The new version of PPCMorse fixes a strange bug that would prevent the number 6 from playing properly on some PDAs.  Needless to say, I am glad to have a fix for this irritating glitch.

I’m now considering a future release of PPCMorse with additional features. Let me know if you are interested.

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This new version is a little late for the ARRL RTTY Round-up contest (held this past weekend), however, it does offer some nice new features and support for other platforms. Certainly worth a look for hams with PocketPC PDAs.

First… I had a request that MobileLog be modified to display properly on square screen PDA phones (SmartPhones?). Typically, these are 240×240 resolution devices. I had designed MobileLog to account for these PDAs to some extent by keeping elements that required input (buttons, form fields, etc.) out of the bottom of the forms.

However, Milan (OK1DMP) requested that the status messages displayed on the lower portion of these forms be displayed. To accomodate these PDA Phones/SmartPhones with 240×240 screens, I created a QSO status display form that can be accessed using the ~ button.

Also, I had a bug that needed to be fixed. I discovered that in adding support for PocketDigi I introduced a bug that prevented alert messages from appearing when callsigns are entered (for example, “New Country”).  

If you have a PocketPC and want a ham radio logbook, give MobileLog a try.

Well, in the past month, I have spent many hours updating MobileLog 2, Propfire and the website. In December I had made a week long trip to Manila. 11 hour flights gave me a good chance to get a lot of features into MobileLog. At 35,000 feet over the Pacific it’s easy to keep focused on software development… especially on the leg of the flight that had entertainment system outage. At the beginning of January I had a trip to our factory in Connecticut. More work and time away from home, but I was able to make a some progress there on MobileLog.

I had some great help from a few guys with beta testing MobileLog 2. There were many suggestions, bugs, and generally good feedback from these guys who were more than patient. Especially, John (KD7SDP) and Alan (N5PA) who went above and beyond the call of duty. Vojtěch, OK1IAK has been busy working on PocketDigi 1.0.8 – but has been a great help in getting an interface going between MobileLog and PocketDigi.

This past weekend, I redesigned the documentation on the website to better explain the features and functionality in MobileLog 2.

Also, I was able to get a few annoying issues with Propfire resolved today over lunch. There were a rare issue with data caching that I was able to fix and I’ve made the small image from NOAA a link – so if it’s too small for your eyes, just click it to see the large image.

Anyway… lots going on with the site and the apps lately. Unfortunately, not much going on with the tower. It’s still laying horizontally in the back yard (surrounded by ~7″ of snow). Oh well, with the MobileLog release out of the way, I can start to think more about the tower project once again.

Again,  if anyone is interested in joining the alpha test process, let me know!

Here is a screen shot.

I have to say that I am fairly impressed with this combination. Once or twice I had to reset the phone due to glitches with the mapping software, however, overall the solution was very good. Map4PDA essentially provides a slick PDA interface into Google maps (or a few other mapping sites) and gives you LBS (location based services) in the palm of your hand. What does all that mean? Well, for example, I was able to pull up a map of my area and get directions (standard fare for mapping solutions) – and then perform a google search geographically localized to the vicinity on my PDA screen. Find a hotel, gas station or business address simply by typing it in. That was way cool. I only hope they continue to make improvements to the software (improvements in directions and stability were issues).

Ham radio applications of this solution? Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that. If they were to open the API or source code, I suppose it could be a cool APRS platform… Could even attach it to find-u.com I suppose. Hmmm.

More to come.

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• I’ve created a few Windows Mobile 5 (Smartphone) ham radio themes. Like my PocketPC PDA Ham Radio Themes, they’re free for the taking.
• My ham radio product review section has been enhanced to provide recent reviews to my popular ham radio links page. I did that to encourage more folks to write reviews.
• Karsten, DC7OS, sent me a link that reviews both MobileLog and PPCMorse. It’s a PDF in german on the Nordlink club site. Prima! Unfortunately, my German is very rough.
• Still making progress on MobileLog 2 (WM5 edition). Database size and performance should be considerably better than the previous architecture. Looking for beta testers.

What’s next?  Oh, I suppose I could get back to trying APRS/CE or writing some GPS apps myself – but for now, I’m going to keep my focus on getting the alpha version of MobileLog for Windows Mobile 5 (Smartphone/PDA Phone) released. It’s actually pretty close now.

The good news is that the end result should be a faster logging system with even smaller file sizes due to some redesign. The bad news is that it won’t be overnight.

If you are interested in helping to alpha-test (pre-beta test) this ham radio logging app let me know. I’ll probably send you a link to a form so I can track who is testing it and what hardware you’re using.