Bandmap Window

Your Bandmap window will be similar to this one.

The Bandmap Window represents a VFO or a radio. There are two scenarios, one radio with 2 VFOs displayed, or two radios with one VFO shown for each radio. The bandmap is made zoomable to the complete band size.

One radio scenario

With one radio, each bandmap holds one VFO. Typically, VFO-A will be on the left and VFO-B will be on the right. If you want to change VFOs, just use the mouse to click on one of the spots in the bandmap or use the Ctrl+left & Ctrl+right arrow keys to change VFOs. The radio information box at the top of the bandmap will change colors as you change VFOs. The selected Bandmap will have a blue top.

Two radio scenario

With two radios the operation is exactly the same, except that each bandmap represents one of the radios. It is best if one orients the bandmaps in the same position as the radios, left-right or top-bottom. This will make operation more intuitive.

Other

• It is well worth your time to quickly review the Mouse Assignments below in order to become familiar with the functions that the Bandmap provides.
• Also important! The usefulness of the Bandmap is greatly enhanced by reading the Key Assignments
• The text CQ-Frequency will be shown on the bandmap when running stations. It is automatically marked when you press the CQ-button (mostly the F1-key).
  When a spot is less than three minutes old NEW will be placed behind the call and bearing in the bandmap. When the station works split the receive frequency (QSX frequency) will be shown behind the bearing after the spot is three minutes old, there is not enough room to give both NEW and the QSX frequency. Splits are shown as 3 digits on HF. The bearing to a station is shown only for stations outside your own country with exceptions for USA and Canada. When calculating the bearing the section or state from the callhistory is being used otherwise the coordinates of the state that is the closest to the middle of the callarea is used.
• On the title bar of the bandmap you can see what type of radio is connected. It will show Manual - A when no radio is connected or as an example Kenwood VFO A when a Kenwood radio is connected. It will show a B for the other bandmap/VFO.
• Normally only one frequency is shown in the top portion of the bandmap. This is the receive and transmit frequency. When working split the transmit frequency is added and shown just below the receive frequency in a smaller font.
• Busted spots (calls with "BUST" in the comment) are not shown on the bandmaps (when coming in via packet/telnet).
• When both bandmaps are closed the frequency and mode is shown on the title bar of the Entry window before the contest name.
• During busy contests the default zoom is too dense. Use the right-click menu to zoom or use the numeric pad +/- keys.
• New calls will show up first in the bandmap, ahead of old calls on the same frequency.
• A zone only multiplier will be shown in red (except "non-workables"). The exception means that in CQWW, your own country will show as gray, even if it is a multiplier.
• Country of unknown callsign (like TX5A in 2006) will be made equal to the prefix to force it to be a new country.  
• Better a broken callsign then missing a multiplier.. If it is a broken callsign the user can delete the spot.

Colors of the incoming spots:

• Blue: Qso
• Red: Single Multiplier                     Example: CQWW - QSO is either zone or country multiplier (one multiplier)
• Green: Double or better Multiplier  Example: CQWW - QSO is a zone and a country multiplier (two multipliers)
• Gray: Dupe 
• Bold - This is a self spotted call ('Stored' or by using the feature 'QSYing wipes the call & spots QSO in bandmap') and is not coming from the cluster.

Keyboard Assignments

• Mouse wheel - Zoom in or out the bandmap which has KEYBOARD focus.
• Numeric keypad + key - Zoom In to show less spots from the bandmap which has KEYBOARD focus.
• Numeric keypad - key - Zoom out to show more spots from the bandmap which has KEYBOARD focus.
• Shift - Numeric keypad + key - Zoom In to show less spots from the bandmap which NOT has KEYBOARD focus.
• Shift - Numeric keypad - key - Zoom out to show more spots from the bandmap which NOT has KEYBOARD focus.

Button Assignments

• Narrow/Wide - Toggle the radio filters from Wide to Narrow, or vice versa. The label indicates the current state. The label is not shown for some radios (like FT-817) and manual radios.
• CW/USB/LSB/RTTY - Click this label to toggle from USB/LSB (band sensitive) via RTTY to CW (radio dependent).
• RIT Offset (-0.08) - Click this label to clear the RIT offset.
• RIT - Click this label to toggle the RIT on and off.
• XIT - Click this label to toggle the XIT on and off.

Mouse Assignments

Left-Click menu

• Click on frequency - Jump with the active VFO/radio to that frequency.
• Shift+Click on frequency - Jump to that frequency on the non active VFO/radio. This allows you to be active on VFO-A, but change the frequency on VFO-B without making that the active VFO (or radio).
• Click on call - Jump to that frequency and place the call on the Entry window callsign frame. When the callsign field is empty, giving space will copy the callsign from the Entry window callsign frame to the callsign field. Also clicking on the callsign in the callsign frame will place the call into the callsign field, replacing anything that was previously there.
• Double-Click call - Jump to that frequency, place call into Entry window callsign field, replacing anything that was previously there. Spots with 'Busy' in the call will be ignored (placed in the bandmap when using Alt+M).
• Click dial ticks - Jump to that frequency.
• Click frequency label - Jump to that frequency.
• Right Click call - Display the right-click menu for the selected call (see Right-Click menu below).
  • The selected call will be shown italic and underlined when right-clicking on it
• Right Click anywhere else - Display the right-click menu with some options grayed out which are call related.

Right-Click menu

If you right click in the Bandmap Window the following menu items will appear. Not all menu items are always shown.

• Zoom In - Show less spots on the bandmap which has keyboard focus.
• Zoom Out - Show more spots on the bandmap which has keyboard focus.
• Go to Bottom of Band - Go to the bottom of this SSB/CW subband.
• Go to Top of Band - Go to the top of this SSB/CW subband.
• Packet Spot Timeout - Indicates how long (in minutes) spots are kept in the bandmaps. The default is 60 minutes, any integer may be specified.
• Remove Spot - Remove this spot from the bandmap. A spot on the same frequency will be put in callframe.
• Remove Packet Spots, Leave Self Spots - Remove all packet spots coming in via packet but leave all self spots in the bandmap.
• Remove All Spots - Remove all spots from this bandmap.
• Turn Rotor - Turn rotator to bearing for callsign in Entry window.
• Show Last 10 Spots - Show the last 10 spots for this call in the packet or telnet window.
• Show/Buck Packet - Show the Buckmaster information for this call in the packet or telnet window. Uses SH/QRZ if format for DXSpider is chosen in configurer.
• Show Station - Show the station information for this call in the packet or telnet window.
• Show QSL/Packet - Show the QSL information for this call in the packet or telnet window.
• Show Sunrise/Sunset - Show the Sunrise/Sunset information for this call in the packet or telnet window based on the imported country file. (This information is also available in the Info Window).
• Show Buck/Internet - Show the information that 'www.QRZ.com' has for this call using Internet Explorer.
• Show Buck Local - Show the Buckmaster database information for this call. This requires installation of Buckmaster database software and database, also see the Files section from Configurer.
• Set transceiver offset frequency - This is for transverter supporting transverters.  The transverter offset is saved when the program closes and read again when opened. Remember to enter the frequency of the transceiver and not that of the transverter when going into split mode (Alt+F7). Information how to fill in this table (which frequencies to enter and how to calculate the IF frequency) can be found in the chapter 'VHF and Up contesting'.

  

• Set transceiver timeout time - timeout value for each radio (default is 10 seconds)
• Set transceiver filter codes - You will be prompted for the wide or narrow string to set the filters. For Kenwood, it's pretty easy. You just look up in your manual the string you want and enter it. For other radios, like FT-1000MP, its harder. You must enter a series of space-delimited codes in DECIMAL. Therefore, when an FT-1000MP filter code of 0 0 0 0 8C is required, you must enter 0 0 0 0 140 (8C hex).
  To reset to the default values in the program enter a space and press the OK button
  It is possible to use {CR} in the filter codes which will be replaced with the return character.
  • CW Wide
  • CW Narrow
  • SSB Wide
  • SSB Narrow
  • Digi Wide
  • Digi Narrow
• Bring to foreground when made active - This brings the active bandmap to the foreground. When not having enough real estate on the monitor screen it is possible to place both bandmaps on top of each other. The active bandmap will be shown hiding the non-active bandmap.`
• Reset Radios - Allow manual reset all attached radios. When contact with a radio is lost the dialog below will appear. Select 'Retry' to restore the connection with all attached radios or Right-Click on the bandmap and choose "Reset Radios" to restart the connection.

  

• Help - Show the help file for this window.

When a command is sent to the packet window, it is sent to whichever connection is active.

When the connected cluster is a DXSpider cluster, select on Tab: Other in the Configurer 'Format for DX Spider cluster'.

Hovering with the mouse over a spot

• Exact frequency sent by spotter.
• Callsign of spotter.
• The time in minutes since the station was placed on the DX cluster network.
• Comments sent with the spot.
• The 'standard' country prefix from the spotted station

Hovering with the mouse over RX arrow

Example bandmap usage

by Tom, N1MM

In Search & Pounce (S&P) the callframe will show you each spotted station as you come within "tuning tolerance" (user settable) of that station. I'm terrible at remembering whether I worked a station and on what frequency. With worked stations in the bandmap, the program will tell you that they are not workable again. You can tune by them more quickly. The same feature is useful in contests with unworkable stations.

In a contest like CQ WPX, with (basically) no value multipliers, here is how I use the bandmap. Whenever I can't get a run going I start S&P on a band with a lot of unworked stations (use the available window). I use Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down arrow to go to the next station. If that station is at the beginning of a QSO, I move to the next one. If the QSO is near the end, I wait and work the station. Then I move on. If I reach the top of the band, I start coming back down the band, working the ones I missed on the way up. If there is no station at a frequency, that's my new running frequency!

In contests with valuable multipliers, you should use Ctrl+Alt up/down to get the multipliers first, then go back and get the QSOs.

If the rate drops fairly low, sweep the band using your VFO. That is where the old calls in the bandmap come in useful. If you copy a call, but it seems like it is going to take a long time to work him, tune to the next guy. If you have "QSYing wipes the call & spots QSO in bandmap" turned on, the call will be spotted in bold, so you can Ctrl+Up/Ctrl+Down to him later.
Remember: if a call is in the callframe, space will load it into the call textbox.

If all this seems very unfamiliar, you haven't read the Key Assignments help (and/or the Key Assignments Shortlist).
Reading that single item is your single best time investment in using this program.

Spots and the time shown

• Current spots go into the bandmap with the computer's local (converted to UTC) time. This is to remove variations in cluster times and order the spots into the time they were received.
• Old spots are logged with the originating cluster's time with the provision that it cannot be later than the current local (UTC) time.

With AR-Cluster you can display old spots with SH/DX or SH/FDX. It is recommended to use SH/DX, as it will be recognized as an old spot. Other cluster software may have similar capabilities.

Red lines indicating US license frequencies

On the bandmap there are red lines to indicate extra, advanced and general portions of each band.  Since US hams can operate only in their section and the sections of lower class licenses, it is in your interest to operate some in the higher portions of each band. Otherwise there are some US hams you will not ever be able to work.

The lines can be found on:

• SSB: 3775, 3850, 7225, 14175, 14225, 21225 and 21300.
• CW: 3525, 7025, 14025 and 21025.
• No lines on 160 and 10 meters.