It's been a long time since the latest major release. A lot have happened during this time. The most important changes are described below. Be sure to look at the SvxLink log on first startup. Especially look for WARNINGs that say that configuration variables have changed. Make changes as instructed and restart SvxLink. It's also a good idea to redo audio calibrations using the devcal and siglevdetcal utilities. When using the SvxReflector it is very important that all nodes use the same levels for audio calibration. Otherwise some nodes will sound weak while other nodes will sound over modulated.
This release introduce talkgroups in the SvxReflector. That make it possible to use the reflector server for multiple parallel QSOs. Node sysops can set up monitoring on selected talkgroups which will make the node automatically select a talkgroup when there is activity on it. There also is a simple mechanism to set priority between monitored talkgroups.
The reflector sysop may configure selected talkgroups in a few ways. There is an auto-QSY feature that can be configured to move nodes, that are actively taking part in a QSO on a talkgroup, to a temporary talkgroup. That will free up the original talkgroup for new calls. A node is classed as active if there have been local activity (e.g. squelch opens) on the node. If a QSY happens and a node has not been active, there will be a chance to follow the QSY by just
pushing the PTT.
SvxLink now also support using multiple CTCSS tones. That is primarily of use to select a reflector talkgroup based on which CTCSS frequency that is used. A transceiver may be programmed with the same RF on multiple memory channels but with different CTCSS frequencies. That will make it easy to choose which talkgroup to use upon first transmission to a SvxLink node.
A SvxLink node can now be configured to use multiple SvxReflector adresses. That allow for simple redundancy where all nodes will switch to a backup node if the primary SvxReflector stops responding.
A new squelch type, COMBINE, enable the use of multiple squelch detectors at the same time. The different squelch types is combined using a logical expression.
The new configuration variable COMMAND_PTY can be used to set up a PTY that can be used to set configuration variables and call TCL functions at runtime. That can be used to externally control behaviour in a running SvxLink instance.
The CTCSS detector has a new mode (4) which now is the default. The new mode is faster and much better at suppressing interference.
SvxLink can now use LADSPA plugins to shape receiver audio. The LADSPA_PLUGINS variable is used to load and configure plugins.
As usual a number of bugs have been fixed. The full list of changes and more details can be found in the full release notes. Information on configuration of new features can be found in the manual pages.