OpenGD77 Tier 2 Alpha 2 is available for download

The latest version of the OpenGD77 firmware can now be downloaded from this link

https://github.com/rogerclarkmelbourne/OpenGD77/raw/Tier2/firmware_binaries/daily_builds/OpenGD77_Tier2_Alpha_2.sgl

This version is still far from perfect, hence I’m not renaming it as a Beta version, but it is better than the original Alpha version.

Known bugs and other comments

1. Hotspot mode has not been integrated into this version yet as its not stable enough.
2. Your own ID / Callsign will be displayed when using repeaters which have a digital echo.
   I will need to put some sort of masking to prevent the radio from displaying its own ID / TG if its an echo after releasing the PTT when using a repeater.
3. The firmware crashes occasionally
4. The firmware can be made to crash by doing things like changing the channel over and over again in quick succession or switching between modes over and over again , quickly
5. Sometimes the display briefly shows TG 0, or potentially an old ID rather than the current ID, when changing channels or Timeslots.
6. The display occasionally has come pixels in the wrong place, but it normally immediately redraws and the pixels are removed.

New features in this version

1. In Rx when the received signal Rx group does not match the Tx TG the Talk Group is shown in inverse video.
   This is to alert the operator that they will not be transmitting back to the other station on the same TG as the other station is transmitting on.To switch to the TG being used by the other station: Press the Function (blue) key while the TG is being shown in inverse video and the Tx TG will be changed to match the Rx TG.
2. Signal strength bar graph is now shown on the Channel and VFO screens.
   This is not highly accurate and as intended as a guide to the signal strength. If you need a dbM measurement of the signal use the RSSI screen, but even then each GD-77 has slightly different Rx sensitivity so the dBm value is not guaranteed to be that accurate.
3. TimeSlot filtering works a lot better than in the previous version.
4. ID and TG number display should only be for the currently selected TimeSlot.
5. The Orange button now accesses a context sensitive menu on the Channel and VFO screen.
   Currently this only has a few functions.
   On the VFO screen, the VFO freqs can be changes e.g. Tx / Rx swapped, or both frequencies set to the Rx frequency.
   On the Channel screen there is only one function, which copies the Channel data to the VFO