DXKeeper: Tracking Progress

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The Check Progress tabbed dialog tracks by-mode and by-band progress for each DXCC entity, considering each QSO in the current log file. Both QSL card  and LotW  confirmations (in QSL_Rcvd and Lotw Rcvd respectively) are considered in determining progress; if you check the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box, QSOs confirmed by eQSL.cc will also be considered in determining progress.

Checking and Analyzing DXCC and Toplist Progress

The Award Progress panel displays a Progress Grid with one entry per DXCC entity; its Progress Details sub-panel displays a Progress Details Grid for the currently-selected Progress Grid entry. Cells in the Progress Grid contain codes showing the confirmation status of the entity, bands, and modes; cells in the Progress Details Grid contain codes showing the confirmation of band-mode combinations. The codes used in both grids are identical:

If either of a QSO's QSL_Rcvd or LotW Rcvd fields are set to I, then the QSO is considered invalid for award tracking purposes. If both of a QSO's QSL_Rcvd and LotW Rcvd fields are set to X, the QSO is considered to be unconfirmable and thus treated for award tracking purposes as if it did not occur. If the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, then an I or X in the QSO's eQSL Rcvd field has an equivalent effect. 

If the DXCC award objectives indicate that a mode is sought, but there are no confirmed QSOs with the currently-selected Progress Grid entry in that mode, then the background of that mode's cells in the Progress Details Grid will be white rather than the window's background color. Similarly, if the DXCC award objectives indicate that a band is sought, but there are no confirmed QSOs with the currently-selected Progress Grid entry on that band, then the background of that band's cells in the Progress Details Grid will be white rather than the window's background color.

If you change the  Include eQSL.cc confirmations... setting, the Progress Grid, Progress Details Grid, and other reports will not reflect the change until you invoke the Recompute function.

Note that RTTY mode progress includes credit for PSK31 QSOs. RTTY mode progress also includes QSOs in any other digital modes designated as eligible for DXCC RTTY credit via DXKeeper's user-defined mode mechanism. 

Both the Progress Grid and the Progress Details Grid are live -- you can navigate among them and your log by selecting entries or double-clicking cells:

The Award Progress panel's Award Progress Filter panel contains a set of controls that let you filter the Progress Grid to show what's unworked, what's worked but not requested, what's requested but not confirmed, what's confirmed but not verified, and/or what's verified -- on any band and mode, or on specific band-mode combinations. You can also choose whether or not to include DXCC entities that are no longer current. Only Progress Grid entries that match the criteria set in these controls are visible; the number of matching entries is shown in the Award Progress panel's caption. To generate a report showing all entities the specified filter, click the Award Progress Filter panel's Report button; to reset the filter so that all Progress Grid entries are visible, click the All button. Note that filtering the Progress Grid has no impact on DXKeeper's ability to track awards progress; such progress will be accurately tracked whether all DXCC entities are visible in the Progress Gird or not.

The Progress Grid and Progress Details Grid are incrementally updated when

When enabled, DXKeeper will automatically update the Progress Grid and Progress Details Grid when you 

This update is accomplished by reviewing all QSOs with the DXCC entity of the deleted or modified QSO; this is generally much faster than clearing the Progress Grid and rebuilding it by scanning every QSO in the log, as performed by the Recompute function. DXKeeper displays a small dialog box with a progress bar whenever it is recomputing progress for a specific DXCC entity. If you plan to delete or modify several QSOs, however, it may be faster to disable automatic progress recomputation, make the changes, and then perform a Recompute to rebuild the log's Progress Grid.

Generating Progress Reports

DXKeeper can generate a wide variety of progress reports. The format of all dates used in these reports is specified via the Date Format panel on the Config window's Reports tab.

For a report containing every QSO visible in the Log Page Display, click the Report button on the Main window's Log QSOs tab. The contents of this report are governed by the Log Page Display filter. The order of fields, and their captions and widths are specified by the Log Page Display panel; you may find it convenient to establish specific settings for your report that differ from those used in normal Log Page Display viewing, and save these settings in a Log Page Display layout file for quick recall.

Progress reports can be generated via the Main window's Check Progress tab. 

The Summary button in the Award Progress panel computes and displays a summary of progress towards the ARRL DX Century Club award (DXCC), the ARRL DX Century Club Challenge award , and the Top List award; this summary considers both QSL card  and LotW  confirmations. The results appear in a separate DXCC Summary window, within which

The QSL Stats button in the Award Progress panelgenerates and displays a report showing outgoing count, incoming count, and return rate statistics for QSL cards, eQSL.cc, and LotW by mode and by band for each QSO in the Log Page Display. You can filter the Log Page Display before clicking this button to generate reports for specific time intervals, for specific countries, etc.

The Recomp button in the Award Progress panelre-initializes the current log file's Progress Grid from the DXCC database, and then updates the Progress Grid by examining each QSO in the current log. 

QSOs flagged as broken can  be viewed using the Broke filter. If the Recompute function encounters no QSOs that generate Action or Error entries, no report is generated.

 

Panels along the bottom of the Check Progress tab contain buttons that generate reports useful in pursuing awards:

  • clicking the IOTA button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing all Islands On The Air confirmed or worked; optionally, clicking the IOTA button will also create IOTA_Worked and IOTA_Confirmed update files for IOTAMem4WIN in DXKeeper's Reports sub-folder. In the process of generating this report, IOTA tags will be inserted into QSOs that don't specify an IOTA tag but whose IOTA tag can be unambiguously determined from their DXCC entity; any such QSOs will be listed in the first section of the generated report.

  • clicking the WAZ button generates an HTML report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the CQ Worked All Zones award (WAZ) on the bands and modes specified in the WAZ Bands & Modes panel; log entries whose CQ Zone item is empty will be updated from the DXCC database.

  • clicking the WAC button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards the ARRL Worked All Continents award (WAC); log entries whose continent item is empty will be updated from the DXCC database. This report considers both QSL card  and LotW  confirmations. This report considers QSL card confirmations. If the Include LotW confirmations... setting is enabled, then LotW confirmations are also considered; if the Include eQSL.cc confirmations... box is checked, eQSL.cc confirmations are also considered.

  • clicking the WPX button displays DXKeeper's WPX Award window, from which you can

  • clicking the DOKs button generates a text report from QSOs visible in the Log Page Display showing progress towards DARC DOK awards. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award.

  • clicking the WAE button generates a text report showing progress towards the DARC Worked All Europe award. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award.

  • clicking the RDA button generates a text report showing progress towards the Russian District award. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award.

  • clicking the CQDX button generates a text report showing progress towards the CQ DX award. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award.

  • clicking the JCC-G button generates a text report showing progress towards the JARL Worked all Japanese Cities and Guns awards. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award.

  • clicking the WAB button generates a text report showing progress towards the Worked All Britain awards. Only QSOs confirmed via QSL card are considered confirmed for this award. 

Most reports consider only QSOs in the Log Page Display, thereby enabling you to produce band-specific, mode-specific, or timeframe-specific reports by appropriately setting the Log Page Filter. The by QSL Kind and Card Aging reports consider all QSOs in the Log Page Display regardless of filter..

All generated reports are placed in an appropriately-named file in DXKeeper's Reports subfolder, and then immediately displayed using the default file viewer. To view the contents of this subfolder, click the Reports button.

DXCC-oriented progress reports use the awards tab settings to determine the bands and modes you are pursuing. If no awards tab boxes are checked, DXKeeper assumes that you are pursuing DXCC without focus on specific bands or modes.

Progress reports can also be generated from Scripts using the Report command. This lets you automate the process of generating band-specific, mode-specific, or timeframe-specific reports.

Generating and Processing a DXCC Submission

In the DXCC, Challenge, TOP panel, clicking the Submission button displays the DXKeeper DXCC Submission window, from which you can assemble a DXCC Submission -- a set of confirmed but unverified QSOs to be submitted to the ARRL's DXCC desk -- and generate the required DXCC Record Sheet to accompany your award application. A QSO is considered to be included in your DXCC Submission if either its QSL Rcvd or LotW Rcvd items are set to S. You can manually add a QSO to your DXCC Submission by setting either of these items to S using the Main window's QSO panel or Online QSO panel; you may find filtering the Log Page Display (especially with the Advanced Logs Sorts, Filter, and Modifiers window) and generating Log Reports helpful in choosing QSOs to be submitted. Alternatively, the Assemble Submission function described below automatically expands your DXCC Submission to include all confirmed QSOs whose verification would advance your DXCC progress on the bands and modes selected in the DXCC/TOP Bands & Modes panel, choosing between QSL cards and LotW credits as directed by settings in the DXCC Submission panel. Note that the View Submission, Create Planning Report, Create Card Record Sheet, Create LotW Record Sheet, Verify Submission, and Reset Submission functions can all be used whether you assembled your submission manually, or by invoking Assemble Submission.

DXCC Database

DXKeeper includes a comprehensive DXCC database, which it uses to lookup DXCC prefixes and country codes, and to initialize log file progress grids -- when a log file is first created, or when you click the Recompute button. You can always obtain an up-to-date DXCC database by downloading www.dxlabsuite.com/dxview/DXCC.exe  and extracting its contents (the file DXCC.mdb) into your DXKeeper Databases subfolder. The pathname and version of the DXCC database currently in use is displayed in the DXCC Database panel on the Configuration window's Databases tab.

You can maintain your own DXCC database using the application DXView, a freeware application that displays DXCC info and country maps, and plots spots, beam headings, solar position, and the solar terminator on a world map. If, when DXKeeper starts, it finds DXView installed on your PC, DXKeeper uses DXView's DXCC database, ignoring its own. Thus DXCC database updates you make with DXView are accessible to DXKeeper with no further action on your part.

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