Changelog

INFO

The complete version history is maintained in German → German changelog. The most recent releases are translated below.

1.24.1 — 2026-06-13

Performance release: noticeably smoother operation under heavy DX cluster traffic and with CAT active. Pure under-the-hood optimization — no functional changes.

DX cluster / Logbook

• Fixed the layout storm in the DX cluster tab. The spot list re-filtered its data and rebuilt every table column on each render. With incoming cluster spots this produced CPU bursts up to 77 % and a visibly stuttering list. The filtered spot list and the spotter evidence are now cached, and the native table only reloads on an actual row change — no longer on every unrelated view update. The POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA/LLOTA spot lists and the large QSO table benefit too.

CAT

• CAT render decoupling. With CAT connected the rig sends 2–8 status updates per second — chiefly the S-meter. Previously half the logbook re-rendered on every one of those ticks: the QSO entry, the solar/propagation panel and the whole window content. Now only the radio control panel reacts live to the rig values. As a result CPU load with CAT active drops from ~60 % to ~23 %, and the UI stays smooth even while logging with a connected transceiver.

1.24.0 — 2026-06-13

LLOTA — Lakes and Lagoons On The Air: the fifth outdoor program. Activation of lakes, lagoons and reservoirs, structurally parallel to POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA.

Logbook

• LLOTA session: new log type (wave icon) with Activator/Hunter mode, lake auto-complete, multi-lake hopping, a 10-QSOs/day activation counter and L2L (Lake-to-Lake) detection. See the LLOTA module.
• Lakes database: ~6,500 refs worldwide (incl. 47 in Switzerland), initial snapshot in the app bundle, live-refreshable from the public llota.app JSON API. CSV import as an override. Managed under Settings → Data → LLOTA Reference Database.
• LLOTA spots: a dedicated live feed straight from llota.app (unlike BOTA, which filters from the DX cluster) — auto-refresh every 2 minutes, band/mode/ program filter, copy + CAT QSY.
• LLOTA Map with lake pins + DX pins + L2L lines, and an Awards tab with Activator/Hunter lakes, L2L and programs.
• ADIF export standards-compliant (MY_SIG=LLOTA, verified against Ham2K PoLo
  • llota.app) with a per-lake split for the upload to llota.app.
• Dual program: LLOTA is available as a partner in all POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA wizards — a lake additionally counts for the other programs.
• Tutorial: Log Your First LLOTA QSO.

Internal

• ADIFCore bumped to 1.15.0 (OutdoorProgram.llota), logbook DB schema to v13. English translation of the LLOTA strings.

1.23.0 — 2026-06-13

Send eQSL cards by mail: select QSO(s) in the log, click "eQSL" — HAM-Tools renders a graphical QSL card (your own background image + the QSO data) and opens a mail draft with the card attached.

Logbook

• eQSL card from the log: select one or more QSOs in the QSO table → the "eQSL" button opens a preview/design window. A QSL card is rendered per QSO (your call/name/locator, "Confirming QSO with …", date/UTC/band/frequency/mode/ RST, "2-way … 73").
• Your own background template: set any image (PNG/JPEG) as the card background — stored persistently. The text-panel transparency is adjustable via a slider (the text stays opaque), and the station header can be hidden if your template already carries the call sign.
• Selectable send method: Thunderbird and Apple Mail attach the card as a real file; with Gmail (browser) and the default mail app the card is placed on the clipboard and pasted with ⌘V. The recipient address is fetched automatically from QRZ/HamQTH.
• Customizable subject & text: a template with placeholders ({dxcall}, {dxname}, {mycall}, {date}, {band}, {mode}, …) that are replaced per QSO — stored persistently.
• "Send all" sends the whole selection one after another; sent QSOs are marked as QSL sent (eQSL).

1.22.1 — 2026-06-13

Hotfix: a normal spot click switched the active VFO on Icom rigs with two VFOs (e.g. IC-7610).

CAT

• Spot click jumped to VFO B: since the split-from-spot feature (1.22.0) HAM-Tools sent a split-off command to the rig on every spot click — even for a plain spot with no split hint. On Icom rigs with two VFOs (e.g. IC-7610) this command switched the active VFO to B even though the frequency was set correctly on VFO A. The split-off command is now only sent to the rig when split was actually active before — a normal spot no longer touches the VFO. Split spots (»UP 5«, »QSX 14195« …) keep working unchanged.

1.22.0 — 2026-06-12

CAT around the IC-705 WLAN direct mode: split hints from the spot comment are applied automatically, the WLAN credentials are stored permanently, and the WLAN reconnect now works without manual intervention.

CAT

• Split from the spot comment: clicking a DX spot with a split hint in the comment ("UP 5", "DWN 2", "QSX 14195", "SPLIT") makes HAM-Tools enable split on the rig and set the transmit frequency. A normal spot without a hint turns an active split back off. Can be disabled via "Apply split from spot comment" under Settings → CAT — the split state is then left untouched for you to manage manually.
• IC-705 WLAN credentials are kept: the radio IP, user and password of the direct WLAN connection are now stored app-wide and survive any configuration switch and app restart. Previously they could be lost as soon as the active configuration changed.
• Clean disconnect on quit: on close, HAM-Tools now logs off the IC-705 cleanly. The IC-705 only allows a single network session — without a clean log-off you previously had to power-cycle the rig before reconnecting.
• Automatic WLAN reconnect: the IC-705 only releases its session a few seconds after log-off. When connecting, HAM-Tools now retries automatically (with a hint in the CAT status) instead of failing immediately.

1.21.0 — 2026-06-12

Propagation intelligence: a grayline world map, a "workable?" traffic light per spot, the world map right inside the logbook cluster, and an "Open now" matrix — all from real spots, no pseudo model.

DX cluster

• Grayline world map: the new "Grayline" toggle on the world map draws the day/night terminator (the sunrise/sunset line), shades the night half of the globe and marks the subsolar point. The line keeps moving — so you can see at a glance where the classic grayline DX windows are opening.
• "Prop" traffic light per spot: a new column in the spot list shows in green/yellow/grey how likely a station is to be workable from your own QTH. The main signal is spotter evidence — who is hearing the DX right now? Stations on your own continent count the most. This is refined by the grayline position of the path, band and time of day, and solar flux/Kp. A tooltip explains every verdict in plain text. Can be turned off via "Prop light" in the filter bar.
• "Open now" matrix in the right-hand propagation panel: a band × continent traffic light that shows where the path is currently open from your location — it only counts spots heard by stations on your own continent. It sits right above the familiar "Band Activity" heatmap (global activity). Comparing "can I work this" against "how busy is it globally" is the most honest propagation hint there is.

Logbook

• World map in the DX cluster tab: the former Spots/DXpeditions switch is now a view picker Spots · Map · DXpeditions. The world map (including the grayline) can be shown directly inside the logbook, filtered to the rule-compliant bands during a contest. The "Prop" traffic light now also runs in the logbook spot list and shares its on/off setting with the standalone DX cluster window.

1.20.1 — 2026-06-07

Hotfix: moving columns could wreck the tables — the entire table foundation now runs natively.

Fixed

• Moving columns could crash the app or scramble the table: macOS 26 has a bug in SwiftUI's table code. After a column drag, cell contents ended up in the wrong columns (modes under "Country", calls under "Mode"), empty phantom columns appeared, the UI could freeze completely — and with a column arrangement saved by an older version, the app even crashed while dragging. All six tables were affected: DX cluster spots, POTA, SOTA, WWFF, BOTA spots and the QSO table in the logbook.

Changed

• New native table foundation: all six tables now run on the classic macOS table code (NSTableView) instead of the broken SwiftUI counterpart. Moving, showing/hiding (right-click on the table header), resizing and sorting columns — all stable. macOS itself persists the arrangement and it survives app updates: when a new version adds a column, it simply appears at the end.
• QSO table: column visibility (separate profiles for standard, contest and POTA logs) is carried over from your existing configuration — only the column order starts out at the default once. The QRZ-LB and eQSL status columns can now also be toggled in the toolbar column menu (previously header right-click only).
• ★ watchlist marker in the DX cluster now sits directly in front of the DX call sign — the separate mini column is gone.

1.20.0 — 2026-06-07

Tester wish package: distance everywhere, continent multi-select, worked-B4 filter in the cluster and POTA logged marker (thanks HB9HJL!).

Logbook

• Live distance in the QSO form: While typing the partner locator, "1234 km · 45°" appears instantly — distance and bearing from your own QTH, updated with every character. Requires your own locator in the station settings.
• The distance has always been stored with every QSO that has a locator: the "Distanz (km)" and "Peil (°)" columns in the QSO table can be enabled via right-click on the table header.

DX Cluster

• Continent multi-select: The "Kont." filter now works like the band and mode filters — check several continents at once (e.g. EU + NA), "All continents" resets. Your previous single selection is migrated automatically. Available in the cluster filter bar and the logbook context bar.
• "Hide worked (24h)" — worked-B4 filter: A new checkbox hides spots whose callsign was logged on the same band in the active log within the last 24 hours. Rolling 24 hours (no UTC day boundary), base-call matching (HB9ABC/P counts as HB9ABC) — and deliberately per band: a station worked on 20m stays visible on 40m.
• New "Dist (km)" column: Approximate distance from your QTH to the DX country, e.g. "~6843". The tilde is intentional: a cluster spot carries no locator, so the distance is computed to the center of the DX country — nearly exact for small countries, coarser for large ones.

POTA

• "Already logged" marker per station: Spot rows carry a green ✓ at the front when the activator call was logged in the active log within the last 24 hours — the tooltip lists the bands. Plus the new "Hide logged" switch. For clarity: "Nur ATNO" keeps filtering per park reference and the cluster ATNO status per country — the new marker and filter work per callsign and finally answer "have I logged THIS station?".

1.19.1 — 2026-06-07

Clicking an FT8 spot now starts the call in WSJT-X — and TX power finally lands in the log automatically (thanks HB9HJL!).

WSJT-X Integration (FT8/FT4)

• Spot click fills the QSO fields in WSJT-X: Clicking an FT8/FT4 spot in the DX cluster now acts like double-clicking the decode line in WSJT-X — DX call and grid are filled in and the Tx messages are generated. Rig QSY via CAT and the yellow highlight in the Band Activity window work as before. Two prerequisites: WSJT-X must have decoded the station itself within the last few minutes (a station you can't hear is a station you can't work — in that case only the yellow highlight applies), and "Accept UDP requests" must be enabled in WSJT-X (Settings → Reporting). New toggle under Settings → UDP Bridges (default: on).
• HAM-Tools prefers the station's CQ line as the reply target — even if it was later decoded mid-QSO with someone else. That's the cleanest way into the QSO.

Logbook / CAT

• TX power is now tracked: The power field in the QSO form automatically follows the TRX power read via CAT — in actual watts. Hamlib converts the power level using the known model maximum, no configuration needed (IC-705: "5 W", not "50 %"). Manual entries persist until the next power change on the rig. The PWR badge in the radio panel shows watts as well.
• WSJT-X/N1MM QSOs carry the power: The Tx power reported by the logger now lands in the QSO; if missing (the WSJT-X field is often unmaintained), the CAT power is used automatically.

Stability

• Orphaned rigctld background processes from other HAM-Tools installations (e.g. release and test versions in parallel) are now reliably terminated on CAT start — previously they could block the CAT port and cause "CAT err".

1.19.0 — 2026-06-06

WSJT-X becomes a first-class partner: live display, log confirmation and spot highlighting via the UDP bridge (thanks HB9HTZ!).

WSJT-X Integration (FT8/FT4)

• Active callsign appears instantly in the QSO panel: Double-click a station in WSJT-X — and HAM-Tools immediately shows call, name, QTH and QRZ image of your partner in the entry panel (the callbook lookup runs automatically in the background). You see who you are working during the FT8 QSO. Manual entries in the call field always take precedence and are never overwritten.
• Logged QSOs are confirmed: After each QSO logged via WSJT-X, the partner appears with lookup data and a green "✓ logged via WSJT-X" banner in the entry panel — automatic logging itself is unchanged.
• FT8/FT4 spots highlight the station in WSJT-X: Clicking an FT8/FT4 spot in the DX cluster tunes the rig via CAT as before — and now additionally highlights the callsign in yellow in the WSJT-X Band Activity window once WSJT-X decodes it. Click it, work the QSO, done.
• All three features can be disabled individually under Settings → UDP Bridges → WSJT-X Integration (default: on) and apply to the whole WSJT-X family (WSJT-X, JTDX, MSHV).

Logbook

• Auto-lookup wrongly required QRZ credentials: Users with only HamQTH configured got no automatic lookup on tabbing out of the call field or clicking a spot, and the bulk-lookup button in the QSO table stayed grayed out. Both now work with any configured callbook.

1.18.0 — 2026-06-06

Dual-program comfort (counter chips + retroactive editing) + English localization complete.

Outdoor (POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA)

• Secondary-program counters in the QSO form: if an activation carries refs of multiple programs (e.g. a SOTA log with a WWFF ref), chips in the QSO form now show the live counters of all participating programs (e.g. "WWFF 7/44" next to the SOTA counter) — see at a glance how far each scoring is.
• Dual-program refs retroactively editable: the pencil in the session bar opens a sheet where the refs of the other programs can be added, changed or removed (empty field = remove) mid-session or afterwards — with live validation against the local reference databases. Applies retroactively to all QSOs of the log.

Localization

• English translation complete: all 1,196 strings of the app are now translated and reviewed — 53 missing ones added, 120 mistranslations in radio terminology corrected. The app is fully bilingual (German/English) for the first time.

Cleanups

• Dead placeholder buttons removed from the logbook action bar (LookUp/Beam/Stacking — lookup runs automatically anyway).
• Schedules module: leftovers from the build-up phase removed.

Miscellaneous

• The README inside the DMG falsely claimed "not notarized" for signed builds — the text now reflects the actual signing status.
• Includes all CAT fixes of the 1.17.2–1.17.5 patch series (Yaesu: filter width, tune abort, auto-reconnect — see there).

1.17.5 — 2026-06-06

Auto-reconnect now survives tune series (4th fix of the Yaesu series, thanks HB9HJL!).

CAT

• A second tune shortly after the first left CAT permanently dead: the 1.17.4 auto-reconnect had a 30 s anti-loop guard — the second connection death of a tune series was treated as "dies again immediately = real problem" and no longer healed. Now there is a budget of 3 automatic reconnects in a row, refilled after 60 s of stable connection — any number of consecutive tune cycles heal themselves, while real failures (rig off, cable unplugged) still show the error after 3 attempts. The dying rigctld also gets 500 ms to release the serial port before the fresh one starts.

1.17.4 — 2026-06-06

Auto-reconnect: CAT heals itself after the tune cycle (3rd fix of the Yaesu series, thanks HB9HJL!).

CAT

• CAT still died after the tune cycle — even with the 1.17.3 tolerances, sometimes ~10 s after tuning without any interaction. The suspect is rigctld itself choking on the Yaesu serial line (response backlog) — no amount of tolerance helps there, only a fresh connection. Now: when the app declares the connection dead, it automatically reconnects once (~2–3 s) instead of showing "CAT err". Only if the connection dies again right away (rig off, cable unplugged) does the error message appear as before. Stop bits (1 vs. 2) were tried and ruled out as the cause.

1.17.3 — 2026-06-06

CAT robustness after the tune cycle (follow-up fix to 1.17.2, thanks HB9HJL!).

CAT

• Switching spots right after a TUNE dropped the CAT connection: the 1.17.2 tune fix held — but after the tune cycle the rig stays sluggish for a while and responds late; a single polling timeout was still enough to kill the connection. Now: individual timeouts are tolerated (only three in a row count as a connection loss), frequency/mode commands automatically retry once on a timeout, and a falsely reported error heals itself as soon as polling succeeds again.

1.17.2 — 2026-06-06

Two CAT fixes for Yaesu transceivers (thanks to HB9HJL for reporting!).

CAT

• Clicking a spot changed the receive bandwidth: when setting the mode, Hamlib was previously told to also apply the default filter width for that mode — on Yaesu rigs this overwrote the bandwidth selected on the radio (e.g. to ~1.2 kHz). Spot clicks (DX cluster, POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA) and the mode buttons in the radio panel now only change frequency and mode — your filter selection stays untouched.
• TUNE dropped the CAT connection: during the antenna-tuner cycle the rig stays CAT-silent for several seconds — the app's polling ran into a timeout and went offline with a "protocol error". It now waits out the tune cycle (a short polling pause plus an error tolerance window) and resumes polling normally afterwards.

1.17.1 — 2026-06-06

Update download 72× faster + idle CPU from ~40% down to ~6%.

Update System

• "The request timed out" during one-click update finally fixed: the network wasn't to blame — the app itself was. The download consumed the stream byte by byte, throttling itself to ~0.2 MB/s; the stalled stream triggered the timeout after 30 s. The update now downloads in chunks: 14 MB in under 1 second. Note: the update to 1.17.1 still uses the old code — if it gets stuck, just use "Load in browser"; every future update will be fast.

Performance

• Idle CPU from 35–59% down to a stable ~6% (live cluster connected): the band-activity heatmap recomputed its matrix in every cell (~120× per render), every incoming cluster spot invalidated the whole window individually (now batched every 0.5 s — alerts still fire immediately), and the "recent QSOs" panel scanned all logs including database opens on every render (now cached).

1.17.0 — 2026-06-06

Dual program in all combinations + WWFF DB fix + portable-call fixes.

Outdoor (POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA)

• Dual program everywhere: previously only a POTA log could carry additional WWFF refs — now all four outdoor wizards (as activator) offer optional fields for the other three programs' refs, with live validation against the local DBs. Summit in a park, park = WWFF area, bunker in a park: one activation delivers the export files of all platforms. If the session carries a SOTA ref, the "SOTA CSV…" button appears additionally; conversely a SOTA log with park refs gets the ADIF export. → details

WWFF

• The reference DB loads again: the previous source wwff-cc.org is no longer reachable (dead DNS) — "Load Now" failed. The download now uses the official directory CSV from wwff.co (~24 MB, ~68,000 refs). If all sources fail, the app shows a direct browser download link for manual CSV import.
• Parser fixes: deleted refs in the wwff.co format were wrongly read as active; IUCN category and plain-text country are now taken over correctly.

Export & Callbook

• Portable calls (e.g. HB9HJI/P): the slash in the call broke the POTA/WWFF/BOTA export (the filename was interpreted as a folder) — filenames are now sanitized (HB9HJI-P@…). The callbook lookup falls back to the base call for /P, /M and prefix notation.
• Honest export error messages: instead of "no active log or missing write permissions" the alert now shows the actual error.

1.16.0 — 2026-06-06

POTA polish + dual program POTA+WWFF.

POTA

• Dual program POTA+WWFF: Many parks (especially in Europe) are a POTA park and a WWFF area at the same time. The POTA wizard now has an optional WWFF ref field — every QSO is tagged for both programs, and the export automatically writes both file sets: pota.app and wwff.co. One activation, two programs. → Details
• New spots filters: "Manual only" hides automatic RBN spots, "ATNO only" shows only parks you've never worked.
• Their-Park autocomplete: the P2P field validates park refs live against the park DB and shows ✓ + park name + region.
• More resilient spots polling: on server throttling (HTTP 429) the app backs off automatically instead of hammering on.

1.15.0 — 2026-06-06

CAT auto-detect: "Detect automatically" finds your radio by itself.

CAT

• New button "Automatisch erkennen…" (detect automatically) in the CAT settings: pick a manufacturer (or "all manufacturers") — HAM-Tools then cycles through every combination of model, USB port and baud rate until your radio answers, and applies the discovered settings with one click. Factory baud rates are tested first, so a radio with default settings is found quickly; a full sweep can take a few minutes (live progress shown). If a related model triggers a false positive — some rigs share the same CAT protocol — use "Weitersuchen" (keep searching).
• The search is WSJT-X-safe: a shared rigctld server is neither blocked nor terminated.

Update system

• Update downloads now survive flaky connections: instead of aborting with "The request timed out", the download retries up to three times and resumes where the connection dropped. The integrity check (SHA-256) remains in place.

1.14.4 — 2026-06-06

Hotfix: the SWR display in the radio panel had disappeared.

CAT

• The SWR display reappears right after the CAT connect: For a few versions the SWR row in the radio panel stayed hidden after every app start until you transmitted with a measurable SWR — with a perfectly matched antenna it never appeared at all. The display is now unlocked as soon as the radio can deliver SWR readings; the displayed value still only updates while transmitting (most rigs don't report usable values in receive).

The Help menu now links to the online docs.

App

• New menu item "HAM-Tools Help" (⌘?) in the Help menu: opens this online documentation straight from the app — the German edition when the app language is German, the English one otherwise. Until now there was no way to reach the help site from inside the app.

1.14.2 — 2026-06-05

Hotfix: one-click update got stuck at "Relaunching…".

Update System

• Relaunch fix (from the first live run of the one-click update): after the bundle swap the dialog hung at "Relaunching…" — quitting the app was swallowed by the still-open update sheet. The app now forces termination after a short grace period, and the relaunch helper waits until the old process is actually gone instead of firing blindly.
• When updating FROM 1.14.0/1.14.1 to this version the old code runs one last time: if "Relaunching…" hangs, just quit the app (⌘Q or force quit) and reopen — the update is already installed at that point. From 1.14.2 onward the relaunch completes automatically.

1.14.1 — 2026-06-05

Skipped updates can now be reset.

Update System

• "Reset" button in Settings → License → App Info: if you dismissed an update with "Skip this version", you can have it offered again — the next update check (⌘⌥U) shows the version once more. The row only appears when a version has actually been skipped.
• App Info now also shows the version number, not just the build date.

1.14.0 — 2026-06-05

One-click updates and the English help site.

Update System

• One-click update. The update dialog gets a new primary button, "Install now": HAM-Tools downloads the DMG itself (with a progress bar), verifies the SHA-256 checksum from the signed manifest — the DMG is thereby authenticated end-to-end against tampering —, swaps the app bundle and relaunches automatically. No Finder, no drag-and-drop. If anything goes wrong, "Download in browser" remains the trusted fallback.
• Good to know: apps older than 1.14.0 still download this update the classic way via the browser. The one-click flow kicks in from the next release onward — then a single click and a short relaunch is all it takes.

Help / Docs

• The help site now speaks English. All modules, tutorials, FAQ and settings pages are translated and live at toolbox.funkwelt.net/help/en/ — the language switcher sits in the top-right corner of every page.
• Help audit for 1.13.0: all 37 calculators documented (including the eight newcomers from 1.12.0), new tutorial "Connect the IC-705 over WLAN", docs for DXpedition alerts and the three CAT connection types, plus assorted fixes (band plan units, stale "tutorial coming soon" notes).

1.13.0 — 2026-06-05

Control the IC-705 over WLAN — native Icom network access, completely cable-free.

CAT / Transceiver

• New connection type "IC-705 WLAN". HAM-Tools now speaks the Icom network protocol (RS-BA1) directly — without extra software like wfview or kappanhang. In the CAT settings you choose "IC-705 WLAN" and enter radio IP, user and password (the values come from the radio menu under Set → Network → Network User, with administrator rights). HAM-Tools then reads frequency, mode and S-meter; QSY by spot click and PTT run over WLAN. The CI-V address is configurable (default on the IC-705: A4).
• Outdoor without a router. The IC-705 can spin up its own WLAN as an access point. The Mac connects directly to the radio — ideal for POTA/SOTA, where no network is available.
• Additional connection type "Network (rigctld)". If you already have wfview, kappanhang or a rigctld running on a shack PC, you can attach HAM-Tools to it via host/port — this works with any Hamlib-capable rig on the network.
• A note on audio. HAM-Tools itself does not transmit audio over WLAN; for digital modes (FT8 & Co.) WSJT-X with its own audio bridge remains responsible. CW keying and the voice memories stored in the radio do work.

1.12.1 — 2026-06-04

DXpedition alert in the DX cluster.

DX Cluster

• New "DXpeditions" tab. It loads the well-known NG3K ADXO list (Announced DX Operations) of announced and ongoing DXpeditions and displays them clearly with entity, date range, QSL route and info text. DXpeditions that are currently active by date are marked green as QRV and sorted to the top. The list is cached locally and can be refreshed at the press of a button.
• Alert on sighting. When a monitored DXpedition appears in the cluster during its QRV window, you get a macOS notification. The matching works exactly or via the prefix (e.g. 5Z4 also recognizes a spotted 5Z4/MM0ZBH). A global switch activates the alerts; per entry you can specifically monitor or mute. A cooldown prevents repeated notifications for the same spot.
• Marking in the spot list. Spots belonging to an active, monitored DXpedition carry a cyan ✈ symbol next to the callsign — visible in the DX cluster module, in the pop-up window and in the DX tab of the logbook.

1.12.0 — 2026-06-03

Eight new calculators and a complete English translation.

New Calculators

• RF Exposure / Safety Distance — calculates the safety distance per the ICNIRP 1998 reference levels (for the general population and occupational/ controlled) from transmit power, antenna gain, frequency, mode duty cycle and transmit-time fraction. At an entered distance it shows power density, E and H field plus the percentage of the limit with a traffic light. With a note on the stricter NISV installation limit in Switzerland.
• Battery Runtime — runtime for portable operation from capacity, battery type (LiFePO₄, lead AGM/gel, Li-Ion, NiMH incl. realistically usable depth of discharge), RX/TX current and TX time fraction. Plus average current, usable capacity in Ah/Wh and the reverse question "how many Ah do I need for a target runtime?".
• DC Voltage Drop — the voltage drop on the 12 V supply line with a percentage traffic light, voltage at the device, power loss, recommended minimum and standard cross-section as well as an overview table per cross-section — for copper and aluminum.
• Trap Dipole — design of the trap (L↔C), reactance at the resonance point, coil turns per Wheeler and length guideline values for the dipole legs, incl. a note on the required voltage rating of the trap capacitor.
• λ/4 Transformer (Q-Section) — matches two real impedances via a quarter-wave line section: the required characteristic impedance √(Z₁·Z₂), the physical length with velocity factor and the comparison with standard coax including the resulting SWR (the classic 50→100 Ω over 75 Ω coax = SWR 1.12).
• Radio Horizon / Line of Sight — the quasi-optical VHF/UHF range from the antenna heights of both stations, with a refraction factor (optical, standard 4⁄3, over-the-horizon), Earth curvature and the reverse question "what antenna height do I need for a given distance?".
• Ladder Line / Two-Wire Line — the characteristic impedance of a balanced two-wire line from wire diameter and conductor spacing, with velocity factor and the spacing needed for 300/450/600 Ω. Handy for home-made, low-loss feed lines.
• Reactance & LC Resonance — the reactance of a coil and a capacitor, the resonant frequency of an LC circuit, the characteristic impedance and the "resonance partner" (which C or L resonates at a frequency) — the basis for tuned circuits, traps and filters.

Improved

• Hexbeam calculation: the turning radius was corrected to the real G3TXQ value; the info text and vertical band spacings were adjusted accordingly.
• English translation: the entire interface is now fully available in English.

Web Toolbox

• All eight new calculators are also available online in parallel in the Web Toolbox at toolbox.funkwelt.net.