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title: Private Message Handling
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icon: ✉️
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category: ON4KST Chat
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since: "1.1"
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summary: Catch public mentions of the configured login callsign in the PM table and use six green age levels to keep recent messages visible without changing their routing.
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description: KST4Contest combines PM Catching, age-based row highlighting and reply preparation so that direct messages and relevant public mentions remain practical to handle during a busy contest.
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tagsList:
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- ON4KST
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- private messages
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- PM Catching
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- message age
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- callsign mention
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- contest workflow
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related:
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- automatic-replies
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- qso-monitoring
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- global-message-views
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- dual-chat
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---
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## Why catch more than direct PMs?
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Not every message intended for one station is sent as a directed ON4KST message. An operator may accidentally post something like this publicly:
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```text
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(DM5M) pse ur qrg
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```
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Without an additional view, that line remains among CQ calls, beacons and the rest of the public chat. KST4Contest therefore also shows a public message in the PM table when its text contains the configured local login callsign.
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PM Catching has existed since version 1.1. A slightly flippant description is **“gossip detection”**. It is a nickname, not the formal name of the function.
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## How is a mention recognised?
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The check searches the message text for the complete configured login callsign without distinguishing upper- and lower-case letters. A login of `DM5M` therefore matches both:
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```text
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(DM5M) pse ur qrg
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dm5m are you qrv?
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```
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This is a text search, not a linguistic interpretation. A spelling error or shortened callsign does not match. Conversely, a sentence which merely mentions the callsign can appear in the PM table even when no reply was expected.
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In plain terms: PM Catching finds visible callsign text. It cannot know what the author meant.
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## The original message remains unchanged
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Catching adds the message to the PM view. It does not turn the public line into a private message, change its receiver, rewrite its text or move it to another chat category.
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The same principle applies to [QSO Monitoring](/features/qso-monitoring/): a monitored message may be shown additionally in the PM table, but its original routing remains intact. The two mechanisms use different criteria:
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- PM Catching looks for the local login callsign in the message text.
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- QSO Monitoring checks whether a configured station is actually the sender or receiver.
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## Selecting a row prepares the reply
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Selecting an incoming PM-table row prepares a `/cq` reply to its sender. If the selected row contains an outgoing message from the local station, KST4Contest instead restores the original receiver as the reply target.
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The selection prepares the target and input context. It does not send a message automatically.
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## Six green age levels
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Age-based row highlighting is included from version 1.25 onwards. New non-local rows in the PM table pass through six green stages:
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| Message age | Display |
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|---|---|
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| up to and including 30 seconds | first green level |
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| 31 to 60 seconds | second green level |
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| 61 to 90 seconds | third green level |
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| 91 to 120 seconds | fourth green level |
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| 121 to 180 seconds | fifth green level |
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| 181 to 300 seconds | sixth green level |
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| from 301 seconds | normal table colour |
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The table refreshes the age display every five seconds. A colour boundary may therefore become visible during the next refresh rather than at the exact second.
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After five minutes, the row returns to the normal table colour. Messages sent by the local station retain their separate highlight and do not use the green age scale.
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## What produces a PM notification sound?
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PM audio is reserved for messages actually directed to the local login. A public message shown through PM Catching does not trigger the simple PM sound, CW callsign output or phonetic callsign output.
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Messages added through QSO Monitoring likewise remain silent. Their appearance in the PM table is a visual aid, not evidence that the local station received a new private message.
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In practical terms: the PM table brings the relevant lines together, the age colours show what is fresh, and selecting a row prepares the likely reply target. The operator still decides whether the message was really intended for the station and whether it needs an answer.
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[Read the PM Catching recognition and its limits in the manual.](/manual/en/features/#pm-catching-from-v11)
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[Read the exact six age levels.](/manual/en/features/#coloured-pm-rows-from-v125)
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[Open the PM-window controls and selection behaviour.](/manual/en/user-interface/#pm-window-top-left)
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[Read which incoming messages produce audio notifications.](/manual/en/configuration/#notification-settings)
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Marc Froehlich