SpotHub (DX Cluster Dialog)¶

Purpose¶

SpotHub is the central interface for connecting to DX spot sources and configuring how spots are displayed on the panadapter. It consolidates six spot sources — DX Cluster, Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), WSJT-X, SpotCollector, POTA, and FreeDV — into a single dialog with tabbed controls and a unified spot list.

Opening SpotHub¶

Open Settings > SpotHub... or click the SpotHub button in the main toolbar.
The dialog has seven tabs: Cluster, RBN, WSJT-X, SpotCollector, POTA, FreeDV, Spot List, and Display.

Cluster Tab¶

The Cluster tab provides a telnet connection to a traditional DX cluster.

Connection settings¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Server:	(empty)	Any hostname or IP	`ClusterHost`
Port:	(empty)	1-65535	`ClusterPort`
Callsign:	(empty)	Any amateur callsign	`ClusterCallsign`

Connection controls¶

Control	Behavior
Connect / Disconnect	Toggles the telnet connection.
Auto-connect on startup	If enabled, connects automatically when AetherSDR starts. Setting key: `ClusterAutoConnect`.

Console and command line¶

Control	Behavior
Cluster Console	Read-only text area showing raw telnet traffic.
Send (push button)	Sends the typed command to the cluster.

Startup commands¶

Click Startup Commands… on the Cluster tab to open a dialog where you can enter one command per line (e.g. SET/NAME, SET/QTH, ACCEPT/SPOT). These commands are automatically sent to the cluster after every login. The commands are saved in the application settings (DxClusterStartupCommands for the Cluster tab, RbnStartupCommands for the RBN tab).

Spot color¶

Control	Behavior	Setting key
Spot Color:	Opens a color picker for cluster spots.	`ClusterSpotColor`

RBN Tab¶

The RBN tab connects to the Reverse Beacon Network via telnet with rate limiting.

Connection settings¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Server:	(empty)	Any hostname or IP	`RbnHost`
Port:	(empty)	1-65535	`RbnPort`
Callsign:	(empty)	Any amateur callsign	`RbnCallsign`
Rate Limit:	(empty)	(unlimited by default)	`RbnRateLimit`

Connection controls¶

Control	Behavior
Connect / Disconnect	Toggles the RBN connection.
Auto-connect on startup	If enabled, connects automatically on launch. Setting key: `RbnAutoConnect`.

Console and command line¶

Control	Behavior
RBN Console	Read-only text area showing RBN traffic.
Send	Sends a command to RBN.

Spot color¶

Control	Behavior	Setting key
Spot Color:	Opens a color picker for RBN spots.	`RbnSpotColor`

WSJT-X Tab¶

The WSJT-X tab listens for UDP broadcast messages from WSJT-X.

Listener settings¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Address:	(empty)	Any local IP address	`WsjtxAddress`
Port:	(empty)	1-65535	`WsjtxPort`

Listener controls¶

Control	Behavior
Start / Stop	Starts or stops the UDP listener.
Auto-start on startup	If enabled, starts the listener automatically on launch. Setting key: `WsjtxAutoStart`.

Filters¶

Control	Behavior	Setting key
CQ	Show only CQ calls.	`WsjtxFilterCQ`
CQ POTA	Show CQ POTA calls.	`WsjtxFilterPOTA`
Calling Me	Show only decodes addressed to your callsign.	`WsjtxFilterCallingMe`

Spot lifetime¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Spot Life:	(empty)	Seconds	`WsjtxSpotLife`

Spot colors¶

Control	Setting key
CQ color	`WsjtxColorCQ`
POTA color	`WsjtxColorPOTA`
Calling Me color	`WsjtxColorCallingMe`
Default color	`WsjtxColorDefault`

Console¶

Control	Behavior
WSJT-X Decodes	Console of decoded transmissions.

SpotCollector Tab¶

The SpotCollector tab listens for UDP broadcasts from Ham Radio Deluxe SpotCollector.

Listener settings¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
UDP Port:	(empty)	1-65535	`SpotCollectorPort`

Listener controls¶

Control	Behavior
Start / Stop	Starts or stops the UDP listener.
Auto-start on startup	If enabled, starts the listener automatically on launch. Setting key: `SpotCollectorAutoStart`.

Console¶

Control	Behavior
SpotCollector Spots	Console of received SpotCollector spots.

POTA Tab¶

The POTA tab polls api.pota.app for current Parks on the Air activations.

Polling settings¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Server:	api.pota.app (HTTP polling)	Fixed endpoint (indicator only)	—
Poll Interval:	(empty)	Seconds between polls	`PotaPollInterval`

Polling controls¶

Control	Behavior
Start / Stop	Starts or stops POTA polling.
Auto-start on startup	If enabled, starts polling automatically on launch. Setting key: `PotaAutoStart`.

Console¶

Control	Behavior
POTA Activations	Console of activation feed.

Spot color¶

Control	Behavior	Setting key
Spot Color:	Opens a color picker for POTA spots.	`PotaSpotColor`

FreeDV Tab¶

The FreeDV tab connects to the qso.freedv.org WebSocket feed for FreeDV QSO reporter spots. This tab is only available when AetherSDR is built with WebSocket support (HAVE_WEBSOCKETS).

Connection settings¶

Control	Default	Setting key
Server:	qso.freedv.org (WebSocket)	Fixed endpoint (indicator only)

Connection controls¶

Control	Behavior
Start / Stop	Connects or disconnects the FreeDV WebSocket.
Auto-start on startup	If enabled, connects automatically on launch. Setting key: `FreeDvAutoStart`.

Console¶

Control	Behavior
FreeDV Spots	Console of FreeDV activity.

Spot color¶

Control	Behavior	Setting key
Spot Color:	Opens a color picker for FreeDV spots.	`FreeDvSpotColor`

Spot List Tab¶

The Spot List tab shows a unified, searchable table of all live spots from all active sources.

Band filters¶

Control	Behavior
Bands:	Per-band checkboxes toggle visibility in the table. One checkbox per band (160m, 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m, 2m, etc.). The checkboxes use a flow layout that wraps to a new row when the dialog is too narrow for all bands on one line.

Table controls¶

Control	Behavior
Clear	Empties the current spot list.
Spot table	Sortable table of spots. Double-click a row to tune your active slice to that frequency. Columns: Time, Freq, DX Call, Comment, Spotter, Band, Mode, Source.

Column visibility¶

Right-click any column header in the spot table to show or hide columns. The menu stays open while toggling multiple checkable columns, allowing you to show or hide several columns in one pass without the menu closing after each toggle.

Display Tab¶

The Display tab controls how spots appear on the panadapter, Signal History marker settings, and DXCC coloring.

Master toggles¶

Control	Default	Setting key
Spots:	Enabled	`IsSpotsEnabled`
Memories:	Disabled	`IsMemorySpotsEnabled`
Auto:	Enabled	`SpotAutoSwitchMode`

Spots: Master toggle for the DX spot overlay on the panadapter.
Memories: Toggles memory-channel overlay on the panadapter.
Auto: When enabled and a spot includes mode information (e.g. CW, FT8, RTTY), clicking the spot automatically switches the active slice to that mode.

Signal History toggles¶

Control	Default	Setting key
Signals (labeled "Signal History")	Disabled	`SHistoryMarkersEnabled`
QRM (labeled "QRM History")	Disabled	`SHistoryQrmEnabled`

Signals: Gold markers on the panadapter for detected voice-width signals. This toggle can also be activated from View > Signal History Markers.
QRM: Red markers for persistent carriers and wideband interference. This toggle can also be activated from View > QRM History Markers.

Clear All¶

Control	Behavior
Clear All	Clears all DX spots, memory feed, Signal History markers, and QRM markers from the spectrum.

Spot display sliders¶

Control	Default	Valid range	Setting key
Levels:	3	1-10	`SpotsMaxLevel`
Position:	50	0-100	`SpotsStartingHeightPercentage`
Font Size:	16	8-32	`SpotFontSize`
Spot Lifetime:	(varies)	10 sec – 24 hrs (non-linear steps)	`DxClusterSpotLifetimeSec`

Levels: Number of vertical stacking rows for spots.
Position: Vertical position of spots on the panadapter.
Font Size: Spot text size.
Spot Lifetime: How long a spot remains visible before fading.

Color override controls¶

Control	Default	Setting key
Override Colors:	Off	`IsSpotsOverrideColorsEnabled`
Spot text color picker	#FFFF00	`SpotsOverrideColor`
Override Background: Enabled	Enabled	`IsSpotsOverrideBackgroundColorsEnabled`
Override Background: Auto	Enabled	`IsSpotsOverrideToAutoBackgroundColorEnabled`
Spot background color picker	#000000	`SpotsOverrideBgColor`
Background Opacity:	48	0-100

Override Colors: When enabled, forces a single text color for all spots.
Override Background: Enabled: When enabled, allows custom spot background color.
Override Background: Auto: When enabled, automatically picks the background color for contrast.

Spot Lines¶

Control	Default	Setting key
Spot Lines:	Enabled	`IsSpotsLinesEnabled`

When enabled, draws vertical lines from the spectrum up to each spot label. Disable during contests to reduce visual clutter.

Total Spots¶

Control	Behavior
Total Spots:	Live count of spots currently tracked across all sources.

DXCC Coloring Section¶

Controls for coloring spots based on DXCC worked/confirmed/needed status.

Control	Default	Setting key
DXCC Colors:	Off	`IsDxccColoringEnabled`
Log File (ADIF):	(no file)	`DxccAdifFilePath`
Imported:	(no log loaded)	— (indicator)

DXCC Colors: When enabled, colors spots by worked/confirmed/needed DXCC status.
Log File (ADIF): Click to load an ADIF log file. AetherSDR automatically watches the file for changes and reloads when modifications are detected.
Imported: Shows the QSO count and entity count from the loaded log. Format: <N> QSOs / <M> entities.

DXCC color swatches¶

Control	Setting key
New DXCC	`DxccColorNewEntity`
New Band	`DxccColorNewBand`
New Mode	`DxccColorNewMode`
Worked	`Dxcc