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Releases: SOTAmat/SOTAcat

v260215.1853

26 Feb 03:19
@jeffkowalski jeffkowalski
v260215.1853
103be5e

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Highlights

This is the first GitHub-hosted release of SOTAcat firmware, covering all development since the project's inception. The firmware has evolved from a basic KX2/KX3 CAT controller into a full-featured SOTA/POTA activation and chasing companion.

Major Features

Multi-Radio Support

  • KH1 support — full driver abstraction for the Elecraft KH1, including CW keyer and volume control
  • Radio driver refactoring — clean driver interface supporting KX2, KX3, and KH1 with per-radio capabilities
  • ATU tune button with KX2/KX3 auto-detection

Completely Redesigned Web UI

  • Tab-based interface — SOTA spots, POTA spots, Chase, Spot (RUN), QRX, Settings, and About pages
  • Mobile-first touch design with high-contrast layout optimized for field use
  • Click-to-edit VFO frequency display with band-colored frequency column
  • Chase page — unified SOTA/POTA chasing with mode/band filters, SSB+CW combo filter, compact mode, smart auto-refresh, sorted columns, frozen headers, and own-spots pinned to top
  • RUN (Spot) page — CW macro buttons, SMS spotting, PoLo deep links, TX toggle, callsign/macro loading
  • QRX page — radio setup utilities, activation reference section, nearest-SOTA button, reference auto-formatting, Setup PoLo Operation button
  • WebSDR/KiwiSDR integration — tune both your radio and a WebSDR simultaneously
  • Connection loss detection with overlay UI
  • VFO license privilege indicators (T/G/E) with Novice and Advanced class support

Note: PoLo deep-link features (Setup PoLo Operation, PoLo buttons on Chase/Spot pages) require a forthcoming update to Ham2K PoLo that is not yet released.

Networking & WiFi

  • Three WiFi SSIDs — connect to up to three access points (e.g., home, Android hotspot, iPhone hotspot)
  • Parallel AP + STA mode — SOTAcat runs its own access point while simultaneously connecting to a hotspot
  • mDNS in both AP and STA modes for reliable sotacat.local discovery
  • Per-STA IP pinning — stable .200 IP address on hotspot connections
  • WiFi RSSI indicator in the UI replacing battery voltage display
  • Disabled WiFi aggregation to resolve ADDBA errors with Android hotspots
  • Gzip compression for web assets, reducing transfer sizes

OTA & Firmware Updates

  • Over-the-air firmware updates — upload new firmware via the web UI without USB
  • Automatic version checking against GitHub Releases
  • ESP Web Tools support — one-click browser-based flashing via merged binary

FT8

  • FT8 power readback verification on KX radios
  • Improved FT8 timing and watchdog handling (increased timeout 5s → 20s)
  • Quicker abort of in-progress FT8 sessions

CW Keyer

  • CW macro buttons with configurable messages
  • KH1 CW keyer support with full ASCII-to-Morse conversion
  • Visual feedback for valid/invalid keyer text length

GPS & Location

  • Browser geolocation via HTTPS bridge for GitHub Pages
  • GPS persistence in localStorage and NVRAM
  • Locality display via OpenStreetMap geocoding
  • Location override — manually set your apparent location

Spot Management

  • SMS spotting from the Spot page
  • QRT spot handling — flag QRT in SOTA, filter QRT from chase by default
  • Spot caching in localStorage for offline access
  • Mode filtering — SSB, CW, FM, AM, data modes with combo filters
  • Band filter toggle on chase page
  • Selectable refresh rates with smart auto-refresh
  • Distance column in SOTA/POTA lists
  • ZLOTA reference links in chase table

Settings & Configuration

  • Persistent settings via NVS (non-volatile storage)
  • Radio clock sync button
  • WiFi help popup with setup guidance
  • Password visibility toggle (eye icon)
  • Callsign setting via web UI
  • Save & Reboot button for WiFi changes

Hardware Support

  • K5EM custom PCB support (hardware rev 0.3)
  • MAX17260 battery monitor with smart battery info (voltage, current, state of charge)
  • Battery charging indicator in UI
  • Inactivity auto-shutdown with configurable threshold

Developer Experience

  • Makefile for common build/upload/test/release tasks
  • Integration test suite with Python
  • Playwright UI test suite with mock API server for offline development
  • make github-release target for automated release creation
  • Firmware version checks via GitHub Releases API

New Contributors

Full Changelog: https://github.com/SOTAmat/SOTAcat/commits/v260215.1853

Contributors

frye, poynting, and flymustangs
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