PacketCluster!^TM Support

ProLog's PacketCluster!^TM interface is a powerful monitoring tool. ProLog will monitor DX Spot information either from a TNC or directly from the internet via DX-Summit. A separate monitor window is maintained through which you can view all packet activity. ProLog's selective alerting and Origination Filtering makes snaring the new ones easy. First, file a band plan, select the bands and modes of interest, set the selectivity of the Origination Filter. Next, in the "Cluster Traffic" panel of the Logging Form, select the type of QSL'ing you use, either QSL, eQSL or Both. That accomplished, whenever a DX spot is received, ProLog will use those selections to interrogate the award database of the selected logbook. If you need the spotted station, and you have requested an audible alert, ProLog will issue an alarm tone every fifteen seconds for a user-selected period (1-9 minutes or ad-infinitum). A convenient "Cluster Traffic" grouping in the logging form contains counters conveying just how many DX spots have been received, most important, the DX Alert Counter indicates the number of DX spots received, that if contacted, will improve your award standings. Tend to other things around the shack and let ProLog do the work!

For each supported band ProLog permits you to file a band plan. Each band plan consists of three segments that define the frequency range for Phone, CW and RTTY/DATA. Setup the band plan for your operating privileges so only those spots that fall into those frequency ranges will be listed and checked for award status.

Each DX Spot is comprised of two lines. The first line contains the actual DX Spot as it was received followed by an award status line for that specific prefix. The first entry of the Status Line contains the DXCC prefix which is preceded by one of three strings "MXQ" designates that the status colors are based on Standard QSL's, "MXE" designates that your eQSL Status was used and "MXB"  designates that both methods were used to determine the status coloring. The selected spot shown in the screenshot below for XF4IH on 14.070 Mhz contains a wealth of information about your current award status for the DXCC "XF4" entity, all conveyed at a glance using ProLog's  exclusive Traffic Signal coloring. 

Lets review how quickly you can determine your exact award status from the information displayed.  The "MXQ:XF4" in red indicates that contacting FS5KA would provide you with a this new DXCC entity on 15 meters for both "PHN" and "CW" and RTTY/Digital modes.  The "CONT:NA", "CQ:08", and "ITU:11 in green indicates that you already have North America CQ Zone 06 and ITU Zone 11 all confirmed.

Checkout the Spot for G4BUO at the top of the list. Although you already have it confimed for Mix Status, it would be a new one on 40 Meter Phone, CW or RTTY/Digital. Additionally, you have worked but not received a QSL Card for any of the associated enties on 40M, that is CONT:EU, CQ:14 and ITU:27. So working and confirming G4BUO can substantially improve your award status on the 40M band.

Even with Traffic Signal coding, when the DX Spot List gets lengthy, picking out the new ones among hundreds of spots becomes more challenging. When your DX Spot List gets to this level, ProLog's "Prioritize" command pushbutton permits you to sort the list on a top-to-bottom most needed basis. "Prioritize" will group those spots that represent all time new ones (Red) at the top of the list, followed by those spots that you have worked without a QSL (Yellow), finally followed by those spots that you have worked with QSL (Green). You may choose to prioritize the list by Entity:  DXCC, Continent, CQZ or ITUZ or by Mode: Phone, CW, or Digital/RTTY.

Ready for more features? Normally the DX Spot list is sequenced in an "as received" order. With good propagation and when monitoring a busy cluster, you may accumulate a hundred spots or so in a short period of time. Although award status coloring makes spotting the new ones easy, you still have to scan the entire list for a given entity.  For example, if CQ Zone 10 is the last zone you need to get the certificate, wouldn't it be nice to order the spots by CQ Zone and then simply check to see if there are any CQ Zone 10 spots in the list?  To do this, simply click on the "Sort By" pushbutton, select  "Sort List By CQ Zone" then click "Begin"; the entire spot list will be ordered by CQ Zone in increasing order. 

Lets say you are currently on 15 meters, all tuned up ready to go.  Bring up the DX Spot Window, click on "Sort By", select "Sort List By Band" and click "Begin". The entire DX Spot List will be sorted by frequency, grouping all of the 15 meter spots together for a quick review. With rig control it gets even easier, click on one of the mode pushbuttons at the bottom of the DX Spot Window and QSY the rig directly to the frequency of the DX Spot.

When the audible alarm sounds, activate the DX spot file window, position the selector bar on the DX spot of interest, and depress one of the mode pushbuttons (SSB, CW or RTTY). This will initiate a series of automatic operations; with rig control support enabled, your rig will be immediately switched to the frequency and mode of the DX station, the DX station's callsign is transferred to the log form. If you wish to make the contact, simply depress the ENTER key to continue. What could be easier?!

With the DX Spot Window activated you can also get a complete Band/Mode Overview Matrix for the award entities associated with the prefix of the DX spot. The "DXCC, CONT, CQZ and ITUZ" command pushbuttons let you do this. This feature will immediately tell you if moving the DX station to a new band and/or mode will benefit your award standing for that prefix. A great tool!

Also, you can tell at a glance whether you have worked the station before. Normally the callsign of the DX station is displayed in white. If you have worked the station before on any band or mode, the callsign will be colored in Turquoise. Taking it a step farther, simply place the selector bar on the DX Spot line containing the callsign of the station you have worked before and then click on the "Worked" command pushbutton at the bottom of the DX Spot Window. Another window will open displaying all of your previous contacts with that station. The format of this window is identical to that shown in the "More Logging Features" section. 

Clicking the "Filter" command pushbutton displays the DX Spot Filter Dialog Window. From this window you can establish the Bands, Modes and Awards you wish to monitor. When spots are monitored via a TNC, most will originate from the area served by the local Packet Cluster System. This almost guarantees  that you will be able to hear the DX station when you receive the spot. Like many other things that the Internet has changed, spotting using Local Cluster has been for the most part replaced with spotting websites like DX Summit. Unfortunately, because these websites are available worldwide, hundreds of spots per hour may be generated for a given DX Station. It becomes very frustrating to change frequency as each of these spots are received only to find that the propagation in your area is not sufficient  for you to hear the DX Station. The Prolog Spot Filter will permit you to accept spots only from those areas geographically close to you, so you can be reasonably assured that you too will be able to hear the spotted station.

Lets say you reside in the "5" area and you want to monitor for the Peter I expedition; they are using the 3Y0PI callsign and you want to work them on 40M, 20M and 15M. The first thing you want to do is to determine when they are active and are being received by anyone in the world on those bands. To do this, simply check the bands of interest, next, enter "3Y0PI" into the callsign alert queue, then open the filter as wide as it will go by selecting "All Modes", "All DX" and "All US". With those settings any spot received spotting 3Y0PI, regardless of origination, will popup a window notifying you that 3Y0PI is active, together with the frequency and originator of the spot.

Now, once 3Y0PI has been spotted, simply make the filter more selective by switching to "Selective DX" and "Selective US" and if you want, specify a particular US Callsign Area. With the selections below we have not specified any specific DX Origination, so activating "Selective DX" has easily eliminated all spots originating from DX Stations and by activating "Selective US" and checking the "5" checkbox we will only be alerted on a 3Y0PI spot originating from any "5" area callsign. 

The screenshot below shows how easily you can review your past contacts with a given station directly from the DX Spot Window. Based on the Turquoise coloring of the ZF2NT Callsign we know that we have previoulsy worked this station. To display our previous contacts with ZF2NT, simply place the selector bar on the line containing the "ZF2NT" callsign then click on "Worked"  command pushbutton which displays the window showing eight previous contacts with ZF2NT; three on 40M CW, one on 30M CW, 2 on 15, one of which is on CW the other on RTTY and one on 10M SSB. If we double-click on any of the entries in the previously worked list we can view the entire logging form relating to that specific contact. In this case, we double clicked on the 40M CW contact so we can view all of the information associated with that specific contact, all without having to leave the DX Spot window.

Originating your own DX Spots via the Internet or VHF PacketCluster is a snap. Don't worry about formatting, once you have entered the information into the formatted entry window ProLog will correctly format and send the information to the TNC or Internet connection. Also, when connected to a VHF TNC,  conversing with others is just as easy, simply enter packet converse mode and type-away. Dual windows separately display your output and answer-back information.

ProLog also monitors for WWV reports. When a report is received, the "WWV" on-screen counter is incremented notifying you of the reports arrival which can be displayed with a single mouse-click. The WWV and DX spot files are maintained across ProLog sessions, so viewing Solar Flux trends over time is easily accomplished.

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