********************************************************************** GPS Time for Windows 10/11 RELEASENOTES.TXT Copyright (c) 2026 CNS Systems, Inc. ********************************************************************** GPS Time NOTES ********************************************************************** This file carries the release notes for GPS Time. Releases before 1.2.9 are recorded in the project's development notes and in the version control history; they will be gathered here when the whole history is documented. GPS Time and Tac32Plus are functional twins and are released in step. This release matches Tac32Plus 2.7.39, and everything below behaves the same way in both programs unless it says otherwise. ********************************************************************** RELEASE NOTES ********************************************************************** Version 1.2.10, Sep 7, 2026 (re-issued Sep 9, 2026) ================================== - Re-issue: the Sep 7 build reported itself as 1.2.9 in the title bar and the About box, and because Check for Updates compares that number, it downloaded and re-installed this same version once a day. Installing this build settles it. Nothing else has changed. - Version 1.2.10 supersedes 1.2.9 of November 16, 2025, the interim build that was on the download page, and contains everything since. - Synergy SSR receivers work in Motorola NMEA mode at any supported data rate (SSR-XC16 firmware V4.21 or later); a receiver whose firmware has no NMEA mode is told so plainly. - Signal strength is shown as C/No in dB-Hz, the value the receiver measures (readings about 20 higher than before). - The Satellite Az-El Chart draws every constellation, rising satellites blue and setting ones red, marks SBAS satellites distinctly, and shows the horizon and the sky hole. - The status bar shows the constellations the receiver is tracking, and the Satellite Selection boxes follow the receiver's own rules. - Help opens in its own window inside the program, with a contents tree beside the page. - Help / Check for Updates finds, verifies and installs new versions (once a day automatically; it can be turned off). - The PVT data log is written in the same format as Tac32Plus, so one reader serves both programs. - Two defects of daily use are fixed: closing the program could leave it running with the serial ports open, and position averaging could start with corrupted values. - Registration no longer fails when the machine name cannot be read, the About box no longer shows the old fax line, and the installer is signed by CNS Systems, Inc. Details: Motorola NMEA mode: 1. GPS Time works in Motorola NMEA mode with the Synergy SSR series receivers (SSR-XC16 firmware version 4.21 or later is required for NMEA mode on the SSR series). The receiver is found and commanded at the rate chosen in the serial port settings dialog, a mode change no longer disturbs the serial path, and responses are recognized with any talker ID (for example $GPZDA and $GNZDA), as multi-GNSS receivers send them. 2. Motorola NMEA mode is offered only where the receiver's firmware provides it. An older receiver is told so plainly instead of being left in a mode it cannot use, and a receiver found already stranded in NMEA is brought back. 3. Receiver mode settings are applied while in NMEA mode without a full re-initialization. 4. Satellite views from several constellations are merged instead of overwriting one another, and NMEA satellite numbers are remapped to the numbering the rest of the program uses, so the table holds still and the chart agrees with it. 5. GSV satellite numbers 33 to 64 are labeled SBAS. 6. The satellite count is labeled "Used", which is what the GGA sentence reports, and the DOP values are shown in NMEA mode. 7. The Manual Command window covers the NMEA mode properly. The satellite display: 1. Signal strength is reported as C/No in dB-Hz - the value the receiver measures - and the column is labeled C/No. Earlier versions subtracted a fixed offset and called the result Eb/No, which was right when the display only ever showed GPS L1 C/A at 50 bits per second, but no single offset can be right across today's signals: Galileo E1 carries 125 bits per second, Beidou's geostationary satellites 500, and pilot components carry no data at all. Readings rise by about 20 compared with 1.2.8, and the bar scale moves from 0-40 to 15-55. SSR-XC16 V4.21 and SSR-128 V3.85 separately corrected the receiver's own C/No, which had been reported 3 dB high, so do not compare this display against older screen shots. 2. Every tracked satellite is listed, and one with a weak signal draws a short bar rather than none at all. 3. A satellite with no Doppler measurement shows no rising or setting arrow rather than a false one, and direction is otherwise taken from the satellite's own elevation trend. 4. On the Satellite Az-El Chart, rising satellites are blue and setting satellites red, as in Tac32Plus. SBAS satellites draw as a smaller distinct marker: they are geostationary and neither rise nor set. 5. The chart draws the horizon and the sky hole - the band of elevations no satellite in the constellation's orbit can reach from this latitude - and its key wraps rather than losing entries off the edge. The markers are smaller, so a full sky is readable. 6. In position hold the DOP fields read "DOP not available" instead of placeholder numbers. Constellation selection: 1. The status bar shows the constellations the receiver is tracking, immediately left of the survey status. The text is built from the receiver's own @@Sc reply, so it cannot disagree with what the receiver adopted, and it is blank for receivers that do not report one. 2. The Satellite Selection boxes follow the rules the receiver enforces: GLONASS and Beidou cannot be tracked at the same time, QZSS is only available together with GPS, and one constellation must always be selected. A box that a rule forbids is grayed, with the reason in its tool tip, rather than offered and then refused. 3. The Galileo box is grayed when the receiver's GNSS module cannot track Galileo, and the SSR-6T receivers, which track GPS only, are not offered the other constellations at all. Serial port and start-up: 1. A commanded data rate change followed by a failed receiver search is undone, so the receiver and the saved settings cannot be left at different rates - which showed itself as a receiver that could not be found on every later start. 2. The Motorola binary receiver search also probes 4800 baud. Windows, dialogs and help: 1. Help opens in its own window inside the program, with a contents tree beside the page, and the window's position and size are remembered however it is closed. 2. The Manual Command window accepts command parameters as ASCII beside the existing hexadecimal field, in fixed-width fields that overtype. 3. Clipped text in five dialogs is corrected, including the Averaging Parameters labels and reset buttons and the Navigation button. Logging: 1. The PVT data log is written in the same format as Tac32Plus for 12-channel, 8-channel and 6-channel receivers, and its header records the receiver. Software that reads these logs can treat the two programs alike. 2. If the receiver stops sending @@Bb satellite data while a session is otherwise alive, GPS Time asks for it again rather than showing stale satellite geometry. A healthy stream is never disturbed. Automatic upgrades: Help / Check for Updates asks gpstime.com whether a newer version has been published, shows what changed, and downloads, verifies and installs it. An automatic check runs at most once a day and can be turned off. A version can be skipped. Two defects found in daily use are fixed: 1. Closing the program left it running with the serial ports still open, so the next start could not reach the receiver. 2. Position averaging could start a session with corrupted values. Registration: a machine whose name cannot be read at that moment no longer starts as UNREGISTERED. The name is read with retries, the first one ever read successfully is remembered, and that value is used when a later read fails. About box: the fax line, a Maryland number from long ago, is gone. Version 1.2.9, Nov 16, 2025 ================================== The interim build posted on the download page (it had no automatic update mechanism; 1.2.10 supersedes it): 1. Corrected the processing of button groups in the GPS Receiver Serial Port Settings and TIC Serial Port Settings dialogs. 2. Corrected the signal strength calculation for the unusual case of an SSR receiver emulating a 6- or 8-channel receiver while sending 12-channel @@Ha messages. 3. Improved the handling and reporting of PPS signals. 4. Built with Qt 6.10.0 and the llvm-mingw 64-bit compiler.