+Release 1.2.1:
+By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (18-Oct-07):
+
+* SPLAT! now imports transmitter effective radiated power information and
+ predicts received field strength signal levels (dBuV/m) and antenna
+ voltage based on the transmitter's antenna pattern, computed path loss,
+ and ERP. ERP information is specified on the ninth line of SPLAT! .lrp
+ files.
+
+* The ability to plot signal strength contour maps has been added. The
+ color schemes for plotting signal strength and path loss contour maps
+ can now be customized by editing the contents of .scf and .lcf files
+ for each transmitter site. In addition, both signal strength and path
+ loss contour maps can now be generated for multiple transmitter sites,
+ with the greatest signal strength (or least path loss) illustrated in
+ overlapping regions between sites.
+
+* A new -ngs switch assigns all topography to the color white in .ppm
+ contour maps. The white background can be made transparent using
+ simple graphics utilities for merging SPLAT! contour maps with other
+ Mercator projection maps and graphics files of equivalent size and
+ resolution.
+
+* Path loss and signal strength contour regions can now be exported to
+ Google Earth as a semi-transparent ground overlay using the -kml switch.
+
+* The default contour map filename now defaults to the basename of the
+ transmitter site .qth file (or first transmitter site within a network)
+ with a .ppm extension (rather than "map.ppm").
+
+* The Fresnel zone clearance percentage, which was fixed at 60% in the
+ past, is now user-definable using the new -fz command-line option.
+
+* Information previously contained in SPLAT! Obstruction Reports has now
+ been merged with Longley-Rice path loss information into a single Path
+ Analysis report (with a .txt extension). (Longley-Rice output (.lro)
+ files are no longer generated.)
+
+* Graph plotting (the -l option) no longer needs to be forced to perform
+ a Longley-Rice path analysis in point-to-point mode. If a .lrp file is
+ available and contains the information needed, Longley-Rice path loss
+ information will be automatically included in SPLAT!'s Path Analysis
+ Report when performing a point-to-point analysis.
+
+* In addition to information previously contained, SPLAT! Path Loss Output
+ (-plo) files now contain additional information including path loss
+ considering the effects of the transmitting antenna's radiation pattern
+ (if pattern data is available), and field strength values (dBuV/m)
+ based on pattern data and ERP data (if available). An asterisk at
+ the end of each line indicates the path to the point referenced in
+ the file is obstructed by terrain.
+
+* The srtm2sdf utility now handles 3-arc second SRTM in .BIL (Band
+ Interleaved by Line) format, as well as the usual .HGT format.
+
+* SPLAT!'s associated itm.cpp file was updated to include the latest
+ public domain ITM code released on June 26, 2007.
+
+* References in source code and documentation to "slots" and "MAXSLOTS"
+ have been changed to "pages" and "MAXPAGES", respectively.
+
+* Two bugs affecting the plotting of Fresnel zones were identified and fixed.
+
+* A bug that produced some erroneous elevation angles in SPLAT! Path Loss
+ Output (-plo option) files was identified and fixed.
+
+* Text documentation in Spanish was added (thanks to Charles Esobar).
+
+* The build scripts were modified to permit successful compilation with
+ bzip2-1.0.4 libraries. (Thanks to Janek, SQ5MJL)
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Release 1.2.0:
+By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (22-Dec-2006):
+
+* All graph plotting has been enhanced to include distances, azimuths,
+ and in some cases, elevation angles, in numeric form. Height
+ plots (-h option) now include a contour of the Earth's curvature.
+ A new -H option was added that behaves the same as -h, except its
+ display of heights is normalized to the heights of the endpoints
+ along the plotted path. Graphs now default to PNG rather than GIF
+ format to reflect gnuplot's current trend away from .gif output.
+ (.gif is still available if your version of gnuplot supports it.)
+ Postscript output is now generated in enhanced color.
+
+* SPLAT! can now determine and plot Fresnel Zone clearances. A new
+ -f command-line option permits the Fresnel Zone frequency (in MHz)
+ to be specified, otherwise it can be determined from .lrp files when
+ path-loss calculations are performed. Antenna height requirements
+ for 60% clearance (0.6 F1) and 100% clearance (F1) of the First
+ Fresnel Zone now appear in Obstruction Reports. These zones are
+ also displayed graphically in height plots (-h or -H options).
+
+* Support for antenna radiation patterns has been added. SPLAT! now
+ reads normalized azimuth and elevation antenna field pattern data
+ from separate .az and .el files when Longley-Rice studies are performed.
+ One degree azimuth and one tenth degree elevation pattern resolution
+ is supported along with azimuthal pattern rotation and mechanical
+ vertical beam tilt.
+
+* A bug in the interpretation of the -n and -N command-line options
+ was fixed.
+
+* Negative geographical coordinates in DMS format are now (hopefully)
+ interpreted and displayed better than before.
+
+* SPLAT! data handling can be changed from imperial units (feet/miles)
+ to metric (meters/kilometers) units using the new -metric switch.
+
+* SPLAT! can now generate topographic maps without plotting
+ line-of-sight or path loss coverage. These maps are centered
+ approximately on the given tx_site, extend out to a radius
+ provided by the -R switch, and can be populated with county
+ boundaries and city names, just like SPLAT!'s traditional
+ line-of-sight and path loss maps.
+
+* Support for user-defined terrain files (ground clutter) has been
+ added.
+
+* SPLAT! can now generate .geo Geo-reference Information Files
+ when .ppm topography and coverage maps are created, permitting
+ the integration of SPLAT! generated maps with X Amateur Station
+ Tracking and Information Reporting (www.xastir.org) software.
+
+* SPLAT! can now generate .kml Keyhole Markup Language files that
+ when imported into "Google Map", dramatically illustrate the RF
+ path between transmitter and receiver locations when performing
+ point-to-point analyses.
+
+* Support for exporting Longley-Rice path loss contour studies to
+ external data files has been included. SPLAT! path loss files can
+ be used for performing coverage or interference studies outside of
+ SPLAT!. They can also be modified externally (with antenna pattern
+ data, for example) through scripts or small utilities, and imported
+ back into SPLAT! to generate coverage maps based on the revised
+ data without having to re-run any time intensive Longley-Rice path
+ loss calculations.
+
+* The documentation was updated to reflect the new features and
+ functionality of the software.
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Release 1.1.1:
+By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (01-Apr-2006):
+
+* An srtm2sdf utility was added to permit SPLAT Data Files to be
+ derived from the latest 3-arc second SRTM (STS-99 Space Shuttle
+ Radar Topography Mission) digital elevation model data. The
+ quality of this data is *significantly* higher than that of older
+ USGS Digital Elevation Models previously used by SPLAT!. Despite
+ the higher quality, some voids in SRTM data sets still exist.
+ When voids are detected, the srtm2sdf utility replaces them with
+ equivalent elevation data found in existing SDF files (presumably
+ generated from older USGS elevation models). If older SDF files
+ are not available, voids are handled through pixel averaging or
+ direct replacement.
+
+* Coding changes were made that in concert with the new srtm2sdf utility
+ should allow SPLAT! to function over all regions of the planet for
+ which SRTM-3 elevation data is available.
+
+* SPLAT's SDF search path priority has been changed. SPLAT! now
+ searches for needed SDF files in the current working directory first.
+ If the needed file isn't found, SPLAT! then searches in the path
+ specified by the -d command-line option, or in the $HOME/.splat_path
+ file.
+
+* The color scheme used by SPLAT! in the generation of Longley-Rice
+ path loss maps was noticeably improved.
+
+* A new command-line option (-db) was added to allow constraints
+ to be placed on the maximum attenuation contours plotted on
+ path loss maps.
+
+* A possible array overflow condition in the ReadPath() function was
+ identified and fixed.
+
+* Some very slight coding modifications were made to permit warning-free
+ compilation under GCC 4.x.x.
+
+* The usgs2sdf utility was modified John Gabrysch (jgabby@gmail.com) to
+ properly handle the latest USGS DEM file format, and to properly scale
+ Alaska tiles.
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
Release 1.1.0:
-By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (29-Jan-2004):
+By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (29-Jan-2004):
* Extensively modified by J. D. McDonald in January 2004 to include
the Longley-Rice propagation model using C++ code from NTIA/ITS.
projects / debian / splat / blobdiff