so ive been getting into chasing DX a bit more lately and someone at the club mentioned using cluster spots to find activity. I set up an account on QRZ a while back mostly just to look up callsigns but apparently theres a whole spotting/cluster thing on there too that i hadnt really dug into.

been playing around with DXwatch as well and honestly im a little confused about how these relate to each other. like are they pulling from the same cluster network or are they separate things? I noticed sometimes the same spot shows up on both within a few seconds and other times theres stuff on one that isnt on the other. also the DXwatch map is pretty cool but i cant figure out if theres a way to filter it down to just certain bands, feels like im missing something obvious.

also curious if people use any phone apps for this stuff, i have an android and tried one called DX Toolbox or something like that but couldnt really get it configured right. might have been doing something wrong with the cluster server address.

yeah they're both pulling from the DX cluster network but they aggregate from different nodes so you'll see some variation depending on which servers they're connected to and the propagation of spots through the network, it's not instant everywhere. DXwatch is pretty solid for visualization though.

for filtering by band on DXwatch, there should be a little dropdown or checkbox row along the top of the spot list, might be hidden depending on your screen size. on mobile it's kind of a pain to find. if you're on a desktop browser it's a lot more usable honestly.

for android i've been using Ham Radio Deluxe's companion app on and off but the one most people seem to recommend just for spotting is probably DX Alert or just using the mobile browser version of DXwatch. the cluster server thing can be annoying to configure, i usually point mine at dxc.ve7cc.net on port 7300 which seems pretty reliable. just make sure you're sending your callsign when you connect or some servers will drop you after a minute or two.

oh man i went down this same rabbit hole a few months ago when i first started trying to work some DX. QRZ logbook has the spots integrated which is nice if youre already logging there but i found DXwatch way easier to just glance at quickly. theres also a site called DXheat that i actually like better than both of them for just seeing whats active right now, the band breakdown is cleaner imo.

havent messed with apps much, i mostly just have DXwatch open in a browser tab on the laptop next to the rig. old school maybe but it works lol