What's new in HamAlyzer 2.8 (Coming Soon!):

Dynamic Pulldown menus: When using the smaller ControlStrip, you can access pulldown menus for complete control over the overlay feature, and to set various options. This powerful new feature allows you to work quickly and efficiently using only the ControlStrip. If your already familiar with how the overlay window works, using the pulldown menus will be a snap.

Color Palettes: In the options window, there are now color palettes, so you can see the colors you have to choose from when selecting plot colors.

New position box: One disadvantage of using the ControlStrip had been that you didn't have access to the position box. The position box gives exact frequency and amplitude information when the mouse is over the plot, and the left button is clicked. Now, there is a 'floating' position box when the ControlStrip is being used. You can set it to be displayed all the time, or only when you click the left mouse button.

International Support: International language support has been implemented. There is only German support so far, but other languages are planned. If you would like to help with translation, send me an email (I need all the help I can get!).

Wavefile analysis improvements and fixes: A lot of work was done on the wavefile analysis section of the program. You can now select multiple wavefiles from the open dialog window. Also, it now checks for valid sample rates and resolutions of all selected files before analysis begins. In some instances, the ability to cancel during wavefile analysis didn't work correctly, this has been fixed.

Various enhancements and bug fixes: Too numerous to list here, many small improvements and fixes have been realized with this release.

What's new in HamAlyzer 2.6: Amplitude Range Slider: You can now slide the windows along the amplitude axis, like you could along the frequency axis. A second slider provides this function. When the amplitude range is scaled all the way out (0-100dB), this slider disappears, since it's not needed. Plot window enhancements: There are now sliders located in the lower left hand corner of the plot window, so you can adjust the height and width of the plot window without taking your eyes off the action. Also, there's a 'gripper' in the lower left hand corner that you can use to resize the plot window with. ControlStrip: Gone is the normal mode, where the controls are attached to the plot window. The floating toolbar is now standard, and a new mode has been added, called the ControlStrip. It's a very small strip of buttons, which provides access to almost all of the control window's functions, but in a very compact size. The only controls not there are the sliders (which are now on the plot window too, anyway), and the window type, fft size, and sample rate boxes. Sticky forms: The control bar isn't attached to the plot window anymore, but now, if you drag it close enough, it will 'stick' to it, so that when you drag the plot window around, the control window goes with it. This is the case for the ControlStrip, and the options and overlay windows too. Overlay enhancements: You click the show button to overlay a spectrum plot onto the plot window, and now it stays there, even if you hit the start button. To remove the overlay plot, just click the show button again. It now works like SpectraPLUS's overlay feature. What's new in HamAlyzer 2.5: Record to Wavefile: In the general options window, you can now select whether you want to analyze the data coming in from your sound card, or record it directly to disk as a wavefile. If you choose record, no analysis will take place, but you can always drop the wavefile onto HamAlyzer later to analyze it. Resize bug fixed: Fixed a small but irritating bug where when you resized the plot window, the x axis slider would reset to zero. Not that big a deal, but sometimes when you get it just where you want it, it's very annoying to have to redo it everytime. Also, some hams have been asking for the ability to get a particular frequency range in the plot window. This bug fix will help with that. Now, you can slide the x axis slider so that the lower bound of the plot is where you want it, and then adjust the width of the window so the upper bound is where you want that. What's new in HamAlyzer 2.4: Overlay window enhancements: Traces which are loaded into an overlay slot can now be saved as data files to your computer's hard disk. Files are saved to the 'capture-to' directory, with the extension .fft. Just click on the 'save' button. Then, you can load in that .fft file and overlay it to the plot window any time you want. There's a tutorial in the help file on how to use this feature. Finally, the overlay window is now resizable. I did this because the default size is kind of awkward, tall and thin. Please note that I swapped the position of the 'capture' and 'overlay' buttons in the controlbar. I think its more logical this way. New registration system: This is going to be very useful for those of you who like to have the newest and best version at all times. I previously had to recompile a copy of the program for each registered user, so that your name and call sign are in there. Now, each registered user gets a registration key which is separate from the program. So now, once your registration key is installed you can download the latest greatest version from the website whenever and as often as you want. There's no need to wait for upgrades anymore. What's new in HamAlyzer 2.3: Resizable Plot window: You can now resize the plot window to just about any size you like. This was really a big job, which is why it's the only feature implemented in this update.:) What's new in HamAlyzer 2.2: Log frequency scaling: There is now a log frequency scale option, selectable on the general options page in the options window. Save to the png image format: Png is really the ideal format for saving HamAlyzer's plots. It's a lossless compression (which means png images look better than the same image as a jpg), and the same plot is smaller as a png than as a jpg. Improved tooltips: Tooltips are the textboxes that pop up when the mouse is held over a control. You can select 'verbose help text', and the tooltips will display a brief description of the functionality of each control. A help file: Writing windows help files is no easy task, and Microsoft does not go out of their way to simplify things. Hopefully, you find this file useful at some point. Smoother X-axis scrolling: When you are scrolling along the frequency axis, it is now much smoother. This has been accomplished without any performance degradation. What's new in HamAlyzer 2.1: Overlay: The most important new feature in version 2.1 is the ability to overlay saved traces back onto the plot window. You can save up to 4 different traces, and each can be overlayed independently. Plot colors can be specified for each overlay. This feature allows you to easily compare spectra on the same plot. A brief tutorial on how to use the overlay feature is included. Multiple plot markers: Also new in version 2.1 is the ability to add two plot markers simultaneously. You could only add one at a time previously. Right click the plot window, and a marker is drawn at that frequency. The frequency and amplitude information are written in the upper right hand corner of the plot window. Right click again, and a second marker is drawn, each marker is numbered 1 or 2, and the frequencies of each is displayed. No amplitude information is written to the plot window when there are two markers present. I tried it, but it started looking like an msnbc news broadcast; very busy. Plot-capture enhancements: You can now save the fft-data to the windows clipboard. Data are tab-delimited, and can easily be pasted into a text file or spreadsheet file. You can now capture plot images using specific filenames. Also, the saved plots can be time/date stamped. Color enhancements: The controls now adhere to windows color schemes. This is important particularly if poor visibility forces you to use a high-contrast scheme. Also, the background of the plot window can now be made either white or black. Numerous enhancements and bug-fixes: Let's face it. All software is a work in progress. Many of the bugs reported by users have been addressed in the new version. Some notable ones include screen font/redraw problems, installation problems and the notorious runtime error 5 at startup. In fact, all known bugs have been squashed. In addition, the interface got a general facelift, and looks much more clean, and professional. The options window has been reorganized into tabbed pages, and overall, the program has a more professional feel (at least I think so). HamAlyzer's Key Features 3 Modes of analysis (actually 4): Freerun: The (almost) instantaneous FFT plot is displayed. Peak: The maximum value of each fft bin is displayed. Average: There are two. The user can select which one to display in the options window. 1) Long Term: in which the time-averaged plot is displayed. When long term averaging is selected, the number of slices which make up the average is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the plot. 2) Rolling: in which a rolling-windowed average is displayed. 10 slices are used to make up the average. In future versions of HamAlyzer, this number may be user-selectable User selectable FFT window size (1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, & 32768) & sampling rate(22050, 32768 (if supported), & 44100): Varying combinations yield various levels of frequency resolution, from bin spacing of 43 Hz (0Hz to 22kHz displayed on screen) down to bin spacing of about 1.35 Hz. When zoomed, the 'X Range' slider can be used to move to the desired frequency region. Static wavefile analysis: Either drop a wavefile (or several wavefiles) onto the plot area for long term averaging of multiple files, or click the file button, and select a single wavefile you would like to analyze. The file should be in Windows PCM format, and have a valid RIFF header, 16-bit resolution, and a sampling frequency of either 22050, 32768, or 44100 samples per second. If the wavefile is in stereo, you will be prompted to select which channel to analyze. Real-time input: Via a windows-compatible sound card, which should be autodetected by HamAlyzer. Use HamAlyzer in conjunction with the windows mixer control to select which input HamAlyzer will use. Make sure the desired input (CD, Mic, Wavefile, etc.) is not muted and that the level is appropriate, and HamAlyzer should be able to 'see' it. Capture plot: To either the clipboard, a bitmap file, or a jpg file. The user can select where the files are saved. Files are named: 'File001.bmp' etc.. Mouse position: When the mouse is dragged over the plot, the cursor becomes a crosshair. Hold the left mouse button down, and both the frequency, and amplitudes for the available plots that correspond to the cursor position will be displayed in the 'position' box. Click the right mouse button to draw a vertical marker line at the frequency position of the cursor, and the frequency and amplitude(s) will appear on the plot. Left-click anywhere on the plot to clear the marker. Windowing: Hanning, Hamming, Boxcar (rectangle), Bartlett (triangle), Blackman, Harris-Nuttall, Gaussian, and Poisson windows are available. Thick Lines: Check this box in the options window, and the plot lines will be displayed using a much heavier line. This is useful if your operating position is not directly in front of your computer monitor. Save settings: In the options window, check 'save settings' to have all of HamAlyzer's settings saved, to be reinstated the next time the program is run. Just about everything is saved, including window position. The only settings that are not saved are plot colors, and x range slider position. Amplitude scaling: The user can scale the Y-axis from a 100 dB range to a 20 dB range. The scale is in relative dBv. Performance feedback: For static wavefile analysis, or whenever Long Term Average Mode is selected, the number of slices/sec is given in the lower left hand corner.