DXChrono Desktop

Help → Settings

Opening Settings

Press S to open the Settings dialog. Settings are saved to config.yaml when you click Save. The app looks for this file in the same folder as the executable when you run the packaged app, or in the project directory or your user folder (~/.dxchrono/config.yaml) when run from source; the first location where a config is found is used, and Save writes to that file. You can override the config file with -c path/to/config.yaml (see Command line options).

Text fields (station details, integration hosts, DX Cluster profile editor, watchlist input, and similar): click to place the cursor; use the arrow keys, Home, End, Backspace, and Delete while editing. Ctrl+A selects all text in the active field; your next keystroke replaces the selection. Right-click pastes where supported (e.g. API keys).

Config file locations (quick reference)

Settings tabs

If your screen is narrow (or lots of features are enabled), tab names may not all fit at once. Use the tab-strip arrows, or spin the mouse wheel over the tab row, to slide left/right and reach hidden tabs.

Station

Your station identity and location:

• Callsign – Your amateur radio callsign (used for PSK Reporter and display).
• Grid square – Maidenhead locator (e.g. IO91wm). The app converts this to latitude/longitude.
• Latitude / Longitude – Your QTH in degrees. Used for the map marker, gray line, and distance calculations.

License

If you bought a copy of DXChrono, store your License key from your order email. The app talks to the license service for you—you do not enter a server address. Use Activate to register this PC (your license usually allows up to five computers per key; the service keeps count). Use Validate to check the key again without using an extra slot. Validate license when app starts runs a quick background check when a key is saved. The first time you run the app without a key, a separate license window appears before the map; more detail is in Integrations → License.

Display

Frame rate (FPS) is set on this tab with fullscreen and map options; the Performance tab is only for how the world picture loads (memory and startup), not for FPS.

• Fullscreen – Start in fullscreen or windowed mode.
• FPS – Frame rate (default 30).
• Map mode – Choose the standard flat world map or the interactive 3D globe view.
• Map east/west center – Set the longitude at the center of the map (for example, around -90 to center North America).
• Map overlays – Grid, gridsquares, CQ/ITU zones, cities, QTH marker, aurora, and sun/moon.
• 3D globe controls – In globe mode, drag or arrow keys rotate the globe; mouse wheel still zooms.
• MUF overlay – Controlled from the keyboard (M) rather than a Settings checkbox.

Map 3D

Shown when you need globe-only options: label density, arc style for great-circle lines, atmosphere glow, and optional auto spin with speed. These apply when Map mode on the Display tab is set to the 3D globe.

Performance

The tab shows a short note at the top: options here apply after Save and reload the map — there is no live preview while Settings is open. They control how large world images are loaded for the 2D map and 3D globe (memory use and startup time):

• Map memory mode – Auto uses the lighter load path when installed RAM is at or below the cutoff (about 4 GB unless you change it). Low-RAM path forces that behaviour. Full detail uses the heavier path (sharper 2D zoom-in on small PCs, but slower and more RAM).
• Low-RAM cutoff (MiB) – 0 keeps the built-in default (4096). Raised or lowered only affects Auto.
• 2D zoom layer cap and Decode cap – 0 means built-in defaults. Non-zero values set upper limits on how many picture elements are processed while loading (advanced).
• Map resize quality – trades speed against sharpness when shrinking the world image; Best is slowest on a Raspberry Pi.

Click Save to apply (the map reloads). For environment-variable equivalents and edge cases, see Troubleshooting → Slow startup or heavy map load.

Widgets

Show or hide on-screen panels: Clock, Solar data, Band conditions, Sun/Moon Az-El, Station info, Help (legend), Cloudlog, ADIF Logbook, PSK Reporter status, Reverse Beacon status, Satellite pass list, Contest Calendar, and Watch List. DX Cluster and N1MM widgets are controlled from their own tabs when enabled. You can drag widgets to reposition them; positions are saved.

Sun/Moon Az-El panel: Shows azimuth and elevation for both the Sun and Moon at your station location. It uses Station latitude/longitude, and if those are not set it falls back to the grid square center.

Data

How often data is updated (in seconds): solar data, band conditions, aurora data, gray line, Cloudlog, ADIF Logbook, and QRZ Logbook. Increase intervals to reduce network and CPU use.

Note: panels refresh independently, so values can update at different times.

Software updates

DXChrono can quietly check whether a newer build is available. It does not install updates for you; it only reads a small text file on the internet and compares the version number to the one you are running. Your callsign, logbook, or license details are not sent as part of this check.

• Check for app updates – Turn this off if you prefer the app never to look for newer versions (for example on a PC with no internet, or a strict club network).
• Update check frequency – Daily means at most one check per calendar day (UTC). Every startup checks each time you launch DXChrono.
• Check for Updates (button at the bottom of this tab) – Runs a check straight away. A short message appears at the bottom of the Settings window when the check finishes: if you are already on the latest version, you will see a green confirmation; if the check could not complete (no internet, blocked site, etc.), you will see a short warning. If a newer version is available, an Update Available window opens on top of Settings with two links: Download (installer page) and View Changelog (what changed). Use Later to close the window and carry on.

If an update is found while Settings is closed, the same Update Available window appears when the main map is showing, as soon as the app is not busy with another dialog.

For download files and release notes, see desktop.dxchrono.com/download and desktop.dxchrono.com/changelog. More help if checks fail: Troubleshooting → Update checks.

Contest Calendar

Contest Calendar now has its own tab. Polling runs when the Contest Calendar widget is enabled (Widgets tab). Use the Contest Calendar tab to set RSS refresh interval, lookahead days, optional custom feed URL (default https://www.contestcalendar.com/calendar.rss), and widget font sizes.

Contest widget fonts: use Contest widget font (px) for main row text and Contest widget meta font (px) for secondary time/status lines.

Watch

Use the dedicated Watch tab to track specific callsigns from incoming DX Cluster, PSK Reporter, and Reverse Beacon data.

• Enable watch list matching – Master on/off switch. When off, no watch matches are collected.
• Show Watch List panel – Enables the Watch List widget area. The panel auto-hides when there are no current matches, and reappears when a match arrives.
• Match timeout (sec) – How long a match stays in the watch list before it is considered old and dropped.
• Match history size – Maximum number of stored matches kept in memory/widget list.
• Widget list font (px) – Text size for watch rows in the Watch List widget (larger text = fewer visible rows).

Callsign editor: type a callsign in the input box and click Add. Click an existing row to load it for editing, then click Update. Use Delete to remove the selected row or Clear to remove all watched callsigns.

What is matched: DX Cluster matches the DX callsign field; PSK Reporter matches the other station callsign field; Reverse Beacon matches the skimmer callsign (the station that reported hearing you).

Cloudlog

Connect to your Cloudlog instance for QSO stats and recent contacts. Enter base URL, API key, and optional public slug. Use Test to verify. Enable the Cloudlog widget in the Widgets tab.

ADIF Logbook (file)

Use a local ADIF file as a live QSO source when you do not use Cloudlog or QRZ. Enable the ADIF tab, set your .adi path (or click Browse), and DXChrono will monitor the file for recent QSOs to drive map markers and the dedicated ADIF Logbook panel. You can choose map labels/lines and how many recent QSOs to keep. Set refresh under Data → ADIF Logbook (sec).

QRZ Logbook

Optional QRZ Logbook API integration: enter your logbook access key (you can right-click the field to paste from the clipboard), enable the feature, and recent QSOs appear on the map as square markers (Cloudlog uses diamonds). There is no separate stats widget for QRZ—only map markers, optional labels and great-circle lines, and tooltips. For a pin on the map, each QSO needs a gridsquare or latitude/longitude in the ADIF QRZ returns; widen FETCH date span or FETCH max records if you expect more contacts in the window.

Fetches use FETCH with BETWEEN:start+end and MAX: in one OPTION string (comma-separated, no spaces, per QRZ). Default FETCH date span is 7 inclusive calendar days through today (adjustable on this tab). Use Test (STATUS) to confirm your key; live FETCH needs a QRZ subscription that includes Logbook API access. Set refresh under Data → QRZ Logbook (sec). The HTTP User-Agent is DXChrono.

Print FETCH response preview (terminal) — When this checkbox is on (or when environment variable DXCHRONO_QRZ_DEBUG_ADIF is 1), each FETCH logs non-secret response fields and the first part of the ADIF to the terminal you launched the app from. The API key is never printed. Use for short troubleshooting sessions if markers or parsing look wrong.

QRZ XML (map lookups)

Separate from the Logbook API: your QRZ.com login (XML data service) can fill map positions when the built-in prefix table has no coordinates, and can refine a plot when QRZ returns a Maidenhead grid (then the map uses that locator instead of the prefix-table position). Enter XML username and XML password on the same tab, then enable XML lookup: DX Cluster spots and/or XML lookup: Reverse Beacon skimmers. If QRZ is slow or unreachable, DXChrono keeps the prefix-table result. Use XML in the footer to check login (your password is not printed). Lookups are cached to limit repeat requests; the app also re-logs in on a timer so long uptimes do not keep a stale session key. Optional environment variables: DXCHRONO_QRZ_XML_TIMEOUT (lookup timeout, seconds, default 12), DXCHRONO_QRZ_XML_REFINE_TIMEOUT (shorter cap when CTY already had coordinates, default about 4s or a third of the main timeout), DXCHRONO_QRZ_XML_SESSION_MAX_SEC (re-login after this many seconds with an open session, default 72000).

DX Cluster

Telnet DX cluster connection using profiles: each profile has a name, host, port, login callsign, and cluster type (DX Spider, AR Cluster, or CC Cluster). Mark one profile as primary. DXChrono connects to the primary first; if that fails, it tries your other profiles in list order, then tries the primary again on the next reconnect.

To add another profile, click New profile, enter the details in the form, then Add. To change an existing row, select it in the list, edit the fields, and click Update. Delete removes the selected profile; Set primary chooses which node is tried first. Select a profile and use footer Test to check that endpoint before you Save.

Display options (two columns at the top of the tab) cover spot labels, great-circle propagation lines, map spots, spot trail, timeout, max spots, and DX Cluster widget font size. Spots from skimmer-style spotters on the cluster feed (e.g. W3LPL-#) are shown like any other DX spot. The DX Cluster panel shows connect and failover status when spots have not arrived yet. See Integrations → DX Cluster and Map & Widgets → DX Cluster.

PSK Reporter

MQTT connection to PSK Reporter: host, port, TLS. Choose “who's hearing me” and/or “who I'm receiving”. Configure labels, great-circle propagation lines, spot trail, timeout, and max spots. Your station callsign is used to filter spots. The tab also includes a Test button.

The on-screen PSK Reporter widget (enable it under Widgets) lists recent spots in a table with call, frequency, mode, an SNR bar (visual only), and age. List mode and band filters follow the options on this tab. See Map & Widgets → PSK Reporter for how to read the SNR column (including what the bar colours mean), wheel scrolling, and narrow layouts.

Satellites (Sats)

Enable satellite tracking and toggle labels/footprints on the map. Select which satellites to track from the list and set the minimum footprint elevation. Upcoming Passes options are also here: UTC/local pass times, lookahead hours, and pass-list font size. Press T to show/hide the overlay.

N1MM

Listen for N1MM Logger+ UDP broadcasts: enable, set UDP port (default 12060), listen address, and map line color mode. Enable N1MM status/recent-QSO widgets in the N1MM tab. Ensure N1MM is configured to send Application Info, Radio, and Contacts to the same port.

Special Event

For event stations and open days: enable mode, choose data source (Cloudlog or N1MM+), event name, dates, tagline. Options for last-worked banner, contacts today, distance to last QSO, map legend, and banner scroll speed. See the dedicated Special Event Station Mode page.