JS8Call: The day the bacon went away

By now if you are already using JS8Call you should know that the latest and greatest version of JS8Call has been released v0.8 – http://js8call.com/2018/10/31/js8call-0-8-released-today/

its a sad day. Ive been using JS8Call since version 0.0.1 and for most of that time it had a BCN button. There it is look, sat happily in the bottom row of buttons. minding its own business and as its enabled, every now and then its running the “prepareBacon” method in the software.

in later versions the name was changed to “Beacon” that was a sad day too but it want too bad, it still sort of looked baconey.

And today with the release of JS8Call 0.8 it’s gone. completely gone. not even replaced with something that looks a bit like it. Gone forever. And I miss the bacon.

WHERE HAS ALL THE BACON GONE? Thats what I want to know.

Well I’ll tell you my theory, its all about Political Correctness gone mad. Mad I tell you!

The Button is now labelled “HB” look at the pic it’s there. not even in the middle any more.

“HB” stands for Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Wonderful. Now it’s all politically correct and healthy, and not even a good kind of healthy like erm, I dunno Turkey Bacon or something.

This post is dedicated to the memory of the BCN or bacon button, not its child the BEACON button but the BCN bacon button. I will never forget it. 🙂

On a more serious note though..

Version 0.8.1 is great, it has fixed some decode issues, added a decode menu to select the depth of decode. Added the ability to include variables in your saved text eg <MYGRID4> inserts the first 4 characters of your grid –

CQCQCQ <MYGRID4>

results in this being sent

M0IAX: CQCQCQ IO90

Joking aside the HB or HEARTBEAT is more aptly named to describe its function – its to let other stations know that you are one the air and are a live station and has more than a few applications for various scenarios, not least letting know your friends that you are probably available to contact.

There are many other improvements, flow the link to the JS8Call website to find out more and get the download link.

I really do recommend anyone interested in Amateur Radio digital modes gives it a try. Its not the fasted way of having a conversation but it does work and it works well for DX as well as local stations.

Well done Jordan KN4CRD great work!

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