I've been looking forward to introducing this one... DX Watch â get notified, listen in and record automatically when rare stations appear! We've just rolled out a major upgrade to our DX Cluster and Shack Display: DX Watch. The aim is simple: You shouldn't have to sit staring at the spot list nonstop to catch a rare DXpedition, a particular country or a special transmission in, for example, SSTV, CW or Olivia. DX Watch keeps an eye out for you in the background, beeps when there's a hit, and can even automatically turn on our Web-SDR and record the transmission for you. Here's a quick guide to using it.Where do you find DX Watch? You'll find it in two places on the site: 1. On DX Cluster: Right next to the Report a DX spot button. 2. In Shack display: As a button down in the toolbar next to the band and mode selectors. Your watches are automatically shared between both pages â if you create a watch in Shack Display, it also applies on DX Cluster.How to set up a watch When you click DX Watch, a window opens where you can define what you're looking for: * Callsign or prefix: Enter an exact call (e.g. `3B7M`), a prefix (e.g. `VK9`, `VP8`, `JW`) or part of a call. Country: Enter all or part of a country name (e.g. Greenland, Falkland or Japan*). Band (optional): Choose whether the watch should only apply to a particular band (e.g. 20m), or leave it set to All bands*. Mode (optional): Select a specific operating mode using the buttons (CW, SSB, AM, FM, SSTV, RTTY, PSK, FT8, Olivia, HELL...*). DX Watch checks both the spot's registered mode and for the word in the spotter's comment.The 3 actions: Choose what happens on a match For each watch, you choose one of three levels: 1. đ Alert (default): When the station is spotted, you'll hear two clear beeps, and a prominent box pops up on screen with the frequency, call and report. You can click to listen in directly if you like. 2. đ Auto-listen: The site doesn't just alert you â it immediately opens our Web-SDR mini player at the bottom of the screen, automatically tunes to the station's frequency and mode (on HF) and starts the audio straight away. 3. đŽ Listen & record (10 min): The ultimate DX tool! When the station appears, the Web-SDR turns on, starts the audio and automatically begins recording the transmission. It records for up to 10 minutes (you can also stop early with Stop & save*). When the recording ends, the audio file is automatically downloaded to your computer's Downloads* folder (named, for example, `dx-vagt-3B7M-14025kHz-CW.webm`). * You also get a small player right at the bottom of the screen, so you can replay the recording straight away.đĄ Extra feature: Decode your recorded files afterwards on Web-SDR! If you've let DX Watch record a signal in, for example, SSTV (images), CW (Morse code) or another digital mode, you don't have to miss the content just because you weren't at the screen: 1. Go to WebSDR and open the Decoders tab (or go straight to the SSTV/CW panel, etc.). 2. Here you'll find the "Play a recorded audio file in the decoder" field. 3. Simply drag the downloaded audio file from your downloads folder into the field (or click and select it). 4. Press Play â the audio from the recording is now fed directly through the built-in decoder at exactly the same speed as a live signal. Then the image or text appears on the screen in front of you!Three handy tips * Leave the tab open: DX Watch checks for new spots continuously (every half minute). You can easily leave the tab in the background while browsing other sites or doing something else on your computer. * Browser audio: Remember that modern browsers only allow web pages to play beeps if you've clicked at least once on the page since opening it. * Saved in your browser: Your configured watches are remembered on the device and browser you use. Happy hunting out there on the bands! Do chime in here in the thread if you have suggestions for improvements or stories of rare catches. đâïžđâïž PS: For example, set DX Watch to monitor the Grimeton transmitter's anniversary transmission on 23-24 October. SAQ is what you need to search for, and you might want to set it to record before you go off to do something else fun (vacuuming, shopping, going for a run, etc. đ) Read more about SAQ here: Grimeton