Local DX cluster

A Local DX cluster destination sends matched spots to Long Lines Relay on your computer. The relay runs a small DX cluster there, and your logging software connects to it as it would to any telnet cluster, so the spots show up in its bandmap.

Why you’d use it

You hunt parks from N1MM or Log4OM and want only the POTA activators on bands you can work, in the bandmap, instead of a full cluster feed.

How it works

Each spot goes out as a standard DXSpider-style line, for example:

DX de W4DOG:     14062.0  K4ABC        CW POTA K-0039                 2114Z

The comment always starts with the mode word (some logging software hides spots without one). After it come the fields you pick on the Spot line card, in your order:

• Reference: the park, summit or other reference with its program, such as POTA K-0039.
• Source: where the spot came from, such as POTA or RBN.
• Spotter’s comment: the note the spotter added.

The comment is cut to 30 characters. SSB is shown as LSB below 10 MHz (except on 60m) and USB above. A spot with no spotter, such as a logged contact, shows LONGLINES as the spotter.

What it does not do:

• Nothing is queued while the relay is offline. Spots only go out while the relay is connected. A spot that waits more than 2 minutes is dropped, because an old spot is no use in a bandmap.
• No tuning. Nothing changes on your radio until you pick a spot in your logging software.
• No spots without a frequency, and never your own logged contacts, so the relay doesn’t feed your log back to you.
• No Send test in the web app. Use Send test spot in the relay instead.
• Limits: 120 spots a minute per destination, and 120 a minute per relay across all destinations that target it, newest first.

A Local DX cluster destination never shows Failing. When its relay isn’t connected, the card says Relay offline.

Set it up

You need Long Lines Relay installed and signed in with permission to receive spots. See Long Lines Relay.

1. Open Destinations, select Add destination, pick Local DX cluster and select Continue.
2. Enter a Name, such as Shack PC bandmap.
3. On the Relay card, pick the computer under Relay. Only relays allowed to receive spots are listed. The chip says Connected or Offline.
4. On the Spot line card, pick the comment fields and their order.
5. Check the Preview, which shows one spot as your logging software will see it.
6. Select Save destination.
7. Add the destination to a connection.
8. Turn on the relay’s DX cluster and connect your logging software to it. See The relay’s DX cluster.

You can make the destination only in the web app; the management API refuses to create one.

Common setups

POTA hunting bandmap. Connection: Parks on the Air, Band is 40m, 20m, 17m. Spot line: Reference. Your bandmap shows CW POTA US-2763 next to each activator.

Skimmer hits for your friends. Connection: Reverse Beacon Network, Callsign group is in Friends. Spot line: Source, Spotter’s comment, so the comment reads like CW RBN 18 dB 24 WPM CQ (cut to 30 characters).

Everything you’d chase, one feed. Two connections, Parks on the Air and SOTA, both sending to the same Local DX cluster destination. Spot line: Reference, Source.

When it doesn’t work

The card says Relay offline. The relay isn’t running, isn’t signed in, or its spots stream isn’t open. Open the relay on that computer. Spots that matched while it was offline are gone.

The relay isn’t in the Relay list. It was paired without permission to receive spots, or it was revoked. Sign the relay in again and allow “Receive the spots that match your connections” on the approval page.

The relay was revoked. The destination is left with no relay. Edit it and pick another.

Spots show in the relay but not in the logger. Check the logger’s cluster address and port against what the relay shows.

Some spots never appear. Spots without a frequency are never sent, and a busy connection can pass 120 a minute; the oldest age out after 2 minutes.