheric data arrays.

Changed

• Map Reset: Moved to right-double-click to avoid accidental panning resets.
• Great-Circle Resolution: Increased to 250 segments per line.
• Apply Button: Map View menu now uses theme-consistent "Success" (Green) color.
• Moon Masking: Tighter silhouette with improved navy-blue background blending.
• Application Uptime: Now tracks hamclock-next runtime instead of OS uptime.
• LiveSpotPanel Layout: 1-column vertical list for double-height side panels.
• Default Colormap: "Vibrant" is now the default setting for propagation overlays; "Muted" variant truly desaturated.

Fixed

• DX Timezone Deadlock: Eliminated recursive mutex lockup during async lookup.
• Map View Label: Resolved blank text issue when using custom fonts.
• Live-Web Interaction: Fixed web-to-native event sequencing for mouse clicks.
• Sat Track Wrapping: Fixed Date Line artifacts when map is centered on DE.
• N-Hop MUF Geometry: Corrected F2 MUF math for long-path (>20,000 km) path segments.
• Reliability Legend: Corrected 0% swatch to map-consistent black/transparent.
• Scroll Caps: Removed 7/10-row limits from activity panels.
• ListPanel Geometry: Standardized footer legend support to prevent row overlap.
• GPU Texture Leaks: Fixed critical per-frame leaks in tooltips and WorldClockPanel.
• BO Exhaustion: Capped FontManager volatile cache with LRU pruning to prevent GPU memory depletion.
• MemoryMonitor Accounting: Proactive sweep corrected bare SDL_DestroyTexture calls in ClockAuxPanel (5 sites) and AsteroidPanel; eliminated per-frame GPU allocation in ONTAPanel chip-label measurement.