[WriteLog] Omit non-mult zero-pointers from the Packet Spots window

[Mike Heideman]

While operating in WAE SSB I set up my cluster filters so that I was only getting spots of EU stations.  I could then click on spots in the Packet Spots window and try to work EU stations that had been spotted by others.
 
Once I'd worked all the spots that could hear me I went from click-and-pounce mode to search-and-pounce mode.  This ended up being much less efficient than it could have been because of my cluster filters.  As I tuned across stations I could easily skip the spotted EU stations as I'd see the callsign in the bandmap and a quick listen to a full or partial callsign would verify it was someone I'd already worked or who didn't hear me.
 
Too much time was spent trying to decipher the callsigns of stations with auroral flutter, as most EU stations had, only to discover I was listening to 9K9Z, 7Z1SJ, P3F, 5B4AIF, or a ZS, 4X, 4L, etc.  Voices with European accents or stations with big pileups also attracted my attention but many of these were non-EU such as PJ4DX, NP2X, VY2/JR..., VA2EW, YV, KP4.
 
I'd spot these stations locally and often to the cluster and then immediately delete them from the Packet Spots window.  That way they would be in the Bandmap and next time I tuned across I could quickly re-identify and skip over them.  I didn't want to change my cluster filter settings as that would add even more clutter into the Packet Spots window that would need to be ignored or removed.
 
After repeatedly going through the cycle of spot locally then remove from Packet Spots window it occurred to me that what is really needed is an option in WriteLog to put all spotted callsigns in the Bandmap but to only put the subset of spotted callsigns into the Packet Spots window that have value in the contest, either by giving QSO points or as a multiplier.  If this option were available then the cluster filter could enable all callsigns to go into the Bandmap but WriteLog would limit what appears in the Packet Spots window.
 
I mostly use the Bandmap to help identify the station I hear on a particular frequency.  It's also useful for selecting a CQ frequency since a frequency that sounds clear may show a spotted station in the Bandmap to which there is no propagation.  The Packet Spots window provides a much better interface for click-and-pounce.
 
There are many other contests in which this feature would be useful - ARRL DX, state QSO parties, All Asian, CQWW (once you've worked your own country and zone).  Even contests such as NAQP where non-NA station don't get points for working other non-NA stations that may be CQing.
 
With RBN this is less valuable for CW and RTTY while operating assisted, but I've still found value in tuning the band because there are sometimes stations that are not picked up by any of the skimmers, particularly on 160 and 10 meters.  While operating unassisted I always put all callsigns into the bandmap as I tune across them and it would be useful to omit the zero-pointers from the Packet Spots window so that it could be used to click on and return to stations that couldn't be worked when first encountered.
 
-Mike, N7MH