Radio Explorer

Radio Explorer is available for free use. You can find free registration information at the Register page. Source code will also eventually be made available under a free and open source license.

This version provides correction for the problem with display of station labels for radio stations with very long names, such as Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy (Malagasy Lutheran Church - Radio Feon'ny Filazantsara) in HFCC schedules, on the time chart. The problem was that the station label was not positioned properly.

This version has been tested on the latest version of Ubuntu Linux operating system, namely on the version 11.04, which was released in April 2011.

This version provides correction for two problems with the display of information about transmitter locations for EiBi schedules. The first problem was that information was not displayed for countries with ITU country codes preceding AFS (the code for the Republic of South Africa) in the alphabetical order. The second problem was that a colon character (:) was sometimes displayed at the end of some transmitter location names.

This version provides correction for a minor problem with the header of the system properties table in the dialog box About Radio Explorer. The header labels did not change when the user interface of Radio Explorer was switched from one language to another.

This version has been tested on the latest version of Ubuntu Linux operating system, namely on the version 10.10, which was released in October 2010. As in the previous version, instructions for installing Java software on the Ubuntu Linux operating system have been updated in the built‑in help of Radio Explorer in order to reflect the recent changes. The Ubuntu Linux software repository, in which the recommended Java software is located, had its name altered so as to make it more descriptive.

This version provides correction for a minor problem with the display of parallel overnight broadcasts, where the pre‐midnight broadcast bar was drawn in the single broadcast style, rather than in the parallel broadcast style.

Additionally, instructions for installing Java software, which is required by Radio Explorer, on the Ubuntu Linux operating system, and instructions for starting Radio Explorer on Ubuntu Linux, have been updated in the built‑in help of Radio Explorer. Now they match the corresponding instructions on this Web site, which were updated soon after the release of the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. The recommended Java software had its name altered, and had been placed into a different Ubuntu Linux software repository. Also, now in order to start Radio Explorer it may be necessary to mark one more file in the Radio Explorer installation directory as executable.

In this version, the frequency bounds of shortwave radio bands have been updated in order to match the current regulations, and the frequency bounds of the mediumwave band have been corrected. The bounds have been modified both in the Frequency combo box on the Query toolbar, and in the corresponding topic in the built‑in help of Radio Explorer.

This is a maintenance version. The security certificate used for digitally signing files that are downloaded when Radio Explorer is installed via the Java Web Start technology, has been replaced with a new one. This has been done because the previous certificate was nearing the end of its validity period.

For this version, instructions for installing Java software, which is required by Radio Explorer, on the Ubuntu Linux operating system have been improved both in the built‑in help of Radio Explorer and on this Web site. The instructions now describe installing Java software as an ordinary application (named Sun Java 6 Runtime) using the Ubuntu Software Center utility, rather than as a lower‐level package (sun-java6-jre) using the Synaptic Package Manager utility.

In this version, an improvement has been made to the time chart. Grid lines that correspond to “round” hours, such as 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 24:00, are now drawn in a more prominent style with thicker stroke, so that it is easier to visually determine the start time and the end time of a broadcast.

In this version, an adjustment has been made in order to take care of the problem with the display of the main Radio Explorer window, which sometimes had some of its parts filled with a checkered‐like pattern. This is done after the problem has been reported by two users.

(previously named 2.6.6 dev 10, under a temporary version naming convention)

This version makes refreshing the solar information values, using data from the Geophysical Alert Message, more robust in regard to minor changes in message format.

In addition to that, this version provides correction for a regression problem, which appeared in an earlier version 2.6.16, and which was related to initializing default user settings.

(previously named 2.6.6 dev 9)

In this version, a correction has been made to the way Radio Explorer reads free‐form information about days on which broadcasts take place, in EiBi schedules.

Also, this version provides correction for two regression problems, which appeared in the previous version 2.6.16. One problem was with improper handling of errors possible when opening schedule files. The other problem was with incorrect reading of geographical latitude information in EiBi schedules.

(previously named 2.6.6 dev 8)

An adjustment has been made that enables Radio Explorer to open the FCC HF Seasonal schedule for the current broadcasting season (winter 2009–2010, B09). The schedule has slightly changed its header format shortly after the end of the previous season (summer 2009, A09).

This version generally completes the Static analysis activity, which started for the previous version, and which is described on the Quality page. Not only Jlint and FindBugs software quality control tools, but also PMD and Checkstyle tools, have been used in preparation of this version.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 7)

This version eliminates warnings produced by software quality control tools Jlint and FindBugs as part of the Static analysis activity, described on the Quality page. The FindBugs tool has been used with its additional third‐party contributed detectors. About a half of all warnings have been eliminated.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 5)

In this version, an adjustment has been made in order to improve Radio Explorer’s compatibility with the Windows 7 operating system.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 4)

Similarly to two previous versions, this is an in‑progress status version, related to internal changes in the development process of Radio Explorer. It reflects the transition of the development process to the Infrastructure for quality assurance, described on the Quality page, as the infrastructure is being built.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 3)

Similarly to the previous version, this is an in‑progress status version, related to internal changes in the development process of Radio Explorer. It reflects the transition of the development process to the Infrastructure for quality assurance, described on the Quality page, as the infrastructure is being built.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 2)

This is an in‑progress status version, related to internal changes in the development process of Radio Explorer. It reflects the transition of the development process to the Infrastructure for quality assurance, described on the Quality page, as the infrastructure is being built.

(previously named 2.6.6 prerelease build 1)

As in an earlier version 2.6.6 beta 1, the minimal allowed value for solar flux has been lowered, also in order to allow for low values observed recently. The minimum value is now 60.

In addition to that, minor adjustments have been made in order to make the distribution zip archive file of Radio Explorer more compact.

(previously named 2.6.6 beta 4)

This version provides correction for a problem with the Print Preview dialog box not being displayed.

Furthermore, this version, similarly to the version 2.6.6beta 1, brings improvement to the way in which information about transmitter locations is displayed in tool tips, also by means of using better formatting.

Finally, this version provides correction for a problem with Radio Explorer improperly handling incorrect user registration information.

(previously named 2.6.6 beta 3)

This version provides correction for a problem with incorrect display of information about transmitter locations for EiBi schedules.

This version also provides correction for a minor problem, due to which information formatted as HTML sometimes was displayed in Radio Explorer incorrectly. This information includes text in message boxes and in tool tips.

In addition to that, this version brings improvement to the layout of labels on the splash screen and on the Splash tab of the About dialog box.

Finally, provided with this version are larger icons for the Radio Explorer application, intended for use on recent operating systems.

(previously named 2.6.6 beta 2)

This version provides correction for a problem with incorrect display of day‐long broadcasts, starting at 00:00 and ending at 24:00 world time (UTC), on the time chart after switching from the world time display mode to the local time display mode.

Similarly to the previous version, this version takes advantage of new features provided by Java software version 6, and makes use of more of them. In particular, Radio Explorer now handles dragging‐and‐dropping of schedule files onto it better, and provides better visual feedback.

In addition to that, now the built‑in help viewer is not forced to always stay on top of modal dialog boxes, such as the Options dialog box. It is now possible to open a modal dialog box in any Radio Explorer window, and this will not affect the help viewer. This is also possible due to new features provided by Java software version 6.

This version also provides correction for another problem with the help viewer. The problem was present on operating systems where the default language is French.

(previously named 2.6.6 beta 1, under a temporary version naming convention)

For this version, detailed instructions have been provided in the built‑in help and on the Radio Explorer Web site for installing both Radio Explorer and Java software, required by Radio Explorer, on the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Also, instructions for uninstalling Radio Explorer have been provided in addition to the instructions on installing and upgrading Radio Explorer on all platforms.

In this version, the minimal allowed value for solar flux has been lowered from 67 to 65, in order to allow for very low values observed recently.

This version provides corrections for several problems. One of these problems was with display of CIRAF zone information for stations, parallel broadcasts, and serial broadcasts, which was sometimes incorrect. Another problem was with very slow scrolling of the MUF chart. One more problem was related to the lack of focus highlight in the Days column for empty stations in HFCC schedules. Minor corrections have been made to the wording of user interface in different languages.

Changes related to schedules include correction for FCC HF Seasonal schedules, for which the broadcast language is now not displayed. Previously it was always displayed as English. There are also adjustments in response to very minor changes in the formats of EiBi and Prime Time Shortwave schedules.

This version also brings improvement to the way in which information about transmitter locations is displayed in tool tips, by means of using better formatting.

Finally, this version takes advantage of some of the new features provided by Java software version 6. In particular, Radio Explorer now uses the user’s default browser for opening Web pages on all operating systems. Also, Radio Explorer now informs operating systems about several differently sized icons, which the operating system can use to display the Radio Explorer icon in various situations.

Radio Explorer has been prepared to take advantage of some of the new features offered by the forthcoming version 6 update 10 of Java software. This update of Java software is also known as the “Consumer JRE”. In particular, Radio Explorer now uses high compression for the files that are downloaded when installing Radio Explorer via Java Web Start. This allows to reduce the total size of these files by a third.

This version provides an adjustment that makes it possible to open the HFCC schedule for the current broadcasting season (summer 2007, A07) using the original schedule zip archive file, without having to manually modify the names of some files contained in the schedule zip archive file.

In addition to that, this version provides correction for the problem with information about the days of week not being displayed correctly in some cases for Prime Time Shortwave schedules, as well as corrections for some minor problems.

It should be noted that there is still a relatively significant known problem in Radio Explorer, with incorrect information about the number of transmitter locations in a schedule displayed on the Statistics tab of the Properties dialog box for EiBi and HFCC schedules. Correction for this problem, as well as corrections for a few minor problems, will be provided in the next version of Radio Explorer, which should be released in the near future.

This version provides adjustments that add support for time‐ordered EiBi schedules in the new format, which changed as compared to the previous, original time‐ordered format during this ending B06, winter 2006–2007 broadcasting season. For details on opening the time‐ordered EiBi schedules in the new format in Radio Explorer, please see the Input Data page.

This version is a response to a minor format change introduced in the latest Prime Time Shortwave schedule, published on May 13, 2006. The Prime Time Shortwave schedules now use the se keyword to designate broadcasts in Special English (a simplified variant of the language), currently offered by the Voice of America. Radio Explorer has been updated to handle this keyword and display language information accordingly. Keywords SpEng and SE, which were previously used for the same purpose, are now also supported. This means that you can query the latest Prime Time Shortwave schedule, as well as previous ones, for broadcasts in Special English using the language criterion.

In addition to that, handling of other keywords has also been improved. Previously, for broadcasts marked with the alt keyword, information displayed in the broadcast notes was the keyword itself. Now the keyword is expanded and broadcast notes display the alternate frequency text. Similarly, for broadcasts marked with the occ keyword, broadcast notes now display the occasional use text.

This version brings corrections for a number of minor problems discovered since the previous release. In particular, information about transmitter locations in EiBi schedules is now handled with increased precision.

Also, this version adds support for DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) broadcasts in EiBi schedules. For stations that contain the DIGITAL keyword in their names, broadcast modulation is assigned the DRM value. Now you can query an EiBi schedule for DRM broadcasts by modulation, and then precise your query by other criteria. It should be noted that with the Prime Time Shortwave schedules, support for DRM broadcasts has already been available.

This version adds two adjustments.

The first one enables Radio Explorer to open the FCC HF Seasonal schedule for the current broadcasting season (winter 2004–2005, B04). The schedule has changed the header format since the previous season (summer 2004, A04).

The second one makes it possible to use Radio Explorer with the latest version of Java software, the “Tiger” 1.5 version. Note that the java.com site, the consumer site for Java software, still installs the previous 1.4.2 version of Java software on user machines by default. You can get the Tiger version free from Sun Microsystems’ Web site by pointing your browser to java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp and then following the Download JRE link. From the user point of view, the Tiger version of Java software better manages Java applications that can be installed via the Java Web Start technology.

This version adds support for the FCC HF Seasonal shortwave broadcasting schedules. More information about this is available on the Input Data page.

This version brings support for viewing all of the supported schedules in the local time mode, in addition to the world time mode.

This version, developed in collaboration with Peter J. Edwards MW5ARR, adds support for Portuguese as an interface language. More information about international features of Radio Explorer is available on the Radio Explorer in Your Language page.

This version, developed in collaboration with Mª Ángeles Barba Sánchez and Peter J. Edwards MW5ARR, adds support for Spanish as an interface language.

This version adds support for refreshing the solar information values, including solar flux, A index, and K index, using data from the Geophysical Alert Message. The solar information values are used for estimating radio signal propagation conditions.

This version, developed in collaboration with Tunç Aytı, adds support for Turkish as an interface language.

Furthermore, starting with this version you can use Radio Explorer to browse through the Prime Time Shortwave broadcasting schedules. Please refer to the Input Data page for details.

Also added in this version is support for monitoring memory usage, a convenient feature if you work with many schedules at once.

Lastly, this version features performance improvements in expanding and collapsing several tree table rows at once, and in the online help system.

This version adds support for programming (thematic) schedules. Now you can open a broadcasting schedule (frequency schedule) and a programming schedule in one view and then query both schedules at once. In particular, SWBC English‐language programming schedules are supported, as are SWBC broadcasting schedules. Please see a large screenshot displaying both of the schedules opened. For more information about the SWBC schedules, see the Input Data page.

This release also adds support for opening multiple program windows, so now you can browse through several schedules at once.

Additionally, in response to user suggestions, support is added for expanding and collapsing several rows of the tree table simultaneously, so that you can easily get overview of the entire expanded schedule.

This version adds significant enhancements to querying schedules in Radio Explorer. Here is the complete list of query criteria available: station name; broadcast language; program name and format; time; frequency; signal modulation, power and azimuth; broadcast target area and CIRAF zones; transmitter location name, country and CIRAF zones. For textual criteria, such as broadcast language, you can specify several query values at once (like English, German). For numeric criteria, which include time, frequency, power, azimuth, target and location zones, you can indicate ranges (spans) and specify several single values and ranges at once (like 3:00, 6:00-9:00 or 5,000; 10,000-15,000). Moreover, with the frequency criteria, you can use shorthand abbreviations for the most common ranges, including meter bands: LW (long waves), MW (medium waves), and short waves starting from 120m (120 meter band) up to 11m (11 meter band).

This is an adjustment release, which provides correction for a problem with opening the HFCC schedule for the current broadcasting season (winter 2003–2004, B03). The problem is due to a very slight format change.

This version also adds support for opening schedule files via drag‐and‐drop.

Starting with this release, a new site is recommended for downloading and installing Java software. The new Java software consumer site is available at java.com.

This version, developed in collaboration with Francesco Di Giovanni, adds support for Italian as an interface language. Please see the Radio Explorer in Your Language page for more information.

Also, some minor corrections have been made to handling EiBi schedules.

This version adds support for Eike Bierwirth’s Comprehensive Schedules, which some consider as the best shortwave guide available on the Internet (for example, visit this link). For more information about the EiBi schedules, see the Input Data page.

In response to user suggestions, starting with this version Radio Explorer displays the latest modification date of a schedule file in the window title bar near the file name.

The scrolling behavior of the Station tree table when using the wheel mouse has been corrected, so that the scrolling direction is now vertical rather than horizontal.

Lastly, this version provides correction for a problem with internal files of the online help, which prevented Radio Explorer from starting on some localized operating systems.

In response to user suggestions, this version comes with the new feature of MUF chart and map printing.

Also, starting with this version Radio Explorer is Java Web Start compliant and can be installed on your machine with a single click on a Web page link.

Sun Microsystems have included Radio Explorer into the Swing Sightings #17 review, which is intended to provide good examples of what is possible with Swing. Swing is a software library by Sun Microsystems used for developing user interfaces on the Java platform.

This maintenance version provides correction for a problem with displaying detailed information about a station or a broadcast in a tool tip.

The first version of Radio Explorer is publicly available.