The Check Progress tabbed dialog tracks by-mode and by-band progress for each DXCC entity, considering each QSO in the current log file. Both QSL card and LotW confirmations (in QSL_Rcvd and Lotw Rcvd respectively) are considered in determining progress; if you check the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box, QSOs confirmed by eQSL.cc will also be considered in determining progress.
The Award Progress panel displays a Progress Grid with one entry per DXCC entity; the panel below it displays a Progress Details Grid for the currently-selected Progress Grid entry. Cells in the Progress Grid contain codes showing the confirmation status of the entity, bands, and modes; cells in the Progress Details Grid contain codes showing the confirmation of band-mode combinations. The codes used in both grids are identical:
W worked
R a QSL card has been sent requesting a confirmation
C confirmed via QSL card or LotW (or via eQSL.cc if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked)
V verified by the ARRL
If either of a QSO's QSL_Rcvd or LotW Rcvd fields are set to I, then the QSO is considered invalid for award tracking purposes. If both of a QSO's QSL_Rcvd and LotW Rcvd fields are set to X, the QSO is considered to be unconfirmable and thus treated for award tracking purposes as if it did not occur. If the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, then an I or X in the QSO's eQSL Rcvd field has an equivalent effect.
If the DXCC award objectives indicate that a mode is sought, but there are no confirmed QSOs with the currently-selected Progress Grid entry in that mode, then the background of that mode's cells in the Progress Details Grid will be white rather than the window's background color. Similarly, if the DXCC award objectives indicate that a band is sought, but there are no confirmed QSOs with the currently-selected Progress Grid entry on that band, then the background of that band's cells in the Progress Details Grid will be white rather than the window's background color.
If you change the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... setting, the Progress Grid, Progress Details Grid, and other reports will not reflect the change until you invoke the Recompute function.
Note that RTTY mode progress includes credit for PSK31 QSOs. RTTY mode progress also includes QSOs in any other digital modes designated as eligible for DXCC RTTY credit via DXKeeper's user-defined mode mechanism.
Both the Progress Grid and the Progress Details Grid are live -- you can navigate among them and your log by selecting entries or double-clicking cells:
clicking an entry in the Progress Grid selects the associated DXCC entity and provides detailed award status in the Progress Details Grid
double-clicking a band or mode cell in the Progress Grid
selects the associated DXCC entity
provides detailed award status in the Progress Details Grid
filters the Log Page display to show all QSOs with the DXCC entity in the selected band or mode
shows the Log Page display if the CTRL key was depressed when the Progress Grid entry was double-clicked
double-clicking a column or row heading in the Progress Details Grid
filters the Log Page display to show all QSOs with the DXCC entity in the selected band or mode
shows the Log Page display if the CTRL key was depressed when the Progress Details Grid cell was double-clicked
double-clicking a cell in the Progress Details Grid
filters the Log Page display to show all QSOs with the DXCC entity in the selected band mode
shows the Log Page display if the CTRL key was depressed when the Progress Details Grid cell was double-clicked
The Award Progress panel's Award Progress Filter panel contains a set of controls that let you filter the Progress Grid to show what's unworked, what's worked but not requested, what's requested but not confirmed, what's confirmed but not verified, and/or what's verified -- on any band and mode, or on specific band-mode combinations. You can also choose whether or not to include DXCC entities that are no longer current. Only Progress Grid entries that match the criteria set in these controls are visible; the number of matching entries is shown in the Award Progress panel's caption. To generate a report showing all entities the specified filter, click the Award Progress Filter panel's Report button; to reset the filter so that all Progress Grid entries are visible, click the All button. Note that filtering the Progress Grid has no impact on DXKeeper's ability to track awards progress; such progress will be accurately tracked whether all DXCC entities are visible in the Progress Gird or not.
The Progress Grid and Progress Details Grid are incrementally updated when
a station is worked
a QSL card is requested
when a QSO is confirmed via QSL card or LotW (or via eQSL.cc if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked)
when a QSO is verified by the ARRL
When enabled, DXKeeper will automatically update the Progress Grid and Progress Details Grid when you
indicate a regression in the QSO's progress, e.g. demoting its QSL_Rcvd or Lotw Rcvd status from confirmed to worked, or from worked to unworked (if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, demoting a QSO's eQSL Rcvd status will also trigger an automatic update)
modify a QSO's band or mode
modify a QSO's DXCC entity
place an exclamation point at the beginning of a QSO's callsign (marking the QSO as not to be considered for award progress)
delete a QSO
This update is accomplished by reviewing all QSOs with the DXCC
entity of the deleted or modified QSO; this is generally much faster than
clearing the Progress Grid and rebuilding it by scanning every QSO in the log,
as performed by the Recompute function. DXKeeper
displays a small dialog box with a progress bar whenever it is recomputing
progress for a specific DXCC entity. If you
plan to delete or modify several QSOs, however, it may be faster to disable
automatic progress recomputation, make the changes, and then perform a Recompute
to rebuild the log's Progress Grid.
DXKeeper can generate a wide variety of progress reports. The format of all dates used in these reports is specified via the Date Format panel on the Config window's Reports tab.
For a report containing every QSO visible in the Log Page Display, click the Report button on the Main window's Log QSOs tab. The contents of this report are governed by the Log Page Display filter. The order of fields, and their captions and widths are specified by the Log Page Display panel; you may find it convenient to establish specific settings for your report that differ from those used in normal Log Page Display viewing, and save these settings in a Log Page Display layout file for quick recall.
All other progress reports are requested via the Main window's Check Progress tab.
The Summary button on Main window's Check Progress tab computes and displays a summary of progress towards the ARRL DX Century Club award (DXCC), the ARRL DX Century Club Challenge award , and the Top List award; this summary considers both QSL card and LotW confirmations. The results appear in a separate DXCC Summary window, within which
the Update button in the Summary panel recomputes the displayed DXCC and Top List progress, taking into account changes since the progress summary was last updated
you can view the results either with or without deleted countries by making the appropriate selection in the Award Program - include deleted countries? panel.
note that HR (Honor Roll) totals include only non-deleted countries no matter how the radio buttons in the Award Program - include deleted countries? panel are set.
the Progress button in the DXCC Challenge, TOP panel generates a DXCC and Top List progress report showing verified Honor Roll countries and confirmed countries. The DXCC section of the includes deleted entities, whereas the Top List section does not. This report considers both QSL card and LotW confirmations.
the Summary button in the DXCC Challenge, TOP panel generates a DXCC or Top List summary report showing worked, confirmed and verified countries; use the Award Program panel to choose whether or not deleted entities are included. The summary report considers both QSL card and LotW confirmations. This report is generated in HTML, and so can easily be uploaded to your personal web site. You can optionally insert additional HTML to appear above the report's table via the Optional HTML textbox on the Config window's Report tab; see http://webpages.charter.net/goldenhartz/dxkeeper.html for suggestions and sample HTML.
Panels along the bottom of the Check Progress tab contain buttons that generate reports useful in pursuing awards:
in the DXCC, Challenge, TOP panel,
clicking the Progress button generates a detailed DXCC progress text report for current and deleted DXCC entities; this report considers both QSL card and LotW confirmations; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
clicking the Card Aging button offers to expire any outstanding QSL whose age exceeds the specified Expiration age, and generates a text report of needed, outstanding QSL cards by DXCC prefix and age
an outstanding QSL is one whose QSO's QSL_Rcvd field contains R (for "requested")
an outstanding QSL's age is the number of weeks between the day the QSL was sent and the current date
a QSO is expired by setting its QSL_Rcvd field to X
whether or not you choose to have this function automatically expire QSOs whose age exceeds the specified Expiration age, the report will identify QSLs whose age exceeds this threshold
clicking the by QSL Kind button generates a text report showing DXCC confirmations by QSL card, eQSL.cc, LotW, and the combination of eQSL.cc and LotW; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, this report shows the combination of eQSL.cc, LotW and eQSL.cc confirmations.
in the VUCC panel,
clicking the Progress button generates a VUCC progress text report for 6M and 2M QSOs visible in the Log Page Display. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
clicking the Submission button generates a VUCC submission text report for 6M and 2M QSOs visible in the Log Page Display that enumerates all confirmed QSOs for gridsquares not yet verified by the ARRL. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
in the Maidenhead panel,
clicking the Fields button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing all Maidenhead Fields confirmed or worked. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
clicking the Gridsquares button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing all Maidenhead Grid Squares confirmed or worked. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
in the Worked All... panel,
clicking the WAS button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the ARRL Worked All States award (WAS). This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
clicking the Counties button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the Worked All Counties award; an error report will be generated if QSOs whose County fields are inconsistent with their State fields are encountered
clicking the IOTA button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing all Islands On The Air confirmed or worked; optionally, clicking the IOTA button will also create IOTA_Worked and IOTA_Confirmed update files for IOTAMem4WIN in DXKeeper's Reports sub-folder
clicking the WAC button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the ARRL Worked All Continents award (WAC); log entries whose continent item is empty will be updated from the DXCC database. This report considers both QSL card and LotW confirmations. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.
clicking the WAZ button generates an HTML report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the CQ Worked All Zones award (WAZ) on the bands and modes specified in the WAZ Bands & Modes panel; log entries whose CQ Zone item is empty will be updated from the DXCC database.
clicking the WPX button generates an HTML report showing progress towards the CQ Worked All Prefixes (WPX) award; all QSOs containing a WPX field are considered, regardless of the Log Page filter
Reports generated from the VUCC, Maidenhead, and Worked All... panels consider only QSOs in the Log Page Display, thereby enabling you to produce band-specific, mode-specific, or timeframe-specific reports by appropriately setting the Log Page Filter. Progress reports generated from the DXCC, Challenge, TOP panel show progress for all QSOs, whether or not the Log Page Display is filtered.
All generated reports are placed in an appropriately-named file in DXKeeper's Reports subfolder, and then immediately displayed using the default file viewer. To view the contents of this subfolder, click the Reports button.
DXCC-oriented progress reports use the awards tab settings to determine the bands and modes you are pursuing. If no awards tab boxes are checked, DXKeeper assumes that you are pursuing DXCC without focus on specific bands or modes.
The Recompute button
initializes the current log file's progress grid from the DXCC
database, and
then updates the progress grid by examining each QSO in the current log. If
the WPX box is checked, then this
function also computes a WPX
prefix for those QSOs for which one is missing. This operation also flags any
QSO that is missing critical fields, or whose End occurs before its Beginning, or that contains an invalid callsign; QSOs
flagged in this way are referred to as broken, and can be viewed using
the Broke filter.
In the DXCC, Challenge, TOP panel, clicking the Submission button displays the DXKeeper DXCC Submission window, from which you can assemble a DXCC Submission -- a set of confirmed but unverified QSOs to be submitted to the ARRL's DXCC desk -- and generate the required DXCC Record Sheet to accompany your award application. A QSO is considered to be included in your DXCC Submission if either its QSL Rcvd or LotW Rcvd items are set to S. You can manually add a QSO to your DXCC Submission by setting either of these items to S using the Main window's QSO panel or Online QSO panel. The Assemble Submission function described below automatically expands your DXCC Submission to include all confirmed QSOs whose verification would advance your DXCC progress on the bands and modes selected in the DXCC/TOP Bands & Modes panel, choosing between QSL cards and LotW credits as directed by settings in the DXCC Submission panel.
Assemble Submission - finds all confirmed but unsubmitted and unverified QSOs visible in the Log Page Display whose DXCC entity is unverified, or whose band is selected in the DXCC/TOP Bands & Modes panel and whose entity-band is unverified, or whose mode is selected in the DXCC/TOP Bands & Modes panel and whose entity-mode is unverified; in each such QSO, a QSL Rcvd item that is currently Y will be changed to S if Submit QSL cards is selected, or a LotW Rcvd item that is currently Y will be changed to S if Submit LotW credits is selected; if a QSO's QSL Rcvd and LotW Rcvd are currently Y and if both Submit QSL cards and Submit LotW credits are selected, then the DXCC Submission Preference determines which of QSL Rcvd or LotW Rcvd is set to S.
View Submission - shows all QSOs visible in the Log Page Display that are included in the DXCC Submission; depressing the Ctrl key while invoking this function will show all QSOs included in the DXCC Submission whether or not they are visible in the Log Page Display.
Create Planning Report - generates a report showing all QSOs visible in the Log Page Display that are included in the DXCC Submission, sorted by DXCC entity and showing what the QSO verifies: entity, band, and/or mode, and whether a QSL card or LotW credit is being submitted; this report also shows the total number of QSL cards and LotW credits in the DXCC Submission (more precisely, in the portion of the DXCC Submission visible in the Log Page Display).
Create Card Record Sheet - generates a DXCC Record Sheet report showing all QSOs visible in the Log Page Display whose QSL Rcvd item is S, sorted by band and mode as specified by the DXCC desk.
Create LotW Record Sheet - generates an LotW Record Sheet report showing all QSOs visible in the Log Page Display whose LotW Rcvd item is S, sorted by entity, band, and mode to assist you in selecting credits on the LotW web site.
Verify Submission - updates your log to reflect verification of your DXCC Submission by the ARRL's DXCC desk: for all QSOs visible in the Log Page Display, if a QSO's QSL Rcvd or LotW Rcvd item is currently S it is changed to V.
Reset
Submission - performs an "undo" operation
on your DXCC Submission; for
all QSOs visible in
the Log Page Display, if a QSO's QSL
Rcvd or LotW Rcvd item is
currently S it is changed to Y.
DXKeeper includes a comprehensive DXCC database, which it uses to lookup DXCC prefixes and country codes, and to initialize log file progress grids -- when a log file is first created, or when you click the Recompute button. You can always obtain an up-to-date DXCC database by downloading www.qsl.net/dxkeeper/DXCC.zip and extracting its contents (the file DXCC.mdb) into your DXKeeper Databases subfolder. The pathname and version of the DXCC database currently in use is displayed in the DXCC Database panel on the Configuration window's Databases tab.
You can maintain your own DXCC database using the application DXView, a freeware application that displays DXCC info and country maps, and plots spots, beam headings, solar position, and the solar terminator on a world map. If, when DXKeeper starts, it finds DXView installed on your PC, DXKeeper uses DXView's DXCC database, ignoring its own. Thus DXCC database updates you make with DXView are accessible to DXKeeper with no further action on your part.