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Reviews For: DX MONITOR

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : DX MONITOR
Reviews: 6MSRP: FREE
Description:
A wealth of DX tools - DX to spotter path by hour, splendid filtering, when your DX was on by day and hour in handy chart, elaborate filtering, beautiful appearance, all telnet features plus DX Summit, direct look up of QSL information on QRZ Hamcall and Internet, observe by band, by mode, by time of day, plot your own logs (gives some perspective on antenna strengths & weaknesses), works with HamCap and really educational and fun. With alarms and skeds I am where I should be when I should be. Get the latest tools in the newest BETA version. I have run them all and worked them hard and even the BETAs are very stable and perform as they should. I think you will like it. N3PXF - Ernie
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.benlo.com/dxmon.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064.3
KG5VK Rating: 2010-12-01
Twitterific !!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The largest asset this tool provides me is a push notice to my cell phone via the built-in Twitter tools for alerts
The author is fast to respond to queries
I have not yet started using the most advanced features of this new software tool !

Cheers!
steve
KG5VK
K4ELO Rating: 2008-02-03
Amazing software Time Owned: N.A.
As others have said, it takes some time to figure out how to configure it the way you want, but I would still rate it a 5.
Primarily for it's filtering features. The ability to set frequency filters, country filters, and local spotting filters at a range you choose. What you end up seeing is only the dx prefixes you still need to work, on the bands you need them, and ones that have been reported by spotters within a range of your qth that you choose. Or easily turn off the filters and see everything.

Can't get much better than that!
former_WA6L_JG Rating: 2008-01-25
Powerful tool, not easy to configure Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.

I've been using DX Clusters for a long time, and found them to be only moderately useful. As I am sure you all know, by the time someone spots a station on one of the clusters, there is already a pileup waiting.

Not only that, but you can easily be overwhelmed by the number of spots scrolling across your screen. If you don't filter the spots, you find that you have no chance whatsoever of hearing most of the stations. If you do figure out the arcane method of adding filters to the cluster, you run the risk of missing some rare ones that don't make it past your filters.

Then along comes DX Monitor. Suddenly, all that data can be intelligently filtered and presented in a way that is actually helpful!

Here are a few examples of how I am using this DX Monitor, Of course, the software is extremely flexible and configurable, and this list is far from complete:

* You can create multiple filters, then just "point and click" to select them. So, I have filters for such things as HF CW, HF SSB, WARC Bands, 10 Meters, and 160 Meters. All I do is click on the 10-meter filter and the all the past spots are instantly displayed, New 10-meter spots are added to the window as they come in.

* One of the greatest features for me is the ability to filter by the estimated S-Meter reading of the foreign station. The software ties into the free Ham CAP propagation engine, so it can calculate the signal-to-noise ratio at your location. So, for example, I can choose to see only those spots with an estimated S-meter reading of 3 or higher! You cannot overestimate how useful this is.

* Now, when I read about the latest DXpedition, I can add the station to my "Alerts" list. Whenever that station is spotted, I get an audible alert and a window pops up. You can configure multiple alerts and configure how it will alert you.


* Beam headings are automatically calculated and (optionally) displayed for you.

* Double-click on any spot and it will give you a propagation chart to that station, and a history of who has spotted that station and when

There are many, many other capabilities as well that I am not using. These include rig control, band mapping, and call book lookups.

There is a bit of bad news as well. This is a difficult program to get properly configured and working. The help files (which are online) are very good. The problem is that the software, as it comes "out of the box" will not do all the things that I listed above.

For example, if you are going to use the SNR filter, you have to download and install Ham CAP. After that, DX Monitor will recognize those features and use them. The same thing goes for rig control. You have to download and install OmniRIg.

One other small peeve concerns the call book lookup. The program does not support QRZ or Buckmaster. It does support the free K4HAV database, but this is (once again) another piece of software you have to download and install.

So, it took me a long time to get my copy of DX Monitor to the point where it is today. But at least to me, it is worth the effort and certainly worth the money. The software is running any time I step into my shack and is proving to be a tremendous operating aid.

73,

John, WA6L
FORMER_K6KDK Rating: 2006-04-13
Hummm.... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
DXmonitor is a CPU hog, it loads a module that, at idle, takes 10-12% of ttl CPU ticks on a Pentium III at 1.4 gig!!! and very very expensive for software written as a kludge..

It used to be freeware..

Much better spotting and rig control for FREE is: try Commander and Spot Collector by DXLab..

-Dan K6KDK
N0ODK Rating: 2004-10-26
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this everyday and use the alart function. Great to know who is out there and you can click on DX call for Beam headings. Great Program!!!
Mike
n0odk
73
N3PXF Rating: 2004-10-26
Very educational and helpful Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been using DX Monitor for a few years. Not a rabid DXer but do enjoy that part of the hobby. I keep DX Monitor running and set alarms to let me know when that needed country is on the air. That's normal. But with the new features, I can track where the DX is working, what time, what days, what frequencies, what WWV was reporting that day, who the DX is (web information) create a personal file on the DX with growing comments from others etc. And now HamCap is incorporated too! I don't know what I would add to the programm. I work it hard every day and it has never failed to meet my expectations. 73 de N3PXF Ernie