website: added direction opportunities to the features and added neccessary picture

2026-09-11 19:55:40 +02:00 · 2026-08-27 23:27:00 +02:00
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+---
+title: Directional Opportunities
+icon: 📐
+category: Contest Workflow
+since: "1.1"
+summary: Recognise when a station in a directed ON4KST exchange may be pointing towards the local station and highlight the short-lived opportunity.
+description: KST4Contest derives a possible antenna direction from directed ON4KST messages and marks matching senders without requiring the local DX Cluster server.
+tagsList:
+  - ON4KST
+  - directional opportunity
+  - antenna direction
+  - beamwidth
+  - QRB
+  - contest workflow
+related:
+  - band-recognition
+  - dx-cluster
+  - rotator-control
+---
+
+## Why watch messages between other stations?
+
+A directed ON4KST message shows who is talking to whom. It does not include an antenna direction. During a contest, however, a station requesting, answering or preparing a sked will often point at least approximately towards the station being addressed.
+
+That creates a brief opportunity for stations near the same direction. KST4Contest has recognised this situation since version 1.1. The detection and user-list highlight work independently of the local DX Cluster server.
+
+## How is the opportunity derived?
+
+Assume that station A sends a directed message to station B. KST4Contest:
+
+1. calculates the direction from A to B and treats it as the likely antenna direction of A;
+2. calculates the direction from A to the local station;
+3. compares the angular difference with half of the configured antenna beamwidth; and
+4. checks that A is inside the configured maximum QRB.
+
+If the local station lies inside this assumed antenna corridor, A becomes a directional opportunity. A reply from B is a new case: the likely direction is then calculated from B back towards A.
+
+The configured beamwidth is the complete angle. With `70°`, KST4Contest therefore assumes a corridor of `35°` on either side of the direction between the two stations.
+
+## What does the operator see?
+
+The sender's callsign appears green and bold in the user list for five minutes. A later matching message restarts this period. If the station sends another directed message which no longer matches the geometry, the mark is removed immediately.
+
+![Detected directional opportunity in the user list](/manual/assets/direction_opportunity_highlight.png)
+
+When simple sound notifications are enabled, the first detection also produces a short acoustic indication. Further matching messages do not repeat the sound while the station is already marked.
+
+## What practical value does it have?
+
+The indication draws attention to a station at the moment when its antenna may already cover the local direction. It can be enough to notice a callsign which would otherwise remain one line among many in the chat.
+
+DM5M reports that around 35–40% of the directional opportunities used at that station have resulted in a QSO. This is station-specific operating experience, not a general success rate. Location, antenna patterns, propagation, contest activity and operating practice can produce very different results elsewhere.
+
+## Optional use in the logger bandmap
+
+Since version 1.23, KST4Contest can forward a detected opportunity and a known QRG through its local DX Cluster server. This is an optional second step. The direction calculation, green user-list mark and sound do not depend on a DX-Cluster connection.
+
+The local DX Cluster output reuses the result; it does not create the directional opportunity. If the server is disabled or no suitable QRG is known, the visual indication still works normally.
+
+## What does the indication not prove?
+
+ON4KST does not transmit the actual antenna direction or beamwidth of the remote station. KST4Contest therefore uses the locally configured antenna beamwidth as a practical approximation.
+
+The calculation also does not know the real antenna pattern, rotator position, terrain or current propagation. A matching corridor is not a propagation forecast and does not guarantee a QSO.
+
+In practical terms: the green callsign identifies a geometrically plausible moment to pay attention. Whether calling makes sense remains an operator decision.
+
+[Read the complete derivation and numerical examples in the manual.](/manual/en/features/#directional-opportunities-from-directed-messages)
+
+[Open the antenna beamwidth setting.](/manual/en/configuration/#antenna-beamwidth)
+
+[Open the maximum QRB setting.](/manual/en/configuration/#default-maximum-qrb)
+
+[Read how the optional local DX Cluster output works.](/features/dx-cluster/)