DXKeeper allows you to capture as many as 49 items of information about each QSO. Some, like the station's callsign or the QSO's start time, will always be of interest. Others, like the station's grid square, may never be utilized. DXKeeper organizes these items into 6 groups:
Each of these groups is associated with a panel on the Log QSOs tabbed dialog. The QSO panel is always present; you can independently control the presence of the Aux, QSL, Awards, and Contest panels using the Log Panel checkboxes in the Configuration screen's Log tab or using the six checkboxes to the right of the QSO panel. All 49 information items are stored with each QSO, whether or not the panels displaying them are visible. This allows you to adjust DXKeeper's consumption of screen real estate to meet your operating needs of the moment.
Uncapitalized first letters of each word entered into the Name or QTH items will be automatically capitalized unless the word contains a capitalized letter.
To allow operation without removing one's hands from the keyboard, DXKeeper provides keyboard shortcuts for navigating among the Log QSOs items.
QSOs and their information items are stored in a log file. When you run DXKeeper for the first time after installing it, you will be prompted for your callsign. DXKeeper uses your callsign to create a log file in the databases subfolder of its DXKeeper folder, and automatically opens that log. If you installed DXKeeper in the folder c:\program files\DXKeeper and your callsign is AA6YQ/KH6, for example, DXKeeper will create and open the file c:\program files\DXKeeper\aa6yq-kh6.mdb. This log file may be all you ever need. But if you participate in contests or operate from multiple locations, you may wish to maintain multiple log files; the controls in the Configuration screen's Log File panel support this mode of operation by enabling you to
create an empty new log and then open it
select an existing log by navigating with a Windows file selector or by typing its pathname, and then open it
If you start DXKeeper with a command line argument that specifies a valid pathname, DXKeeper will attempt to open the designated file as a log.
If you operate from multiple QTHs and wish to automatically generate QSL cards or labels that correctly reflect the QTH from which you were operating , DXKeeper allows you to specify the details of each QTH (e.g. city, country, state, grid) and assign each QTH a unique identifier that can be logged with a QSO.
There are three basic steps in logging a QSO:
create a new QSO record
capture the information items you care about
save the QSO record
To create a new QSO record, click the New button. This saves any previously open QSO record, initializes all of the textboxes used to capture information items to blanks, and places the cursor in the call item awaiting your entry of a callsign.
If, after entering or modifying a callsign in the call item, you strike the Enter key or the Tab key or immediately click the mode item selector, DXKeeper will
automatically initialize many information items for you
color the callsign to reflect its DXCC/Challenge/Toplist award status:
red: the callsign's DXCC entity is unworked, the entity-band is sought and unworked, or the entity-mode is sought and unworked
blue: the callsign's DXCC entity is worked but not confirmed, or the entity-band is sought and worked but not confirmed, or the entity-mode is sought and worked but not confirmed
black: the callsign's DXCC entity is confirmed, the entity-band is either confirmed or not sought, and the entity-mode is either confirmed or not sought
if the Displays previous QSOs on lookup box is checked, DXKeeper will show all previous QSOs with the callsign in the Log Page Display
if a Callbook is installed, selected, and configured for automatic initialization, DXKeeper will query the Callbook's database for name, location, and QSL route information.
You can set any of the remaining items manually. Double-clicking several items immediately performs useful actions.
In determining the DXCC entity from the callsign, DXKeeper uses the current ITU Prefix Allocations. If you are logging an older QSO, you should verify that that DXKeeper has deduced the correct DXCC entity by inspecting the Aux panel's Entity field. If you log a 1990 QSO with UP1BZO, for example, DXKeeper will set the QSO's DXCC entity to Kazakhstan, which is incorrect. You can correct this by selecting the correct DXCC entity -- in this case, Lithuania -- in the Aux panel's Entity field.
If the first letter of the callsign you enter is an exclamation point, DXKeeper assumes that you are logging a CQ, an unsuccessful call, a test, or some other transmission that you wish to record but does not represent a QSO. Such log entries are not assigned a DXCC entity, do not initiate a Callbook database lookup, and are not included in award tracking statistics.
When any item is modified, the panel labels are rendered in blue as a reminder to save the information. To do so, click the Log button; this resets the panel labels to black. If you plan to immediately log a new QSO, you can instead click the New button, which will save the information and create a new QSO record. With the cursor in any item textbox, you can perform these operations without lifting your hands from the keyboard; strike Ctrl-L or Ctrl-J respectively.
If the Provide audible feedback box is checked, successfully logging a QSO via the New or Log buttons will play the "Windows Default Beep" sound.
If an item contains an invalid value, or if a required item is missing, clicking the Log or New buttons or attempting to select another QSO flashes the labels of any such items in red, but does not enter the QSO into the current log; if the Provide audible feedback box is checked, the "Windows Default Beep" will play each time the labels flash. Frequencies not falling within a defined band are considered invalid. Callsign validity checking can be enabled or disabled via the Flag Invalid Callsigns setting. If an item's data exceeds its specified maximum length, its label will be flashing in red and the Log button will not enter the QSO into the current log. Until you correct the error(s) causing tem labels to flash, the New, Log, and Delete buttons will not function, nor will you be able to select another QSO.
If a non-critical item is missing or contains an inappropriate value, clicking the Log or New buttons or attempting to select another QSO will enter the QSO into the current log but flashes the labels of any such items in blue (if the panel's that contain them are visible). Examples of non-critical errors include:
missing Operator
have an End date/time that occurs before their Begin date/time
include a Satellite name but do not have Propagation Mode set to SAT
have an empty myQTH field in a Log for which multiple QTHs have been defined
have an invalid Iota item
Iota items that are valid but not in standard format will be placed in standard format when you click the Log or New buttons. For example, AF1 will be changed to AF-001.
If you modify one or more items and then change your mind, clicking the Undo button will restore them to their last saved state.
Double-clicking on the caption of an item selects that item:
the item immediately receives keyboard focus (which means that keys you strike will be directed to the selected item)
the item's caption is rendered in underlined font
selecting another QSO in the Log Page Display will set keyboard focus in the selected item in that QSO
Logging a new QSO automatically selects the call item.
If an item has a default value, Ctrl-double-clicking the caption of that item will display the Configuration window and place the mouse cursor in the default value,
If you are manually entering completed QSOs via the Main window, you will find it convenient to un-check the optimize for realtime QSO entry setting:
the begin item will be initialized to the QSO end time logged in the last manually-entered QSO incremented by 1 second unless Optimize for roundtable QSOs is checked, in which case the begin item will be initialized to the QSO begin time logged in the last manually-entered QSO incremented by 1 second
the freq item will be initialized to the frequency in the last logged QSO (ignoring the current transceiver frequency if Commander is running)
the band item will be initialized to the band in the last logged QSO (ignoring the current transceiver frequency if Commander is running)
the mode item will be initialized to the mode in the last logged QSO (ignoring the current transceiver mode if Commander is running)
setting the QSL Sent, item to 'Y' will not set the Date Sent item to the current date
setting the QSL Rcvd, item to 'Y' will not set the Date Rcvd item to the current date
setting the eQSL.cc Rcvd item to 'Y' will not set the eQSL.cc Date Rcvd item to the current date
setting the LotW QSL Rcvd item to 'Y' will not set the LotW Date Rcvd item to the current date
clicking the CBA button will query the selected Callbook database for name, QTH information, QSL route, and address information,, but will not over-write fields already containing information; depressing the Ctrl key while clicking this button clears the name, QTH, and address fields before querying the Callbook
double-clicking the end field copies the contents of the begin field into the end field
if the end item remains unspecified when the QSO is saved, the contents of the begin field are copied into the end field
In fields containing dates, the year must be 1930 or later.
If you do not include time separators in the begin or end fields, DXKeeper will insert them appropriately:
Time Result 1 01:00:00 12 12:00:00 123 1:23:00 1234 12:24:00 12345 1:23:45 123456 12:34:56
If you have configured Windows to use a time separator other than colon, DXKeeper will use the time separator you have specified.
With the mouse cursor in the begin or end fields, you can incrementally change the specified date and time using the up and down arrow keys:
| Modifier | Effect of Up or Down Arrow keys |
| none | increases or decreases the date and time by 1 minute |
| Ctrl | increases or decreases the date and time by 10 minutes |
| Shift | increases or decreases the date and time by 1 hour |
| Alt | increases or decreases the date and time by 1 day |
Striking the Enter key in the QTH field initiates a word-by-word inspection of the QSL field.
If the QTH field contains a valid grid square and the QSO's, then the QSO's Grid Square item will be set to the Grid Square found in the QTH field
If the QTH field contains a valid US State abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is USA or Alaska or Hawaii, then the QSO's State item will be set to the State found in the QTH field
If the QTH field contains a valid Canadian Province abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is Canada, then the QSO's Province item will be set to the Province found in the QTH field
If the QTH field contains a valid ARRL Section abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is USA or Alaska or Hawaii or US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico or US Pacific possessions, or Canada, then the QSO's ARRL Section item will be set to the ARRL Section found in the QTH field
If the State, Province, ARRL Section, and Grid Square items found in the QTH field unambiguously identify a CQ Zone, then the QSO's CQ zone item will be derived from the information found in the QTH field
If the State, Province, ARRL Section, and Grid Square items found in the QTH field unambiguously identify an ITU Zone, then the QSO's ITU zone item will be derived from the information found in the QTH field
To make it easy to copy QSL route information into a QSO record, the address field supports drag and drop from OLE sources such as Pathfinder or Microsoft Internet Explorer. To use this feature, first select the QSL route text in the source; then drag the selected text to the address field and drop it there. Semicolons in the selected text will be converted to newline sequences in the address field. The drag and drop action replaces any pre-existing address field contents with the selected source text. You can also invoke the Address Editor by double-clicking the address field or the via field.
Double-clicking the notes or QSLMsg itme will invoke a Field editor that makes it easier to edit their content. You can include substitution commands in the QSLMsg item to include information determined by your current location.
Allowing the mouse cursor to linger over a State or Province item will prompt DXKeeper to display a popup window containing the full name of the state or province.
To facilitate rapid real-time logging with minimum screen space consumption, DXKeeper provides a QSO Capture window, activated by clicking the Capture button located on the Log QSOs tab. The QSO Capture Window records 21 items, all but four of which (Call, DXCC, Frequency, and Mode) are optional.
Clicking the Lookup button, or striking the Enter key in the Call textbox, or striking the Tab key in the Call textbox results in the following actions:
if the Shift key is depressed when striking the <enter> key in the Call textbox, the name, QTH, state, county, and grid items are cleared
if the Ctrl or Shift key is depressed when the Lookup button is clicked, the name, QTH, state, county, and grid fields are cleared
the callsign is colored to reflect its DXCC/Challenge/Toplist award status:
red: the callsign's DXCC entity is unworked, the entity-band is sought and unworked, or the entity-mode is sought and unworked
blue: the callsign's DXCC entity is worked but not confirmed, or the entity-band is sought and worked but not confirmed, or the entity-mode is sought and worked but not confirmed
black: the callsign's DXCC entity is confirmed, the entity-band is either confirmed or not sought, and the entity-mode is either confirmed or not sought
if the Display Previous QSOs on Lookup box is checked
filters the log to only display previous QSOs with the Call or a variant of the Call (e.g. with a portable, QRP, or mobile designator)
sets the DXCC, name, QSL via, QTH, gridsquare, IOTA, QSL address, county, state, ITU, CQ, and continent items using information found in previous QSOs, with priority given to information extracted from the most recent QSOs (the QSL address, county, state, ITU, CQ, and continent items are not visible in the Capture window, but will be logged with the other items)
if a Callbook is installed, selected, and configured for automatic initialization, it's database is queried to set the name, QTH, state, county, IOTA, QSL address, QSL Via, and gridsquare items, if not already set (the QSL address item is not visible in the Capture window, but it will be logged with the other items)
updates the DXCC item, if not already set, based on the Call's prefix and updates DXView's display based on the prefix and grid fields
updates the Bearing and Path items to the values used in the last rotator control command issued by DXView (if running and rotator control is enabled)
updates the IOTA item, if not already set, if it can be determined from the Call's prefix
updates the ARRL section, continent, ITU, and CQ items, if not already set, if they are determinable from the prefix (these items are not visible in the Capture window, but will be logged with the other items)
sets the Frequency and Mode items from your transceiver's current settings (if Commander is running) or from their previous values (if CI-V Commander isn't running)
sets the RST sent and RST rcvd items if either the run-mode box or the Initialize RST fields box is checked
If the first letter of the callsign you enter is an exclamation point, DXKeeper assumes that you are logging a CQ, an unsuccessful call, a test, or some other transmission that you wish to record but does not represent a QSO. Such log entries are not assigned a DXCC prefix, do not initiate a Callbook database lookup, and are not included in award tracking statistics.
Clicking the Begin button, entering a received signal report in the RST rcvd field with the Set QSO start when RST Rcvd box is checked, or striking Alt-B in any Capture window field
designates the the QSO start time
hides the Begin button until the QSO is logged or cleared, or the End button is clicked
displays the QSO start time
displays the End button
Clicking the End button
designates the the QSO end time
hides the End button until the Begin button is clicked
displays the QSO end time
displays the Begin button
Checking the QSL Requested box indicates that a QSL card or label should be sent and a confirmation requested. This is accomplished by setting the QSO's QSL Sent and QSL Rcvd fields to 'R' (for requested); when you later run the QSL Workflow, the Add Requested button will automatically generate a QSL card or label for this QSO; printed cards and 2-column labels will bear a "please!" in their QSL? column.
Double-clicking the QSL Via item invokes the Address Editor .
If an item has a default value, Ctrl-double-clicking the caption of that item will display the Configuration window and place the mouse cursor in the default value,
Striking the Enter key in the QTH item initiates a word-by-word inspection of the QSL item.
If the QTH item contains a valid grid square and the QSO's, then the QSO's Grid Square item will be set to the Grid Square found in the QTH item
If the QTH item contains a valid US State abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is USA or Alaska or Hawaii, then the QSO's State item will be set to the State found in the QTH item
If the QTH item contains a valid Canadian Province abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is Canada, then the QSO's Province item will be set to the Province found in the QTH item
If the QTH item contains a valid ARRL Section abbreviation, and the QSO's DXCC entity is USA or Alaska or Hawaii or US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico or US Pacific possessions, or Canada, then the QSO's ARRL Section item will be set to the ARRL Section found in the QTH item
If the State, Province, ARRL Section, and Grid Square items found in the QTH item unambiguously identify a CQ Zone, then the QSO's CQ zone item will be derived from the information found in the QTH item
If the State, Province, ARRL Section, and Grid Square items found in the QTH item unambiguously identify an ITU Zone, then the QSO's ITU zone item will be derived from the information found in the QTH item
Clicking the Clear button with Contest-mode unchecked clears all items and presents the Begin button; if Contest-mode checked, the TX# item is not cleared.
Clicking the Log button
verifies that all required items are present
computes the DX station's latitude and longitude if the grid square item is populated
computes the antenna azimuth if
the antenna path selector is set to shortpath or longpath
your QTH latitude and longitude is provided by the specified myQTH, or by a default QTH latitude and longitude
computes the QSO distance if the antenna azimuth was computed and
the computed antenna azimuth lies within 10 degrees of the specified antenna azimuth
or
no antenna azimuth is specified
places the Iota item in standard format (e.g. AF1 will be changed to AF-001)
clears the log filter, if set
notes the time at which the QSO ended
if the CTRL key was depressed when the Log button was clicked, or if the Upload an eQSL... box is checked, uploads the QSO to eQSL.cc; if this upload is successful,
the QSO's eQSL sent is set to Y
the QSO's eQSL date sent is set to the current UTC date
the QSO's eQSL rcvd is set to R
If you have multiple operator callsigns and multiple eQSL.cc accounts, you can prevent the upload of QSOs whose operator callsigns don't match the currently specified eQSL.cc username by checking the Don't upload QSOs whose operator callsign isn't the specified Username box.
enters the QSO into the current log (if Contest-mode is disabled and the Don't log Capture window Contest, TX#, RX# if contest mode disabled option is enabled, the Capture window's Contest ID, TX#, and RX# items are not included with the logged information)
plays the "Windows Default Beep" sound If the Provide audible feedback box is checked
clears all items
presents the Begin button
Note that striking CTRL-<enter> or CTRL-L in any Capture Window item is equivalent to clicking the Log button.
If the Log Page Display is filtered to show previous QSOs with the station in the Call item, the number of previous QSOs is parenthetically appended to the Call item's label, whether or not the main log window is visible. Clicking on the Call item's label will display the main log window, should it be minimized. Information about the most recent QSO -- date, time, frequency, mode, and QSL status -- is displayed in the Capture window is appropriately resized; click the window maximize button on the right side of the title bar to expand the Capture window enough to show all information.
With Contest Mode disabled, a Log Page Display entry will be rendered in red font if its Callsign, Band, and Mode match those in the Capture window; this can help avoid duplicate QSOs; with Contest Mode enabled, a Log Page Display entry will be rendered in red font if its Callsign, Band, Mode and Contest ID match those in the Capture window.
If required items are missing or contain invalid values, clicking the Log button highlights the labels of these items in red, but does not enter the QSO into the current log. Frequencies not falling within a defined band are considered invalid. Callsign validity checking can be enabled or disabled via the Flag Invalid Callsigns setting. If a Capture item's data exceeds its specified maximum length, its label will be highlighted in red and the Log button will not enter the QSO into the current log.
You can toggle between displaying the notes item or the QSL msg selector by striking the ~ button. You can include substitution commands in the QSL msg item to include information determined by your current location.
Uncapitalized first letters of each word entered into the Name or QTH items will be automatically capitalized unless the word contains a capitalized letter.
To allow operation without removing one's hands from the keyboard, DXKeeper provides keyboard shortcuts for navigating among the Capture Window's items.
While DXKeeper can log a receive frequency (distinct from a transmit frequency) for each QSO, the Capture window does not provide a means of recording this information. For cross-band QSOs -- Satellite QSOs, for example -- use the Main window for logging.
If SpotCollector is running and has been configured to generate cluster spots, then clicking the Spot button will use the Capture window's Call, Freq, and Mode items to generate a DX spot; if the Mode is not CW or SSB, it will be included as a spot note. If the band is 6m or above and a gridsquare has been captured, it will also be included as a spot note; if the operator's gridsquare is specified in the current myQTH, then the spot note will be of the form "DX_Grid > Operator_Grid". Depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Spot button will display a dialog box that lets you specify notes to be included in the spot; in this case, you must manually include the mode and or gridsquare in the notes should that be appropriate.
If WinWarbler is running and Capture window F-Keys via WW is checked, then striking the function keys F5 through F12 in a Capture window textbox will invoke a WinWarbler macro, with Shift key and Alt key modifiers functioning as they would within WinWarbler. Striking the Esc key in a Capture window textbox will abort any active WinWarbler transmission.
The Log Page Display contains one entry for each QSO in the current Log file, subject to settings in the Filter panel. Each such row contains multiple cells, each cell containing an information item stored for that QSO. The caption at the top of each column identifies the information item in the cells below it.
A Log Page Display entry will be rendered in red font if its Callsign, Band, and Mode match those in the Capture window; this can help avoid making duplicate QSOs.
With the Log QSOs tabbed dialog selected, resizing DXKeeper's window allows you to vertically and horizontally expand or contract the log page display. Vertical and horizontal scrollbars allow you to view all cells of all rows in the log page display.
The left-most column of the log page display is shaded, and has no column caption. Click in this selector column selects the associated QSO:
all information items for this QSO are placed in the log textboxes
if DXView is running, it's earth map and information fields are updated to reflect the selected QSO's call item and grid item
if an item has been selected, it will receive keyboard focus
The four VCR-like control buttons in the Log QSOs tabbed dialog allow you to select the first, previous, next, or last QSO in the current Log file. You can similarly navigate the Log Page Display using the CTRL-Home, PageUp, PageDown, and CTRL-End keys respectively.
You can edit items in the currently selected QSO by directly modifying the item textboxes; within an item textbox
the Home key moves the cursor to the beginning of the item
the End key moves the cursor to the end of the item
the SHIFT-Home key selects all characters from the cursor to the beginning of the item
the SHIFT-End key selects all characters from the cursor to the end of the item
You can make your changes permanent by clicking the Log button, or back out your changes using the Undo button.
If the optimize for realtime QSO entry setting is checked,
setting the QSL Sent, item to 'Y' will set the Date Sent item to the current UTC date
setting the QSL Rcvd, item to 'Y' will set the Date Rcvd item to the current UTC date
setting the eQSL.cc Rcvd item to 'Y' willset the eQSL.cc Date Rcvd item to the current UTC date
setting the LotW QSL Rcvd item to 'Y' will set the LotW Date Rcvd item to the current UTC date
The CFM button in the QSL panel makes it easy to confirm an incoming QSL card for the currently selected QSO. Clicking this button
sets QSL received to "Y" (yes)
sets QSL date received to the current UTC date
if a card was not previous sent, sets QSL sent to "R" (requested)
You can delete the currently selected QSO by clicking the Delete button, and then clicking the Yes button in the subsequently displayed confirmation dialog box. You can delete all QSOs in the Log Page Display by depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Delete button. There is no undo operation for a confirmed delete.
Double-clicking an entry in the Log Page Display filters the Log Page Display to show only QSOs with that entry's callsign; Double-clicking an entry in the Log Page Display while depressing the Ctrl button filters the Log Page Display to show only QSOs with that entry's DXCC entity
If the Highlight duplicate QSOs box is checked, then entries in the Log Page Display whose callsign, band, and mode match those of the Capture window will be highlighted in red font.
To view the Log Page Display in order of each QSO's begin time, click the UTC button in the Sort panel below the log page display. To view the Log Page Display in callsign order, click the Call button in the Sort panel below the log page display.
You can sort any column in the Log Page Display by double-clicking on its caption. The first time you do this, the Log Page Display will be sorted in ascending order of the selected column; if you do it again, the Log Page will be sorted in descending order.
For more sophisticated sorts, click the Adv button to the right of the Sort panel to display DXKeeper's Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window. In this window's Advanced Sort panel, you can compose four different advanced sorts, each containing up to three sort fields. To compose a sort, select the first field to be sorted in the ADIF field name control at the top of the window; then double-click in the First Field textbox. If the first field is to be sorted in ascending order, click the First Field panel's Ascend button, otherwise click the Descend button. If there is a second field to be sorted, specify it in the Second Field panel; if there is a third field to be sorted, specify it in the Third Field panel. If necessary, use the X buttons to the right of a sort field textbox to clear its contents. Double-clicking one of the four sort textboxes at the bottom of the Advanced Sort panel will assemble your specified sort in that textbox. To apply a sort, click the Select radio button to its right, and click the Adv button in the Main window's Sort panel. You can directly edit an Advanced sort; doing so will reset the Select radio button to its right. Click an Advanced sort's Select radio button with the Adv button in the Main window's Sort panel already selected will immediately sort the Log Page Display.
The controls in the Filter panel, located at the bottom of the Log QSOs tabbed dialog, allow you to control which QSOs appear in the Log Page Display. Note that QSLing and Exporting operations act only upon QSOs appearing in the Log Page Display, so you can use filtering to QSL or Export a specific subset of the QSOs in your log.
At startup, the Filter is set to None, thus the Log Page Display contains rows for every QSO in the current log file. If you enter a callsign into the Filter textbox and click the Filter panel's Call button, the Log Page Display removes rows for any QSOs whose call item does not match the Filter callsign. Similarly, entering a callsign into the Filter textbox and clicking the Filter panel's DXCC button removes rows for any QSOs whose DXCC entity does not match that of the Filter callsign. If the contents of the Filter textbox cannot be mapped to a DXCC Entity, then it is assumed that these contents are DXCC Prefix rather than a callsign, and the Log Page Display is filtered by this DXCC Prefix. For example.
| Filter textbox contents | Clicking the Filter panel's DXCC button filters for all QSOs with |
| 3B8IK | Mauritius Island (DXCC = 3B8) |
| UN1DX | Kazakhstan (DXCC = UL) |
| UL1DX | Uzbekistan (DXCC = UJ) |
| Y | German Democratic Republic (DXCC = Y) |
You can use * (asterisk) as a wildcard character in Filter callsigns. For example,
K6MI*
will match K6MI, K6MIO, and K6MIO/KH6.
When you invoke the Call filter on a callsign that doesn't contain a wildcard character, DXKeeper automatically uses a search expression that will match prepended or appended prefixes or designators. For example
K6AB
will match K6AB, KH6/K6AB, K6AB/QRP, and KH6/K6AB/P but will not match K6ABC or ZK6AB.
Both the Call and DXCC filters select the appropriate DXCC entity in the Progress Grid and provide detailed award status in the Progress Details Grid.
Double-clicking on a callsign in the Call field in the Main window's Log QSOs tab filters the Log Page Display to show previous QSOs with that callsign; if Contest-mode is checked, then only QSOs whose recorded Contest IDs match the current Contest ID setting are shown. Double-clicking on an entry in the Log Page Display filters the Log Page Display to show previous QSO's with that entry's callsign; if Contest-mode is checked, then only QSOs matching the current Contest ID are shown. Double-clicking on an entry in the Log Page Display while depressing the Ctrl key filters the Log Page Display to show show all QSO's with that entry's DXCC entity.
The UTC filter allows you to restrict the Log Page Display to those QSOs falling within a specified range. You can specify this range as being
within a certain number of minutes of a particular date-and-time (useful for locating QSOs for which the callsign may have been incorrectly logged), or
after one date-and-time and before another date- and-time (useful for exporting QSOs logged during a particular contest); if an after/before range is selected but no before date-and-time is specified when the UTC filter is invoked, the current date-and-time is used for this parameter.
To specify the UTC filter range, depress the Control key while clicking the filter panel's UTC button, or click the Adv button to the left of the Filter panel. This displays DXKeeper's Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window, whose UTC Filter panel lets you choose between within and after/before ranges, and specify the parameters for that range. Date-and-time parameters can be specified using your locale's standard date/time format, the dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss format, or the yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss format.
After specifying the UTC filter range, you can activate the filter by clicking the Filter button in the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window's UTC Filter panel. Alternatively, you can activate the UTC filter by placing a valid date-and-time in the Filter panel on the Main window's Log QSOs tab and then clicking the Filter panel's UTC button. If the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window's UTC panel specifies a within range, then the date-and-time in the Main window's Filter panel specifies the center of that range; if the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window's UTC panel specifies an after/before range, then the date-and-time in the Main window's Filter panel specifies the beginning of that range.
Clicking the LotW button displays all QSOs whose LotW Sent fields are set to U, meaning that their acceptance by LotW has not been verified.
Clicking the SQL1 button invokes the first SQL search defined on the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window, as described below.
Clicking the Broke button displays only QSOs that
are missing required information:
Band
Begin date/time
Callsign
Country code
DXCC prefix
Mode
Operator
have a Begin date/time prior to 1/1/1930
have an End date/time that occurs before their Begin date/time
do not contain a valid callsign
include a Satellite name but do not have Propagation Mode set to SAT
have an empty myQTH field in a Log for which multiple QTHs have been defined
Clicking the Adv button located between the Sort and Filter panels displays the DXKeeper Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window, which enables you to
specify the UTC filter's range and activate the UTC filter
specify one or more bands and activate the Band filter
specify one or more modes and activate the Mode filter
specify up to four structured query language (SQL) queries and invoke them as filters; double-clicking in an SQL Query Filter textbox appends the contents of the ADIF field name control at the top of the window; the first of these queries can be directly invoked from the Main window's Filter panel by clicking the SQL1 button.
modify a specified item in every QSO in the Log Page Display
execute a script file containing Filter, Retain Filter, Sort, and Modify commands; note that a script containing one Filter and one Retain Filter command provide a means of storing an effectively unlimited number of structured query language (SQL) queries for use as Log Page Display filters
The filter setting -- whether based on callsign, DXCC prefix, time window, band, mode, broken, or an SQL query -- is shown in the Filter panel's caption.
To reset the Log page filter so that all QSOs are visible there, click the Filter panel's X button.
Filter's can also be invoked by striking control keys in the filter textbox.
To facilitate sequential filter operations, striking the Enter key with the cursor in the filter textbox invokes the last filter operation. For example to quickly check for previous QSOs with JY4NE, IK4VYX, and YV1DIG, one would
enter JY4NE in the filter textbox
click the Call button in the filter panel to see previous QSOs with Ali
enter IK4VYX in the filter text box and strike the Enter key to see previous QSOs with Fab
enter YV1DIG in the filter text box and strike the Enter key to see previous QSOs with Paul
DXKeeper's title bar shows the number of QSOs visible in the Log Page Display, taking any specified filtering into account.
QSL and Export operations only apply to QSOs visible in the Log Page Display, thus you can use filtering to choose a specific subset of QSOs to which these activities apply.
You can individually place a QSO in the QSL Queue by right-clicking on its entry in the Log Page Display and then left-clicking on the Add to QSL Queue option. If the QSL Queue is empty, right-clicking on a QSO in the Log Page Display will provides a set of immediate QSLing options:
The Report button generates a log report with one entry for each QSO in the Log Page Display, and places that report in a file in DXKeeper's Reports subfolder. This report's sort order and layout are those of the Log Page Display with one exception: if the Log Page Display includes the country code, the report appends the full DXCC entity name to the country code. You can create a layout optimized for this report and save it in a file for later recall, as described below.
If DXView is running, the Plot button conveys all QSOs in the Log Page Display to DXView for display on its world map.
The Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window provides two facilities for applying modifications to many QSOs: the Modify QSOs panel, and the Script panel. To display the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window, click the Adv button at the bottom of the Main window's Log QSOs tab.
The Modify QSOs panel lets you designate an item and provide a new value for that item. When you click the panel's Modify button, the designated item of each QSO in the Log Page Display will be set to the specified value. To designate an item, use the panel's Item's ADIF field name selector to choose the item's ADIF field name. Enter the desired new value in the panel's New item value setting. Clicking the panel's Modify button applies the change to every QSO in the Log Page Display; if you intend to change only some of the QSOs in your log, first filter the Log Page Display so that only the QSOs to be modified are present.
| Item | Computation | Prerequisite |
| lat | compute latitude and longitude from grid square |
|
| lon | compute latitude and longitude from grid square |
|
| grid | compute grid square from latitude and longitude |
|
| dist | compute distance from grid square or latitude and longitude |
|
| antenna az | compute antenna azimuth from grid square or latitude and longitude |
|
|
New item value |
Effect |
| +1y | adds one year |
| -1m | subtracts one month |
| +3d | adds 3 days |
| -2h | subtracts 2 hours |
| +5n | adds 5 minutes |
| +3s | adds 3 seconds |
Neither fractions nor combinations are permitted; if you want to add 3 hours and 30 minutes to each QSO's start time, for example, use +210n.
worked <Name> on <Band>
then a 20m QSO with ON4UN will have its Notes item set to
worked John on 20m
If you modify the QSL Rcvd or LotW Received items of one or more QSOs, the Log's Award Progress may requiring updating; DXKeeper will prompt you to invoke the Recompute function after any such change, but if you are making a sequence of changes involving either of these items, it will be faster to run Recompute once after all changes are complete.
The Script panel contains a single Run button that when clicked
lets you choose a script file containing Filter, Retain Filter, LogReport, and Modify commands; script filename extensions can be either .txt or .scp
if the chosen script file will modify your log, offers to create a backup copy of your log; accepting this offer is highly recommended
executes each of these commands in sequence
records each executed command in a script log file with an indication as to success or failure
The script log file is created in the folder in which the script file resides; its filename is constructing by appending _Log_YYYY_MMM_DD to the script log's filename, where YYYY is the current year, MMM is the current month, and DD is the current day, and its filename extension is .log .
The Filter command specifies a structured query language (SQL) expression that is used to filter the Log Page Display. The number of QSOs present in the Log Page Display after executing the Filter command is recorded in the script log file. This Filter command, for example,
Filter QSO_Begin < #1/1/1979# and call like '*KB6*'
selects all QSOs with Baker and Howland Islands prior to January 1, 1979.
Ordinarily, DXKeeper remembers the Log Page Display Filter in effect before you initiated script execution, and restores this filter after script execution has completed. If the selected script contains the command Retain Filter, however, DXKeeper does not restore the original Log Page Display Filter; the Log Page Display Filter will be established by the last Filter command executed by the script. This allows script files to be used purely to filter the Log Page Display.
The Sort command specifies an expression which is used to sort the Log Page Display. The expression specifies the items by which the log is to be sorted, with each item's ADIF field name separated by comma's. They keyword DESC is appended if an item is to be placed in descending rather than ascending order. Thus
Sort Band DESC, Call
will sort the Log Page Display by band in descending order, and then by callsign in ascending order. Executing a script containing a Sort command will clear the Sort panel on the Main window's Log QSOs tab.
The LogReport command generates a log report with one entry for each QSO visible in the Log Page Display, and places that report in a file in the specified filename. For example, the command
LogReport C:\Program Files\DXKeeper\Reports\6M QSOs.txt
will produce a log report in the file 6M QSOs.txt in the folder C:\Program Files\DXKeeper\Reports.
any occurrence of <stationcallsign> in the report filename will be replaced with the Default station callsign
any occurrence of < operator> in the report filename will be replaced with the Default operator callsign
any occurrence of <ownercallsign> in the report filename will be replaced with the Default owner callsign
any occurrence of <date> in the report filename will be replaced with the current UTC date in the format dd-mmm-yyyy (e.g., 25-JAN-1952)
any occurrence of <ISOdate> in the report filename will be replaced with the current UTC date in the format yyyy-mm-dd (e.g., 1952-01-25)
The log report's sort order and layout are those of the Log Page Display with one exception: if the Log Page Display includes the country code, the report appends the full DXCC entity name to the country code. You can create a layout optimized for this report and save it in a file for later recall, as described below.
The Modify command designate an item and provide a new value for that item; its operation is comparable to the Modify QSOs panel. Consider the following Modify commands:
Modify DXCCid 20
Modify DXCCprefix KH1
Modify CQZ 31
Modify ITUz 61
These commands will change the DXCCid, DXCCprefix, CQZ, and ITUz items of each QSO in the the Log Page Display. If placed after the above Filter command, these four Modify commands would update all pre-1979 QSOs with Baker and Howland Islands to contain the correct country code, DXCC prefix, CQ zone, and ITU zone.
Within the new value, the character sequence <current> represents the item's current value. Thus the commands
Filter (QSO_Begin > #6/21/2003#) and QSO_Begin < #6/22/2003#)
Modify COMMENT <current> (solar flux = 144)
will append (solar flux = 144)to the notes item of every QSO logged on 21-Jun-2003.
Within the new value, the character sequence '' means "clear the designated item". Thus the commands
Filter Band='6m'
Modify PROP_MODE ''
will clear the propagation mode item logged with every 6m QSO.
Within the new value, you can reference the contents of any other item in the QSO by enclosing that item's ADIF name in angle brackets. Thus the commands
Filter true
Modify PROP_MODE <COMMENT>
would set every QSO's propagation mode to the contents of its Notes field.
You can also use the new value field to add or subtract a time interval from the QSO_Begin or QSO_End item of each selected QSO:
|
New item value |
Effect |
| +1y | adds one year |
| -1m | subtracts one month |
| +3d | adds 3 days |
| -2h | subtracts 2 hours |
| +5n | adds 5 minutes |
| +3s | adds 3 seconds |
Neither fractions nor combinations are permitted; if you want to add 3 hours and 30 minutes to each QSO's start time, for example, use +210n.
A Modify command will only be executed if the most recent Filter command succeeded; thus the first command in a script file must be a Filter command. After a Modify command is executed, the number of QSOs modified is recorded in the script log file, and then the most recent Filter command is re-executed; this ensures that any subsequent Modify commands are applied to the intended subset of logged QSOs. Prior to execution, the Modify command verifies that the designated item is valid, and that the specified new value for that item is appropriate; any error will preven Modify command from being executed, and will be recorded in the script log file.
DXKeeper's /Scripts folder contains several preconstructed scripts for updating older QSOs to reflect up-to-date DXCC country codes, DXCC prefixes, CQ zones, and ITU zones. These can be used to correct QSOs that were imported without DXCCID tags, and as examples of script construction.
From the Main window's Log QSOs tab,
clicking the CBA button will query the selected Callbook database for name, QTH information, and address information and add these to the current QSO, but will not over-write fields already containing information
depressing the Ctrl key while clicking the CBA button clears the current QSO's name, QTH, and address fields before updating these fields by querying the Callbook
depressing the Alt key while clicking the CBA button, updates every QSO in the Log Page Display by querying the selected Callbook database for name, QTH information, and address information without over-writing fields already containing information
depressing both the Alt and CTRL keys while clicking the CBA button will replace the name, QTH information, and address information in every QSO in the Log Page Display by querying the selected Callbook.
If you clicking the CBA button with the Alt key depressed, DXKeeper will offer to create a backup copy of your log before proceeding with the update; doing so is highly recommended. Note that applying these operations to large numbers of QSOs will take significant time, particularly if you haven't copied your Callbook's database from CDROM to a hard drive.
To make a backup copy of the current Log file,
click the Config button
select the Configuration window's Log tab
click the Backup folder panel's Backup button.
DXKeeper will create a copy of your log file in the specified backup folder; this copy's filename will include the current UTC date, allowing you to create and retain log backups as frequently as every day. If you've previously created a log backup file on the same UTC date, you will be offered the choice of aborting the new backup or over-writing the previous backup.
If the contents of the current Log are damaged -- by the unintentional deletion of multiple QSOs, for example -- you can replace the contents of the current Log with those of a previously-created backup copy. To do so,
terminate SpotCollector if its running
click the Config button
select the Configuration window's Log tab
click the Backup folder panel's Recover button.
DXKeeper will display a file selector dialog window with which you can choose the backup copy whose contents will be replace the contents of the current Log file. Before this replacement occurs, the contents of the current Log file are saved to a file whose name is generated by appending the words and timestamp _abandoned_YYYY_MMM_DD_HH_MM_SS_0 to the original filename. This file provides a safety net should you later discover that it contains needed data; it can be deleted when you are certain that its no longer needed.
When the operation is complete, the Log file will will be in a state identical to that of the moment you created the selected backup file: logged QSOs, awards progress, QSL queue, and log-specific settings.
When first installed, DXKeeper's Log Page Display is configured to show 8 of the 31 items associated with each QSO. You can add or remove items from the Log Page Display using the Log page fields control in the Log Layout panel on the Configuration window's Log tab. This control lets you modify the Log Page Display's column captions, change column widths, and change the column order.
To change the width of a column in the Log Page 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 Log Page 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.
You can save the current Log Page Display's layout to a file, and you can restore a layout stored a previously saved file.