[Dxbase] Xmas Wish List for DX Base 2008

Tue Dec 19 23:23:53 EST 2006

In no particular order, here are my observations/wishes/fixes for DXB 
2008 (and beyond)....
1) Tight integration with all Afreet software (the makers of DX 
Atlas). All of their apps play together very nicely, and if all could 
be integrated with DX Base, you'd have a suite that would positively 
rock. IonoProbe, DX Atlas, HamCap and most importantly Band Master - 
with clickable spots a-la-N1MM, and even cooler, clickable PATHS from spots.
2) If a device is not found (radio, K1EL), don't automatically 
disable it. Sometimes it's just a matter of bringing up DX Base with 
the radio off, and now all of a sudden I have to re-enable control. PITA.
3) In the DXB Utility program, please allow users to set desired 
colours. The utility now uses the inactive window colour and if you 
use a light colour like yellow (as I've done for >15 years in 
Windows), it renders text within the utility unreadable.
4) This one's been elusive for years now: Frequently I still need to 
kill the DXBase2007.exe process in the task manager; closing the app 
often doesn't kill it completely. This is random, but the chances of 
it happening are greater if DX Base has been open for a long time 
with lots of log entries made in the session.
5) In DXCC AWARD SUBMISSIONS:
 a) Would like to see the CALCULATE button re-pressable! This 
is quite annoying, having to quit the module and re-start it when 
selection criteria changes.
 b) After it does the calculation and it asks you a great 
long question with YES currently set as the default--two things: 
First, change it to NO as the default (REALLY important, that one!!), 
and second, re-phrase the question to something urgent and to the 
point. Maybe ending with "Only say YES when you are making you actual 
submission to the ARRL!" A way to undo an accidental "YES" here would 
be wonderful!
6) There's still something odd going on with DIGITAL versus RTTY that 
I can't quite put my finger on yet. Specifically, sometimes I have 
some worked-not-confirmed-in-mode alarms getting triggered. After 
playing with PSK a few years ago, I only operate RTTY for digital 
mode now, none of the others. I have a few entities (Italy in 
specific), that I have confirmed from a PSK-31 contact but I'd never 
worked them on RTTY until a couple of months ago -- no need, after 
all since PSK and RTTY count for the same thing as far as DXCC is 
concerned. Yet, whenever Italy showed up on RTTY, a "needed" alarm 
would go off, despite it being clearly shown as confirmed on 
PSK/digital. As I said, I don't know what's going on here, but I 
really want to kill the digital/PSK divide on my implementation of DX 
Base. Great option for digi mode ops, but a complete PITA for RTTY-only guys.
7) When doing a DXCC printout for submission, with records selected 
from both CARDS+LoTW, highlight BOTH and LOTW in unique colours to 
allow for easy identification while compiling cards. If you're doing 
a 400+ card submission, it's too easy to go looking for a "missing" 
card when the confirmation in question is actually a LoTW 
confirmation or both paper and LoTW (in which case, no need to hunt 
the paper card).
Another option for this problem could be a 4th selection button 
(Cards/LoTW selected, LoTW suppressed in printout). If you do a 
hybrid LoTW/paper card application with the ARRL, they will "sweep" 
all pending LoTW confirmations to the award. Therefore, if the user 
retrieves and loads Lotw ADIF files from the leage regularly, he 
knows what's confirmed on logbook and what isn't. IF you just select 
paper cards, it ignores LoTW hits. As such, if you select BOTH, but 
suppress the LoTW hits in your ARRL printout (you won't need to bring 
these cards to field checkers or the League, so why have them on 
paper to begin with!) the problem will be solved.
8) In PERSONAL DATA/DXCC awards, and in calculating DXCC totals, 
THERE IS NO SEPARATE RTTY AND DIGITAL AWARD!
9) Please PLEASE allow users to modify/delete QSL manager data from 
the QSL Info window, without having to explore the bowels of the 
database. This is quite unintuative now and it's MOST annoying to 
work with as new managers appear and old routes disappear.
10) CQ Zone stats (HF Numerical stats)
There needs to be a separate 5B WAZ column total (for JUST the 5 
old-school bands, 10-15-20-40-80). Do this similar to the DXCC 
Challenge numbers as implemented last year. Remember, that unlike 
DXCC totals, CQ WAZ confirmations need to be QSL cards ONLY, as LoTW 
is not yet accepted for the WAZ awards!
11) When an entire entity maps to an IOTA, please populate that IOTA 
field (ex: VU7 is AS-011 only. Continental Australia is OC-001, etc, etc, etc).
12) URGENTLY needs a 5BWAZ report form!! In this report, you should 
be able to show cards with multiple QSOs on different bands (just 
like you do for DXCC reporting). Essentially, this should be a 6-page 
report. Pages 1-5 are UNIQUE band-zones (10m page, 15m page, etc). 
The selection criteria should put multi-zone cards ahead of uniques. 
In other words, if you work HC8N, CN8R, PJ2T, W2IRT and ZL6QH across 
5 bands in a contest, those five-QSO cards should be selected ahead 
of any four-QSO cards, ahead of 3's, etc. Only uniques show up on the 
first five pages, then all multis show up on the 6th (and 7th, if 
necessary) page, etc.
13) Speaking of the WAZ module, in the selection criteria in DXB 
2007, ALL in this case is the same as MIXED! All bands counted, mixed 
mode. There is no 20m CW award, just a 20m award and a CW award; same 
as DXCC. In this case, the 5B WAZ award module should go in place of 
the ALL selection under 'BAND.'
14) Allow wildcard exclusions for callsigns in the DX INFO window. 
i.e. VU7LD/VU2SWS and VU7LD/VU3DMP, both on 20m SSB, count as the 
same entity on the same band. Per the operators' request, work the 
VU7LD op once on a band-mode only, yet here every different op will 
set off an alarm. Would be nice to set an exclusing for VU7LD* on 20 
SSB, or even VU7* on 20 SSB, regardless of the full legal callsign of 
the operator.
15) Have a "timeout" period of excluded stations. i.e. purge entries 
after x months or weeks, etc, and of course, automatically once the 
band/mode QSL arrives. No sense having 15 band-mode exclude entries 
in the table for 5A7A now that the operation is QRT and the cards are 
still pending, nor after the cards arrive and the band/modes change 
from W to C.
16) Ability to easily fix a busted callsign that's been already 
logged. Now, if you fix the callsign, the old data still remains in 
the record. i.e. 5Z7A logged instead of 5A7A. Sure, you correct the 
call, but the prefix and zone data still show it as Kenya, not Libya. 
Ditto operator info, etc. Essentially, if you change the call, the 
new data should come up right away. Now, the only way to be 100% sure 
you've fixed it is to add a second entry and then delete the first.
17) On importing an ADIF file you should have the opportunity to 
populate fields used in DX Base that were not generated in the other 
logging app. Example: Power. I use this field quite a bit but it 
remains unpopulated after I import a contest log file.
18) This is a real biggie: As mentioned the other day in this forum, 
I'd love to see DX Base work as a true distributed server/client 
application for multi-seat club stations.
19) Perhaps, someday, modify the GRID system to allow drag-and-drop 
column moves, etc. This is a huge pet peeve of mine.
20) FULL Multi-monitor support, also with windows that can be moved 
and kept on either monitor. N1MM has this done right, and it's 
urgently needed here.
21) Different registration mode to allow for essentially any number 
of callsigns, not keyed to the OPERATOR field in the log. Another BIG 
request from my club station!
22) Regular feature updates, via a subscription service. Yes, we'd 
pay for it gladly, if it's a regular thing and well implemented.
23) Regular table updates as world data changes. i.e adding 
Montenegro and Swains Island last year, modifying the primary 
prefixes for the Cook Islands and in 2007, the liklihood exists for 
St. Barts to become a new entity as well will make for more updates necessary.
24) Better recognition of native USB and serial devices and 
interfaces. CW Keying via serial Rigblaster, for example, has never 
been supported! Thankfully, my Micro Keyer works 100% with DX Base 
now, but it was a PITA before I got it, that's for sure!
25) Allow multiple logs to be open at once. I manage my club's log, 
my DXpedition-to-C6-land log and my regular log, and when I get a 
buro pack or a big load in the PO Box, I'd like to be able to work 
with all of these in separate windows, and not have to re-launch the 
program (and kill processes half the time).
26) AUTOMATIC backup to selected path or device, of all critical 
files, set BY DEFAULT to run at program close, start or a fixed time, 
etc...plus a warning if the batch can't run (drive not connected, 
network down, etc).
27) AUTOMATIC RECONNECTION to a dropped Internet cluster! This is 
mitigated with AR User, but if I need to re-start AR User (for 
example, after an upgrade), I need to close and re-initialize my 'Net 
connection. Of course, for those telnetting to a cluster directly, 
it's even more vital!
28) Rotor integration: Have an option to automatically turn to a spot 
when it's highlighted or entered into the log from the DX Info window 
(at the same time as the frequency, name/QTH data is autopopulated, 
the rotor should turn short-path by default).
That's about it for this request list. I know some of these are a 
long-shot, but here's hoping some of these can make it to DXB 2008. 
Looking forward to it!!
Thanks Jack, et al, for another great year.
Cheers,
Peter,
W2IRT 