Using the Spot Database

Each Spot Database Entry captures information about one or more spots of a DX station operating in the same mode around the same frequency over an interval of time:

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 unless there's an entity 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 over-ridden by a mode designation like PSK or MFSK in the spot notes
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)
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 associated with the most recent spot of this station in this mode close to this frequency
Network	Network	the name of the PacketCluster, DXCluster, or IRC channel from that 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) U - unworked W - worked F - confirmed
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) U - unworked W - worked F - confirmed
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) U - unworked W - worked F - confirmed
BandSought	BandSought	Indicates whether the spotted band's box is checked in the DXCC 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) Y - checked N - unchecked
ModeSought	ModeSought	Indicates whether the spotted mode's box is checked in the DXCC 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) Y - checked N - unchecked
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) Y - already worked on this band N - never worked on this band
ModeWorked	ModeWorked	Indicates whether or not this callsign has already been worked on the spotted mode ( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked, unconfirmed, or unneeded) Y - already worked on this mode N - never worked on this mode
CountryWorked	CountryWorked	Indicates whether or not this DXCC entity has already been worked on the spotted band and mode ( used by SpotCollector to determine whether or not an entry is unworked, unconfirmed, or unneeded) Y - already worked on this band and mode N - never worked on this band and mode
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 locations from which the spotted DX station has been spotted (unknown, North American East coast, North American Midwest, North American West coast, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania)
Cont	Cont	the spotted DX station's continent
DXCCCountry	DXCCCountry	the spotted DX station's DXCC entity name
DXGrid	DXGrid	the spotted station's Maidenhead Gridsquare (extracted from spot notes)
OriginGrid	OriginGrid	the spotting station's Maidenhead Gridsquare (extracted form spot notes or provided by a spot source)
Hidden	Hidden	Indicates whether or not this entry should be hidden Y - don't display this entry N - display this entry
LotW	LotW	Indicates whether or not this station is known to QSL via the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LotW) Y - the station is known to QSL via LotW N - the station is not known to QSL via LotW

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.

Note that telnet-accessible DXClusters that utilize AR-Cluster software can be configured to append additional information to DX spots. This additional information prevents SpotCollector from properly decoding the spot information. To prevent this problem, disable the feature by entering the following command to the DXCluster:

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 DXCC Database's OriginGrid field. To enable a cluster running DX Spider to append spotting station gridsquares, enter the following command:

Highlighting Spot Database entries for "Needed" stations

Objectives are determined from information DXKeeper maintains in the Windows registry; thus DXKeeper need not be running for SpotCollector to appropriately characterize spots. Awards progress is determined from a DXKeeper log file. You can configure SpotCollector to

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.

Using the objectives and awards progress information from DXKeeper, SpotCollector places each Spot Database Entry into one of three categories:

By default, unworked Spot Database Entries are rendered with a red font, unconfirmed with a blue font, and unneeded with a black font; you can modify these colors via the Spot Database sub-tab on the Config window's Display Fonts 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 country are considered 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 QSOing this station would give you an alternate way to confirm VU4 on 20m and SSB.

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 an unworked Spot Database Entry is created. Settings in the Audio Alarm panel on the Config window's General tab allow you to

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.

Highlighting Spot Database Entries of stations known to participate in ARRL's Logbook of the World (LotW)

The file LotW.mdb is a database containing callsigns known to participate in the ARRL's Logbook of the World (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'. You can obtain LotW.mdb by downloading http://www.qsl.net/spotcollector/LotW.exe . If you have DXView installed, you should extract LotW.mdb into DXView's Databases folder, where it will be referenced by both DXView and SpotCollector; if you don't have DXView installed, extracting LotW.mdb into SpotCollector's Databases folder. The date at which LotW.mdb was last updated is displayed below the Filter panel's LotW checkbox.

By default, Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are 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 yellow background. You can modify these colors via the Spot Database sub-tab on the Config window's Display Fonts tab.

Reformatting the Spot Database Display

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.

Sorting the Spot Database

Using the radio buttons in the Spot Database window's Sort panel, you can sort the Spot Database Display in order of

Filtering the Spot Database

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

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.

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

which means that the Spot Database Display only shows entries whose callsign is VK9NS and that have not been individually hidden . If the current filter is empty, then the Filter Panel's caption will be

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.

Filtering by Callsign, DXCC entity, Frequency, and Need

The four General filters let you choose one of four criteria; some of these criteria reference the contents of the General Expression textbox, located on the left side of the Filter panel.

You can use * (asterisk) as a wildcard character when specifying either callsigns or DXCC prefixes in the General Expression textbox. For example,

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.

To clear the General filters, click the button labeled X to the immediate right of the General Expression textbox. When the General filter is cleared, Spot Database Display shows all unhidden Spot Database Entries that conform to the four Context filters: Band, Mode, Continent, and Origin filters.

Filtering by Band, Mode, Continent, and Origin

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 checkboxes for each amateur band from 160m to 12cm. 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 backwards and forwards respectively.

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 six 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.

To avoid long, complex expressions in the Filter panel caption's display of the current filter, the following convention is used:

then the Spot Database Display is showing unhidden Spot Database entries whose callsign is VK9NS 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.

Filtering by LotW Participation

If the LotW callsign database LotW.mdb is present in SpotCollector's Database folder at startup, you can display only Spot Database Entries whose callsigns are known to participate in the ARRL's Logbook of the World by checking the Filter panel's LotW box.

Hiding Spot Database Entries: individually, or automatically by keyword

To un-hide one or more hidden Spot Database Entries, click the Filter panel's AutoHide 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.

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,

Filtering with SQL expressions

The Filter panel's eight SQL filter buttons provide complete control over the display of Spot Database Entries through the specification of SQL expressions that specify values for named Spot Database Entry fields. 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 Filter panel's eight SQL filter buttons. At the top of the SQL Filter window, the Spot Database fields selector lists the name of each Spot Database Entry field; double-clicking in an SQL expression in this window will append the selected field name to that expression.

When you click one of the Filter panel's eight 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, 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

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.

Before executing an SQL filter expression, SpotCollector replaces any occurrence of

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.

Here's a sample SQL filter expression an east coast DXer might use to display DX spots on 80m:

(Band='80m') and ((Origin='NA-E') or (Origin='NA-M')) 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

Selecting a Spot Database Entry

When you left-click on a Spot Database Entry, SpotCollector notifies the DXLab application DXView, which if running displays information about the DX station's location -- latitude and longitude, 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 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. Left-clicking a Spot Database Entry action disables AutoScroll 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

When you double-click on a Spot Database Entry, SpotCollector's notifies the DXLab applications DXView, DXKeeper, WinWarbler, and Commander if they are currently running, and sends them information as described below. 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, as well as to WinWarbler and DXKeeper for logging.

Double-clicking a Spot Database Entry disables AutoScroll if you depressed the Shift key when you clicked on the Spot Database Entry.

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.

Navigating the Spot Database

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. Clicking the last button places the Spot Database Display in Autoscroll mode; with Autoscroll mode enabled, new Spot Database entries are added to the Spot Database Display, and the display scrolls vertically to make these new entries 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, or navigating via the first, previous, or next buttons disables Autoscroll mode so that the selected entry remains visible even as new entries are added to the Spot Database; clicking or double-clicking a Spot Database Entry while depressing the Shift key also disables Autoscroll mode. When Autoscroll is disabled, the words "Autoscroll Disabled" appear in blue font beneath the first, previous, last, and next buttons. If new Spot Database entries are added while Autoscroll is disabled, the words "Autoscroll Disabled" appear in red font. Enabling Autoscroll mode by clicking the last button will display the new Spot Database entries, and clear the "Autoscroll Disabled" notification.

Deleting a Spot Database Entry

To delete a Spot Database Entry, click in it's left-most column - a black triangle will appear in this column, and the entire entry will be highlighted - and then strike the Delete key, or the CTRL-X key; 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.

Spotting DX Stations

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 in the panel's Notes textbox; the Notes textbox will not accept more than 29 characters, consistent with limits imposed by DXCluster software. 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 as if it had been received by a spot source, with your callsign shown as the Network.

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.

Spot Statistics

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.

Generating a Spot Database Report

Depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Stats button generates a report with one entry for each visible Spot Datbase entry, and places that report in a file in SpotCollector''s Reports subfolder. This fixed-format report includes the following items:

Pruning the Spot Database

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.

WWV Propagation Reports

SpotCollector monitors each DXCluster and the #CQDX IRC channel for WWV announcements. Data from the most recent announcement is shown in the Spot Display 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.. 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 minimum and maximum useable frequencies between specified locations over a 24-hour period.

Sort	Description	Field	Order
First	sort by the UTC time (extracted from spot) each DX station was first spotted	FirstTime	ascending
Last	sort by the UTC time (extracted from spot) each DX station was most recently spotted	LastTime	ascending
Rcv	sort by the UTC time (from PC) each DX station was most recently spotted	RcvdTime	ascending
Call	sort by each spotted DX station's callsign	Callsign	ascending
Freq	sort by each spotted DX station's frequency	Frequency	ascending

Setting	Description	General Expression
Need	displays only unhidden Spot Entries for DX stations needed to satisfy current DX award objectives, as specified on the Awards tab of DXKeeper's configuration window; the Need Filter Mode setting determines whether unworked, or unworked and unconfirmed Spot Entries are displayed.	not used
Call	displays only unhidden Spot Entries for DX stations whose callsign is specified in the Filter Expression textbox	callsign
DXCC	displays only unhidden Spot Entries for DX stations whose DXCC prefix is specified in the Filter Expression textbox	DXCC prefix
Freq	displays only unhidden Spot 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

Parameter	Description
SFI	Solar flux index
A	Boulder A index
K	Boulder K index

Origin Checkbox	Geographic Location
NA-E	the North American east coast
NA-M	the North American mid-west
NA-W	the North American west coast
SA	South America
EU	Europe
AF	Africa
AS	Asia
OC	Oceania
?	unknown