SpotCollector Online Help Contents
The Spot Database tab contains 9 panels and a Pre-filter button.
| Pathname | Specifies the full pathname of the Spot Database |
| Select | Displays a file selector that can be used to specify a Spot Database pathname |
| Open | After modifying the Pathname, click this button to open the Spot Database in that Pathname |
Each incoming spot of a station is compare with existing Spot Database entries for that station. If, with respect to an existing Spot Database entry, the incoming spot lies within the time window and frequency range specified below, then the existing Spot Database entry is updated to reflect the incoming spot; otherwise, a new Spot Database entry is created.
| Maximum separation in time (minutes) | Specifies the time window, in minutes, into which an incoming spot must fall in order to be combined with an existing Spot Database entry |
| Maximum separation in frequency (kHz) | Specifies the frequency range, in kHz., into which an incoming spot must fall in order to be combined with an existing Spot Database entry |
| Maximum age of valid incoming spots (minutes) | Incoming spots whose age exceeds this value are not considered for entry in the Spot Database; a spot's age is computed as the difference between the time at which it was received (using your PC's UTC time) and the time at which it was sent (using the sender's UTC timestamp) |
| Maximum age of last LotW upload (months) | a Spot
Database Entry whose callsign is known to participate in LotW
but whose last upload to LotW exceeds this age will have its LotW item
set to 'N'; otherwise, its LotW item will be
set to 'Y'
|
| Maximum age of last eQSL upload (months) | a Spot
Database Entry whose callsign is known to be an eQSL Authenticity
Guaranteed (AG) participant
but whose last upload to eQSL exceeds this age will have its
eQSL item
set to 'N; otherwise, its eQSL item
will be set to 'A'
|
| Record individual spot information | When checked, each Spot Database Entry's Cumulative field records spotting stations, spot notes and, if enabled, spot frequencies received in ascending time order for display in the Individual Spots window |
| Record frequency with individual spot information | When checked, each Spot Database Entry's Cumulative field maintains a list of all spot frequencies as well as spot notes received in ascending time order for display in the Individual Spots window |
| Record Skimmer Spot Notes | When checked, each Spot Database Entry's Cumulative field record includes spot notes from Reverse Beacon Net Skimmers; if not checked, spot notes from Skimmers are not recorded |
| Maintain DXCC entity-band-mode fields |
When checked, the
BandModeProgress and
BandModeWorked fields
are populated when a Spot Database Entry is created, and updated when it
is updated |
| Age Filter |
Maximum age controls the Spot Database Age filter. When the Age filter is activated, only Spot Database entries spotted within the interval specified by Maximum age are displayed. With Maximum age set to 5, for example, a Spot Database entry whose RcvdTime is 7 minutes ago would not be displayed, whereas a Spot Database entry whose RcvdTime is 2 minutes ago would be displayed. |
| Frequency
Filter
|
Range specifies the width of the Spot Database Frequency filter, in kHz on either side of the current transceiver frequency. When the Frequency filter is activated, only Spot Database entries whose frequencies lies within the specified range are displayed |
| Need Filter | Determines whether the Spot Database Need filter hides entries for all but unworked DXCC entities, or hides entries for all but unworked or unconfirmed DXCC entities |
| Use Log last opened by DXKeeper |
consult the log file that was last opened by DXKeeper, and automatically switch to any new log opened in DXKeeper |
| Use Log in specified pathname | specify a log
file to be consulted independently of what log file was last opened in
DXKeeper
|
| Query operator when DXKeeper Log changes | ask the operator to choose when a log is opened in DXKeeper that is different than the one currently being consulted by SpotCollector |
The only limit to the growth of SpotCollector's Spot Database is the amount of free storage on its storage volume. Left to grow without bound, this will eventually reduce your PC's performance. Using facilities on this panel, you can manually "prune" the Spot Database's older entries, or clear it completely. You can also configure SpotCollector to automatically prune the Spot Database hourly; this makes it easy to limit the Spot Database to - for example - the last two days of Spot Database Entries or to a maximum of 20,000 Entries without requiring user attention. By adding callsigns to the Special Callsign list with a NoPrune tag, you can prevent Spot Database Entries for these callsigns from being pruned, independent of the age of these entries; use NoPrune to prevent the pruning of Spot Database Entries for stations whose operating patterns you are seeking to learn.
| Prune Entries older than this age (days) |
If selected, all Spot
Database entries older than this will be deleted by the Prune command,
or when SpotCollector starts if you have the
Prune Spot Database on
startup box checked, or every hour if you have the
Prune Spot Database hourly box
checked. The granularity of this setting is "one
hour"; thus specifying .04 will retain only Spot Database Entries
whose age is one hour or less.
If the specified value is 0, the Prune operation will clear the Spot Database. This operation is subject to the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting. |
| Prune Spot Database to this size (thousands) |
If selected, the oldest Spot
Database Entries (by LastTime)
will be deleted by the Prune command,
or when SpotCollector starts if you have the
Prune Spot Database on
startup box checked, or every hour if you have the
Prune Spot Database hourly box
checked to reduce the Spot Database size to the specified number of
entries, in thousands. If the specified value is 0, the Prune operation will clear the Spot Database. This operation is subject to the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting. |
| Prune |
When clicked,
deletes all
Spot Database entries older than the
specified age.
This operation is subject to the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting. Note: if the Prune entries older than this age (days) setting is less than 0.021 (the equivalent of one half hour), SpotCollector will ask if you want to clear the Spot Database. |
| Compact | When clicked, rebuilds the Spot Database to eliminate deleted Entries |
| Prune Spot Database on startup |
If checked,
the Spot Database is pruned when SpotCollector starts; all Spot Database
entries older than the specified age are deleted.
This operation is subject to the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting. Note: if the Prune entries older than this age (days) setting is less than 0.021 (the equivalent of one half hour), the Spot Database will not be pruned on startup. |
| Prune Spot Database hourly |
If checked,
the Spot Database is pruned when at the beginning of each hour; all Spot Database
entries older than the
specified age are deleted. This operation is subject to the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries setting. Note: if the Prune entries older than this age (days) setting is less than 0.021 (the equivalent of one half hour), the Spot Database will not be pruned hourly. |
| Clear Spot Database on startup | If checked, the Spot Database is cleared when SpotCollector starts; all Spot Database Entries are cleared, even if the Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries option is enabled |
| Don't prune needed Spot Database Entries | if checked, Spot Database Entries with stations needed for DXCC, IOTA, VUCC, WAS, WAZ, or WPX awards will not be pruned. Note that Entries only needed for Marathon awards will still be pruned; to prevent the pruning of Entries for callsigns only needed for Marathon awards, add them to the Special Callsign List with a NoPrune tag |
| Spot Database Entries | The number of Entries in the Spot Database (not including deleted Entries) |
| Deleted Spot Database Entries | The number of Spot Database Entries that have been deleted |
| Spots per minute since HH:MM Z | the average rate of spot reception since the specified time, which is updated hourly; spots discarded by pre-filtering are not included in this statistic |
| Clear | When clicked, deletes all Spot Database entries regardless of age |
Each Spot Database Entry includes award progress information obtained the log file referenced for award progress. If you modify or delete a logged QSO in DXKeeper, SpotCollector is automatically directed to update this award progress information. If you are planning to modify or delete many QSOs in DXKeeper, it may be more efficient to disable these automatic updates, and then perform one update after all changes have been made.
If automatic updates are left disabled, SpotCollector may incorrectly identify Spot Database Entries for needed DX stations.
To update each entry in the Spot Database Display, click this panel's Recompute button, which
You must also update each entry in the Spot Database Display after upgrading to a new DXCC database version that defines one or more new DXCC entities, or modifies the DXCC Prefix or country code of one or more existing DXCC entities; do this by clicking this panel's Recompute button.
If you modify sub-band definitions, you can recompute each Spot Database Entry's band from its frequency by depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Recompute button.
| Update interval | Specifies the interval (in minutes) at which spot statistics are updated to reflect spots which are more than 60 minutes old |
| Enabled | If checked, enables SpotCollector's web server to respond to incoming requests so you can view the most recent entries in SpotCollector's Spot Database from any other PC on your LAN using a standard web browser |
| Port | Specifies the
TCP port used by SpotCollector's web server
|
| Spots per page | SpotCollector's web server displays the most recent N Spot Database entries, where N is specified by this parameter |
| Refresh interval (minutes) | SpotCollector's web server provides updates every N minutes, where N is specified by this parameter (decimal values are permitted, with a minimum value of .1) |
| Restart | Restart SpotCollector's web server, e.g. after a network outage |
| Include SP and LP Probabilities | if checked, includes columns for short path and long path opening probabilities in the full-size web page generated by SpotCollector's web server |
This panel specifies SpotCollector's priority with respect to other running applications.
Clicking the Pre-filter button displays SpotCollector's Pre-filtering window, from which you can configure SpotCollector to ignore incoming spots by band, by mode family, or by origin. The word Enabled will appear beneath this button when in SpotCollector's Pre-filtering window, the Enable box is checked, and at least one box in the Ignore incoming spots on selected bands, Ignore incoming spots in selected mode families, or Ignore incoming spots from selected origins panels is checked.