Prior to v1.7.0, it appeared the vfo-0 power level was reported for the level of the Center Frequency signal. This made manual setting of the (no signal) vfo-0 Squelch just above the noise floor quite easy. In v1.7.0 it seems the the reported level is for the strongest signal in the received bandwidth. Example: setting the center frequency to a repeater input, if the repeater is active, the signal level reported is for the repeater output.
Was this change intentional?
In 1.7.0 there is the autosquelch feature which works on the average noise floor. So there’s no need to manually set the squelch anymore.
Any reason why you still want to set the squelch manually?
My first use of auto squelch didn’t seem to work well (couldn’t track weak signals that tracked fine in previous versions). I didn’t really investigate, just went back to manual but the level reporting change made that more difficult because I couldn’t just look at the config screen no-signal level and add a couple db. Reading the spectrum screen on a tablet in the mobile to determine the noise floor is not fun LOL, especially when the spectrum screen auto refresh makes zoom unusable.
How do strong signals in the passband affect the noise floor calculation when there’s no signal on the center frequency?
The signal (or lack of signal) at the center frequency doesn’t matter, it just takes the average noise floor of the spectrum.
Are the weak signals you are tracking well under the auto-threshold that it sets?