[Introduction] [Settings] [Operation] [Maps] [FAQ]




DX Monitor

Maps



Azimuthal Plot of Recent Spots


Press the map button on the toolbar, press the F8 key, or select Azimuthal Projection from the Maps menu to display a Great Circle Map centered on your location as entered in the Local page of the Settings.

The stations plotted will also be filtered by frequency according to the last plot you performed manually, as shown in the Plot | Spots... menu. The color of the map tack can also be set in that dialog.

The first time you display an Azimuthal Projection map, either via the menu or by pressing the Automatic Map hot button, a new map will be generated. This will take a few moments. The new map will be saved as a BMP file in your DX Monitor directory. The map is generated from the Mercator file, WORLD.BMP. You can modify the colors or change boundaries on that map using any graphics software. My thanks to Gledrius, LY2CG, for breaking up the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia on the current map.

Click on a spot on the map to display the callsign of the station. Move the mouse over the call and click to locate the latest grid line locating the DX announcement.

Click on a callsign (DX or spotter) on the grid to highlight the spot on the map with the callsign displayed.



File Menu

Generate New Map
Maps may be generated using the colors of the Mercator projection map WORLD.BMP. Or you can generate a map with the single land color of your choice, as shown above. It is easier to see the plotted spots if you plot the land in a single contrasting color.

Show Octant Lines?
Octant lines indicating the 8 principal beam headings may be added to the map.

Generated maps may be saved or loaded using the Open... and Save As... menu items.

Save as Desktop Wallpaper will save the current map to your desktop. See the Options menu for automatic options.


Plot Menu

Show Terminator (ctl-T). If this option is selected, the current terminator (Gray Line) will be plotted, showing the location of sunrise and sunset around the world. Pressing the arrow keys will show the terminator for one hour later or earlier for each press of the arrow key. This is handy for seeking a good time for propagation to a desired area.

Show Spots allows you to plot DX spots on the map as they arrive. You can select to plot recent spots by checking the box in the first line. The 30 minute value is the value entered in the Options page of the Settings obtained by pressing F10.

Spots


Spots may be filtered on the basis of frequency. You can also restrict the display to DX stations spotted by local hams. The distance is changed in the F10 settings. The color of the spots may be selected by clicking on the Color button or the colored disk. It is also possible to plot the spots in different colors for each band by checking the designated box. This feature is in draft stages at this time and will be improved shortly.

Show Spotters. This option allows you to show the locations of the stations reporting the DX activity. A different color map tack should be selected to distinguish the DX from the spotters.

Show Paths. This option will draw a line between the DX location and the station announcing the DX. The line is not an indication of the actual path of the signal, only a representation of the fact that a path exists between the two points. It can be interesting to look at the various paths that have been reported on a given band over a period of several hours or even a whole day.

Show Beacons. Selecting this menu item will show a submenu of the NCDXF/IARU beacon frequencies. Select the band you are interested in. Each beacon will appear on the map at the time that it is transmitting. The beam heading and distance to the beacon are shown at the lower left. The next beacon will be listed at the bottom of the map. Although it is possible to plot the beacons and DX spots and spotter simultaneously, this only works well on fast computers.

Plot Log File allows you to plot lists of callsigns from any text based log file with fixed columns. The first few lines of the file will be displayed under a column indicator so that you can indicate the correct column to use. The color of the map tack may be selected. Plots of files may be saved to disk in bmp format.

Clear Settings will clear the checked settings from the Plot Menu so you can create a new combination of settings easily. As this does not clear the map, it has the effect of freezing the current display so that new spots are not added to the map. Clicking on any given setting in the menu will toggle it between checked and unchecked.

Clear Map (ctl-C) will erase all spots and restore the original clean map.



Options Menu

Selecting Refresh Automatically will update the Terminator every 5 minutes and plot new spots as they arrive. Spots are filtered according to the selections made in the Plot menu. This item is automatically checked when the map button on the toolbar is pressed.

Selecting Automatic Wallpaper causes each update of the map to be saved to the desktop as background wallpaper. When you exit DX Monitor, your original Wallpaper will return. You can change the wallpaper settings for your system by right clicking on the desktop, selecting Properties and choosing the Display options. You should select center, not tiled, not stretched to full screen for best viewing. If you want to set DX Monitor's output as permanent wallpaper, select DX Monitor Wallpaper from the Wallpaper list.

Popup on Auto. Selecting this option causes the map to be automatically displayed when in Automatic Mode.

Dock to Grid. Selecting this option places the map to the right of the grid with the tops of the windows aligned.




Mercator Projection

Download Log plotted on Mercator Projection
DX Monitor has been downloaded by hams in 102 countries


Press F9 or select Mercator Projection from the Maps menu to display a Mercator Projection Map. The File and Plot menus are generally the same as those described above for the Azimuthal Projection map. Most of the newer features have not been implemented for the Mercator projection at this time. Personally, I never look at the Mercator map. I always use the azimuthal map. I need to hear from users who prefer the Mercator projection to encourage further development on that map.


[Introduction] [Settings] [Operation] [Maps] [FAQ]