SpotHub (formerly DX Cluster Dialog)

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

Before you start

• Spot sources that use WebSocket (FreeDV) are available only in builds compiled with WebSocket support (HAVE_WEBSOCKETS). If the FreeDV tab is absent, your build does not include it.
• Spots appear on the panadapter only when the master spot overlay is enabled (see Display tab > Spots: toggle). If spots are not visible after connecting, verify that toggle is on.
• The dialog remembers its window geometry between sessions (saved to DxClusterDialogGeometry).

Opening SpotHub

1. Open Settings > SpotHub....

The dialog opens as a frameless, resizable window. Drag any edge to resize.

Tabs overview

SpotHub has eight tabs, each corresponding to a spot source or display configuration:

• Cluster — DX cluster telnet connection, console and spot color
• RBN — Reverse Beacon Network telnet source with rate limiting
• WSJT-X — WSJT-X UDP listener with filters and color assignments
• SpotCollector — UDP listener for Ham Radio Deluxe SpotCollector broadcasts
• POTA — Polls api.pota.app for current activations
• FreeDV — WebSocket feed of FreeDV QSO reporter spots
• Spot List — Unified searchable table of all live spots
• Display — Panadapter spot visualization, Signal History and DXCC coloring

Cluster tab

Connection settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
Server:	Text field	ClusterHost	Hostname of DX cluster to connect to.
Port:	Spinbox (1-65535)	ClusterPort	Telnet port on DX cluster.
Callsign:	Text field	ClusterCallsign	Login callsign sent to cluster.

Connection controls

1. Fill in the connection settings above.
2. Click Connect to open the telnet session. The button label changes to Disconnect while connected; click it again to close.
3. Click Auto-connect on startup to have AetherSDR connect at launch. Setting: ClusterAutoConnect.

Cluster console and commands

• Cluster Console — Read-only text field showing raw telnet traffic from the cluster.
• To send a command, type in the text field below the console and click Send.
• Click Startup Commands… to open an editor for commands that are sent automatically after every login. Enter one command per line — for example:

  SET/NAME YOUR_NAME
  SET/QTH YOUR_QTH
  ACCEPT/SPOT
  

  The commands are saved to DxClusterStartupCommands and are replayed each time the cluster connection re-establishes (not just on initial login). New in v26.5.2.1.

Spot color

• Spot Color: — Opens a color picker for cluster spots. Setting: ClusterSpotColor.

RBN tab

Connection settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
Server:	Text field	RbnHost	RBN telnet hostname.
Port:	Spinbox (1-65535)	RbnPort	RBN telnet port.
Callsign:	Text field	RbnCallsign	Login callsign to RBN.
Rate Limit:	Spinbox	RbnRateLimit	Caps RBN spots per second.

Connection controls

1. Fill in the connection settings above.
2. Click Connect to open the telnet session. The button label changes to Disconnect while connected; click it again to close.
3. Click Auto-connect on startup to have AetherSDR connect at launch. Setting: RbnAutoConnect.

RBN console and commands

• RBN Console — Read-only text field showing raw RBN traffic.
• To send a command, type in the text field below the console and click Send.
• Click Startup Commands… to open an editor for commands that are sent automatically after every login. Enter one command per line. The commands are saved to RbnStartupCommands and are replayed each time the RBN connection re-establishes. New in v26.5.2.1.

Spot color

• Spot Color: — Opens a color picker for RBN spots. Setting: RbnSpotColor.

WSJT-X tab

Listener settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
Address:	Text field	WsjtxAddress	UDP bind address for WSJT-X messages.
Port:	Spinbox (1-65535)	WsjtxPort	UDP port for WSJT-X.

Connection controls

1. Set the address and port to match WSJT-X's Reporting settings.
2. Click Start to begin listening for WSJT-X UDP broadcasts. The button label changes to Stop while listening.
3. Click Auto-start on startup to have AetherSDR start listening at launch. Setting: WsjtxAutoStart.

Filters

Check any of the following checkboxes to restrict which WSJT-X decodes appear:

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

Color settings

Click each color swatch to open a color picker for that category:

Control	Setting key	Behavior
CQ color	WsjtxColorCQ	Color for CQ spots.
POTA color	WsjtxColorPOTA	Color for CQ POTA spots.
Calling Me color	WsjtxColorCallingMe	Color for decodes addressed to your callsign.
Default color	WsjtxColorDefault	Color for all other WSJT-X spots.

Decode console and spot life

• WSJT-X Decodes — Read-only text field showing decoded transmissions.
• Spot Life: — Spinbox controlling how many seconds WSJT-X spots remain on the panadapter. Setting: WsjtxSpotLife.

SpotCollector tab

Listener settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
UDP Port:	Spinbox (1-65535)	SpotCollectorPort	UDP port SpotCollector broadcasts on.

Connection controls

1. Set the port to match your SpotCollector broadcast port.
2. Click Start to begin listening. The button label changes to Stop while listening.
3. Click Auto-start on startup to have AetherSDR start listening at launch. Setting: SpotCollectorAutoStart.

Spot console

• SpotCollector Spots — Read-only text field showing received spots.

POTA tab

Connection settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
Server:	Indicator	None	Fixed endpoint: api.pota.app (HTTP polling).
Poll Interval:	Spinbox	PotaPollInterval	Seconds between POTA polls.

Connection controls

1. Click Start to begin polling for current activations. The button label changes to Stop while polling.
2. Click Auto-start on startup to have AetherSDR start polling at launch. Setting: PotaAutoStart.

Activations console and color

• POTA Activations — Read-only text field showing activation feed.
• Spot Color: — Opens a color picker for POTA spots. Setting: PotaSpotColor.

FreeDV tab

Connection settings

Control	Kind	Setting key	Behavior
Server:	Indicator	None	Fixed endpoint: qso.freedv.org (WebSocket).

Connection controls

1. Click Start to connect to the FreeDV WebSocket. The status indicator changes to Connected when the WebSocket handshake succeeds.
2. Click Auto-start on startup to have AetherSDR connect at launch. Setting: FreeDvAutoStart.

Spots console and color

• FreeDV Spots — Read-only text field showing incoming FreeDV activity.
• Spot Color: — Opens a color picker for FreeDV spots. Setting: FreeDvSpotColor.

Station Reporting

The Station Reporting group at the bottom of the FreeDV tab lets you broadcast your activity to the public FreeDV Reporter map at qso.freedv.org whenever the RADE modem is active.

Requirements before enabling

• A valid callsign must be present in the Callsign: field (or sourced from the radio).
• A valid Maidenhead grid square must be present in the Grid Square: field (or sourced from the radio's GPS).

If either value is blank when you check Enable FreeDV Reporter reporting when RADE is active, AetherSDR shows a warning and leaves the checkbox unchecked. This prevents blank or placeholder values from being broadcast to the shared public map.

Setup steps

1. In the Station Reporting group, review the Callsign: field.
2. If Use radio is checked (the default), the field is pre-filled with the callsign configured in your radio and is read-only. Changes to the radio's callsign in Radio Setup are reflected automatically.
3. Uncheck Use radio to enter a callsign manually. The entered value is saved to FreeDvMyCallsign and converted to upper case on save.
4. Review the Grid Square: field.
5. If your radio has GPS hardware and Use GPS is checked (the default on GPS-capable models), the field is pre-filled from the radio's GPS fix and is read-only. The Use GPS checkbox is hidden on radio models without GPS hardware.
6. Uncheck Use GPS (or if the checkbox is not present) to enter a grid square manually. The value is saved to FreeDvMyGrid and converted to upper case on save.
7. Optionally fill in Station Msg: with a short free-text note. This message appears beside your callsign on the public FreeDV Reporter map and is saved to FreeDvMyMessage.
8. Check Enable FreeDV Reporter reporting when RADE is active. AetherSDR validates callsign and grid before accepting the change, then saves FreeDvAutoReport = True and emits the reporting-enabled signal.

Station Reporting controls

Control	Kind	Behavior
Callsign:	Text field	Callsign to report. Read-only when Use radio is checked. Saved to FreeDvMyCallsign.
Use radio	Checkbox	Pre-fills callsign from the radio's configured callsign. Saved to FreeDvUseRadioCallsign.
Grid Square:	Text field	Maidenhead grid square to report. Read-only when Use GPS is checked. Saved to FreeDvMyGrid.
Use GPS	Checkbox	Pre-fills grid from the radio's GPS module. Shown only on GPS-capable models. Saved to FreeDvUseGpsGrid.
Station Msg:	Text field	Optional message shown beside your callsign on the public map. Saved to FreeDvMyMessage.
Enable FreeDV Reporter reporting when RADE is active	Checkbox	Enables reporting to the public map. Saved to FreeDvAutoReport.

Spot List tab

The unified spot table shows all active spots from every connected source.

Filtering by band

A row of checkboxes at the top lets you show or hide spots on specific bands (160m, 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m, 2m, etc.). Uncheck a band to remove its spots from the table.

Clearing spots

Click Clear to empty the current spot list.

Spot table

The main table is sortable by clicking column headers. Columns:

• Time — When the spot was received
• Freq — Frequency in MHz
• DX Call — The spotted callsign
• Comment — Spot comment (may include mode, name, etc.)
• Spotter — Who spotted the DX station
• Band — Band (e.g., 20m)
• Mode — Mode if included in the spot
• Source — Which source provided this spot (Cluster, RBN, WSJT-X, SpotCollector, POTA, FreeDV)

Tuning to a spot

Double-click any row to tune the active slice to that frequency. As of v0.9.7, AetherSDR also forwards the mode extracted from the spot comment, so the slice switches to the appropriate mode (for example