• [VE9KK] Feel the heat of a cluster

    From VE9KK via rec.radio.amateur.moderat@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 3 14:00:03 2021
    XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, rec.radio.amateur.dx

    VE9KK Blog

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    Feel the heat of a cluster

    Posted: 03 Dec 2021 06:28 AM PST http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com/2021/12/feel-heat-of-cluster.html



    A member from a club I belong to the Maritime Contest Club posted on our groups i.o. site his choice for a DX Cluster. Oh, before I get too far
    along, the link above to the Maritime Contest Club has some great
    information and links regarding contesting if you are interested. Back to
    the cluster, his choice was DX Heat. I checked it out and really liked it
    and up to that point my choice was DX Summit. I do like DX Summit and have
    been using it for some time. Most clusters offer the same thing, with just
    a few cluster specific features. For example, DX Summit does have a tab
    called Daily DX. There is a subscription fee and I imagine it's very informative, but I have to manage where and what I am a paid member of.
    These days you can doll out a lot of cash if you pick all that interests
    you.

    Anyway, I digress.....back to the cluster. What I have really come to like about DX Heat is everything is on the home page. You can filter what you
    see on the cluster with convenient options on the home page. For example,
    you can choose to see only CW, on a certain band and from spotter only in
    North America (all other continents also available) Holding your mouse and clicking on the spot you are given 3 options QRZ lookup, very interesting
    stats on the spotted contact or be taken to a Web SDR to tune in and listen. There is also the commonly found UTC clock, propagation forecast, call sign lookup and call sign spot features common to most clusters. But there is
    also a handy and accurate band activity, and you can select the continent
    you want to look at. I chose NA and you can see a visual of what bands according to the cluster spots are open and how hot the band is. This I
    have found has given me some surprise openings on 10m and 6m.
    So check it out and see what you think?

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