SpotHub (DX Cluster Dialog)

Central hub for connecting to DX spot sources -- DX cluster, Reverse Beacon Network, WSJT-X, SpotCollector, POTA, FreeDV, EiBi and N1MM -- and configuring how spots are displayed on the panadapter.

Opening SpotHub

1. Click Settings > SpotHub... on the main menu.

Connecting to a DX Cluster

1. Click the Cluster tab.
2. Enter the hostname in Server: (default: dxc.nc7j.com).
3. Enter the telnet port in Port: (default: 7373).
4. Enter your callsign in Callsign:.
5. Click Connect. The button label changes to Disconnect when connected.
6. Optional: Toggle Auto-connect on startup to connect automatically on launch.

Cluster Console

• View raw telnet traffic in the read-only console area.
• Type commands in the text field beside Send and click Send to transmit.

Spot Color

• Click Spot Color: to open a color picker and choose a unique color for DX cluster spots on the panadapter.

Connecting to the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN)

1. Click the RBN tab.
2. Enter the hostname in Server: (default: telnet.reversebeacon.net).
3. Enter the port in Port: (default: 7000).
4. Enter your callsign in Callsign:.
5. Set the Rate Limit: to cap spots per second (prevents overload on busy bands).
6. Click Connect. The button label changes to Disconnect when connected.
7. Optional: Toggle Auto-connect on startup to connect automatically on launch.

RBN Console

• View raw RBN traffic in the read-only console area.
• Type commands in the text field beside Send and click Send to transmit.

RBN Spot Color

• Click Spot Color: to open a color picker for RBN spots.

Receiving WSJT-X Spots

1. Click the WSJT-X tab.
2. Enter the UDP bind address in Address: (default: 127.0.0.1).
3. Enter the UDP port in Port: (default: 2237).
4. Click Start. The button label changes to Stop when listening.
5. Optional: Toggle Auto-start on startup to start the listener automatically on launch.

WSJT-X Filters

Select which decodes appear as spots:

• CQ — Show only CQ calls.
• CQ POTA — Show CQ POTA calls.
• Calling Me — Show only decodes addressed to your callsign.

WSJT-X Colors

Assign colors to each decode category:

• CQ color — Click to set color for CQ spots.
• POTA color — Click to set color for CQ POTA spots.
• Calling Me color — Click to set color for spots calling you.
• Default color — Click to set default color for all other spots.

WSJT-X Decodes Console

• View decoded transmissions in the read-only area.

Spot Life

• Use Spot Life: spinbox to set how many seconds WSJT-X spots remain on the panadapter (default: 60 s).

Connecting to SpotCollector

1. Click the SpotCollector tab.
2. Enter the UDP port in UDP Port: (default: 7373).
3. Click Start. The button label changes to Stop when listening.
4. Optional: Toggle Auto-start on startup to start the listener automatically on launch.

SpotCollector Spots Console

• View received SpotCollector spots in the read-only area.

Polling POTA Spots

1. Click the POTA tab.
2. The server field shows api.pota.app (HTTP polling) — this is fixed.
3. Set the Poll Interval: in seconds (default: 60).
4. Click Start. The button label changes to Stop when polling.
5. Optional: Toggle Auto-start on startup to start polling automatically on launch.

POTA Activations Console

• View the activation feed in the read-only area.

POTA Spot Color

• Click Spot Color: to open a color picker for POTA spots.

Connecting to FreeDV

1. Click the FreeDV tab.
2. The server field shows qso.freedv.org (WebSocket) — this is fixed.
3. Click Start. The button label changes to Stop when connected.
4. Optional: Toggle Auto-start on startup to connect automatically on launch.

FreeDV Spots Console

• View FreeDV activity in the read-only area.

FreeDV Spot Color

• Click Spot Color: to open a color picker for FreeDV spots.

Using the Spot List

1. Click the Spot List tab to view all live spots in a unified, sortable table.
2. Use the Bands: checkboxes to filter by band (160m, 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m, 2m, etc.). Band filter checkboxes wrap to new rows when the dialog is narrow to keep labels readable.
3. Click Clear to empty the current spot list.
4. Double-click any row in the Spot table to tune your radio to that frequency.

The Spot table columns are:

Column	Description
Time	Time the spot was received
Freq	Frequency in MHz
DX Call	The station being spotted
Comment	Spotter's comment
Spotter	The station that posted the spot
Band	Band name
Mode	Mode (e.g., CW, FT8, RTTY)
Source	Which source provided the spot (Cluster, RBN, WSJT-X, SpotCollector, POTA, FreeDV, EiBi, N1MM)

Click any column header to sort by that column. Both Time and Freq columns support sorting; click Time to return to newest-first order.

Hiding and showing table columns

Right-click the spot table header row to open a context menu where you can show or hide individual columns. The menu stays open while you toggle checkable columns, so you can show or hide several columns in one pass instead of reopening the menu for each column.

Configuring Spot Display

1. Click the Display tab.
2. Use the following toggles and controls:

Master Toggles

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
Spots:	Enabled	Master toggle for DX spot overlay	IsSpotsEnabled
Memories:	Disabled	Toggles memory-channel overlay on panadapter	IsMemorySpotsEnabled
Auto:	Enabled	Automatically switch slice mode when clicking a spot that includes mode info (e.g., CW, FT8, RTTY)	SpotAutoSwitchMode
Signals (Signal History)	Disabled	Gold markers for detected voice-width signals on the panadapter	SHistoryMarkersEnabled
QRM (Signal History)	Disabled	Red markers for persistent carriers and wideband interference	SHistoryQrmEnabled

Global Controls

Control	Default	Range	Behavior	Setting key
Clear All	—	—	Clears all DX spots, memory feed, Signal History markers and QRM markers from the spectrum	—
Levels:	3	1–10	Number of vertical stacking rows for spots	SpotsMaxLevel
Position:	50	0–100	Vertical position on panadapter	SpotsStartingHeightPercentage
Font Size:	16	8–32	Spot text size	SpotFontSize
Spot Lifetime:	—	10 sec – 24 hrs (non-linear steps)	Seconds before a spot fades away	DxClusterSpotLifetimeSec

Color Overrides

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
Override Colors:	Off	Forces a single text color for all spots	IsSpotsOverrideColorsEnabled
Spot text color picker	#FFFF00	Opens color picker to choose override text color	SpotsOverrideColor
Override Background: Enabled	Enabled	Enables custom spot background color	IsSpotsOverrideBackgroundColorsEnabled
Override Background: Auto	Enabled	Auto-picks background color for contrast	IsSpotsOverrideToAutoBackgroundColorEnabled
Spot background color picker	#000000	Opens color picker for spot background color	SpotsOverrideBgColor
Background Opacity:	48	0–100	Opacity of spot background color

Spot Lines

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
Spot Lines:	Enabled	Draws vertical lines from the spectrum up to each spot label. Disable during contests to reduce visual clutter	IsSpotsLinesEnabled

Total Spots

• Total Spots: indicator shows the live count of spots currently tracked across all sources.

DXCC Coloring

In the Display tab, the DXCC Coloring section controls color-coding spots based on your log.

1. Click Load ADIF Log to select an ADIF log file (uses DxccAdifFilePath setting).
2. After loading, the Imported: indicator shows <N> QSOs / <M> entities.

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
DXCC Colors:	Off	Colors spots by worked/confirmed/needed DXCC status	IsDxccColoringEnabled
Log File (ADIF):	—	Opens file dialog to select an ADIF log. Auto-watches file for changes	DxccAdifFilePath
Imported:	(no log loaded)	Shows QSO count and entity count	—

DXCC Color Settings

Control	Behavior	Setting key
New DXCC color swatch	Opens color picker for new entity spots	DxccColorNewEntity
New Band color swatch	Opens color picker for new band spots	DxccColorNewBand
New Mode color swatch	Opens color picker for new mode spots	DxccColorNewMode
Worked color swatch	Opens color picker for already-worked spots	DxccColorWorked

Signal History

In the Display tab, the Signal History section configures markers for voice-width signals and QRM.

Control	Default	Range	Behavior	Setting key
Signals (Signal History)	Disabled	On/Off	Gold markers for detected voice-width signals	SHistoryMarkersEnabled
QRM (Signal History)	Disabled	On/Off	Red markers for persistent carriers and wideband interference	SHistoryQrmEnabled
Marker Lifetime:	60	15–300 sec	How long an inactive Signal History marker persists before being removed	SHistoryLifetimeS
QRM Gate:	6	3–30 sec	How long a narrow carrier or wideband signal must persist before being classified as QRM	SHistoryQrmGateS
Edge Threshold:	3.0	1.0–10.0 dB	Threshold above noise floor for the slope edge walk that refines the S-History carrier-side edge. Lower = closer to carrier but more noise-sensitive	SHistorySoftEdgeDb
Snap to Step:	Disabled	On/Off	Rounds S-History click-to-tune to the nearest multiple of the active slice's step size, hiding the small carrier offset	SHistorySnapToStep

Signal History Color Settings

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
Signals color swatch	#FFC800	Opens color picker for voice signal markers (gold)	SHistoryColorSignals
QRM color swatch	#FF0000	Opens color picker for QRM markers (red)	SHistoryColorQrm

Tips

• All slider controls support left-double-click to reset to their stored default value.
• The SpotHub dialog uses your current theme colors for status labels and tab styling. Connected status appears in the accent color, disconnected in the label color, and error messages in the danger accent color.
• The Spot List band-filter checkboxes wrap to new rows when the dialog is narrow, keeping labels readable (#4157).
• Right-click the Spot List table header to show/hide columns; the menu stays open while you toggle multiple columns in one pass (#4157).
• Snap to Step only affects clicks on Signal History markers — it does not change how the slice tunes when you click the spectrum directly.
• Click the Time column header in the Spot List to return to newest-first ordering after sorting by another column (#4749).

Troubleshooting

• Spot List band-filter checkboxes are unreadable when the dialog is narrow — The band-filter checkboxes now wrap to a new row when they run out of horizontal space. If they still appear compressed, drag the dialog wider.
• Clicking a marker still tunes to the exact carrier frequency — Make sure the **