Determining Why a Spot Database Display Entry's DX Station is needed

If you are using DXKeeper to log your QSOs, then Spot Database Entries will by default be colored to indicate the impact of a QSO with their DX stations with respect to your DXing objectives :

• Font color	Meaning
  red	a QSO with this station will give you a new counter, counter-band, counter-mode, or counter-band-mode (where a counter is a DXCC entity, WAZ zone, VUCC grid, etc.)
  blue	a QSO with this station will give you a new way of confirming a worked but still unconfirmed counter, counter-band, counter-mode, or counter-band-mode
  black	a QSO with this station will not advance your progress

You can alter these default colors via the Font Colors panel on the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab.

There are three ways to determine why a Spot Database Entry is colored red or blue. In order of increasing information returned, they are

• format the Spot Page Display to include the Needed field

  1. on the Configuration window's Spot Database Display tab, use the Layout panel to make the Needed field visible in the Spot Database Display

  2. relocate the Needed field's column leftward if necessary so that it is always visible

  3. the presence of single letters in this column indicate why the Entry's DX station is needed; note that a station can be needed for more than one award that you are pursuing:

     • Letter	needed for award
       D	ARRL DXCC
       G	ARRL VUCC
       I	RSGB IOTA
       G	Leaderboard competition
       M	CQ DX Marathon: un-worked CQ DX Marathon Country
       N	CQ DX Marathon: un-worked CQ DX Marathon Zone
       P	CQ WPX
       S	ARRL WAS
       Z	CQ WAZ

• let the mouse cursor hover briefly over the entry's callsign; an explanatory popup will appear indicating why the Entry's DX station is needed:

• right-click the Entry and choose the Display Award Tracking item from the popup menu; SpotCollector will display an Award Tracking window that shows DXCC and WAZ status for the Entry's entity and CQ zone:

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Getting Started with Spot Collection

Getting Started with DXLab