PlanePlotter 6.5.1.2 Released

[Triple7]

From Bev,

Hi,

PlanePlotter version 6.5.1.2 is on the web site now.

http://www.planeplotter.com#download

---Usual boilerplate---
Updates are free to registered users.
You may need to exercise your browser Refresh function to force it to show you the new version of the PlanePlotter web page. If you post a message complaining that the web site is still pointing to an earlier version, you pay a forfeit!
You can install the new version over the old one but you *must* close/exit PlanePlotter before installing the new one. Your settings will be preserved. Nic's installer will warn you if PlanePlotter is still running when you try to install the new version.
If you have a version-specific firewall (eg Zone Alarm), you may have to reassure it that the new version is permitted to access the Internet. Be aware that an increasing number of security systems treat any new file as a threat without any justification except that it is new. Please don't write to me about it; write to your security system provider and ask them to make their program smarter.
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New in version 6.5.1.2

Mode-C window size

This release should fix a problem with the size of the Mode-C window becoming corrupted.

Circles method for Mode-A pings

This release includes support for the "Circles" method to display the approximate location of a Mode-A squawk in situations where an Mlat is not successful.  A set of circles centred on each responding Ground Station, shows the Venn diagram indicating the area within which the aircraft is likely to be located.  You need to turn on the Circles method for this feature to show.
Options..Chart..Circle sharers..Enable/Circle fill.

Automated registry backup

This version saves all the current settings to the registry every hour.  Previously, the settings were only stored in the registry when the program closed in the normal way.  However, if the program closed unexpectedly, for example in a power cut, the settings were lost.  Now they will usually be restored when the program restarts.

Matching Mode-A and Mode-C squawks

This version performs a statistical analysis on the Mode-A and Mode-C pings that are received, in order to associate an altitude with a Mode-A XXnnnn aircraft.  Since these squawks have no checksum, the result is by no means guaranteed to be correct but the option may be useful in some circumstances.  View..Aircraft list display options..Mode-A/C..Attempt squawk/altitude correlation.

New option for dump1090-fa users

User who are running dump1090-fa on a Raspberry Pi to interface an RTL dongle or equivalent to PlanePlotter, should now be able to turn on Mode-A/C reception with the new option :
Options...Mode-S receiver..RTL dongle RPi dump1090..dump1090-fa mode ac

Mode-S/ADS-B Squawk code reception

For historical reasons, previous releases of PlanePlotter retrieved the current squawk code from DF5 and DF21 messages but not from DF17 messages.  This release adds the detection of the current squawk from DF17 messages.  In some areas, the DF17 sub-format is much more common than the other two formats, leading to a delay in displaying the squawk code.  That issue is resolved in this release.  Thanks to Dan Henry for spotting this long standing lacuna.

Enjoy
Bev
COAA


Tim