SvxLink release 24.02 -- 25 Feb 2024

It's been a long time since the latest major release. A lot have happened during this time. The most important changes are described below. Be sure to look at the SvxLink log on first startup. Especially look for WARNINGs that say that configuration variables have changed. Make changes as instructed and restart SvxLink. It's also a good idea to redo audio calibrations using the devcal and siglevdetcal utilities. When using the SvxReflector it is very important that all nodes use the same levels for audio calibration. Otherwise some nodes will sound weak while other nodes will sound over modulated.

This release introduce talkgroups in the SvxReflector. That make it possible to use the reflector server for multiple parallel QSOs. Node sysops can set up monitoring on selected talkgroups which will make the node automatically select a talkgroup when there is activity on it. There also is a simple mechanism to set priority between monitored talkgroups.

The reflector sysop may configure selected talkgroups in a few ways. There is an auto-QSY feature that can be configured to move nodes, that are actively taking part in a QSO on a talkgroup, to a temporary talkgroup. That will free up the original talkgroup for new calls. A node is classed as active if there have been local activity (e.g. squelch opens) on the node. If a QSY happens and a node has not been active, there will be a chance to follow the QSY by just
pushing the PTT.

SvxLink now also support using multiple CTCSS tones. That is primarily of use to select a reflector talkgroup based on which CTCSS frequency that is used. A transceiver may be programmed with the same RF on multiple memory channels but with different CTCSS frequencies. That will make it easy to choose which talkgroup to use upon first transmission to a SvxLink node.

A SvxLink node can now be configured to use multiple SvxReflector adresses. That allow for simple redundancy where all nodes will switch to a backup node if the primary SvxReflector stops responding.

A new squelch type, COMBINE, enable the use of multiple squelch detectors at the same time. The different squelch types is combined using a logical expression.

The new configuration variable COMMAND_PTY can be used to set up a PTY that can be used to set configuration variables and call TCL functions at runtime. That can be used to externally control behaviour in a running SvxLink instance.

The CTCSS detector has a new mode (4) which now is the default. The new mode is faster and much better at suppressing interference.

SvxLink can now use LADSPA plugins to shape receiver audio. The LADSPA_PLUGINS variable is used to load and configure plugins.

As usual a number of bugs have been fixed. The full list of changes and more details can be found in the full release notes. Information on configuration of new features can be found in the manual pages.

SvxLink hotfix release 19.09.2 -- 10 Mar 2021

If you are running an SvxReflector server you should upgrade immediately.

SvxLink release 19.09.1 -- 01 Sep 2019

This release of SvxLink have no single big feature addition but a lot of
smaller ones. Some examples are: AFSK metadata transmission for RF linked
remote receivers, per receiver voter delay adjustment, new module ModuleTrx to
remote control transceivers using DTMF, more flexible announcement
configuration and more.

As usual a number of bugs have been fixed. The full list of changes and more
details can be found in the README for release 19.09. Information on configuration of new features can be
found in the manual pages.

SvxLink release 19.09 -- REVERTED

Use release release 19.09.1 instead.

SvxLink release 17.12.2 -- 01 Mar 2018

Bugfix release fixing the following bugs:

• ModuleEchoLink bugfix: Echolink remote roger beep was sent even though
  listen only mode was active on the local node.

• Bugfix in the --logfile command line argument handling for svxlink,
  remotetrx and svxreflector. Under some circumstances SvxLink would crash
  with strange errors if used with a logfile.

SvxLink release 17.12.1 -- 06 Jan 2018

Bugfix: Qtel translations were not installed.

SvxLink release 17.12 -- 30 Dec 2017

The biggest news in this release is the initial revision of the SvxReflector
application. The SvxReflector application is meant to be used as a center point
to link SvxLink nodes together. The new SvxLink ReflectorLogic logic core is
used to connect a SvxLink node to the reflector server. One or more logics can
then be connected to the refelctor using normal logic linking.

In addition a lot of smaller feature additions have been made and also a number
of bugs have been fixed. The full list of changes and more details can be found
in the README for release 17.12. Information on configuration of new features can be found in the manual
pages.

SvxLink release 15.11 -- 22 Nov 2015

The biggest news in this release is the support for RTL2832U based DVB-T USB
dongles. This make it possible to use such USB dongles as cheap SDR (Software
Defined Radio) receivers. This will open up the world of cheap receiver
hardware to all SvxLink users. It will for example be very cheap to set up an
extra receiver with local coverage for a SvxLink based repeater, as long as
there is a network connection to the repeater. The modulation forms supported
are: FM, FM narrow, AM, AM narrow, USB, LSB, CW, CW wide and wideband FM
(broadcast). Running multiple receivers on the same dongle is supported as well
as using multiple dongles.

There now is a utility called "devcal" added to the toolbox. It's purpose is
to give the SvxLink sysop a way to measure and calibrate the input and output
sound levels on FM. Read the devcal(1) man page for more information.

The DTMF decoder has been completely rewritten for better performance. The new
decoder is quicker and will be able to detect DTMF codes with duration of 40
milliseconds and up. The immunity to speech is much better so false detections
will be rare. The decoder is also slightly more sensitive and also adapts after
the signal conditions. On weak signals a longer tone duration is required and
the hangtime will also be increased.

Another thing that may be good to know is that the default install path for
libraries may have changed since it is now autodetected during the build. For
example, on a x86_64 architecture the libraries and plugins will now end up
under /usr/lib64 instead of /usr/lib. This may affect the loading of plugins
and SvxLink may find the old plugins under /usr/lib which will cause an error.
To get around this, remove the old plugins and comment out the MODULE_PATH
configuration variable in the GLOBAL section of the configuration file.

As usual a lot of bugs have also been fixed. The full list of changes and more
details can be found in the README for release 15.11.
Information on configuration of new features can be found in the manual pages.

Bugfix release 14.08.2

• SvxLink now compile in C++11 mode with GCC and other compilers that
  understand the -std=c++11 compiler switch. The compiler switch will
  automatically be turned on if a version of libsigc++ greater than 2.5.0
  is detected since those versions require C++11 to be enabled.
• Bugfix: The logic linking would cause a crash under some circumstances. For
  example SvxLink would crash on startup if link TIMEOUT was set and the startup
  Tcl function was modified to play an audio clip.

SvxLink release 14.08.1 -- 01 may 2015

This is a bugfix release which fixes the following bugs in the 14.08 release.

• Bugfix: Fixes issue #87 "Suddenly stops speaking to the EchoLink directory
  server".
• ModuleEchoLink: If an incoming connect have a different IP address than
  the one registered in the Echolink directory server, the station list is now
  refreshed immediately instead of just rejecting the connection and wait for
  the next periodic refresh.