The DX chaser
You have an hour after dinner and a list of entities you still need. You do not want to spend it flicking between bands, a cluster window and a second program to find out what is open. You want the openings to come to you.
This layout puts the whole of HF on one strip across the top, three receivers parked on the bands that matter tonight, and the DX cluster filtered to the modes you actually work. When something rare appears, it is one tap to get there and two more to set up split.
Three bands watched, one worked
The active receiver (highlighted) gets the biggest panadapter. The other two sit underneath, smaller but live, so you see a band wake up without leaving the one you are on.
B 14.025.40
14.023.4 CW JA ··· 5
21.290.0 SSB ZL ·· 2
18.140.0 SSB PY · 1
14.195.0 SSB EA8 · 1
21.024.0 CW LU ·· 2
▶ last over 0:09
What each widget does here
Band Ribbon Available
All of HF as one strip, with a marker for each receiver and the density of cluster spots on every band. It answers "where is the activity?" before you have touched a band key.
DX Cluster Available
Live spots, each classed CW, SSB, DIGI, FT8 or FT4. The filter here is set to CW and SSB, and every panadapter obeys the same filter, so digital spots do not clutter the CW end. Tap a spot to tune to it.
Three panadapters Available
RX1, RX2 and RX3 each have their own panadapter and waterfall with cluster spots drawn on them. Pinch to zoom into a pile-up and see where the callers are bunched.
VFO with SPLIT and XIT Available
A and B, copy and swap, lock and RIT, plus SPLIT and XIT. When the DX says "up 2", you are set up in two taps.
Static Reduction — SR3 DX Available
The speech method tuned for weak DX voices, at about 8 ms of delay. For a CW opening, switch to SR1.
QSO Recorder Available
Every over between your transmissions is kept. Did the DX come back to you or to someone else? Play the last over again and know.
Bands with band stack Available
Each band remembers where you left it, so hopping 20 → 17 → 20 puts you back on the pile-up you were watching.
Audio Mixer and Notch Bank Available
Volume, mute and balance per receiver, so RX1 and RX2 sit in different ears. Eight notches that follow the VFO deal with the carrier that always parks beside the DX.
Receivers, S-meter, Transmit Available
RX keys to choose the active receiver, a meter for signal reports, and the Transmit console with PTT, SWR and power.
An evening on the bands
18:40 UTCYou open the DX workspace. The Band Ribbon already shows a cluster of spots on 17 metres and a few on 15. RX1 is on 20 m CW where you left it, RX2 sits on 17, RX3 on 15. In the Audio Mixer, RX2 goes in the right ear at a low level so you can hear the band without it competing with RX1.
18:52A spot for a Pacific station appears in the cluster, classed CW, and its marker drops onto the RX2 panadapter. You tap RX2, then tap the spot. The waterfall shows a tidy signal and a wide smear of callers above it.
18:53He is listening up. You pinch-zoom the panadapter to see where the callers are thickest, set VFO B just above the crowd, and tap SPLIT. A carrier sits close by, so one tap in the Notch Bank takes it out — and the notch follows the VFO if you retune.
18:58Third call, and a reply. Was that your call or a similar one? You play the last over from the QSO Recorder: it was you. You note the contact in your logbook program as usual.
19:10Signals on 15 metres are lifting. You did not have to go and look — RX3's waterfall has been filling in under your eye the whole time.
Optional, but it suits this station
MIDI knob for tuning
Learn mode: touch the control in DX Pro and it is mapped, so a heavy knob tunes the active receiver while your eyes stay on the waterfall.
Foot switch for PTT
An HID foot switch through the Hardware Hub keeps both hands free for the knob and the paddles in a pile-up.
Works with Stream Deck
Put SPLIT, A⇄B and the receiver keys on Stream Deck buttons through the built-in bridge.
- Everything in this layout Available — in today's pre-1.0 development builds, on Hermes-class radios.
- Skimmer spots from your own receivers In development — would add your own CW and FT8 spots to the cluster.
- CAT / rigctld link so a logging program can follow DX Pro Planned — DX Pro is not a logger; keep your logbook where it is.
Build your DX cockpit
Drag the cluster, the ribbon and a few panadapters around in the live demo and see how it feels. One licence, £99, perpetual, for one machine.