The Spots Map Window

The Spots Map window provides a graphic display of incoming PacketCluster spots. The spots are arranged by frequency within individual band displays. Highlighting is used to indicate recent spots or to indicate if the spotted station is needed.

The Spots Map window is displayed by choosing View/Show Packet Spots Map and can only be displayed if the Packet Window is enabled. If you would like the Spots Map window to be automatically displayed when the Packet window is displayed choose Options/Packet Options and Port Select and set the Show Spots Map Window When Packet Window Starts option.

The "View" Menu Item

This menu item allows you select the bands to be displayed in the Spots Map Window. It also allows you to switch between horizontal or vertical display modes.

The"Options/Bands" Menu Item

The Options/Bands menu item allows you to define collections of bands (bandsets). Bandsets are used to define which bands can be displayed and what frequency range within a band is displayed. Three default bandsets are provided with XMLog: HF, HF-CW, and HF-Phone. Use Select Bandset to select which bandset will be used for the current Spots Map Window.

When defining bandsets the checkbox associated with each band controls whether that band can be displayed. If the checkbox is not selected that band will not be included in the bands list displayed by the View menu item.

Bandset Buttons:

New	Create a new bandset
Delete	Delete the current bandset
Save	Save any bandset changes
Cancel	Discard any bandset changes

When you select the Save button the currently selected bandset will be used for the display.

The "Options/Time, Color..." Menu Item

Spot Colors

Choose the Options/Time, Color... menu item and use the Spot Colors buttons set the colors used for different types of spots:

Not Needed	Confirmed for this band or mode
Band/Mode	Unconfirmed for this band or mode
All	Unconfirmed for all bands and modes

Spot Limits

The Spot Lifetime value defines the length of time a spot will be displayed.

The Highlight Time value defines the time a newly added spot will be displayed in bold.

Use the Show Un-needed Spots and Show Inhibited Spots options to control which spots will be displayed. Callsigns for un-needed/inhibited spots are displayed in lower case, all other calls are displayed in upper case.

Font

The Font button lets you pick the font type and size used in the display.

The Spots Map Window and the Mouse

When the mouse is moved over a callsign the details for that spot are shown in the status bar at the lower left of the display.

When the mouse is moved along the frequency values for a band the frequency is shown in the status bar at the lower right of the display.

The frequency/mode for your rig will be set if you double-click on:

• A callsign in a band display
• The frequency along a band display ruler
• The spot info in the status bar (lower left)
• The frequency box in the status bar (lower right)

You can also click on a heading in the status bar to position your rotor.

If you right-click on a callsign in a band display (or on the spot info in the status bar) a popup menu will be displayed that will allow you to:

• Set the rig frequency/mode
• Set rotor
• Do a callbook lookup
• Display all log entries for the spotted call
• Start a new log entry

Controlling Spots Map Window Overload

During a quiet day you may only be receiving a few spots an hour, but on a busy weekend this rate can increase dramatically. When too many spots are being displayed the crowding can result in some spots being displayed on top of others. If the spots map is becoming too crowded here's a few things you can try:

• Reduce the Spot Lifetime. When things are quiet a value of an hour might work well but when it gets busy try 10 or 15 minutes.
• Reduce the Maximum Number of Spots Displayed value.
• Clear the Show Inhibited Spots or Show Un-Needed Spots options.
• Reduce the number of bands being displayed with the View menu item. When it's busy only display two or three bands. Don't display bands that aren't open.
• Reduce the frequency range for the bands you're showing. Only display frequencies of interest (e.g. only display Phone or CW frequencies). Choose Options/Bands to edit the frequency ranges or to pick a different bandset.
• Use the View menu item to experiment with the Vertical and Horizontal display formats.
• Try using the font Terminal 6; it's one of the few small fonts that look good.
• Experiment with higher screen resolution settings for your monitor.
• Windows can support more than one monitor so if you have a spare monitor buy a second graphics card or a graphics card that supports two monitors. You can then use this second monitor as a full screen spot display.