The contest station
Twenty-four hours, a sore throat by Sunday, and a rate meter that punishes every fumble. A contest station is about doing the same few things thousands of times without thinking.
Let us be clear up front: DX Pro is not a contest logger, and it does not try to be. Keep the logger you trust for dupes, multipliers and scoring. What DX Pro brings is the radio side of the run position — a voice keyer with four messages, a recorder that catches every exchange, split and XIT, a transmit chain with punch, a keyer, and PTT on a foot switch — laid out so your hands find everything without looking.
The run frequency in front, the band in your other ear
RX1 holds the run frequency. RX2 listens elsewhere for multipliers. The transmit tools sit in one column on the right, where a finger or a Stream Deck key can reach them mid-exchange.
ALC ▮▮▯▯ · TX 0:06
Built for repetition
CQ Caller Available
Four recorded voice messages, sent once or on a loop. Slot 1 is your CQ on a loop; the others hold the exchange, a "again please" and your call. Your voice lasts the weekend.
QSO Recorder Available
Every over between your transmissions is kept. Missed a serial number in the noise? Replay the last over instead of asking for a repeat. You can even send a recorded over back to air.
VFO with SPLIT and XIT Available
SPLIT for the DX station working a pile-up mid-contest; XIT to nudge your transmit frequency off a neighbour without moving the receiver.
TX DSP rack and TX EQ Available
Noise gate, compressor/limiter and de-esser, with a 10-band EQ in front of them: talk power that cuts through a crowded band without splatter.
TX Monitor Scope Available
The transmitted spectrum and 30 seconds of power, SWR, ALC and mic level. Hour twenty, you will be glad you can see the ALC at a glance.
Transmit console Available
PTT tap-to-latch or hold, VOX, Drive, Mic gain, meters, a TX timer and a lockout.
Two receivers and the Audio Mixer Available
RX1 on the run frequency in one ear, RX2 on another band in the other, each with its own panadapter and volume.
CW Keyer Available
For the CW part of a mixed-mode weekend: iambic A or B, straight key, 5 to 60 WPM, with on-screen paddles if you need them.
Saturday morning, 20 metres
07:00 UTCYou find a clear spot, check the TX Monitor Scope while you say a few words — compressor working, ALC barely moving, spectrum tidy — and start CQ Caller slot 1 on a loop.
07:03A caller. You stop the loop with a tap, your foot goes down on the switch and you are live on the mic. You give the exchange, they give theirs. You type it into your logger on the other monitor.
07:20A weak one with a serial number lost under a burst of noise. Rather than slow the run, you tap the QSO Recorder, replay the over and hear "zero four seven" clearly second time round.
07:45Rate slows. In your right ear, RX2 has been quietly sitting on 15 metres; the cluster, filtered to SSB, shows a multiplier there working split. You listen on RX2, set VFO B for split and make the contact — then straight back to the run with CQ Caller looping again.
13:00Voice tiring. Slot 2 holds your call and report, so you only speak the serial. Your logger has the score; DX Pro has the radio.
Hands on the keyboard, foot on the switch
HID foot switch
Bound to PTT through the Hardware Hub with Learn mode: touch the PTT control, press the switch, done. Both hands stay on the logger keyboard.
Works with Stream Deck
Four keys for the four CQ Caller slots, one for the QSO Recorder replay, one for SPLIT — through the built-in bridge, no extra program.
MIDI knob
A weighted knob mapped to tuning for search-and-pounce on the second receiver.
- Everything in this layout Available — in today's pre-1.0 development builds, transmit on Hermes-class radios.
- Contest logging, dupe checking, scoring — not a DX Pro feature. Use your contest logger.
- CAT / rigctld so your logger can read and set DX Pro's frequency Planned
- Transmit on FlexRadio In development — receive works now.
Set up your run position
Try the canvas in the live demo and see where your CQ Caller and recorder would sit. One licence, £99, perpetual, for one machine.