[dropcap type=”3″]T[/dropcap]he finnish OH8X Radio Arcala team is going to release a new version of the popular dxsummit.fi web cluster, one of the very first Online DX Clusters appeared on the net.
The new name for the internet based DX Cluster will be MyDXSummit, or MDXS for short.
Release date has been planned for the 1st December 2014, and till that date the team will work on setting up the new website, and is asking the help of up to 200 volunteers that will test and debug the current version.
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We will welcome some 200 pre-users, who are prepared to try it out and provide immediate feedback to the development team,” OH2BH said “The aim of this exercise is to serve as the final debug phase and to enhance user experience to maximum satisfaction before tens of thousands suddenly fire their browsers to help them in their future DX hunt
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Martti Laine, OH2BH asking for beta testers
DXSummit Changes across years
MyDXSummit New Features
The DXZone recently visited MyDXSummit, and compared the new beta version to the current web site.
Immediately appear evident a new modern approach to display and update dx spots and not only for the new graphic layout or for the new font used (say good-bye to monospaced Courier), but rather for the background technology implemented. DXSummit now meets the feature of the more recent DX Clusters available online
DX Spots Updates
DX spots get automatically displayed with a fast transition effect as they arrive and users have no more to wait for the canonical 60 seconds for the page to update.
As appear evident the dx spots are listed under a common table, with a sans-serif font, in a completely different way from the old space-aligned text in a monospaced font.
This useful technique was first introduced by another popular web DX Cluster, the brazilian DXWatch.com by Felipe PY1NB several years ago, and now gets implemented also by the finnish Web Cluster.
Filtering
As all of you know, DX Spots research and monitoring can be very tedious without filtering.
The new filter interface allow easy access to the options that permit to select DX or DE call sign inputs and expanding the Filter icon , a more detailed and complete By Band filtering window appear. Simply clicking on the desired band, will automatically add the filtered band to the correct input field.
The Filtering window is divided in Include and Exclude sections, permitting users to easily add bands and exclude modes in example.
This band and mode filtering is complementary to the call sign search that is available on the main window.
Voacap Integration
Another interesting feature implemented by the Radio Arcala team in the new DXSummit, is the integration with the Online VoaCap propagation prediction service. (another valuable finnish-based ham radio resource)
In fact, when users click on a dx spot a pop-up window will display propagation to that location not only for that particular time but for an entire period of 24 hours on all bands.
QRZ.com and Club Log
Clicking on the dx spot, the pop-up window will offer you the possibility to query the QRZ.com or the ClubLog database for that particular call-sign
Announcements
At the bottom of the main DX Spot page, you will be able to expand the Announcement window. As in previous versions it is integrated with the DXSpot result page, and acting often mainly as a chat system rather than for the original goal.
Adding Spots
Adding spots is now Share Spot, meaning that even the common terms changes in this new dx cluster version, updating the concept of adding a spot, to the its social meaning. Sharing Spot simply add the DX Spot to the DB.
Time Filtering and Export to CSV
Spot search feature, let you restrict or expand the time-frame of your search, allowing to choose the start and end date (and time) of your spot search along to the common call-sign, band and mode filters.
While looking then at the bottom of the dx spot list, you can notice a “Download spot as CSV file” button.
This will allow you (and third-party programs?) to download a comma separated values file containing your dx spots search results.
Responsive
Like all recent DXCluster web sites, this new DXSummit version, is also available for mobile device access, implementing a responsive layout that can fit perfectly every mobile screen size and resolution.
DXSummit is now ready to be considered a mobile dxcluster site.