• •  1. How to Add New Spots
• •  2. How to Add New Announcements
• •  3. Where to View Propagation Information
• •  4. How to Use Filters
• • •  4.1 Using “Filters” Panel
  • •  4.2 How to Filter Callsigns, Countries, Prefixes, ITU Zones and CQ Zones?
  • •  4.3 How to Save Filters?
  • •  4.4 Examples of Different Filters
  • • •  4.4.1 Case 1: Show Spots from ZD7, ZD8 and 3C0
    • •  4.4.2 Case 2: Hide Spots from Spotter AB3CDE
    • •  4.4.3 Case 3: Display Spots of KH6 on CW and SSB on HF Bands Excluding WARC Bands
    • •  4.4.4 Case 4: Display Spots from Germany (DL) to CQ Zone 3 on 80M SSB
    • •  4.4.5 Case 5: Show Spots from ITU Zone / CQ Zone / Continent
    • •  4.4.6 Case 6: Show Spots originating from ITU Zone / CQ Zone / Continent
    • •  4.4.7 Case 7: Show Spots of Oceania on 160M CW originating from ITU Zone 18
• •  5. How to View VOACAP Predictions from My Location to a Specific DX Location
• •  6. Smartphones and Tablets
• •  7. Advanced Information
• • •  7.1 Specific Frequencies Used in Filters
  • •  7.2 Modes
  • •  7.3 How to Use Filters by Query String?

1. How to Add New Spots

On the Main page (Spots from the Menu bar) you will find a Share a Spot panel on the right-hand side of the screen. Add your callsign to the My Call field, a spotted callsign to the DX field and a frequency to the kHz field. Use the Info field for any additional information. Click the green Share button to submit.

2. How to Add New Announcements?

On the Main page (Spots from the Menu bar) you will find an Announcements panel below the window displaying current spots. Click the Announcements panel to view a list of current announcements. Add your callsign to the My Call field and type your text in the next field. Click the yellow Send button to submit.

3. Where to View Propagation Information

Propagation Now information is found on the Main page, below the Share a Spot panel. Click the header to display more space weather predictions and information. Comments follow about the parameters in the Solar-Terrestrial Data portion.

SFI is radiation from the Sun at a wavelength of 10.7 cm (2800 MHz) for the date indicated. Generally the higher the 10.7 cm solar flux, the better the higher bands. But realize that the short-term correlation between the daily solar flux and the daily MUF (maximum useable frequency) is poor – thus a longer-term average (like a 90-day average) is best in determining openings on the higher bands.

SN is the sunspot number, and the same comments about using the daily solar flux apply to the daily sunspot number.

The K-Index tells how disturbed the Earth’s magnetic field is at the indicated time and date. It is determined every 3 hours, and the range of this parameter is from 0 (very quiet) to 9 (extremely disturbed). In general, an elevated K index results in lower MUFs at mid and high latitudes, but can give higher MUFs at low latitudes. The K-index is a quasi-logarithmic parameter.

The A-Index is the daily average of the eight 3-hour K-indices. The range of this parameter is 0 (very quiet) to 400 (extremely disturbed). The A-index is a linear parameter.

X-Ray is the background flux from the Sun at 1-8 Angstroms (0.1 - 0.8 nm). There are five categories: A, B, C, M and X, with A being the lowest activity and X being the highest activity. Solar flares of the M and X class can have an adverse impact to the daytime D region (increased absorption causing radio blackouts) and possible increased absorption in the polar cap.

304A is the radiation from the Sun at a wavelength of 304 Angstroms (30.4 nm), and is classified as extreme ultra-violet radiation (EUV). This wavelength is responsible for about 40% of the F2 region, so it is a good indicator of propagation on the higher bands. But the same short-term problem with 10.7 cm flux and sunspots applies to this EUV parameter.

With respect to the band assessments in the Calculated Conditions portion of this display, be advised that Good, Fair and Poor are a very broad indicator of propagation on the HF bands. Conditions will vary according to your location. More specific predictions are available from propagation prediction programs.

The Signal Noise parameter below the band assessments is the estimated noise in S-units due to the current solar wind speed and geomagnetic field activity. Note that this noise level could be masked by your local man-made and/or atmospheric noise conditions.

For more space weather predictions and information, click the header with the green dot that is to the left of the Propagation Now title. A new display is presented. The parameters on this display are pretty much self-explanatory – place your cursor on each parameter and a pop-up text box appears. Some additional comments follow.

The Planetary A and K indices are a compilation of a number of worldwide observatories to give a worldwide view of the Earth’s geomagnetic field activity.

The 90 day average of the solar flux index is the best parameter to use when running propagation predictions. Alternatively, the smoothed sunspot number could be used. As a reminder, our propagation prediction programs were developed based on the correlation between a smoothed solar index (10.7 cm solar flux or sunspot number) and monthly median ionospheric parameters. Median implies 50% probability, and thus our predictions are statistical over a month’s time frame.

The auroral activity plot at the bottom of this display is one of ten pre-determined images that shows where visible aurora can occur (the reddish-orange area) based on the measurement of electron precipitation by an over-flying satellite. The picture does not tell anything about the impact to radio operations, and does not necessarily mean the entire auroral oval is full of detrimental ionization.

4. How to Use Filters

You will see the dark Filters and Search panel at the top of the Main page. The Filters option features frequency filtering and the Search box is used for search input. The Filters in the main Spots window will filter spots from current spots (last 30 days) and those spots can be viewed on the Main page.

5. How to View VOACAP Predictions from My Location to a Specific DX Location

By clicking on a callsign listed in the search results, you will have a choice of accessing four links: Show VOACAP Predictions, Show Grey Line Map, Open QRZ.com and Open Club Log.

For VOACAP predictions, you need to set your Maidenhead Locator first. The browser tries to figure out your location automatically. If your browser is able to establish your location, you will see a valid Maidenhead Locator in the box on the right-hand side of the screen. If your browser does not find your location, you can set it yourself by clicking on the map marker on the left-hand side of the box. It will open a world map where you can position the marker by dragging it to your location.

After setting your location, you can proceed to view VOACAP predictions. You can do so on the Main page (Spots from the Menu bar) by clicking any callsign in the spot list and choosing Show VOACAP Predictions. In the propagation circle, the highlighted segment (with black dotted borders) denotes the current prediction from your QTH to the target area.

Note that predictions for each hour span from the 30th minute of the previous hour to the 30th minute of the current hour. E.g. predictions for 13 UTC span from 1230 UTC to 1330 UTC.

If you wish to experiment and run predictions for the DX location from locations other than yours, set the RX location marker on the world map accordingly.

The VOACAP predictions show the probability of achieving a QSO with the other station in the CW mode via short-path. The user can also choose to run propagation predictions using the long path.

By default, the predictions are calculated with the following parameters:

• TX and RX antenna: a half-wave dipole at the height of 10 meters above the ground on all frequencies (80 meters to 10 meters).
• TX power: 100 Watts
• Noise at RX site: Low
• Sunspot number: Monthly smoothed SSN (detected automatically). Daily sunspot numbers, or A or K indices are not being taken into account.

This default station setup above is called “Basic”. Also, a more advanced setup is available called “Super”. The “Super” station parameters are as follows:

• TX antenna: a ¼ wave vertical antenna with a good ground (80 meters to 10 meters)
• RX antenna: a 5-element Yagi at the height of 40 meters (132 ft) above the ground
• TX power: 1500 Watts
• Noise at RX site: Low
• Sunspot number: Monthly smoothed SSN (detected automatically). Daily sunspot numbers, or A or K indices are not being taken into account.

Please note that VOACAP cannot make reasonable predictions on 160 meters, and also predictions on 80 meters are typically more pessimistic than the conditions really are. Predicting Long-Path propagation on 80 meters is virtually impossible.

Please note that due to the lack of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) support in Internet Explorer 8 and earlier, VOACAP predictions cannot be viewed in those browsers. It is highly recommended that the latest versions of the web browsers will be used as they typically can show SVG graphics.

6. Smartphones and Tablets

Mobile phones and tablets have different user interface and some different functions compared to the full desktop version because of performance issues and smaller screen sizes. There are 20 spots loaded to the Spots page and by default only DX Call, Frequency and Time are shown in the spot list. Detailed information about the spot can be accessed by clicking the spot.

VOACAP predictions are not shown by default in mobile devices.

On modern smartphones and tablets, you can switch between the desktop user interface and the mobile user interface. When in mobile mode, you can access the desktop user interface by clicking the menu button on top of the page. From the menu choose View site in full desktop mode. When in desktop mode you can switch back to the mobile mode by clicking the blue button View site in mobile mode on top of the spots table.

7. Advanced Information