SpotCollector Online Help Contents
Spots arriving from spot sources are used to create entries in SpotCollector's Spot Database. Each Spot Database Entry represents a single DX station operating in the same mode around the same frequency over an interval of time. When a spot arrives, SpotCollector
discards it if its too old (make sure your PC is set to the correct time zone and local time!)
discards it if Pre-filtering is enabled and it matches one of the Pre-filtering criteria
checks to see if there's already a Spot Database Entry for the spotted DX station in the same mode around the same frequency that is still active
if so, the existing entry is updated
if not, a new entry is created
The information recorded in a Spot Database Entry is obtained from
the incoming spot, e.g. DX station's callsign, frequency, mode, time, spotting station's callsign
the incoming spot's notes (if enabled), e.g. DX station's gridsquare, DX station's IOTA tag, spotting station's gridsquare
a specified DXKeeper log, e.g. award progress for the DX station's entity, entity-band, and entity-mode
performing a DXCC or USAP Database lookup on the DX callsign's (if enabled), e.g. DX station's DXCC prefix, gridsquare, CQ zone, ITU zone, IOTA tag, continent
performing a DXCC or USAP Database lookup on the spotting station's callsign (if enabled), e.g. spotting station's gridsquare
A table describing each of a Spot Database Entry's fields is available here.
DXClusters running DX Spider software can be configured to append the spotting station's Maidenhead gridsquare to each spot. DXKeeper can properly decode spots with appended gridsquares, and will record such gridsquares in the Spot Database's OriginGrid field. To enable a cluster running DX Spider to append spotting station gridsquares, enter the following command:
set/dxgrid
Access to and management of the Spot Database is accomplished via controls in the Spot Database Window . The most important of these controls is the Spot Database Display - a grid that displays several Spot Database entries. Expanding the height of the Spot Database window will increase the number of Spot Database entries visible in the Spot Database Display, and expanding the width of this window will increase the number of fields visible in each entry. You can reformat the Spot Database Display's field order and field widths.
The Spot Database Display shows a subset of
all Spot
Database Entries ; the number of QSOs in this subset is displayed in the
main window's title bar. Specifying this
subset is referred to as Filtering the
Spot Database. You can control the order
in which entries appear in the Spot Database Display, as well as the order
of the columns used to display each entry's contents. Whether all columns in the
Spot Database Display will be simultaneously visible depends on their number and
width, as well as the width of the Main window. If all columns are not simultaneously
visible, a horizontal scrollbar will be
displayed along the bottom of the Spot Database Display; you can use this scrollbar
to select the columns you wish to see. The small
black rectangle to the left of the horizontal scrollbar can be dragged to the
right to split the Spot Database Display into two independently scrollable sets of
columns. You can adjust the boundary between the two sets by dragging the black
rectangle to the left of the horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the
right-hand set of columns; to eliminate the right-hand set of columns, drag its
black rectangle all the way to the left.
DXLab provides Realtime Award Tracking service for seven award families and for callsign leaderboard competitions. The creation of a Spot Database Entry for a station with whom a QSO would advance your progress towards one of these awards or competitions can trigger and audible announcement or email message; such an Entry will be highlighted as needed.
Callsigns whose leaderboard board competitions you're pursuing are identified with an entry in the Special Callsign List tagged with Leaderboard. SpotCollector interoperates with DXKeeper, DXLab's logging program, to obtain
ARRL DXCC objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing confirmed QSOs on the reported band and mode, as specified in the DXCC/Top Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
ARRL VUCC objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing QSOs on the reported band, as specified on the VUCC Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
ARRL WAS objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing QSOs on the reported band and mode, as specified on the WAS Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
CQ DX Marathon objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing QSOs on the reported band and mode, as specified on the Marathon Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
CQ WAZ objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing confirmed QSOs on the reported band and mode, as specified in the WAZ Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
CQ WPX objectives, which indicate whether or not you are pursuing QSOs on the reported band and mode, as specified on the WPX Bands & Modes panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
IOTA objectives, as specified on the IOTA panel on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's Config window
realtime award tracking - information indicating
whether or not you've worked and/or confirmed a spotted station's CQ country, CQ zone, DXCC entity, Maidenhead Gridsquare, OTA Group, US State, or WPX Prefix on the reported band or mode
whether or not you've worked the spotted station on the reported band or mode
Award objectives are determined from information DXKeeper maintains in the Windows registry; thus DXKeeper need not be running for SpotCollector to appropriately characterize spots. realtime award tracking information is obtain from a DXKeeper log file. You can configure SpotCollector to
consult the log file that was last opened by DXKeeper, and automatically switch to any new log opened in DXKeeper
ask the operator to choose when a log is opened in DXKeeper that is different than the one currently being consulted by SpotCollector
specify a log file to be consulted independently of what log file was last opened in DXKeeper
If you use only one log file in DXKeeper, then SpotCollector's out-of-the-box setting is appropriate (ask the operator for guidance when a log is opened in DXKeeper that is different than the one currently being consulted by SpotCollector). If you use DXKeeper to maintain logs of QSOs made from multiple DXCC entities, you'll find it convenient to specify that SpotCollector always consult the log associated with your home station; this keeps SpotCollector focused on the correct source of award progress when you use DXKeeper to open one of the other logs for QSO confirmation, QSL generation, or other activities.
The term counter refers to the object of an award for which realtime award tracking information is provided in the currently-open log:
for ARRL DXCC awards, the counter is a DXCC entity
for ARRL VUCC awards, the counter is a Maidenhead Gridsquare
for ARRL WAS awards, the counter is a US State
for CQ WAZ awards, the counter is a CQ zone.
for CQ Marathon awards, the counter is a CQ country or CQ zone
for CW WPX awards, the counter is a WPX prefix
for RSGB IOTA awards, the counter an IOTA Group
Using the objectives specified on the DXCC/Top panel on DXKeeper's Awards tab and realtime award tracking information from the specified log, SpotCollector places each Spot Database Entry into one of five categories:
unworked counter: a QSO with this station will be your first with an unworked counter towards an award for which realtime award tracking is enabled
unworked band or mode: a QSO with this station will be your first with the counter on a band or mode or band-mode combination you're pursuing towards an award for which realtime award tracking information is provided, or will be your first with a Leaderboard callsign on the entry's band or in the entry's mode
unconfirmed: a confirmed QSO with this station will advance your progress against your objectives towards an award for which realtime award tracking is enabled
unneeded: a QSO with this station will not advance your progress against your objectives towards an award for which realtime award tracking is enabled, but you do not have award credit for the station's counter, counter-band (if being pursued), counter-mode (if being pursued), or counter-band-mode (if being pursued)
verified: a QSO with this station will not advance your progress against your objectives because for each award for which realtime award tracking is enabled, you have QSOs to which the award sponsor has granted credit with the station's counter, counter-band (if being pursued), counter-mode (if being pursued), or counter-band-mode (if being pursued)
SpotCollector considers the Entry for a station that you've already worked on the Entry's band and in the Entry's mode to be unneeded, because another QSO with this station on the Entry's band and in the Entry's mode will not increase your chances of obtaining a confirmation of the Entity's counter(s), counter-band(s), or counter-mode(s).
When the currently-open DXKeeper log provides realtime award tracking information for more than one award -- e.g. DXCC and WAZ -- a Spot Database Entry's category is determined by the award for which the Entry is most needed. The unworked counter category is considered the most needed, and the verified category is considered the least needed.
By default, unworked counter Spot Database Entries and unworked band or mode or band-mode Spot Database Entries are rendered with a red font, unconfirmed Spot Database Entries with a blue font, and unneeded and verified Spot Database Entries with a black font; you can modify these colors via the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab. A Color codes panel summarizing these font colors is displayed to the right of the Main window's Filter panel if window width permits; double-clicking the phrase Color codes directs SpotCollector to display the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab.
Spot Database entries that would give you a duplicate QSO -- i.e. with a callsign you've already worked -- for an unconfirmed band, mode, or counter are categorized as unneeded rather than unconfirmed. For example, suppose you have already worked, but not yet confirmed VU4DX on 20m SSB. Spot Database Entries for VU4DX on 20m SSB will be rendered in black - even though you don't have VU4 confirmed; that's because another QSO with VU4DX on 20m SSB will not advance your awards progress. However, Spot Database Entries for VU4DY on 20m SSB would be colored blue, as working this station would give you a new way to confirm VU4 on 20m and SSB.
There are three ways to determine why a Spot Database Entry is colored unworked counter, unworked band or mode or band-mode, or unconfirmed, each revealing progressively more information:
Examine the contents of the Entry's Needed field (assuming it's present in the Spot Database Display):
D means the entry's DXCC entity is needed for a DXCC or TopList award
G means the entry's Gridsquare is needed for a VUCC award
I means the entry's IOTA Group is needed for an IOTA award
L means the entry's callsign is the target of a Leaderboard competition
M means the entry's CQ Country is needed for a Marathon award
N means the entry's CQ Zone is needed for a Marathon award
P means the entry's WPX Prefix is needed for a WPX award
S means the entry's US State is needed for a WAS award
Z
means the entry's CQ Zone is needed for a WAZ award
Let
the mouse cursor hover for a few seconds over the Entry's callsign field; an
explanatory popup will appear that explains in more detail why the Entry is
needed
Right-click the Entry and select the Display Award Tracking menu entry; SpotCollector will display its Realtime Award Tracking window, which shows progress towards each award for which realtime award tracking information is provided in the currently-open log.
If you have never installed or executed DXKeeper, then the Seek everything setting determines whether SpotCollector assumes that every Spot Database Entry is needed or unneeded.
SpotCollector can also generate an audio alarm whenever a needed or special Spot Database Entry is created. Settings in the Audio Alarm panel on the Config window's General tab allow you to
enable or disable the audio alarm, and automatically re-enable the alarm after 15 minutes
specify that the award counters, band, and mode should be announced; if realtime award tracking information is provided for more than one award in the currently open DXKeeper log and a Spot Database Entry is needed for more than one award, each award's counter is announced (e.g. "Yemen, zone 39, on 12 meters, RTTY, Marathon"
specify that only unworked counters should be announced, or that both unworked and unconfirmed DXCC entities should be announced
suppress CQ Marathon announcements (useful early in the year when the number of countries and zones needed would be overwhelming if announced)
specify whether the needed or special callsigns are to be announced letter by letter and if so, whether phonetics should be used
specify a .wav file to serve as the audio alarm instead of the DXCC country, band, and mode announcement
specify that a specific sound file be played after announcing a Spot Database Entry whose callsign is known to participate in Logbook of the World
specify that a specific sound file be played after announcing a Spot Database Entry whose callsign is known to participate in eQSL.cc
specify that the alarm should be triggered whenever a newly-created unworked Spot Database Entry is created, or only if this entry passes the Band, Mode, Origin, Continent, LotW, and eQSL filters.
test the audio alarm to verify proper volume settings
specify the names of folders containing
the .wav files used to announce entities, bands, and modes
the .wav files used to announce callsigns alphanumerically
the .wav files used to announce callsigns phonetically
Each Spot Database Entry includes award progress information obtained the log file referenced for award progress. If you modify or delete a logged QSO in DXKeeper, SpotCollector is automatically directed to update this award progress information. If you are planning to modify or delete many QSOs in DXKeeper, it may be more efficient to disable these automatic updates, perform one update after all changes have been made, and then re-enable automatic updates. If automatic updates are left disabled, SpotCollector may incorrectly identify Spot Database Display entries for needed stations.
If you change logs in DXKeeper while SpotCollector is running, SpotCollector will give you the choice of continuing to check progress against the previously-opened log, or switching to the new log.
The file LotW.mdb is a database containing callsigns known to participate in the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LotW); recent versions of this database include each callsign's "date of last upload to LotW". If at startup, LotW.mdb is present in DXView's Databases folder or in SpotCollector's Databases folder, then SpotCollector will set the LotW item of each Spot Database Entry it creates to indicate whether or not the entry's callsign is a known Logbook of the World participant; if LotW.mdb is not present in DXView's or SpotCollector's Databases folders, then each Spot Database Entry's LotW item will be set to 'N'. If the LotW Database includes "date of last upload to LotW" information, then you can also specify the maximum age of a station's last upload to LotW; callsigns listed in LotW Database but with a "date of last upload" older than the specified age will not be considered to be an LotW participant. You can obtain the most recent LotW.mdb via the Databases tab of DXView's Databases folder.
By default, Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are not known to participate in Logbook of the World and not Authenticity Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc are rendered with a white background; Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are known to participate in Logbook of the World are rendered with a yellow background, unless they are also Authenticity Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc -- in which case they are rendered with a light blue (cyan) background. You can modify these colors via the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab.
Checking the Announce LotW participation box directs SpotCollector to identify announced Spot Database entries whose callsigns are known to participate in Logbook of the World.
The file eQSLAG.mdb is a database containing Authenticity Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc. If at startup, eQSLAG.mdb is present in DXView's Databases folder or in SpotCollector's Databases folder, then SpotCollector will set the eQSL item of each Spot Database Entry it creates to indicate whether or not the entry's callsign is an Authenticity Guaranteed member; if eQSLAG.mdb is not present in DXView's or SpotCollector's Databases folders, then each Spot Database Entry's eQSL item will be set to 'N'. You can obtain the most recent eQSLAG.mdb via the Databases tab of DXView's Databases folder. .
By default, Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are not Authenticity Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc and not known to participate in Logbook of the World are rendered with a white background. Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are known to participate in Logbook of the World are rendered with a pink background, unless they are also known to participate in Logbook of the World -- in which case they are rendered with a light blue (cyan) background You can modify these colors via the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab.
Checking the Announce eQSL participation box directs SpotCollector to identify announced Spot Database entries whose callsigns are Authenticity Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc.
To change the width of a column in the Spot Database Display, position the cursor over the vertical line to the left or right of the column's caption; when properly positioned, the cursor will change to the Windows border adjustment cursor, allowing you to click and drag the column border to either expand or contract the column width as desired.
To change the order of columns in the Spot Database Display, click on the caption of a column you wish to relocate. Then click-and-drag the column until the two red positioning triangles indicate the desired new location.
To specify which fields appear as columns in the Spot Database Display, the caption appearing at the top of each column, and the alignment of each information in each column, use the Layout panel in the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab.
To split the Spot Database Display into two independently scrollable sets of columns, use the black rectangle to the left of the horizontal scroll bar. Using the left mouse button to click-and-drag this rectangle to the right will create a second set of columns. To eliminate this second set of columns, click-and-drag this rectangle back to the left margin.
To change the format used to display dates and times in the FirstTime, LastTime, and RcvdTime fields, use the Configuration window's dates and times setting.
Using the radio buttons in the Spot Database window's Sort panel, you can sort the Spot Database Display in order of
| Sort | Description | Field | Order |
| First | sort by the UTC time (extracted from spot) each DX station was first spotted | FirstTime | per Date & Time Sort Order panel |
| Last | sort by the UTC time (extracted from spot) each DX station was most recently spotted | LastTime | per Date & Time Sort Order panel |
| Rcv | sort by the UTC time (from PC) each DX station was most recently spotted | RcvdTime | per Date & Time Sort Order panel |
| Call | sort by each spotted DX station's callsign | Callsign | ascending |
| Freq | sort by each spotted DX station's frequency | Frequency | ascending |
| Az | sort by each spotted DX station's azimuth (short path antenna heading) | Azimuth | ascending |
You can sort by any column in the Spot
Database Display by
double-clicking on its caption. The first time you do this, the Spot Database Display
will be sorted in ascending order of the selected column; if you double-click
the caption again,
the Spot Database Display will be sorted in descending order. The Sort panel's
caption will indicate how the Spot Database Display is being sorted by displaying the
caption of the Spot Database Display column you double-clicked, followed by the word desc
if the order is descending.
Through the use of filters, you can direct SpotCollector to limit the display of Spot Database Entries to those that match specific criteria, such as
only Spot Database Entries for SV2ASP/A
only Spot Database Entries for stations on 6m working CW
only Spot Database Entries for stations from Mongolia on 80m spotted from Europe
only Spot Database Entries for stations whose DXCC entities you haven't confirmed on CW
only Spot Database Entries for African, European, or Asian stations on 160m that were spotted from the North American East coast.
only Spot Database Entries known to QSL via the ARRL's Logbook of the World
When you specify a filter, the Spot Database Display immediately hides all Spot Database entries that don't conform. Spot Database Entries created after you specify a filter are added to the Spot Database, but only appear in the Spot Database Display if they conform to the current filter. If you modify or clear the current filter, the Spot Database Display is immediately updated to show only conforming entries. The number of entries in the Spot Database Display is shown in the Main window's title bar.
SpotCollector also provides a more fine-grained mechanism for controlling the Spot Database Display: any individual Spot Database Entry can be designated as hidden. You can further specify a set of keywords that, if found in a spot's notes, will automatically designate its Spot Database Entry as hidden; the words pirate and slim are good candidates for this list. You can review all hidden entries and, if desired, un-hide them.
The Spot Database window's Filter panel provides the means by which you specify the current filter. The Filter panel's caption displays the current filter within square brackets, for example
Filter: [call=SV2ASP/A]
which means that the Spot Database Display only shows entries whose callsign is SV2ASP/A and that have not been individually hidden . If the current filter is empty, then the Filter Panel's caption will be
Filter: None
which means that the Spot Database Display shows every Spot Database Entry except those that were hidden.
The Spot Database window's filter panel provides three groups of filters: General, Context, and SQL. The General and Context filters work together, with the relationship between them being AND; when applied, an SQL filter completely governs the display of Spot Database Entries, independent of the General and Context filters.
The five General filter buttons let you choose one of five criteria; some of these criteria reference the contents of the General Expression textbox, located on the left side of the Filter panel.
| Button | Description | General Expression | ||||||||||||||||||
| Need | When clicked
without the Ctrl key being depressed, displays only
unhidden Spot
Database Entries with whom a QSO would advance your progress towards the
DXCC, IOTA, Leaderboard, Marathon, VUCC WAS, WAZ or WPX awards on the
bands and modes specified on the Awards tab of
DXKeeper's
configuration window.
When clicked with the Ctrl key being depressed, displays only unhidden Spot Database Entries for needed DXCC entities. In either case, the Need Filter Mode setting determines whether unworked, or both unworked and unconfirmed Spot Database Entries are displayed. When unchecked, the Mrthn checkbox beneath the Need filter button removes CQ DX Marathon as a consideration in identifying and highlighting needed Spot Database Entries; this is useful early in the year when the large number of entries needed for CQ DX Marathon might make it difficult to notice entries needed for DXCC or WAZ. |
not used | ||||||||||||||||||
| Call |
Displays only unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations whose callsign is specified in the General Expression textbox |
callsign | ||||||||||||||||||
| DXCC |
Displays only unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations whose DXCC entity is the same as the DXCC entity of the callsign or callsign fragment specified in the General Expression textbox (taking Overrides into account) |
DXCC prefix | ||||||||||||||||||
| Freq |
Displays only unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations spotted on frequencies near the current transceiver frequency as reported by Commander and younger than a specified age (this option is not available if Commander is not running) |
not used | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tag |
Displays only
unhidden Spot
Database Entries for DX stations that contain a Special
Callsign Tag that matches the tag specified in the General Expression
textbox
|
You can use * (asterisk) as a wildcard character when specifying either callsigns or DXCC prefixes in the General Expression textbox. For example,
*K6MIO*
will match KH6/K6MIO, K6MIO, and K6MIO/KH6.
Typing a callsign into the General Expression textbox and striking the Enter key is equivalent to clicking the Call filter button. In addition, the following keyboard shortcuts are effective in the General Expression textbox:
CTRL-C - equivalent to clicking the Call filter button
CTRL-D - equivalent to clicking the DXCC filter button
CTRL-F - equivalent to clicking the Freq filter button
CTRL-S - filters the Spot Database Display with the SQL expression in the General Expression textbox
CTRL-T - equivalent to clicking the Tag filter button
With Commander running, enabling both the Frequency Filter and Frequency sort automatically shows recent spots near your transceiver frequency as you QSY. You can enable the Mode and/or Origin filter for additional specificity.
When you right-click on a Spot Database Entry, SpotCollector displays a pop-up menu, once of whose items will display unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations spotted on frequencies near the Entry's frequency and younger than a specified age.
To clear the General filters, click the button labeled X to the immediate right of the General Expression textbox. When the these filters are cleared, Spot Database Display shows all unhidden Spot Database Entries that conform to the four Context filters: Band, Mode, Continent, and Origin filters.
SpotCollector six Context filters let you specify criteria independent of the General filters. When more than one Context filter is enabled, the is result is the AND of each enabled filter; for example, if you specify a band filter of 80m and a mode filter of CW, then the resulting filter will be "band is 80m AND mode is CW".
The Band Filter enables you to display only unhidden
Spot Database entries for DX stations spotted on
frequencies within specified bands; clicking the Filter panel's Band
button displays the Band Filter window, with Enable checkboxes for each amateur band
from 160m to 12cm. This window also provides buttons that toggle groups of band
checkboxes on or off; these allow you to, for example, enable all three WARC
bands with a single mouse click, or disable the 6m, 4m, 2m, and 1.25m VHF
bands with two mouse clicks. The Spot Database Display will not show Spot Database entries with
frequencies in bands having Band Filter boxes un-checked. If Commander
is running, checking the Transceiver Band Only box will automatically
keep the Band filter set only show spots for your transceiver's current band;
this feature is currently limited to 160m through 2m. SpotCollector retains a
history of the most recent 16 Band filter configurations; you can navigate
within this history using the Band filter's 
and 
buttons to travel backward and forward respectively. Moving backward means
returning to a filter configuration that you have previously applied. Moving
forward is only applicable after you have moved backward, effectively "undoing"
each backward move..
If you check the Enable Start/End & Max Origin DX Filtering box, then you can optionally specify the following additional filtering rules for each band individually:
a starting and ending UTC time (either an absolute time, or as an offset in minutes from the current Sunrise or Sunset time)
a maximum distance between your QTH location and the closest station to have spotted the DX station, in miles or kilometers
When you specify a band's Start UTC or End UTC settings, Spot Database Entries whose frequencies are in this band will only be visible when the current UTC time is after the Start UTC and before the End UTC specified for that band. To temporarily disable "Start/End UTC" filtering for all bands, check the Ignore panel's Start & End times box.
You can only modify a band's starting UTC time, ending UTC time, or maximum distance to closest spotting station if that band's Enable box is unchecked. Typically, one would uncheck a band's Enable box, specify or update these settings, and then check the band's Enable box to put those settings into action. To specify an absolute UTC time, simply enter that time; for example, if you want to filter out Spot Database Entries that occur on 80m before 0900Z, then enter 0900 into the 80m band's Start UTC textbox. To specify a UTC time relative to sunrise or sunset, use the format SR+X, SR-X, SS+X, or SS-X where SR refers to the current sunrise time, SS refers to the current sunset time, and X is an offset in minutes. To filter out Spot Database Entries that occur on 160m starting 45 minutes after sunrise, for example, type SR+45 into the 160m band's End UTC textbox.
You can specify the current sunrise and sunset times in the Band Filter window's Sunrise & Sunset panel, but you must check the Ignore panel's Start & End times box before modifying the Sunrise UTC or Sunset UTC and then uncheck the Ignore panel's Start & End times box after completing these modifications. If you are running DXView version 2.8.9 or later, the Sunrise UTC or Sunset UTC will automatically be updated at 0Z each day, eliminating the need to manually keep these settings up to date;. Double-clicking the Sunrise UTC or Sunset UTC with the Ignore panel's Start & End times box unchecked will obtain an updated Sunrise or Sunset time from DXView, if running.
If you specify an invalid starting or ending time, it will be rendered in red font.
If you type a distance into a band's Max origin DX textbox, the band's Enable box will be disabled. After completing the entry or modification of this distance, check the band's Enable box; only Spot Database Entries on this band whose distance to the closest spotting station is equal to or less than the specified Max origin DX will be visible in the Spot Database Display. To temporarily disable "maximum distance to closest spotting station" filtering for all bands, check the Ignore panel's Max origin DX box.
SpotCollector can be configured to determine a spotting station's location as a Maidenhead gridsquare by
extracting the spotting station's gridsquare from spot notes, if present: enable Capture location info from notes
capturing the spotting station's gridsquare provided by DX clusters running DX Spider software that have been enabled with the set/dxgrid command
if the spotting station's gridsquare has not been extracted from spot notes or provided by a DX cluster, by performing a lookup on the spotting station's callsign in the DXCC or USAP Database: enable Lookup missing location info
If desired, you can place the set/dxgrid command in the Spot Sources tab's initial cluster command so that SpotCollector will automatically configure all enabled clusters to provide spotting station GridSquares when connecting to the cluster.
The Mode filter enables you to display only unhidden Spot Database entries for DX stations spotted in specified modes; clicking the Filter panel's Mode button displays the Mode Filter window, with checkboxes for several amateur modes. The Spot Database Display will not show Spot Database entries with modes having Mode Filter boxes un-checked.
The Continent filter enables you to display only unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations located in specified continents; clicking the Filter panel's Cont button displays the Continent Filter window, with checkboxes for each of the seven continents. The Spot Database Display will not show Spot Database entries with continents having Continent Filter boxes unchecked. Unchecking the Continent filter's ? (unknown) checkbox is an effective way to suppress the display of Spots whose callsigns do not map to a DXCC entity; such Spots are generally bogus.
The Origin filter enables you to display only unhidden Spot Database entries for DX stations spotted from specified geographic locations; clicking the Filter panel's Origin button displays the Origin Filter window, with checkboxes for the geographic locations shown in the following table. The Spot Database Display will not show Spot Database entries not spotted from any geographic location having Origin Filter boxes checked. Note that a particular DX station may have been spotted from multiple geographic locations.
| Origin Checkbox | Geographic Location |
| NA-E | the North American east coast, including North American stations in CQ zones 2, 5, and 8 |
| NA-M | the North American mid-west, including North American stations in CQ zones 4, 6, and 7 |
| NA-W | the North American west coast, including North American stations in CQ zones 1 and 3 |
| SA | South America |
| EU | Europe |
| AF | Africa |
| AS | Asia |
| OC | Oceania |
| ? | unknown |
Enabling the Age filter by checking the Filter panel's Age box will hide all Spot Database Entries whose RcvdTime is older than the specified Maximum age. If the Filter panel's caption is not
Filter: None
or
Filter: SQL
and the specified Maximum age is greater than 0, the current filter will be re-applied at the beginning of each new minute, hiding Spot Database Entries whose RcvdTime has become too old unless AutoScroll is disabled or activities like recomputing, pruning, or compacting the Spot Database are underway.
Filtering by LotW Participation
If the LotW callsign Database LotW.mdb is present in DXView's or SpotCollector's Database folder at startup, you can limit the display of Spot Database Entries to those whose callsigns are known to participate in the ARRL's Logbook of the World by checking the Filter panel's LotW box.
Filtering by Authenticity Guaranteed eQSL.cc Participation
If the Authenticity
Guaranteed eQSL.cc Callsign Database eQSLAG.mdb is present in DXView's or SpotCollector's Database
folder at startup, you can limit the display of Spot Database Entries to those whose
callsigns
are Authenticity
Guaranteed members of eQSL.cc by checking the Filter panel's
eQSL box.
SQL filters enable complete control over the display of Spot Database Entries through the specification of SQL expressions that reference Spot Database Fields. You can specify up to 32 SQL expressions, organized as 4 groups of 8, that can used to filter the Spot Database Display by a button click. You can also directly type an SQL expression in the Filter panel and use it to filter the Spot Database Display by striking CTRL-S.
The Filter panel provides 4 buttons around the letter S:
clicking the button to the northwest of S provides access to SQL filters 1 to 8 via the Filter panel's 8 SQL filter buttons
clicking the button to the northeast of S provides access to SQL filters 9 to 16 via the Filter panel's 8 SQL filter buttons
clicking the button to the southwest of S provides access to SQL filters 17 to 24 via the Filter panel's 8 SQL filter buttons
clicking the button to the southeast of S provides access to SQL filters 25 to 32 via the Filter panel's 8 SQL filter buttons
Depressing the Ctrl key while clicking an SQL filter button displays SpotCollector's SQL Filter window, which allows you to specify a button caption and SQL expression for each of the 4 groups of 8 SQL filters.
The Spot Database fields selector lists the name of each Spot Database Entry field; double-clicking in an SQL expression textbox in this window will append the selected field name to that textbox.
To display or edit an SQL expression that's so long that it's not entirely visible within its textbox, click in the expression's textbox to select it, and then click the Expand button; to make all of the group's SQL expressions visible again, click the Contract button.
To save all 32 SQL filters to a text file, click the Save button; to restore all SQL filters from a text file, click the Restore button. These functions can be used as a backup mechanism before making significant changes to an SQL expression, or to maintain multiple sets of SQL filters optimized for different operating conditions. The pathname of the file to which all 32 SQL filters were last saved or from which they were last restored is displayed in the SQL Filters window's title bar.
When you click one of the Filter panel's 8 SQL filter buttons, the Spot Database is filtered using the SQL expression associated with the clicked button, completely ignoring the Need, Call, DXCC, Freq, Band, Mode, Continent, Origin, LotW, eQSL, and Hidden filters. The Filter panel caption indicates an active SQL filter with the word SQL followed by the caption of the SQL filter button you clicked within square brackets, for example
Filter: SQL [DX 80]
An SQL filter remains in force until you click another SQL filter, or until you click the Filter panel's Need, Call, DXCC, or Freq filter buttons.
Operators
A simple SQL query that shows only spots of OH2BH would be
Callsign='OH2BH'
which employs the
= operator. We could have simply used the main window's Call filter to accomplish that
query, but
(Callsign='OH2BH') AND (SpotTime >
#2011-10-01
12:00#)
shows how to use the AND operator
to incorporate a constraint on the Spot Database Entry's reception time, in this case
showing only Entries received after noon UTC on October 1, 2011. Notice the use of the
ISO date format, which is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
. In SQL, date constants must be enclosed between # symbols.
(Callsign='OH2BH') AND (SpotTime BETWEEN
#2011-10-01 12:00# and #2011-10-02 12:00#)
illustrates the use of the BETWEEN
operator to see only Entries received within a
specified date/time range.
(Callsign='OH2BH') OR (Callsign='OH2BE')
shows all Spot Database Entries for the Laine family, illustrating the use of the
OR operator.
Here's a sample SQL filter expression an east coast DXer might use to display DX spots on 80m:
(Band='80m') and ((NAE='Y') or (NAM='Y')) and ((Cont='EU') or (Cont='SA') or (Cont='AS') or (Cont='OC'))
When activated, this SQL filter will display only Spot Database entries for stations
and
and
Here's the full list of comparison and logical operators you can use to create
| Operator | Meaning | Example |
| = | equal to | Callsign='FT5ZM' |
| < | less than | LastTime < #2014-01-24 12:00# |
| <= | less than or equal to | LastTime < #2014-01-24 12:00# |
| > | greater than | FirstTime > #2014-01-25 1:00# |
| >= | greater than or equal to | FirstTime >= #2014-01-25 1:00# |
| <> | not equal to | Mode <> 'SSB' |
| Like | used to match a pattern | Callsign Like 'FT5*' |
| Between...And | used to specify a range of values | FirstTime Between #2014-01-25 12:00# And #2014-01-25 18:00# |
| In | used to specify a set of values | Mode In ('PSK','PSK63','MFSK8','MFSK16') |
| Operator | Meaning | Example |
| And | both conditions must be true | (Band='160m') And (Mode <> 'SSB') |
| Or | either condition can be true | (Region = 'Krasnodar') Or (Region = 'Krasnoyarsk') |
| Not | logical inversion | (DXCCPrefix='K') And Not (Primary='PA') |
SQL provides the LIKE operator and wildcard characters to enable broader searches by specifying a pattern, for example
Callsign LIKE 'VK9*'
which shows all Spot Database Entries with callsigns whose first three characters are VK9. The Asterisk wildcard character matches 0 or more characters. The Question Mark wildcard character matches exactly one character. Thus
Callsign LIKE 'VK9?'
shows all Entries for VK9X, but not those for VK9DX or VK9RY.
(DXCCPrefix='VK9-N') AND NOT (Callsign='VK9NS')
uses the NOT operator to show all Entries for stations on Norfolk Island except Kirsti.
Besides the Asterisk and Question Mark, the LIKE operator provides wildcard characters that let you specify a single digit, or a range of characters, as illustrated in the table below:
| To match... | Example | Samples that match | Samples that don't match |
| one or more characters | VU4*W | VU4CW, VU4WWW, VU41W | VU2CW, VU4DY |
| one or more characters | *YV1DIG* | YV1DIG, YV0/YV1DIG, YV0/YV1DIG/QRP | YV0/YV1DX |
| one character | OX1VHF/? | OX1VHF/P, OX1VHF/5,OX1VHF/M | OX1VHF, OX1VHF/MM |
| one digit | A6#AJ | A61AJ, A64JA | A6JA, C61AJ |
| a range of characters | A[A-L]6DX | AA6DX, AF6DX | AM6DX, A6DX, AA6DY |
| outside a range of characters | K[!G-H]4DX | KC4DX, KK4DX, K$4DX | KG4DX, KC4DY |
| outside the range of digits | K5[!0-9] | K5K, K5% | K50 |
| a pattern composed of several sub-patterns | A[A-L]#[A-Z]* | AA6YQ, AL7X | AM4DX, KH6/AL7X, AA6 |
| characters that are wildcard characters | [*]Footnote | *Footnote | Footnote, -Footnote |
Note that you can combine multiple wildcards to specify more complex patterns.
Before executing an SQL filter expression, SpotCollector replaces any occurrence of
<FILTERTEXTBOX>
in the expression with the contents of the Filter panel's General Expression textbox. This enables you to create SQL filters that reference a callsign, band, DXCC prefix, etc. that you specify.
Similarly, SpotCollector replaces any occurrence of
<BANDFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current band filter
<MODEFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current mode filter
<CONTFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current continent filter
<ORIGINFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current origin filter
<AGEFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current age filter (if the Age filter is disabled, <AGEFILTER> is replaced with TRUE)
<LOTWFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current LoTW filter (if the LotW filter is disabled, <LOTWFILTER> is replaced with TRUE)
<EQSLFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current eQSL filter (if the eQSL filter is disabled, <EQSLFILTER> is replaced with TRUE)
<STANDARDFILTER> with an SQL expression equivalent to <BANDFILTER> AND <MODEFILTER> AND <CONTFILTER> AND <ORIGINFILTER> AND <AGEFILTER> AND <LOTWFILTER> and <EQSLFILTER>
<NEEDFILTER> with an SQL expression generated by the current need filter
<XCVRFREQ> with the current transceiver frequency in kilohertz (if Commander is running)
<XCVRBAND> with the current transceiver band (if Commander is running)
<XCVRMODE> with the current transceiver mode (if Commander is running)
<DIGIMODE> with WinWarbler's current operating mode
<WSJTXMODE> with the current mode in use by the instance of WSJT-X running on the computer that hosts SpotCollector (if connected)
<UTCOFFSET> with the difference between local time and UTC time in minutes (computed as UTC - local)
These substitution commands enable you to create SQL expressions that incorporate your current band filter, mode filter, continent filter, origin filter, or need filter settings. For example,
(Callsign='<FILTERTEXTBOX>') and <NEEDFILTER> and ((Band='160m') or (Band='80m'))
lets you specify a callsign in the Filter textbox and see all needed spots of that callsign on 160m and 80m, and
(BAND='<XCVRBAND>') and <NEEDFILTER>
will display all needed Spot Database Entries on the current transceiver band.
If you want an SQL expression to exclude Spot Database Display entries that are hidden, append
and (Hidden <> 'Y')
Any characters between // and // are ignored, and thus can be used as explanatory comments, e.g.
//SSB only// MODE = 'SSB'
If the Accept SQL Filter Updates option is enabled, other applications can update the contents of an SQL filter and invoke that Filter. DXKeeper uses this mechanism to update the SQL filter named NPOTA (if present) after it generates an NPOTA progress report.
Additional Information
An online reference for SQL as supported by the Microsoft Jet engine, which is incorporated in both DXKeeper and Microsoft Access, is available at
https://www.devguru.com/content/technologies/jetsql/home.html
Functions that can be used in
SQL expressions are described in
http://www.techonthenet.com/access/functions/
To clear the General filters, click the button labeled X to the immediate right of the General Expression textbox. When the these filters are cleared, Spot Database Display shows all unhidden Spot Database Entries that conform to the four Context filters: Band, Mode, Continent, and Origin filters.
To clear the General, Context, and SQL filters so that the Spot Database Display will show all Spot Database Entries, depress the CTRL key while clicking the button labeled X to the immediate right of the General Expression textbox; the Filter panel caption will be set to
Filter: None
To avoid long, complex expressions in the Filter panel caption's display of the current filter, the following convention is used:
if any Band filter box is unchecked, the word Band appears in the current filter
if any Mode filter box is unchecked, the word Mode appears in the current filter
if any Continent filter box is unchecked, the word Continent appears in the current filter
if any Origin filter box is unchecked, the word Origin appears in the current filter
if the LotW filter box is checked, the word LotW appears in the current filter
if the eQSL box is unchecked, the word eQSL-AG appears in the current filter
if an SQL filter has been activated, the word SQL appears at the beginning of the current filter
Thus if the Filter panel caption is
Filter: Band and Mode and [call='SV2ASP/A']
then the Spot Database Display is showing unhidden Spot Database entries whose callsign is SV2ASP/A with specific filtering by Band and Mode, but with no filtering by Continent or Origin. To see exactly which Bands and Modes are being filtered, you can click the Filter panel's Band and Mode buttons.
If no Spot Database Display filtering is active, the filter panel caption will be set to
Filter: None
SpotCollector retains a history of the
most recent 64 filter changes, excluding changes to the
Band, Mode, Continent,
and Origin filters; you can navigate within this
history using the Filter panel's
and
buttons to travel backward and forward respectively. Moving backward means
returning to a filter that you have previously applied. Moving forward is only
applicable after you have moved backward, effectively "undoing" each backward
move..
You can hide an individual Spot Database Entry by right-clicking it, and choosing the Hide option in the resulting pop-up menu.
You can configure SpotCollector to automatically hide the Spot Database Entry for any spot whose notes contain one of 16 words you specify. To enable this functionality,
click the Filter panel's AutoHide button to display SpotCollector's AutoHide Filter window
in the AutoHide Filter window's word list, key in the words that will trigger automatic hiding
check the AutoHide Filter window's Enable Automatic Hiding... box
If you're using an SQL expression to filter the Spot Database Display, appending
and (Hidden <> 'Y')
will prevent hidden entries from becoming visible.
To un-hide one or more hidden Spot Database Entries, click
the Filter panel's AH button to
display SpotCollector's AutoHide Filter
window, and check the Display
only hidden Spot Database Entries box; the Spot Database Display will
now show only hidden entries that match the General
and Context filters. You can un-hide an
individual entry by right-clicking it, and choosing the Un-hide option in
the resulting pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can click the AutoHide Filter
window's Un-hide button to un-hide all entries shown in the Spot Database Display.
SpotCollector can be configured to announce via the default Windows soundcard the creation of Spot Database Entries representing
needed DXCC entities, entity-bands, and entity-modes and/or needed WAZ zones, zone-bands, zone-modes, and zone-band-modes and/or needed Marathon countries, zones, country-bands, country-modes, zone-bands, and zone-modes, as specified on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's configuration window
Be sure to disable audio announcements if you are operating digital modes with a single soundcard.
You can quickly enable or disable audio announcements by
unchecking the Audio box in the Main window's Filter panel. If the
Automatically re-enable Audio Alarm after 15 minutes
option is enabled, disabling audio announcements by unchecking the Audio
box will cause SpotCollector to re-enable audio announcements by re-checking the
Audio box 15 minutes later; the word Audio
will be rendered in blue font during this 15 minute interval. If SpotCollector
is terminated during this 15-minute interval, Audio announcements will be
enabled when SpotCollector next starts.
When you left-click on a Spot Database Entry, SpotCollector
If the Convey DX Grid option is enabled and the DX station's Maidenhead gridsquare has been determined from spot notes, Spot Collector sends the gridsquare to DXView which uses it to plot a more accurate position and beam heading than could be accomplished from the DX callsign alone.
if DXKeeper is running, populates the text box in the Filter panel on the Log QSOs tab of DXKeeper's Main window with the Entry's callsign
if Pathfinder is running, populates the its Main window's Callsign textbox initiates the designated automatic search if one is specified
disables AutoScroll mode if you depressed the Shift key when you clicked on the Spot Database Entry, or if you clicked on the Spot Database Entry's left-most column
When you right-click on a Spot Database Entry, SpotCollector displays a pop-up menu from which you can choose to
if the Entry's mode is not a K1JT mode (FT4, FT8, JT65, JT65A, JT65B, JT65B2, JT65C, JT65C2, or JT9), Commander is directed to QSY to the Entry's frequency and mode
if the Entry's mode is a K1JT mode (FT4, FT8, JT65, JT65A, JT65B, JT65B2, JT65C, JT65C2, or JT9), SpotCollector compares the Entry's frequency to the lower and upper bounds for the Entry's band and mode in the selected Sub-band Definition file
if the Entry's frequency is between the specified bounds, then Commander is directed to QSY to the lower bound
If the Sub-band Definition file does not specify bounds for the Entry's band and mode, or if the Entry's frequency is not between the specified bounds, Commander is directed to QSY to the Entry's frequency rounded down to the next lowest 1 kilohertz
rotate your antenna to the computed short-path or long-path beam heading to the entry's location (if DXView is running)
lookup previously logged QSOs (if DXKeeper is running), DX information (if DXView is running), and QSL routes (if Pathfinder is running)
display a Realtime Award Tracking window that shows progress towards each award for which realtime award tracking information is provided in the currently-open log; If the Realtime Award Tracking window is already being displayed, left-clicking on another Spot Database entry updates the Realtime Award Tracking window's contents to reflect progress for the newly-selected entry.
display a window displaying the most recent ~200 individual spots of the entry's callsign (if enabled); new spots of the entry's station will be appended to this window as they arrive, subject to the Ignore empty spot notes setting, and can be optionally configured to display each spot's frequency
typing CTRL-C in this window will copy its spots to the Windows clipboard
display only unhidden Spot Database Entries for DX stations spotted on frequencies near the Entry's frequency and younger than a specified age
direct PropView to generate and display a short path or long path propagation forecast to or from the entry's location based on PropView's Parameters and Settings (if PropView and DXView are both running)
direct PropView to populate the Entry's SPSNR, LPSNR, ReqSNR, SPProb, and LPProb fields with 24 hour short path and long path forecasts of received signal-to-noise ratio, required signal-to-noise ratio, and percentages of days of the month that the required signal-to-noise ratio will be achieved assuming the DX station is using 100 watts or RF power and a takeoff angle of 3 degrees
create an Override for the entry's callsign
hide or un-hide the entry
copy the entry's callsign, frequency, mode, last time, DXCC prefix, and DXCC country to the Windows clipboard
place the entry's callsign or DXCC prefix in the Filter panel's textbox
When you double-click on a Spot Database Entry whose mode is not a K1JT mode (FT4, FT8, JT65, JT65A, JT65B, JT65B2, JT65C, JT65C2, or JT9), SpotCollector notifies the DXLab applications DXView, DXKeeper, WinWarbler, Pathfinder, and Commander if they are currently running, and sends them information as described below. If you have specified a Digital Mode Application other than WinWarbler -- like MultiPSK -- then SpotCollector sends it information as described below.
If the Entry's mode is RTTY, PSK31, PSK125, then WinWarbler is always notified. If the Entry's mode is CW, SSB, AM, or FM, then WinWarbler is only notified if the mode's Service box is checked in Actions with Digital Mode Application Connected panel. This panel also lets you specify whether WinWarbler's Main window should be automatically restored or minimized as a function of the Entry's mode.
If the DX station's Maidenhead gridsquare has been determined from spot notes or a DXCC or USAP Database lookup, Spot Collector sends the gridsquare to DXView, to the Digital Mode Application, and to DXKeeper for logging.
PropView generates a propagation forecast if both it and DXView are running, and if the Display prediction on double-click box is checked
DXView displays information about the DX station's location -- latitude and longitude, Maidenhead gridsquare, beam heading, distance, local time, CQ zone, and ITU zone -- and highlights that location on a world map with a blue dot connected to your QTH by the signal path
if you depress the Ctrl key while double-clicking on a Spot Database Entry with both DXView and DXKeeper running, then DXView will rotate your antenna to the computed short-path beam heading
if you depress the Alt key while double-clicking on a Spot Database Entry with both DXView and DXKeeper running, then DXView will rotate your antenna to the computed long-path beam heading
Pathfinder captures the Entry's callsign, and initiates the designated automatic search if one is specified
filters its Log Page Display to show previous QSOs with the station's base callsign, or previous QSOs with the station's DXCC entity as specified by the setting in SpotCollector's Log Filter panel
places the Entrys callsign, frequency, mode, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag into the appropriate fields of its Capture window so that you can log your QSO with a single click after entering the additional information gained during the conversation
If the specified Digital Mode Application is WinWarbler, and WinWarbler is running, then WinWarbler
if the Entry's mode is PSK31 or PSK63, switches to the correct mode and arranges for the current PSK receive pane to copy the DX station by
directing Commander to set the transceiver to USB or LSB as specified by WinWarbler's soundcard PSK modulation setting
directing Commander to set the transceiver frequency to the spot frequency less WinWarbler's soundcard PSK optimal offset setting if its soundcard PSK modulation setting is USB,
directing Commander to set the transceiver frequency to the spot frequency plus WinWarbler's soundcard PSK optimal offset setting if its soundcard PSK modulation setting is LSB,
setting the current receive pane's audio offset to the soundcard PSK optimal offset frequency
populates textboxes in WinWarbler's QSO Info panel with the Entry's callsign, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag; User Items named POTA or WWFF will be populated with the Entry's POTA field or WWFF field respectively
If the Entry's mode is RTTY, arranges for the current RTTY receive pane to copy the DX station by
directing Commander to set the transceiver to the correct frequency and mode as a function of WinWarbler's settings (Transceiver mode, RTTY Mark Offset) for the current receive pane (Soundcard RTTY or External RTTY modem)
setting the current receive pane's frequency
populates textboxes in WinWarbler's QSO Info panel with the Entry's callsign, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag; User Items named POTA or WWFF will be populated with the Entry's POTA field or WWFF field respectively
If the Entry's mode is CW and the Actions with Digital Mode Application connected panel's CW Service box is checked,
directs Commander to set the transceiver to the correct frequency and mode as a function of WinWarbler's CW Mode setting
populates textboxes in WinWarbler's QSO Info panel with the Entry's callsign, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag; User Items named POTA or WWFF will be populated with the Entry's POTA field or WWFF field respectively
if the Entry's mode is SSB, AM, or FM, and the corresponding Service box in the Actions with Digital Mode Application connected panel is checked,
directs Commander to set the transceiver to the correct frequency and mode
populates textboxes in WinWarbler's QSO Info panel with the Entry's callsign, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag; User Items named POTA or WWFF will be populated with the Entry's POTA field or WWFF field respectively
if the Entry's mode is other than PSK31, PSK63, RTTY, CW, SSB, AM, or FM,
directs Commander to set the transceiver to the spotted frequency and either USB (if above 10 MHz) or LSB (if below 10 MHz)
populates textboxes in WinWarbler's QSO Info panel with the Entry's callsign, grid square, CQ zone, ITU zone, Continent, IOTA tag, and SOTA tag; User Items named POTA or WWFF will be populated with the Entry's POTA field or WWFF field respectively
If the specified Digital Mode Application is other than WinWarbler, and the Digital Mode Application is running, then the Digital Mode Application
if the DX station's mode is other than USB, LSB, AM, FM, or CW, switches to the correct mode (if supported) and arrange to copy the DX station
If the DX station's mode is CW and the Actions with Digital Mode Application connected panel's CW Service box is checked, switches to the CW mode (if supported) and arranges to copy the DX station
if the DX station's mode is SSB, AM, or FM, and the corresponding Service box in the Actions with Digital Mode Application connected panel is checked, switches to the correct mode (if supported) and arranges to copy the DX station
If the specified Digital Mode Application isn't running, then Commander QSYs your transceiver to the DX station's frequency and changes its mode to the DX station's mode, where the mode is determined by spot notes, spot frequency, and settings in the CW spot panel, RTTY spot panel, and non-RTTY Digital spot panel..
If the spot notes indicate that the station is operating in split mode and the Set Xcvr Split box is checked, Commander will place your transceiver in split mode (if supported) and set the alternate VFO to the reported split frequency; the words and abbreviations QSX, worked, wkd. wkd, up, down, dwn, and dn are assumed to indicate split operation.
When you double-click on a Spot Database Entry whose mode is a K1JT mode (FT4, FT8, JT65, JT65A, JT65B, JT65B2, JT65C, JT65C2, or JT9),
PropView generates a propagation forecast if both it and DXView are running, and if SpotCollector's Display prediction on double-click box is checked
If the DX station's Maidenhead gridsquare has been determined from spot notes or a DXCC or USAP Database lookup, Spot Collector sends the gridsquare to DXView
DXView displays information about the DX station's location -- latitude and longitude, Maidenhead gridsquare, beam heading, distance, local time, CQ zone, and ITU zone -- and highlights that location on a world map with a blue dot connected to your QTH by the signal path
if you depress the Ctrl key while double-clicking on a Spot Database Entry with both DXView and DXKeeper running, then DXView will rotate your antenna to the computed short-path beam heading
if you depress the Alt key while double-clicking on a Spot Database Entry with both DXView and DXKeeper running, then DXView will rotate your antenna to the computed long-path beam heading
Pathfinder captures the Entry's callsign, and initiates the designated automatic search if one is specified v
DXKeeper filters its Log Page Display to show previous QSOs with the station's base callsign, or previous QSOs with the station's DXCC entity as specified by the setting in SpotCollector's Log Filter panel
SpotCollector determines a target frequency by comparing the Entry's frequency to the lower and upper bounds for the Entry's band and mode in the selected Sub-band Definition file. If the Entry's frequency is between those bounds, then the the target frequency is that lower bound. If the Sub-band Definition file does not specify bounds for the Entry's band and mode, or if the Entry's frequency is not between the specified bounds, the target frequency is the Entry's frequency rounded down to the next lowest 1 kilohertz,
If SpotCollector is not connected to any instance of WSJT-X, then Commander is directed to QSY to the target frequency, and to change the transceiver's mode to that specified in the Transceiver mode for WSJT-X panel.
If SpotCollector is connected to one or more instances of WSJT-X, and
there is one instance whose current band matches the Entry's band and whose current K1JT mode matches the Entry's mode, then SpotCollector
conveys the Entry's Callsign and DX Grid information to that instance, which if it's version 2.1.2 or later will populate its DX Call and DX Grid boxes, and invoke its Generate Std Msgs function
directs Commander to QSY to the target frequency, and to change the transceiver's mode to that specified in the Transceiver mode for WSJT-X panel
there is no instance whose current band matches the Entry's band and whose current K1JT mode matches the Entry's mode but there is an instance of WSJT-X that is running on the same computer that hosts SpotCollector, then SpotCollector
conveys the Entry's Callsign and DX Grid information to that instance, which if it's version 2.1.2 or later will populate its DX Call and DX Grid boxes, and invoke its Generate Std Msgs function
directs Commander to QSY to the target frequency, and to change the transceiver's mode to that specified in the Transceiver mode for WSJT-X panel
there is no instance whose current band matches the Entry's band and whose current K1JT mode matches the Entry's mode, and there is no instance of WSJT-X that is running on the same computer that hosts SpotCollector, then no action is taken
SpotCollector maintains a history of up to 64 selected
spots. The and
buttons traverse that history backwards and forwards respectfully, QSYing the transceiver if Commander
is running. Depressing the CTRL key while clicking either button will
enable AutoScroll mode.
You can scroll through the entries in the Spot Database using the vertical scrollbar along the right-hand margin of the Spot Database Display. A set of four VCR-style buttons located above the vertical scrollbar give you one-click access to the first, previous, next, and last Spot Database Entry. Normally, SpotCollector operates with its Autoscroll mode enabled, meaning that the Spot Database Display is automatically scrolled so that the most recent addition is always visible. While this is convenient when scanning for DX, the automatic scrolling can be problematic when inspecting an entry in detail. Vertically or horizontally scrolling the Spot Database Display, clicking or double-clicking a Spot Database Entry while depressing the Shift key or, clicking or double-clicking a Spot Database Entry in its left-most column all disable Autoscroll mode so that the selected Spot Database Entry remains visible even as new Spot Database Entries are added to the Spot Database.
If the Date
& Time Sort Order panel is set to ascending, or if the Sort
panel is set to Callsign, Freq, or Az, then the
most recent Spot Database Entry appears at the bottom of the Spot Database
display. Clicking the
last VCR-style button will enable Autoscroll mode; clicking the first, previous,
or next buttons will disable Autoscroll mode so that
incoming Spots no longer scroll the Spot Database Display (and thus may no
longer be visible).
If the Sort panel is set to First, Last, or Rcv and the Date & Time Sort Order panel is set to descending, then most recent Spot Database Entry appears at the top of the Spot Database display. Clicking the first VCR-style button will enable Autoscroll mode; clicking the previous, next, or last buttons will disable Autoscroll mode so that incoming Spots no longer scroll the Spot Database Display (and thus may no longer be visible).
When Autoscroll
is disabled, the word "Autoscroll"
blinks in blue font above the first, previous, last, and next
buttons; the "strike through" means disabled. If new Spot Database entries are added while Autoscroll is disabled, the
word "Autoscroll"
blinks in red font. Enabling Autoscroll mode by clicking either the last
or first button (depending on the Sort selection and Sort order as
described above) will display the new Spot Database entries, and clear the "Autoscroll"
notification.
Right-clicking a Spot Database Entry disables Autoscroll mode until you invoke a function from the right-mouse menu; if you right-click a Spot Database Entry and decide not to invoke one of the right-mouse menu functions, select the Enable Autoscroll function from the right-mouse menu.
The Autoscroll panel's Enable on newly-needed Entry option, when enabled, will automatically disable Autoscroll mode at the creation of a new Spot Database Entry that is needed - meaning that a confirmed QSO with the Entry's station on the Entry's band and mode would advance your progress towards your award objectives.
Clicking the Report button generates a report with one entry for each visible Spot Database entry, and places that report in a file in SpotCollector''s Reports subfolder. This fixed-format report includes the following items:
Callsign
DXCC country
Frequency
Mode
Date/Time of first spot
Date/Time of most recent spot
Spotting station
Spot Notes
You can delete a Spot Database Entry, by right-clicking it, and choosing the Delete option in the resulting pop-up menu. If the Confirm spot deletion setting is enabled, a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the deletion. This can be used to eliminate erroneous spots.
You can also delete a Spot Database Entry by clicking in it's left-most
column - a black triangle will appear in this column, and the entire entry will
be highlighted - and then striking the Delete key, or the CTRL-X
key; the entry will be deleted without seeking confirmation.
You can add an Spot Database Entry's callsign to the
Special Callsign List with no
tags, meaning that future incoming spots of that callsign will be ignored, by
right-clicking the Entry, and choosing the Ignore option in the
resulting pop-up menu. Occasionally review the Special Callsign List to ensure
that spots of each call with no tags should still be ignored.
Controls in the Spot Database window's Outgoing spot panel enable you to generate both local and DXCluster spots. In either case, enter the callsign of the DX station to be spotted in the panel's Call textbox, and information to accompany your spot - like the spot's mode - in the panel's Notes textbox; the Notes textbox will not accept more than 29 characters, consistent with limits imposed by DXCluster software
if Commander is running and the Spot Xcvr Split option is enabled, the Notes textbox will include the transceiver's split frequency in kHz, e.g. up 2.5 or dn 1
clicking the panel's X button will clear the Notes textbox.
If Commander is running, the transceiver frequency will be used as the outgoing spot frequency, and is displayed in the panel; if Commander is not running, type the spot frequency in kilohertz into the Freq textbox.
Clicking the Cluster button will compose and forward a spot to the DXCluster whose Spot radio button is selected in the Telnet panel on the Configuration window's Spot Sources tab. If you are spotting via the CQDX IRC Channel, your spot will be handled by that channel's spotting robot, which is normally DXS. If DXS is unavailable, however, you must specify the DDX backup spotting robot. If the Cluster button is disabled ("grayed out"), you must specify the DXCluster that will convey your outgoing spots by selecting a Spot radio button.
Clicking the Local button will enter the spot in your Spot Database (or update an existing Spot Database Entry) as if it had been received by a spot source, with your callsign shown as the Source and local shown as the Network. Depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Local button prompts you to specify the frequency to be used when creating or updating the Spot Database Entry.
Clicking the Cluster or Local buttons enables Autoscroll mode.
Striking Ctrl-Enter in the panel's Call or Notes textboxes is equivalent to clicking the Cluster button. Striking Ctrl-Del in either of these textboxes will clear their contents.
If the Spot Xcvr split setting is enabled and Commander is running (version 5.9.2 or later), then the Notes textbox will track the current transceiver split frequency, e.g. "up 2.5" or "dn 1"; if Commander indicates that the transceiver is not in split mode, then the Notes textbox will be cleared.
If the Save
Spot Notes option is disabled, clicking either the Cluster or Local buttons
will clear Notes
textbox so you can easily enter new notes for the next outgoing spot. If the Save
Spot Notes option is enabled, clicking either the Cluster or Local buttons
will leave the Notes
textbox; this is useful when all outgoing spots will have identical notes, e.g.
when spotting stations participating in a particular contest. Depressing the
CTRL key while clicking the panel's X button will toggle the state of the
Save Spot Notes option.
SpotCollector keeps track of the number of new Spot Database Entries created during the most recent 60 minutes. Two sets of statistics are computed: by-band and by-continent. The by-band statistics are captured for 160m through 2m and are subject to the Mode filter, Continent filter, and Origin filter settings; the by-continent statistics are subject to the Band filter, Mode filter, and Origin filter settings. Spot statistics are presented in the Statistics window, which you can view by clicking the Main window's Stats button. Newly created Spot Database Entries immediately update the spot statistics. Periodically, the statistics are updated to exclude spots older than 60 minutes; this rate is controlled by the Update Interval setting in the Spot Statistics panel on the Config window's Spot Database tab. When SpotCollector starts, it scans the Spot Database for any Entries less than 60 minutes old and initializes the spot statistics accordingly.
If Commander is running (version 6.6.4 or later), clicking the band button above a by-band statistic will QSY the transceiver to that band. CTRL-clicking a band button will filter the Spot Database Display to show only stations reported during the last 60 minutes that "pass" the Mode filter, Continent filter, and Origin filter.
The Statistics window's Reset button clears all spot statistics.
To display a graphical analysis of DX stations in the Spot Database Display, click the Main window's Prop button; SpotCollector will display a "bands vs. time-of-day" or "bands vs continents" analysis in the Propagation window, depending upon which analysis was last chosen. If the contents of the Spot Database Display change, either because new DX stations have appeared or because you've altered the Spot Database Display filtering, click the DX in Spot Database Display panel's Analyze button to update the displayed analysis.
To display a graphical analysis of DX stations active over the past 24 hours that were spotted by a station within a specified distance of your QTH, click the Bands vs Time button, set the DX active during the past 24 hours panel's Maximum distance box to the specified distance, and click this panel's Filter & Analyze button. SpotCollector will filter the Spot Database Display to contain only DX stations active during the last 24 hours and spotted by a station within the specified distance of your QTH, and then display a "bands vs. time-of-day" analysis in the Propagation window.
Striking the Enter key with the mouse cursor in the Maximum distance box is equivalent to clicking the Filter & Analyze button.
If the Maximum distance box is empty, initiating a Filter & Analyze operation will set the Maximum distance box to 500.
To display a graphical analysis of the location of DX stations active over the last N hours that were spotted by a station within a specified distance of your QTH, click the Bands vs Continents button, set the interval to N, set the DX active during the past N hours panel's Maximum distance box to the specified distance, and click this panel's Filter & Analyze button. SpotCollector will filter the Spot Database Display to contain only DX stations active during the last N hours and spotted by a station within the specified distance of your QTH, and then display a "bands vs. continents" analysis in the Propagation window.
Striking the Enter key with the mouse cursor in the Maximum distance box is equivalent to clicking the Filter & Analyze button.
If the Maximum distance box is empty, initiating a Filter & Analyze operation will set the Maximum distance box to 500.
In a "bands vs. time-of-day" analysis, double-clicking a bar or count associated with a band will filter the Spot Database Display to show only Spot Database Entries on that band at that time-of-day, spotted by a station within a specified distance of your QTH, and subject to current Mode, Continent, and Origin filters. Double-clicking while depressing the CTRL key will filter the Spot Database Display to show only Spot Database Entries on that band at that time-of-day.
To highlight the column for the current hour in a "bands vs. time-of-day" analysis, check the Highlight current hour box near the Propagation window's upper-left corner.
In a "bands vs. continents" analysis, double-clicking a bar or count associated with a band will filter the Spot Database Display to show only Spot Database Entries on that band from that continent during the specified interval, spotted by a station within a specified distance of your QTH, and subject to current Mode, Continent, and Origin filters. Double-clicking while depressing the CTRL key will filter the Spot Database Display to show only Spot Database Entries on that band from that continent.
You can configure SpotCollector to monitor a specific callsign, sending email messages reporting "where heard" information on the hour and half-hour, and recording these reports in a text file.
The only limit to the growth of SpotCollector's Spot Database is the amount of free storage on its storage volume. Use the facilities of the Size Limit panel on the Configuration window's Spot Database tab to periodically prune the size of the Spot Database, or clear it entirely.
Adding a callsign to the Special Callsign List with a NoPrune tag will prevent the pruning of Spot Database Entries for that callsign
Enabling the
Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting will prevent the
pruning of Spot Database Entries needed for DXCC, IOTA, VUCC, WAS, WAZ, or
WPX awards will not be pruned.
SpotCollector monitors each DXCluster and the #CQDX IRC channel for WWV Spots. Data from the most recent such spot is shown in the Main window's WWV panel.
SpotCollector maintains a history of these parameters in the file SolarHistory.txt; to graphically display the last 31 days of history, click the WWV panel's history button; depressing the CTRL key while clicking the history button ensures that the window containing the solar history display is never obscured by other windows. For each day, the solar flux index is shown in green, the A index is shown in red, and the K index is shown in blue. The daily range of each index is plotted as a vertical line, with the most recent daily value plotted as a solid circle.
The checkboxes below the display let you examine trends in the SFI, A, and K parameters either individually, or together. Since the sun completes a revolution every 27 days, its behavior 27 days ago is often helpful in predicting current behavior; this point in time is highlighted in red font.
Descriptions of these parameters and their role in HF
radio propagation are described in the many links available in AC6V's excellent
Propagation
page. PropView
automatically references these parameters when generating its prediction of
openings over a
24-hour period.
SpotCollector performs lookups in a DXCC Database to determine a callsign's DXCC entity and as much location information as can be unambiguously determined from that callsign -- e.g. CQ zone, ITU zone, and IOTA tag. If DXView is installed, then SpotCollector uses the DXCC Database located in the DXCC.mdb file in DXView's Databases sub-folder; If DXView is not installed, then SpotCollector uses the DXCC Database located in the DXCC.mdb file in SpotCollector's own Databases sub-folder.
Due to the policies of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the DXCC Database cannot unambiguously determine location information from callsigns issued to stations in the United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Baker Howland Island, Guam, Johnston Island, Midway Island, Palmyra Island, Kingman Reef, Hawaii, Kure Island, American Samoa, Wake Island, or the Marianas Islands. To accurately determine location information from callsigns in these DXCC entities, an optional US and Possessions (USAP) Database is available. When present in either DXView's or SpotCollector's Databases sub-folder, SpotCollector uses the USAP Database to determine location information for callsigns in these entities. The current USAP Database is available in https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxview/USAP.exe . Note that DXView will report the presence of an updated USAP Database, and can be directed to download and install the updated Database with a single click.
Occasionally, stations use callsigns that the DXCC and
USAP Databases cannot unambiguously or correctly map to the DXCC entity in which
the station is operating; examples include callsigns like TO5M or E51DX. To address such situations, SpotCollector permits the
definition of Overrides.
| Caption | Field Name | Content | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Callsign | Callsign | the spotted DX station's callsign | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Pfx | DXCCPrefix | the spotted DX station's DXCC entity prefix (determined from its callsign by performing a lookup in the DXCC or USAP Database unless there's an Override specified) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Freq | Frequency | the spotted DX station's frequency (if simplex) or transmitting frequency (if operating split) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| QSX | QSX | the spotted DX station's receiving frequency (if operating split) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Band | Band | the spotted DX station's frequency band, as determined by the Sub-band Definition file | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mode | Mode | the spotted DX station's mode as determined by the Sub-band Definition file unless overridden by a mode designation like PSK or MFSK in the spot notes (if the DX station is operating split, then the QSX frequency's sub-band is used to determine the mode rather than the DX station's transmit frequency) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Submode | Submode | the spotted DX station's sub-mode, as extracted from a mode-submode designation like CONTESTI-4-500 in the spot notes (mode = CONTESTI, submode = 4-500) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| FirstTime | FirstTime | the first UTC time at which this DX station was spotted in this mode close to this frequency, formatted as specified (see note 1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| LastTime | LastTime | the most recent UTC time at which this DX station was spotted in this mode close to this frequency, formatted as specified (see note 1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| RcvdTime | SpotTime | the most recent UTC time at which this DX station was spotted in this mode close to this frequency, formatted as specified (see note 2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| FirstOpLocationTime | FirstOpLocationTime | the first UTC time at which this DX station was spotted in this mode close to this frequency by a spotting station located in the same location specified in the Operator Location panel, formatted as specified (see note 1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| LastOpLocationTime | LastOpLocationTime | the most recent UTC time at which this DX station was spotted in this mode close to this frequency by a spotting station located in the same location specified in the Operator Location panel, formatted as specified (see note 1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Source | Source | the callsign of the station that most recently spotted this DX station in this mode close to this frequency | ||||||||||||||||||||
| LastOrigin | Origin | the likely geographic location of the station that most recently spotted this DX station in this mode close to this frequency (see note 3) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes | Notes | the notes taken from the most recent spot of this station in this mode close to this frequency; if Ignore empty spot notes is enabled, this item contains the notes taken from he most recent spot of this station whose notes were not empty | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Network | the name of the PacketCluster, DXCluster, or IRC channel that supplied the most recent spot of this station in this mode close to this frequency; this field will contain WSJTX if an instance of WSJT-X supplied the most recent spot of this station in this mode close to this frequency | ||||||||||||||||||||
| BandProgress | BandProgress | award
progress for the DXCC entity on the spotted band (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| ModeProgress | ModeProgress | award
progress for the DXCC entity in the spotted mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| BandModeProgress | BandModeProgress | progress for the DXCC entity in the spotted
band-mode combination
Note: this field is only populated if the Maintain DXCC entity-band-mode fields option is enabled |
||||||||||||||||||||
| CountryProgress | CountryProgress | award
progress for the DXCC entity on any band or mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| BandSought | BandSought | Indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the DXCC/TopList Bands
& Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window ( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| ModeSought | ModeSought | Indicates
whether the spotted mode's box is checked in the DXCC/TopList Bands
& Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window ( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| BandWorked | BandWorked | Indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
(used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| ModeWorked | ModeWorked | Indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked in the spotted mode
( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| BandModeWorked | BandModeWorked | Indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
in the spotted mode
( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is populated for Leaderboard stations, but may not be populated for non-Leaderboard stations unless the Maintain DXCC entity-band-mode fields option is enabled |
||||||||||||||||||||
| CountryWorked | CountryWorked | Indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted
band and in the spotted mode ( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Index | Index | a number unique to each Spot Database Entry used by SpotCollector for navigation | ||||||||||||||||||||
| UN, NAE, NAM, NAW, SA, EU, AF, AS, OC | UN, NAE, NAM, NAW, SA, EU, AF, AS, OC | these fields
record the geographic locations from which the Entry's DX station has been spotted
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| Local | Local | Y if the DX station has been spotted locally | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cont | Cont | the spotted DX station's continent | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DXCCCountry | DXCCCountry | the spotted DX station's DXCC entity name | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DXCCID | DXCCID | the spotted DX station's DXCC country code | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DXGrid | DXGrid | the spotted station's Maidenhead gridsquare | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Azimuth | Azimuth | short-path bearing to the spotted station (in degrees) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | Distance | distance to the spotted station in miles or kilometers; if no DX station gridsquare is known, this value is set to -1 (displayed as a blank entry in the Spot Database Display) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| CQ | CQ | the spotted stations' CQ zone | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ITU | ITU | the spotted station's ITU zone | ||||||||||||||||||||
| IOTA | IOTA | the spotted station's IOTA tag | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary | Primary | the ADIF-defined code for the primary administrative subdivision in which the spotted station is located | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Region | Region | the location of the spotted stations (with any region code or primary code removed) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| RegionCode | RegionCode | the code for the Region defined by the award sponsor (e.g. CQ, WAE, Holyland) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| OriginGrid | OriginGrid | the spotting station's Maidenhead gridsquare (extracted form spot notes or provided by a spot source) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ODX | ODX | the distance from the center of the Maidenhead gridsquare of the closest station to spot the DX station and the Operator's latitude and longitude in miles or kilometers; if no DX station or spotting station gridsquare is known, this value is set to -1 (displayed as a blank entry in the Spot Database Display) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| OMDX | OMDX | the maximum distance from the center of the Maidenhead gridsquare of the closest station to spot the DX station and the Operator's latitude and longitude in miles or kilometers as specified in the Band Filter window for the Spot Database Entry's band | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WPX | WPX | the spotted station's WPX award prefix | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hidden | Hidden | Indicates
whether or not this entry should be hidden
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| LotW | LotW | Indicates
whether or not this station is known to QSL via the ARRL's Logbook
of the World (LotW)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| eQSL | eQSL | Indicates
whether or not this station is an Authenticity
Guaranteed member of eQSL.cc
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| Tags | Tags | the spotted DX station's Tags, assigned by the Special Callsign List | ||||||||||||||||||||
| NoteSource | NotesSource | callsign of the station that posted the spot notes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cumulative | CumulativeNotes | all spots (spotting callsign, spotting callsign location, and spot notes) received for this station in order of ascending time, separated by carriage return and line feed; if Ignore empty spot notes is enabled, this item will not contain spots whose notes were empty. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| BFA | BFA | Indicates
whether or not this entry's Band Filter is Active
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZen | CQZen | indicates
whether the Mixed box is checked in the WAZ Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZProg | CQZProg | award
progress for the CQ zone on any band or mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZWB4 | CQZWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked when valid for WAZ
awards (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandEn | CQZBandEn | indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the WAZ Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandProg | CQZBandProg | award
progress for the CQ zone on the spotted band (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandWB4 | CQZBandWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
when valid for WAZ awards
(used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZModeEn | CQZModeEn | indicates
whether the spotted mode's box is checked in the WAZ Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZModeProg | CQZModeProg | award
progress for the CQ zone in the spotted mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZModeWB4 | CQZModeWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked in the spotted mode
when valid for WAZ awards
(used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandModeEn | CQZBandModeEn | indicates
whether the spotted band-mode's box is checked in the WAZ Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandModeProg | CQZBandModeProg | award
progress for the CQ zone in the spotted band-mode combination (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| CQZBandModeProgWB4 | CQZBandModeProgWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band in the spotted mode
when valid for WAZ awards
(used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked,
unconfirmed, or unneeded)
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Needed | Needed | indicates for
which awards this entry is categorized as unworked
counter, unworked band or mode,
or unconfirmed
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| NeedCategory | NeedCategory |
indicates this entry's need category
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarMixedEn | MarMixedEn | indicates
whether the Mixed box is checked in the Marathon Bands & Modes
panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarBandEn | MarBandEn | indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the Marathon Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarModeEn | MarModeEn | indicates
whether the spotted modes box is checked in the Marathon Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarCntryProg | MarCntryProg | award
progress for the Marathon Country on any band or mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarCntryBandProg | MarCntryBandProg | award
progress for the Marathon Country on the spotted band (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarCntryModeProg | MarCntryModeProg | award
progress for the Marathon Country in the spotted mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarZoneProg | MarZoneProg | award
progress for the Marathon Zone on any band or mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarZoneBandProg | MarZoneBandProg | award
progress for the Marathon Zone on the spotted band (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| MarZoneModeProg | MarZoneModeProg | award
progress for the Marathon Zone in the spotted mode (used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry
is unworked)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | Announced | indicates
whether this Spot Database Entry has triggered an audio announcement
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| Emailed | Emailed | indicates
whether this Spot Database Entry has triggered an email alert
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| IotaProg | IotaProg | award
progress for the IOTA Group on any band or mode
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| IotaWB4 | IotaWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked
when valid for IOTA awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| DXGridSource | DXGridSource | indicates
the source of the Entry's DX Gridsquare
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| GridBandProg | GridBandProg | award
progress for the Maidenhead Gridsquare on the spotted band
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| GridBandWB4 | GridBandWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
when valid for VUCC awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| GridBandEn | GridBandEn | indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the VUCC Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateProg | StateProg | award
progress for the US State on any band or mode
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateWB4 | StateWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked
when valid for WAS awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateEn | StateEn | indicates
whether the Mixed box is checked in the WAS Bands & Modes
panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateBandProg | StateBandProg | award
progress for the US State on the spotted band
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateBandWB4 | StateBandWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
when valid for WAS awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateBandEn | StateBandEn | indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the WAS Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateModeProg | StateModeProg | award
progress for the US State in the spotted mode
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateModeWB4 | StateModeWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked in the spotted mode
when valid for WAS awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| StateModeEn | StateModeEn | indicates
whether the spotted mode's box is checked in the WAS Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| WPX | WPX | the spotted station's WPX Prefix | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WPXProg | WPXProg | award
progress for the WPX Prefix on any band or mode
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| WPXWB4 | WPXWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked
when valid for WPX awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
||||||||||||||||||||
| WPXEn | WPXEn | indicates
whether the Mixed box is checked in the WPX Bands & Modes
panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| WPXBandProg | WPXBandProg | award
progress for the WPX Prefix on the spotted band
|
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| WPXBandWB4 | WPXBandWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted band
when valid for WPX awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
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| WPXBandEn | WPXBandEn | indicates
whether the spotted band's box is checked in the WPX Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
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| WPXModeProg | WPXModeProg | award
progress for the WPX Prefix in the spotted mode
|
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| WPXModeWB4 | WPXModeWB4 | indicates
whether or not this callsign has already been worked in the spotted mode
when valid for WPX awards
Note: this field is not populated in all cases |
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| WPXModeEn | WPXModeEn | indicates
whether the spotted mode's box is checked in the WPX Bands &
Modes panel
on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's
Configuration window
|
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| SPSNR | SPSNR | predicted short path signal-to-noise ratio, in decibels | ||||||||||||||||||||
| LPSNR | LPSNR | predicted long path signal-to-noise ratio, in decibels | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ReqSNR | ReqSNR | required signal-to-noise radio, in decibels | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SPProb | SPProb | predicted percentage of days of the month on which the required signal-to-noise ratio will be achieved via the short path | ||||||||||||||||||||
| LPProb | LPProb | predicted percentage of days of the month on which the required signal-to-noise ratio will be achieved via the long path | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SNRPred | SNRPred | 24 hour forecast of short path and long path signal-to-noise ratio and probability (not for reference by users) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SDRDate | SDRDate | date at which the short path and long path signal-to-noise ratio and probability forecasts were generated | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ActualSNR | ActualSNR |
most recent SNR reported by WSJT-X
|
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| ActualSNRMin | ActualSNRMin |
lowest SNR reported by WSJT-X
|
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| ActualSNRMax | ActualSNRMax |
highest SNR reported by WSJT-X
|
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| POTA | POTA | Parks on the Air code obtained from spot notes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SOTA | SOTA | Summits on the Air code obtained from spot notes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WWFF | WWFF | Worldwide Flora & Fauna area code obtained from spot notes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SpotCount | the number of entries that appear in a Spot Database Entry's Individual Spots window, which is governed by the Record individual spot information and Ignore empty spot notes options |
Notes
The FirstTime, LastTime, FirstOpLocationTime, and LastOpLocationTime fields are computed using the timestamps received with each spot unless they are in the future with respect to your PC's local clock; in this case, your PC's local clock is used.
